Bob Legge

Hello to all,
 
made a little progress.
 
I've varnished the second planking on the lower side of the hull. This was quite some days ago. Nothing spectacular. Here is piece of evidence A:

A little update - finished the starboard planking and gave it a little rough sanding. Fine tuning will follow the next days. Next in line are the rudder and the ships stand.

USS St. Louis Ironclad Project update for May 2018:
The first 3 photos show Bill's progression from the joggle strip, thru planking for the starboard side of the gun deck to its completion this month. Decking on the port side will be limited to that required to support the the main armament cannon barrels, carriages and load crews. At least one cannon will be displayed having been rolled back from its gun port and in the process of being reloaded. The next series of photos represent progress this month on fabrication of our "Doctor" Auxiliary Steam Engine which serves several functions including maintenance of safe boiler water levels. Since the actual "Doctor" was lost during recovery of the USS Cairo, its City Class sister ship USS St. Louis, our brass engine is based on drawings of a similar, but fancier, engine found in the US National Archive, modified by similar more realistic engines recovered with contemporary Civil War era Western River steamboats. The two large cylindrical units above the "Doctor" engine are heat exchangers which utilize main engine steam exhaust to pre-heat river water before pumping it to the boilers. The remaining steam is them either fed into the wheelhouse to keep the paddlewheel water from freezing in Winter, or is vented to the main stacks. A dry-fit of the "Doctor" and its adjacent manual start-up/bilge pump is shown in the main engine room to help us layout the required piping connections. Our "Doctor" engine model has its own  simulated steam cylinder with piston, flywheel, 4 water pumps and control valves, all linked to the "rocking beam" supported by its unique framework. Lastly, several more views of the gundeck near the bow casement provide a good idea of its eventual appearance.
 
johnhoward
 
 

USS St. Louis update for April 2018
Seven of our original 9 Shipcrafter build team gathered to commemorate our 3.5 year milestone on our City Class "USS St. Louis" Ironclad Project and the departure of Scott, third from the left, upon his retirement to Wisconsin.  Scott will continue support of the project, remotely in his original research capacity.
One of our main accomplishments this month was fabrication and successful dry-fit of the "Hog Chains" which span from the aft end of the wheelhouse on the port & starboard keels to the forward face of the boiler/firebox. The "chains" are actually a combination of cables, solid links and turnbuckles, modeled after those recovered with the USS "Cairo". They fit in a remarkably confined space within the hull structure, penetrate the roofs of the "Hurricane" deck houses, and are supported on four stanchions "footed" on the engine room floor.  Another dry-fit of the completed paddlewheel successfully resolved several minor issues. Tom displayed his initial brass machinings for each of the 5 different types of cannon barrels which will make up the 14 cannon carried on the USS St. Louis at the end of September 1862 which our model represents. 
Completed details of the "Hurricane Deck" were assembled to verify spacing with the new "Hog Chains". Initial sketches have been made for fabrication of our "Doctor" Auxiliary Steam Engine which was lost during the "USS Cairo" recovery. Materials are being gathered for this interesting mechanical contrivance. Bill has continued modeling of the  insulated steam distribution and exhaust system. Ten of the 13 wooden Naval cannon carriages were dry-fit at their gundeck stations. The 14th carriage, which will be brass, is for the 12-pdr Boat Howitzer and will be carried on the "Hurricane" deck.
 
johnhoward
 

I've made the mast steps and put them in. Here they are dry fitted:
 

The supports for the frame to hold the lower bank of oars are now glued in place:

And the frame has been glued to them.
  
Oops: I discovered that the pencilled guidelines I'd drawn to fix the angle of the oars faced 180 degrees the wrong way, so I had to erase them and redraw them. I still have a remnant of the wrong ones because I started with spirit pen at one end and couldn't get rid of it. As the pencil line around each oar where it goes through the oarport was getting faint I've also re-done the lines.  
 
And the mast steps are now glued in, along with the blocking pieces.
 

 
Still working on the new masts and then I'll make the wedges to hold them in place. I also have to make and insert the mast partners to hold them rigidly.
 
Steven

I've done a preliminary fitting for the support system I'll be using for the lower oars, to see if it will work. A number of cross-members hold at the correct height a frame with a series of lines all at the same angle, as guides for the oars. The oars go through the oarports with the inner end resting on the frame and the outer end resting on a raised plane (currently two thicknesses of balsa wood) to simulate water level.
 
  
I've done my best to get all the oars as close to identical as possible, so they'll all be at the same angle vertically when they rest on the frame. Also, they'll be interchangeable so it doesn't matter which one goes where. The other quantity that has to be kept constant is how far the oars poke out from the hull, which is done by simply drawing a pencil line around the circumference of each oar at the point it goes through the oarport.
 
