Aussie048

ive found some pictures and they seem to say its more an acute angle going into the keel rather than smooth transition or the rough angle the plans indicate. also does anyone have a good source for copper plates that resemble these with the flush rivets rather than the exaggerated ones i have? needs to ship to Aus.

Thanks Bugra also Thanks Daniel will look at getting a set of those plans, And Nenad, i see what you mean with with the cut of the stern, i spent a while investigating what way to do it but ended up using the keel upright angle and cut the block flush to the existing angle, there will probably be some adjustments to molds and fittings in the future but i think it should be alright.
 
anyway back to planking! its been pretty smooth sailing so far, a couple weak spots in a couple strips but nothing too major.


to plank with minimal gaps im chamfering the planks with my dremmel tool


also does anyone have a good shot of the underside of the actual ship? the pictures in the book seems to show a stepped transition where as im thinking it would be molded smooth into the false keel, any suggestions?
heres what i mean


 
 

quite a bit bigger than my previous build
 

 

Gday all, this will be my second build but first log, wasn't really sure on posting one for the first through my baby steps, seing all the amazing builds her got me a bit intimidated...
I have come to realize from seeing how helpful the input can be from other members, to improve my techniques and general knowledge of the ships, it will be very beneficial for me to post one for this build.
 
i received this kit as a (very hinted towards) Christmas present and have been upgrading my workspace ever since to accommodate building it



after gluing all the frames into the keel i noticed a kick in the stern, i tried to steam it out best as posible and rasp more off the effected side


starting to glue and nail on the hull planking is an experience seing as this is my first single layer ship, i will be coppering the waterline and painting above so it wont be too bad



i purchased copper rudder hinges and 100 copper plates to test from modelshipyard, but am a bit unsure to the exaggerated rivet heads on the plates and am up to sugestions or a correction, also would anyone have what would be closest to correct dimensions for the plates, im unsure that i got the right ones :S



 

Thanks for all the likes
 
Yes I'm definitely hooked.
 
Not wanting to clutter up Bob's Lettie build log, and needing to deal with the same basic issues of holes through the bulwark and because Bob was waiting for me to try this, I did here are my results for the holes in the cutter at least one side of the hole.
1 cut the holes then sand the angle and tubes the tubes have had the first annealing
 

 
2 the first forming using a spoon shaped modeling tool for working with sculpy (not the best)
 

 
3 after the second annealing and using some shaped steel rods, the point was trimmed with some flush cut side cutters.
 

 
4 The wood soft poplar snapped out but the wood block was still usable for forming here the end of the seel rod is almost hemispherical
 

 
5 next a slightly narrower tip followed by a third annealing
 

 
6 an even sharper tip used on the back side to flare out the tube a little more the block under it is hard Maple
 

 
7 a little polish with some steel wool
 

 
8a check with the eye laying on the cap rail above the hole that it will serve
 

 

 
So I will use this method for the rest of the holes both inside and out
 
Michael
 
 

Sherry, thanks for those kind words.
 
While waiting for glue to dry on the cockpit.
 

 
I worked on the Boxwood blocks for the main sheet. the block parts were stuck to the block of poplar with some double sided carpet tape.
 

 
After drilling the 1/32 holes I dropped in some brass 1/32 rod to give the blocks a bit of assurance against the shear forces of the 5/32 end mill made from a snapped off (on purpose) drill bit.
 

 
The next task was one that I did have a little concern over because I did not use a centre drill to ensure that the start did not wander. The Boxwood has such a fine grain that I felt confident that the drilling would be Ok. I used 4 rods of 1/32 brass to assemble the stack of partsI was happy that they slid down nicely.
 

 
Because the wood is quite hard and fine I did not want to sand the excess off the assembly and opted to use the trusty jewelers saw , plus the off cuts can be used later on something else. the first task was to trace the shape from the elliptical pieces to the spacers with a sharp pencil.
 

 

 

 

 
Next I will drill the centre hole through the rest of the parts at the same time as the brass parts.
 

