egkb

I’ve finished the hull painting; I painted the upper half a slight off white, mixing white paint with a little cream color paint.  (My wife does a lot of crafts and has a lot of acrylic paints) I did paint the bottom of the hull Model Expo Hull Red, MS4968.  I thought that the hull was a little bland so I painted the rub rail a Tamiya Flat Black that I had.
 
For the first time I used Tamiya plastic masking tape and it was fantastic.  I really like the way you can stretch the tape to make curves, the water line, or fit a curved piece, the toe rail.

The Rigging Continues
 

 
I had never served a rope on any of my previous models I’m sad to say. In fact as I was starting Cheerful last year I wasn’t sure I would on it either, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into it. During this phase of the construction I served a LOT of rope in multiple lengths. The @Chuck Serv-O-Matic makes what I thought would be complicated really not any more difficult than loading it up and turning the crank, and turning the crank some more and then some more turning of the crank. If you’re not sure about serving rope, I highly recommend you get this machine and serve away. It’s easy and, so far, none of my served ropes have sprung into an uncoiled mess, he said hopefully.
 
I also prefer the now historic Syren Dark Brown rope instead of black for standing rigging, I determined Guterman 100% polyester #593 (Seal Brown I think) is a good match and is what I loaded on the server. Also, I discovered a sewing machine needle (vs. regular sewing needle) comes in handy for starting the thread through the rope with the threading done on the pointy instead of at the back of the needle.
 
Shrouds
 
Right up front let me say there are many other ways to set shrouds, many of them likely better than mine. My method is an amalgamation of what I’ve learned from the many great builders on this site, my own experience in having done a few on nine prior models, and limited patience. I doubt my method is the best choice for many, I’ll share it here nonetheless.
 

 
With the able Quad Hands on my bench I decided to install the shrouds after the mast was stepped. I followed the common practice of alternating sides by pair: fore starboard, fore port, stern starboard, stern port. The forward shroud on both sides is served its entire length, the other shrouds are served to just below the cheeks. Many cranks of the serving machine were enjoyed.
 

 
I used the same seizing at the masthead and the deadeyes. I chose .012 dark brown rope instead of thread because I wanted the shrouds to show a bit of heft. After 10 turns and tightening my "fishing lure" I crossed the two running ends to the back side of the seizing and tied them in a square knot then sealed the knot with a drop of CA.
 

 
I really enjoy building models of sailing ships, I do not however enjoy installing deadeyes  (or worse the still to come ratlines). As I mentioned many modelers have many methods and I wish you all well in whatever manner you choose. I start with a jig that includes a sacrificial deadeye glued on and two brass pins at the required distance below inserted into the deadeyes already on the hull. A piece of tan thread is tied by clove hitch onto the shroud and used to mark the bottom center of the loop made by the jig (after a lot of fumbling about).
 

 
That loop is transferred to the closely located Quad Hands and the shroud dead eye (temporarily upside down in the photo) turned in by crossing from back across the front and then seized with a clove hitch.
 

 
With the running length temporarily seized with another piece of tan rope with another clove hitch the shroud is tested with another jig, this one with brass pins on both ends at the required distance.
 

 
Once the length is confirmed and set, the clove hitch is glued at the dead eye and three seizings, as described above except four turns instead of ten, are added, the running length is trimmed at the top of the third seizing. The distance between seizings is established by the plans.
 

 
The lanyard is added and temporarily tied by half hitches just above the first seizing. That’s one done, seven more to go.
 
I’d like to say it's as smooth as I described it, but for me it isn’t. Getting all eight the right length is a lot of fumbling and fiddling about and very time consuming. How did I ever do 74 of these on the 1:64 Pegasus...
 

 
Eventually though it gets done and I can finally move on. I’ll do a little twisting about to clean them up more when I permanently tie off the lanyards.
 
Burton Pendants
 

 
The two Burton Pendants were actually the first item installed over the mast head, before the shroud lines. The standing portion is fully served and runs about a fourth of the distance down to the deck. The tackle is hooked to the cap rail and belayed to the pin rack. The challenge was having the each pendant equal distance from the masthead and deck. No cranes on these ships, the pendants did all the heavy lifting.
 
Lower Backstays
 

 
On to more fun rigging beginning with constructing two fiddle blocks from Syren. They consist of three layers, I squared them up using their frames and glued the three together,  I trimmed away the frames and did some sanding, removing the char and shaping them a bit by rounding the edges.
 

