clloyd

Done... on the port side at least. I'll finish up the starboard side and then attack the quarterdeck outer bulwarks.  Thank heavens they're not as radically shaped.  I do, however, really hate macro as I see some things that need fixing before final sanding, like a few gaps in the planking.
 

Depending on how subtle you want to be, you can also take a hypodermic needle of appropriate gauge, grind the angle off it, and "stamp" a circle on the end of the planks.  The indent on the wood will be visible, but the effect is a lot more subtle than the drill and fill method.
 
Colin

I'm with mobbsie - just a quick tweak with the pliers on the ends should do the trick. 
The choice of metal was a good one too - just looking at the wood cleats I agree that they would be far to delicate, and would result in breaking and much cursing during the rigging process.
 
Colin

After some minor cursing and a small change of method, I've completed the first side of the copper. The change was to go, as much as possible, to one continuous strip of copper tape for each row, rather than piecing two or three pieces together. This took a little more care to avoid twisting the strips, but ended up taking less time and looking neater.
 
While I'm generally pleased with the look of this side, I have no doubt that the refinement of method, and the practice that I've had, will make the second side easier and better. I will take a day or two off from the copper, however, because I am a little bleary-eyed from looking at it for a week. Now that my Brass Black has arrived, I think that I'll do some eyebolts and ringbolts for a bit.
 
Bob

I had started on the channels and deadeyes last month, but was distracted by the continuing discussions about mills. I was sure that there must be some way of modifying my drill stand to act as a mill, and sure enough, after a lot of web searching, I found a railway hobbyist who had done exactly that with his Proxxon drill stand. He was kind enough to share the details and provide a sketch.
 
So with the sketch in hand, I adapted my drill stand  as you can see if you look at my positng on the forum about this (see ‘How to modify Proxxon MB 140 drill stand to act as mill’ at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4539-how-to-modify-proxxon-mb-140-drill-stand-to-act-as-mill/?p=130660).
 
This in turn led me to buy an x-y table for the drill stand as well.
 
With all this thinking about better precision, a glance at the deck and looking at all the wonderful work on this forum showed me I could do a lot better with the guns, the shot racks, and the hatches. So why leave learning the skills to do better until later? Answer: do them again, but better if possible.
 
Replacing the shot racks
 
So the first thing to do was to remove all the shot racks. Unfortunately I had used epoxy adhesive to stick them to the walls. Despite much soaking in Isopropanol, they refused to give way, so I had to attack them with chisel blades. They came off, but it was clear I’d have to replace them as small patches of wood were also torn off the walls at the same time.
 
That done, I cut some new strips of wood from some pear pen blanks using my Proxxon FET saw (with which I am at last really comfortable and pleased with the precision it can offer) and loaded them on to a jig that would hold them on the x-y table.
 
That allowed me to mill a nice series of three hollows at a time spaced by 0.5mm, leaving gaps between each three hollows to file out as individual shot racks.
 

 

 
I finished them off with a face plate, and painted them. I again used the x-y table to drill holes for the gun bolts that would go into them, and then with some of the salvaged bolts and rings from the previous racks, installed the bolts. The racks were then set aside until I had finished more of the other deck furnishings.
 
Replacing the hatches – (1) the Gratings
 
I had for some time been thinking about learning how to do gratings for myself – I had read a lot about the standard technique of using a circular saw, but had been somewhat mystified as to how to get a groove exactly at the right spacing from the saw blade.
 
Of course, the answer was obvious the moment I decided to put blade to plywood panel. The way to achieve a perfect spacing was simply to start by cutting the slot in the panel by clamping the panel to the table top and having one edge of the panel firmly against the fence. Then, once the slot was cut, the panel was turned over and a spacer of the correct width was inserted between the panel and the fence.
 

 
I had decided that I’d go for 0.8mm strips for the gratings with a corresponding hole size of 0.8mm in order to achieve a scale size of 2” for the gratings (it’s a 1:64 model). The kit gratings are about 1mm and they just looked a bit too big to my eye.
 
