vaddoc

I decided to try to prepare some silkspan for sails. I followed Tom Lauria's YouTube procedure in Making Sails for Ship Models From Silkspan. It looked pretty simple. I used a buff color acrylic paint to color the material and give it some "body." I cut the 36" x 24" silkspan material in half and worked with 18" x 24" (457 mm x 610 mm) pieces.
 
I spread the material on a large plastic sheet and sprayed it with water. Then I rolled the paint onto the material until it was opaque. I attached clips to the corners as Lauria showed and then lifted the sheet off the plastic. It immediately, ripped, disintegrated and folded over on itself repeatedly! When I tried to separate the folded layers it tore some more. Here is the result:
 

 
The photo isn't in sharp focus, but you get the idea. Not perfect! The wet silkspan disintegrated when I tried to lift the corners. When I did start removing the material from the plastic it ripped everywhere I pulled. I ended up with a soggy mess. I think it was a bad idea to spray with water first. The silkspan Lauria used may have been a better quality than the SIG 00 material I am using.
 
OK. If at first you don't succeed ... I tried again, but without the water spray. But I did add a few drops of water to the paint to thin it a bit.
 

 
The second attempt came out much better! The acrylic paint I used dried to the touch in an hour or so. The edges are a bit wrinkled and the corners are shredded, but I should be able to get several good sails out of this. I will need another sheet to finish them all.
 
I repeated the steps used in the second attempt and got this result.
 

 
Disappointing! Again, the damp material ripped as I tried to remove it from the plastic sheet. But there is a lot of usable material and I should be able to get the rest of the sails and the tabling and lining material from this sheet.
 
Murphy really got in his licks on this job!
 
I think with the SIG 00 silkspan it would be a better idea to hang it or put it in a frame and spray the paint on with an airbrush. But if you are persistent you can get usable sail material.
 
After the paint dried the material was easy to handle and didn't tear. When I smooth it with my hands on a flat surface the wrinkles smooth out nicely. I am hoping that a warm iron will smooth out the wrinkles permanently.
 
NOTE: After the material dried over night I ironed it with a dry iron (no steam) on the lowest heat setting. The wrinkles ironed out nicely leaving very smooth sail material!
 
The dried material measures 0.001 inch (0.0254 mm) thick. This scales to 0.048 inches (1.2 mm) at 1:48 scale. So it is a reasonable scale thickness for sail material.

SAILS
 
I have pretty much developed the sail plan for the ship. Here I will talk about the fore-and-aft sails, and I will deal with the square sails in another post. I plan to follow the procedures in Tom Lauria's YouTube video Making Sails for Ship Models From Silkspan.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_m_VWzk4w8
 
However, because this model is 1:48 scale I will add the boltropes (to be described later).
 

 
NOTE: The first thing I did was measure everything on the model (mast heights, stay lengths, etc.) and made sure my CAD model has the correct dimensions. Some things had changed since I restarted this build four years ago!
 
NOTE: The dimensions and proportions shown here are about right for the first quarter of the 19th century (1800 - 1825). They were slightly different for other periods.
 
I consulted half a dozen books to learn the "rules" for sail design. Most were really interested in large square-rigged ships, but I have some books specific to fore-and-aft rigs. As usual, no two authors agreed on the details, but the general ideas were there.
 
The main sail - the gaff rigged sail on the main mast - is the largest and contains all the elements of the remaining sails. Here the forward edge (luff or forward leech) is on the right side of the drawing and the leech (or after leech) is on the left. The length of the head (top) and foot (bottom) are determined by the length of the gaff and boom. The forward corners attach to eyebolts on the gaff and boom. The after corners are  forward of the gaff/boom ends to allow rigging to a block or sheave. The height depends upon how high the gaff is rigged. The angle of the top of the sail is determined by the angle of the gaff - it ranged from 25 degrees to 30 degrees on schooners. Here is it 25 degrees.
 
The sail is made up of "cloths" 24 inches wide, running parallel to the after edge or leech of the sail. From the 15th century on the width of these cloths varied, but was often 27-28 inches. By the 18th century in England and the Americas the width had become 24 inches.
 
Each individual cloth was sewn to its neighboring cloth with a 2 inch overlap. I do not intend to sew together individual cloths, but will mark the seams with light pencil.
 
Around the edges of the sails is a second layer called the "tabling." Some authors call this the "lining." However, other authors reserve "lining" for the additional pieces added at the corners of the sails. In addition, there is a reef band 1/6 up the forward edge or luff of the sail. Larger vessels could have up to 4 reef bands. All of these pieces are shown in grey.
 
Edit: The tablings were the folded over edge of the sail cloth that was stitched to provide strength to the edge of the cloth. Tablings were usually placed on the port side of fore-and-aft sails and the after side of square sails. Some authors say the linings were on the starboard side of fore-and-aft sails and the forward side of square sails. However, I have read a few books that say the opposite about tablings and linings! Some say the tablings and linings were on the port side of fore-and-aft sails.
 
Reef bands were on the forward side of square sails and on the starboard side of fore-and-aft sails. They were sewn under the edges of the linings for extra strength. On author claims the reef bands were sewn on both sides of the sails for extra strength.
 
I also show a possible downward curve (roach) in the bottom edge (foot) of the sail. I am still trying to determine how common this was, how deep it ran, and if it was commonly used on schooners. In this case the sail will not be lashed to the boom, but will be attached only at the clew and tack.
 
Different authors describe different widths for the tablings. I have used tablings that are 3 inches wide across the head, leech and foot of the sail. Some authors say 2 inches wide at the foot and leech and 3 1/2 inches wide at the head. The forward edge, or luff, has a strip made of a 24 inch piece doubled over to 12 inches wide. The reef band is 1/4 the cloth width, or 6 inches wide.
 
