Elia

Earlier than my steering wheel endeavor I had fabricated the cat heads and installed the chainplates. All of the deck furniture remains only temporarily placed for context.
 


 


 
Funny thing about the deadeyes - they don't want to stand upright, as in the photos. They lay over, free on their pivot pins...
 
And last, but not least, thank you to all those who've 'liked' my updates!
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

I think I have the correct bend in the transom plate now. It looks about right. I also installed the plank sheers. However, I'm finding that the bulkheads are very brittle. While fairing the frame and shaping the stanchions, I broke several of them. Instead of carving, they seem to kinda just split or that brake right off. I've glued them back in place but think I might have gotten a defective kit.
 

So, I'm a bit confused about the transom framing piece. I have to bevel it on top and bottom, and then bend it. I guess the bottom dotted line is the underside bevel, and the solid line above it is the top bevel? And then the plans show to bend it to the curve shown. That's where I'm really confused. At what points is that measured?
 

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Michael, Omega, Bob,
 
Many thanks. I had fun making the little ship's wheel rim (with a little excitement thrown in for good measure). Bob - I derive satisfaction in finding fabrication solutions to modeling [and even full scale:) ] and being able to pull them off. Those first attempts were quite frustrating and probably set me back at least 6 weeks (try, fail, ponder, adjust, try agin, fail, ponder,.....). I've schemed up an approach to the hub so maybe soon I'll have something to show on it.
 
I'll post some pictures of the cat heads and installed chainplates soon.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Welcome to to the "Newsboy" 1854 build log,
 
With the deck houses complete, lets continue with the deck outfit.  Key points include:
 
>>> Fiferails were built up from stripwood
>>> Fiferail stanctions were Bluejacket castings
>>> Forward fiferail left loose (2 pieces) for installation after completion of fore lower yard lift and fore lower topsail sheet tackles
>>> 2 deck pumps fitted to permit pumping out P/S of keel and for redundency (1 shown on plans)
>>> 2 water casks fitted based on contemporary practice (not shown on plans)
>>> Water casks were planked over basswood plugs
>>> Belaying pins (brass) were chemically treated and installed
 
As noted, I feel free to add to plan details based on contemporary practice where I see something missing.  After all, most ship model plans are only reconstructions.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Four more stern decorations have been added. The little figures with the dolphins are not much bigger that my thumb nail and I think I may be permanently cross-eyed now from working on them! 
 

 

Michael you asked, way back in #170 <, if I was going to be adding any support at the edges where the planks but up to the cover board.  The answer turned out to be yes and no.  In most cases the deck beams were sufficient support but at the master beam the planks were so short I had to put in little pieces for support. 
 
Anyway now the deck is finished and I can move on to deck furniture, masting and rigging. 
 
Bob
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Some photographs ... Thanks
Dimitris
 
 

Post 3.
The photos below show the completed hull planking.  I would say the keys to producing a good planking job begins with fairing the bulkheads adequately, and secondly, like any other phase of ship modeling, take your time.  The couple of time I hurried resulted in a “remodel”.
I used Zap-A-Gap CA glue and glued the planks spanning two bulkheads at a time, and edge glued all planks.  Where possible, I tried to use the edge of my Exacto knife blade to hold the plank in place while the glue set.  This kept me from gluing myself to the Bluenose.  Since I planned to rough sand the hull as I went, I soon discovered that scrapping the planks and high spots, with a #22 Exacto blade worked much better.  Scrapping produced a nice sharp line and brought all of the planks even.
After planking and rough scraping/sanding I applied Elmer’s wood filler to the entire hull.  I used the filler as it comes from the contained, and in retrospect, I will next time thin the filler with water to achieve a more workable product and a more even coat.  I let the hull stand for 24 hours before I began sanding.
Using #80 grit sandpaper I rough sanded the entire hull.  I then finished the sanding with 120 grit sandpaper.  Total time to sand and fine sand, about 3 to 4 hours.
Darrel

I forgot to add the photos to my second post.

