Elia

After doing a few experiments with the valve stem springs and keeper, I have increased the diameter of the valve-stem to .060" inches leaving the narrow section for the keeper at .046"
 
This was one of the early tests using the .046 stem the spring is .078 in diameter and the wire is .011. the keeper was a bit fiddly. I can safely increase the stem diameter and still maintain the .078 diameter springs the length of the springs are ..259" presently I am learning how to wind them so that there is a double coil at each end with the wider spaced turns in between. I have found that it is better to make them this way rather than winding a length then stretching it out to form the compression spring.
 

 
The crank case is progressing well at this time also. there is a fair bit of hand filing to finish up the corners because I do not have the requisite end mills to do all this work on the milling machine.
 

 
this next picture shows the flats on the sides of the liners slipped through the top of the upper part of the crankcase.
 

 
that's it for now.
 
Michael

Si, thanks for the kind words, Denis I like your new avatar, The song "Imagine" is my favourite song of the last century.
 
I started working on the crankcase it is cut from a block of brass that a friend gave me, it was given to him by somebody who melted down a bunch of odd bits of brass. it is hard and fine grained. The block was about 5 inches long and 3 wide and about 1 3/8 thick looked like it was cast in a mini bread pan. The brass cut nicely in the cut off saw.
 

 
This is the progress on the flats that will slot unto the crankcase hole. this will ensure that the sleeves remain seated, this is because I am not familiar with the differential expansion of the brass and stainless when the engine warms up. I doubt that there will be any problems so this is just to keep my mind at ease.
 

 
Michael

Thank you all for the likes.
Brian, Jack, Mark  thanks for the kind comments.
Ed the more I think about laminating the ribbands the more I like the idea.
 
I discovered that at this small scale there is little room for error. When I removed the support plugs today after finishing the shaping and a few more holes for the water inlet and inspection hole in the front side, I saw that the port holes had in fact penetrated the wall of the water jacket. the space inside the jacket is large enough that I decided to add a plate that will get sweated in place.
 
the first picture shows the two crescent shaped holes from the port drill breaking through the wall.
 

 
The sleeve insert is machined from some  hard 3/4 brass rod the wall thickness was .020"  I sliced off two rings then cut those further to just fit enough that the curve is slightly greater than half the diameter inside. By doing it this way they are snug enough that they do not fall out.
 

 
The next picture shows the inspection hole which still need cleaning up and the cylinder liner positioned to show the water circulation cavity. I will make the base plate before the liners are finalized. It has occurred to me that I will need a pretty good filter system to keep any debris out of the water system.
 

 
The next photo shows the top of the cylinder with the head removed the holes still need to be reamed 13/32 for the stainless liners. I am still contemplating making these two parts able to be separated I think I have enough space to add some small long bolts up through the water jacked that way they would be hidden.
 

 

 
I think I need a break from metalwork and do a little whittling of the boxwood stem and sternpost.
 
Michael
 
 

Thank you for all the likes, And Bob and Steve for your comments, its been a long couple of days fiddling with some finicky numbers, I had to make a couple of small modifications to my Mill Drill so that I could use some dial verniers as read out dials for the table travel. I had already set up the depth one a few years ago and because I have slip dials on the mill I have been able to manage up until now . However machining these tiny dimensions with a centre Zero was challenging to say the least. so now I can clip in the vernier and use it as a poor mans DRO (digital read out, only this is an Analog read out )
First I cut a piece of 1 inch square brass and then re cut it to 1.375 x 1 x .625 inches the first task was to bore the main holes to form the inside of the water jacket shell these are .625 diameter and almost 5/8 deep. then bored the holes that will mate with the combustion chamber in the top piece. After the big hole were machined I flipped it over to reduce some of the metal and then machines the small holes for the valves and water passages to the top part of the head.
Next I made a couple of support keepers out of some 3/4 diameter brass rod to fill the bore holes and reduced the diameter at the top to use as location stubs for the top part this also allowed me to thread some 10 - 32 cap screws through the spark plug holes  to hold the whole shebang together. after the inlet and exhaust ports were machined which seemed to take forever, I was finally able to get on with some finish filing.
 
 

 
I like to have a ground safe edge on some of the files it really helps to keep things square
 

 
The parts are beginning to look like the top of the engine.
 

 
The valve rods will be fabricated from some largish sewing needles these are .046 inches in diameter which works perfectly, they obviously need some work yet.
 

 
Time for a break.
 
Michael

I have been doing some research into the whole engine building aspect of this little launch. I made the top part of the engine this evening it still need a bit more work to add the top plat to seal in the water cavity the spark plugs will thread through the plate into the main body thereby allowing water to circulate around the part that goes through the cavity.
 