The linings are 24 inch wide pieces attached to the starboard side of the sail. They extend about 3 feet from the upper (peak) and lower (clew) corners, but where there are reef bands they extend up to 1 foot above the highest reef band. At the lower forward corner (tack) the foremost cloth is doubled.
 
I have drawn two holes or grommets per cloth across the head of the sail. Some authors show only one hole, in the center of the cloth.  Some show one hole, positioned at the seam between cloths. Another says there should be a single hole in a cloth, two in its neighbor, one in the next, two in the next, and so on. Take your pick.
 
The forward edge (luff) has holes positioned at the spacing of the mast hoops around the mast that the sail is attached to (not to be confused with "mast hoops" that fit tight around the mast for structural strength). Spacing was generally 24-30 inches. The hoops were at least 1 1/4 the diameter of the mast so they could move along the mast smoothly. Some authors say the sail had two holes for the hoop lacing to pass through, but others said only one hole. I have chosen to use one hole. However, some authors say sails had cringles (short pieces of rope) laced to the bolt rope for the attachment points instead of grommets or holes.
 
Now let's look at the other sails. In all of these drawings the cloths are 24 inches wide and can be used for scale measurements.
 

 
The fore gaff sail (left) is similar to the main sail. Perhaps it should have a reef band (to be determined). The fore staysail (right) is triangular, and the construction is generally the same as for the trapezoidal (4 sided) sails. However, the rules for the size of the triangular sails are more complex. The side laced to the supporting stay (head of luff) was sometimes called the "stay," if for no other reason to confuse as to whether an author meant the stay (rope) or the stay (leading edge of the sail).
 
The stay/luff of the forestay sail was supposed to be about 4/7 the length of the forestay (rope). But what is the" length?" Is it from the lower end of the stay to the mast head, or up to the mouse or seizings forming the loop around the mast? I chose to use the length from the bowsprit to the mouse, because the sail cannot extend up beyond the mouse. Starting at the lower forward corner, the tack, I measured up the forestay the required distance. The leech extended down to the height of the bottom center of the course. The foot length was calculated as a "little over" half the width of the course (to be described later). The clew (bottom aft corner) of the sail was to be cut at a right angle, so I used geometry to determine the configuration with the proper foot and leech lengths coming together at a right angle.
 
Next the jib and flying (outer) jib.
 


 
 
 
These two sails are very similar, the jib on the left and the flying (outer) jib on the right. The stay/head of the jib is 3/4 the length of the jib stay/preventer (ropes). Again, I used the distance from the lower end of the stay (rope) up to the mouse. The leech is 3/5 the length of the jib stay. The foot is about the length of the boom, or in this case, the bowsprit. The leech should be about 1 1/2 the length of the foot. These calculations varied over the years, so check the date of your model.
 
The flying (outer) jib stay/luff is 4/7 the length of the flying (outer) jib stay (rope). None of the calculations for the leech or foot worked to complete a triangle shaped anything like a jib (either the leech and foot ends would not meet or the sail was ridiculously narrow from clew to stay. So I made the foot about as long as the jib boom, ran the foot a bit below horizontal fore to aft, and connected the peak to the clew to get the leech. It looks like the flying jibs in drawings of topsail schooners.
 
Note: The foot of the triangular foresails should be about as long as the bowsprit, jib boom, or flying jib boom. It doesn't have to be exactly as long, but about the length of the associated spar. When in doubt, this is a simple rule to follow.
 
This leaves the two fore-and-aft topsails.
 
The main gaff topsail (left) was four sided, but almost triangular, with the topsail spar almost vertical behind the mast in the American version. On European vessels the spar was closer to horizontal, making a trapezoidal sail.
 
The dimensions are determined by the length of the gaff and the topsail spar, leaving enough space for the corners of the sail to attach to the spar ends or running rigging for the sail. The tack extended below the gaff. The leading (luff) edge had a 12 inch wide lining for added strength.
 

 
The main topmast staysail (above) rode on the main topmast stay (rope) between the main topmast and the cap of the foremast top. It was attached to the stay with hanks (robands) or with a lacing, depending upon the vessel.
 
The length of the sail stay/head was shorter than the stay (rope) enough to allow rigging to the foremast and the main topmast. The leech extended down to where it was rigged to a block on the main mast top cap. The foot was long enough to fill the space between the foremast and main mast, with allowance for the sheet and block at the mainmast head.
 
Two of my references for this were Lees' Masting and Rigging and Mondfeld's Historic Ship Models, but these just had the rules for square rigged ships, and they sometimes didn't work on the schooner. Marquardt's The Global Schooner provided some rules, but not enough to actually design the sails.
 
So I blended information from all sources to arrive at these sail designs.

I have been working on the standing rigging for the main mast. After installing the shrouds I added the main backstays, port and starboard. These attach to deadeyes in the channels and secure to thumb cleats high on the topmast.
 
Then the main top backstays were added, leading down from just below the truck at the mast top to luff tackles hooked to ring bolts in the deck. These are "running" stays. The windward stay tackle was tightened to support the mast and the leeward stay was loosened to allow the boom and gaff sail to swing outboard.
 
After the backstays were done the main stays were added. There is a port and a starboard main stay, and they attach to luff tackles that hook to eyes on vertical timbers of the fife rail. These are both moused like the forestay.
 

 
These also were running stays. Like the main top backstays (and the fore top backstays) the windward side main stay tackle was tightened and the lee side tackle was loosened to allow the fore gaff sail to swing outboard with the wind.
 
Please ignore all the loose line ends laying on deck. I am still rigging the ship and everything hasn't been tidied up yet! Besides, I still don't know where everything will be belayed.
 
 
The mainmast top isn't quite as complex as the foremast top.
 

