samueljr

THE PRESIDENT'S port alignment as per the Admiralty
 
Sam

First I decided not to issue this at all, but after having seen here elsewhere Chuck`s tutorial about casting the thin carvings out of PU, I decided to publish also my method to cast cannon barrels. I have used this method many times before when building my car & tank models, so I had a little experience about the chemicals and working methods also before starting to cast cannons.
 
The first thing was naturally to turn a pattern for the barrel in the lathe:
 

 
 
 
 
Next thing to do is to make a spruce, a channel through which the liquid resin is poured into the mold. For this a piece of 3 mm iron wire was used:
 

 
 
 
 
And then we can start making the mold. First a small box was made of 3 mm MDF. The pattern together with spruce was installed into one of the walls of this box, approximately at half height of the short wall. Then liquid silicone rubber was poured into the box so that the level is at the middle of the barrel. Sorry that there is no picture of this phase.
I was using Oomoo 25 silicone rubber, made by Smooth-On. It consists of two parts A and B, small amount of each is measured into a small container, mixed thoroughly and poured into the box. When cured, releasing agent was applied to the lower part of the mold and new batch of silicone rubber was made and poured to the box and let cure.
 
This is how the first half of a mold looks like, when dismantled from the box. The pattern with spruce is still on its place:
 

 
 
 
 
And here you can see the both halves of the mold. A cone is provided at the top of mold where resin is poured. Small air venting channels are also cut at the top of the barrel to have air to escape when resin is poured into mold:
 

 
 
 
The mold is closed and polyurethane resin is prepared by using equal amounts of part A and B of the Smooth Cast 305 resin from the same manufacturer as the rubber. Parts are stirred very carefully and poured into the cone of the mold. It would have been possible at this phase to add some metal powder to the resin, to have the barrel really look like cast out of metal. I have however found out that if metal powder is added into the resin, it will become very stiff and doesn`t flow very easily into the spruce & fill the barrel cavern completely.
 

 
 
Resin has been poured and it can be seen that it has raised into the air venting channels too, which proves that the barrel cavern is filled as well:
 

 
 
After the resin has cured and mold opened, the spruce and barrel look like this:
 

 
 
Now it remains only to clean the barrel, drill holes for the axle pin, ignition powder and naturally for the cannonball, and glue a small glass pearl into the back of the barrel:
 

 
 
 
 
And finally paint the barrels. I wanted them to look like old patinated bronze, so I mixed Model Master gloss black enamel paint with AK Interactive`s old bronze metal color. Diluted them so that the paint could be airbrushed on the barrels. And finally, when dry the barrels were wiped lightly with a soft cloth to get the look of old patinated bronze:
 

THE PRESIDENT'S port alignment as per the Admiralty
 
Sam

As stated in a previous post the gun port stripes consist of 4 - 1/8" x 1/16" strips glued together off of the hull, progressively sanded and painted with several thin coats and then with a coat of wipe - on poly. They were cut to length (the reveal is on 1/32" on each side) the edges were painted white and then they were glued into place. The first and last piece(s) were left just a bit long and then sanded back into the hull.
 
Next Up - Planking the rest of the side

THE PRESIDENT'S port alignment as per the Admiralty
 
Sam

My thanks again to everyone for their interest and likes. The journey has just begun.
 
There has on several occassions been coment on the gun port alignment. 
 
It could be the angle of the photographs (for that I apologize) but the ports are not in line. 
 
Although they are not in the usual staggard sequence from deck to deck which most of us are used  to, they are correct as per the source material (the drawings of the PRESIDENT after capture as per the Admiralty)
 
I've attached an image of the drawings used for the build here and will later this evening upload an image of the PRESIDENT's port alignment.
 
Thanks - Sam

Thank you to all for the likes.
 
Patrick - I'm not that fast - it's only Port side.
 
I still have to repeat everything on Starboard......... LOL!
 
Sam

THE PRESIDENT'S port alignment as per the Admiralty
 
Sam

My thanks again to everyone for their interest and likes. The journey has just begun.
 
There has on several occassions been coment on the gun port alignment. 
 
It could be the angle of the photographs (for that I apologize) but the ports are not in line. 
 
Although they are not in the usual staggard sequence from deck to deck which most of us are used  to, they are correct as per the source material (the drawings of the PRESIDENT after capture as per the Admiralty)
 
I've attached an image of the drawings used for the build here and will later this evening upload an image of the PRESIDENT's port alignment.
 
Thanks - Sam

THE PRESIDENT'S port alignment as per the Admiralty
 
Sam

Thank you to all for the likes.
 
Patrick - I'm not that fast - it's only Port side.
 
I still have to repeat everything on Starboard......... LOL!
 
Sam

Thank you to all for the likes.
 
Patrick - I'm not that fast - it's only Port side.
 
I still have to repeat everything on Starboard......... LOL!
 
Sam

As stated in a previous post the gun port stripes consist of 4 - 1/8" x 1/16" strips glued together off of the hull, progressively sanded and painted with several thin coats and then with a coat of wipe - on poly. They were cut to length (the reveal is on 1/32" on each side) the edges were painted white and then they were glued into place. The first and last piece(s) were left just a bit long and then sanded back into the hull.
 