I've only tried it with three pairs of oars so far, but it looks like it will work. Now to get it all done properly, with everything lined up and glued in place. As I mentioned before I won't be putting the oars in till later on in the build so they don't get damaged while I'm working on other parts of the ship.
 
The two mast steps are still in progress - I'm making them like the ones found in the Yenikapi ships. Though they're more complicated than my original version I think it's good to do it the way it was done back in the day if at all possible. The blocking piece is shown above the two mast steps. Sorry about the photo quality.
 

 
At some point I have to correct the line of the beam shelf - it's a bit wonky and has to be made into a smooth line, or the deck beams - and the deck itself - will also be wonky. As can be seen in the photos, the line wobbles very slightly all along its length.
 


 
As the beam shelf so narrow and flexible, I can probably correct it by cutting it away from the frames at the offending places and re-glueing it in the correct position. If not, I'll have to cut and fill till it's correct.
 
Steven
 
 

Hi Pat, the pen is in fact an old mechanical drafting pencil. I was given a friend's fathers small side desk with all sorts of leads for the early drafting pencils. I have enough to last a couple of lifetimes. In among the leads were some coloured ones probably for mark ups and changes I have a couple of reds and a blue, yellow, green and brown.
 

 

 
The next pics show the drawers with the inserts lifted off to reveal more leads stacked below.
 

 

 

 

 
If anyone needs a particular size Ill have a look, most of them are the typical 2H 3H 4H 6H and an assortment of other sundry pens and pencils.
 
Michael
 
 

Actually I was looking at a Canon SX730 Which is a decent little camera.
Thank you for your kind remarks...name?
 
Thanks Dan, I have been admiring your own work on these typs of ships.
 
The camera isn't in yet...oh well.
Today was probably one of the most frustrating days working on this model and it was all to do with the port side dockside companionway hanging off the side. The chains to the steps was snapped and missing a section fortunately I had some tiny model railroad chain.
setting the new hooks was an exercise in telling me that I would not have a good time rigging something like the young America... I take my hat off to you Ed.
 

 

 

 
The hooks are ugly in my view, but they look like the ones on the starboard side, which are original. and this little job only took me about 3 hours of bits shooting off into the aether and fiddling with stuff that was already attached and other bits that were loose.
 
A more calm and easy job was replacing the square ports.
 

 

 

 
So basically the port side is finished other than a bit of buffing here and there.
 
Tomorrow I can finish the seats on the starboard lifeboats, and all that is left is to raise the flags.
 
Michael   
 
A mu
 
 
 

USS St. Louis Ironclad update for March 2018:
We began implementation of fabricating armor plating for the pilot house and casements using our previously developed system of covering strips of Formica with .002 thick copper foil tape which was then chemically blackened. The Formica strips are doubled in thickness but off-set about .030" to create rabbets on both sides to resemble the original interlocking armor such that only one side of each plate need be attached to the wood structure with scale 3/4" diameter bolts. The bolts were created from No 18 brass escutcheon pins which were annealed and then headed in an arbor press with a female hex die to form its head and washer. These fasteners are very prominent in views of the casements for the USS Cairo at Vicksburg. The armor for the hull casements was 2.5" thick while that for the pilot house was half that thickness, so two different thicknesses of Formica were utilized. Our research for the junior officer's cabins leads us to believe that they were very likely to have been relatively lightweight canvas and pole enclosures which could be readily disassembled whenever combat was anticipated, rather than enclosures built by carpenters. This is reinforces by the "camp style" display at the USS Cairo Museum at Vicksburg. We also completed finishing the wheelhouse and performing a successful dry-fit of the completed paddlewheel. One interesting result of this dry-fit was that our Pittman arms, as built, could not be connected to both the paddlewheel axle bellcrank and the engine piston clevis at the same time, because  they are not perpendicular to each other. This would require mono-ball bearings in each end of the Pittman arm to accommodate the 3-degree angle. Later research determined that such mono-ball bearings were in actual use by 1840 mills and factories. We will simply add chamfers to the Pittman arms to make it fit. Bill started fabrication of the insulated steam-pipe delivery system and planking the starboard side of the gun deck as we intensify our effort to close off this area.
 
johnhoward 
. 
 