 
In the left picture above you can see the two pendants for the main boom topping lifts hanging from the aft crosstree. The right hand picture above shows the pendant for the main gaff throat halliard riding over the shrouds and the main stay lines. It has eyes spliced in the ends, and these are lashed together to close the loop as they are on the fore mast.
 
The main topmast stay is secured above thumb cleats on the main topmast with an eye spliced around the mast. The lower end is spliced around a wooden thimble (or truck). Another thimble is spliced to a ring bolt in the aft side of the fore mast cap. A lanyard is attached to one thimble with an eye, and is reeved through the thimbles several times. The loose end is tied around the splice at the ring bolt.
 
Also notice in the picture the small stuff line tied around the jib stay and preventer and looped over the mast cap. This was an added bit of "insurance" to keep these lines secured over the cleat on the back side of the mast.
 
 
 

 
The aft channels and deadeyes are similar to the fore mast rig. Again a wooden "stretcher" is tied on above the deadeyes to prevent them from twisting. This provides two extra belaying pins on each side. One will be used to belay the running end of the mast tackle on each side.
 
The standing ends of the mast tackles are hooked into ring bolts on the channels. The lower block of the luff tackle can be seen here, with a long served strap hooked to a ring bolt. The fall of the luff tackle is belayed to the forward belaying pin on the spreader.
 
 
 
I think this finishes the standing rigging. It is a stopping point so I can get caught up on a presentation for next month, taxes, house cleaning, etc.
 

 
And this leads to the next step. I have purchased some silkspan and I will try to make some sails for the vessel.
 

I am still working on  the foremast standing rigging.
 
As I started planning this bit I realized I had not installed sheer poles to keep the deadeyes from twisting. Mondfeld says these were introduced in the mid 1800s, but this is incorrect. Lever describes sheer poles in 1808. The original sheer poles were just iron rods tied to the shrouds immediately above the deadeyes to prevent them from twisting due to forces on the shrouds. But Marquardt elaborates a bit, saying that a "wooden stretcher" or "squaring staff" was seized to the shrouds to prevent twisting, and these sometimes served as a belay rack. I decided to use these wooden stretchers on my model.
 

 
I first painted them with the brown I used for bulkheads and sanded them to a nice finish. Then I wondered if I should use tan or dark brown rope to lash them to the shrouds. I decided to look at photos of existing ships and realized that the entire assembly should be dark brown/black like the shrouds. I drilled them for three belaying pins. These will come in handy for belaying the falls of the mast tackles and running backstays.
 
Then it was on to complete the standing rigging on the foremast.
 

 
 

 
This image shows the foremast tackle. This heavy purchase, also known as a burtoning tackle,  was used to load cargo, cannons and other heavy objects. It was also used to bring in the anchors.
 
The rig consists of a block on a pendant from the mast top. Through this runs a runner tackle from a double block below, through the pendant block, to a hook on a ring in the channels.
 
The luff tackle has a double block seized to the runner and a single block below. The single block has a long strap with a hook below. This long strap was served for extra strength and protection from chafing.
 
The hook on the strap was hooked into an eye spliced on the end of the fish tackle. The other end of the fish tackle was seized around the fish hook that was used to catch and raise the crown of the anchor.
 
The method of fishing the anchor is described here:
 
https://modelshipworld.com/topic/27410-small-ship-anchor-handling/?do=findComment&comment=787942
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
At the very top of the foremast two foretop backstays are attached with eye splices above the rigging for the topsail yard and the foretop shrouds. These port and starboard lines lead down to luff tackles hooked to ring bolts on deck or attached to the channels.
 
The foretop stay attaches above the backstays with an eye spliced in the end of the rope. It runs down through a sheave in the end of the jib boom (see below).
 
 
 
 
The fore backstays lead down to deadeyes on the aft end of the channels. Above where they attach is a spliced eye in the strap for a single block for the flying jib halliard. Above this is the spliced eye for the flying jib stay that passes through a sheave in the end of the jib boom (see below).
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

The foretop stay passes through a sheave at the end of the jib boom and leads back to a deadeye on the starboard side of the bowsprit cap (below).
 
The flying jib stay passes through a shackle on the traveller and then through a sheave near the end of the jib boom. It then leads back to a luff tackle attached to the port side of the bowsprit cap (below).
 
I have rigged this so the flying jib stay also serves as an outhaul for the flying jib that is attached to the traveller.
 
 
 

 
 
Here you see that luff tackle for the flying jib stay that allows the stay to be slackened to haul in the foot of the flying jib attached to the traveller, or to allow flying jib stay to be tightened to haul out the foot of the flying jib.
 
On the far (starboard) side you can see the deadeyes for controlling the tension on the foretop stay.
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
The jibstay and preventer feed through the bees behind the bowsprit cap. They are the same cable that was looped around the fore mast top and spliced together, so either could be said to be the stay or preventer. The jib will ride on the aft most of the two lines.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
The jib stay runs to deadeyes attached to a ring bolt on the starboard side of the bow forward of the hawse openings. Other standing rigging for the bowsprit and jib boom is secured to points in this area.
 
 
You can also see where the flying jib stay luff tackle fall leads back to the foremost belaying pin on the port bow pin rail.
 
 
 
 
I should add a comment here about how some of these lines were rigged to allow them to be tightened occasionally as the ropes stretched. I show the jibboom guy, jib stay, martingale backstay  (and the topmast shrouds, foretop stay, flying jib stay and bobstay) rigged with small deadeyes and lanyards secured around the lines. But some vessels just used simple eyes, or hearts, to tighten the lines. Other vessels used double blocks instead of deadeyes with the falls belayed on deck. I suspect smaller vessels just used eyes and the larger ships used deadeyes. "Mid sized" vessels might use any combination. So you need to do your homework to see what the ship you are building used. I probably could have used simple eyes on a schooner of this size.
 
I think this completes the standing rigging for the foremast.

More details for the rigging of the fore top.
 