Next Up - Planking the rest of the side

The next area moving upward are the gun port stripes. To get a crisp paint finish a number of steps will be/were performed off the hull and prior to installation.
 
The area(s) around the  gun ports and their inner edges were painted. Additionally 4 - 1/8" x 1/16" strips were painted white, while 1 - 3/16" x 1/16" strip was painted black. All surfaces were sanded progressivley. The strips and hull area were given several thin (water consistancy) coats of paint with a very light sanding between coats (600 grit) and wiped down. After the final coat of paint a finish of wipe - on poly was applied. 
 
The colors used are Artist Acrylics, Titanium White for the stripe and instead of a deep or stark black (such as Mars Black) Paynes Gray was used. It is a duller black, almost sooty in apearence.
 
The white strips will be glued together off of the hull and then cut to length to fit between the gunports. The black strip will cap the installation. This will create a sharp definition between the black and white surfaces.  
 
Next up: installation of the strips

For those of you who have asked my apologies for not responding sooner, the source material for the build are the plans of the PRESIDENT after capture and the deck drawings of the UNITED STATES. There will be some additional sources as the build progresses all on the recommendation of acknowledged experts on the subject.
 
A cradle was created for the hull out of plywood. Felt was glued onto the surfaces to offer a soft resting place and hold the hull firm.
 
Above the wales I placed 3 - 3/16" strakes. All 1/16" thick. They arrive just short of the gun port openings (apprx. 1/32") creating the sill reveal. Once the inner tongues are removed the gunports will be fully framed internally.
 
As all with the lower planking theses strakes were pre-sanded.

For all those who have asked the build is the CONSTITUTION c. 1812 in 1:76.8 scale.
 
Tim Igoe is working with me on the project (testing my design) and will be producing a concurrent build thread.
 
Should be fun (famous last words)
 
Sam

Starboard side.
 
Wales are installed. They feature a laser etched/embellished anchor stock planking detail. This will be repeated on Port. The wales, (for photgraphic detail) have been given a coat of wipe-on poly to highlight the etch. When finished they will be painted black.
 
There is one 3/16" strip installed below the wale. From that point down to planking band "C" the hull on Starboard will be left open for view of lower deck details.
 
A thin veneer was added to each bulkhead/frame face between the wale and band "C" providing a cleaner surface for finish (either paint or stain)
 
Next up: Above the wales

Port side middle band ("B") is comprised of 11 planks. The planks are 3/16" forward tapering to 1/8" aft.
 
The first 5 are installed and the spacing/measurements are checked to assure the planks are running true.
 
The remaining planks are tapered and installed with the 11th plank being un-tapered until it is installed to make any adjustments necessary for inconsistencies in taper of previous planks.
 
The entire side below the Wale is sanded with a series of progressively finer grade of sandpapers (4-5 steps) from 80 to 600 grit.
 
The entire hull is then wiped down with a tack cloth and blown with compressed air.
 
 

Thought I'd switch sides, band C is installed on Starboard.
 
As with Port, the Garboard strake is beveled from 3/16" to 1/8" length wise. It is then beveled on edge to tuck into the rabbit formed by the additional piece added to the Keel (former).
 
The remaining strakes are all at 1/8".

First band of planking below wale on Port side (12 x 1/8" x 1/16")
 
 

Wales (Port)

CONSTITUTION CROSS SECTION c. 1812 in 1:76.8 scale 

As stated in a previous post the gun port stripes consist of 4 - 1/8" x 1/16" strips glued together off of the hull, progressively sanded and painted with several thin coats and then with a coat of wipe - on poly. They were cut to length (the reveal is on 1/32" on each side) the edges were painted white and then they were glued into place. The first and last piece(s) were left just a bit long and then sanded back into the hull.
 
Next Up - Planking the rest of the side

For those of you who have asked my apologies for not responding sooner, the source material for the build are the plans of the PRESIDENT after capture and the deck drawings of the UNITED STATES. There will be some additional sources as the build progresses all on the recommendation of acknowledged experts on the subject.
 
A cradle was created for the hull out of plywood. Felt was glued onto the surfaces to offer a soft resting place and hold the hull firm.
 
Above the wales I placed 3 - 3/16" strakes. All 1/16" thick. They arrive just short of the gun port openings (apprx. 1/32") creating the sill reveal. Once the inner tongues are removed the gunports will be fully framed internally.
 
As all with the lower planking theses strakes were pre-sanded.

Port side middle band ("B") is comprised of 11 planks. The planks are 3/16" forward tapering to 1/8" aft.
 
The first 5 are installed and the spacing/measurements are checked to assure the planks are running true.
 
The remaining planks are tapered and installed with the 11th plank being un-tapered until it is installed to make any adjustments necessary for inconsistencies in taper of previous planks.
 
The entire side below the Wale is sanded with a series of progressively finer grade of sandpapers (4-5 steps) from 80 to 600 grit.
 
The entire hull is then wiped down with a tack cloth and blown with compressed air.