 
The fiddle blocks look pretty cool rigged up, Yet another clove hitch wrapped the center, glued and the ends trimmed away. I sorta wish there were more than just the two as part of the rigging.
 

 
After installing some long pendants, served around the mast head equal to the shrouds at just below the cheeks ending in a block, tackle was added using the fiddle block, two hooks and another block. These are terminated using two of the metal straps added so long ago on the side of the hull and belayed to a cleat next to the ladder. The plans show the two hooks facing each other, I’m not sure why so I just followed the plans. The third strap is for the upper back stays I’ll add later.
 
After the chore of the shrouds the backstays were a bit of fun, like the Burton Pendants the main challenge getting both port and starboard stays to match in length with placement of the block and fiddle block.
 

 
The ship now has a lot of blocks and strings running about. Of course the mess on the deck and the alignment and tension of the lines will be adjusted later. How long ago did I plank that deck…
 
Lower Yard Sling
 
This was a fun little project in and of itself, routed around the masthead and terminating in a thimble with a hook, it will hold up the lower yard.
 

 

 
I described this brass tube cutting tool in a previous post, Out it came again to cut some tube for the sling thimble. I cut a couple of different sizes as I wasn’t exactly sure which I’d use (I settled on 1.75mm). I learned to hold the brass down using the knurled knob with one finger and covering the cutting area with another so the cut piece doesn’t fly off somewhere. With the right tension adjustment in the spring loaded punch I created the thimbles and then blackened them. I was having too much fun and so made a bunch, I’ll need them someday.
 
The sling rope is served its entire length with the thimble seized at the center. I made a hook with a larger eye to fit into the thimble. Here I had to make a decision. The monograph has the the sling meeting in the back center of the mast head, but notes many ships instead had them meeting on the port side. I opted for port, the main reason being it’s getting pretty tight back there with all the served lines needing to be below the throat halyard eyebolt, there is more room to work on the side of the shroud gang.
 

 
I seized an eye on one end off the ship after measuring the distance with a prototype sling seen here (not served and with a temporary thimble). The plan is to have the hook just below the parrels of the gaff. The first eye I could then do with the sling off the ship.
 

 
Then the fun begins, determing the location of the second interlocking eye. I did this by looping the loose end through the completed eye and settling the center of the hook on the mast. A clip removed from the quad hands provided a little weight to hold the hook at the bottom center while I adjusted the length. Yet another piece of tan rope tied in a clove hitch held it all in place until I had the right length. Notice my served line is extra long, more than needed but a few more cranks on the serving machine was better than coming up short (though it didn't need to be quite this long).
 

 
Then it’s working in the tops to seize the second eye interlocked in the first eye so that the completed the hook hangs at the right length and lays nicely on top of the port shroud gang. Though it took some fine work to do this without breaking anything, it proved the be rewarding when, as a result of careful planning, it came out right the first time (not everything I do does).
 

 
Working on the ship up high in the tops is made possible by the Quad Hands, the old third hand I had is a joke compared to this tool. I like the middle size plate augmented with a third 16” hand (for a total of five) bought separately. Here it is assisted by a box - one I got in a bit of trouble for when my wife walked by and asked what I was doing with her nice linen covered box from her sewing room. Fortunately both the box and I came out unscathed.
 

 
The completed sling came out just right for me, the lower yard will be happy to fine it supportive of its position on the ship, or so it would say if yards and slings could talk.
 

 
The mast head is getting crowded with just the main stay to add. I think here is where serving all that rope pays off, perhaps especially at 1:48. The shroud gang though packed in tight looks pretty cool to me. I’m also pleased with my decision to connect the sling on the port side, those eyes are better accented here than behind the mast in my opinion.
 
Now to the main stay and then see how long I procrastinate before starting the ratlines before finishing out the mast rigging.
 
Thanks for stopping by, your comments and likes are always appreciated.

thanks for the likes..
i got the first one finish, the rope is yust for now to hang it.... 
i wil do the rope work for the ankers later....
 
svein.e

More on the pilot house. We have been wondering at the engine controls and have gone to several evolutions. This final one is this. It came relatively easy to build. I took a dowel and made a lengthwise cut in half. I sliced the half round like pepperoni and carved  two grooves. The levers were made from map push pins and I selected Red (port) for gear and Green (starboard) for throttle.
 
This was the result:

 
The instruments were made using and online picture that I printed reduced to the 1/32 scale. The same with the compass rose. I installed the supplied wheel just to see the fit. I intend to fabricate in more reasonable wheel following PJG's build.
 