This drawing shows the section through the engine and sections through the cylinder head.
 

 
Buffalo 3HP sheet 1.pdf
 
this is the top part of the head
 

 
Buffalo 3HP sheet 2.pdf
 
And the brass part I made today
 

 

 

 
Michael
 
 

A small update
The concept drawing of the size of the engine and location.
 

 
Michael

Just a little more progress carving the sternpost on the port side, I am taking this very slowly.
 

 
This feels like a tricky detail but to all you full keel three mast shipbuilders it probably looks like child's play. this is much more difficult than the keel on the pilot cutter.
 

 

 
Here is a drawing showing the keel at each of the building stations
 

 
A sincere thank you to all who have pushed the like button, I really appreciate it.
 
Michael

Hi Kees the clamp are these
 

 
They are from Lee Valley the wooden ones I made.
 
Michael

Mark sorry I did not answer your question about the glue, it is LePages Carpenters glue. thanks to all who posted likes .
 
today I joined the keel plate to the keel with some 3 inch screws, first I marked the station positions on the plate and the keel, I don't want to glue them together just yet. I am going to do the rough shaping of the plate and the stern post first.
 

 

 

 

 
The stern post is a little more complex than the stem so I am proceeding very cautiously.
 

 

 
I noticed that whole assembly has straightened out a small amount, about 1/32 or a 1/4 inch scale size. I shall have to make sure when I do the final gluing that the curve is maintained.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Thanks Bob, I roughed out the stern today and glued it to the keel.
 
first pic show the patterns on a piece of 1/2 inch thick Castello. The stem was curved enough that I thought it best to scarph a couple of pieces rather than cut it out of one piece.
 

 
Glued to the keel
 

 

 

 

 
Before I finalize the carving of the sternpost I will add the keel plate.
 
Michael

Thanks for all the likes.
Steve Thanks for the kind words, the proof will be in the pudding.
 
I began cutting the keel and stem today
I did not have any paste to glue the paper to the Castello so I did a test with the speedsew and it worked and the stuff works like rubber cement, and rubbed off the wood leaving no residue.
 

 
used the bandsaw to rough cut the keel
 

 
and the jewelers saw to cut the stem
 

 
then used a 3/4 inch paring chisel to rough down the stem before gluing it to the keel for final shaping.
 

 

 

 

 

 
There is still some final paring to do between station 1 and 5 but it is shaping up well. I can see why now the preponderance of Castello used in model boats, this is the first time I have used it and I'm lovin' it, what a joy to carve.
 

 

 
I will leave the stem for now and get the stern fitted, after that I will add the keel plate then shape them together for the garboard, once that is done I will be able to attach the assembly to the station bulkheads on the frame, then the ribbands for the ribs.
 
Michael   

I agree Bob, that is why I cut my teeth on projects like this and this
 
I am up for the challenge I figure it will be about as tricky as building this was.
 

 
When I was 17 I built a working overhead valve internal combustion engine model using off the shelf bits and pieces. it was crude but it ran. I have learned a few things since then though so it should be fun, I am glad that I did not choose one of those large runabout racers with the big engines though, Like the one in the Gar runabout I posted on the other thread.
 
today I finished the molds and mounted them
 

 

 
Two of the cross beams were not exactly extruded square so I had to add some .008 shims to counteract for it, to get the mold to be square with the base.
 

 
Also cut a wider piece of the Castello for the keel, since it is only 17.3 feet long I wanted to make it out of a single timber.

 
Thank you to all who "liked" the last entry.
 
Michael 

Steve, Omega, thanks for your great comments here is a link to an overall shot at the Port Carling boat show where I first saw a picture of Skipjack.
The Port Carling boat site includes a lot of pictures of the classic wooden boats, Skipjack is near the bottom half of the pictures and this Gem near the bottom of the page.
 
It would be fun to visit the show and see some of these boats in person, but i am lucky enough that Roger is being very helpful in sending me pictures and taking measurements of various details for me.
 
This is Skipjack's engine that I also propose to make.
 

 
And an overall of Skipjack in her boatshed.
 

 
Michael

Thanks for looking in Ed, sometimes I wonder how I get anything done because of the clutter. My wife does yoga ,I do my stretching stepping around over and between stuff which amounts to the same thing.
 
Today I made a few changes to the way the cross beam are attached to the frame. I thought it better to make it less cluttered by fixing the beams with some 5x40 allan head cap screws rather than the big wooden clamps. The frame will be easy enough to add new locations for further beams down the road on the next boat to use this frame. the present locations are spaced 4 feet apart (6inches). By bolting them it avoids any possible slippage, and helps to increase the overall rigidity.
 

