Altduck

Reminds me of the tale I heard once:
"George Washington's hatchet that he used on the legendary Cherry tree.  All original except that the head was replaced once, and the handle 3 times."

Nothing screams "1960's" like a polyester resin-covered hatch cover coffee table on an avocado green shag carpet. Today's kids just wouldn't get it.   
 
 

Maybe his coffee eats thru the bottom of the mug.....

Maybe his coffee eats thru the bottom of the mug.....

Maybe his coffee eats thru the bottom of the mug.....

Maybe his coffee eats thru the bottom of the mug.....

Thanks Canute. The ali sheet has been stored for a few years and needed something to hide all the dings and scratches. I used to use valve grinding paste and a piece of wooden dowel for this, but this time lashed up a tool using a dremel mandril, a 22 mm dia. disc of 4 mm thick softwood with the central hole recessed for the screw head, double sided tape and circles of abrasive Scotch Bright pad. The porthole faces north west and this finish catches the setting sun nicely on a good day.
Cheers,
Graham

The roof shingles are now all sealed.
This is my neighbour's view of the build, a better one then I have!

The aluminium porthole lining panels have been cut to size, 'engine turned'

and rolled to profile.

These panels have had a preliminary fixing and my next job is to remove them and then re-fit with additional sealant.

The barge board/ fascia board has also been completed on this gable end using the spare length of wall cladding I had left over.  


Once the front gable end has been finished I can start working on the interior beginning with the floor.
Progress!
Cheers,
Graham.

Hi all,
 
A final post to wind up the build of the PM Research Drill Press model shown below.
 

 
My parts, back from the paint shop. I had run out of my usual Satin Black spray and couldn't find the same brand with a reasonably short delivery time, so went with a different brand. I don't like it as much, but it will do for the time being.

 
The drill, ready for some action. All the levers, gears etc work. I guess I should have made a small vice for the table?

 
The finished model.

 
And now moved to the 'workshop' to assist the Stuart Lathe and PMR Milling machine.

 
The build was reasonably short but had enough little puzzles to keep my mind working.  I'm really not sure what to do next - I've now done a couple of steam engines, three workshop machines and, earlier, two ships/boats.  So off to have a good think and look around 🙂
 
Thanks to all for the Likes etc.
 
Best regards,
 
Richard

Bitumen shingles in place. The sun was setting as the top ridge was fitted so sealing with a heat gun and finishing edges with felt adhesive will have to wait until tomorrow...

Top ridge was completed using offcuts of shingles and 'detail strip' minimizing waste. The roof has stood up to some exceptionally wet weather this week without any leaks which is encouraging. I'm going to neaten up the gable ends with facia boards, and apart from adding some guttering, and the porthole lining, the outside is pretty much finished.
Cheers,
Graham.
 

She finally has the front of her stem! I have no idea what happened to the front piece of the original stem, it may not have been worth saving. So I was able to carve a new one from 1/4” stock. It feels good to have a nice solid piece up front, rather than something laminated like I used for the rest of the stem. I guess I didn’t have a 1/4” piece on hand when I made it and didn’t feel like making a special trip to get one back then. But I did this time!

Well, the outdoor kitchen has very much fulfilled its potential during the late summer to fall harvest & preservation season. We regularly used the big grill to process large batches of garden tomatoes for canning, keeping a lot of heat out of the house and using on-farm wood instead of off-farm electricity. We also roasted many trays of tomatoes in the wood-fired oven before canning or freezing them, adding extra flavor.
 


We've continued to host various friends and family with excellent meals of pizza, venison roasts, breads, and lots more. Haven't been taking photos of these but we continue to find dishes that the even wood-fired heat improves. I said I wouldn't do too many food posts, but the following was particularly special.
 
Today we hit an especially worthwhile milestone that yet again proved this project's worth to us: chicken processing. We've kept chickens for a very long time, peaking at a laying flock of about 50 back when we ran a full-time vegetable farm. But we had to get rid of the flock a few years ago for various reasons and have missed having them. So this spring we bought four laying hens from an organic farmer friend of ours and free-ranged  them in our orchard for the summer, not only producing copious eggs but providing significant pest control. It's probably not a coincidence that our cherries and grapes did especially well this year.
 
