egkb

It was brought to my attention that the lower most plank at the stern counter should follow the entirety of its length together with its moulding (I really appreciate the feedback since I can fix it early on!). After seeing it end partially, it is starting to bug me whenever I see it. So I plan to fix this before progressing with the build.
 
I am also considering to paint the counter planking blue. Another option I am considering is to slightly open the gun ports. I want to try making working hinges (no idea if I can pull this though), so this will be a good experiment for me. The red line here indicates the required curvature of the bottom moulding to follow the curve of the plank.



 
This curve is consistent to the plans as well (http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/e107_images/custom/hahn/confederacy/Article_confederacy_03.pdf)

I'm going to take a small break before commencing on this fix. It's a good chance to continue working on Pickle. I always welcome constructive criticism to my builds. It helps me improve and avoid mishaps 🙂

Laser cut template for marking the height of the stern frames.  Now I must admit an error in judgement.  Not that this will be terribly difficult for me do,but  this would have probably been easier to do before the qdeck rails were added.  
 
So just a suggestion….and I will make the monograph chapter reflect this.  The stern frames are best cut down before you start on the qdeck railings port and starboard.
 
I have already cut down the stern frames using a sharp #11 blade.  Slicing a little at a time.  Then sanding down to my pencil lines made using this template. Note how the transom rail will be the same height as the qdeck fancy rail where the two meet.  Hence the difficulty in surgically cutting away those outer stern frames.
 
I am happy to report however,  that it all came out splendidly.  Photos of that shortly.  
 
so remember….This step first!!

Hi Mike - yes they do taper, and I took exactly the same approach used for the quarterdeck planking described in post #668, being about 3mm at the bow and 3.8mm at the waist, and re-used an appropriate section of the template used to shape the quarterdeck planks rather than creating a new one.  I've found that until you really get well into it, the curve is rather hard to discern, but the good news is that there isn't the same constraint as on the quarterdeck to terminate against the waterway.
 

Thanks everyone for the continued interest and kind words.
 
Planking of the foc's'l has started and wanted to catch up before I get too far behind, wanted to record how I approached this for my own benefit as much as anything.  Breaking down into the main tasks:
 
Ensuring appropriate sheer of the foc's'l:
There was always going to be something to fettle here.  There were a number of items that needed to be fine tuned before planking could get underway on the deck.  There are a number of items that need to look right:
Sheer of the foc's'l planking- this should be parallel to the wale Sheer of the deck - need to avoid any unnatural dips and bumps, probably caused by the false deck supports not being perfectly positioned These two elements need to also come together in a way that gives a gradual steady decrease in the bulwark height, and avoid situation where this does not transition smoothly This did require some filling of the false deck and additional sanding to get this to where I was happy.  Marking the edge of the deck with a pencil line really helped with the visuals here as there are many curves competing with each other.
 
Determining the appropriate taper of the planks:
Really not much to go on here and went with a planned reduction of around 10-15% between the waist and the bow which seems consistent with many pictures and plans I could find.  The only consideration here was to not taper these too much so that a 'half moon' shape develops towards the edge of the deck.  Considering this, and estimating the number of planks needed, I used the same jig used for the quarterdeck to introduce the curve.
 
Bowsprit partner:
In David Antscherl's TFFM series, he notes that sometimes partners were used on the bowsprit.  I latched onto this as a way to tidy up the way that planks terminate against the bowsprit....especially because I think at this point I will not be adding one (more on that later).  Adding the partner here neatens up the planking in this area and also helps hide the PoF constuction a little more with the bowsprit not hiding this.  This wasn't too challenging to make, first a key was cut into the false deck and a plug made to match.  This was then glued to a larger boxwood sheet that would be visible, and which ensured that the partner would sit snuggly when in place.  The top was deliberately left oversize at this point as the final dimensions would be dictated by the width of the planking.  The concave curve of the underside was made with a suitably sized file approximating the bowsprit dimensions.

