Bob Legge

Good remark, Allan. There are more possibilities of course. I have good experience with this kind of wax paper and it is also easily available for me. The mass is baked in the oven at a temperature of about 130 ° C, so the wax paper endures without problems. I always use a new sheet of wax paper for next decoration.
 
**************************************
 
Today I made new ornaments for bow section, two pieces are situated around holes for anchor ropes.
 

 
Kind reagards and enjoy the pics
 
Doris

Hello Michael and John,
thank you for your comments.That´s right, there are more types of modeling clays and each one has its typical properties. I also tried Fimo, but Modurit(modelit) suits me more. If it is baked, it remains flexible. But after being cooked in water it is brittle and crumbling. It is also necessary to keep clean hands during the work so that grease/sweat or impurities do not get into the clay.
 
Today I am going to make other 5 sculptures on the front bulkhead.
 
Here are some current pics in real colours on daylight:
 

Have a nice day,
Doris
 

Ciao e grazie a tutti, siete troppo gentili.
Altre foto.
Hello and thank you all, you're too kind.
More photos.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

Hello and thanks to everyone, more photos
 

 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto.

Fantastic work!

Ciao e grazie a tutti, siete troppo gentili.
Altre foto.
Hello and thank you all, you're too kind.
More photos.


 

 

 

 

 
Un Saluto

Excellent reference and pictorial volume. The author and publishers have excelled.
 
Bob.

Been awhile but your build is quite nice and progressing beautifully. Thanks for reposting the photos on the stern deadwood construction!
 
This was the Alfred I was telling you about, even unfinished it is still a good looking build

For put squares (or hexagons) onto the end of round material, there is the classical solution watchmakers use (for the watch winding stems), the 'double roller filing rest'. Here is a picture from the Internet (as I didn't have a picture of mine to hand):

Source: http://www.myford-lathes.com/
 
The above is shop-made, but in the old days watchmakers lathes came with them. You also need a way to index the headstock of the lathe (an indexing plate was integrated into the pulley of watchmakers lathes).
 
A more artisanl way is to find a pin-vise with a square nut, hold the nut down onto the work-table and try to hold the file as horizontal as you can while filing. It is a good idea to use a file with a 'safe-edge' for this, i.e. a file that does not have teeth on the narrow side. I have done dozens of square and hexagonal (with a hexagonal nutted pin-vice) like this, before I had a lathe.
 
 

Hi again folks, no update for a while as I have been busy designing/drawing up the images for the PE I intend to use for the Victoria.  this includes the chain plates, rigmaiden lanyards, patent purchase winches (halyard winches), handwheels for the downton pumps and winches, ventilation louvres and various brackets/straps.
 
I have also made a start on the downton pumps - are these small?    There were two of these (5") on the upper deck and another 7", probably engine driven, in the engine room There will be two suction plate assemblies between the pumps.
 
I have managed to make three bodies that are relatively the same size (as best I could with my lathe) they are within .5 mm for height and diameter.
 
With the spare, I experimented with the best way to fit the drive rod, onto which the round main turning handle, and the L shaped ancillary handle will fit.  I need to find a better way to file the square onto one end of the rod (for the L handle) and I think I will do that before I cut it to length next time.   i also need to try and make this outlet a bit smaller yet.   This one is the spare as the bottom part of the barrel is slightly tapered and it should be straight.
 
The photos show the spare pump with the rod, and the outlet spigot (two ended) with one end capped (as per the diagram as shown in the first photo).  I have yet to clean this up properly but it is getting there; just need to add the round handle when they have been etched.  The L handle will hang on the back of the engine room skylight.
 
cheers
 
Pat
 

 

Looking very good, Pat. I love the hammocks.
 
Referring to an earlier post of mine, here are the original sails from the Great Harry - drafting linen 40 years on . . . a rather unfortunate brownish tint and some unexplained holes - silverfish? - mice? ?

On the other hand, part of that may be the conditions they had to endure. I certainly wasn't looking after them.
 