Anyway, the plan was always to process these layers for meat in the fall. When we had our larger flock, they were a long-term investment. We did our own breeding and brooding every year, and always laid in a supply of chicken from the unwanted young roosters and older hens that needed to be retired. But we didn't want or need to keep these four over the winter; we'll just get more next year if we want. So they needed to go under the knife, and we've always done all of our own meat processing (deer, goats, hogs, chickens, rabbits, etc.).
 
Earlier in this thread I showed how this kitchen structure supports deer butchering; well, it was great for chicken processing as well. The grill kept hot water at just the right temperature for scalding (necessary for feather plucking) without having to run back to the house stove for hot water. The killing cone hung easily from the open trellis, and the rest of the work could happen on the stainless steel table. The roof was especially welcome as this was a cloudy, drizzly day that would have been cold working in the open.
 



We processed all four in the morning, then fired up the wood oven. Three went into the freezer, and one went into the oven for a low, slow roast. Dinner was an extremely satisfying and extremely fresh roasted chicken (rubbed with garden herbs) roasted in a cast-iron Dutch oven with garden onions, carrots, and turnips; fresh sourdough bread (also from the oven); garden okra and broccoli sauteed in freshly rendered chicken fat; and a garden salad of greens and homemade feta cheese  (and purchased walnuts, how very feeble).
 

As with everything else, that oven elevates whatever you put into it. Crispy skin with fall-off-the-bone tender meat and a rich, slow-cooked flavor made this a special meal. And all with a handful of wood (and a fair amount of work). This kitchen project continues to be worth every minute we put into it.
 

Good evening mates, I hope you all have had a great weekend. I’ve been a little under the weather so more time in the shipyard. This weekend I’ve been working on another storage bin with seats and a couple of cranes (see next post). For this one I had to modify the OcCre supplied parts and create one like the one on the real Amerigo Vespucci (see last image). I find that it takes hours to work on these miniature pieces, some of them about the size of an American dime.
 

 

Having achieved a water-tight roof covering 

it's time to start cutting holes through it!
Took the best part of the day, but the six roof lights are now in place....

Here are a couple of 'before' pictures.....


The camera has compensated in the second image and lightened it. In reality it was as dark as the previous picture.
And 'after'.....


All units are double glazed with the right-hand middle one opening for additional ventilation.
Time now to complete the roof by adding the bitumen shingles.
Progress 🙂

Steamboat Robert E Lee is Finished, 269 Hours, 102 Days
Since returning from a trip to Utah to visit five national parks, I've put in about 40 hours to complete the rigging, accessories, and deck furniture. Here are photos of the final model.


 



The masts and yards were fairly complicated, with the hinged joints between them made up from brass tube and sheet. The chain supplied for the gangways is tiny and required magnifiers to work with. The gangways would never hang in place by themselves so I glued small black wedges to keep them were I want them.

The kit includes two very nice metal and wood anchor kits and a really cute turned capstan. The instructions said to use 1 mm wood strips for the capstan bars, but the turned base had 1 mm round holes so I used brass rod. When I clipped the rod to length after assembly the ends were rough so I touched one gently to my disk sander, and the sander grabbed it and dragged the whole thing into the gap between the spinning disk and table. That really mangled the capstan. I sure wish I had taken a photo.

I ended up turning a new capstan on the end of a dowel. Here's the new one and what's left of the old one.
 

The ship has two tiny lifeboats for 240 or more passengers, and no davits for launching them.

There is one more lifeboat or ship's boat hanging from a boom at the stern. Like the gangways there is no way this would hang correctly by itself, so I pinned it to the stern.
 
Summary
You can't go wrong with a kit by Amati. They have excellent materials and detailed plans, and end up as beautiful models.
 