 
After the shrouds and tackle pendants were in place (and the loose shrouds were tightened) the next thing was the pendant for the fore gaff throat halliard.
 

 
 
I put a short leg and long leg in the pendant from the double block. On the ends of each leg are eyes, and these are tied together with lashings on the starboard side of the mast head.
 

 
The halliard loop rested on the shrouds and the pendant hung between the tresletrees on the aft side of the mast. The rake of the mast allows the block to hang free.
 
 
 
 
 
 
The next consideration was rigging the fore course yard sling pendant around the mast top. The sling has two parts. The upper pendant loops around the mast top and hangs down in front of the mast, with an eye in the lower end. The lower part wraps around the yard and has an eye above. The two eyes are tied together with lashings to support the yard.
 
There were two options for this.
 

 
A common way to rig the sling is shown on the left in the drawing above. The sling just wraps around the back of the mast and hangs on the outside of the trestletrees and cheeks. However, this causes it to pull tightly around the edges of the cheeks, where it will chafe, and come together at a fairly wide angle at the eye above the spar. This means the lower part of the sling that wraps around the yard must be very short if the yard is to hang close to the top. Another way to rig this is to lead the arms of the pendant forward over the fore crosstree and then down to the yard. But this causes the sling to ride over the fid for the fore topmast, causing it to chafe and lying in the way when the topmast was to be lowered.
 
The alternative is to loop the sling over a thumb cleat on the aft side of the mast a distance above the trestletrees as shown on the right side of the drawing. The sling pendant then hangs over the forward edge of the fore crosstree and comes down in a narrow angle to the eye. The eye is higher between the cheeks, allowing the yard to be rigged higher. It is this method that I chose to use.
 
Again I created a long and short arm for the sling pendant, with eyes at the ends of both parts. These were lashed together on the port side of the mast top.
 


 
The lower part of the sling loops around the yard.
 

 
The fore stay loops around the mast top and rests on a thumb cleat just below the top cap. In the drawing above I show it hanging outboard the cheeks and behind the forward crosstree. But it actually gives better clearance for the other rigging if it hangs over the forward edge of the crosstree as shown in the photos.
 

 
 
Some drawings show the stay to be spliced to form an eye around the mast and others show it "moused." I decided to try to create a mouse for this model.
 
The mouse is just a lump on the stay that is too large to pass through an eye in the end of the rope. I made the eye small enough that the 0.055 inch (1.37 mm) stay rope will just barely slip through it.
 
I tried a couple of methods to create the mouse. First I just tied a simple overhand knot in the rope and then tried to wrap  0.008 inch (0.20 mm) rope around it. This produced an unsightly asymmetrical lump.
 
 I started over and used a needle to work the small rope through the larger stay and then began wrapping layers of the small rope around the larger one, like serving but in multiple layers. I made the larger part of the lump on the lower end - where the eye will rest - and tapered it toward the top. I applied white glue between layers to hold the mouse wrappings together.
 
I think I got a bit carried away and made the mouse extra large, but it works!
 
 
 
At this point none of the shrouds and stays are fastened to the hull - I haven't installed the lashings on the deadeyes and hearts. But the next things to install are the jib stay and preventer, and these will pass through holes in the bees on the bowsprit and have deadeyes on the lower ends. Then everything will have to be tightened with lashings and the mast will be permanently in place.

My daughter has gone off on what she calls a sabbatical. So far as I can tell this involves an extended holiday from work drifting around Europe chasing the snow. She parked her car here before she went which is how I discovered that it was more of a garbage truck than a family vehicle. Anyway, today I spent 6 hours getting it back to being tolerably habitable. The good news is that I found enough half eaten snacks to replenish our pantry for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately I didn't find any money.  Today wasn't very productive in the shed but fortunately I did get some time yesterday.
 
I started by machining the wedge angles on the edges of the rudder frame outer thickening pieces. I used a block of wood to hold the pieces on the mill at the correct angle, the angle being set using a bit of trigonometry. I don't have one of those clever little digital angle gauges but sometimes the old methods work perfectly well. You can see in the picture that the thickening pieces are screwed to the wood,  but what is less apparent is that they are set in a cut out which supports them on 3 sides. I decided that relying on the screws alone probably wouldn't have worked. 

I machined both thickening pieces without removing the wooden block from the vice - thus ensuring that the wedge angles on the 2 thickening pieces were identical.

Using a similar technique I machined the other two wedge angles with a different block set at a different angle. You can also see that I used the central piece as a template for scribing on the final internal shape of the thickening pieces.

Then it was back to the jewellers saw to cut out the internal shape. I still hadn't ordered the coarse saw blades so inevitably it took longer than it should have with more breakages. Old fools never learn!

I then machined on the final chamfers on the little nib on the left hand side in the above shot. The three pieces were then assembled together using the small brass locating pins.


The assembly was held together with stainless steel clothes pegs and flux, solder and heat were applied to turn the three pieces into one. Apologies for the messy soldering, I was rushing a bit.

The good news is that it cleaned up quite well.

Now I have to cut the bottom profile which of course is now 0.3" thick and well beyond the wildest aspirations of my little jewellers saw. I need a different plan.
 
 

Exactly so!
 
Back to boats:-
 
I did a bit of pencil and paper draughting and dimensioned up the centres for cutting the various circles that will eventually form the core of the frame.
 

I then glued the template to the brass sheet and mounted it on the mill.
 
The various diameters of circular features were then cut with a step drill.

At this stage I also drilled location holes for pinning the thickened sections of the frame in position (red arrow). These were drilled in a location that would subsequently be removed.

I then started sawing away the unwanted parts of the frame. I didn't have coarse enough jewellers saw blade but I ploughed on anyway, taking an excessive amount of time and breaking an excessive number of blades. I really must listen to my own mental advice in future and put stuff aside until I have the correct tools to hand.