Steven 

Thanks to great help from our colleagues on the CAD section including Alan, I managed to create the king's insignia in the digital file.
I will try getting a 3-D print of this, just to see the quality. Although I have heard that 3-D printing is not quite up to snuff at this scale.
And while waiting for that, I will continue with the duplicator...
 
Mark

Just answered your question at:
 

Hubac's Historian : You are welcome.
Albert:  Thank you very much, I am pleased you like my work.
 
As I promised, I am bringing a tutorial how I make those fine pieces of decoration. Unfortunately, the video was unreadable - the decorations are so tiny that the camera cannot focus on them. So I could take only detailed pictures from the process. I gently roll thin tubes with a finger on the paper background,

mainly use peaked tweezers and fine brush to shape the modeling clay (I have already written here about the kind of clay I use  = in our country is called modurit/modelit, it is a polymer hardened by heat). 

I shape this mass on the wax paper, it is very important for easy separating pieces of decoration after baking from the background.
 

 
 
 
 

After baking the mass hardens but remains slightly flexible. I carefully separate each piece of decoration with a small sheet of paper or using a thin blade, but it is often quite easy to separate decoration only by bending the wax paper.
 

 
 

Before gilding I always try to attach each piece of decoration on the model to check whether it suits well:

Gilding the decoration  - I use golden acrylic paint:
 

 
After gilding I relocate the ornaments to clean paper, where the paint dries. Soon I will bring other pics from the process, where you can see the final work.
 
Excuse my unsightly hands,  they are sore from hard work I did last days.
 
Best regards
 

Fabrication of the entry steps, I was going to do with a scraper then remembered reading about laminating something like this, the profile plan shows a very ornate edging so I decided on four layers, 1/32 strips were cut on the table saw then the four lengths, one two and three were glued together to make a steeped top, number four  lines up with number two and creates the bottom lip, I rounded the edges before adding
 
The rear edges will then be levelled up, bevelled to the hull, copper pins added and then stuck to the hull
Regards
Paul

Thanks everyone for the likes 
Four steps fitted, glued and pinned with copper wire

Regards
Paul

Good morning.

still added chests for dishes.

Hello Radek,
 
Thank you for your great contribution to this topic. Of course I was referring to your work when I mentioned 'other methods'. I could also have referred to Tomek from Poland (Seahorse) with his method of glueing pre-shaped planks, using only glue on the frame locations, with which he gets wonderful results too. But these are 'academic level methods', while I am presenting some high-school tricks, trying to lure newbies into working with the wonderful versatile material paper is.
 
About you question: do older ships get darker? I'm not sure. Maybe someone on this forum can answer that. I do know that getting older the ships become more and more interesting. I have seen shipwrecks literally covered with repairs. Very tempting to try. I think we should abandon these shining, gold-covered, sterile, clean ship models and show ships like they were: messy, bruised, stinking tools that were worn out to make as much money with them as possible and more...
 
Back to the show. Here comes
Part IV
 
Rigging a ship model is mainly a matter of preparation. You have to make masts and spars, sails, deadeyes and blocks all in advance, so while the paint on the model needs drying anyway we have plenty of time to do the necessary things.
Chapman was kind enough to draw all the necessary masts and spars on his drawing (see the first picture of this thread) and on top of that he also presents a small picture of the hookers rigging on the last plate of his book. 
 

Now we discover that he undoubtedly was a great shipbuilder, but he was not a rigger. Two things strike while looking at his sketch. The royal topsail was a flying sail, which means that it was hoisted from the deck in cases the weather allowed. Flying sails have no braces, but Chapman draws them anyway. Of course I left them out on the model.
Another subject where he seems to miss the point is the jib. This is the sail attached to the top of the jib boom. Chapman draws quite a large sail. This sail should however be small because it is only meant to be a steering sail. Of course I missed the point until I put the too big sail on the model. A strong suspicion that this could not be true struck me while looking at the result. The construction of the jib boom simply did not allow for such a large sail. The function of the long jib boom is to help the ship to make sharp turns. Because of its long keel, tacking is a bit hard. So a small sail as far forward as possible helps out if necessary.
Groenewegen shows us how small the sail actually was and a contemporary hooker model in the Rijksmuseum delivered proof: the jib was just slightly bigger than a handkerchief. So I made a new jib, much smaller this time.
 