Post #1
My name is Darrel Wright and I'm in the process of rekindling an old hobby I put down some 57 years ago.  To initiate this effort I've selected to model Model Shipways' Schooner Bluenose (1:64) because of its sleek and simplified hull affording simplified planking, which I look forward to, and an uncomplicated rigging scheme, which I'm somewhat intimidated by.  I realize the Bluenose is a rather blasé model, having been modeled and logged perhaps hundreds if not thousands of times. However, I plan to write this log as a beginner for beginners, highlighting all accomplishments and pitfalls in an attempt to aid all who wish to embark upon the hobby.
 
I'm starting a little late with the log as I'm just about ready to commence the hull planking operation.  I will attempt to briefly articulate the steps taken to date that have brought me to the planking effort.
Upon receipt of my kit from Model Expo, as instructed, I inventoried each item in the kit and found that one "open chock" and one bag of 12 "single blocks" were missing. I have contacted Model Expo for replacements, which should be forthcoming.
 
Next I read virtually the entire instruction manual and reviewed the six sheet plan set.  Additionally, I purchased and have reviewed the rather comprehensive practicum from Bob Hunt.
 
Now to construction.  Firstly, I removed the three pieces of the keel from their billet and sanded clean the billet residue.  I then dry-fit the keel and noticed a slight imperfection at the bottom line of the assembled pieces.  I concluded these minor imperfections could best be taken care of after assembly with a clean-up sanding.  Using a very straight piece of partical board as a work surface, covered with waxed paper, I applied white carpenter's glue to all edges to be joined, and then tightly fit the assembly on the board.  I then covered the keel again with waxed paper and laid a heavy 2" X 10" board on top to let the assembled keel set over night.  Upon retrieving the keel the next morning I began the delineation of the bearding and rabbit lines.  I had made full size copies of the plan sheet that contained the keel.  I precisely cut out the keel at the top line and the rabbit line.  I then placed and taped the template to the keel, and then, with the aid of an architectural French curve, (more about that later) drew in the rabbit line on both sides of the keel.  The next step was to cut the template along the bearding line and repeat the same procedure to effect the location of the bearding line on both sides.  At this point, as recommended, I glued scrap pieces of wood at the two keel join points for extra strength.
Ah, the rabbit cut!  My goal here was to effect a cut along the rabbit line no greater than a 1/16th of an inch deep so as not to cut through the keel when both rabbit lines were installed.  Using a tip provided by another member of this blog, I placed a piece of masking tape up 1/16th on an inch from the tip of my exacto knife blade, and at the approximated angle of my cut.  Again, using architectural French curves for alignment, I successfully made the rabbits cuts without disaster.
 
Note:  I later learned from someone on this site to use ship's curves as opposed to architectural French curves.  Much, much easier!  I have subsequently purchased a set of ship's curves on Amazon.com for $22.00 US.
 
Creating the rabbit via chiseling is a somewhat tedious process, and most definitely a learning experience.  The right angle, the right depth while keeping it aligned with the bearding line all come into play.  I've noticed in some photos (even the Model Shipways promotional photos) a slight bulging of the planking at the "deadwood" where it dies into the sternpost.  I assume this line should be adequately faired so as to render a smooth transition into the stern post. On my model I removed a fair amount of deadwood between the bearding line and rabbit in order to create this smooth look.
With the keel prepped it was time to fit and install the bulkheads.  Again, I cleaned them up, and then placed them on the respective plan to check for correctness.  All seemed reasonable well with respect to size and shape, and thus I began to fit them onto the keel.  With the exception of three bulkheads all fit quite well, standing at the desired 90 degree angle to the keel.  I deftly mended the slots on the three tight fitting bulkheads and proceeded to glue and install them.  For this installation I used Zap-medium CA glue, and in retrospect I would suggest using glue with a longer cure time to permit any adjustments prior to setup.  (Mistake #1)  I got quite lucky as all bulkheads came about as close to 90 degrees as possible thanks to Model Shipways accurate laser cuts.
 
