Aussie048

It has been a while since I did anything more with the Pelican model. But, while finishing my Connie, I couldn't help but check something about the deck furnishings.
I intent to add lights to the inside of the hull and, besides the cut-away view, I want to have light shining up through the officers hatchway and sky lights. Here is how I made them thus far.
 
I redesigned the hatch with doors that are made out of two different woods. The frame of the hatch is 1/32 inch thick walnut.
After cutting the sides to size, I glued them with PVA using a 'squaring jig' and a block of wood (coated with wax) to hold the sides together.

After some sanding, I added a brass railing to the inside, next to the stairs, and one on the back side.

 
 
I was not happy with my first crack at making the sky lights. I took the approach of making the frame first and adding the plastic windows afterwards. It did not work well. So, now I am making the windows first and adding the frame to them.

I started by cutting out stiff paper stiles, painted them black and glued them to a piece of plastic that is frosted on one side. It is one of those CD holders.

After cutting those out, I painted the edges black also. Now it is matter of making the frames out of walnut. Notice there are two sky lights, one with three and one with four panes.

Although I am not yet finished with my current build, I went ahead and decided to buy the plans from Chris Hahn (Harold Hahn’s son). The ship is the Pelican which was captured by the British from a French privateer when it was still the Frederick. Harold Hahn described the history in his book and also showed how he made this rather small ship model.
 
I was intrigued by the fact that it is made with frame and plank construction (something I have not yet done) but yet is mostly planked, whereas most of his other models leave the bottoms open to show the frames and parts of the interior. This model has one side fully planked, but the starboard side has a large section that is cut away to fully show the interior along with a couple of the frames. I like that idea since it gives me a chance to show the actual hull construction as well as the living quarters and storage areas of this ship.
 
Harold made this model to his usual 1/8 to the foot scale. I decided to increase that to 3/16 or 64:1. Hence the first thing I did was to enlarge the three drawings in the package from Chris.
The reason I am starting this log is to show what I have done thus far. I wanted to make sure I have some idea what I am getting into, what kind of tooling and materials I need and then put this aside until I am finished with my Conny.
 
So, what have I done?
At first I thought I would go all out and use boxwood for the frames. I quickly found out that to do that would mean throwing a lot of nice wood in the garbage can. Harold made his frames by laminating several pieces together such that the grain runs mostly in the ‘strong’ direction, but also he used two pieces on top of each other with the seams located in different sections, thus strengthening the whole part. He also basically used one shape for all of his ‘solid’ frames and another for the canted frames and those that are attached to the deadwood and stem.

 
I followed his method and made a couple laminates, glued them up and cut out one frame. The picture above shows that I used strips that were 1.5 inches wide by 3/32 inch thick. It also shows all the waste involved. To make one laminate uses six different shapes. The angles of these shapes varied from 90, 75, 60 and 45 degrees. A lot of setups and pieces!!
 
At this point I re-designed this by using pieces that have only 90 and 45 degree cuts. I also reduced the width from 1.5 to 0.75 inches. This saves a lot of material and is also easier to rip. Even at that, I used poplar wood since most of the frames don’t show any way. Those dark areas are not burn marks. It is part of the wood coloring and has no effect on the strength.

To be sure, this does not work for all the frames. There are a total of 45 frames and I was able to make the new setup work for 20. For the others I had to go to one inch wide strips and make two fixtures as shown below. But I still was able to limit the angles to 90 and 45 degrees. Again I made sure that there are no narrow cross sections with the grain running in the ‘wrong’ direction.

 
Harold had a nice idea for cutting the pieces from the strips. He made a fixture that fitted his table saw. It had cutouts for each piece. I did something similar but instead of a cutout for each segment, I made ‘inserts’ (marked with a black dot) that would allow me to cut the six segments using only two slots. My table saw has a sliding table which is real handy for this kind cross or miter cutting.

 
After the two patterns are edge glued, they are laminated back to back. For this I will be using the fixture with the three toggle clamps shown below. After fine tuning the height of these clamps they can apply a lot of pressure.
 
I will be using PVA for this bonding, and, yes, wax where glue might stick to the fixtures..

Well, it's been a few days since my last post and thank you all for your patience    I have been busy entertaining Gwen's sister and her husband - - - soooooohhh - - - nut much work was done.  But it's all been very nice and great for Gwen to be able to chat with her sister, getting updated on all that's been happening with the family back in Holland.
 
