Elia

HI Lawrence,
...  and thank you for the praise, visit my log and interest.
My model is not designed for use in water, there will be a static model.
The hull is made of maple. I know from experience that it is possible to shoot and open cracks (sometimes). On the hull of Pen Duick not visible any compounds
which is why I put rowing and epoxy. So I got very smooth and perfect hull, as is the actual ship.
 
Regards, Matija.
 

 

Ed,
Collectively we ran out of adjectives a long time ago, so suffice it to say, I love watching each and every post.
 
Allan

Update on build:
 
I've now got most of the 03/04/05 Levels on the superstructure (fwd) complete and assembled. Next week the addition of the conning tower will complete the main structure. Paint, railing touchups and addition of whip antennae will get this part of the build well in hand:
 
I will then turn my attention to the lower fwd. hull corrections - I've got styrene strips in place with white putty to enlarge the "bulb" at the fwd. extreme bow and hope to correct the misshaped kit hull
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 110 – Cabin Deck
 
Anything to avoid metal sheathing.  Actually, not much can proceed on the main deck until the framing of the poop and forecastle has at least begun, so this week I have been working on the cabin deck facilities.  The poop beams cannot be installed until all of that work is finished.  In the first picture the poop deck beams have been made, cut to length and pinned in place.
 

 
The cabin deck partitions have to be cut out around these beams so having them pinned in place is a prerequisite for the partition work. 
 
The next picture shows the first steps on the partitions.
 

 
The breast beam has been glued in with pillars on either side of what will be the "grand entrance" to the cabin deck level. The central section of this beam will later be cut out so people don't have to crawl into the cabin deck.  The beginning of the paneled partition shown is the forward bulkhead of the captain's day cabin with his bookcase cabinet pre-installed – but paneled doors not yet carved.
 
We do not know what all these facilities looked like on Young America, so this is all creative design on my part – but typical of the period and the class.  Some of these ships were very elegant in décor, because the few passengers carried were probably quite wealthy.  I am using black walnut to simulate old mahogany for all the paneling and furnishings.  Otherwise it is all going to be fairly Spartan.
 
The first semi-indulgence in elegance is the double, curved entrance staircase from the main deck.  The starting block is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The panels to the right are representative of the final paneling finish.  The next picture shows the perimeter walls of the cabin areas at the sides. 
 

 
The central "salon area" was open with tables and places to sit.  Modeling of this will be limited to preserve the view into the lower regions.
 
In the next picture the bannister of the staircase is being sanded to size after the treads, the balusters and the lower part of the rail were fitted. 
 

 
There will be a cap rail to cover the mortise holes for the balusters. 
 
The next picture shows the paneling of the fore and aft partitions in progress.
 

 
The panels are built up using thin strips on an underlying thin sheet of walnut. The port panels are incomplete in this picture. 
 
 In the next picture the capping rail on the staircase has been fitted but not yet trimmed, the paneling of the starboard wall completed and door hardware installed.
 

 
The captain's cabin was traditionally on the starboard side, close to the exit to the main deck.  In this arrangement his day cabin doorway is right outside the stairs.  The last picture shows the inside of the captain's cabins from above.
 

 
The day cabin in the center of the photo has a table, built-in bench and the book cabinet.  It is quite small.  A doorway to the left leads to his sleeping quarters.  Only his dresser is in place as yet.  In addition to the captain's palatial space, there are six other cabins for passengers and the mate.  All are quite small.  There will also be two small cubicles aft – a toilet and a storage space.
 
The crew space on these ships was a large cabin on the main deck – to be constructed much later.
 
Metal sheathing has begun, but has been held up waiting for some .002" brass.
 
Ed

And next update: making cheeks.
 

Started with a blank sawn off a cherry billet planed to 3.5 mm thickness. There's few mm extra length to allow cleaning away any rips from sawing.
 

Started by tapering the edges. This follows shape of mast's flat sides (see previous posting).
 