 
I then dry fitted the helm into the pilot house


 
Noticed I also installed the door with its hardware and left it ajar. 
 

 
Next I will finish the windows with the acetate and the frame. I also will make the roof removable so that, every once in a while, I may enjoy the insides.
 
As a matter of reference I want to tell you about another super detailed ship: the Eilean Mor. It is a Clyde puffer and Banjoman (the builder) has a pilot house detailed to the chart tools and even the pencil. He also has the coolest crew. He posted his build in "Model Boats" forum at modelboats.co.uk. I got a lot of ideas from him.

An experiment with oars
 
I've been busy with building work around the house for the last week or so and have had little time in the workshop. Rather than getting on with the rigging, I thought I'd use the small amount of time I had to resolve an issue that has been bugging me for some time - the boat's oars. The kit oars are photoetch, and whilst the detail is very good they are undeniably flat. I don't mind some of the flat PE parts such as the belaying pins but the oars just didn't look right to me so I thought I'd have a go at modifying them.
 
I started with 1mm brass rod held in the Proxxon lathe, using files to create the handle shape in one end:

Next, I needed to taper the other end where it fits against the blade. This time the tapered section was too long to work unsupported, so I cut a shallow groove in a small piece of hardwood to hold the end of the rod whilst I filed it. I didn't have enough hands to photograph this stage, but you can see the block in the next shot in which I'm filing a flat in the tapered end for the blade to fit against:

As the PE blades were nicely detailed I simply cut one off and glued it to the rod. Here's the result alongside an original PE oar for comparison:

I think it's an improvement, but I'll reserve final judgement until I've painted it.
 
Hopefully the building work won't keep me out of the workshop quite so much over the next week or so and I'll be able to crack on with the rigging.
 
Derek
 
 

A few more... 

So, my Seydlitz is finished- more or less. A had great inspiration in your posting and used the original photos a lot in my work. The main difference from my model to yours is perhaps the rigging of the nets. Luckilly, a lot of original photos excist-from Seydlitz as well as from other German ships of the period, so I was able to figure out a rigging that is, at least to my understanding, workable, and may be also reflects the original rigging 🙂
A full set of Infini PE was used as well as part from my parts bin etc. Rigging is elastic rigging thread of different thickness. Lanterns are made from stretched, clear sprue. Loop antenna made from 0.2mm copper thread rings and elastc thread set up in a self made rig.
The wooden deck was tinted a thad with a mix of paint heavily diluted in white spirit.
Net rigging attachments to the deck are made from sprue and brass 0.3mm shaped to rings. 
Paint used is mainly from Lifecolor suplemented by Vallejo and Revell paints.
 

The building inspector!!! You know how it goes..I have to slip him a C-note to overlook my shotty workmanship.😁
 
 

The gallows are now completed....they are basically the same as the main jeer bitts.  The uprights are a little shorter to accommodate the top of the gallows which has that shape you are all familiar with.  The height of the gallows is equal to the top of the breast beam.  It is also  only temporarily in position.   I will be starting to build the chain pumps next which will allow me the ability to tweak all of their positions to align the crank handles and permanently install them.  You can see I removed that second beam as it will only make tweaking all their positions trickier.   That was just resting on the deck clamp as well.  Any questions.
 

Beautiful hatches and tailboards! Great ideas on the fabbing, I wish I was following your build rather than being ahead, you have some nice methods of building Andrew.

It's decided then, deck first then bulwarks.
 
But I've been working on some other items first.  I did a bit more work on the bowsprit, but it's not yet ready for prime time.  Before I installed the coamings to the deck framework, I made up two hatch covers -
 

 
then glued on the coamings (including the cabin coaming, not shown).
 

 
I've glued in the two ladders as well.  To further delay the start of decking, I tackled the trail boards.  I cut the boards from 1/32" sheet, steamed and bent them, and cut tapered moldings for the edges.
 

 
After painting them, I made a copy of the printed sheet bearing the trailboard carving (as well as the lettering for the boat's name and port) to trial-fit into the space between the moldings.  It wouldn't go at 100% but would at 90% with a little trimming.
 

 
I was all set to glue them to the hull and cutwater but decided to check the photos and plans one last time - a good thing as I discovered that the gammon iron is installed under the trail boards.  So these will remain off the boat for now.

Eamon:
You are obviously EU and I stand corrected. A Scottish vessel should have the green on the right and red on the left. We, "yankees", have the opposite. I found that out one day in Rotterdam when we were entering the river with a green marker on the right. I almost fainted thinking that we will be run aground.
 
