Wintergreen

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 126 – The Wheel
 
I had hoped to make the wheel by the same methods used for the larger wheels on Naiad, but do to the smaller size of this wheel and the material, I found that some compromises would be necessary.  They are described later, below.
 
I wanted to use a darker wood for the wheel and decided to use cherry.  This is less hard and strong than the European Boxwood I used on the Naiad wheel.  In the first picture the outer diameter of the wheel has been turned in the lathe and the 39” (.54” act.) diameter is being checked.
 

 
The square cherry block in the four-jawed, self-centering chuck has its grain running perpendicular to the centerline of the lathe.  This would permit using a cross-grain lamination to strengthen the final assembly.  The 1/16” hole in the center of the turning was centered carefully using a center drill in the tailstock, before boring the final hole that will eventually receive the wheel axle.  In the next picture, slots for the 10 spokes are being milled in the face of the turning.
 

 
For this work the chuck was removed from the lathe to the rotating table on the mill without removing the turned piece.  The saw was then centered on the turning and brought down into contact with the face.  The blade here is .032” thick and it was lowered into the work to make a slot about 2.5” inches square.  After each cut across the face of the piece, the table was rotated 36 degrees and repeated to make all the cuts for the 10 square spokes.
 
In the next picture the piece has been returned to the lathe and a laminating piece is being glued on with the grain at 90 degrees to that of the turned piece.  The drill chuck in the tailstock is being used to clamp the glue joint.
 

 
This single cross grain lamination is already a much simpler construction than the multi-layer pentagonal assembly of the two Naiad wheels.
 
After the glue had dried the added piece was turned to the rim diameter and its entire face trimmed off to the final thickness.  The next step was to remove the area between the rim and the hub.  This leaves an integral rim/hub turning that will ensure centering of the hub.  The 10 square spokes were then slipped into the piece as shown in the next picture.
 

 
I had intended to insert these temporarily, to be replaced with the final turned spokes later – one-by-one as was done on the Naiad wheels.  However, I decided this would be impractical on this small wheel.  Apart from the difficulty expected in turning these very small cherry spindles, the amount of gluing surface at the hub was too small without the spokes.  For these reasons I decided to glue these square spokes in at the hub and round the handles by hand.
 
The next picture shows the inside face of the rim being turned through to the hub.  Once the cut passed through the ID of the rim, only the spokes held the assembly together – as with the real wheel..
 

 
In the next picture the wheel has been parted off and is ready for final sizing and shaping of the handles.
 

 
The next picture shows the handles being shaped using diamond grit files – very carefully, since the glued-in spokes may not be replaced if one is broken,
 

 
 
The last picture shows the finished wheel mounted on the helm enclosure.
 

 
The enclosure is still removable and I expect it will spend the next many months stored away somewhere, safe from damage during the remaining construction and rigging of the model.
 
Ed

Ok here we go.
 
When cutting a brass rod with a sharp knife a burr is created, I use this both to my advantage and at one point it needs to be removed (otherwise you'll have trouble inserting the bolt in the predrilled hole. Here are the steps involved:
 
1. This is the rod after the last bolt was cut
2. The burr is removed using a small steel ruler
3. A new diagonal burr is created to have the bolt firmly set in the predrilled hole ( I use bot 0,5 mm brass rod and a 0,5 mm steel drill to drill the holes, without the diagonal burr the fit is a bit loose)
4. Cutting off the bolt creates a burr this is the dome of the bolt
 

 
Tools needed (I won't cover the use of Liver of Sulphur which I use to blacken the bolts after they are in place):
 

 
Step 1 This is the rod after the last bolt was cut
 

 
Step 2 The burr is removed using a small steel ruler
 

 
Step 3 A new diagonal burr is created by rolling a sharp blade overt he rod to have the bolt firmly set in the predrilled hole
 

 

 
Step 4 Cutting off the bolt creates a burr this is the dome of the bolt
 

 

 

 
 
I use a brass rod with a small hole in the point to push the bolt into place leaving the dome of the bolt proud to the surface. When the are all done I treat them with liver of sulphur to blacken them.
 

 
The end result (it's hard to capture but each bolt has a nice subtle dome):
 

 

 
Remco
 

I'm not sure how many is the charm anymore, George.   I know I turned the air blue and paint peeled off the walls when the keel didn't fit...and then I discovered what happened.....  Even the dog hid.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 125 – Helm
 
First, thank you, Bob.  Gross exaggeration, of course, but much appreciated nonetheless.
 
The term helm refers to all the equipment and structures associated with the rudder.  Unlike earlier ships where the wheel operated a tiller that turned the rudder by means of a system of ropes and sheaves, most ships of the clipper era used gear driven machinery to rotate the rudder.  It is most likely that Young America used a mechanism consisting of reversed thread worm gears that drove a collar at the top of the rudder post.  Gearing of this type had more mechanical advantage and resisted reverse forces generated by pressure on the rudder.  Wheels could therefore be single and smaller even though the ships were larger and faster.  Higher speeds put more stress on the rudder.
 