 
To be continued.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

I start to prepare the tackling.
It;s my first time but it seems a painfull story, I'm not sure.... should I assemble it on the deck or not ?....
But above all, the real head-ache is doing the "frapping"...
I think that I need at least a length of 15 cm for the running rigging and a knot as a final starter to turn the edge of the line 4-5 times around the tackling...

Thank you all .
 
 
Not really, the eyebolts on the starboard side of the main mast are the same. I had to draw the line as to how many planks I wanted to lay.
 
 
It's "Minwax" Satin finish, and I don't buff between coats - no need to.
 
  Danny

Wheels/Trucks
 
I haven’t been satisfied with the gun carriages I made, so I set about thinking how to do them more accurately.
 
First off was the problem of how to make wheels. Making the rods that were to become the wheels was fairly straightforward. I used a tip from Hubert Sicard’s site ‘Wooden Ship Modeling for Dummies’ at http://www.shipmodeling.ca/, where he suggested using an adjustable spanner with wet&dry paper glued to its faces. That gives a rod of the diameter you want. You can see how this is done in the picture below. I used a stick of pear wood cut from a pen blank (you can buy these cheaply at eBay).
 

 
But how to drill the holes for the axles?
 
For a long time I couldn’t think how to drill holes in the centre of the wheels to take the axles.
 
However, once I had the wood lathe in place, I thought it would be simple to shape a rod and then drill a hole in the end using a Jacob’s chuck. At first my attempts at centring the hole were not good – until I found that I could put some shims into the tailstock end. You can see the details in my posting at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2765-proxxon-mini-lathe-db-250-opinionsassessmentsrecommendations/?p=154323.
 
With that sorted, I found I could drill the holes quite centrally, but found three further problems:
 
1. Because of the length of the drill bit, I could only drill a hole to its depth, which was the equivalent of about 5 or 6 wheels. That meant I had to drill the hole each time again after cutting off 5-6 wheels.
 
2. I also found that despite a good initial centre, the drill had a slight tendency to go off centre the deeper it went. It was slightly reassuring to read in Frolich’s book ‘The Art of Ship Modelling’ that even he had the same problem with his Unimat lathe when making his wheels.
 
3. My skill with the adjustable spanner probably not being perfect, I could not make perfectly circular rods. I found that there could be up to 0.2mm discrepancy in the diameters.
 
Whilst thinking about these problems, I made a simple jig for my saw to cut the wheels to 1mm thickness, as you can see in the following photos. The spacer block is there to act as a stop.
 

 

 

 
Once the wheels are cut from the rod, they go back on to the drill bit to be filed of any burr.
 
 

 
You might think I was satisfied with this result, but because of the three problems listed earlier, I thought I’d have a bash at other ways of achieving perfectly circular trucks with perfectly centred holes for the axles.
 
My solution was to use concentric brass tubing.
 
Starting with the central hole, it was important to have exactly the right diameter. So I took a 2mm diameter rod and, using the wood lathe again, widened its 1mm internal diameter to 1.2mm for the axles. This is to allow for the same drill bit to be pushed into the central tube once the jig has been made.
 

 
I then added the higher diameter tubes. One thing I noticed was that the tubes had a wall thickness of 0.45mm, thus leaving a 0.1mm gap to the next tube. I reckoned that if I were to put a layer of PVA glue round the tubes that would spread evenly and fill the gap. It seemed to work.
 

 
Finally the inner tubes were filed smooth at the ends, ready for the outer tube to be slid over to hold the wheel.
 

 

 
Clearly this method will only really work for wheel diameters that increase in 0.5mm amounts since the tubing can only provide 0.5mm steps. I had chosen to have wheels at 4 and 4.5mm diameters, so that worked for me.
 
In reality, there was not much difference between the two methods (drilling with the lathe versus drilling through a jig made of concentric brass tubes). The brass tube method allowed for consistency and speed, although its limitation is that of the 0.5mm steps. It also means I am left with a jig that will work for future wheels of the same size. The lathe method works fine too, but takes longer and is more fiddly.
 