The illustrated instructions for the Robert E. Lee are in Italian. An English translation is included but you need to refer back to the Italian for illustrations. The build sequence was confusing. Instead of building cabins upward from the lower deck, they are built down from the deck above. That allows you to plank and paint the cabin walls, but it makes it quite confusing to see which parts all need to line up. The instructions recommended rounding the edges of the cabin wall planks. I regret doing that on the lower decks - the paint didn't get into the joints and it makes the work look sloppy. I did not round the planks on the upper decks. You can still see hints that the walls are planked but they look much cleaner. I also found that I could pre-glue several planks to a sheet of brown paper, glue that to the cabin walls, and trim the length later. That gave a much neater look.
 
This is not an easy model. All the planking, windows and doors, and a surprising amount of rigging add up to a lot of work. In the end, though, Amati's Robert E Lee builds into a beautiful model.

Howdy everyone, 
 
I know it has been a while since I last updated this log, This has been one busy summer and I have hardly had time to work on any personal projects. Most of the last few months have been spent helping my daughter and son-in-law get their house finished, most of the stuff they didn't want to contract out like running the 900' water line, fencing, dirt work, tree clearing and other odds and ends. However with the bulk of the work done I finally found some time focus on my projects and get some work done on the shipyard.
 
I am not real sure what day I left off on so I will just post some of the things that I have accomplished.
 
First, I took ,my adjustable work bench and scaled sown the top a bit to fit in the room. The length had to be cut down to 5' from 6' and I squared off the front to make it more uniform.

 
I took the old gray, dinged up bottom and gave it a fresh coat of flat black, to fit my color scheme of the room a little better.

 
Next, I wanted to dress off the edges of the top, so I purchased some vinyl trim to protect the edges, routed the groove and installed the edging. 


The final product, I am completely satisfied with.


 
Then it was on to building the shelves for my reloading bench to help organize some of the clutter. I didn't take any pictures of the building process, but this is the finished results.

 
 
Next, I wanted to have a place that I could use to clean my guns, or work on them, or other tasks, but didn't want to take up more space, so I decide to build a Murphy Desk. Some thing that would fold up out of the way, but could be setup quickly if I needed the extra counter space. Again, I failed to take pictures of the build, but this is what I came up with.


 
Finally, needed a place to store all of my wood strips that wouldn't take up valuable counter top space. Some place out of the way, but with easy access. I decided that a small shelf under my storage area was the perfect place. I just purchased some inexpensive drawer dividers, turned them on their side and glued them into place on the shelf. Now I can keep them nice and organized and out of the way, and all I have to do is a 180 from the workbench and grab what I need.

 
I've started work on the book/display case. So far I have managed to get the main framework of it built, I just need to cut and install the facing and trim, then paint it all up. I plan on running lights to the display area, where my Chaperon proudly sits temporarily and I will also install a glass panel on the front to help keep the dust off of her.

 
More to come soon. The brutal Texas summer has finally started to subside and the weather is getting a bit more tolerable to work out in the barn.
 
Thanks again for stopping by, and I hope to not wait so long between updates. I'm really ready to be done with this project and get back to the Caroline. Her hull has been sitting on the workbench, neglected and untouched for way too long.
 
-Brian

https://www.pressherald.com/2023/10/09/one-killed-3-injured-in-accident-aboard-the-schooner-grace-bailey/
 
 

Not the final product yet, but the stern balcony is put in place for further work later on - after the planking work on the areas above wheatherdeck and etc.

Hi All,
 
It's been a while since my last update as I have been quite busy at work recently. I managed to finish the door & window frames at the aft gallery area and also finished planking this section. After which I began planking the upper levels. 

Clever!!!!

They sure are pretty little tools.
Which size did you get, and how did you decide?

They sure are pretty little tools.
Which size did you get, and how did you decide?

So I had gotten both of my wheels done yesterday just to realize that all of the handles were too long. After trying to shorten them and breaking several I just had to remake all 20 of them. I’m just happy that I was able to speed up my turning process. I now have both joined together!

Model Shipways Shipwright Series combo bought.  Thanks folks for talking me into the water.

Im definitely starting to get excited about getting my spar deck done! My fife rails are done and I’m extremely glad that I just made all of my stanchions completely from scratch!