popeye the sailor

looks really cool Nenad! 

Hi guys, all is well in North Eastern Maine...brrrr, but good. I wanted to illustrate my tool set up for using my Proxxon BS/E small belt sander and Proxxon Micromot Tool Holder to make or shape the whaleboats. This setup allows for keeping the tool stationary while allowing you to hold the part up against the sander to shape it with much more precision than holding the tool against a clampped wood part. I am offering the vise and clamp as a combo on my website if anyone needs one. It also will hold most hand held Proxxon tools which are listed on the page. It's a real handy set up. More to follow as I make progress on the boats.
 
Link: http://www.proxxontoolsdiscount.com/store/p321/39405_Precision_Vise_FMZ_%26__Micromot_Tool_Clamp.html

Thanks Popeye!  
 
I still have the mizzen dead eyes to install.  I discovered that I screwed up and drilled the holes in the deck the same as they are on the rails which leaves no way to secure the eyes.  Luckily I can get to the area beneath the poop deck, so I can glue some wood down there to solve the problem.  Hopefully.
 
Marc

Hi All
 
I have made a new forecastle support  beam.
 
I decided to glue some walnut strips to the face.
 
I have only dry fitted the beam and forecastle deck.
 
Denis.

no need to apologize Bob on time issues........same thing is happening to me       I think your making great progress.   minor adjustments aren't really a bad thing........they are what will give you a stunning build when your done 

looks really cool Nenad! 

David - Thank you for answering George's question.
 
I've finished fitting the flags. I'm not sure whether my method of hoisting them is suitable for the period, but they work quite well this way.
 
I made two toggles for each flag. One is fitted to the bottom corner of the flag, the other to the halyard at the top end. When no flag is flown the toggle and eye in the halyard are joined together :
 

 

 
The halyard goes through the sheave in the truck :
 

 
The toggle in the halyard passes through the eye in the top of the flag :
 

 
The other end of the halyard has an eye through which the toggle in the bottom corner of the flag passes :
 

 
The halyards for both flags belay to small cleats :
 

 

 
Some views of both flags. I briefly soaked them both in water, shaped them and let them dry overnight before fitting them :
 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thank you Greg and John.
 
 
I started Scratchbuilding not long after I started the AL kit of HMS Supply and found that the entire kit was not only wrong but contained a lot of garbage parts. That was about 7 years ago. After that I used the hull bulkheads of a Modeller's Shipyard kit of the Norfolk Sloop which I'd bought for my grandson to build (he didn't start it) and Scratchbuilt the rest, including milling my own timber from a chunk of Norfolk Island Pine for all the planking, masts etc.
 
Sure, lots of guys build models as good as or better than mine using just hand tools. It takes a bit longer though, especially when making multiples of the same part which can be "mass produced" on a Mill in next to no time. Others use a drill or Dremel tool to turn parts if they don't have a lathe.
 
Personally, I find it more accurate using the machines. I couldn't do some of the things I do without them.
 
An update on the Flags. I painted some Egyptian Cotton white on one side and let it dry. Then I cut a 5mm wide strip from it to make the Hoist Cloth. I glued half the width to the flag using Industrial Strength Contact Cement.
 

 

 
Next I glued a loop into each end of some 0.20mm line and PVA glued it to the middle of the hoist cloth and let it dry. Finally, I Contact Cemented the 2nd half of the cloth over itself. All that remains is to soak the flags and shape them. This is why I used the Contact - the PVA would have softened and let go :
 

 

 
 Danny

Thank you John, Mark, Robin, Greg, Dave, Druxey and Geoff.
 
 
Mark - only a press with the iron. I didn't get any "bleeding" on my untreated test piece, or for that matter on the "real thing". It was more a matter of the paint creeping under the tape between individual pieces of weave in the cloth. This only happened in a couple of places where I may have thinned the paint a bit too much and/or didn't press the tape down firmly enough.
 
Robin and Greg - I went with the comments in TFFM regarding the St Andrew's Cross being usually shown as too THICK on a lot of modern models. I may have made mine a FRACTION narrow, but what's been done is done. Here's a pic of the action between USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere, painted by Thomas Birch, that shows the St Andrew's Cross as narrow as mine :
 

 
 Danny

Thanks for the comments Robin, George, Spyglass, John, Pat, Mark and Greg .
 
