Elia

What an Elegant little model. Very nice work Patrick.
 
Cheers
 
Elia

Thanks for the comments and questions.  Let me try to answer those.
 
Peter, there was no spiling needed on any of the outboard planking and in fact very little on the ship so far.  I am more of a boiler/bender than a spiler, but there was some spiling on Naiad - at least on the waterways forward as I recall - and the method I use for that was covered in  Volume II.  Many of the planks on the YA stern required bending.  That process was mentioned in earlier posts but will be covered more thoroughly in the YA book.  Also, there was some spiling - my style - for the inboard deck transom work.  I may have briefly described that in an earlier post but that too will be covered - as will all the methods used on the model..
 
Micheal, very good question.  Tear-out is an issue, particularly on the backside.  The brad point drill at high speed can eliminate it on the front side but it still occurs on the back side.  I would normally use a block - even to the point of gluing it on - as I may do for the scuppers that  will be drilled through the waterway from the inside - but for these port holes through the outer planking I was not concerned because there will be inboard planking concealing it.  I did drill through the inboard planking from the outside through the outer holes, starting with double thickness inboard plank clamped in place, then after drilling removed it and ripped off the inner face on the circular saw to give a clean surface.  I will show a picture of the inside on the next post.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

Kirby,
 
It is good to hear from you.  I have just completed three years working 1st at Irving Shibuilding in Halifax NS; and, then at Vancouver Shipbuilding in North Vancouver, BC.  Linda and I have relocated to San Diego, CA and I am currently reestablishing my work shop in the garage.  I will then go back to work on my Newsboy and Fair American  builds.  Please give my best to the North Shore Club members.
 
Regards,
Pete

Hi everyone
 
There's been a lot of work on Rainbow, but ironically, not much to show for it. For instance, I've done lots of prep work and measurements, but, none of that work is visible. However, I have started to paint Rainbow's hull. Initially, I'll use this white enamel, but later, the finishing colours will be black top sides and red under the water (as per the real ship).
 
Hope you enjoy the progress so far.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Dimitris,
 
Very very nice result there! That looks very smooth. Beautiful.
 
Cheers
 
Elia

Latest work - on two fronts - Decking and Hull modifications:
 
1) I finally got my special order decking from Pontos just before Xmas - 5 weeks in transit from ROK. They did a fine job on it - a bit yellow in color, but it will work. I'm going to use a spray poly finish on it and that's all. I had originally considered staining, but have ruled that out. Here is a shot of the fwd deck section:
 
2) Fwd Hull Modifications - I'm going to do this by manual method in order to get the lower bow area modified correctly. Here is a shot of the station templates on the hull (mtd in stands and secured to the work surface) before any work is started. They don't fit correctly due to the thickness of the ext. hull needing to be shaved down:
 
That's it for now.
 
Hank
 

Update as of 12-04-14:
 
I've been working on the 04/05 Navigation Bridge and with the exception of Pelorus's, other small deck items, and whip antennae, it's complete. As usual, these pix show the superstructure together when in reality they are sitting in place only.
 
I chose the kit bridge over the Pontos PE bridge as it was easier to work with at this point. Had I thought about it, I would have enlarged the window openings slightly in both directions as these are just a tad bit undersized. One of the Volunteers in WISCONSIN (Norfolk) made dimensioned posts regarding this earlier in the year. However, with a family situation finally coming to a close, my thoughts have sometimes been elsewhere...
 
In any event, I have been critiqued by another battleship acquaintance who is associated now with IOWA (LA Ports) and mentioned to me a couple things that need adjustment on the 08 Level - I will handle this when I am back at my shop in early January '15. Thru the 42 years of his work at LBNSYD, he has, at one time or another, worked on all the IOWA class ships in addition to many others that came thru the shipyard. His knowledge is impeccable.
 