Luckily I have a 0.8mm saw blade with no kerf, and after several attempts using a 0.8mm gauge from an old set of feeler gauges I had, I managed to cut 0.8mm strips that I could use in the slot.
 

 
One little hint that others might find useful is to set the depth of the cut using feeler gauges until you can just feel the edge of the saw over the edge of the gauge as you raise it through the slot.
 

 
I had especially enjoyed Dafi’s account of his trials making gratings (at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1449-making-gratings/?p=29923), and I went through similar set-backs. My main problem was making sure the grooves for the gratings were parallel. Given the grooves were 0.8mm, and that I was pushing the block of wood by hand over the blade, minute variations in the pressure I was using resulted in (1) increasing deviation from parallel as I went further into the block, and (2) a very small variation in the spacing between cuts. I found that a deviation of 0.01mm would translate into blocks that would have slightly different spacing, and that this would result in gratings that would only interlock for about 7 or 8 bars.
 
To overcome the problem of variance from parallel cuts, I used a block of wood that covered both sides of the spacing bar as well as the blade. This was then pushed through by the cross-slide/ angle stop. I never quite managed to make grooves that were perfectly spaced for more than a couple of centimetres, but I found that that did not matter – the only grating that was large was the main grating and I found all I had to do was make up the central section as a cross hatch and then simply add ordinary strips of the right depth to the remaining outer grating grooves.
 

 

 

 

 
Another recent purchase was a Proxxon sander. This I really find valuable. It allowed me to finish off the coamings around the gratings with ease.
 
Curving the gratings
 
I have seen that others bend their gratings using heat. I wasn’t quite sure how I’d do that and then put coamings round them. So I used an old biscuit tin first to shape the underside of the gratings, and then to shape a mirror mould so that I could curve the top of the gratings.
 

 

 

 
 
Replacing the hatches – (2) Main companionway
 
It has been said that the Alert’s deck plan would not work for the Sherbourne because the Sherbourne is smaller and using the hatches from the Alert would make the deck far too cluttered. That’s probably true, but I liked the look of my old companionway, so I just re-did it using pear wood from the pen blanks I had bought off eBay. It’s a bit better now, but not enormously so.
 

 
Replacing the hatches – (3) The Captain’s companionway
 
Much more interesting was the aftmost companionway. Others have preferred a tall structure, but I thought I’d stick with the Alert’s glass-covered one – mostly because I wanted to try my hand at using Perspex and embedding mullions in it. I didn’t like the rather tatty look of the one I first made, especially as I had CA glue marks on the plastic sheet I had used for the window panes.
 
At first I tried using my modified drill stand to mill the grooves for the mullions in the Perspex. However, it soon became clear that with my drill at its very high speed the melting Perspex on the mill bit made the process unworkable. Even worse, I snapped my 0.8mm mill bit when trying to remove it from a solidified ball of Perspex.
 
However, it struck me that I could use the skills I had learnt for the gratings. After a bit of experimentation, using a 0.6mm blade and making the necessary 0.6mm strip for the jig, it was relatively easy to slice grooves to a depth of 1mm in a 2mm Perspex block.
 
With another bit of luck, I remembered that some 0.5mm strips of cherry wood that I had previously ordered were in fact 0.6mm thickness – so they made perfect mullions for the grooves in the Perspex.
 
I first cut longitudinal grooves in the Perspex, then fitted the strips of cherry wood into those grooves (using small amounts of CA glue along the bases). These were sanded down to 1mm from the surface of the Perspex.
 
The block was then rotated and the horizontal cuts were made with the saw using the same jig – though this time the depth of the cut was adjusted to allow for the extra depth made by the inserted longitudinal strips of cherry.
 
With this done, the horizontal strips of cherry could then be inserted into the horizontal grooves, and the whole was then sanded down with the sander.
 