I did not intend to model the rudder machinery, given the scale and the fact that it is enclosed from view. (The small wheel was enough of a challenge for me.)  However, the lower part of the heavy machine base that supported the gearing would be visible because the rudder enclosure is open at the bottom.  The first picture shows the rudder shaft and a brass turning that models the lower part of the cast iron machine base.
 

 
In the next picture the rudder head has been shortened and the iron base blackened.
 

 
The base was simply glued to the deck using medium viscosity CA.  The next picture shows the completed helm enclosure waiting for the wheel.
 

 
The enclosure is fixed temporarily to the deck on wire pins into the corner posts.  This will allow the helm - with the fragile wheel - to be left off the model where it will be safe from damage as other work proceeds. 
 
In the next picture the wheel axle has been fitted into a solid block inside the enclosure and two small grated platforms have been installed to help keep the helmsman’s feet dry.
 

 
The helm enclosure was made by the same methods used on the other deck structures so I will not describe that here.  The last picture shows the completed helm with the wheel fitted.
 

 
I was fortunate to be able to use some grating left over from the 1:96 Victory model – just enough for the two raised platforms.  I will cover making the wheel in the next part.
 
 
Ed
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 124 – Skylights
 
There were two glazed skylights on the poop deck that provided light and sometimes ventilation to the cabin deck below.  The two completed skylights are shown below.
 

 
The frames for the lights were made of interlocking parts with lap joints cut on the milling machine using a 1/32” bit in the setup shown below.
 

 
Slots were milled to one-half depth in a 3” thick pear blank, then sliced to size with a thin slotting saw blade on the Preac saw as shown below.
 

 
Slots for one long side/mullion and two short sides/mullions were milled into the blank.  The next two pictures show the frame assembly.  My shaky hands required the parts to be held in place for this work.  I used sticky side up masking tape for this as shown.
 

 
The next picture shows the finished frame before final overall sizing and sanding.
 

 
The paneled walls for the skylights were made by the same method used for the companions, then painted white and fitted with natural wood corner posts.  Both frames and a ridge rafter have been positioned on the aft skylight enclosure in the next picture.
 

 
In the last picture the frames have been glued to the enclosure and protective brass wire bars and wire hinges added.
 

 
After dropping this last frame into the cabin deck and fishing it out twice, I added the masking tape.  This forward skylight was constructed with one side open, held up by two small wood supports.  In this picture the after skylight has had beeswax/turpentine finish applied.
 
 
Ed

Hi fellow builders!
 
So, first scratch build as well as first build in a fairly long time...what can be of this you say. Actually it is a build that I've been commissioned to do. That doesnt happen too often. For this particular commission I will not charge any payment, it is for pure fun.
 
Quick background story (to keep with MSW rules of non-this and non-that content):
Our pastor came up to me and asked about ideas for a candle holder to place in our church. A candle holder, usually found in Lutheran and Catholic churches, can have the form of a globe, a tree or just a box filled with sand to put small Christmas tree sized candles in.
 
"A boat" was my immediate thought. I tested the idea and it was received well so I went home and took out my sketchbook. But what form should the boat be of? Anything open of course. Reverted to Google that told me about a excavation some 30 years ago at the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
http://www.jesusboat.com/Story-of-the-Jesus-Boat
How appropriate! A boat from the time around the start of our calendar. Not unlikely a type that Jesus, himself, rode in.
Search "Galilee" in our forums and you will see both scratch builds as well as kit.
 
Anyway, out from my pencil came the below sketch. Never mind the tables, they are a separate story. The sketch was presented to the board and accepted. Return question was: "When can it be ready?"
Guess I have to start making sawdust.
 

 
But first I made a card skeleton to grasp the needed size. As it turned out the finished boat needed to be some 20% bigger than the card model.
 

 

 
Obviously the finished boat will be of wood, not card. But card is quick and easy to do a mock up in.
 
Scale, might someone ask for. No such thing. My boat will some 75 cm long from stem to stern. I have blown up the mid section to care for more candles. There is some plan of the real thing on the site above which shows a flat bottom, rather upright sides and curved stem and stern and then the distinct feature of the cutwater. Like found on Roman ships of the time.
 
Wood then? It will be oak. Rather uncommon on these pages because of it coarse grain. The real thing was build in Mediterranean species of which I have none...also the size of my model will cater for rather sturdy dimensions. Oak is known to bend well and it looks great when aged. Another feature of the oak I will use is that it is salvaged from an old motor boat from the 1940s...the trees that was used started to grow some 200-250 years ago...
 
Here are some pieces that I picked out, arent they nice?
 

 
Well, after some hand planing and a couple of runs through my thickness planer the blanks for the stern looks like this:
 

 
That is how far I've come now. 
As always, daywork will interfere with time in the workshop, but I will make the most of it.
 
 

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

Inspirational progress Ed!
I can really image one or two thoughts passing through before you put the saw to the bulwarks...but as always, excellent execution.

Thank you fellows!
 
