vaddoc

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

I have been planking the main deck.
 

 
As you look at these photos keep in mind that this is the rough deck. It has not been sanded or sealed.
 

 
The blueprints say plank ends will be spaced at least four frame spaces with three passing strakes between butts in line. The planks should be laid parallel to the centerline "... in as long lengths as practicable ..." How long was "practicable"  when they were building this ship?
 
The planking strips are 24 inches (610 mm) long. I decided to use 5 inch (127 mm) long planks (20 scale feet or 6 scale meters) because that is 16 frame spacings. This way I can use multiples of 4 frame spaces (1.25 inch or 31.75 mm), or planks 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 plank length long to stagger the plank ends lengthwise. Some of the planks are actually longer that 16 frame spaces at the bow and stern.
 
The blueprints specify deck planks 2 5/8 inch (66.7 mm) square, or 0.055 inch (1.4 mm) at 1:48 scale. The closest commercially available strips were nominally 1/16 x 1/16 inch (0.0625 x 0.0625 inch or 1.6 x 1.6 mm). However they range from 0.055 to 0.075 inch (1.4 to 1.9 mm) and none are actually square in cross section.
 
I cut the strips to the desired plank length and then glue a strip of black paper to one side. I usually place the narrowest dimension of the plank vertically so it will take fewer strips to plank the deck.
 
The paper is about 0.005 inch (0.127 mm) thick, and this is 0.24 inch (6.1 mm) at 1:48 scale. The blueprints call for a 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) grout so the paper and glue are just about the perfect thickness.
 
 

 
The paper strips were cut on an ordinary paper cutter, eyeballing the widths, so they are not uniform. They protrude a bit above the tops of the planks. With handling the tops of the paper strips "fuzz out" and appear wider than the nominal width, making the grout look non-uniform. But after all the planking is done the deck will be scraped, sanded and finished with #0000 steel wool and the grout lines will be much more uniform in width.
 
Nibbing the planks into the nibbing strake along the edge of the deck is much harder that it was on the topsail schooner build - it had 5 mm wide planks. As you can see in this macro photo the nibbing isn't "perfect." It has taken a bit of practice to get it more uniform in appearance, and I screwed up in a few places.
 
 
Fortunately part of the fore deck is covered by a steel chafing plate where the anchor chain runs, and this will cover the worst of the screw-ups! Phil 1, Murphy 0!
 
I soon learned that I could not cut uniform nibs with just a #11 hobby knife blade. The solution was to use an old, dull #11 blade with a broken tip, and shape the tip to make a "nibbing tool."
 
I used a grinding wheel in my motor tool and cut the tip to about 0.030 inch (0.76 mm) wide, with a chisel tip on the end. This is about half a plank width, and that is how wide the nib tip should be. I ground a cutting edge on the end, and then sharpened it on a whet stone.
 
I first use this tool to make the initial cut at the edge of the nibbing strake. Then I cut back from there to where the plank edge meets the edge of the nibbing strip. The plank is then shaped to fit the nib cutout. I usually have to trim the plank a bit narrower at the nib to account for the thickness of the paper grout.
 
 
No two nibs have the same angle cut, and the nibs get longer as the planking progresses toward midships. Some of the planks will have very long tapers, especially along the deck house sides. It is pretty tricky trying to cut long straight tapers into the nibbing strake.

A bit more progress on the doors and deckhouse.
 

 
These are the pilot house doors. The door on the left is partially assembled. It is 1/32 (0.0325) inch (0.8 mm) thick pear wood strips and panels glued onto a 1/32 inch thick plywood backing. This is the rough door before sanding and staining.
 
I knew I couldn't create uniform width grooves for the white trim, so I took a hint from small craft builders who needed white grout between planks. I used some 0.020 inch (0.5 mm) white styrene strips.
 
The window is a 0.005 inch (0.13 mm) thick piece of acrylic sandwiched between two thin (>0.015 inch/0.38 mm) rings cut from a 0.28 inch (7.1 mm) diameter brass tube. The inside diameter is 0.25 inch (6.4 mm) or 12 inches at 1:48 scale.
 
 
The door on the right is finished with Varathane wood stain, in the "Gunstock" color. The pear stains nicely and I like the resulting reddish "varnished mahogany" color.
 