 
Planking:
With all the prelim work done, planking could commence!  First step was to install some scrap wood strip on one side of the center line using a ruler as a guide.  This proves to be very helpful in ensuring that the initial runs stay true as once the coamings are installed there is no simple way to do this other than relying on one's eyeball, and once the first central plank is in place can be easily removed.  The fore-grating could now be installed, and experience from the quarterdeck suggested that using the bare minimum of PVA glue is a good idea in case that it proves necessary to fine tune the position.  Luckily however this did not prove necessary.
 
The remaining wildcard is how the planks will butt up against the installed coamings.  As for the quarterdeck, fine adjustments were made to the strips to ensure that they would not result in inappropriately thin widths around the coaming.  This also allowed the bowsprit partner dimensions to be finalised so that they all align appropriately.  It's interesting to note that the partner is a slight wedge shape, reflecting the inward curve of the planking.

Once the first 4 planks were on, the margin planks needed to be installed as all planking from here will butt up against it.  For now, only the forward section has been installed, and the joint between then will (hopefully!) be hidden by the cathead.  Planking could then continue aft, with a similar approach being taken for the steam grating coaming as before and the top of the beam being installed.  The area directly to the rear of this was a bit of a pain as the planking strips are only about 5mm long and difficult to get nice clean tight joints.
 
It proved necessary to once again make custom planks from maple sheet athwart the steam grating coaming, and these proved surprisingly challenging, mainly because there are many edges that need close alignment.  The maple being used also does have a tendency to splinter at the edges.  The gap on the outmost plank is where the top tackle scuttle will be.  Hopefully things will speed up a little now the foundations are in place, at least until hooked planks are needed....


 

A bit of a long update!
 
The sternpost is fitted. Instead of gluing it directly on the counter planks, I opted to cut out a notch so that it fits through. I used a combination of mini chisels, #11 blade, and files to make this notch:


Since the sternpost was still removable at this stage, I decided to cut out the helm port. First I drew an outline of the port, used progressively bigger drills on the plank right beside the sternpost, then used chisels and blades to make it bigger. The final 1-2mm was done using a semi-circular file

Here is a photo with the sternpost dryfitted:

I used the rudder piece to make adjustments to the port making sure it can rotate freely:

The moldings were also added after gluing the sternpost. I first only glued the 1-2 cm of the molding that touches the stern post. Then after the glue was set, I applied glue to the rest of the strip. This was done since there is a slight curvature and I needed one part to be fixed before gluing the other end.




 



I also assembled the stand that came with the kit. I think I will use for further construction to prevent scratches on the keel from the board from previous posts. I just sanded the char off and did not apply any finishing. Ribbons were glued to prevent any scratches on the hull. 


The rest of the moldings were also added to the hull. This now completes the major hull work! 😀 

Pumps and main fife rail in place
 
The fife rail was not difficult, just a bit flimsy while it sat loose on my work table. With hindsight it might have been easier to finish the posts and their supports, glue them to the deck, and then attach the pin rail. This is what it looks like as an assembly. 
 

Main (aft) fife rail
 
I glued the fife rail to the deck with PVA. The deck planks are perfect guides for alignment to port and starboard; for fore and aft I stuck a small piece of masking tape to the deck to show a line 8mm forward of the step. I also glued the pumps in place and for them I drilled holes in the deck and the base of each pump. A short piece of wire ensures that the pumps are in the right place and I only have to adjust the rotation angle of the pumps by eye. 
 

Pumps, fife rail, temporary mast, and tape over the main ladder way
 
The photo above shows how crowded the deck is around the main mast, and there is more to come. (The kit places the pumps near the fore mast which is quite wrong.) 
 
Housing over main ladder way
 
My current task is the housing over the main ladder way. The Admiralty drawings only show it in the side views and they have the sides parallel to the frames which makes the whole structure lean back relative to the deck. I followed this angle for the pumps and fife rail posts because it made engineering sense. However, I think I will make the housing perpendicular to the deck and consciously and deliberately differ from the Admiralty drawing. As mentioned in an earlier post this is not a decision to take lightly. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/28307-frames-built-vertical-or-perpendicular-to-keel/?do=findComment&comment=819683
The drawings tell us nothing about the other dimensions of the housing, and whether the top lid was hinged or sliding. This will be the time for some inspired guesswork and advice from knowledgeable people at MSW. 
 
