Bob Legge

Hello Johann,
 
your ropes looking great, especially the silk ropes. I burned my linen ropes to eliminate the fine hairs. 
 
Should your Creole look afterwards also like this model? The captain must have been on vacation!
 

Hello Rob, 
that is right - in smaller scales is more difficult to achieve such details, but there is always a way how to make it perfect. These self-adhesive vinyl foils have the advantage that they can be repeatedly glued to the surface and modified. They also have excellent flexibility and they can copy different shapes thanks to a considerable bending potential. It is always necessary to use warm air -  it softens them and improves adhesion.
 
Here are other examples, what is possible to achieve with this material. You do not need any special tools, only fine sharp knife, a ruller and tweezers. And plenty of patience of course..... 😁
 
*outer side of the walls covered by foils:

 
*placed and sticked in the model

 
* rear part of the cabin after complete modification
 

 
Enjoy the pics and have a grat time.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 315 – More Yard ironwork
 
So, except for a few parral straps and the unfortunate mizzen skysail yard, all the remaining yards are now made and fitted with their ironwork.  This post describes the final steps in completing those yards.
 
On the largest yards, the yardarm bands were fit over the arms then drilled for their eyebolts – usually two or three on each.  With the smaller yards, this drilling into the wood weakens the yard arm, so prefabricated bands with soldered-in eyebolts were made for these.  I believe I described some of the fabrication steps in earlier posts, but the first picture shows one of these being drilled.
 

The first two holes were drilled through, and fitted with a pin to help set the piece in the vise with the side holes horizontal - for drilling the third hole.  The copper tube used here was a very tight fit over the arm and was also filed around the outside to reduce its thickness.  The next picture shows two eyebolts set into a tube with solder paste applied.
 

After soldering, the bolt excess on the inside was removed out with an abrasive bit and a round file.  The tube was then set in the vise to saw off the band.
 

The band is held with pliers to prevent its flying or dropping to the floor when it is parted.  Searching for these small, dropped parts is a major annoyance.  A better method for this is to insert a length of wire into the tube above the saw blade when it is almost cut through to retain the loose piece.  The next, rather poor photo, shows one of the smallest of these bands fit to its yard.
 

This is a tight fit.  The sheave in this yard remains to be carved out.
 
The lower, upper topsail, and topgallant yards on the fore and main masts carry studdingsail booms for the top, topgallant and royal studdingsails, respectively.  In this final set of yards only the main topgallant required these.  The fabrication of the gear was described in an earlier post, but a few pictures of the work on the last of these is shown below.  In the first picture the strap that reinforces the yardarm is being filed out of a copper strip.
 

This is then bent to fit around the arm and the legs clipped to size.
 

The bands are then held entirely by tight-fitting rings pushed over the end of the yard.  The rings shown were cut from tube, then stretched with the small steel mandrel for a tight fit.  The next picture of an earlier yard shows the band assembly and the other boom gear.
 

The main topgallant yard with all it major ironwork is shown in the next picture.
 

At this stage the jackstay stanchions – 28 gauge twisted copper wire eyes – were pushed into the holes previously drilled in the yards.  The tightness of the fit in the .024" holes has proved sufficient, except on the small diameter yards where some additional holding power is needed.  To avoid interfering with blackening, no glue has been used on the yards.  The next picture shows the stanchions on a small yard pushed through, clipped off, and then peened on the underside.
 

In this step the pliers hold the eye of the stanchion and act as an anvil for the light tapping of the hammer. No, this is not how the mizzen skysail yard was broken.  With these installed, the ironwork on the yards was blackened and the remaining minor fittings added.  The final set of yards is shown in the next picture.
 

The ironwork was blackened with liver of sulfur solution brushed liberally over the yard, followed by progressive rinsing under a cold water tap.  When thoroughly dry, the blackened brass jackstays were pushed through the stanchions. Other inserted eyes and the sheet blocks were then glued in with CA and a light final finish of wipe-on polyurethane applied over wood and metal.   In the picture the lower three yards are the main topgallant, royal and skysail yards.  Those above are the mizzen yards from the upper topsail to the royal.  These yards are now ready to be rigged and mounted.
 
 
Ed

I never use emoticons, Druxey, but I attempted it to show my comment on the likes was in jest - a wink and a smile.  All sympathy is appreciated - humor helps as well.
 
Tom, I dug up a photo showing the octagonal mandrel.  When using this to stretch an octagonal ring, the octagon should be formed on the mandrel before stretching.  Except for the piece on the left, these are all hard maple.  If I anticipated many more years of modeling, I would make these in brass, or perhaps just a harder wood, like box.  Also, the tapers need to be very gradual.  The diameter of the 12" long octagonal mandrel goes from about 3/32" to 3/8" at the large end.  The large one on the right was used for mast rings.
 