I am STILL waiting on my special order Pontos Deck set and replacement PE parts (3 weeks now  - nothing!)
so, until it arrives, I'm unable to go too much further on superstructure work. I may begin basic hull work but that is predicated on one of the other Calif. modelers who is working on a hull replacement module (3D printed in ABS plastic) to replace the mis-sharpened after 1/3 of the kit hull. He's getting close and it's phenomenal what he's done using Solidworks and 3D professional printing.
 
8 bells and time to bug out.
 
Hank
 
 
 

Please please please..... DO NOT PUT Personal Info in a post to a seller.  Use the PM's.   Posts are visible by entire Internet.  You're giving spammers and miscreants information that is useful to them.
 
Check out the sellers history of posts....are they well known?  They must have a minimum of 25 posts to reply to a topic or post a topic in this forum.  Look at their post history.
 
If paying a seller...Use PayPal.  They have great buyer protections.  Always select "paying for goods and services"   If you dont get the goods or services...you have a good chance of getting your money back.  Scammers usually insist you send it as "sending money for friends and family"  because its less likely you can get your money back.  
 
Personal information is things such as phone numbers, email addys, home addresses, etc. 

Hello shipmates, the 4th and the last coat of car primer it is done. Now it needs one more sanding with 400 grid sandpaper and it is ready for painting. Some photographs..
 
Regards
Dimitris

Hello Shipmates, a small update... I applied a second hand of car primer to the ship, the first one sanded with 400 grid.Some photos.
 
Regards
Dimitris

After a debate with myself as to whether or not to add the cabin details I decided I would.  So here’s a start on the cabin.  I’m building it as a separate unit.  I plan to put a stove in the recess on the port and a sink in the shelf on the starboard.  Now that I’ve told everyone I stand a better chance of doing it.
 
Bob
 

 

 

OK, Druxey, here is my step by step.
 
I am no artist and the results will probably reflect that but so far the results don't look too bad.  I made the first trial section of frieze only to discover that I painted it upside down and without enough background aft to run out to the hance of the forecastle.  So I used this "opportunity" to document a step by step method for painting the friezes.  For my technique I used the instructions given in Vol II of TFFM.  I also had the pleasure of sitting in on a demonstration of frieze painting by David Antscherl at the most recent NRG national meeting.  
 
The first step is to have a background of the correct color.  I chose a blue background although there is a contemporary model of Atalanta in the NMM holdings that has a red background. The next step I found to be the most difficult.  David says to moisten bond paper (aka printer paper), stretch it gently, tape it to a flat surface and allow it to dry.  Then the background is painted.  The prestretching is supposed to prevent the paper from wrinkling when the acrylic paint is applied.  Well...  I tried three different types of paper, different moisture levels, different tape and weighting the paper under a sheet of glass.  I occasionally ended up with a strip of paper that looked passable.  After that I painted the paper with artist acrylics and ended up with wrinkled paper!  I could not find any blue archival markers.  Ink would cause the same problem.  Regular blue marker would bleed when I apply my solvent based finish.  I seriously thought about printing a sheet of blue paper but was concerned about the lifespan of inkjet pigments.  My solution was to use enamel spray paint without prestretching.  Three coats with a quick sanding of 600 grit between coats gave me good depth of color while smoothing out any imperfections in the paper.  It is still flexible and accepted acrylic paints well.
 

 
Although there is no freize shown on Atalanta's plans, there is one for Fly.  I used these for my design.  I traced the design on to regular bond paper.
 

 

 
The plan shows the starboard side but I am putting the frieze on the port side.  So I turned the paper around and traced the sketch on to the back of the paper, giving me a mirror image.  The drawing was placed on the painted paper and transfer paper was used to transfer the outline.  Transfer paper is found at any craft store and is used for stenciling and applying patterns onto cloth.  It comes in several colors.  White is best for this application.
 

 

 
The images were painted with two coats of ochre.  All the paints used were Liquitex artist acrylic.  
 

 
The highlights were applied with a mixture of ochre and white.  
 
