Charter33

Thanks for your input during my build Egilman, there is a special for you.























Cheers Rob

Yesterday was the only full model day I'll have over the long weekend.   I'm still working on the hold, trying to get it ready for staining.  The first task was to install the (toothpick) treenails on the starboard side. 

Next, I installed 1.4mm 3d printed round bolts on the keelson.   Both of those steps went smoothly.  I'm proud (and surprised) to be able to announce that not one of those 12 little dots disappeared into the ether. I need, though, to improve the uniformity of exposed heights when I install these things - the appearance is not quite as uniform as I'd like.   

I have to be very selective where I use the bolt heads - each $11.00 set includes about 4 dozen bolt heads in 5 different sizes, both round and hex. That sounds like a lot, but I can probably only use the two smallest sizes of round heads, which works out that they're costing me about 10¢ each.    Therefore, I also need a lower tech, lower cost solution for the high volume bolts, like those on knees.  What I'm going to do there is to use 20 gauge copper wire, which you can see in the photo I've used for the bolts in the bilge stringer.  The wire is slightly smaller in diameter than the treenails (.8mm vs .9mm), but it protrudes up, and that dimensionality makes them more prominent.  I'll use the same wire bolts for the knees, too.   I do have to blacken them, which I believe I've got figured out, but haven't done on the model yet.
 

After bolts, the next task yesterday was to install the bilge and floor riders that help brace the mainmast.  The bilge riders (the four heavy knees in the pictures below) needed some work to fit properly in their assigned position - the inevitable adjustment that's necessary for pieces like this.
 

Those very heavy timbers will get 3d printed bolt heads - probably the next size down (1.2mm) from what I used on the keelson.   When they're all done, I think it will be time to put a coat of WOP and stain on the hold.   
 
After that there are a few straggler tasks necessary before I can install the lower deck beams:  I have to fit (but not yet install) some composite knee-like fixtures that the kit describes as trusses, but which are termed "futtock riders" in Ab Hoving's edition of Witsen.  These are (to me) odd-looking timbers shaped somewhat like the letter 'f'.  I believe they were stiffeners to help tie the deck beams into the hull structure.  But what matters to me right now is that I make sure I've got a reasonable fit on their lower portions  while the hold is still easily accessed.   
 

Another task in the hold is to load some cargo - I've got several barrels that will need to be secured down there.  I'm still trying to figure out the stain.   These are all resin barrels from Syren; the two with painted bands are demos that Chuck kindly included in my order.   The others are a result of my own various, unfinished experiments with stains.
 

 
 

Starboard side done, those lids are a big project alright. Onto the hammock cranes now.

It’s got 4 coats of white on it now:

 

I sealed the model prior to painting:

I used Mod Podge for my initial sealant:

This is the best undercoating that I have ever found.
 
It works to make a paintable undercoat for any material that I have ever painted.
 
Once it cures for 24 hours, it will not flake or peel off, even on soft plastic miniatures, and acrylic paint sticks to it just fine.
 
I will start actual paint work tomorrow after this cures.

The only caveat is that you CANNOT sand anything you use Mod Podge on.

I’m painting a Shorts 360 for a friend of mine.

It was his old plane.

I’m going to clone that particular plane for him.
 
Here’s the 3D print:



It has the typical issue with tricycle gears in that the model is tail heavy.
 
I will add pennies to the under carriage, where they won’t be visible to weigh down the nose.

Today, I attached the foot rest, and finished the instrument panel, which is a little kit in itself. The main instrument consist from different PE layers, which receive decals then, to add some depth to it, nice touch, MFH. As the fuel tank is polished, I decided to only brush finish the IP for a bit of contrast. There are also tiny PE hands for the main instrument, but I´m not sure, if I use them.

 

Then, I airbrushed the saddle with semi matte black, after some relatively less thinned black Mr. Surfacer 1000, to achieve a tiny bit of grainy finish to simulate the leather. Afterwards, I inserted tiny rivets around the saddle, which was extremely tedious. With the last rivet, I smeared a tiny dot of CA glue onto the saddle and will have to finish it again. Maybe, I will use the hairspray method for this, airbrushing flat black on top and then rub partly away, for a slight worn finish. The seat is not finally attached in the pics.









I hope, MFH reacts soon and I can purchase the missing parts. Other than that, the Crocker is near ready, but I hope the bad mojo of the last days doesn´t carry over to the next built, as it already spoilt this builds end.

Cheers Rob

Starboard lid production started.