Nice research work, Pat. What a find!
 
Beautiful fine work on those tiny pumps. Looking forward to the PE.
 
Sometimes time apparently missed from modelling turns out to be better used put into research.
 
Steven

I've been working on the xylokastra. The first photo shows them with the decking added.

Here is the framing for the parapets/battlements to protect the marines in battle. First the framing members were cut to shape and all the identical ones glued together - the long ones are the horizontals, the short ones are the verticals. Then grooves cut into them where the mortises were to go for halving joints.

Using isopropyl alcohol the glue was dissolved and the members separated.

More framing members, including the ones for the sides and top of the parapets.

The frames assembled

 
and ready to put in place.


 
Steven 

Hello
Carl, EJ and Thomas,
Thank you for your appreciation for my work
and everyone else for the interest and the LIKES.

Apart from the conservation and coloring of the ropes, I also deal with different yarn materials.
In the meantime, I have made experiments with real silk for rope making as an alternative to cotton and linen.
Silk has ideal properties for rope making. The first results are excellent.


 

But as I have read many times, silk should not be very resistant to environmental influences.
Therefore, various museums only have model ships with rigging made of linen,
… at least I have read this somewhere.

Does anyone have any experience with a rigging made of silk?
Or, does anyone know anything about this topic?
I would be very grateful for that.

Tumbe-home bulwark.
 

Spent a bit of time this evening making the lower top mast.  Because this design is based on Forbes and not Howes...the lower topsail has a large gin block used for hauling up the spar.
I remembered that I will be adding the yards going up in sequence and THEN coming back down adding the sails in sequence.
Here is a couple pix of my slow progress tonight.

I took one of the over all build sight...and one from on face so you can see the the 20+deg pitch to the yards.
This weekend and most of next week I'll be building like mad(I pray).
 
Rob

So all windows have been replaced, for some reason the middle one wasn't happy and I wouldn't fit, I remade it and it broke during fitting so this is the third try

Yes Carl, in fact I did it for the microscope. I took the idea from a Microscope arm support like in the photo.
This is my actual set up. I did try about 10 setup before with many camera tripods but I wanted to simplify so everything fits on the table.
In macrophotography, stability is a must. In the future, I would like to get a studio camera stand, something like this old model from Cambo.
Very nice model but I doubt I could find one like this!!!
 

The planking work above the wales on the starboard side is finished. I think you can see the difference in the newly purchased wood compared to that which was used for the first wale layer. It is much more even in grain and color. The most difficult work was shaping the planks that have both tabs and cutouts.




Mike

Hello dear friends, 
I have just started with interior of a great cabin, at this moment it looks rather untidy but during next weeks it will be fully equipped and nice. Here are some actual pics, how the "change" begins.... The last gunports on main deck (before quarter galleries) will be closed and the space between them will serve for electrical wiring.
 

 
 

Thanks to everyone who has reacted or commented on the post.  Let me address the questions:
 
Dowmer, I use silver-soldering, exclusively, for the copper and brass work on the model.  This is a high temperature process with flow temperatures in the 1200F to 1450F range, depending on the composition, primarily the silver content, of the solder.  It is really brazing.   I use a butane or propane torch - necessary for these temperatures.  I use a low silver, phosphorus copper solder (1325F) for most of my work, mainly because it blackens consistently with the copper using liver of sulfur solution.  The solder I use comes in a syringe of paste that includes solder and flux.  Very small amounts may be dispensed and placed accurately.  Here is a link to my supplier:
 
https://contenti.com/jewelry-soldering-supplies/solder/phos-copper-solder-paste
 
There are some other descriptions of the methods I have used in earlier posts and the books go into considerable detail on how to do this - at least how I do it.  There are some rules of thumb: Joints must be in contact, silver-solder does not fill voids like soft solder.  Heat control is important - small parts can be incinerated.  Surfaces must be clean.  Post pickling and buffing is necessary.  There is more, of course.  It is a process and there is a learning curve - but it is easily ascended with some practice
 
Wefalck, the mizzen skysail yard is 5.5" at the center and 2.2" at the yard arm (~.075" and~.03" or ~2mm and ~1mm) at 1:72), so it is quite small.  Fortunately it is not sheaved for sheets at the arms, but it is drilled (.024")for jackstay stanchions (28 gauge copper twisted eyes) and at the center  for a sling eyebolt.  The first one fractured as I was peening the underside of an outer stanchion to secure it in its through-hole in the yard. Risky.  The second one broke as I was bending the  strip for the central band around it.  Again risky - and unnecessary.  Photo below.
 