Now to what I, and virtually all experienced modelers, consider one of the most important aspects of ship modeling, the fairing of the ship.  I vaguely remember, from my youth, not understanding the importance of this critical operation and thus wound up with lumpy, bumpy hulls.  This time, though I may have occasionally "over worked" the wood, I was determined to have every plank sit fully and naturally on each bulkhead in all locations.  I suggest using a piece of planking as a batten to constantly run up and down the bulkheads to insure compliance in all locations.  In my zeal to properly fair the ship I snapped off the very fragile stern piece at the rudder post. (Mistake #2)  After several attempts to just glue it back together (not enough wood surface to do so) I fashioned some support timbers and devised clamping system to reinstall it with the correct alignment both vertically and horizontally.  Live and learn.  Also note the three missing bulwark stations. (Mistake #3)  These were not victims of overzealous fairing, but departed due to the trimming of the stanchions to 1/8th inch as called for.  Take note that the bulkhead plywood is very fragile and crumbles when cut. I believe I can span the missing stanchions location with the bulwark planks and replace these stanchions when the false stanchions are installed.
 
I'm now at the point of installing the waterways and commencing the planking operation.  I've elected to do something that may not be proper procedure.  Because I desire as crisp a model as I'm able to fashion, I have elected to prepaint the waterways, bulkhead stanchions and the inside of the bulwark planks so that I don't have to 'cut-in" the white and grey paint after completing the installation.  I fully realize I will have touch up, but that's preferred to trying to cut-in paint, in a tiny hard to access location with, these aging, aching and shaky old hand.
I've enclosed some pictures for your review.
 
Darrel

Hi everyone
 
Well, tonight I finished building the bent frames! It's a tedious job, but the effect is worth it in the end. At least now, Ingomar's hull finally looks like it's taking shape.
 
What's even more important is the fact that I was able to remove the hull from the building jig and build a working stand for her to sit upright in. The hull looks a bit rough around the sheer line, but that's only because it requires trimmimg, sanding etc.
 
The next job will be to do the planking and then cut out the sides of the hull so that the interior accommodation can be viewed. Long way to go, no doubt.
 
I hope you enjoy the photos.

Happy Easter everyone!!!! I hope all of you that celebrate Easter have a wonderful festive season. To everyone else, have a great day, too.
 
Here are the latest photos of Ingomar. I've used platicard strips to simulate the frames, which, as you can see, look reasonably convincing. Once the side of the hull is completely "framed" using this method, I'll then set about selectively framing up the other side of the hull, whilst leaving large parts of that side of the hull unframed; thereby resulting in large open areas to view the internal accommodation. The trick is to make sure that the hull remains structurally rigid once it is removed from the jig. Afterall, leaving too much open on one side of the hull could result in a warped hull. So, it's always a balancing act, but the rewards are worthwhile.
 
Anyhow, hope you enjoy the photos. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.
 
Cheers!

Hi all. Recently, after finishing my miniature model of "Dorade" I started on my new model, a 1/192 scale model of the 54m long schooner "Ingomar". Built in 1903 and designed by Nathaniel Herreshoff, Ingomar was one of the fastest and most successful racing schooners of its day. Such is the beauty of this boat, that it has been recreated now by Graafships; the only problem being that the person funding the project, unfortunately ran out of money and only the hull has been built. The hull is currently for sale. Hopefully someone rich enough will buy the hull and complete the project; thereby creating a modern full size version of this beautiful ship. Any rich people out there?
 
Anyhow, back to my model! Given the small size of the hull (13 cms approx), I agonised about what sort of material the hull should be built from. Whatever I chose had to be structurally strong enough to be cut into small enough strips to simulate the frames, etc. Also, the fact that the full sized ship was steel framed, basically meant that I couldn't use wood. Much to my distaste, I reluctantly settled on plasticard to build the keel and hull! I've always shied away from plasticard, but this time, it was the only logical choice. I will paint the hull's frames and keel later to make it look like it authentic.
 
The hull will be built with as much of the internal accommodation as possible installed in the hull and visible through large cutaways of the hull and exposed deck beams.
 
I hope you enjoy the photos. More photos will follow as work progresses.

Finally got a little time this week to work on the ship.  I have made the upper deck hatch coamings and have started on the gratings.  I forgot to take any pictures so let me verbally summarize the construction.  The fore-and-aft pieces (coamings) have a rabbet to accommodate the ends of the grating strips.  There is no rabbet on the athwartship pieces (head ledges).  On the lower deck coamings I made a simple half-lap corner.  The actual construction technique involves angling the mortise in both the x and y planes, effectively locking the pieces together.  I simplified this to angling only the x plane (the y plane angle would not be visible). In contrast to the lower deck coamings, these taper towards the top rather than being slab sided.  The top of the coaming is curved to match the curve of the deck beam.  The top of the ladder way is parallel to the water line whereas the hatches follow the angle of the deck.
 