Tapered wide edges: thick (top) end remains at 3.5 mm, while bottom edge is half of that.
 

Then used rasp to make area below hounds a bit thinner.
 

And rounded edges with files.
 

Completed cheecks by cutting scores for bibs. I was somewhat worried of splitting the wood, so made repeatedly shallow cuts from each of the four directions. I believe also wiggling the blade instead of just pressing it down helps (and it's easier to keep it in place compared to moving the blade).
 

Finally some glue and clamps.

Hi Sam, it's Veritas plane. If remember correctly, it's their "block plane". I'm quite fond of their plane designs, blade adjustments are easy, etc.
 
Last week I had lower fore mast squared and tapered to dimensions, and will continue from there.
 

Mast is upside down. Top section will remain square, and anything below will be round. First step was to cut small notches to prevent any wood splits taking part of the top square with it. I'd like to use plane, but there isn't room for it here, so starting with scalpel.
 

Here I'm making lower part of mast roughly octagonal.
 

And shaping it round with sanding block.
 

Next step was to cut mast's sides to accomodate cheeks. The cheeks cover about two thirds of mast's length and thicken towards top of mast. Top side is ready, lower side shows what will be removed: the top's thickness will be reduced to about one third.
 

This is where cheek's lower end will be.
 

And checking that the surface runs true length-wise. This shows welll how thin the very top ended up.
 
 

Cutting mortice at mast's bottom.
 

There's mortice for mast inside hull, but I don't remember its dimensions so using modelling wax to check what's in there...
 

And finally checking that the mast is at correct angle (took some tweaking with tenon, but looks OK to me now).

Slow but steady progress continues...
 

Lower main mast is quite complete. There are many details missing, but it's at stage where it can safely be left to wait for next phase. I don't have any photos how it was made, mainly because I wanted to first to try whether what I'm doing works, and only then post the in-progress photos while building front mast. It's basicly the same but is slightly smaller. Some detail shots of main mast follows.
 

 

 

You may notice a hidden fix for a slight asymmetry flaw; either deck or keel isn't exactly on center, but the offset mast bottom makes the mast to stand at correct angle. Anyway I think one of the US Navy's first six frigates had bigger issues with hull symmetry...
 
I've started to work on lower front mast. First step to was to plane a 8.5 mm square, and taper it to 5.6 mm at top and 7.3 mm at bottom. Thickest part is at forecastle deck level. I had the dimensions written down at various locations, but what I did was to measure at bottom. deck level and at top, take one shaving with plane, rotate 90 degrees and repeat until dimensions at the three locations were met.

Continued by making spanker boom and fore topsail yard. The boom is basically larger gaff with slightly different cleat arrangement, and the yard is pretty much the same as spritsail or spritsail topsail yard except with octagonal center section, so I'll just add one picture showing them both:

 
Pasi

Thanks. I've adjusted plane to cut as thin shavings as possible, and then just start cutting On last week's yards I drew circles at the ends to indicate target diameter, but on this week's gaff I didn't do that. What I'll do is take one or two shavings and then visually check how it looks before continuing. But these yards are quite small (diameter 3-4 mm), I'm not sure if that would work with large yards, but I will give it a try in few weeks.
 
This week I made gaff. I'll concentrate on gaff jaws. First roughly cutting outer side to shape:

 
Then I cut a groove on backside, and rounded it with a file:

 
More shaping to outside mainly with scalpel and flat and round files:

 
One finished jaw half and one unstarted, and end of gaff cut to an angle:

 
Gaff jaws glued:

 
And finished the gaff with cleats (it's upside down on the picture):

 
Metalwork and parrals are missing, as are from other masts and spars. I think I'll do those later once I have masts, etc otherwise ready.

Thanks. Rhis week made two of the twelve yards. I intented to make spritsail and spritsail topsail yards, but accidentally picked spritsail and crossjack yards from plan Luckily no harm (doubles) done.
 