I had no problem making these yards from Castello and I believe with care they would have survived and worked quite well.  I expect to make the third, and hopefully final piece, from European boxwood, which is about 1/3 stronger than the tropical Castello substitute.  I forsee no problem if I avoid abusing the piece.  I am actually more concerned about the pole sections of the long, ie single stick, royal masts.  Those are really vulnerable with no supporting rigging.
 
Ed
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 314 – Iron Yard Bands
 
Some of this may repeat similar descriptions of earlier work.  Making the ironwork for the yards is the most time consuming part of their fabrication – and much of that work is very repetitive.  There are many iron - that is copper - bands to be made and fit to the yards.  Most of these are silver-soldered from .005" to .015" copper strip to approximate band thickness ranging from 3/8" to ¾" actual at 1:72 scale.  The first picture shows strip for a ¾" thick sling band fit around its yard before soldering.
 

The gap of around 1/32" is intentional, so the band may be stretched after soldering to a tight fit.  No glue is used on these.  Some are drilled for eyebolts and others for pins if extra strength is needed – for example on studdingsail boom irons.  The next picture shows this ring after soldering.
 

The bands has been pushed over the end of a hardwood, tapered mandrel to restore its round shape, stretch it to fit the yard, and for smooth-filing and buffing.  Buffing is shown in the next picture.
 

All this work is done on the mandrel to avoid marring or smudging the surface of the yard.  Even with this precaution, fitting the bands causes some smudge, so the yards are given a "pre-finish" of wipe-on polyurethane for protection and to facilitate later cleaning.
 
In the next picture the band has been fit to the center of the yard and is being center-punched for later drilling of the sling eyebolt hole.
 

In the next picture the saddle for the parral has been glued to the yard over the band.
 

The saddle will then be shaped and its reinforcing bands and copper bolts fitted where these are specified.  Making these bands was described in an earlier post.  The next picture shows a small band being enlarged using a steel tapered scriber.  The enlargement is done on both sides of the band.
 

The last picture shows a pair of larger yards – mizzen topsail yards – with their bands fitted. 
 

The jackstay stanchions have been fitted to the lower topsail yard.  The yard arm bands with the eyebolts will be described in the next post.
 
All these steps are proceeding concurrently on all the remaining yards – except for the tiny mizzen skysail yard – which is being replaced for the third time due to breakage and has therefore fallen behind in the work.
 
 
Ed

Hello dear friends,
I appreciate your support and comments a lot. Thank you all very much.
Well, I tried to create all these decorations according to museum models and original paintings from 17th century.  I care about the greatest possible historical accuracy.
 
This is my own technique and I use it more than 20 years. It allows me to achieve wooden look on paper models, but also on some plastic kits - for example I can make better and more realistic planking on ship hull or decks. These self-adhesive foils are very thin, they are kind of plastic or vinyl. I have already written about this, but if you wish, I will take some pics from progress when I work with this material. Soon I will make interior of cabins and there will be used these foils as well.
Here are some links, where you can see, how I work with foils:
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=43575&start=180#p902161
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=43575&start=210#p930223
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=177&t=43575&start=240#p979994
 
Painting (with thinned Tamiya acrylic colours) is used to achieve more natural look and weathering.
 
Well, on Vale´s painting it is shown, so I am going to make them as well.
Do you mind this one?

 
Thank you, I am really pleased reading your words.
 
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Here are some current pics of RK in real colours on daylight:

 
 
Kind regards
Doris

Hello dear friends, 
thank you for your comments and "likes", I am pleased you like my work.
 
That's right as well. Card/paper is my main building material for making models since I was 6 years old.
 
I like sharing my techniques with people and I am glad to help. Everything needs time and experience, my first decorations were not very good, but I continued and did not give up.  And finally I found the ways, how to do things better and have to say, there are always possibilities to improve.
I wish you great success and pleasure in making models and decorating them.
 
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Today I continued with other details on the hull - there are three external ribs ( I do not know, how to name it in English), I made them out of card and finished with self adhesive foils and thinned paint. At this moment there are completed on port.
 

 
Kind regards,
Doris

Hello dear friends,
I am pleased reading your words, thank you all very much and also appreciate your "likes". I'm flattered by your praise.
 
 
Great, thank you very much for your help.👍
 
Hello Tom, 
no problem, I am glad I can help and share my tutorials with people here. If you have any questions, just ask.😉
 
Hello Piet, 
I really enjoy sculpting on ship models. I looked forward to making decoration since beginning of this project.
 
 
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Today I finished skids/fenders on the starboard and soon I will move to cabins and under the decks... 
 
Here are newest pics, so enjoy them:

 
Best regards,
Doris

Cumberland finished long ago and during this time another model was born. All this time of my silence I have been finishing another imperial yacht Queen Victoria. Here is a photo of my finished work on this yacht.

Installation of sponsons on the hull.

Sponsons for 152 mm guns.