 

 

 

 
The final touch was to mill a couple of slots for the hinges and to insert two 2.5mm lengths of 0.5mm brass wire into the slots.
 

 
Watch out with the vacuum cleaner!
 
I had rigged up a vacuum cleaner nozzle over the sanding machine as I found that was more successful at removing wood dust than the outlet provided for the sander.
 
Unfortunately, the double sided tape I had been using to fix the companionway cover to a block of wood (to make the sanding more accurate and less dangerous) became worn and, as I was nearing the last bit of sanding on this rather precious piece, the vacuum cleaner simply sucked up the piece!
 

 

 
So I spent a dusty 15 minutes taking the bag out of the vacuum cleaner and sifting through the dust until I found my precious tiny piece again.
 
Still to come:
Cannon Channels and deadeyes  
Tony

Preparing Tuck Molding and Waist Rails
 
The Tuck Molding covers the join between the Lower Counter and the Hull Planking that meets it. I'm only fitting the Port side. The outer end of the molding needed shaping to return to the Wales. The inner face needed bevelling to match the angle of the Counter  :
 

 

 

 
The same molding scraper was used for both the tuck molding and the Waist Rail. There is a slight difference in the actual molding, but it wasn't enough to warrant making a new scraper (which is quite a job - I'm using the same scraper for most of my moldings, the difference can't really be seen by eye).
 
I've prepared a couple of strips of Waist Raiing, which won't be fitted until after the Quarter Badges are installed. The one on the left has it's molding scraped in ready for final trimming to width :
 

 
The Scraper :
 

 

 
  Danny

Hi everyone,  I went and made a few items to go with the stove but after looking in on Remco stove and pot's, find his to be a lot cuter so going to have to do a little face lift on mine to make them just a tad cuter, if that's possible    Beside got to thinking, whats a stove with out  pot's and pan's.   Remco see what you went and made me do.  Gary

Gallows Crosspiece
 
I've made and fitted the Gallows Crosspiece. This is used, not as a Gallows (they used a Yardarm for that ), but as the aft support for the Ship's Boat and spare spars etc. This pic was taken before a finish was applied.
 
I'm at a bit of a loss to see how the fore end of the boat and spars is supported. There is nothing in TFFM that I can find which is used as a fore support . Any suggestions?
 

 
I've also fitted the two half-curved entry steps to the waist which I'd made before I went on holidays.
 

 
A couple of progress pics of the decks. I've applied Minwax Wipe-on Poly to all the areas that I hadn't finished beforehand.
 

 

 
  Danny

Håkan, if I told you where I found the time, there would be less for me!
 
Mini update ..... I finally released Blanche from the building board she has been bolted to for so long.
 

 
It was with considerable relief that I didn't see any sag or hogging. More relief was due to the fact the whole thing didn't spring apart ......
 
So to avoid breaking off all the tops, I built a little support from some polystyrene glued to some timber ....


 
Which will be clamped into my portable workbench
for external fairing. I quickly took it outside to create some dust and the arrangement worked well. Less pleasing was seeing how much I have to do, as my early woodwork leaves something to be desired .... this is going to take a while.
 
Still, it was nice to see the undersides after all this time.
 

She looks a bit like a beached whale....
 
 
Cheers
Rob
 

Sam,
 
It's still straight.   Once there's no smell, I'll try using it on something.
 
 
Bug,
 
It's big mystery to me also.  
 
 
Meanwhile, back in the shipyard.....
I think, hope, pray, that I've hit on the final solution to the exterior forecastle bulwarks.  After realizing that doing the same thing over and over again again expecting different results is insanity, I went for something just a little bit different.  A combination of spiling and stealers!  No, wait... I was doing that. 
 
Change the wood.. YES!!! Change the dimensions of the wood... YES!!!
Went from plum which I wasn't plum crazy about anyway to cherry.  Change the dimensions from 4" X 9" to 2" X 12".  The wood is more flexible and less grainy than the plum and a nicer color.
 