I think last time I had one picture about shaping the yards, so I'll concentrate more on that. Before this picture was taken I had sawn off and planed two square strips, and planed them octagonal. 

These smaller yards will end up round, but the based on this exercise (and with bit more practise) the larger yards with octagonal centers should turn out ok.
 
Here I have marked center, and I'm tapering the yard with a plane. Basicly I'm taking off a light shave, rotating the yard, and repeating until the shape is about right.

 
Next, finishing the shape with sanding block (120 grit paper):

 
I gave the surface finishing touch with 0000 steel wool.
 
Here are the finished yards:

I'm not entirely happy with the cleats; they are too irregular. Have to improve on that next.

Thanks, it's good to continue building Rattlesnake and actually quite fun to do wood working.
 
This week I completed jibboom. First ripping rough square from billet:

It would be easier to make accurate cuts with tablesaw, but it doesn't take much effort to rip out two feet long strip of sitka spruce with quality hand saw.
 
Then, making it to 4 mm by 4 mm with a plane:

 
And tapered other end to about 3 mm by 3 mm:

The jibboom is still slightly oversize, it should end up being be just under 4 x 4 and 3 x 3 mm.
 
Made the boom first octagonal with plane and scalpel, and then finished to round section mainly with 120 grit sand paper glued on block of wood. Here I'm dry fitting the jibboom on bowsprit:

The end (with step) was done with flat file.
 
Then to details. I'm taking a shortcut here, mostly to avoid weakening the quite thin end of jibboom with (simulated) sheave; now it's just a hole which hopefully will be hidden by rigging:

 
Other end has a hole for retaining pin:

This area was quite unclear in the plans, what I did probably isn't exactly accurate...
 
Experimenting with another fake sheave, this time coloured with a pencil:

I think it's better than uncoloured, but not as good looking as working (brass) sheave would be. I believe 18th century ship's jibboom end should be octagonal. What's in the photo looks more round than it is in reality, but the shape isn't as well defined as liked it to be. Have to improve in future, because too round spar mid sections would stand out too much even to my liking.

Since last posting I've ordered and received rigging line and blocks from Syren Shipmodel Company, and timber for masts and spars from The Lumberyard; I'm pleased with both.
 
For masts and spars I'll use Sitka spruce. It has quite visible grain, but overall I like working with it and it should work fine. I'll take photos about spar and mast shaping in future, now I'll mostly concentrate on building the "small parts"; now the bowsprit just appears.
 
First I cut bowsprit cap out of cherry billet and marked positions of hole for jibboom and mortise for tenon at bowsprit:

 
Next, milled 3 mm holes and proper angles:

 
Here's the milled cap with jibboom hole opened up to 4 mm with round file (I had 3 mm milling bit at hand):

Later mortise was squared off with file, and the four small holes acted as guide holes.
 
 
Gammonning cleats and tenon for securing bowsprit at deck. The latter will be hidden by forecastle, so it's quite rough and not "as in plans":

 
Bee blocks:

Block on left shows how the fake sheaves looks from under of bowsprit.
 
Bees, bee blocks, bowsprit cap, and two more cleats are already glued. Here I'm gluing jibboom saddle with help of drill bit and elastic band:

 
I'll probably start working on jib boom next.

My first attempt to make the boat for the ATLANTIC appeared not absolutely successful. The boat turned out too big therefore I decided to make it again.

The following step forward - I try to construct deck superstructures

Small advance forward today

Shipwrights,
 
A little more progress on Arethusa - masts and spars.  I've completed the basic shaping of the lower masts, upper masts, and the booms.  In this photo, top to bottom, are the main mast, the fore mast, the main topmast, the fore topmast, the main boom, the fore boom, and the jumbo boom.  Note the scale on the bottom of the green cutting mat in inches.  The grid squares are 0.5 inches per side.  The main and fore masts are just slightly greater in diameter than 3/8 inch.  All were formed from square stock bass wood stock.