However - - - - I have been able to sneak some time in between all this family stuff though 
First I redid the slats on the dingy hatch doors, starboard side, they are now looking straight.
 
Next I completed both AA guns by adding some things to them and painting them.  So in effect, the conning tower is completed except for the antenna wires, but those will be done as the final last things on the boat.
Next month I'll start making the deck gun, I think.
 
Here is the pick with the completed AA guns ready for action !!
 

Forward and aft AA guns completed and placed in their buns, ready for action.  They can be completely pushed down and the lid closed. They have hand wheels on the sides to swivel the guns up and down for tracking aircraft and shoot them sown.
 
Cheers,
 

Thanks so much Hamilton.
 
I've now completed the framing of the forecastle deck. This is a total departure from the kit construction which calls for only the beams to be installed. I went with beams, carlings, ledges and knees. All of the parts were made from boxwood, except the lodging knees which were cut from a sheet of cherry of the appropriate thickness, which I happened to have on hand (I had no boxwood sheet of that size). 
 
Owing to the small size of the parts and the cuts needed to be made, I decided to build up the deck framing in sections off the model and then install the completed sections and connect them in place on the model. This was a method that I had tried successfully on my Triton cross-section and I am pleased with the results here, as well. I'm hoping that similar results can be obtained on the larger sections of deck framing for the quarter deck and midship areas. Wipe-on Poly was used to finish the framing.
 
Prior to installing the deck framing, I mounted the stove on its previously mounted base.
 
I still haven't decided how much deck planking will be used, although i'm sure that it will not totally cover the framing. Right now , I'm thinking of using very little planking, at least in this area. I can defer that choice until the rest of the gun deck fittings are done and the remaining upper deck framing is in place. The remainder of the gun carriages have arrived from the Lumberyard and I'm now working on the next batch of guns to be installed.
 
The last photo is a current full profile shot , since Nigel has pointed out that I haven't posted one in quite a while.
 
Bob

Little progress on main deck re-planking.
 
Not bad, but it can be better. On the next model
 

PROPS AND STRUTS
 
The prop blades are made up of PE brass, the hubs, collars struts and shaft bosses are cast Britannia.

The instructions call for making the props quite a ways further down the road but I’m doing them now to prevent a potential problem that I will explain in a bit. The prop parts fit together well. Twisting the blades to provide a right and left hand prop is easy enough but giving the blades the proper pitch (curl) is a little more tricky. Fortunately I have a set of four metal forming pliers that I got from Micro-Mark, one of which made this step easy.

After marking the axis’ of the shafts, checking them against the rudder post locations, and marking the locations for the struts slots are cut for each strut.

The shaft bosses (the shaft tube where it penetrates the hull) now have to be fitted so that they mate with the shafts, keep the shafts at the right angle, and most importantly – maintain their axis parallel with the axis of the struts so there are no “bends” in the shafts. By a combination of filing on the boss bases and getting them lower to the hull by removing some wood below them everything finally lines up.

When planning this section I had to stop and think “How can I possibly screw this up?” The worst scenario would be to get ready to add the props right at the end of the whole build and find they didn’t fit – that’s why I made them up now. The final check before everything is glued in place is to dry fit everything to make sure that the screws have adequate clearance longitudinally to the rudders and vertically to the hull.
 
After gluing the bosses and shafts in place strip plastic is cut to size to make up the inner shaft struts. I gave everything a preliminary coat of red so that when I get around to spraying the hull underbody I won’t have to try to reach the back sides of this stuff.


 
The props will be removed and stored in a safe place until they are added just prior to casing the model. They are very fragile and would be easy to damage during the build if left on the model.
 
Next up will be building the sonar dome.

I have a little bit of an update today. I believe these parts are called quarter badges...correct me if I'm wrong.
The first pictures show them underway, and then installed on the ship and painted.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, you guys make planking look easy... I've decided to follow the instructions that come in the kit for the first planking... being my first attempt.
 
I've finished bevelling the frames... Frames 1 and 9 are in place, and the stand's put together, and the gunport patterns are in place.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Then I sanded the bearding lines, and wished I'd done it earlier!!
 

 
Anyway - the first planking is underway - 6 strakes on one side, and 4 on the other... 
 