Anyway - some time later:-

Next a bit of filing:-

Then the 2 thickening plates were cut and drilled with 4 holes. The lower pair of holes match the location pins in the central frame piece (pins already inserted in the photo).

The upper pair of holes are for retaining screws to clamp the ticketing plates for later machining operations. They are also in the scrap area and will be cut away later.

Now back to moaning about planned obsolescence. 🙂

I'm nearly at the end hull sanding.


I just needed to build up the keel slightly.

I also needed to get the transom to the correct shape and "fix" the shape by attaching a pre-shaped piece of ply. Shaping the ply took a bit of fiddling with card templates but eventually I sorted it.


I have had enough woodworking for a while so I am now figuring out how to make rudder post.


I plan to make this out of brass. The key complication is that the lower portion (red arrows) is somewhat thicker than the remainder of the frame surrounding the screw. I plan to fabricate it out of 3 pieces of 0.1" brass plate.

In drawing the yellow is the 0.1" portion while the orange is the thickened 0.3" portion.
 
 
 

Hello again everyone,
 
It is finally about time that I get back to the bench and get some real work done, and not this around the house to-do list stuff. I don't have a lot to show right now, since I am just getting back into the groove, but I wanted to get something out there. I last left off working on getting the bottom of the hull covered. I was initially going to skin the whole thing over with basswood sheets, but the bow and the stern area had way too many compounding curves and angles to get the wood sheets to lie down correctly so I then decided that I would plank it to see how that would look. Still with the difficult curvatures around the Kort Nozzles, I still struggled to get the planks to line up and lie down as well. I started planking the middle and got so frustrated that I finally decided that I would just go in and fill the whole thing with body filler. So I tore out most of the planking and used a light weight air drying clay to fill in between the bulkheads, The clay was cheaper than the body filler, but took several days to fully cure. I then took a few strips of planking and glued them in place about an inch or so apart. The strips will serve as a depth guide for the applicator as well as an indicator of how far I need to sand the body filler down. I figured with all the gaps that I was going to have to fill in with the planking in this area, I might as well save some frustration and wood and just fill the whole thing in. Besides, this area will hardly be seen at all anyway.
 
Here are the guide planks going and the clay filler in place. Even pre-soaked the planks had to be held in place with weights to keep their form while the glue dried.

 
 
Next I slathered on a couple of coats of body filler and let that set. This is the first coat going on. 

 
First round of sanding is done. There are some low spots and pinholes that need to be filled in, but for the most part I think it turned out well.

 
That is all for this update. I know it's not much, but I hope to have more next time around. Winter will be here before you know it which provides ample time for shipbuilding. I'm actually just tickled to finally get to use the new bench and shipyard setup.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
-Brian

Hello again everyone,
 
It has been a while since I have been able to get any work done, March was a very busy month. It started off with attending a cousin's wedding in South Louisiana, followed by a couple of rounds of severe storms that knocked down several trees on the property. Unfortunately these trees fell across our fencing used to contain our farm animals, so along with having to play lumberjack, we were also having to play cowboys and round up the herd. So fence repairs took some time to get done, but we managed to get them all repaired and the herd is now once again happy and contained. The fence work was also completed just in time for the Admiral and I to jet off on a two week vacation. Crossed another bucket list item off the list and finally visited Pearl Harbor (and some of the other parts of Hawaii). Once we got back from the trip, it was time to get back to the bench and get some work done. Well, I made a little progress the last week of March before Covid decided to rear it's ugly head and invade our house. First the Admiral came down with it and then me. So I have spent the last week and a half trying to kick this nasty bug, and I finally feel good enough to sit down and post an update.
 
So with all that being said. here is what I was able to get done.
 
I started working on getting the hull plated. I decided that I would go ahead and skin the hull with 1/16" basswood for now. I'm still not 100% sure of how I am going to simulate the steel plates, but I figured that I would go ahead and get the basic shape of the hull done and work on that once it was completed. The first section covered was the center keel area, since this was the easiest shape to make. I started with a cardstock cutout of the area then transcribed it to the basswood sheet.

 
Next I soaked the forward end of the plank and shaped it to get the gentle curve of the bow.

 
Then it was on to gluing the sheet to the hull. I wanted to make sure that I got a good bond so I used a little weight to help hold it down.

Finally the front end of the sheet was glued, clamped and left to dry.

 
While the first sheet was drying, I used the same method to cut out the side sheets. 

 

 
Once the first sheet was dry, I moved on to the port & starboard sides of the bow. I was struggling to get the compound curve of the sheet to lay right, so I decided to trim off the forward curve and take a different approach to it. Here are the side sheets in place. 

I was still struggling with how to cover the bow and stern areas. At first I was going to try planking them both with 1/16" x 3/16" basswood strips, but it just wasn't working the way I wanted it to. So I started rethinking things and decided that I am going to cheat a bit and use body filler to get the general shape. On the bow side it is not so bad, just a few foam blocks to fill in most of the void and some basswood strips on the sides to get the correct height and I should be good to go.

 
The stern area is going to be a bit more difficult since there are numerous compounding curves to contend with. I will throw in a few filler blocks to take up some of the bigger areas, but I think this method will also work to get the general shape as well.

 
This was as far as I got before getting sick. I'm on the mend now and hopefully within the next few days I should be able to get more done and have better progress.
 
For now, thank you all for stopping by.
 
-Brian

Thank you Yves for the kind comments. I am using an XTool S1 laser engraver and the proprietary software that comes with it called XTool Creative Space. I have to say, it has opened up a whole new world of making model ship parts.
 
Funny that you say that. The guy that I am building this boat for read my last update and sent me a text message laughing about that very detail. My response was, "I don't miss details"  
 
 
-Brian

Hello again everyone,
 
I figure I had better get some progress shown on her or people may start to lose interest. It's not for lack of work being done on the Caroline, it's just laziness of not updating the build log. Since my last update a month ago I have been busy and I have been giving my XTool quite the workout.
 