The gun carriages
 
Having sorted out the wheels/trucks, the next stage was the carriages. I decided I’d use my modified Proxxon stand, [which you can see at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4539-how-to-modify-proxxon-mb-140-drill-stand-to-act-as-mill/?p=130660, together with the x-y table] to mill a block from which the carriage sides would be cut. This method is the one used by Frolich, along with countless other modellers on this forum and elsewhere.
 
The second iteration of the carriages had been based on CAD drawings I had made of the carriages scaled down to 3 pounder carriages. This proved awkward, because the barrels provided by the kit are in effect 3.5 pounders, but I thought that few would notice their over-size if I placed them in 3 pounder carriages.
 
This time round, for the third iteration, I thought that in order to make everything match up, and because I couldn’t imagine making barrels myself, then the carriages ought to be 3.5 pounder carriages as well.
 
So I rescaled the drawings to make 3.5 pounders. As before, I cut pear wood to size with my table saw and used CAD drawings glued to the wood sheets to cut out the beds, quoins, axles and bolsters. The handles for the quoins were made from rods of pear that were passed through a drawplate.
 

 
The next stage was to prepare a jig on which to assemble the carriages. I had seen several jigs made of wood, but I was lazy and decided to use double-sided sticky tape. It’s transparent, so can be laid over a print out of the CAD drawing. With this, it was easy to hold the two axles in place in order to put the sides on to them.
 

 

 
It should be noted that the transverse bolt was used to link the two sides before placing on the jig. This helped in accurate placement.
 
You’ll also note that I have drilled holes for all the bolts that will be going into the carriages. Before painting, they will have brass wire placed in them to make sure I can find them again after painting!
 

 

 

 
The gun barrels
 
Having done all this, I once again looked at complete guns with carriages and thought that the barrels looked distinctly ropey. But I couldn’t make the barrels myself.
 
Or could I?
 
I decided to give it a bash with the Proxxon wood lathe. I first tried with some of the same pear wood I had used for the carriages. This didn’t turn out too well as the wood just looked too grainy (probably my ineptitude, and I hadn’t thought of using filler), but it gave me the courage to try again.
 
I thought I’d investigate how to make them in brass, and so posted a question on the forum (you can see the discussion at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5975-using-chisels-for-turning-brass/). It turned out that I didn’t really have the right tools to do this, so I thought I’d have a go with boxwood.
 
I still have plenty of the wood from the boxwood ruler I had bought on eBay to make the gratings, and lo and behold the thickness was 4.5mm – just the right size to make 3.9mm barrels with.
 
The barrel rings were left over-sized until the last. This allowed me to use them as markers for the different barrel diameters as they decreased. At the same time I made constant reference to the CAD drawing held by forceps (shown in the picture).
 

 

 

 
This was all quite interesting as, until I had actually made the new barrel at the proper size for a 3pdr, I had thought that the difference in size with that of the kit would not be really noticeable. In fact the difference is size is very noticeable. I can now see that should I make all the cannon at this size, they would fit the gunports perfectly.
 
The barrel hasn’t turned out as beautifully as those made by other modellers, but I now have the courage to improve the skill.
 
Although I had thought making barrels would be incredibly difficult, in fact it just required patience and care, shaving very small amounts off at a time with the turning chisels. The Proxxon turning chisels proved to be wonderful, and I now understand why boxwood is so admired for this kind of thing – it allows for very precise cutting indeed.
 
The big decision now is whether to make a THIRD set of carriages to fit the new barrel, and therefore to make a complete set of barrels.
 
I am still thinking on that one! I have just ordered some ebony at the suggestion made by Nigel in the discussion referred to above about cutting brass and will try turning a cannon in that wood before I make any final decision.
 
Oh, decisions, decisions! But all this experimenting with techniques is definitely going to put me in good stead for future builds. Spending time on getting techniques right at this stage is, in my view, a very good investment for the future.
 
Tony

Then, I got a crewmember - or this is the first view of a komodo dragon?
 