 

 

 

 
All that said, the rigging of this model is quite a straightforward process. 
 
The dimensions of masts and spars can be taken from the Chapman draught. Of course the masts of the model will be a little bit shorter as they are stepped in another way than the original mast. A slot in the foot of the mast ensures that it will stay upright.
I always make my masts from square pieces of wood, shaping them on four sides to the right dimensions with a small Stanley plane, then proceed by making them octagonal and finally filing and sanding them round. I use a soft wood, mostly fir, but if the structure is too evident abachi or lime are good replacements. I use matt picture varnish with a little bit brown oil paint in it to give them their final look.
I always prepare my masts up to a stage that everything necessary has been mounted, including crosstrees, tops, yards, sails, blocks and all the rope work.
 
The rope I use is Irish linen. It is hard to get. I have some leftovers from my time in the museum and with my miniature ropewalk I can make any size I want. But nowadays there are many sorts and qualities on the market and you will have to make your own choice. Rope that is a bit fluffy can be improved by pulling it over a wax candle. The wax flattens the fluff and makes to rope better to handle. It the rope needs coloring I use aniline dye on an acetone base. They sell it here as leather paint, it comes in brown and black and it can be diluted with acetone. It dries immediately. 
 
For my sails I mostly use unbleached cotton, which is very cheap and comes in different qualities. Of course you need the thinnest one you can find with the finest structure available. Linen is another option, but more expensive. Silk however is no good, because it has too little substance. It may be useful for flags, but the sails I tried to make from it did not turn out to be what I wanted. The color can be adjusted in a bowl of strong tea. Make sure the cloth is soaked before you dip it in the tea, otherwise you will end up with very irregularly stained sails. The more often you repeat the process, the darker the sails.
I take a piece of cloth and tape it to the table. I glue the bolt lines on with white PVA glue and cut off the excess cloth. The top boltline is glued on separately, which allows us to make the ‘ears’ on both ends. On the lower corners of the sail nooses are made to attach sheets and blocks. With a soft pencil I draw the lines of the cloths and if necessary reefs are made. I don’t have pictures of making the sails of this specific model, but the process is the same for other models. With everything prepared the sail is marled to the yard. All necessary blocks must be attached now. I like my sails bellowing, so I usually spray them with starch used for ironing laundry. It is sold in spray cans and by blowing them dry with a hair-dryer you will get nicely bellowing sails. In the case of this model however I omitted that stage as I had other plans, as you will see later.
 

 

 

 

 

Deadeyes can very well be made of paper. I use two kinds: the solid picture-frame sort and the 0.5 mm box sort. I use a nice punch set I bought from a Belgium firm, which can be reached at: hvbuynder@skynet.be
The 1 mm one is slightly smaller than the other two. With some PVA glue I roll them between my fingers to get the middle disk in place, while squeezing them together with a pair of tweezers. Once dry they are soaked in diluted varnish and with a sharp pin I press shallow holes where the drill will do its work. Preferably I use a drill-stand, to make sure the locations of the holes are identical on both sides.
A thin wire around, twisted with a small pair of pliers make the chain plates. If large shackles are wanted a simple mold will do the job. The twisted part will be invisible because that’s where the deadeyes are located in the channel and the end can be pressed in a drilled hole in the wale below, secured with a drop of CA glue. This method never failed on me even with the tightest shrouds.  
 

 

 

 

 



 

For blocks I use an old ruler. This is a close-grained sort of wood of which I saw strips between 2 and 3 millimeter square, cut grooves on all four sides, drill the holes and cut and file them into shape, keeping them on the stick as long as possible. A few drops of teak-oil finish the job.