 
I've had to take a couple of planks off and redo them, but I think it's going okay now... time will tell. Thankfully, it's all going to be under paint or copper by the time the boat's finished. And hopefully the second planking will be a bit neater - I feel like I've learned a lot already: Not least, that it's tough to resist that urge to push the planks sideways.
 
Happy building!
 
Rob

Thanks everyone.. I decided to tackle these cleats... Made up five after work.. About an hours work.. I had some 3x2 walnut and it suited for a uniform stock.. I basically just Cyano glued them to the stock walnut as a template and used a sharp knife and filed and dremelled.. Pretty happy with the result... Added two to the stern davits. Small steps... Ollie

Hi guys,
 
I've been a bit bussy with other thing lately, and wenn I was building it was mainly replicating stuff on starboard that were already done on port, damm symmetry
 
Anyhow, I took some leave from that and made some details. For the interior:
 
a doorway from the cabin to the side.
 

 

 

(for the reference the planking is 5mm wide)
 
 
And some more lanterns for the gun deck:

 
Best,
Michiel

In the meanwhile most cariages have been put together and all wheels are turned:
 

 
here's one with some tests of fittings seen through a gun port standing on the main hatch:
 

 
and the view in front of the gunport:
 

 
Best,
Michiel

Some weeks ago I started working on the guns for the main deck. Here's short impression of the progress and methods.
 

 
 

 

 
As for the wheels, I have been trying for a while to find a satisfactory way to have them both round, centered, and 'ringed'. Here's what I came up with after some experimenting:
 
I guess the images speak for themselves, If not please feel free to ask any question.
 
They are made of pear, 3mm axis, 6mm ring, 8mm total diameter
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Best,
Michiel

Hi guys.
 
At the front I replace the last pieces of plywood frames by the final ones. 50 pieces of bend wallnut

I also made some first deck beams
 
the view from the outside:

 
 
and the figure at its location

 
all treenailed as well.. close to 300

 
have fun,
Michiel

An other bit of carving. This guy sits at the end of the railing of the for castle, looking backward.
 

 
Best Michiel

The underwaterschip is now painted:
 

 
I see now on the picture that some corrections are still in order :mellow:
 
the bow:
 

 
and the first work on the second gundeck:
 

 
Have fun,
Michiel

What was done before part 4:
 
Lighting
 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

What was done before part 2:
 
Konstapel kamer:
 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

from here the log continues, but I'll keep updating this post with new side views:
 
4. march 2013:

 
november 1st 2013:

 

Thanks again everyone. When I get home, all I want to do is go to my little hobby room and do work. It does keep my mind off things.
 
Anyway, I have finished painting the figure of Captain Bligh. This is what he looked like:
 

 
I tried my best to sculpt a figure in his likeness. I think I have only partially succeeded.
 
For those who are interested in painting technique, this is how I did it:
 
1. Sculpt the figure and thoroughly sand it. Then clean it in soapy water and dry.
 
2. Prime the figure using the recommended primer for your brand of paint (I used Mr. Hobby Primer, which works for the Vallejo paints I am using).
 
3. Apply a uniform base coat - in this case: flesh for face and hair, blue for jacket, ivory white for vest and trousers, leather brown for boots.
 
4. Use a wet palette to blend colours, then repaint the figure.
 
This is how a wet palette works.
 

 
Place absorbent material in a container. In this case, I used a disposable plastic lid with disposable kitchen wipe.
 

 
Fill the palette with water until it is slightly below the level of the folded kitchen wipe, then place plain paper on top (I used typing paper).
 

 
Add your colours and blend. Here are the three colours I used to paint the face - basic flesh, red, and beige. You can see that the variation in colour is smooth, allowing me to paint different parts of the face in subtly different shades.
 

 
Using the blended paint, paint your figure. I like Vallejo because the pigments seem to be ground much more finely than other brands, so it is good for detail work.
 
Why use a wet palette instead of a normal (dry) palette? Two reasons: 1) it keeps your paint from drying out. Vallejo acrylics dry VERY FAST. If you use a dry palette, you are racing against time to paint your figure. 2) it helps dilute the paint and makes it flow better.
 
It is now more than 24 hours since I painted my figure, and the paint in the wet palette is still usable even though conditions here in Melbourne are pretty dry and warm at the moment.