This closer in photo shows the peculiar shaping of Gloucester schooner spars.  While circular in cross section, they are decidedly not axisymmetric.  The edge of the spar adjacent the sail is straight.  The opposing side is tapered.  The maximum diameter occurs 2/3 distance from the jaws (at the mast) to the tip.  My spars shown still contain a little excess material at each end of the spar.  They are shown with their jaw ends to the right in the picture.

 
[these were taken with my camera phone - quickie photos on the dining table]
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Baggywrikles are one of those things where we all seem to find our own way. Yours looks fine from the photos. Maybe the important part is how much fun we have discovering new ways to make them. Keep up the good work.
 
Dave B

Making a bit of progress again.  So I was experimenting with a way to make baggywrinkles that were somewhat realistic for the scale and not impossible to make.  I looked at pipe cleaners and a couple of other options but nothing struck me.
 
The idea came when my wife talked about "felting" wool knitted items.  To felt something, you knit it first from wool and then wash it in hot water in the washing machine.
 
The problem is that wool yarn isn't strong enough to support the weight of the rigging, I therefore laid a thread along the yarn I had chosen and made a series of running stitches (where you make a loop and pull another loop through it over and over again).
 
Instead of washing, I boiled the yard in a soapy mixture into which I had added some baking soda.  This, of course, had to be done when SWMBO was not at home. After boiling for 45 minutes I hung the yarns to dry overnight. I then tied them on regular rigging.
 
The yarn I used didn't "felt" as well as I had hoped.  I think it wasn't actually wool.  The idea seems reasonable though, so I thought I would go ahead and post it with some photos of how well I did.
 
Current Boat Progress:

 
Tieing thread and yarn.

 

 

 

 
And how she looks.  Not bad for the first experiment.  I think there is potential here.
 

Hello Ed,
 
George F. Campbell in China Tea Clippers (ISBN 0-679-20207-2) wrote on page 96:
 
 
This might be the reference you were looking for.
 
Lou

Hi Bob
 
I've just measured the plasticard sheet (.20mm thick) and also the thick cardboard which was used as the temporary stand for the hull. The card measured .42 mm thick.
 
The photos are below. I've thrown in some better photos of Rainbow as well, just in case anyone's interested in seeing more photos.
 
All the best!
 
Patrick

Gerty, Michael, Popeye, and all that I thanked above.  All of you have my permission (as though I needed to give it) to use this any time you need vinyl.        What did he say?
 
Now we leave the cabin and move to the cockpit.  I didn’t get much done but it now has a deck and next will be the benches.  One thing at a time.
 
Bob
 

stage 7 part 2  
I continue a bit scattered in my activity. I find as I study one aspect to another I need something.....how unusual.  with almost four feet of snow over the past several weeks here in Maine, I am challenging UPS, fed ex ground et al.  
 