After playing with some designs and feeding the scrap box, there's now one main strake that runs the 30 feet of bulwark.  And two stealers to help make the transition in the flair.   The next set pics (in the next several days) will show it fitted and glued in place and hopefully sanded.    By the way, try to ignore the pencil marks.... Oh...I guess I better make the one for the other side while this is still fresh.
 

Wow thanks guys! It's really fun to build this little stove, much more than I had imagined. Now I understand why people build small buildings from individual brick, one ought to try once. 
Tony, I think a simple stew would be appropriate.
Gee Rusty you're tough to please
 
So chimney added, time to make some pots and pans....
 

 

 

 

 
Remco

Grant,
When I made shroud cleats for bounty I had a similar mass production idea, but came at it from a different direction.
 
I crosscut a piece of timber from a blank.  Thickness = depth of cleat, width = length of cleat.  I then shaped that - a concave depression on the top, a cut on each side to make the profile so I could then just slice off individial cleats, tidy up with a file and install.
 
I don't have pics anymore, so I hope that made some sort of sense - give you another option for how to make them.
 
Colin

the armament is now being built - the barrels are supplied in the extra's kit so they replace the plastic kit ones on the smaaler rurrents this means cutting of at the breach and drilling to allow the replacement to be installed 

BE - Honestly I have no idea ho anyone could do it without a machine, I'm finding it tricky enough with one.
 
John - hopefully you'll enjoy it when you get there!
 
Robert - the inability to trim all comes down to the fact that the line used in the serving needs to be secured at both ends.  The technique I'm using is to use a needle to thread the serving line through the thicker line and secure with an overhand knot and drop of G-S Hypo cement (It really is a great glue to use on rigging).  If you were to try trim this back then everything just comes unraveled.  It would be such a time saver to have a  length of served line and then just trim as needed!
 
End with serving line threaded through and small overhand knot...

 
...with G-S Hypo cement and trimmed.

I thought the bulkead formers were a bit weak so I added pieces of paper to the bulkhead/horizontal formers. Not the neatest job I have ever done...
 

 
The transom formers are incredibly weak and just touching them breaks them easily..I will need to make a scratch version of the one I snapped and build the hull at the stern first to minimize any more breaks. The rest of the hull is quite sturdy.. 
 

 

 

Captain Al,,
 
Size chart here... http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/chemistry/stockroom-reagents/learning-center/technical-library/needle-gauge-chart.html
 
a #21 needle has in inner diameter of 0.5.  Outer diam is about .8
 
Further points from experience.  Do it before your final sanding.  If you have a wood that is at all soft then go gently, as it is possible to take plugs out.  They don't look too different so it wasn't an issue for me.  Definitely trial first on scrap. Make sure you like the effect.
 
I'm a bit lucky that I work closely with a couple of GPs, and am allowed to just wander into the storage area and source materials. 
 
Colin

Foam on the wave crests now adds some realism. The wake will be next. Then an overhaul of the sails. Still not satisfied with it.
 

 
And another small (just 24h render time) animation:
 

Andy - appreciate the observation, I had tried what you describe before taking the photo, but it just didn't look right.  Turns out, I had the stay going under the wrong cross tree arm.  All corrected now and sits a treat on the crosstree
 
BE, John, Jim and the 'likes' - thanks as always
 
Main Stay and Preventer Stay collars
 
Started tackling the main and preventer stay collars while waiting for some line to stretch out for the main mast shrouds, (still don't feel I have the shroud thing figured out just yet, but its early days...).  After a bit of a break in the shipyard, these took a full day to complete.  The instructions indicate that the collars should be lashed under the bowsprit through some eyes, but I decided to take the approach outlined in Lever for these.  Unfortunately, because the gammoning is in place, a lot of fiddly steps needed to be done on the ship.
 