Steve, yes it is rather bigger than a lot of the models on the forum.
 
John, sometimes I think I should stay out of the RC conversations as well.
 
Mark, sometimes I think that I should forget about sailing her.... but then I would always wonder.
 
Sherry, thanks, I like the term full fledged, conjures up thoughts of flight and wind.
 
This evening I did a little more work on the tiller, after doing a few sketches this morning to get a better sense of the shape.
 

 
the next step in shaping the yoke on the mill
 

 
and the new Lilac tiller, I am looking forward to the fine work on the lilac it is such a wonderful wood to work with and has the aroma of aromatic cedar. and is very fine grained with purplish streaking.
 

 

 
Michael

Greetings all
Well not a great deal of progress over the last week. I completed the cross yard jack brace, you may be able to see that this brace is different to the other braces from the photos. The brace for the starboard side of the yard begins life fast to the main rear shroud on the port side, it then crosses to and through the brace block on the starboard side of the cross jack yard and returns to and through a block made fast to the main rear shroud and belays at deck level. The brace for the port side of the yard simply does the opposite. I then turned to the driver boom and gaff, but alas I have lost a 5mm sheet containing the jibboom and driver gaff jaws. So I have now returned to the front end of the ship and started on the clue lines sheets and tacks ( I have never heard of this before !!! ) anyway the instructions tell me to join three single blocks together to create an assembly which I think is called a garnet strop assembly. Anyway I have added a photo of it and you can decide for your selfs . On the photos you can see the fore yard sheet which begins life fast to an eyelet in the hull. It then travel up through a block and returns along the hull and though the hull side and belays to a large cleat on the upper gun deck. You can clearly see this on the photo of the gun deck, the cleat with the thread on top of it ready to belay. Thanks for putting up with this and for viewing, plus all your comments. Here are some photos that hopefully might help you see what going on, you never know. Cheers DAVID

Greetings all
A little bit more progress over the last few days. I have completed the main mast braces with only a bit of tidying up to do and a few threads to belay. The next task is the mizzen mast which only involves the brace for cross jack yard, as the topmast and the topgallant braces are fitted with the driver gaff. So once the cross yard jack is completed I need to make the driver boom and the driver gaff, and that will take me a few days. So here's a few photos and thanks for your comments and for viewing DAVID

Hello every one
Well it's now becoming very slow and tedious progress. I have fitted only the fore yard and the fore topmast yard braces over the last few days, and cannot fit the top gallant brace as the break from earlier on top of the mast has become a bit dubious , so I will strengthening the break area later and move on to the mainmast braces now. It gets a bit frustrating at times when you belay a thread and you look back later to see for some reason there's slack that needs taken up. So I move on to fit the braces on the main mast , and the way I am working will prob take a week . Here's a few photos for you. Thanks a lot for viewing and all your comments. DAVID

Greetings all
Well more progress on the bowsprit. Things went well tonight for a change, and I have completed the braces. So the next task is the braces on the fore mast yards. After reading through the last few pages of the rigging manual it appears there is very little to do on the bowsprit now, only the travelling guy, the guy pendant and the jibboom guy. I am not to sure how I should proceed with these braces as the lifts and sheets are not belayed. So do I belay them first, and then belay the braces or what ? I shall just play it by ear and see how it goes. I surmise there will be a lot tweaking to do later. Anyway we will see. Once again thanks for viewing and your comments. Here are a few photos of the completed spritsail yard and spritsail topsail yard braces. Here we go. DAVID

Thanks for the nice words, everyone.  Popeye and Marc;  I did indeed purchase these eyelets in various sizes just for my portholes on the deckhouses.  They only became my mooring pipes because I could not find a solution for making the ovals...
 
A little progress with the pinrails;  they are made in 5 sections each side, and I'll be progressing from aft forward.  Filling the seams between each section is going to be an interesting challenge, as these rails are stained natural wood.  (BTW, I'm not too happy with my stain choice (red mahogany, too dark) but the poop deckhouse, hatches, heads, and companionway are finished this way, and I'm not about to remake them!!)  I can live with this....
 
Photos show the first section in place, with test fit of belaying pins in last photo.  When all pinrails are installed, I will then install the white paneling above.  I was originally going to pin the rails in place from the outside for additional strength, but these first sections seem pretty solid, due in part to the "stanchion rail" immediately underneath.  We'll see....