 

 

 
The new station molds are made from 1/16th inch white plastic that is sold for the sunshine ceilings. It will be easier to tie the ribbands to the thinner sheet. here you can see the first mold with the holes marked before they were drilled for the eight ribbands. the drawing is attached with double sided tape.
here is the mold drawing #1
 

 
bulkhead 1.pdf
 
Now to work on the rest, the plastic cuts very nicely with the jewelers saw and require very little clean up.
 

 
Here is the fine bow on the real boat
 

 
Additional thanks to all who have added the like option, it is very motivating.
 
Michael
 

Thank you for the likes.
 
Earlier today I worked on preparing some of the materials for the building. first I made the decision to use Cedar for the planking, because I don't have any Yellow Cyprus, the piece of Western Red had some very tight grain and the board was big enough to give me 38 boards 32 inches long by 3/4 x 3/64 inches.
 

 

 
I also cut some of the Castello Boxwood 28 inches long and then cut some 3/4 x 1/4 and some 3/4 x 3/32 inches this will be used for the keel and keel plate, I will use the bandsaw to cut the shorter taller pieces for the stem and stern. I really liked the way the Castello cut on both the bandsaw and the tablesaw. I ended up changing the tablesaw blade from a carbide tipped one to the hollow ground steel finishing blade
 

 
The Castello is straight off the tablesaw, the Cedar has been sanded because I used the thin carbide ripping blade.
 

 
Now I need to cut some ribbands, I am leaning towards some tight grained Fir 5/32 x 3/32 32 inches long, I will need to check my stock.
 
Michael

Good evening Mark, my thoughts are to add at least 8 or 10 ribands to each side evenly spaced. My understanding is that the ribs on the full size are 3/4 by 1/2 inch. In rereading Roger's notes there is a plate on top of the keel that is 4 inches by 3/4 inches and tapers toward the bow and stern. this plate forms the upper side of the bearding line for the planking and gives a greater area to attach the garboard strake.
 
I am going to make the keel, keel plate, stem and sternpost out of the Castello Boxwood. I need to make the ribands strong enough to not deform when I set in the frames. something that has crossed my mind is to use some thread to hold the frames (ribs) to the ribbands while they set. The fir test frames were pretty flexible, however I am also going to test the Castello for the frames as well, they will be 3/32 x 1/16th full size on the model.
 
I am planning on following the curve at the extreme ends of the bow and stern this will prevent twisting them too much it is hard to tell a great deal from this picture
 

 
Evidently the ceiling boards which significantly strengthened the hull, they are 1 1/2 by 3/4 bead and cove.
 
have to go guests just arrived
 
Michael

After resizing the drawings I needed to modify the building jig, thinking about the sequence of construction I eliminated the keel support for the moment. The white rails were too short so a new pair were drilled.
I had a scrap of Brazilian Rosewood which was just big enough for the new frame end bars. Some wood inserts were driven into the long tubes before the holes were drilled the frame is now quite rigid.
 

 
I have cut the first three new molds for the ribbands and mounted them on the aluminum cross beams.
The molds were cut from 1/4 MDF and are set aft of the station lines, the last two will be set forward of the station Lines.
The molds will not be faired, this why they are placed the way they are.
 

 

 

 
the next pic shows the frame reversed on the build posts. you can see that they are not yet perfectly centered I will do this when all 5 molds are set on the cross beams before adding the keel. I am much happier with the building frame.
 

 

 
I remembered that I had built and stored away a small Dremel routing/sanding table which was fabricated out of 1/4 inch thick black plexiglass.  I used this table a lot when building Architectural models, I set it up for working on the molds along with some curved shaped sanding sticks.
 

 
Michael
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bob, Tom, Carl, thanks for stopping by, and to those who are watching from the sidelines.
 
I realized the lines drawing in the building jig was the wrong scale it was 1:10 instead of 1:8 which made a pretty big difference so I have been reworking the drawing in my spare time, also a little tweaking of the hull profiles and planking layout and keel sections.
 
this is the progress so far on the changes
 

 
october 6 body profiles.pdf
 
Michael
 
 

I have been slowly working on the drawing for the construction of Skipjack and now I have got the moulds drawn for assembling into the building jig.
 

 
Next task will be to cut out the moulds and the keel and then add the stringers ready for the steam bent frames.
 
Once the frames are formed I will then begin the planking.in Castello boxwood.
 