Cairo,Bow.bmp

In an attempt to bring this log up to date I will be adding progress photos for the USS St. Louis month by month since February 2018.
This is the remainder of our activity for February which primarily consisted of completion of our brass paddlewheel assembly, attachment of its paddle-boards, its axle saddle machining, the captain's quarters, cannon ammunition cases, and a few structural additions.
 
johnhoward

A few more recent photos related to my previous posting.
 
johnhoward

We have again temporarily removed the Hurricane deck and are cleaning up numerous details on the gun deck such as the stern bulwark rail, the Captain's Quarters, coal bunker door with sacked coal, the paddlewhee, axle pillow-block supports and framing of gun deck access hatches in preparation for gun deck planking and eventual reinstallation of the Hurricane Deck. We have also started installation of the 17 paddleboards (Buckets) on the paddlewheel and fabrication of the 2 main steam engines which will be shown in future photos.
 
johnhoward

Thank you for your comments and "likes", dear friends.
 
To Tecko: You are welcome, Peter. I try to find suitable solution from available information to achieve more realistic result, but I have to admit, it is often very difficult.
 
To archjofo: Thank you Johann, your praise means a lot for me. The same to your magnificent work.
 
Yesterday I finished last few pieces of decoration for the bow sculptures and here is the result:
 

Soon I will start with new decoration for the bow section and bulkhead.
 
Best regards and enjoy the pics
Doris

Hello,

meanwhile, I have started with the construction of the model buoys.
The brass metal bands are 0.6mm wide and 0.2mm thick.
Here are some pictures:

I've been working on the final fairing of the lower counter. It was determined that the vertical filler piece was not close enough to the rabbet strip, so a thin strip was added to the aft edge of the filler piece. The first horizontal filler block had a score where the "B" frame was located. I removed the block and shaved the bottom edge of the "B" frame down, level with the other frames. The new block now sits neatly across the frames. I left one side not yet faired to show how much wood was removed to fair this area. The transition between the two filler pieces becomes clear as more and more wood is removed. A batten strip was used in various locations to make sure that enough wood was removed.

Mike

Building continues with the stern framing. I was lucky enough to get the frames laser cut for me. I used a simple cardboard template to install them at the same angle as shown on the plans. Next, the five sills were added. I made these from 5/32" x 5/16" strip. These angles were tricky to get right and there were a few throwaways.  The sills were set flat, not pointing upwards. The final step was to add the four laser cut lintel filler pieces. In a few places, I found them to be a tiny bit too short between the frames, so I cut new ones from 1/4" sheet boxwood. The interior and exterior surfaces were then faired. I was told that these surfaces will eventually be thinned down even more.

In preparation for the bollard timbers the area behind the stem was reduced to a thickness of 1/8".

Mike
 

Martin, I have a few ideas for the next build.  Let's finally get through this one first!
 
Since I will not be moving the model very much anymore, I decided it was time to make the swivel guns.  There are a total of 16, eight per side.  Five are on the quarterdeck and three are on the forecastle.  I used barrels from Syren to make my life a little easier.  There is an aiming handle mounted onto the cascabel.  It is L-shaped, extending below the swivel gun.  In order to solder this to the gun I wrapped a loop of brass wire into the neck and filed a flat surface into it on the bottom.  This gave me good surface area for soldering.  The ball at the end of the handle is brass tubing slipped over the wire.  That will be filed down after soldering.
 

 
There are two types of swivel gun mounts: a simple yoke and the one used on the contemporary model of Atalanta.  The yoke bends forward.  According to David in TFFM, this gave additional clearance to decrease risk of damage to the shrouds.  The first step was to make a paper template of the yoke.  I then cut out a brass template (the smiley face in the top of the picture.  This was made undersized to allow me to trace around it with a file to get the correct size and shape.  Shaping was done with carborundum wheels, a cut-off wheel and files.  Holes were then drilled for the trunion and mount.  The mount was shaped on the lathe.  The mount and yoke were then soldered together. 
 

 
The pin was placed through the hole for the trunion and soldered onto the yoke.  Next came blackening and finally mounting.
 

 

 

 

 

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and the likes.  Next on the build list is the anchor.  I am only making the port side anchor since the starboard side is only in frame.  Previously I have made my anchors out of wood, painted to look like metal, but I wanted to make this one from brass.  My options were to make the shank and arms from one sheet of brass (as Ed Tosti did for Naiad) or made separate arms and shank and then solder them together.  I decided to to the latter as cutting out the anchor from sheet brass seemed overwhelming.  My first challenge was finding the correct thickness of brass.  I was unable to find any brass sheet or square rod of the approximate dimensions required.  I found it necessary to purchase round rod and mill it flat to the correct thicknesses.  Although not difficult, I found this to be very time consuming (probably because of my inexperience with milling brass stock).  I was able to obtain brass sheet of the correct thickness for the palms.  When looking at the pictures, keep in mind that this anchor, without the ring, is 3.25" long.
 