 
 
The lowlights were applied with a mixture of ochre and burnt sienna.  Finally details such as the stems and leaf veins were added with a mixture of burnt sienna and burnt umber.
 

 
I used a pencil eraser to remove any white lines and powder from the transfer paper.
 

 
At these extreme magnifications, the detail work is a little heavy.  At normal viewing it looks much better; definitely better than I thought I could do.  

I have proclaimed the lower hull planking finished!  In the end I applied three coats of sanding sealer and one coat of flat finish.  This was sanded to 1200 grit.  The finish coat adds luster without shine and is a harder finish than the sanding sealer.  The upper planking will be finished with Watco's to match the rest of the Costello after the channels, moldings, etc. have been installed.  I repainted the wale and put her back in the cradle.  
 

 

 

 

 

I have decided to use a finish that will not yellow the holly.  In TFFM David mentions a solvent-based sealer for his finish.  For those of you who own his Comet book or have seen the photos, that is the look I am trying to achieve.  The bottle of solvent-based sanding sealer I have was quite a few years old so I purchased some from Midwest Models, as well as a bottle of flat finish.  I have not decided whether to stick with just the sealer or put a coat of finish on as well.  The pictures are taken after two coats of sealer, the first sanded down to 320 grit and the second sanded to 400.  Later this week I will test applying a coat of the finish on some scrap wood.  One of the nice things about the sealer is that the drying time is very fast but as this is solvent based the smell is pretty strong.  Unlike a oil based finish, the odor dissipates quickly.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, everyone for the comments and the likes.  I have finished the treenails.     I estimate that the whole process consumed about 25 hours of my life.  So my ugly duckling is now in the process of becoming a swan (class).  Sorry, couldn't help it.  I removed the hull from the board for the sanding process.  I find it easier to sand a curved object while holding it in my lap.  This gives me easier access to the various rabbets and the intersection with the wing transom.  In the process, despite using masking tape, the main wale has gotten fairly scuffed up and will require another coat of paint.  In the pictures the hull has been sanded down with 100 grit.  The treenails are hard to see because no finish has been applied yet.
 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure which is more tedious, treenailing a hull or tying ratlines.  At this point I am over halfway done with an estimated time so far of 15 hours.  This includes marking the locations for the treenails, drilling the holes (#75 bit), drawing the treenails (hole 20 on the Byrnes drawplate) and finally inserting the treenails.  I have used bamboo for these to give me the least color contrast with the holly.  I usually dry-fit treenails but for extra strength these are all dipped in dilute yellow glue.  I hope to finish them up next weekend and then start sanding the hull.  Right now it is pretty ugly, covered in lines and holes and little bumps which make it look more like a plucked chicken than a ship.
 

 

 

Michael,
 
Thank you very much for describing your plan and approach.
 
And that last update showing the timing gear looks sweeet. So very nice.
 
Cheers
 
Elia

Thanks, Mark, druxey and Siggi. It is always nice to get some affirmation on those many moments when you have to make educated guesses on  historical information.
 
I forgot to mention that the Muller book was exceptionally interesting as a glimpse into the early dawn of the industrial age in Great Britain in the mid 18th century. He dutifully reports on the proper, historically received proportions for guns. But he then complains about how arbitrary these are,  not based in reason or fact. Some examples:
 
After explaining that the proportions given apply to all sizes of cannon, he says "The reader may easily perceive the perplexity of these constructions, arising from the different scale that are used with the least necessity. That the greatest part of the mouldings should have the same dimensions, from a 3 pounder to one of 32, appear contrary to reason..." He then complains that experiments on a 24 pounder for weight of powder and distance and trajectory, were then extrapolated to other sizes of guns without then testing these.
 
He also complained about the location of the trunnions so that the top of the trunnion is located at the center of the cannon. He said "...it is so absurd, that is is amazing no author or artist has thought proper to change it...to show the absurdity of it, suppose AB to present the center line of the bore, and CD the distance of the center line of the trunnions from that of the bore. Now because when the piece is fired, the explosion acts against the breech B, and makes the piece recoil, but being fixed to the carriage by the trunnions, endeavours to turn about the point D....the piece therefore acquires a pendulous motion about the center D."
 