I have been wondering how to get a good mahogany color and this stain works well. All of the door and window trim around the pilot house was mahogany. While rummaging through my wood stash I found a bag of 3.75 x 0.093 x 0.045 inch (95 x 2.4 x 1.1 mm) HO scale railroad ties that appear to be real mahogany! I remember buying these in the 1970s to be used as hull planks for a scratch built ship's boat. These "ties" are a good size for the door and window trim, and the window frames.
 
I was working on the doors while the glue set on the deck house assembly.
 

 
This assembly is tricky because there are no right angles. The deck house is narrower at the front than at the rear, so the sides aren't parallel. The deck has significant sheer forward but the bulkheads should be vertical perpendicular to the water line. The attachment of the forward angled bulkheads to the side pieces is critical for getting all the other pieces right.
 

 
I added a lot of interior bracing to make it strong enough to hold up to handling  The first attempt to put it together came out too wide, and it didn't fit the house outline framing glued to the subdeck. I had to disassemble the port side and reshape the pieces to fit correctly. I am using Titebond Original wood glue and it can be softened with water and heat. So I soaked the joints and heated them with a hair dryer. It came apart "reluctantly!"
 
The interior bulkheads are just clamped in place at this point. They set the angles where the front and side pieces join.

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

Two winches were combined in one framework. The upper winch was for the towing and power cable for the acoustic minesweeping device. The larger and lower winch was for the magtail - the magnetic minesweeping cables. They had similar controls and motors. The gearbox was the same for both winches but the motors were slightly different in size and power, but manufactured by the same company so they look alike.
 

 
 

 
 
I think this will be the most complex assembly on the model. It will be 4.29 inches (109 mm) long (fore to aft), 3.375 inches (85.7 mm) wide and 2.33 inches (59.7 mm) high. This thing was difficult to model because the four blueprint drawings that show all or part of it give different dimensions! And the dimensions for most parts aren't shown, so it was necessary to measure and scale everything. Worse still, a lot of the framework pieces aren't shown (or are faint outlines) so there was a lot of guesswork and successive approximation until everything fit in pretty good agreement.
 
There were some parts shown in the drawings that simply wouldn't work. For example, there was a cross brace for the framework that would pass through the sides of the cable reels! I have been working on this drawing for 12 days trying to sort out these things. It may not be perfect (there are some parts of the mechanism I won't try to model) but it will be good enough for this model.
 
These 3D CAD drawings serve two purposes. First, they force me to try to understand how the things were built, and determine some reasonable dimensions.
 
But the other purpose is to find parts that should be made by photo etch. I am preparing drawings to send to a photo etch manufacturer (I don't want to mess with doing it myself - that can be pretty frustrating).
 
This is an example of some photo etch pieces from this winch assembly - the deck gratings. I can probably 3D print them - I have done some very small screens and such. But the 3D print material is brittle and these will be thin (0.020 inch or 0.5 mm) and very fragile. They will be more likely to survive handling if they are photoetched brass or stainless steel.
 
I may use 3D printing for the motors and gearboxes. Although the motors were slightly different sizes (about 3% difference) I will probably make them all the same size.
 
Most of the framework will be made of brass pieces soldered together.

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

Time sure flies!
 
Many thanks for the visit and likes
@Dr PR Phil, I remembered you sharing this and it was on my to do list, unfortunately I had to use so many pieces of wood to straighten the hull that there was no space for a brush, most of the inner surface of the hull was inaccessible. I ll be using epoxy for sure in the future though.
 
So, very little progress to share but here it is:
 
I finished with the propeller shaft housing, it is secured, sanded and faired. I think this was a much more elegant solution than Occre's but also much more difficult.
 


Next I started cutting the openings on the bulwark. One side went fine:
 

The other not, the drill slipped!

Trying to see how to correct it, I broke it even more!

Ok, no need to panic. It was relatively straight forward to fix it:



It has since been sanded and the screws replaced with tree nails. When painted and more stuff added on, it will be invisible.
 
I then attached the rubrail on one side

Now the rub rail continues around the stern in a pretty tight curve for a 3 x 3 mm pear strip to accept. I emersed the strip in a pot of boiling water slowly pushing against the pot wall, the strip took the bend in no time. 

This is all I had time to do between work and extended summer vacations.
 
My work load is going to drastically increase soon, so clearly the most reasonable thing to do is to start another log on an ambitious project - coming soon.
 