BTW, in the US, we have the intercostal waterway which I frequently boat on. There, the red is to the land side while the green is to the ocean side. This make it very confusing to people not used to it. And then, if you leave the intercostal you must go back to " red, right, entering" which sometimes has a green and a red marker in the same place. Many a boater has been caught in this conundrum 

A little more progress. I tried to do the roof covering the same way I did my Patricia steam  launch. This was to cover the roof with cloth to imitate tarps. I did this with the cloth provided by Amati for the sails, but, it seems that that the edges tend to unravel. I brushed some Elmers glue and will see tomorrow how it went.
 

 
The big progress was in my pilot house. I built the helm as per my sketch but did not drop the top to make room for the throttle and the gear. I think it may look better to have these controls closer to the helmsman hands. Who knows? Basically, I didn't pay attention to my sketch and endeavored to fit this helm in the space available. So be it.
 

 

 
And this shows my previously made compass fitting nicely in front of the cabinet.
 

 
I have made mini-copies of vintage instruments and will glue them to the slanted part of the helm, in front of the compass. The compass will have his compass rose. I thought about bezels but I think I am getting miniaturization this too far. My eyes can't handle these ultra small stuff. Besides, you can hardly see these details once I set the roof over it.
Finally, I am looking for something that resembles formica to cover the top. The sides will be planked with my leftover from the outside if the pilot house.
 
Thanks for watching and I love to hear your comments and/or advise. FYI, my Patricia launch took me 5 years to complete as I had tremendous lapses in my construction time. Your interest has inspired in me this desire to finish this boat and the go into another build. I am having a ball.

Moving right along.....or forward so to speak
 
You saw me build the capstan and I am using the red one....all I had to do was really make the two pawls.  I just used a strip of 3/64 x 3/64 boxwood.  I cut them to length.....shaped them as shown.   The arse end being rounded off.  I drilled a hole through that end so I could insert some black fishing line to simulate the bolt or pin on the pawl.  Painted them black with some weathering powder and glued them on.  Notice how I sanded the back of each pawl thinner so the part that engages the capstan is thicker.  Dont mind all the dust!!!

 
Then I continued forward adding beams ....lodging knees and hanging knees...
 
UNTIL I reached the area you see below.   The beam is permanently installed.  But the two columns are not.   These are just temporarily positioned.  Do not glue these two columns in yet.   Note how they were morticed into the coaming.   These two columns will need to be lined up perfectly with the Main jeer bits......and gallows.  The crank handle for the chain pumps will run through all of these elements and the need to be positioned only after the chain pumps are made.   That will come soon.   So just position them like this without glue.   

 
 
In fact....the next two (the last two) deck beams wont be added permanently yet either.   They will not be glued into position until after we have the chain pumps all finished and those crank handles installed.  But you will be testing with them while you build those elements...
 
For example....time to make the Main jeer bitts.   These actually sit directly under the forward most deck beam or breast beam.
 
They are laser cut and just like the columns, the uprights are etched on both sides for reference.   These are boxwood as well.   You will notice some heavy char on the sides of these because they are very thick at 3/16" thick.   Rather than just sand or file off the char from the sides of these, I scraped the char off first.   I used a number 11 blade.  That should remove most of it so whatever remains can be cleanly and easily sanded away.   Boxwood in this thickness requires much more laser power to cut through and thus more charring.   
 
Notice how the front and back of the uprights are flat without any dimension.  You have etched reference lines but you must still use some blades, chisels, files or whatever you are comfortable with....to mimic the profile laser cut on both sides.    These take some time to shape and do properly but they arent difficult.   As you can see they clean up beautifully and make some really nice jeer bits.  The two sheaves are all laser cut for you on both sides.....how nice is that???  You could round off the sheaves if you like for extra credit.
 

The jeer bitts were painted red and positioned beneath the Breast beam or that first qdeck beam.    Nothing is glued in yet....these are just tests in preparation for completing the chain pumps.  It rests right against the coaming behind it.   The cross beam is on the aft side.  But I will mention....
 
This is important,  the Breast beam is actually wider than all of the other deck beams.   Its 3/16" wide.   In addition, you must scrape a decorative molding and glue it the fore side of this beam.   The molding was scraped from a 3/32" x 1/32" boxwood strip.  Deck planking and margin planks will over hang this breast beam and look very nice.  I dont know if you can see or make out the molding on the beam.   But the jeer bitts are tested under it.   It is starting to look good now that more fittings are being added.   Next up the gallows which is almost the same as the jeer bitts but has a fancy top.  It is positioned just forward of the main mast.  Thats next!!!