Dan (shipmodel) showed a method on QAR for making serrated strips for hatch gratings that I stole.  Thank you Dan.  I have always used the Preac saw to "mill" the slots for hatch gratings, but I would eyeball the distance between slots.  He glued a strip of wood to the top of the saw with CA to act as a sled so that each slot is equidistant from the last.  A little acetone and the top of the saw is as good as new.  My only complication was that the slots should be 0.053" wide and the widest saw blade I had was 0.048".  So once the slots were cut I used a razor blade to shave the slot to the correct width.  I made the slots in the grating ledges deeper than normal and the grating battens thicker than normal because the lateral edges need to be sanded to follow the curve of the  hatch coamings.  
 

 
The hatches are temporarily tacked in place, awaiting pegging and final finishing.  The opening in the aft hatch for the bits will be made after they have been shaped.
 

 

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

This past winter and spring I pondered how to fabricate a few of the remaining deck furniture  details for Arethusa.  The steering wheel, the cat heads, and potentially remaking the deck pumps, due to the fact that over time, as I stared at my original sculpey ones, I found them a little less than attractive.  We’ll see if I remake the pumps or not.
 
The Gloucester schooners of the late 1800s and early 1900s employed cast steering wheels over the built-up wooden wheels we see on many earlier period ships.  One of the principal manufacturers of the cast wheels was A.P. Stoddard Company of Gloucester, MA.  The wheels contained a cast rim, a cast hub, and 8 spoke/handles.  The overall dimensions of the wheels ranged from about 30 inches in diameter (of the rim) to 36 inches diameter.  
 
The design I am using was for Elsie, a similar vintage and approximately similar sized schooner to Arethusa.  The Elsie plans from Model Shipways contain views of the wheel, but enlarged to 1/24 scale, twice the size of my model.  This wheel was also printed in a series of articles Erik A.R. Ronnberg wrote from the Nautical Research Guild's Journal in the 1990s. (I think).  So I used CAD at work to create a 1/48 scale set of ‘wheel’ drawings.  Since the wheel details are quite small at 1/48 scale, I only focused on the major geometric details.  The Elsie wheel is 48 inches (true) from brass cap of one handle to the opposite side handle brass cap.  The rim is 36 inches OD, and 30 inches ID.
 
In this post I’ll show you my approach to making the ships wheel.  What follows is my fourth or fifth attempt at the wheel.  I first tried making one from sheet styrene.  No luck.  Then I tried using boxwood and styrene.  Again failure.  I followed that up with an all boxwood wheel’s rim.  Nope, no good.  At the top of my wish list of of modeling power tools is a lathe… but with largish scale home projects ongoing I can’t justify such a purchase right now.
 
What I found I was struggling with was the fact that the flanges and the web of the rim as very thin at 1/48 scale.  Couple that with a detail the cast rims present - ‘cylindrical’ swells around each spoke at the rim - and, well, I was stumped.  Then, one night something struck me - why not make the rim’s web from two thin sheets of brass.  Once I had the ‘rings’ of the web formed it seemed it shouldn’t be too difficult to crimp them around spokes, or at least spoke mandrels. 
In my ‘brass’ box I had a nice amount of 1/64” thick by 1/16” wide K&S brass strips.  I also had brass sheets stock but attempts to cut out the rings to an acceptable shape proved difficult for me.  I annealed the 1/64 x 1/16 strips and found a suitable mandrel with which to form the web rings.  
 

 
The mandrel was part of a VW Passat B5 tie rod extraction tool (from a past project/era).  I first crudely formed the strips into flat rings, re-annealing throughout the forming, to allow the rings to take a smooth shape.  I then used the mandrel to allow final forming along the underside of the bolt head (following picture).  
 

 
The ring’s ends were then soldered together to form what are essentially thin brass washers.  For this step I used silver solder paste and my butane torch.
 