Best wishes to all
Vaddoc

I had problems with planks swelling and shrinking on my first two plank on bulkhead models, causing cracks to open up. Since then I have coated the inside of the hull planking with thin epoxy. It flows into the cracks between planks, and between the planks and bulkheads, sealing the hull. After the epoxy cures the hulls are really solid. After 35-40 years the first hull I built this way still has no cracks between planks.
 
I plank the hull and seal it before installing the deck.

Whatever your solution, you've got a good solid base for the superstructure, and you know it won't be warping at some later date!
 
John

My 2 c:
I do not think you need any specialised tutorials, just play with Rhino a bit more. There is a command to create surface, one to offset surfaces (for the thickness of planking) and another to unroll surfaces (sometimes useful). Use the command to fair lines but this needs care as it may move lines - useful also to progressively use as few points as possible for your curves. The lines need to touch for a surface to be created but lofting does not need to be perfect as the wood will correct lots of imperfections. Using fewer curves for surfaces is easier. The curves that do not play ball can later on be projected on to the surface - there is a command to project lines and points to a surface that is very useful.
 
To create the hull surface, you need to have defined the sheer (best created from two lines/views), the keel rabbet, sternpost and stem. To check for ripples and surface fairness there is the analyze surface command that contains surface analysis tools.
 
You can also import plans and lines, scale them appropriately and use them to trace lines and then position these to the 3D space.
 
I think you are almost there to be honest.
 
Best wishes
Vaddoc

A way of planking boats and ships is to mark a straight plank somewhere in the middle of the hull. This way the planks above and bellow will not have excessive curves during spilling or in your case will not need to be bent sidewise too much. 

Nice rope! Lots and lots of posts in MSW for rope making. 
 

Dear all
 
The boat is finished! 
 
After a lot of head scratching I ended up with a solution for the davit sockets that looks reasonable. The davit it self was also quite challenging to make but I think it came out fine.

Last thing to do was to install the thole pins and the cleats.
I still need to take some proper photos, make some type of cradle and order a display case. I think it is also appropriate to order the print from the National Maritime Museum or place some compact version of these plans within the case - we ll see.









This has been a very enjoyable build and I certainly learned a lot. In future I will post pictures in the gallery.
 
In the mean time however, there is another hull that has been gathering dust waiting patiently to come back into the shipyard. I do hope you will join for the Chapelle's fishing launch. 
 
I regret I have not been able to keep up with many logs I had been following - This is a period that life demands too much from me!
 
My deepest thanks for your company and support in this journey
 
Vaddoc

Thanks to everyone for the comments and likes!
 
I have a bit more progress to report. The forward bulkhead of the deck house is the key to the entire assembly. The three pieces join at 150 degree angles so they must be beveled 75 degrees on the sides where they join. In addition, they have to conform to the camber of the deck, they are vertical relative to the water line, and the deck has a significant sheer. There are no "square" corners or 90 degree angles, so there is plenty of opportunity to screw up!
 
I worried about this a lot, trying to figure out the shape of the two side pieces. I modeled it in 2D CAD, based on the deck camber. But the first two side pieces didn't come close to fitting! Then I did it in 3D CAD, taking into account the angles of the parts, and came up with what you see here.
 
These pieces have to be assembled first. Then the rest of the deckhouse will be added to them - again at some odd angles. The house sides join the outer two front pieces at 120 degree angles, so the parts must be beveled 60 degrees on the joining edges.
 
I used interior support pieces angled at 150 degrees to glue the pieces together. Then additional 1/8 x 1/8 inch (3.2 x 3.2 mm) pieces were glued to the inside of the joints for additional strength.
 
 

 
I guess I did get it right because the pieces seem to come together correctly. At this point the outer front pieces are oversized and will have to be trimmed back and beveled appropriately. Only the front three pieces are glued together. Everything else is just clamped in place. There is a lot more work to do on the house sides before they can be glued to the front and interior bulkheads.
 

 
There are seven "weathertight" doors (not watertight) on the exterior of the superstructure, Three at the main deck level and four on the O1 level. The doors were made like the doors in houses in the 1950s. They had two center panels that had "V" shaped grooves all around. I want to try to replicate this.
 
Here is a "door kit."
 