George
 

OK, Brodie Stoves...
 
I had the original CAD stove drawing amended to address some initial issues (bolts hardly visible, hole for condenser too small etc., just little things), I changed the supports (for when the stoves are being printed) to the smallest possible to reduce any stubs that remain, and I was happy with the final file and print.
 
I have produced the stoves in 1:64th, 1:72nd and 1:96th:
 
Brodie Stove – VANGUARD MODELS
 
I have attached two pictures of my first prototype stoves, showing all three scales, and two pictures of the one I sent James Hatch, which is painted. (and the latest versions are a little different with the changes stated above). As mentioned, each comes in 4 parts, main body, chimney, condenser and drip tray - and the original 64th version has been designed for the Indefatigable kit.
 
Sizes (heights are without chimneys)
1:64 -L-28mm W – 24mm H – 29mm 1:72 – L-25mm W – 22mm H – 25.3mm 1:96 – L-18.75mm W – 17.3mm H – 19mm  

Hi all,
 
A very quick update... I turned the capstan on the lathe this evening from 12mm walnut.
 

 
I left a small peg on the bottom to sit in a hole drilled in the platform.
 

 
The result...
 

 
And an overview of the deck of Stefano as she stands... 
 

 

Happy new year.⁹
 

Thank you very much. 
Photos. j

Got the handrails (evergreen .040" half round) on without too much bother. Once you get one end started it is easy to CA the tops of the stanchions 4 or 5 at a time. Also added the ladder and its brass handrails to the flying bridge, and the 2nd compass. All five masts now have the four whips for the lower topsail sheets and lower yard lifts in place.
 
I noticed the boat chocks are not really the proper curvature to match the boats but at this point I am not going to risk damage by trying to file them.
 
Oh, and I have now knocked off and re-glued the starboard chimney of the boiler hut. Twice.
 
I think I am at last ready to go full into rigging mode. 😃🤓
 
ps Had a 3rd pic but it won't upload despite several attempts (server error 200???).
LATER EDIT:  It seems a fix for this is to submit your post, then immediately "edit" and upload the picture again. Worked for me this time, so it's added below.
 

 

 

Okay - full disclosure. I've messed up the order of things, and it's entirely my fault and not the kit's!
 
The kit specifically says: Don't stick the fore deck down at this point. It'll make it very hard to install the stays that are mounted beneath this deck.
 
Hmm... somewhere I got over-excited and just went ahead. Anyway, I'm confident I can find other ways to achieve what I need to do when the time comes, but if you're following along and thinking of building this kit, I would STRONGLY recommend that you follow what the kit instructions say, and hold off gluing the fore deck down!
 
Anyway - with that said, I tried removing the deck and it was so well stuck down I was only going to destroy work I was really really pleased with, so we're moving on. 
 
The bitts that pass through the foredeck were installed first. These are made out of 5mm square section walnut. I used a printed out scan of the bow area of P9 on plan 1 to make sure these were put in the right place, and the holes were first drilled out, then opened up to fit the bitts with a file.
 

 

 

 
The next step was the anchor davits, which are 6mm laser-cut parts. They pass through the bulwark above the main rail and below the top rail. This again requires careful marking out, drilling and filing, whilst trying to protect the rails.
 

 
Marking out the positions of the holes... (yes, it looks a lot like the photo above, but if you look closely there are pencil markings where the boat davits go, now... 😆 )
 

 
Cutting out the holes...
 

 
The end result... 
 

 
Finally, I made up the capstan base. This is a 4mm walnut part, which needs to be sanded so that the top surface is horizontal despite the rise of the deck towards the bow. It also needs to have the slot filed into it for the king plank. I over filed this and had to add walnut back in to make it fit nicely.
 

 
The next step will be to add a variety of turned parts from dowel  (the davit bitts, capstan, compass and an attempt at the balustrades for the railings. I have a small lathe so this should be simple enough, although as I think I've said before I'm a little nervous about trying to consistently turn out the railing uprights.
 