As anyone who's done any serving knows, and I'm rapidly learning, is that the process requires you to know the correct length of line you need to serve because 'trimming a bit off' isn't an option.  Here's the first step figuring out the length of served line I'll need.  Marker pen on similarly sized natural line.

 
Detail of the final collar as per Lever

 
Main stay collar in place...

 
...and preventer stay.  I had added the cleats onto the bowsprit before mounting, and commented at the time that the plans were inconsistent.  Luckily the collars seem to sit nicely where intended

 
 
 
 

Well Jason,
 
You're responsible for me getting to be a half hour later as I've read all the way through your log.  She looks great and you can see the benefit from all the extra work you are putting in.
 
Colin

If one of the planks wants to run nicely, what about doing the second much like you'd do stealers in the stern?
 
Lovely model btw

Depending on how subtle you want to be, you can also take a hypodermic needle of appropriate gauge, grind the angle off it, and "stamp" a circle on the end of the planks.  The indent on the wood will be visible, but the effect is a lot more subtle than the drill and fill method.
 
Colin

Depending on how subtle you want to be, you can also take a hypodermic needle of appropriate gauge, grind the angle off it, and "stamp" a circle on the end of the planks.  The indent on the wood will be visible, but the effect is a lot more subtle than the drill and fill method.
 
Colin

Thanks every one and those folks for there likes. I have got the stove further along and do think  I have come close to the cast iron look, at least as close as my skill will let me. Well back to work on her gun deck guys. Here is some updated photo's guys, and Mr Jones finally got a paint job along with the stove. Some were he seem to have picked up a slop bucket. Now I wonder where he got that from. Thanks again guy's.
 
Gary

Now I was ready to fit the yards, or so I thought...........
 
Re-fitting of the Fore Lower Yard went pretty much according to plan.  Here's a few shots showing how it looks now.  Note the the addition of Brace Pendants, and also the change of the Yard Tackle Pendants to include Long Tackle Blocks in lieu of standard double blocks:
 

 

 

 

 
It doesn't really show in the pictures, but two 7" (3/32" scale) blocks are attached to the first shroud at the futtock staves on both fore and main mast.  These are the tricing line blocks that we discussed some posts back.  Still haven't finally decided on how the Yard Tackle Pendants will be displayed, but now I have some options and will have a play with these in the next few days.
 
The lifts are not yet belayed as when I re-read Longridge on belaying, it seems that the Kevel blocks to which these are belayed had been omitted by my kit, the kit instructions suggesting they be belayed directly to the timber heads.  Having thought about it overnight, I decided that I would just have to manufacture some Kevel blocks and do it right.
 
The basic design is pretty simple - I took the dimensions from the diagrams in AOTS as Longridge is scanty on dimensions for these.  Initially, I just drilled some holes to represent the sheaves:
 

 
Then I thought, what the heck, why don't I have a bash at making some working sheaves - another opportunity to play with some of my toys  I had some 6mm diameter Aluminium bar stock on hand, so I turned this down on the lathe to approx a 3mm diameter and then bored a 1mm hole through it for the sheave pin.  Then I sliced off sections about 1.3 mm thick:
 

 
The Kevel blocks were then adjusted by milling out the full sheave space using a 1.5mm end mill mounted in my Proxxon drill press:
 

 
And here are the resultant pieces waiting for final finishing and assembly.
 

 
Now I'm ready to continue with the yard re-installation.
 

Navy?  Time period? Ship size?
 
Those things really affect the answer to that question.
 
But - just cause they were lying round my harddrive (research for my current build) here's a couple of contemporary models from NMM - British mid - late 18th C. 6th rates  Dark blue (prussian), ochre.  
 
It's my understanding that some of it did come down to what the captain could afford.  Blue was quite expensive as a pigment, ochre not so much.  If memory serves prussian blue was the main blue pigment that had been available at that time.
Later (19th C) the back yellow became a bit more common.
 
Colin