Yes Crackers, I think I saw that when I started this project. Searching on Google and ending up at MSW...funny that :-)

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

Thank you fellows!
 
Yes Crackers, I think I saw that when I started this project. Searching on Google and ending up at MSW...funny that :-)

Druxey, Bob, Ian, Steve, thanks for your positive comments, and all who pressed the like button.
 
I finished rough sanding the four lights and am starting to work on the cleats with the bars that protects the Lexan.
 

 
after cutting the cleats they were drilled with an .046 drill to accept some 3/64th brass rod 3/8 scale size.
 

 
the cleats were then given an initial shaping, by stacking them on foundation with 2 sided tape to sand them
 

 
after assembling the first one the bars looked a bit small so I up sized them to 1/2 inch (1/16) but did not want to re-drill the holes. after cutting the copper tube to length I inserted some 1/32 brass rod in each end and gave the tube a gentle squeeze with some round nosed pliers to hold the rods in place.
 

 

 
I am thinking that the copper looks better anyway.
 
Michael

Thank you fellows!
 
Yes Crackers, I think I saw that when I started this project. Searching on Google and ending up at MSW...funny that :-)

To all:  I have watched with interest at everyone's safety concerns.  We truly have become a thoroughly risk avoidant society.  Just remember the safest knife is the sharpest and the safest tool is the one that scares the hell out of you.  No offence guys, but Ed is a big boy. (I can hear the thundering rebuttals already)
 
"Remember, be careful out there" (Hill Street Blues)

Inspirational progress Ed!
I can really image one or two thoughts passing through before you put the saw to the bulwarks...but as always, excellent execution.

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

So, finally I figured it out...it took me only, what? 6 months on how to proceed...
 
No, not really. Day-job, you know, and the dreaded wall of fatigue was close up front. Didnt bang into it though, for which I'm glad.
 
Anyway, two strakes on, how to get the rest on without bulkheads. Some simple and crude frames might be the solution.
 
The masking tape is to get the positioning of frame pairs equal.
Contact cement between the tape and the frame will make for a desent bond I hope. And not to cumbersome to peel off when I get to that.
 

Hi Alan, welcome to my place. Any questions, just ask. Great building table you put to together. 
 
Todays update re the build.
 
First out was to plane a bevel on the floor. Started by setting the for and aft bevels inline with the stem and stern lines. After that I continued the bevel from fore to amidships and from aft to amidships to minimize tear-out. Regarding using cutting handtools, it is an absolute joy to work with very sharp tools. How come you ask? Well, work had me on watch over the Xmas holidays which generated some extra to the budget so I ordered a long sought after addition to my shop, the Tormek sharpening system. I ordered the larger one and I have not regretted it. It IS pricey, yes, but then I do a lot more than just scratch wood for models. 
 
Also, in the pictures I try to let the tools I use linger around in the pictures so that viewers can see what has been used for each step.
 
Stem bevel.
 

 
And stern
 

 
And here the entire line is cut.
 

 
After the bevel was in place I started the rabbet. This was my first go at a rabbet, but I am fairly pleased with the outcome.
Planks are 4 mm thick which I hope makes for a quite easy plank-rabbet mating process  later.
 

 

Next installment, some kind of a keel and stem.
Since this boat will be generic I am using my artistic license to build as it suits me. 
 
For safety measures I glued the stem in place twice. Well, not really for safety, it was more of the so familiar:  
"I can do better than that" kind of joint...
 
Happy enough with my second try. The stern came in place somewhat easier. You cant avoid being very humble when you look at other masters work here on MWS. Joints without gaps, straight and true pieces and all. Well well, I might get there some day when time permits.
 
Here are a couple of images of the work so far. Stem and stern are glued and pinned even though I really dont think they would fall off without pins. I took a hot kettle of water to make the stem part with the keel. And it is not really the keel either since it will be a waterline model.
 
Pictures, yes, here they are:
 

 

 
Camera in question is the cell phone, hence the warped corners. 
 
Next up will be to form a floor/bottom for the boat. Since the boat will be half full with sand to position candles in I want to make it a confined structure.
 

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.
 

 

So, finally I figured it out...it took me only, what? 6 months on how to proceed...
 
No, not really. Day-job, you know, and the dreaded wall of fatigue was close up front. Didnt bang into it though, for which I'm glad.
 
Anyway, two strakes on, how to get the rest on without bulkheads. Some simple and crude frames might be the solution.
 
The masking tape is to get the positioning of frame pairs equal.
Contact cement between the tape and the frame will make for a desent bond I hope. And not to cumbersome to peel off when I get to that.
 

Hopefully the updates will come a bit more frequent from now on.
 
As previously noted, an awful autumn, but recovering is steady. Yay.
 
Strake no 3 in place and 4 on the go. Did one of those silly mistakes again. Cut a plank a couple of mms too short...gah! Good practice to fit new ones though...
 

 
And before you ask, a close up of the new homemade clamps. When comparing to Eds original I realize I some day might want longer rods to widen the gap. Well, they were quite easy to put together so over time they might get siblings.