After 2 coats of linseed oil. The wood  color is now a little bit warmer and darker and reflects environment. I used dry brushing method. I applied a little bit of oil to kitchen paper and than used small brush to transfer oil to the wood. I plan to apply 2 more layers tomorrow on larger surfaces, sand them gently and than apply the final layer 

I've reached a stage in this build where several activities need to be prepared and organized before the primary task of fitting the channels and chainplates can be done. There are five gun ports on each side that I'm guessing would be best done first as they are below or very close to the channels. There are also the pairs of holes to drill above each gun port and the distance between these is determined from the hinges on the gun ports. Rather than just make and fit a few gun ports it seems that now would be a good time to make them all although most will be fitted after the main rigging has been done. To complicate things even more I want to follow Roberts excellent idea for adding the rings inside and outside of each port.
First step then, making these rings. 0.5 mm brass wire was wound around the shank of a no.56 drill bit giving an internal diameter of about 1.2 mm.


Cutting these into individual rings was initially tried with an acrylic clamp and a piercing saw

Moderately successful, but I finally resorted to using a modified pair of cutters.

These rings needed blacking as did the eyelets they need to be fitted to. As the work bench was set up to do this I also did the 1 mm diameter tubes that will guide the port ropes.

Fitting the rings into the eyelets was straight forward, but a bit tedious so cleaning up the port lids and building up those that overlapped wales was done to break things up a bit.
Approximately 350 rings, allowing for spares...

and the starboard lids..

Hinges etc. will be added once the port side ones are done, and then they can be painted, and the distance between the guide tubes measured. I know these will be 6 mm above each port.... think it will be time for yet another jig to help with accuracy and consistency...
Another slight modification. I decided to drop the height of the two foremost painted ports to give more room for the rigols

And finally.... it seems I've been adopted... meet Bertie...

He is not our cat, he lives in the next street, but he 'owns' the neighbourhood and is frequent visitor to our front garden with its better sunny steps and shady corners than available at his owner's property. He sometimes sneaks in and has recently taken to keeping me company. Seems we share the same taste in radio station and he fines the hum of the disc sander conducive to a quiet nap.....
Cheers,
Graham.
 

Hello all, apologies for not updating this log and in fact for being absent from MSW in general, life has got in the way, but the fact life IS getting in the way still is not something I'm complaining about! , more on that after I first have to say I have lost one of my little Dockyard companions. Our lovely little Belle has passed away a few weeks back, a grand little dog that we shall all miss terribly. 🐶 (Pictures from only this March on a break at Filey.)
 
As for me, well it was the same old of work and such like until not long ago when I had a heart attack, but I have been very fortunate to have had speedy and excellent care from the Paramedics and the Cardiology Unit at the Hospital(s) 🚑  Hopeful of making a good recovery in time, with all the support of my family and friends.  
 
So it seems like I have some time to do some model ship building!  Next update will be some progress of sorts.  Thanks for the likes and comments I have missed until now.  Loads of followed threads to catch-up on now!
 
Glad to be back! 😁

A big thank you for all the 'likes' and advice I've received.
Summer has final arrived with the local weather producing temperatures in line with those expected in June. The opening porthole, together with the single opening roof light, and now with the insulation in place, have produced a very comfortable working environment. There's definitely a light and airy feel to the place, especially in the end that will be dedicated to model making. Getting there slowly..... the end is in sight now
 

A big thank you for all the 'likes' and advice I've received.
Summer has final arrived with the local weather producing temperatures in line with those expected in June. The opening porthole, together with the single opening roof light, and now with the insulation in place, have produced a very comfortable working environment. There's definitely a light and airy feel to the place, especially in the end that will be dedicated to model making. Getting there slowly..... the end is in sight now
 

Thanks Ron. We also know it as plasterboard. Joints will need taping, and the walls given a skim coat of plaster. I have used this in the past. Still looking at the finances however......Decisions, decisions....🤔😁
Cheers,
Graham

Thanks Javlin, I certainly look into this sheetrock.
Cheers,
Graham

Now that was an idea that hadn't occurred to me Kauz! Good call...
 
More progress...
After the promise of foam board insulation sheets at a bargain price evaporated into the ether, I decided to opt for a sheep's wool based product that would more effectively address the issue of both temperature and sound insulation.

I also managed to start sourcing the components for getting power into the workshop. I'm not qualified to do this 
aspect of the build myself, but fortunately my brother-in-law is! After a long career in this profession his knees are suffering even more than mine! As long as I get the donkey work for the first fix done, he'll come over and do the clever stuff. Under his guidance I have run, but not connected, the correct size cable from the fuse board to the back of the house, armored cable from there to the workshop, and all the patrice boxes fitted in place for the sockets and switches. The LED strip lights have also been fitted and await his professional touch.

My original plan was to clad the walls with MDF, with routed grooves to look like T&G boards. Not able to fund this method now but I have a plan....
I have a stock of pine 200 x 100 sleeper off-cuts from a previous garden landscaping build plus the timber shuttering left over from pouring the concrete base. My aim is to convert this into suitable cladding material...