Also, I need to add the metal work for the anchor davits. I've paused because I couldn't decide whether I would leave the davits natural, or paint them. I'm erring towards leaving them natural. The alternative is to paint them white to match the upright between the rails. All thoughts welcome!
 
Take care
 
Rob

Rob, nice clean work, looks really good. 

I'm on the home stretch with this build.  Managed to add some other details including the wood slats in the rack near the funnels (used some cherry veneer I had, cut into thin strips and used wipe-on poly), then weathered and added the final clear coat last night.  Will add the torpedos and carts, the small boats, and figures, and then rig the model and add flags.  For my first 1/350 plastic ship model, I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
As a little preview, given how fast and sleek the Shimakaze was, ever since I got the kit, I thought presenting the ship in a waterline setting would really show it off.  So, I built a waterline diorama base for the model as well.  It's made of foam board using the crinkled aluminum foil technique.  I built the frame for the diorama using balsa strips that I got from National Balsa in the thickness I needed, that I cut to size and stained.  I first practiced making a waterline diorama for my 1/700 destroyer, which is just about done, and can post pictures of it in the next couple of days.  This one obviously is a little bigger but so far so good.  
 
 
 
 
Thanks for looking in!
 
 

Thank you, guys!
 
I had the final part of my new laser purchase finally arrive this week, a monolith of an extractor for my new machine. I can now use both machines, as they both have their own extractor and air assist. (I think I was engraving two lots of Sphinx decks on the new laser, in the pics)
 
A little more news:
 
1 - I can get hold of pearwood dowel. Is this something you would like in kits, or have an option for, as it is more expensive?
 
2 - Alert - I have started a 'Version 3' of this, and will be the final version, after bringing it up to my latest standards. This will be available once all V2 stock is gone - BUT, it will be £20 more expensive (All kit prices need to increase, in fact, as materials are getting more expensive, but will hold all prices for as long as I can). Alert 3 will need to cost more because the laser cut gratings are included, and the cannon carriages have been re-worked to have the cap squares integrated with the part, as per the Sphinx carriages. Laser engraved decks will be standard with this kit and the white metal anchor set replaced with a black resin 3-d printed version, eliminating the last trace of white metal from my kits. I will have to have the Alert manual updated when next printed.
 
Staying with Alert - I am having a full sail set made for this kit, so a pre made set will be available early next year. The company that is doing these is the same that do the sets for Amati, Occre etc, and are not the same very high quality I get from the (much more) expensive current sail sets, and this will be reflected in the lower price, compared to my existing sets. I love the sail sets I have now, but they do take an age just to do 20 sets, and I am forever running out of stock. An alternative was sorely needed. I have ordered 100 sets each for Alert and other kits (Not Speedy, Flirt, Duchess or Sphinx)
 
And finally, as I am writing this, something just arrived that I gave up all hope of seeing this side of Christmas - a 50kg pallet chock full of fresh photo etched brass and copper from Italy, that I was running short of! All I am waiting for now is my damned Nisha and Erycina sail sets.....
 
Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year!
 
Chris

Thank you, Steven.
 
I managed to fix the issue with planking at the stern.
 
I first cut out the planks as shown:

Then added these filler pieces:

Did some planking and treenailing, then applied tung oil:
 



Lastly, I finished with the painting. It is not as perfectly seamless as I had hoped, but a lot of it will be covered up with the quarter gallery parts and some scrollwork so I am not very worried. I hope there will be enough visual distractions to hide any mishaps. And to note, I widened the area of the white pinstripe since there is a small section where the mouldings stop, and I wanted that part to seem like the white part met the dark blue.

And I made some of the mouldings using a scraper. The only parts left to complete the major hull work is to install these and work on the sternpost.  
 

Thank you for the kind comments, Matt, Steven, Tom, and Mustafa!
 
The main wales have now been glued, sanded flush, then I chamfered the edges. Once that was completed, I painted the wales black  and used Tamiya yellow masking tape on neighboring planks. The tape was amazing, very minimal seepage of paint onto the wood. I will be using this tape for all painting from now 👍
 
The black paint (which was bought with the kit) was diluted with some water before painting. I sanded with 600 grit sandpaper between each coat. For the last two coats, I buffed out the painted area with a lint free cloth 15-30 mins after I applied the paint.
 