 
After I was satisfied with the final shape, the next step is to solder everything together.  These pieces of metal are huge compared with the rest of the metal work on the model.  Since I planned on blackening the metal, that meant silver soldering rather than soft soldering.  I know some modelers get good results with Tix solder, but I have never had any luck with it when the pieces are to be blackened and not painted.  My fist step was to solder the two arms together.  This is when I discovered just how much heat was necessary to get the solder to flow on these large chunks of metal.  Then I attempted to solder the shank onto the arm assembly.  I put the solder on the arm joint and applied the heat to the shank but could not prevent the arm joint from falling apart just as the solder began to flow into the shank/arm joint.  I do not own multiple melting points of silver solder so I pinned all the pieces together on a ceramic block and soldered all the joints simultaneously.  Although not perfect, I think it looks reasonably good.  If I were to do it again I would not file the edge on the top of the arm until after the soldering.  The joint would look tighter and I would have been able to have a smoother transition on the outer edge from the arm to the shaft.
 

 

 
The anchor was pickled, blackened in 1:3 Birchwood Casey.  Unfortunately you can see the difference between the brass and the silver after blackening.  After I saw this I filed everything down where the silver flowed and although it is better, a discriminating eye can still pick out the difference.  Fortunately, it looks a lot worse in the photos than it does in real life.  After blackening, I applied a coat of matte clear finish.
 

 

 
The stocks are relatively straight forward.  There is an air gap between the two halves to prevent rot.  In following David's drawings I noticed that the two halves are not mirror images.  Only one half has the internal taper, the other half is straight internally.  The two halves are bolted and treenailed together.  The hoops are simulated by paper dyed with archival ink.  I still need to install the ring.  
 

 

 
 

Finished the fore shrouds' ratlines  >>>

Spent a couple of nights preparing 8 futtock plates and mounting the deadeyes in them for the foremast, then did the  futtock shrouds and hooks (not sure if these hooks have a more 'nautical name'?) >>>


Then fitted them pesky little ratlines . . . the lowest one was the trickiest owing to the tight space to work in >>>

Beginning to find my way a bit with the ratlines and they don't seem just so tedious as they were with the main mast.
Got just over half way up the mizzen mast right now.  They're still 'adjustable' at present and can be slid up or down the shrouds. I'll wait until they're at the top before equalising them, trimming the tails and putting a drop of CA on each knot to finally seize them in position >>>

 
Edited in an attempt to remove the bottom picture which is a duplicate of the 3rd picture in this post - - but failed !!!
 
I have no idea how that photo got in here twice ??? - - - and can't get rid of the unwanted one !

I found artist pigment here: http://www.kamapigment.com/store/index.asp?lang=1&catpage=500. The store is located in Montreal, so perhaps that would be better for you.

here be shown the master-frame which is not as you would think at the midpoint of the keel but slightly forward of this. As a consequence, there are a few more frames aft than forward.
 

The building board sans stern and stempost supports.

Thanks for the feedback on the lifeboat falls. The port side is now done and this evening i turned the ship around on the bench in order to work on the Starboard side.
A few new shots testing out the new camera. I also made a replacement navigation light for the starboard. it is not a perfect match and this was the third one, and they are on opposite sides so I am going to use it.

 

 

 
It is nice not having the fuzzy area the Camera has a few idiosyncrasies that are different from the old Canon PowerShot A 640 But i will get used to it.
 
Michael

Some more work with making missing parts, the dark metal bases of some of the vent stacks, and more new screw mounts.
 

 
New bases from bronze patina on brass, one on left is original.
 
new bases slipped under the glued up boat deck.
 
And today I removed the temporary building jig.
 

 
And a memory lane shot for encouragement to keep going.
 

 
I can feel the end of the tunnel coming.
 
Michael

Looking for some guidance
 
This first picture shows the antenna wire from the top cable between the masts dropping to the roof of the wheelhouse.
 

 
This next picture shows the end of the antenna  and the device with holes through the ball ends. one end has the antenna wire loose through it with a loop twisted in the end of the wire. The other end of the device has some white line knotted to it.There is also some frayed line attached to a hook in the decking, The logical notion is that the brass device was connected to the frayed line attached to the hook. but then where does the loop in the wire attach?
 

 
The domed brass pillar appears to be used in some fashion with the antenna in one of the pictures on one of the other models of this ship but I cannot see it clearly enough to make a determination about this.  
 
the next picture shows my interpretation with the loop of the antenna hooking into the top of the dome somehow.
 

 
But this is a wild guess
 
Michael