So i was able to get all of the deck walls drawn up, cut out and assembled. These were real simple shapes to work with. The main roadblock that I kept running into was the window locations on each of the decks. I first located them all according to the plans, but then I started finding videos of the Titletown USA (Formerly The Caroline N) and discovered that the windows were not all located in the same location as the plans. So I had to do a lot of research of the videos to get the right angle so I could properly locate the windows. I did this by scrolling through the video to the right spot, pausing it and then taking a screen shot the image. I think it worked pretty well and I believe that I have all the windows and doors in their correct locations.
 
Once I felt confident that I had everything correct, it was on to getting the deck walls cut out and assembled.
 
Here is the main deck going together. I cutout some cross bracing and brackets to add some stability to the structure and to give the deck a stable mounting surface.



 
Second deck going together.


 
Pilothouse assembly





And all the deckhouses assembled and resting on the hull.

 
So I wanted to play around with some of the smaller detailed pieces, just to see how they would turn out. I started out with the window unit that sits in one of the galley windows. I assume that it gets a bit toasty in there when the cooks is preparing the crews meals.

I started with the five pieces that make up the unit. Apologies for the blurry picture, I phone had trouble focusing on the tiny pieces.

 
The assembled window unit.

 
I used one of the blanks from the window cutouts and glued the window unit to it for that perfect fit. Not too terrible.  

 
Next up, I wanted to work on the hull some and get the contour of the deck set. There is a slight rise in the bow and stern areas that I needed to build. I am assuming that the bow rise was to keep the waves from coming over as well as giving a higher surface area for contact with the barges. As for the aft rise, my best guess is that it just helps keep the churned up water from the props from coming over since this area can get a bit turbulent.
 
Profile of the boat showing the bow and stern rise.

Waters get pretty churned up at at the stern.

 
To add this rise, I cutout a bunch of basswood strips that tapered down from the full rise of 3mm at the stern to 0mm and from 4mm at the bow to 0mm. I glued these in place and then for the stern I cutout some plywood panels to raise the deck beyond the rise.


For the bow section, I just glued down the strips from the forward end of the deckhouse to the bow since the rise terminated at the very front.

Since the bow rise starts before the front of the deckhouse, I trimmed the strips back a bit to coincide with the front of the deckhouse. I thought this was easier than trying to trim the correct amount off the bottom of the deckhouse and maintain the correct angle without any gaps.
 
 
Next I wanted to play around some more with some of the deck details, and since I was on the AC unit kick, I figured why not build the main AC unit. This unit sits between the two funnels on top of the main deck. Kind of hard to make out since I had to zoom in quite a bit.

 
Once again, I drew up the pieces and added some details like the door panels and the protective grill that covers the fan blades.

Glued all the pieces together 

then added control and power boxes to the assembly. I'll get this painted up later on and add some drain lines and power conduits once it has been installed.

 
Now it was time to move on to building up the trim and railings for the upper decks. Starting with the second deck I added the forward railing bulkheads. The were cut from .020 ABS plastic sheets and formed around the deck curves with a heat gun.

I cut out the stanchions that support the panels and glued them all in place.


 
Next I did the same for the main deckhouse.



Then it was on to cutting more ABS strips to trim out the Texas deck.

Trim complete on the Texas Deck and the downspouts going in.

Once the trim was installed I gave each deck a shot of primer to help locate any flaws that need to be touched up. There are some and I will address those later.

The forward steps were built and added to the main deckhouse. I took pictures of the started construction, but forgot to snap some of it going in.

I wanted to add a bit of detail to the topside of the main deck. As you can see the weld lines of the steel panels is pretty visible on the next photo. I felt that since this is pretty open area I should go ahead and add this detail.

I started by marking off the panels where the welds should be.

Then I took some small thread and glued it down along the lines. This should provide a nice profile of the welds on the deck once everything is painted up. At least that's the theory, we'll see how it works out.


 
Then it was time to tackle on of the features that I have been dreading. The railings. Personally I feel the same way about railings and ladders as some people feel about rigging. 
 
So here we go.
 
I figured that brass rod would be the perfect thing to build the railings out of. Its sturdy, easy to bend and cut. So I started with the portside main deckhouse railing. I cut and shaped the top rail and the stanchions.

As I was working on this I was trying to figure out how I was going to hold the second rail pieces in place while I soldered the joints. So I drafted up a quick drawing of a jig that would help hold the cross pieces steady and level.

I measures out and drew up the pieces on the computer, then cut them out.


 
Assembled the pieces for the jig.
 
 
Then gave it a try.


Everything work as it should, with one exception. My soldering skills stink. I tried several times to get the joints straight and to get the solder to pull in correctly, but I'm not sure If I had the iron too hot or too cold, but it just wasn't working for me. I even tried using the solderless adhesive, designed for brass and copper.

 
So it was on to my next option. I tried cutting the railing out of basswood. These made perfect railings, but then I ran into another obstacle. Now I have to sand all the rails to get them rounded. Definitely not worth the trouble of having to sand each and every pipe to get it round, not to mention taking care not to snap the raining in half along the grain.

 
Attempt number three. Why not try making the railings from styrene rods? Styrene is easy to bend and cut and can be held together with CA. No soldering involved.

I'm thinking that I like this route better,

 
And the three attempts at my first railings.

 
I decided to take a break for the railings for a bit and focus my attention elsewhere. To give the windows some depth and detail, I cut some framing from some heavy card stock and applied them to the outsides of the windows. Once painted up they will and a nice little level of detail to the walls.


 
I wanted to finish up on the deck structures so I could get them all painted up and get a good Idea of what the boat was going to look like. So I worked on the pilothouse top.  Again, I drew up the pieces and cut them out. 

