olliechristo

Oh no don't be sorry at all. I dont expect anyone to be on here all the time.. Just thought i would have a go.. no glue of course.. Thanks John, you are a godsend, Very thankful as always..

Ollie,
 
Sorry for the late reply, mate, I've been out all day (since 5.30AM actually) and have only just got home.
 
I'll send you a PM in a couple of minutes of an illustration of deck planking.  It's copyright, so can't go here on the open forum.  I'm just waiting for my printer to warm up so I can scan.
 
John

Ok well i thought i better use some initiative and joined two planks side by side with glue and sanded.. This is all i could think of to do and once caulking is added i don't the eye will really notice it..
 
Turning some corners today..  Also when I got home early today I was feeling brave and in the mood to cut out my side of hull for the 'revealing' side of the ship..  Regards   Ollie

Just wondering guys... I am going to make a start on the margin plank soon and wondering if it is typical to use the same planks as deck? 
 
Jeff'..  I noticed on your Norfolk Sloop you used a thicker and wider margin....     
 
Planks being only 4mm wide it looks tricky to keep the margin at that width and would certainly be a lot easier to start with a wider plank say,, 6-8mm..   Also wondering if it is usual to bend or cut to the curve of bulwarks?     Ollie

Yeah great if your in oz but, just ordered the micro chuck, 10 piece drill set and micro drill all express posted for $50, not a bad deal a think, thanks for the heads up.

Whilst im at deck fixtures I felt like getting the cannons built up so i cane check port placements. ,, The kit suplied brass rod for axles but it was a sloppy fit in wheels and i think these small canons may have had timber axles anyhow... i used blackbean and worked it down to 2mm rods... I used bamboo wedges to chock wheels in 1mm holes and they can rotate nicely but not sloppy... I made my own mounts for eyelets also... and a jig to make shackles or clasps to hold canons on mount..
Ready get back to hull work almost,, Ollie

Hi All, I have finished the windlass except for a few deck 'pins' to hold it on.  When scaled up to real size the very top of the bell is just over 1.6 metres tall.. i think its all about right..
 
 
Tom i didnt get a chance to read that script on decking, it baffled me at first glance, but maybe you could PM it to me for a look,, about to get ready for planking deck this week.. Thanks

Planking the deck
 
The instructions call for the deck to be fully planked before moving to fitting the hatchway coamings and head ledges which then sit on the deck.
 
I was in two minds whether to fit these first and then run the planking up to them but decided in the end to do the planking first.
 
Again I departed from the Jotika scheme, replacing the supplied 4mm x 1mm Tanganyika strip with boxwood 3.4mm x 0.6mm. Apart from any other consideration I thought the slightly narrower planking was more in scale.
 
I Used a three butt shift pattern ie three plank widths between butts on any joist. The planks are the scale equivalent of 29’ x 8.5”
PVA was used to fix the planks which were line edged with a Pilot broad chisel marker pen(instant dry and water resistant) to replicate the caulking. There was no evidence of bleed into the wood.
 
The plank ends were joggled into the Margin plank at the bows.

 

Planking in progress, planking usually starts with the planks either side of the centre line and progresses from the stern forward and outwards.
 

Joggling completed.
 

 

A little time now will be spent scraping the deck (not sanding) to remove any unevenness, and tidying up the mast and rudder head holes.
 
Next stage will be fitting the stern transom, and assembling one of the carronades to check gun port levels.
 
B.E.
 
 

Guns really are looking good!! Lots of small pieces!! Good fun though...lots of repetition....lots!
I really don't have any of my wood models left any more the last couple of moves have wiped me out
and financial problems because of my disability have made it necessary to sell them off 1 by 1.
Got good money for them and it saved my Keester so to speak. I still have my library and my memories.
And still am not quite techie to figure out how to attach a lousy pix...Go figure!
My main passion is the rigging...Love to see how the runs of line lead and where too belay. What stresses there are
and the tackle used to handle it all.  Those guys were some tough old birds!!!
 
Tom

Hi all. Well the first two eyelets were too small, they had 1mm centres, second round was heaps quicker of course.. Pictures show how i made them, i want to have a full circle of metal not a piece of wire joined as i dont have the right soldering gear... these are flattened 2mm brass rod that was supplied for axles, eyelets have 1.5 mm centres now and look right.. primed and let to dry before black..  progress is slow until holidays and then will be patchy but hope to get a couple of solid days in, instead of little bits...  Ollie

That is interesting tom, I hadnt figured out how to make them yet, but your method of tumbling sounds great.. I have made a homemade tumbler but have been thinking about a loritone 3a or the like.. One of my other hobbies is metal detecting ( i collect hobbies;) Although i search for old coins not in current circulation i happen to find a few modern coins and they are not scoffed at. .. So a tumbler is on my list!  It will pay for itself..  Oh and regarding the bits,, Yes i want to order a few more, I like the look of the ones with fatter shank and only short micro bit at end, much less likely to break and flex or wobble. It is silly really to use a long micro bit if not needed. Rarely drilling long holes it would seem.... http://www.ebay.com....=item43bace93e7   

Some more pictures
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi All,
 
Well she is finnished there are a few errors and a couple of things I think I could have done better but overall I am very happy with how she turned out  
 
For those who are interested  it took me approximately 400 hours to complete, approximately because I did not keep an accurate time log in the middle stage of the build  I intend to keep an accurate time log for the next build
 
 
I would also like to thank everyone who has looked at this log for their words of encouragement and advice I hope you enjoyed looking at it  
 
Some pictures
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all. Well the first two eyelets were too small, they had 1mm centres, second round was heaps quicker of course.. Pictures show how i made them, i want to have a full circle of metal not a piece of wire joined as i dont have the right soldering gear... these are flattened 2mm brass rod that was supplied for axles, eyelets have 1.5 mm centres now and look right.. primed and let to dry before black..  progress is slow until holidays and then will be patchy but hope to get a couple of solid days in, instead of little bits...  Ollie

I like the array of useful tools but shipping would be a pig!
Thanks for sharing! There are some cool places for tools here too!
I acquired a rope maker a couple of years ago and it has helped a lot in scale sized rope.
More than paid for itself!
 