And he complains about the tradition of breaking the cannon into three different diameter cone shapes (first and second reinforce, chace), because powder does not explode in stages but rather continuously, suggesting a design for a cannon with no breaks in its profile.
 
I think we see here the first signs of challenging traditions handed down for their own sake, and proposing a more scientific view of designing ordnance. Of course, this kind of thinking eventually leads to artifacts more functional than beautiful. Or, perhaps we eventually find a different kind of beauty in more functional objects. But then I wonder why so many of us are drawn to the beauty of these pre-Industrial Revolution artifacts?
 
I love how history provides endless opportunities to ponder the great imponderables!
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
A long time away from the shipyard. I last got the deck clamps in before the winter humidity in Colorado drops dramatically, and I will have to wait until spring to start on the main wales when the humidity comes back to match what it was when the clamps went in. So, I am backing and filling for a while....
 
I learned about sail making from Greg Herbert and David Antscherl's workshop this December, and may post some pictures of my sail efforts for the Bellona at some point when I have something to show. It was a terrific workshop. I highly recommend it.
 
In the meantime, I am working on the 32# guns for the Bellona's gundeck. I spent a fair amount of time researching guns that would be appropriate to ca. 1760. I may have this wrong, but I believe the guns at this time were based on a pattern developed by Surveyor General of Ordnance, General John Armstrong, in the 1720s. This was updated slightly by Charles Frederick in 1753. And the dimensions were given in John Muller's Treatise on Ordnance of 1768. Using Google books, I was able to reproduce the gun and carriage for a 32 pound cannon. The details are a little different from ones more commonly found in the 1770s in a number of modeling books. The most obvious are that the cascable is shorter, with a compressed set of moldings behind the base ring. Also, the transom on the carriage is vertical over the fore axtree (which looks very much easier to build than the angled ones seen later). And the stool does not sit on a thick bolster, but rather a rather thin vertical plank. It looks a little fragile compared to later carriages.
 
I pasted my gun and carriage over a scanned image of a cross section showing the guns in Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine from the 1760s. The Armstrong/Muller details lined up almost exactly with the Falconer drawing. The only difference is that I had to reduce the height of the carriage body by about 1 1/2" to get the cannon at the right height relative to the gunport, matching the Falconer height (which is the same as the Bellona's). Also, the Falconer drawing shows an elongated neck for the ball at the end of the cascable. I could not find any other examples of this in other resources, so I stuck with the drawing in Muller's book. Interestingly, the drawing in the Muller book does not match the text, regarding the length of the cascable; the text calls for something longer than the drawing shows, probably getting closer to Falconer's drawing. But I could not draw this convincingly without further information. The text also explains a method for determining the length of the body, which does not match the length given in a table. Research from primary sources sometimes has its challenges!
 
I spent some time working out the dimensions for the cannon, relative to one origin. You will see one set of dimensions in purple, aligned to the first and second reinforce which is a 1 degree taper. The second set in orange aligns with the chace, whose angle is 1.5 degrees.  I hope to use this to turn a master on the lathe, and then try casting the 28 guns required.
 
Stay tuned!
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 

Some photos with the resin sanded...
 
Dimitris

Good morning shipmates, waiting for the resin to cure....I paint the bow rudder housing.
 
Cheers
Dimitris
 
 

Hello shipmates, the port side of the Vespucci is also applied with fiberglass and resin . Tomorrow I will sand the resin and after that I will apply another hand of resin. After that I will sand the second hand of resin and  I will apply grey car surface primer to spot if there are any imperfections.For the record I used 25 gr. of fiberglass and L&L resin ,(They say is no toxic but I used a mask anyway). The resin had 30 minutes work time. A friend of mine that builds r/c airplanes suggested this resin .
 