Got them assembled. I used some of my leftover risers from the main deck to get the slope of the roof.

 
I couldn't figure out how I was going to get the sloped sides of the roof. There are several compounding angles that would very difficult to cut out and shape. The outside edges are sloped a good bit and curve around with the corners as well as the top sloping backwards to shed the rainwater off.

 
So after scratching a bald spot on my head, pondering this quandary, I finally came up with a solution. I taped the top off to protect the stanchion holes from getting filled in.

and with some air dry putty that I had on hand, I figured I could shape the outer slope and sand it to shape once it had dried.

Well another failed attempt. I didn't take into consideration that the moisture content of the putty would cause the assembly to warp. I tried setting some heavy weights on top of it for a few days, but I couldn't get the warp out of it. So, I ran another set of pieces and glued them all together and this time I used body filler instead of putty. That worked better with no warpage.  Of course in my frustration I failed to take pictures of the body filler assembly.
 
While the body filler was drying I worked on more of the main deckhouse details and installed some of the manhole covers.

Finally after a good sanding and a shot of primer on the whole assembly, this is where I am at. 

 
It's all starting to take shape. Upcoming work, I need to get the deckhouses painted up white and work on the hull. I want to get the props, Kort nozzles and rudders in place and the hull painted up so I can get it mounted to it's base. Those will be some updates for my next installment.
 
Thank you all for stopping by!
 
-Brian
 
 
 
 
 
 

Now, this is impressive. Its one thing to design a hull on CAD, but these complex shapes like brake handle and gear selector or the gearbox, this is on another level! 
Hope all go well with your health.
 
Vaddoc
 

Dear all
 
Paint has been splashed onto wood, so time for another update.
Also, as this boat is approaching completion (in my time, this means less than a year), I ve been thinking about the next one. I have some thoughts involving multiple masts, we ll see...
 
In any case, I decided to do some caulking on the deck. I do not think it needs it and almost certainly it is historically inaccurate but this boat from the beginning was about having fun and cutting (some) corners for speed. I ll use Osmo filler mixed with black acrylic paint. This needs Tung oil to shine black but maple does not take well to Tung oil, needs to be sealed first or will come out very blotchy.
 
So floors came out again and were sealed with my favorite Americana Decoart water based sealer (I dislike Shellac)

Of course the hull needed some more attention again.


The floors were covered with masking tape.

Then put back in place, all screws replaced with wood nails, sanded smooth

Then the mixture was slapped on!

Wait until dry

Then sanded off

Tape off, Tung oil on - done! 

It is not perfect by any stretch but it is done! 
And now it is time to paint the hull! Lots of masking done (which immediately failed)
 

Then I sprayed some Humbrol grey primer. The photo really did not get the color well!


Then the waterline was marked and the hull masked further

I used grey primer because I intended to use Humbrol enamels. At the last moment I decided to use acrylics, completely different colors. This is why enamels are dead.
 
So first coat of Valejo Ivory is brushed on. It looks dreadful:

And yes as expected, the hull is moving again! 


And after 5 more coats, still looks terrible!


It will get better. Maybe I should have used enamels!
 
I am almost certain the waterline will mess up the whole paint job. I will try and tuck the masking tape down well but I am sure the red paint will find a way underneath. We ll see
 
Till next time, take care all
 
Vaddoc

Dear all
 
Paint has been splashed onto wood, so time for another update.
Also, as this boat is approaching completion (in my time, this means less than a year), I ve been thinking about the next one. I have some thoughts involving multiple masts, we ll see...
 
In any case, I decided to do some caulking on the deck. I do not think it needs it and almost certainly it is historically inaccurate but this boat from the beginning was about having fun and cutting (some) corners for speed. I ll use Osmo filler mixed with black acrylic paint. This needs Tung oil to shine black but maple does not take well to Tung oil, needs to be sealed first or will come out very blotchy.
 
So floors came out again and were sealed with my favorite Americana Decoart water based sealer (I dislike Shellac)

Of course the hull needed some more attention again.


The floors were covered with masking tape.

Then put back in place, all screws replaced with wood nails, sanded smooth

Then the mixture was slapped on!

Wait until dry

Then sanded off

Tape off, Tung oil on - done! 

It is not perfect by any stretch but it is done! 
And now it is time to paint the hull! Lots of masking done (which immediately failed)
 

Then I sprayed some Humbrol grey primer. The photo really did not get the color well!


Then the waterline was marked and the hull masked further

I used grey primer because I intended to use Humbrol enamels. At the last moment I decided to use acrylics, completely different colors. This is why enamels are dead.
 
So first coat of Valejo Ivory is brushed on. It looks dreadful:

And yes as expected, the hull is moving again! 


And after 5 more coats, still looks terrible!


It will get better. Maybe I should have used enamels!
 
I am almost certain the waterline will mess up the whole paint job. I will try and tuck the masking tape down well but I am sure the red paint will find a way underneath. We ll see
 
Till next time, take care all
 
Vaddoc

Dear all
 
A bit of progress but a also a bit of a milestone: The deck is done! Still needs lots of work, treenails, sanding, caulking etc but the arrangement seems ok - I hope in the end it will look more tidy. The wood is maple but has a different color than the maple used for the inner planking. One of the planks aft stands out as, not sure where I cut it from but it needs to be replaced.






Take care all
Vaddoc

Dear all
 
Paint has been splashed onto wood, so time for another update.
Also, as this boat is approaching completion (in my time, this means less than a year), I ve been thinking about the next one. I have some thoughts involving multiple masts, we ll see...
 
In any case, I decided to do some caulking on the deck. I do not think it needs it and almost certainly it is historically inaccurate but this boat from the beginning was about having fun and cutting (some) corners for speed. I ll use Osmo filler mixed with black acrylic paint. This needs Tung oil to shine black but maple does not take well to Tung oil, needs to be sealed first or will come out very blotchy.
 