 
The side and top parts are 3/32 x 1/32 inch (2.4  x 0.8 mm) boxwood, the bottom piece is 5/32 x 1/32 (4 x 0.8 mm) boxwood, and the center panels are 1/32 inch plywood. The 1/32 inch plywood panel at the right is the finished door size. The other parts are glued to it to create a 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) thick door, as shown on the right. The block at the left is the template for cutting the door openings. The doors are a bit smaller, and will have 1/32 inch frames all around.
 
There is a problem here. In my rush to assemble the door I put the wider 5/32 inch bottom part at the top! Well, it is a prototype, and Murphy had a hand assembling it. Reminds me of the topsail schooner build where I go in a hurry and switched the pintles and gudgeons for the rudder! How embarrassing!
 

 
The doors were all painted gray on the outside. But inside they were varnished mahogany. The two doors to the pilot house will be open, as shown in this rather grainy photo. The grooves around the center panels were painted white.
 
I want to replicate this in the model. The windows and window frames were also mahogany, as were the frames for the windshield, railings around the bridge and on the bulwarks, and a lot of the interior of the pilot house.
 
I will be experimenting with pear wood to try to get the nice red mahogany color. But if that fails I will just paint the doors with "mahogany" paint.
 
 
 

 
 
Here are pieces of the boxwood and plywood used in the prototype that have been stained with Minwax premium oil penetrating stain. This is "Red Mahogany 225."
 
Looks more like brown mud! I have tried to use this stuff before and this is the best results I have had. Blotchy and streaked. Awful!
 
This is why I said I may just paint the wood.
 
 
 

I have made a little progress on the physical model. Most of my time has been spent on planning the build sequence. The deck planking will go down first before the deck house and deck furniture is placed. But I wanted to get the main deck deckhouse pieces glued together before proceeding with the deck planks. That way I can be working on the superstructure off the hull while I am waiting for the planking glue to set.
 
The front pieces of the superstructure fit together at angles so I had to bevel the edges. The sides also come together with the front pieces at an angle. Setting up the disk sander to the proper angles took some trial and experiment. I also need to cut openings for doors and air ports in the pieces before they are assembled.
 

 
I made a wooden block "template" for cutting the door openings. This will ensure that all the door openings are the same size. I am also gluing some of the 1/8 inch (3.1 mm) square framing strips in the corners where pieces come together..
 

 
 

After the holes are cut and the pieces are trimmed to fit I remove the paper pattern and scrape/sand any remaining glue to prepare the surfaces for painting.
 
I am planning to make the 12" air ports with some brass tubing with 1/4 inch (6.35 mm) inside diameter. I want to make the window with 1/4 inch acrylic rod. The outer surface will be polished and the inner surface will be painted with the ubiquitous Navy interior (puke) green.
 
Like the mahogany trim on doors, windows and railings, I will need only a small bit of acrylic rod (~1.5 inch/38 mm). But the smallest piece I have found so far is a 6 foot (2 meter) 1/4 inch rod from McMaster-Carr. It costs only about US$2.50, but the shipping costs will be much more! I will continue looking around. Maybe a machinist friend will have a scrap piece.
 
****
 
Work on the deckhouse brought back some memories from the Cape.  The ship had one Quick-Acting Water Tight (QAWT) door. It was inside the superstructure on the main deck at the forward end of the mess deck. It opened into a companionway and ladder that led down to the crew's berthing compartment in the bow.
 
It was called "quick-acting" because all eight of the "dogs" that clamped the door tight against the water tight seal were operated with a single lever, and not individually as on ordinary water tight doors.
 
I thought this was peculiar for two reasons. First, all the other doors on the ship, including exterior doors, were wooden and non-watertight. For this door to serve a watertight function the main deck would have to be flooded, and that would only happen if the ship was on the way to the bottom.
 
The other odd thing was that QAWT doors were installed in watertight bulkheads to prevent water from flowing from one part of the ship to another. But there was a screen vent over the door in this "watertight" bulkhead. It reminded me of the joke about something being as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
 
For me this door symbolized the Cape. It was almost useless. I say almost, because if the ship was sinking it might delay the flow of water into the crew's berthing compartment below deck, and that might give the men time to escape through a scuttle on the main deck at the bow.
 
Now stop and think - what are the likely causes for a minesweeper to sink? It could be attacked from the air or another ship, but the Cape was so small that just about any bomb or moderately large caliber projectile would blow it to pieces. Small cannon fire could blow enough holes to sink it, so in this case the door might serve a purpose.
 
But given the primary role of minesweepers -  to go into minefields and try to destroy them before they destroyed you -  the most probable cause for sinking was detonating a mine.