John, I was thinking ahead (well sort of) - when I fitted the quarterdeck rail I wasn't sure if I'd fit the hammock cranes as my silver soldering skills at the time were only in their infancy. By the time I'd got around to the shrouds I'd forgotten all about the cranes   .
 
Flags
 
I have made my own flags before - on my last two models I used Silkspan with reasonably good results. Unfortunately it seems like I've left the silkspan at my daughter's place, so I thought I'd have a go at using the Egyptian Cotton which I fortunately DID bring with me, and used Artist's Acrylic paints. I figured all I had to lose was a couple of day's work. If they were a failure I would buy some from Modelflags.com who from all accounts supply some pretty good ones.
 
I started by drawing the Jack using AutoCAD. I then printed it out twice, drew up the borders for the Ensign and used the 2nd Jack in it's top corner. I taped both of these to the tops of a couple of flat containers so I could turn them in whichever direction I wanted when doing the hand painting. Then I taped the two pieces of (oversize) cotton over them. Last thing for this step was to go over the outline of each section with a pencil as they were only just visible :
 

 
I painted the White areas first, being careful to stay inside the lines as much as possible - from previous experience I'd found that it was better not to have to paint over the white, even with dark blue, as it lightened considerably and needed at least three coats to cover sufficiently :
 

 
After laboriously painting the red cross without using any masking I had the idea of using Tamiya Masking Tape for the blue areas. I tried it out on a 3rd piece I was painting for any experiments I might have needed - it worked very well, considering I was painting on a medium that it wasn't really designed for. There was a small amount of "bleeding" in some areas that needed a bit of touch-up, but it was much easier than trying to free-hand the lot  . Then I removed both flags, turned them over, and repeated the process for the other side :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I cut the borders with a new Xacto blade and steel rule. The painted edges cut cleanly, but the small border I left for the Hoist Cloth tore out a bit as the weave of the cloth wasn't quite exactly square to the flag. A tip to avoid this is either paint the band white or use dilute PVA on it :
 

 
 Danny

Thanks Druxey, I sure did. I managed to drill the holes with a Pin Vise without "re-arranging" any rigging .
 
Fitting Swivel Guns
 
I've also fitted the Swivel Guns that I'd made earlier. They are only going on the port side. All the guns can be moved in any direction. Once again, I had to redrill the holes in the posts from 0.8mm to 1mm to accept the mounting legs :
 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thanks for the kind comments Robin, George, Mark, David, Albert, Carl, Ronnie and Marc. As always they are much appreciated .
 
Fitting Hammock Cranes
 
I managed to drill the holes for the hammock crane mounting "bolts" without going completely insane, but it was a near thing . It would have been MUCH easier if I'd done this a lot earlier in the build. The couple hiding amongst the shrouds were fun (not).
 
I've fitted the passing ropes too. I chose to use a simple knot at each end :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Clues, Tacks and Sheets
 
I have finished all the rigging apart from the Ensign and Jack Halyards. Yay .
 
The final lines to do were the Clues, Tacks and Sheets. Being loose-footed the lower fore and main yards have Tacks, there is none on the crossjack as it doesn't carry a sail. The topsails only have clues and sheets, and the topgallants have neither. These lines all control the foot of each sail. They are hauled downward when the sails are in use.
 
Here are a couple of pics of the overall view :
 

 

 
The tacks on the lower yards all use a Crown Knot which goes through the strop in the sheet block. I tied a simplified version which looks similar from a distance :
 

 
Here's a pic from TFFM on the configuration. I've done mine a little differently as there are no sails :
 

 

 
The clue starts with a Timber Hitch around the yard. Here's a pic of this knot :
 

 
It then goes through the clue block. To see how I made these specialised blocks click HERE. Next it passes through the clue block on the yard and belays to the Main Topsail Sheet Bitts (main course) or the Fore Topsail Sheet Bitts (fore course). Both go through the sheaves in the bitts before belaying to the bitt rails :
 

 
The topsail clues are similar except they belay to the Fore Jeer Bitts (fore), the Quarterdeck Rail (main) and two of the cleats at the foot of the Mizzen Mast (mizzen).
 
The Tacks for the fore course start with a crown knot which goes through the fore sheet block strop, through the large tack block on the boomkin and belays to a timberhead in the bow.
 

 
The main course tacks go through the Chesstree sheaves, through the fixed blocks and belay to the forward cleats inside the bulwark :
 

 

 
Continued in next post .......

....... continued.
 