I thinned down the thickness of the wale at the stern, and also at the stem so that it is flush with surrounding planks.
 
Here are some pictures of where I am at:
 

















Next, I will be painting at the area above the treenails. I am very confused on the colors for these sections. The options I am thinking is to (1) paint it all black as it is the safest choice, and (2) have a thin red strip between the lowest two moldings, and (3) paint with the following black, red, and blue color scheme (I found this image somewhere on MSW, but I can't remember where it was):

I am currently leaning towards the last option as this is something I have seen on lots of contemporary models (as shown below), and it will be a bit different to other Confederacy builds. Another thing to note is that red is always above blue, just something I found interesting.
 
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66278
 
Any comments/suggestions are more than welcome!

I applyied two coats of tung oil above the wales, and two coats of WOP below the wales. I only sanded with 600 grit sandpaper between the coats for the WOP. Here are some pics:










IMO, the tung oil darkened the treenails a bit more than I would have liked. There was no way of telling how it would look in a small test section I did beforehand. But lesson learnt! I think next time I'll be using WOP for the entire surface instead of tung oil. 

Thank you all again for all the likes and the nice comments! 
 
I have glued in the channel wales and black strake, and finished treenailing them. I then chamfered the edges with a sanding stick (220 grit sandpaper stuck on one side of a 1/2in scrap wood). I used a wedge to assist in keeping a constant angle on the sanding stick as I sanded the edges:


I tapered the planks to become thinner from about 2cm from the stem. This is because the wales insert into the stem rabbet in the real ship.

And here are some more photos:




Lastly, I applied wipe-on-poly on the hull. I damped the WOP on a piece of an old t-shirt, applied generously, then used a dry part of the cloth to immediately remove any excess.
 
I only put one coat for now. Here is a sneak peek:


For my next update I will apply tung oil on the planks above the wales, and finish with one or more coats of WOP on the hull below the wales.

I finally finished planking the hull... and what a ride it was! It was my first time single planking a hull and I am now completely humbled by this task. Other modellers make it look so easy! Cutting each plank got old by the time I was half way 😅. 
 
I've learnt planking is not my favorite part of the build, but closing up the hull with the last 2 strakes were so satisfying!! Also, as @allanyed pointed out, clamps were not needed. I just had to hold the planks at the stern and at the bow for a couple of minutes after microwaving the planks so that they retain the curve.  
 
Once I finished planking, I taped up the keel and exposed frames to protect them from scratches. I then sanded the hull smooth from 100 grit to 600 grit sandpaper.

Here are a bunch of pictures to mark this major milestone of the build:





























Also, please do not hesitate to critique my planking. It will help me improve for my next models. 
 
Now, I am thinking of installing the 2nd layer of wales before I apply the finish to the wood.

Marking out the deck clamp - I took the measurements for both the height of the clamp and the clamp dimensions from the cross sectional drawings.
 
I then had to think of a way of marking it accurately inside the hull.  I did think about drilling small 0.5mm holes from the outside to get my marks but decided against this.  In the end I modified my height gauge which worked really nicely and was actually very simple to do.
 
Next I joined up my marks by using a strip of wood which I temporally clamped in place.  I now have a nice solid line to put the actual clamp up too, and its nice and even all of the way around the inside which must be a good sign.
 
Now is going to be the hard part - The clamp at this scale of 1/24 is a piece of timber 3.4mm thick by 9mm wide and I have cut these in readiness.
 
The problem is definitely going to be the bow as the curve due to the dutch style construction of the hawse timbers is quite severe.  The timbers themselves are far too fragile to get any sort of heavy clamping going on so I need to preform the clamp curve at this point. 
 
I'm going to make a jig to try and bend the clamp into shape - It may work; it may not due to the thickness of the timber and the harsh curve but I'm going to give it a try.  My other option is to spile this piece but I don't think that this will be any easier.  There is no way I can spile it spot on to the curve and camber so to would probably need a bit of clamping to pull it tight.  The problem for me then would be that the grain would be all wrong and I think that it would snap.
 