The next picture shows the crimping of the two ring webs around 0.020 brass rod, which at scale is slightly larger than correct, but available and easy to work with.  These are demonstration rings, as my originals had passed this point of the process before I paused long enough to consider taking pictures.  I used the CAD print to mark where the spokes would be placed.
 

 
Once all of the crimping around the spoke locations was complete I soldered the two web sides together.  For this solder step I used Stay Brite silver solder, which has a melting temp in the somewhere around ~500F.  I soldered in every-other ‘bay’ between spoke locations.  I did that so that when I soldered the flanges onto the rim I could alternate bay locations, providing some ‘distance’ between soldered joints in an attempt to minimize secondary or tertiary soldering from undoing prior soldered sections.
 
I used my trusty mandrel to form the inner flange of the rim, fitted it to the inside of the web ring, trimmed it, and soldered it on place, using the designated ‘clear’ bays for soldering.
 


 
I then used a wooden dowel as a back stop and drilled though the inner flange with my dremel.
 

 
Nearing the completion of the rim I used another mandrel to form the outer flange.  I clamped it in place, marked the spoke locations, and drilled the holes using the prior mentioned drill setup.
 
Parts were filed, flux was applied.  I used some of those 0.020 inch brass rods to maintain alignment of the holes to the rim web.  I used clamps to keep everything in place.  I snipped tiny pieces of TIX solder (melt temp around 270F), and located them.  Heat was then applied.  It looked great.  Really sweet.  I took off the clamps and went to remove the brass rods.  Oh CRUD!  [actually, insert colorful sailor language here].  The flux and solder had run…and the brass rods were soldered in.  I tried heat with the soldering iron, but no luck.  I was concerned about applying too much heat and having other portions of the assembly come apart.  So I set about marking and drilling out the brass rod material.  It worked OK, although the holes weren’t quite as well located as the originals.
 
On the second portion of the outer flange I chose to omit the brass rod ‘alignment’ aids and it all worked out well.
 

 
So here is the rim essentially completed.  The swells in the rim web are visible, and the rim flanges are reasonably to scale.   It is a little larger in OD than the plans.  Not perfect, but I’m happy with it.  Now on to the tiny hub.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Thank you for your interest in "Newsboy" 1854,
 
Next step is after deck outfit.  Key points include:
 
>>> Binacle redesigned based on contemporary ship model plans (original was undersized for 3/16" scale)
>>> Binacle was sheathed with walnut veneer over a solid block 
>>> Ships bell HO scale fitting from Cale Scale
>>> Main sheet block fitted to waterway (to avoid access issues)
>>> Steering enclosure built up from laminated panels, install in coaming, and glued in place
>>> Grating panels fitted for steering station
>>> Mooring bitts built up from laminated stripwood and doweled in place
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Thanks for your interest in "Newsboy" 1854
 
With exterior hull outfit complete, next step is the foredeck outfit.  Key points include:
 
>>> Anchor windlass redesigned based on contemporary ship model plans (original was undersized for 3/16" scale)
>>> Anchor windlass kit bashed from Bluejacket casting kit
>>> Anchor windlass previously dry fitted before deck planking installation (to locate thick pads)
>>> Windlass pump handles will be stowed on the main house front
>>> Cleats fitted to catheads
>>> Hatch covers fitted to coamings & glued in place
>>> Mooring bitts fabricaled from laminated strip wood & dowled in place
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder 

Ship Modelers,
 
Next steps include installation of the bowsprit, bowsprit rigging, catheads, forward cap rails, spray rails, and ship's name. Key points include:
 
>>> Bowsprit & jibboom dry fitted
>>> Bowsprit painted & pre outfitted with rigging hardware
>>> Forestay lower deadeyes installed (to avoid access issues later)
>>> Bowsprit installed
>>> Bobstays fitted and made up (4 1/2" 15 link chain w deadeyes)
>>> Upper catheads painted & installed
>>> Forward cap rail assemble painted and installed
>>> Spray rail fitted, sanded to final shape, & painted
>>> Ship's name plates installed (later replaced w improved name plates)
 
These steps complete all outfit in the inverted position. Future posts will address completing the balance of hull and deck outfit.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder

Additional pictures of copper sheathing.
 
Pete Jaquith
Shipbuilder