Michael

Well it’s time to start building again.  I’ve been working on the plans for an early friendship sloop.  The friendship sloop was originally a fishing boat similar to the Muscongus Bay lobster smack, but since it did not have a centerboard it became popular with the cursing and day sailing crowd.  That is the way I plan to build this one.  Start with the plans drawn by Chapelle, remove the fish well and enlarge the cabin.  I plan to hold to Chapelle’s sail plan with two head sails no shrouds and no topsail.  First I scanned Chapelle’s plans into the computer and drew the keel parts and bulkheads.  After planking the bulkheads will be removed except for the lower portions which will become the floors.   Now it’s time to slice up some wood for the planking.
 
Bob
 

 

 

The planking is done.  When I made the keel I made it from two pieces of wood so they would join at the rabbet line.  The portion that was attached to the bulkheads was 1/16’ thick so that with a  1/32” plank on each side it would be the same as the 1/8” outer portion of the keel. 
 
After the planking was finished the rough edges at the keel were sanded down to the keel.

 
The keel was then fitted over the planked hull.

 
With the bulkheads removed you can see the lower portions that were left to be the floors.

 
Since I plan on painting the hull I covered it with filler and sanded it smooth.

 
Now it's ready for the deck framing.

 
Bob

I think that nobody on this forum need the presentation of the original, of "the mother of regatta's boats" the .
Maybe the best description was the dialogue between the Queen and the Commodore oduring the regatta around the Isle of Wight, August, 22, 1851:
 
Queen Victoria: Who is the first,
Commodore:"America, your Majesty."
Queen Victoria: Who is the second,
Commodore:"There is no second, your Majesty."
 
As the other models, in small scale 1:200, reduced Mamoli drawings in 1:66 , in fact i had the complete kit, i made it an the big one was a marriage gift for one cousin

The model was made with complete double planking, second planking with walnut 1*1mm, the deck is also some light wood, strips 1*1mm.

As in that time (before internet) I hadn't to many references, but honestly I didn't searched to much, i decided to put the table (improbable elliptic shape 😕 ) in the "salon" undo the big windowed portion, then on the table put the chart , square/triangle and the other "useful" parts )
Honestly I was convinced that it could't be visible, which is right, without lens you could't see nothing but some colored, a bit bigger, dust

On all models so on this on the keel I made two small holes and put inside pieces of  small piles (part of medic needles or similar ) so for the support later i use small profiles with pieces of steel rods fitting in that pipes. The rods are slightly curved so for put in or out is needed some force, nothing extra but enough to hold firmly together the support and the model with simply possibility to separate.

On the last photo are the three models, Flying Fish and America in 1:200 and Shenandoah in 1:100
as a comparison of dimensions

Also in this model is evident the out scale of elements  but I hadn't the patience nor the materials and tools to made it in scale.

To finish the model I have to arrange the rigging and the sails which I usually make from the paper which could be find inside  shoes or cloth boxes, also the support has to be made.
 

Sherry,
 
It is great to see another update on your build, and those cannon look great! As one who doesn't own a lathe and has to find alternative processes and materials to what typically would be lathe turnings, i appreciate and applaud your extremely sharp looking 'mixed medium' cannons. Well done!
 
Cheers
 
Elia

Hi Lawerence,

Thank you very much for the compliments. I look forward to seeing your Annie take shape. It looks like a beauty of a ship that will be quite attractive as a model. I thoroughly enjoyed building up the hull and planking my model. While there is a decent amount of spiling to the hull planks, these fishermen have such attractive hull shapes once planked. And there is actually quite a bit of variety inthe shapes - plumb stems, spoon bows, Fredonia hulls, sharpshooter and clipper bows, deep and shallow draft hulls, not to mention jib booms, pole bowsprits, semi-knockabouts, and knockabout rigs...

With the cold winter weather upon us my basement shop, my man cave, with the emphasis on "cave", is quite uncomfortable for modeling so right now I'm slowly puttering on the masts and spars. I built a dory I intend to use as a master and cast a bunch of them...but that is progressing slowly too.

Cheers

Elia

Hi Lawerence,

Thank you very much for the compliments. I look forward to seeing your Annie take shape. It looks like a beauty of a ship that will be quite attractive as a model. I thoroughly enjoyed building up the hull and planking my model. While there is a decent amount of spiling to the hull planks, these fishermen have such attractive hull shapes once planked. And there is actually quite a bit of variety inthe shapes - plumb stems, spoon bows, Fredonia hulls, sharpshooter and clipper bows, deep and shallow draft hulls, not to mention jib booms, pole bowsprits, semi-knockabouts, and knockabout rigs...

With the cold winter weather upon us my basement shop, my man cave, with the emphasis on "cave", is quite uncomfortable for modeling so right now I'm slowly puttering on the masts and spars. I built a dory I intend to use as a master and cast a bunch of them...but that is progressing slowly too.

Cheers

Elia