The standing end of the Fore Course Sheet is seized to an eyebolt below the aft fixed block, through the sheet block, through the fixed block, and belays to the aft cleat in the bulwark :
 

 
The standing end of the Main Course Sheet is seized to an eyebolt below the fixed block on the quarterdeck planksheer, through the sheet block, through the fixed block, and belays to a timberhead forward of the block :
 

 
The sheets for the topsails start with a crown knot through the strop in the clue block, through the sheet block on the outboard end of the lower yard, inboard to the sheet block near the centre of the yard, and belays to the fore topsail sheet bitts (fore), main topsail sheet bitts (main) and to an eyebolt at the foot of the mizzen mast (mizzen) :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Spritsail clues and sheets are rigged in similar fashion, both belaying to cleats in the bow :
 

 
I won't be adding any more rigging such as Buntlines, Leechlines, or any of the Staysail rigging as no sails are going on this model.
 
 Danny

Thanks for looking in Denis and Scott,
and all the "likes"...
 
Denis,
I have the wooden hull smooth and treated with filler where necessary, all is covered with one coat of nitro- Wood-bounder, to fix the grain.
The forecastle deck is very much rounded down to the sides typical for this ship (like some fishing Trawlers have), that is what I`m working on right now. These rounded side Areas of the forecastle deck will be plated as well...
 
 
Scott,
thanks for dropping in,....
The plating of the hull still needs to wait until I have the decks on, and the upper two rails mounted to the sides
Nils
 
Ammendment :
 
here a non scaled hand-scetch for illustration,,,,
 

 
 
 

Thanks for nice words and support
 
Just testing ... Cu foil 0,5mm, toothpick and wire 0,5mm
 
 
 

 

 

Hi everyone
 
Mark's comment about "sub subminiature" has triggered something off in my mind.  What if the owners of Symphony were into models of nuclear submarines? Well, why not make a teeny tiny model of a nuclear submarine to display on the curved cupboard in the saloon?
 
So I did one and the results are in the photos below.  Ok, pls use heaps of imagination, because...well...because, it's the best I could do!  I need to have Igor's excellent miniaturisation-skills for me to pull it off really well.  
 
I've also started on the staircase leading from the companionway to below deck.
 
Hope you enjoy the photos.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Wow. The shots that show the whole boat - just, wow. It's looking amazing. I love seeing interiors, especially in three dimensions. It almost brings more life into the model, in a way. It's so fascinating to see spatially how it all relates, and you've done a masterful job representing it.

you've been busy Patrick.........very nice progress indeed!.    the recent addition to the bow section as well as the furniture,  really adds a lot of detail.   she's continuing to shape into a very sweet looking build  

you've been busy Patrick.........very nice progress indeed!.    the recent addition to the bow section as well as the furniture,  really adds a lot of detail.   she's continuing to shape into a very sweet looking build  

very nice work Nils........been out of the loop for a spell,  so I had quite a bit to catch up on.  she's coming along really great though and I see you've already started with your fine metal work    the stern is looking better and better with every bit of detail you add to her.

very nice progress Nenad.........the bow is looking better with everything your adding to it 

Hi Piet, Bob and everyone else for hitting the Like button!
 
First of all, Piet, I'm sorry for causing your jaw to drop.....hehehe!!! I'm just grateful that you like my work.
 
Secondly, Bob, as promised, here are the photos of the folding chairs and the saloon table. The photos aren't the best because the chairs are so small that photographing them properly was difficult.
 
Oh well, it's the best I can do with my limited photo skills.
 
Hope you enjoy them.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi Ben, Nils and Bob and everyone who hit the Like buton
 
All of your comments are greatly appreciated!
 
Well, over the past few days I've managed to do a bit more work on the galley, the double bed stateroom that sits opposite the galley and the small berth and shower compartment in the forepeak.  In the main saloon, I've done the saloon table as well as three folding chairs that are arranged around the saloon table.
 
I hope you enjoy the photos.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi Mobbsie and Frank

Many thanks. The interior is based on an actual yacht named Signe, however, as I was never able to find the actual hull drawings, I made up my own hull, instead. So, it's a bit of a hybrid version of the real yacht, Signe, (ie my hull, but with Signe's interior). As a consequence, because it wasn't strictly the real Signe, I decided to rename the model to Symphony.

I hope I'm making sense. Anyway, here's what I'm using:

PS: Frank- your "Symphony" that you've posted, would, indeed, keep me off the streets. She'd be a whole lotta fun, for sure!


Cheers

Patrick