currently on order
a handle so I can use the small dies to cut threads onto the 1/8 brass rods needed to attach the sailing rudder to the display rudder.  see photo with this approach there will be two 1/8 threaded rods protruding from the display rudder. the sailing rudder would slide on to the rods and with holes perhaps 3/4" , allow fitting a washer and nut to hold it in place. I may try to build the display rudder with two holes but I fear it isn't big enough. To add washer and nut would take up too much of the display rudder. I need the rods to transfer the torque of the sailing rudder and thus the longer bend of the brass will take the stress better. unfortunately that means a few extraneous rods. I have seen nesting connecting rods but that are typical 1/4 diameter or bigger. servos of two types on order.  This is my weakest area of knowledge, and I will be experimenting on this subject.  I will need switches and wires and connectors and and ?? I am sure more than one more order hear. mast hoops for a sailing model. well I tried cutting out of copper pipe. with the patina the old pipe is a nice brown.  Also I actually have a few pieces of 5/8 ID recovered from my brothers steam engine shop. The problem is that using a band saw the best I can do makes them1/8 and that would be 6 inches wide....urgh I ordered the birch plywood ones from Bluejacket. they are wonderful for static models.  I am not sure if they are strong enough and will do some testing. I ordered copper flat washers 17 x 21 MM and 1.5 mm thick.   If the copper will age, they may be perfect. I anxiously await them. making up a roll and cutting...I am still stuck with the thickness issue and strength for sailing I have o rings that would be very functional but hopefully I can avoid using. To buy them brown is >$.30 each   wow anchors...two sizes on the way with other fittings from Bluejacket....they will protrude from the hull and need to be water proofed. This is to be a story in itself.. Resin....off to the local store sail and rigging material. I have lots of nice Muslim that I use for stationary sails.  since I plan to look at the model more than to sail it , I plan to try them first.  I am also thinking about trying some 2 oz Dacron.  More to think about I need sheets that work well, feed through the fairleads, allow for on the water adjustment etc. but don't look too big.  I believe this will be an area to justify a little over sizing.  Lizards and seized grommets are nicely described by Douglas Lee for both lacing to gaffs and lashing to hoops.  The smallest brass grommets I have are OK for the clew , reef points etc. but too big for lacing. On stationary models I just sewed the hoops and that is my current choice shrouds are cable.  I can not put too much load on cable to keep it straight.  I plan to use wire and copper/brass pipe for crimps. Again the problem is scale.  I have some thin wire bought years ago from Fisher and that is another internet search. turnbuckles.  My method is 2 brass eyes tail to tail with a 1/16 brass tube all glued. In stationary I would just make it up by using black coated wire.  Here I am trying to make galvanized and would love to figure out how to make the slots.  On the lower mast shrouds they line up and have a wooden turnbuckle keeper...nice detail if I can doo it progress
 
mast stepping
this was a lot of fun.  Here I set up the hull on the level work bench and did my measuring to get the mast all to the same point.   The tops of the lower masts on these schooners was level as they are all connected with spring stays. I then checked it out with a 4 foot carpenter level and yippee. I then build the mast deck surrounds. one minor fact to note is that the rake of the masts changes as one works aft.  The foremast rake is 1.75, the main and mizzen are 2 inches and the spanker is 2.25. more preparation prior to the under deck 
the fairing process goes on. I needed a little more on the transom to make it square up and several cross beams to be able to set the anchors I need to build inward the hawse planks . I call it a wall in this case.  I shall drill the hawse holes through all of this.  I will then add a second block with a smaller hole to receive the anchor shaft, then hopefully this opening will be water proof. masts:   the Sitka spuce is pretty. If I just varnish it , it will also be pretty but light.   The old masts were all oil and not so pretty.  I have experimented and selected a light coating of cherry stain .  In the first photo I just applied it to the first mast....it covers the grain.  in the second photo I have rubbed off most of the stain and the grain comes through and I hope I am more representative of oiled spruce. the 3rd photo shows all the other spars after their coat of rubbed stain. the yokes were made of a hard wood for strength. it has a tiger maple look to it and it will be a shame if or when I paint them all black...... all spars get clear polyurethane. I set the bow sprit after adding the bee, the jib boom block and some brass bobstay bands. again I continue to use copper wire epoxied as pins where I am looking for added strength. I used them also in evey cross beam connection on the deck framing and mast surrounds  
all for part 2
 

then you would have liked to be in the same isle as we were,  when we were picking out stuff at Hobby Lobby       I think you would have laughed out loud,  when I was there,  tell her about scale and a modeler's view of it.   I enjoy having her with me.......she is the essential 'other side' of the medium...the one that would say "I could never do that".  I'm able to look through,  and get an idea of what a regular person would see.  I take it as a gift.........and I feel sadness for those,  whose admirals and friends scoff at what they do.   I think that we as modelers,  have a special gift,  of imagination and vision....and it's even more rewarding,  when your surrounded by folks who enjoy and support what you do.   I am truly blessed, my friend       when she saw me pull out the plastic ladder.......you'd have thought I betrayed the medium.
 