 
 
The picture on the left is the 184 foot long minesweeper USS Pirate AM-275 striking a mine. The photo on the right is what's left of the stern of the ship capsizing and sinking. These are grainy photos, but some of the little black dots in the air might be water tight doors. We had these photos posted on the Cape's bulletin board as a reminder of just how crazy it was for us to be anywhere close to a mine!
 
****
 
The mess decks on the Cape were Damage Control Central (DCC) where damage assessment and repair coordination were carried out in combat. Perhaps the QAWT door was there in DCC to give the crew some hope of surviving and reason for attempting damage control.
 
Being the Damage Control Officer for the ship, DCC was my station during General Quarters and when we were conducting damage control training. The Navy scheduled periodic training sessions where expert personnel from Damage Control Schools would come aboard and instruct us in damage control procedures on our own ship. Then we would run exercises and be graded for our proficiency. If we failed we had to do it all over again.
 
During one of these training sessions we were being instructed by an older Damage Control (DC) Chief. While we were waiting for some "evolution" to begin I pointed out the screen vent in the watertight bulkhead to the Chief. He looked at it, then at me, and said nothing.
 
Then I also commented about the sound-powered phone jack box in the mess decks that was about four feet above the main deck. It had a water tight cover over the jack, and I commented it wouldn't be much use if the mess decks were four feet under water. Again the Chief looked at me and said nothing.
 
But I did say the watertight cover would keep the sound powered phone system from shorting out if we were fighting a fire on the mess decks with salt water from fire hoses. To this the Chief replied, in an assertive tone suitable for an instructor teaching a pupil, that sound powered phones didn't use electricity and couldn't be shorted out.
 
"Chief, it isn't water flowing in those wires!" I replied.
 
My leading engineman immediately pulled me aside and said "Mr. Hays, you don't talk to inspectors like that!"
 
We passed the training anyway. But we were being trained by a Chief who had been in the Navy 20-30 years and had absolutely no understanding of how a principle communication system on ships worked!
 
****
 
Damage Control Schools were some of the most interesting times while I was in the Navy. At Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, we had engine room firefighting school. We climbed up a ladder on the outside of a three story tall steel structure with a mock-up engine room inside. It was 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 Celsius) outside and icicles were hanging from leaky fire hose connections. Inside the metal box at ground level was a 6-9 foot (2-3 meters) wide open tank containing burning fuel oil.
 
When we opened the door to enter the "engine room" a thick cloud of oily black smoke poured out. We had to go inside without any breathing apparatus, walk along narrow catwalks and climb down two levels on vertical ladders while dragging a stiff charged 3 inch (75 mm) fire hose. The space was not lighted so we couldn't see anything, and none of us had been in this thing before! We felt our way along and when we got lower in the engine room we began to see the glow of the fire through the smoke.
 
This was where we started to learn that the Damage Control School guys really knew a thing or two. A DC Chief was leading us and told the lead man on the hose (the nozzle man) to lean out over the blazing oil and hose it down with water!
 
Right! We were going to put out burning oil with water!? But if you are an Officer Candidate Under Instruction (OCUI), a rating lower than Seaman and only slightly above scum - when a Chief says to spray water on burning oil you do it. The OCUI nozzle man bent the hose up in an inverted "U" over his head as we had been instructed, with the nozzle pointing down, and leaned out over the blazing tank. He rocked the "U" back and forth, spraying high velocity water fog over the surface of the oil and the fire went out!
 
Wow! It really worked! The heat from the fire vaporized the water into steam. Steam is heavier than air and formed a layer over the oil that smothered the fire. And the water absorbed a huge amount of heat as it vaporized, and cooled the oil.
 
We were all coated with gooey oil soot when we got back outside. I coughed up black spit for a week!
 
After reporting to the guided missile cruiser USS Oklahoma City I was ordered to fly back from Danang, Vietnam, to Flight Deck Firefighting School in San Diego, California (missiles were built like airplanes and posed many of the same hazards). There we learned to do a few more impossible things.
 
Magnesium burns hot enough to break down water molecules and combine with the oxygen, leaving hydrogen gas to intensify the fire. So when the DC Chief said he was going to put out a burning magnesium airplane wheel with water I was skeptical. And when they said they would put out a burning magnesium flare with water I was even more skeptical. But as we watched the School's DC personnel sprayed enough water on a flaming 3 foot (1 meter) diameter magnesium wheel to cool it to below ignition temperature. And the flare? They just crammed a fire hose into the end of the tube and the steam carried away enough heat to cool the fire and put it out! I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!
 