Cheers
Dimitris

Hello shipmates, the starboard of the ship is covered with fiber glass and resin . I upload some photos from the procedure. First of all i left the fiberglass on the ship for one night to take the shape of the ship. Today I applied the resin over the fiberglass. In some photos the reflections are from the resin and not bubbles on the fibeglass. Requirements are : A pair of gloves , glasses and mask.
 
Cheers
Dimitris

Hi everyone!
 
Rainbow's journey continues, albeit slowly.  I've applied putty to the external planking of the hull and proceeded to sand it back.  There's still more sanding and filling to go before I can achieve a nice and smooth surface to paint upon.  But here's the results so far.
 
Hope you enjoy the photos.
 
All the best
 
Patrick

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 103 – Planking and Wales continued
 
The work proceeds apace.  Post-holiday lull and the winter weather helps.  Work on the lower hull requires either some gymnastics or some other support for the model.  The first picture shows the simple setup that allows the model to be tilted as needed – a very un-shipyard-like look.
 

 
The wale on this side is about one-half planked in this picture.  The next picture shows the wale planks converging at the lowest perimeter strake at the stern.
 

 
The brass rod is the diameter of the gudgeon eyes and is being used to mark the center of the helm port by laying it on the sternpost.  In the next picture a hole for the port has been roughed out.
 

 
The rudder head was round and was encased at the port in a sleeve – wood or iron – to prevent ingress of water.  The diameter of the rudder shaft was 16” – matching the sternpost.  With the sleeve the opening will take up much of the area as yet unplanked.  I decided to fill the area with a single chock as shown in the next picture.
 

 
A circular opening for the sleeve and rudder head will be cut through this later.  In the next picture the hole has been centered.
 

 
Additional wale strakes are being added in this picture.  In the next picture the final piece on the port side has been boiled and is being fitted to dry.
 

 
The planks on this side are being stepped back at each frame to allow the stern area to be completed without adding more strakes on this unplanked side.  Hence these last two pieces are very short – the lowest will be half the length shown.
 
The next picture shows the final wale strake in place at the stern on the starboard side.
 

 
This side will be planked down below the waterline so there are more strakes to be fitted at the stern.  These will diminish down to the thickness of the common lower planking.
 
I don’t want to use this forum to pitch the forthcoming book, but I feel that a few words are in order, since several people have asked about it. 
 
Bob Friedman of Seawatchbooks and I were both quite enthused about a book on American clipper ship modeling.  We both felt this was a neglected area.  However, I had some concerns about another “full framing” methodology book that would be a rehash of previous material.  I was also concerned about writing a book about a large, fairly advanced structural model that would probably appeal mainly to a small slice of experienced modelers.
 
 It took some time for me to resolve these issues and decide to write the book – two books hopefully – the first on modeling the hull and the second on masting and rigging. 
 
Like the Naiad books – and unlike this build log – the books will be very heavy on methods – I like the word processes.  As work on YA progressed, the processes used were both different enough and in some ways unique and this allayed some of my concerns about redundancy. 
 
However, I still wanted to reach a broader range of modelers – specifically potential or less-experienced scratchbuilders looking for a foothold and some help on methods.  To this end the book will also include methods, drawings, text and pictures for construction of a smaller, simpler POB version of the model.  The processes developed for this model are designed to provide a basis for advancement to fully-framed modeling using the upright, shipyard-like, methods that many of us favor.  The planned volume on rigging – if we get that far – will apply to both versions. Simpler tools, fewer fancy devices and readily available materials will also be used for the POB model.
 
To support this important content, a second, 1:96 POB model is being constructed.  Until making the book decision, I have been careful to exclude this from posted pictures but that precaution is now no longer necessary so I will show one picture of the current work area with both models in progress.
 

 
Although having two models in the shop has exponentially increased the clutter, the biggest problems are keeping the two scales straight and using the right drawings – and getting all  the work done on schedule.
  
Ed