So floors came out again and were sealed with my favorite Americana Decoart water based sealer (I dislike Shellac)

Of course the hull needed some more attention again.


The floors were covered with masking tape.

Then put back in place, all screws replaced with wood nails, sanded smooth

Then the mixture was slapped on!

Wait until dry

Then sanded off

Tape off, Tung oil on - done! 

It is not perfect by any stretch but it is done! 
And now it is time to paint the hull! Lots of masking done (which immediately failed)
 

Then I sprayed some Humbrol grey primer. The photo really did not get the color well!


Then the waterline was marked and the hull masked further

I used grey primer because I intended to use Humbrol enamels. At the last moment I decided to use acrylics, completely different colors. This is why enamels are dead.
 
So first coat of Valejo Ivory is brushed on. It looks dreadful:

And yes as expected, the hull is moving again! 


And after 5 more coats, still looks terrible!


It will get better. Maybe I should have used enamels!
 
I am almost certain the waterline will mess up the whole paint job. I will try and tuck the masking tape down well but I am sure the red paint will find a way underneath. We ll see
 
Till next time, take care all
 
Vaddoc

Dear all
 
Paint has been splashed onto wood, so time for another update.
Also, as this boat is approaching completion (in my time, this means less than a year), I ve been thinking about the next one. I have some thoughts involving multiple masts, we ll see...
 
In any case, I decided to do some caulking on the deck. I do not think it needs it and almost certainly it is historically inaccurate but this boat from the beginning was about having fun and cutting (some) corners for speed. I ll use Osmo filler mixed with black acrylic paint. This needs Tung oil to shine black but maple does not take well to Tung oil, needs to be sealed first or will come out very blotchy.
 
So floors came out again and were sealed with my favorite Americana Decoart water based sealer (I dislike Shellac)

Of course the hull needed some more attention again.


The floors were covered with masking tape.

Then put back in place, all screws replaced with wood nails, sanded smooth

Then the mixture was slapped on!

Wait until dry

Then sanded off

Tape off, Tung oil on - done! 

It is not perfect by any stretch but it is done! 
And now it is time to paint the hull! Lots of masking done (which immediately failed)
 

Then I sprayed some Humbrol grey primer. The photo really did not get the color well!


Then the waterline was marked and the hull masked further

I used grey primer because I intended to use Humbrol enamels. At the last moment I decided to use acrylics, completely different colors. This is why enamels are dead.
 
So first coat of Valejo Ivory is brushed on. It looks dreadful:

And yes as expected, the hull is moving again! 


And after 5 more coats, still looks terrible!


It will get better. Maybe I should have used enamels!
 
I am almost certain the waterline will mess up the whole paint job. I will try and tuck the masking tape down well but I am sure the red paint will find a way underneath. We ll see
 
Till next time, take care all
 
Vaddoc

Mast steps are not complicated, but struggling with pattern transfer. 
Feeling like I miss some obvious tricks? Even thought about making a miniature duplicator tool with toothpicks instead of metal pins
Would appreciate your advice!
 
First I tried to make patterns like on a full scale - by gluing small rectangles on a piece of card. That way works great for real boats, but is very awkward and potentially messy on a small scale.
But I like that tiny plastic vernier gauge! Got a few of those to measure spacing inside the hull without scratching it.

 
Then I just traced a frame pattern on a piece of card and eyeballed the other side. That is less complicated than I thought, but takes a lot of fine tuning (counter light helps too). But feels like an art rather than a reliable and repeatable method.
Though should admit - trimming and cutting card is quite satisfying!
Is that how everyone is doing it or is there is an easy way?   

Practicing the quiet modelling (in preparation for the evening sessions) - tried a coping saw instead of a bandsaw. The dust extraction problem solved itself, vacuum hose fits perfectly between the clamps:

Finally - the rough pear blanks are cut and I hope to shape them into beautiful parts in the upcoming days! 
I really aint much, but a little symbolic step towards the healthy hobby routine

Lots and lots of info on MSW, some dedicated threads as well, a wealth of info.
Test on scrap wood, not the model!
I would however suggest to buy good brushes straight away - System 3 if still around are great
 
Modern paints are so good that with a bit of practice and attention you ll have excellent results
 
Vaddoc

@allanyed This is it pretty much Allan. Actually the hole left when the screw is removed is smaller and can even be filled with a smaller 0.7 mm wood nail dipped in PVA (or copper or brass wire dipped in CA which is a much faster process). 

Lots and lots of info on MSW, some dedicated threads as well, a wealth of info.
Test on scrap wood, not the model!
I would however suggest to buy good brushes straight away - System 3 if still around are great
 
Modern paints are so good that with a bit of practice and attention you ll have excellent results
 
Vaddoc

I use 1 mm screws which I then replace with wooden nails. In the past I ve used brass wire dipped in CA glue. All planks in all of my models are fastened this way - no plank is glued.
Once I thought of threading brass wire and using it without glue but the amount of work needed would be far too huge.

In my experience, there is a world of difference between cheap and higher end CA glue.
An issue to consider with any glue is the degree of contact between the mating surfaces. PVA needs excellent contact and pressure, not always possible with planks. CA just a bit of contact as it is incredibly strong. Thickened epoxy will bridge any gap but is very messy. Expanding glues like the amber Gorilla one are even messier. I would not trust contact cement for this task. Hide glue I have no experience with.
If I was gluing planks to frames I d probably go for CA. Have debonder at hand though to detach your finger from your eyelid!

@allanyed This is it pretty much Allan. Actually the hole left when the screw is removed is smaller and can even be filled with a smaller 0.7 mm wood nail dipped in PVA (or copper or brass wire dipped in CA which is a much faster process).