But the main event was rescuing a pilot from a burning airplane. The mockup plane sat at the center of a large (100 feet or 30 meter) wide pan. Below the plane was a pipe that had jet fuel bubbling up and pooling under the plane. Then they lighted the fire, creating a column of flame 20-30 feet (7-10 meters) around the plane.
 
We had two hose teams dressed in ordinary work uniforms. A Chief led us to the downwind side of the blaze so the flames blew right at us! One hose team sprayed high velocity water fog toward the airplane to fight the fire. The second team had a long nozzle extension with a "spud tip" on the end. They followed close behind and held the spud tip above and in front of the first hose team to spray a sheet of low velocity water fog. Then we marched in toward the plane and into the burning fuel!
 
The low velocity fog created a wall of water that beat back and cooled the flames. We followed it into a tunnel of flame that was blowing above and beside us. When we got to the plane a fellow in an asbestos suit climbed up to the cockpit to "rescue" the pilot. Then we all backed out together, having walked through flaming hell!
 
Kids, don't try this at home!
 
The impossible is impossible only if you don't try. Sometimes I think my 3+ years in the Navy was worth it just to have those experiences. It makes "thrill rides" at amusement parks look pretty lame!

Yes, this would have been a better alternative but I always end up overbuilding things. But I may have gone too far with this! What is not visible is the epoxy I added inside afterwards to glue the plywood walls with the frame...

A wee more update as I did a bit more work on the boat - I must admit I am having too much fun!
 
I previously admitted that I shamelessly read the building instructions from Occre of their Hercules kit to get some ideas. There are a few things that I felt could be done better, in this post I ll show my solutions to the problems.
 
So I left the hull on the side for now and started work on the superstructure. Again, my CAD drafts were not entirely correct but at least the templates for the superstructure inner bulkheads were spot on. However, the plywood started warping so I screwed the bottom to a very thick piece of plywood and used screws and epoxy to make it rock solid. 

 
Now, Occre uses lots of thin vertical pieces to cover the forward part of the superstructure, blended together afterwards with filler and sanding but I just bend a piece of 1 mm plywood.


Another area were Occre used multiple thin strips is the two aft corners but I just made two pillars with stacked pieces of plywood - the small gap will be very easily filled with filler.



Hercules has a very distinct propeller shaft tube thingy, this is a feature that a model must have.

 
The solution from Occre is not very elegant, just bending a piece of wood over a tube. My solution was different.
 
It was actually easy to draft this in CAD and looking at the drawing, it seemed doable to sand a half dowel to sit on the hull.


Indeed, it worked well and was surprisingly easy and quick. The screws will of course be replaced with wood nails, maybe even use a bot of epoxy, then filler and sanding - I think it will look fine.



Best wishes
Vaddoc

A wee more update as I did a bit more work on the boat - I must admit I am having too much fun!
 
I previously admitted that I shamelessly read the building instructions from Occre of their Hercules kit to get some ideas. There are a few things that I felt could be done better, in this post I ll show my solutions to the problems.
 
So I left the hull on the side for now and started work on the superstructure. Again, my CAD drafts were not entirely correct but at least the templates for the superstructure inner bulkheads were spot on. However, the plywood started warping so I screwed the bottom to a very thick piece of plywood and used screws and epoxy to make it rock solid. 

 
Now, Occre uses lots of thin vertical pieces to cover the forward part of the superstructure, blended together afterwards with filler and sanding but I just bend a piece of 1 mm plywood.


Another area were Occre used multiple thin strips is the two aft corners but I just made two pillars with stacked pieces of plywood - the small gap will be very easily filled with filler.



Hercules has a very distinct propeller shaft tube thingy, this is a feature that a model must have.

 
The solution from Occre is not very elegant, just bending a piece of wood over a tube. My solution was different.
 
It was actually easy to draft this in CAD and looking at the drawing, it seemed doable to sand a half dowel to sit on the hull.


Indeed, it worked well and was surprisingly easy and quick. The screws will of course be replaced with wood nails, maybe even use a bot of epoxy, then filler and sanding - I think it will look fine.