With all the preparations done we can finally start rigging. Square-rigged ships are always a lot more work than sprit and gaff rigged types, due to all the blocks and lines needed to manage these sails. The building of the hull cost me less than a week, rigging took twice as long.
Usually the standing rigging is done first, but with my method op preparing the masts with everything complete, it is a different story. What has to be done anyway are the shrouds and their ratlines. The shrouds were mounted together with the sails, so all we need to do is strop their deadeyes. Both for the lanyards and the ratlines I use white line. It is better for my eyes, but they have to be stained afterwards. Some people keep their lanyards white because they are part of the running rigging, but I don’t think that is correct. I studied paintings and original models and never saw any white lanyards. So I paint them after they are done with acetone based aniline.

The ratlines should be done with the appropriate knots, after which every knot is secured with a drop of CA glue. It is a good idea also to secure every block with glue as soon the right setting is reached. This prevents endless trimming afterwards and it hardly shows. For the right and even distances between them I use a piece of card on which the lines are drawn.
This vessel was given some additional swivel guns and placing personnel on board is a matter of taste.
 

 

 

 

 

 
So here is the result. As you can see, there are no bellowing sails this time. My inspiration came from an etching by Gerrit Groenewegen, showing a hooker, drying its sails. Emiel translated this piece of art in a photographic impression that speaks for itself. The model was built, to be used as a prop for this plate. It was a lot of fun.
 


 
This was my story about the light version of modelbuilding. I am sure many members of this forum can do a lot better than I did, so why not give it a try?
 
 

Excellent reference and pictorial volume. The author and publishers have excelled.
 
Bob.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 312 – Spar Making Marathon
 
Not a lot new in this post.  Mostly work that has been shown before.  I normally work sequentially, completing an item through all the steps, then installing and rigging it.  This helps uncover any problems with the design or methods and allows corrections to be made before errors are duplicated.  With the spar making process pretty well in hand and quite a few left to make, I decided to work these together to save time.  Forming the remaining upper yards – three for the main and five for the mizzen - is described in this post.
 
The blanks for all the spars had been cut and sized earlier – the so-called "first trims" – squares of the maximum spar diameter cut to length.  After marking the centerlines and quarters, centerline holes for the jackstays and sheet sheaves were drilled as shown in the first picture for one of the larger yards.
 

After centering and determining the spacing for the jackstay stanchions the holes were drilled using the mill hand wheel to locate each .024" hole.  Where yards had internal sheaves for sheets, these were also drilled to the required size.
 
After this drilling, each spar was shaped and finished before proceeding to the next. Some of these steps are described below.  I believe all have been described in earlier posts.  This next picture shows the first tapering steps on one of the spars, with the work held in a vise in this case.
 

The vise was used in this way for the first tapering on smaller spars, instead of the cam fixture shown below.  Once two opposite faces were shaped to form the second trim, the larger tapered spars were mounted as shown below to form the tapers on the two remaining sides.
 

To adapt this fixture to smaller work, it was modified by substituting a fixed straight fence as shown in the next picture.
 

This eliminated flexing of the small spars between the cams.  These spars are also small enough to deflect at the ends to the straight line of the fence.  Final shaping, and most of the shaping on the smallest spars, was done using a sanding block with 220-grit paper as shown in the next picture.
 

This works well for light wood removal and also for maintaining fair curves along the spar.  With the four sides tapered, the octagonal shape was first applied at the ends, around the square sections.
 

I made rounded transitions on the insides of these sections, but squared off on the outer side to receive the yard arm bands.  The octagonal shape was then filed on each spar inside the square end sections.  This process was illustrated in earlier posts.
 
In the next picture, the central octagonal area of one of the spars has been marked and the rounding has begun starting with file strokes that begin at the mark and remove the eight corners along the spar.
 

All the square yards are left octagonal at the center.  Finally, the remaining corners are filed off to form the rounds.
 

A smaller grooved holder is shown above, but much of this final rounding is hand held.  The corners are first removed using the file, then with a sanding stick.  Throughout all the above work, calipers are used to check both diameters at the quarters and the rounded shape.
 
The last picture shows the set of finished spars – the last significant wood work on the model.
 

The top three spars in the picture are the main topgallant, royal, and skysail yards.  The next five are the mizzen from the lower topsail up to the skysail.  The very small spar at the bottom of the picture is the mizzen monkey gaff.  All have been finished with one light coat of wipe-on poly to help keep them clean as the ironwork is added – the next work to be done.
 