There's a lot of sawing to do so my extraction system was recovered from storage to reduce the dust levels this work will produce


Conversion has begun and I will shortly trial this on the far wall.

I have added some additional framing to the roof beams to provide something to fix the cladding to which proved a bit of a challenge. I want to keep the laminated beams visible and just add cladding between them. The end result will hopefully be sort of modified barrel vaulted ceiling......we'll see 😁...
Cheers,
Graham
 

A big thank you for all the 'likes' and advice I've received.
Summer has final arrived with the local weather producing temperatures in line with those expected in June. The opening porthole, together with the single opening roof light, and now with the insulation in place, have produced a very comfortable working environment. There's definitely a light and airy feel to the place, especially in the end that will be dedicated to model making. Getting there slowly..... the end is in sight now
 

Thanks for the likes gentlemen  it keeps me going. A few re works done on areas I wasn't happy with. 

Installing the floorboards started with a plan, much used throughout the build, and now well worn....

In keeping with the nautical flavour there was only one method guiding the laying, the four step butt planking pattern.
Once a board was cut to an appropriate length fixing holes were pre-drilled with a 12 mm spade bit and each piece secured to the sub-floor. 

A 1/2" plug cutter was used to convert offcuts of boards into covers for the screws.

Mixing metric and imperial tools in this way resulted in a nice tight fit. Once these plugs had been glued in place a sharp chisel made quick work of getting them level and flat.

The floor after sanding -

No, not quite treenails, but visible at this scale?

Oh yes, but nice and subtle.....
The first coat of finish has been applied,

the second and final coat will go on tomorrow evening after a light sanding.
Cheers,
Graham
 

A big thank you for all the 'likes' and advice I've received.
Summer has final arrived with the local weather producing temperatures in line with those expected in June. The opening porthole, together with the single opening roof light, and now with the insulation in place, have produced a very comfortable working environment. There's definitely a light and airy feel to the place, especially in the end that will be dedicated to model making. Getting there slowly..... the end is in sight now
 

Thanks Ron. We also know it as plasterboard. Joints will need taping, and the walls given a skim coat of plaster. I have used this in the past. Still looking at the finances however......Decisions, decisions....🤔😁
Cheers,
Graham

Thanks Javlin, I certainly look into this sheetrock.
Cheers,
Graham

A big thank you for all the 'likes' and advice I've received.
Summer has final arrived with the local weather producing temperatures in line with those expected in June. The opening porthole, together with the single opening roof light, and now with the insulation in place, have produced a very comfortable working environment. There's definitely a light and airy feel to the place, especially in the end that will be dedicated to model making. Getting there slowly..... the end is in sight now
 

Slightly less, Javlin, the internal floor area is around 136 sq/ft, close to the size of your room. This is significantly bigger than my current modelling space.🙂
As for the eternal battle for exclusive ownership with the Admiral I know where you're coming from and share the pain. Work on my Victory build has been severely affected by the current shipyard in the smallest bedroom in the house having been seconded since last October as the storage area for decorating supplies for the Boss's interior design aspirations. This includes the redecorating of the whole of the top floor of the house including the bathroom. Victory has been stored safely under dust sheets while surrounded by paint tins, shower unit, screen and base etc. ceramic floor and wall tiles, adhesives, grout, new window blinds..... the list is endless.....
All these projects, that had apparently been saved up for my retirement, are now happily completed and the only items causing loss of space are the six roof lights for the new workshop roof.
When I move into the new model making area, she will take over the vacated space for her hobbies.
She is also a very keen gardener so I've built her a store in the garden for horticultural tools and consumables to keep these out of 'my' space. I've been polite but firm, the ground rules have been set and agreed..... there is no negotiation..... which is why the unfinished workshop is currently home to this...
...a life size deer, woven from willow by the Admiral on a recent weekend course. The soaked sticks need to dry out thoroughly before the scuplture can be weatherproofed. But then.... it's off to adorn the garden, never to return....honest!

Well.... I could say that everything went as planned ..... but I'd be lying...
The widths of each frame were spot on, but a couple of them needed a bit of tweeking, trimming or packing to to get them aligned to an acceptable standard. Took a full day to get them set up and to cut and install the top ridge.

Today the side ridge spacers were slotted into place and finally the knees were fitted to brace frames and secure them to the side walls. All is now nice and rigid. Bit like making the tackles for every middle deck gun, the knees will all be hidden eventually, but we know they're there....



Next task will be to add the ply sheets. In the mean time the plastic sheeting and tarpaulin are back in place in anticipation of the heavy rain and thunder storms that have been forecast.
Cheers,
Graham.