Best wishes
Vaddoc

Many thanks to all that hit the like button. 
@Jim Lad  Thanks John, really it is a very elegant hull!
@Bedford I had a bit of a hardware issue so suspense to be prolonged for a few days - I suspect the boat will appeal to you as well!
@wefalck I did think about this and I have half decided to leave this out, for two reasons: One is that I do not like the plating which is random with a large curved belt along the length of the hull, such elegant lines deserve better. Second is that I ve been fighting cracks between the planks, I ve already filled and sanded three times but the planks keep moving. Not sure why as the pear I am using is very old and dry, perhaps I have not used enough frames. In any case, the plank lines will show no matter what I do so maybe best to leave it as a wooden hull instead of simulating a riveted steel hull.
 
Ok, some more photos:
 
The hull is now filled, sanded to 320 grit, sealed and sanded lightly to 400 grit - then sealed again and re-sanded to 400 grit. I actually intended to use a blade to scrape the hull but I forgot to do it, it would have been faster. Still, the hull is now very smooth. I ve left the little feet to the hull as they ll help to mark the water line.

Happily, the stern also came out alright


There are several opening to be cut out to the bulwarks as well as some more  work to be done before painting

This is pretty much as far as I ve gone studying the plans and the boat. I need to figure out the stern layout and tiller mechanism, finish the bulwarks and start work on the superstructure (started already, again some happy accidents in my CAD drawings)
 
In the mean time I cleaned and tidied up the shipyard, thought I d share some photos

Sanding station with the new toy, Proxxon MF 70 - not sure what I can do with it but I had some credit with Axminster so chose this.

Cutting/drilling station

Work bench

Take care all
Vaddoc

A wee more update as I did a bit more work on the boat - I must admit I am having too much fun!
 
I previously admitted that I shamelessly read the building instructions from Occre of their Hercules kit to get some ideas. There are a few things that I felt could be done better, in this post I ll show my solutions to the problems.
 
So I left the hull on the side for now and started work on the superstructure. Again, my CAD drafts were not entirely correct but at least the templates for the superstructure inner bulkheads were spot on. However, the plywood started warping so I screwed the bottom to a very thick piece of plywood and used screws and epoxy to make it rock solid. 

 
Now, Occre uses lots of thin vertical pieces to cover the forward part of the superstructure, blended together afterwards with filler and sanding but I just bend a piece of 1 mm plywood.


Another area were Occre used multiple thin strips is the two aft corners but I just made two pillars with stacked pieces of plywood - the small gap will be very easily filled with filler.



Hercules has a very distinct propeller shaft tube thingy, this is a feature that a model must have.

 
The solution from Occre is not very elegant, just bending a piece of wood over a tube. My solution was different.
 
It was actually easy to draft this in CAD and looking at the drawing, it seemed doable to sand a half dowel to sit on the hull.


Indeed, it worked well and was surprisingly easy and quick. The screws will of course be replaced with wood nails, maybe even use a bot of epoxy, then filler and sanding - I think it will look fine.



Best wishes
Vaddoc

A wee more update as I did a bit more work on the boat - I must admit I am having too much fun!
 
I previously admitted that I shamelessly read the building instructions from Occre of their Hercules kit to get some ideas. There are a few things that I felt could be done better, in this post I ll show my solutions to the problems.
 
So I left the hull on the side for now and started work on the superstructure. Again, my CAD drafts were not entirely correct but at least the templates for the superstructure inner bulkheads were spot on. However, the plywood started warping so I screwed the bottom to a very thick piece of plywood and used screws and epoxy to make it rock solid. 

 
Now, Occre uses lots of thin vertical pieces to cover the forward part of the superstructure, blended together afterwards with filler and sanding but I just bend a piece of 1 mm plywood.


Another area were Occre used multiple thin strips is the two aft corners but I just made two pillars with stacked pieces of plywood - the small gap will be very easily filled with filler.



Hercules has a very distinct propeller shaft tube thingy, this is a feature that a model must have.

 
The solution from Occre is not very elegant, just bending a piece of wood over a tube. My solution was different.
 
It was actually easy to draft this in CAD and looking at the drawing, it seemed doable to sand a half dowel to sit on the hull.


Indeed, it worked well and was surprisingly easy and quick. The screws will of course be replaced with wood nails, maybe even use a bot of epoxy, then filler and sanding - I think it will look fine.



Best wishes
Vaddoc