A little farther away to see more of the hull at this stage....remember those two remaining deck beams are NOT glued in yet......
 

And farther away still as the fittings continue to be added...

 
 
 

Little progress. I dry fitted the ladder and the aft companionway and you can hardly see the ladder. When I install the door, which is already fabricated, the ladder will be invisible. So much Effort!
 

 

 
I have also been working on the pilothouse and I am pleased with the results. 
 

 
I placed one my figures inside and it sure look tight. These pilot houses were mainly designed to protect the helmsman from the weather. Be it as it may, the figure is actually to scale 1/30 which translate in a guy 6'-6" tall. I bought these figures in France (See my previous posts) and they are beautiful. I also bought some figures from Tamiya but they are 1/35 scale which makes a 5'-4" fellow. I figured Scots as really tall and brave guys so I'll use my frenchies. Besides, I only intend to man the deck.
 

 
Also been thinking about the helm. The mechanism provided by Amati seems very complex for something that will be literally hidden inside the pilothouse. I have been following PJG's built and have come out with the following idea: To build a wood encased helm that will include levers for gear and throttle, the compass and the engine instruments. Pardon the scribbling in my sketch, Will appreciate your comments.
 

 

i forgot to say that the anker stock is the wrong way.... 
but dont worry i can take it of  and turn it 😉

scratch building anker for syren... 
 
i order some time ago parts for my cheerful build, so i did have the anker kit from Chuck
but thats 1/48 scale so i used the kit as gide to make new for the syren.
here is the result befor sanding and painting.
 
svein erik

Thanks, Eskimo’s base coat done. 

Now to start on Eskimo which had a CB3098 dazzle pattern according to Sovereign hobbies colour charts. 

I gave the deck a blue grey filter then spent the day on several layers of blues before a overspray of 507a (RN Admiralty dark grey) then added a bit of white to fade it. I’ll add a filter after it has a day to dry. 

Ship' double wheel:
Some are from a Go pro camera. It is possible to correct image distorsion and other characteristics in LIghtroom which has the profile of many camera  and lens.

Hi all,
 
Thanks for the likes. I've made a little progress by drilling out the (almost) vertical hole through the transom for the rudder post. In retrospect, perhaps I should have done this before I glued on the stern post, as it would have made for much easier access to drill from below, but the stern post was glued in place, so instead, I measured up where the hole should start, and then used a 1.5mm drill glued inside some 2mm plastic tube to make the initial hole. The plastic tube allowed me to align the drill by running the tube along the stern post, thus creating the right angle for the hole. The photo below shows that the stern post steps in towards the top (as does the rudder) so by putting the 1.5mm hole vertically above the top of the aft extent of the stern post, the hole ends up in the right position. Hopefully that makes sense... I neglected to take any photos of this stage.
 
With careful checking at regular intervals, the hole eventually made it's way through the king plank on the deck, and it was then opened up using a series of drills from above (being careful not to scratch or dent the stern post as the drills made their way through to the other side) until the hole was approx 7.5mm. At each step, the hole was checked to make sure it remained central to the king plank. (As it turns out this was approx 1mm to starboard of where it should be, but I'd rather shape the rudder post so that it looks central than have the hole off-centre - this won't be a working model after all, so I can cheat )
 
Once opened up, the rudder was constructed from it's laser-cut parts, and with some rough shaping of the rudder post it was test fitted. The rudder post fits beautifully, with a nice small gap between the sternpost and the rudder (it had dropped away from the hull a little when I took the photo below, but it does sit closer). I'll bevel the fore edge of the rudder and perhaps taper it towards it's aft-end before finally fitting, the top of the rudder post will need to be shaped for the tiller, and there'll be plenty of work to do to get it coppered, etc... before it gets fitted, but I was keen to ensure it would work before I went too much further.
 

 

 

 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Rob
 

new update.... i did finish the timber heads , am not doing that mistake again... 
so this is the best i can do , nex time it wil be dunn the correct way😇
i soon can start some more rigg on the bowspirit ...
 
svein erik

It seems I stock more pearwood blocks that I thought. We have now added 6 and 7mm sizes for the single and double blocks, so there are 8 sizes for the single and double blocks,  from 2 to 7mm, and the triples have 5 sizes from 3 to 6mm.
 
I will also be stocking a few essential tools, like plank nippers, electric plank bender, pin pusher, and a few other things very soon.