thanks for the comment Michael,  we are BOTH blessed in that respect {from what I see of your work} 
 
well........anyway......I did promise you a look at another style of ladder.......didn't I?!?!  I wasn't happy about the rungs.   I has shown the first ladder to the admiral.....she thought it was neat.  I should know better than to critique my work in front of her.  she is a great sounding board.....but she got a bit vexed at what I said about the rungs....."it looks FINE.......what the heck are you looking for anyway?"  the conversation continued well into me making the staple ladder.   she saw the progress of that one,  and commented that she could never model like that.......she thought it was neat as well.   she had no words about the outcome though......she didn't have to.   I tried.......the method was a bit off........but I liked how it looked.   I haven't tried to modify it yet......but I will
 
this third style is neat as well.  given the size dowel I used,  I had to increase the width of the uprights, marked off in 1/4 inch increments.
 

 
then to drill the holes for the rungs.  it's the same method as the staple ladder.......seen here is the modification to the method.   the wood looks a bit dirty.......just metal tarnish from the pin vise....it just shows you how long it's been since I last used it....way too long.
 

 
here is the dowel I have on hand.   I'm not sure of the diameter measurement,  but it's just shy of 3/32 in basswood.  it is a little rough.....to sand it smooth would probably bring it down to 1/16.  I tried to find something smaller,  but for that,  I could substitute brass.
 

 
put it all together,  and you come up with this.  I used CA for this.
 

 

 
I suppose if you were careful how it was assembled,  it could be stained with no trouble.  I wasn't that lucky.....but I'm happy with the results.   my efforts here will not go to waste........I'm thinking of adding it to one of the Holiday Harbor builds.  I put this here, since I'm working on this part at the moment.  short of soldering a ladder together,  this method would do quite well.
 

the rack.........nice......but it's wrong.  I had assembled it relying on memory....look where it got me.
 
there should be a few more pegs on the top......so I will add them.   I didn't allow for the podium and a lower level,  and set the racking back another 1/4 of an inch after all is assembled.  to start the correction, the appendage needs to be cut off.
 

 
I have to say one thing about this bamboo dowel.....it is a bit tough to get a clean cut,  without causing slivered splinters.   I'm having to repair them as I go along.   more on this soon.
 
I had cut a couple of lengths for the main part of the trawl rig.   I wish I could show this in place,  but it is not free standing,  in it's present state.  it's attachments are on the upper deck and the pilot house roof.
     in finding the measurements and angles....they are odd increments......too much for the sophisticated tools that I have,  so I had to improvise.   the top of this part is a larger dowel,  drill indented,  to accept the upright posts.  compounding my angles,  I was able to comply with the required increment of angle.
 

 
the rule fixed to the table,  gives the bottom of the uprights the spread it needs.......the magic number is 190 mm.
 

 
the spreader bar is added.......set high enough so it will clear the roof of the pilot house.
 

 
in the space above,  supports were added,  using smaller dowel.  it was assembled with CA.....but later filled in with white glue to remedy the small craters and divots.   I can add more later after I sand and see that it needs it.  I did both sides.
 

 

 
at the moment,  I'm playing with these sub assemblies.   the rub rails need to be added....and then maybe.....just maybe,  the hull can get cleaned up enough for paint....whooooooHooooooo!

I slip my Optivisor on as soon as I sit down at my workbench - I'm hopeless without it.
 
I have two of them, one with the LED lights which have been totally removed as they didn't make much difference with the good lighting I have, and they got far too heavy after a while even with the batteries removed.
 
Also, as Toni mentioned above, if it looks good under 4x magnification it looks excellent to the naked eye .
 
  Danny