Ed

Thank you, Greg and Micheal and others for the likes.
 
The catenary curve on models is easily disrupted by irregularities in the small rope as well as the light weight.  However, I believe if the rope is fairly uniform and well stretched, then installed taut under humid conditions, the relaxation when it dehydrates will cause it to droop in a smooth curve - at least that is what I am seeing in the slack lines I mentioned.  The smaller, lower yard bowlines are nicely curved as well.  Some of the very small lines not so much.
 
Thanks again, Micheal for your comments on the small scale.  It has its advantages and disadvantages. The latter are felt in the close up photos and while  some of the flaws revealed in pictures like the one of the fore top may be correctable, some are just too small too fix - at least for me. The excess ends on the seizings and lashings being the most problematical.
 
Thanks for the comment on the photo, Greg - taken with my iPhone.  Most of the the photos for the posts and the books were taken with a Nikon D3100 SLR with aperture priority - stopped down to around F22 to maximize depth of field - no question of handheld for these because of the slow shutter speed. The iPhone pics are very crisp at the focal point in  closeup situations but the depth of field is very shallow - sometimes a good thing, but often not.  The phone has the virtue of small size so it can be inserted into the model.  I have been experimenting with it for photos like the one above and also for deck-level photos.  Unfortunately these photos often reveal even more glitches with the work.
 
thanks again for the comments.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 311 – Main Topgallant Mast
 
It has been an interesting week in the shop.  Temperatures in our area dropped below freezing this week, with the usual drop in humidity, causing the long stays on the model to sag somewhat from their taut condition when installed during the warmer, more humid months.  The sag on these is not too displeasing and actually mimics the sag in the photos of the ship.  I measured this by magnifying the images and drawing straight CAD lines to compare.  This could be corrected by hauling up on the backstay lanyards but for now I am not doing this.
 
The topic in this part is the main topgallant mast.  This and its crosstrees were made earlier.  Before erecting the mast, the iron band for the royal futtock shrouds needed to be installed.  This is placed at the smallest mast diameter, just under the octagonal hounds that spread outward to support the crosstrees.  For this reason a soldered band cannot be used.  The first pictures show the way I made this band.  
 

The copper strip was first crimped around the mast in a way that formed two tabs on the aft side.  One of these was cut shorter than the other so the longer end could be bent and pressed over the first to form the flange-like tab shown in the next picture.
 

In the picture this has been drilled for the four futtock shroud eyebolts.  It was then blackened and the eyebolts glued in with CA.  The crosstrees were then fitted and the mast erected.  The next picture shows the foot of the installed mast and the turning-in of the two tg shrouds on the starboard side.
 

The mast fid with its shackle may be seen in the picture.  The forward, served shroud has its deadeye turned in with three seizings.  The second shroud, to the left, is ready for its throat seizing.  The deadeye is held in an alligator clamp for this.  The next picture shows the tg mast with lanyards threaded on two of the shrouds and other lines hanging loose.
 

The loose ends of the shrouds and seizings will be trimmed off when the glue coating dries.  The forward stay has been run, but the upper collar seizing remains untied at this stage.  The lower end of the stay is shown in the next picture.
 

The stay is served at this end and passes through a bullseye strapped to the fore lower masthead.  It is then seized to an eyebolt through the center crosstree.  This picture also shows the fully loaded fairlead planks with just a few spare, unused holes.  The next picture shows a closer view of the shrouds as the tg backstay is being prepared.
 

The next picture shows the deadeye and lanyard connection of the backstay to the channel.
 

The stay and shrouds are threaded but will not be hauled tight until their port side counterparts and the forward stay are rigged.  The next picture shows the state of the model before rigging the port side lines.
 

The sag of the topmast and lower mast stays may be apparent in this picture.  While it is not very pronounced and perhaps realistic, it is counter to the desire for a tight, rigid structure – I guess.
 
Interspersed with the above work, the dreary and eye-straining making and tying of ratlines continues.  I estimate there are around 650 of these on the model.
 
 
Ed