The other issue for me is that the clamp is made up of 4 individual pieces which are joined with a hooked scarph joint.  This will be another first for me but I do like a challenge.  I may not get any posts up next week as I have a lot to solve but that surely is the fun in what we do!
 
Mark
 
(Sorry for some reason my photo's have all appeared back to front  )
 

bitao, Greg and druxey thanks for the support and encouragement 👍  I honestly don't mind putting mistakes and problems that I have into this build as hopefully it will help another builder in the future.
 
So onto the helm port - I really enjoyed making this part!  I cut out the three parts required and discovered that one of my counter timbers is not quite vertical.  So the first thing I did was to mill a slight taper onto the port leg so that it fitted correctly.
 
Next I glued and pinned the parts together as I needed to get as much strength into this assembly as possible.  The reason being was the cutting of the port hole.  In Adrian Sorolla's book he glues these parts to the ship and then cuts the hole at a later date.  This seemed like a very difficult thing to do considering its position, shape and angle.
 
So I free handed a hole out on the mill which went ok and then finished it off with a file.  I think I've saved myself one hell of a job later in the build.
 
So my next job is to check the fairing inside the hull to make sure that I'm happy with it.  I then need to strip down my jig to give me better access to the hull and I then want to mark out and make the deck clamp.  Should be fun!
 
Mark

Hi All
 
Some more done and this time it's the port side which just about completes the frame.  
 
It went ok as I gained experience on the other side and I'm very pleased the way its very symmetrical.  These small frames are not hard to install; they just take a long time making sure that the angles are spot on.  I also tied into the quarterdeck beam again and have faired the inside.
 
So its now out of the jig and for the first time I can actually see the shape of the frame - what a moment that was 👍
 
I can't do any fairing on the outside yet as it still needs some strengthening first but its not that far away.  The next job is to make and instal the helm port which will give much more strength to the counter timbers.
 
Its not perfect by any stretch of the imagination  - but I'm very happy with the results so far and thanks for all of the comments and likes 🙂
 
Mark

Hi All
 
Moving on from my experiment I've now used the same method to make the actual dogs legs for the ship.   The only thing that I did differently was to just take more care marking out their shapes.  The practice one was a bit angular whereas the correct shape is more sweeping from the wing transom upwards.  As before I cut the birds mouth joints first and then just sense checked them on the model before moving on.  They are pinned and glued onto the wing transom and I cut the quarterdeck beam to accept them too.  I'll fair them when I get a bit closer with the small frames that now need making as I think that this will give me a better line of sight to get it right.
 
I'm really pleased the way that these have turned out and the stern vault is roughly the correct shape and dimensions too.
 
For other first time POF builders like me I think its worth saying that actually making these parts is not that particularly difficult or time consuming.  The tricky part is lifting the drawings onto the wood correctly.
 
Cheers Mark


Thanks for all of the likes 👍
 
"Dogs legs" - Wow these are tricky things to make.  I've been following Adrian Sorolla's excellent guide and have tried his suggestion on how to form them. He uses a slightly wider piece of wood than the actual counter timbers and basically shapes it slightly diagonally to obtain the dogs legs.
 
Now I've tried this approach and discovered that although it seems quite simple it has two issues that I think can change the shape of the stern slightly.  It makes it very difficult to come off of the wing transom vertically as two angles in different planes are required even if coming off straight.  More worrying is the way it changes the shape underneath the counter timbers which I believe is called the stern vault.
 
I've made two pieces this way and have found them to be completely unacceptable so I have decided to try a different approach.  I have looked at this part square on which requires three timbers being glued together to make a very wide piece to work with.
 
I then transposed the drawings as best I could to get the correct shape which I then cut.  The result is actually quite close to what I want.  I am now coming off of the transom vertically and the stern vault is keeping its square shape.
 
I have attached a few pictures of my experiment below but I would like to know what others think?  Is this a good way of making this part or am I way off base here?  The part that is in the pictures is very rough just to try and help me see a way forward with these parts and it is not going on the ship.
 
Any comments or advice would be very welcome and I hope you all have a great Xmas.