Tom

Thanks so much, they have some great gear

Thanks all
Tom. I had a look at those canons,wow a bit of a contrast to my little babies.
 
Jeff, I want to add as much detail as possible so thanks for asking, I have made some smaller eyelets as I noticed the large shackles are not the only attachments on most canons. I figure the rigging would be the same as other canons of the era? Any advice appreciated.
 
I figure I will need to make 'blocks' to rig these, and I'm thinking I am going to invest some drill bits smaller than 1mm. Ollie

Hi Ollie,
 
Yes I think they would be the same rig a other cannons , a breech rope, side tackle and train tackle.
 
I just ordered a set of small drills yesterday from "my tool store" , I think they are based in Brisbane, the set comprises of 20 drills ranging from 0.3mm to 1.6mm, it steps up in size by 0.05mm to 1mm and then by 0.1mm to 1.6mm. I thought they were very reasonably priced. The link is there if you want to have a look at the site 

Putting All Together
To put the axles on easier, I've made myself another jig.
 

 
The two slots will help the axles staying in position. 
 

 
Then, I applied glue on the carriage, pushed it to the axles and let dry.
 

 
And then glued the trucks and barrels on.
 


Now, the major parts of cannons are basically done. I will add cap square to them when my copper sheet arrives, or perhaps some nails detail to them.
 

 
For the cannon rigging, Corel provides 3mm wooden blocks which are way oversize. Both blocks will be touching each other if they are made to tackle. 
 

Way Oversize Blocks

Now I'm stuck here on the rigging. I searched through the web and found that the Amati Xebec cannon rigging perhaps an example to follow with, which just securing the guns without any blocks, but not sure whether it is accurate? Hope anyone can help here. Thanks in advance

Sorry that the script came out sooooo bad. It was the only thing I could get to transfer and w/out the pix and dwgs. it doesn't make a whole lot of sense..
I could suggest "Plank-on-frame Models" by Harold A. Underhill (Volume I) if your library carries it or another good one is "Planking Techniques for Model Ship Builders" by Donald Dressel. Those are only two of my 'core set" and I refer to them a lot. I use black carbon paper glued to the sides of the plank lumber to simulate the pitch in the seams...works well! Looks good! you might try something a little thicker though.
 
Tom
 
Nice Job on the windlass/bell. Very good looks real!

Thanks guys, your mateship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mateship)%C2'> is helping me to maintain momentum  Cheers... 
 
John E. I am indeed passionate, this vessel surveyed waters just off the coast where I was born and live (The Great Barrier Reef) She was weecked in 1829 and lies as a heritage listed site just off the coast on the same waters she opened up... Discovered in 1999..
 
Pygothian, thanks mate,, it is my first wooden ship, but probably did my first ship model at about age 12 (first plastic kit), now 32. have done numerous plastic kits like Revelll and tamiya.. Planes, cars helicopters, a aircraft carrier.. And a few remote control boats.. Have had a few years break though... Have also done a fair amount of general carpentry and general building of all sorts.. have always wanted to build a wooden ship and .. This is her... .
 
Have made some more small steps and interior is very close to done.. Planking here we come!!! 
 
Thanks all. You are all inspiring..  Regards Ollie

Metal Fittings on Carriage Preparing
Corel provides some brass fittings and most of them need to be blacken. So, I started this part by cutting the brass rod as axles, and blacken all the brass fittings together. 
 
Using the depth ruler, I marked the length of axles on the brass rod, and cut them by using my power tool. Since my vise can't grab the brass rods real tight, so I used this method. Still slide a little bit, but didn't affect much.
 

 
The result... 
Total of 32 cannons, so.. 64 axles for the carriages.
 

 
Almost all brass fittings are in, besides the pump and bell. Yea.. Corel provides ready-made pump in brass.
 
I added a coiled brass wire in because the eyebolts provided by the kit seems oversize for me. I'll need to remake some eyebolts. For the cannons, they are in brown brass. I thought they can be still blacken, but they didn't work out.
 

 
After some minutes...
 

 
While waiting the blackening process, I continued on drilling holes for eyebolts. Here's the jig that I made to get equal position of the eye bolts. It took me almost whole night on this including adding the beds to the carriages (which I missed to take photos on the process).
 

 
The metals are left overnight in the solution , and the result looks satisfying.
 

 
 
I continued on the eyebolts making. To make them, I've made another jig. Just a hole beside a pin, pictures below show how I did them.

Plug the wire in the hole.
 

 
Coil it to the pin.
 

 
Cut at the end of the coil.
 

 
And then flatten it back.
 
The comparison.
 

 
Thanks for viewing

Nicely done, Ollie!
 
John

the axles really look better in wood
well done!

Hi All, I have finished the windlass except for a few deck 'pins' to hold it on.  When scaled up to real size the very top of the bell is just over 1.6 metres tall.. i think its all about right..
 
 
Tom i didnt get a chance to read that script on decking, it baffled me at first glance, but maybe you could PM it to me for a look,, about to get ready for planking deck this week.. Thanks