Vivian, 
here are a few more photos of the junk as requested. It's about 20% larger than the AL red dragon kit.
The last two are of another model of a similar junk set in a storm. It was an inch and a half long. The rigging was stretched contact adhesive, the sails were paper and the sea was clay.  The porcelain fragments next to the sea are Ming dynasty, recovered from the wreck of a junk that sank in the China Sea.
 
Hope the pictures are of use, any questions please feel free to ask..
 
Kind regards,
 
Dan.

Hi all,
 
I've managed to get a little bit done - the following would normally have taken me about half a day, instead I've spent nearly three days on these pieces. At least I can still do SOMETHING .
 
Fore Jeer Bitts
 
The Fore Jeer Bitts on Vulture are similar to the Fore Topsail Sheet Bitts, except they don't continue down to the upper deck. There is no room for Standards on them either as the hatch behind them is wider than most other Swan Class ships :
 

 
I've also made and fitted 22 Eyebolts - 10 around the Foremast, 8 in the bulwarks adjacent to the mast, and 4 in the Breast Beam :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

Hamilton - Cheers mate.  I don't have Lees, Lever indicates that when used, the cross catharpins would be installed in addition to the catharpins going athwartship, basically forming an 'X' so that the starboard foremost shroud is catharpined to the aftmost larboard shroud and vice versa.  If I ever build HMS Surprise, she will have to have cross-catharpins  .  I'm growing to love the Lever's Young Sea Officers sheet anchor and am following the order outlined there so far.  
 
On your second question, I'm probably going to go with the wire and use epoxy again to secure them, but as usual will reserve final judgement until necessary.
 
Quick additional update on progress...main mast catharpins are all on.  Pederson has a nice picture showing that these would have been lashed to the futtock stave with thinner line.  Its not really practical at this scale, so I sort of got thesame result by threading the eye with two pieces of thread to try and keep the catharpin in line with the shroud.  Pretty happy with the way things turned out (and not a pin or rubber band in sight).
 

Ok Folks.. Small Photo Update (just to show that I haven't forgotten you)
 
Transom Planked, Lower Transom Planked and a full Strake of planking done each side !
 
I wanted to get the lower Transom planked before continuing with the Strakes, as I wanted the strakes to overlap the Transom planks.. if you follow!
The newest strake on both sides is a wider plank as there was a bit of shaping to be done on it towards the bow and at the meeting of the transom.. it is also a Full Plank.. ie not  my scale plank lengths (all this area will be painted anyhoo) But in keeping with the suggestion of Kester (to continue with the Scale Planks all the way to the keel) I shall put a subtle 'notch' in the appropriate place to simulate Butt's.  Don't know about ye Guys 'n Gals but I found that the individual Scale Planking (8.5 cm lengths at this scale) was taking an absolute age!! I was spending as much time laying a single length as I was laying a Full length.. That Might Just Be Me Though  
 
By The Way, there is enough Pegs, Pins & Clamps in these shots to keep everyone's attention, with the addition of some discrete Rubber Band action too for the real aficionado's (You Know Who Ye All Are.. For Shame)
 
All The Best Folks
 
Eamonn
 
 
 
 

Small Photo Update:
 
Transom is planked ! ... that's kinda it really..    Sounded more exciting in my head.. :mellow:  :mellow:
 
Bye For Now
 
Eamonn

All Righty Then I'm Back..  That odd 'nameless' piece is the last photo! Submit your answers written on the back of a £5 note ($10 will be ok), winner gets a Thimble full of Amazon Minwax... High Stakes Indeed :mellow:  :mellow:
 
All The Best Folks
 
Eamonn
 
Anyhoo..
 
 

Well hello....it's been another while - I see now that my last update with photos was before Christmas!! Shameful....but there are some photos now. The last shots were of the mizzen crossjack yard. Since then, I've constructed, outfitted and rigged the mizzen topsail yard, the main course and topsail yards and made & outfitted the main topgallant yard - to be rigged soon (Thursday with any luck). The list of things still to be completed is shrinking. And as I've been kept away mostly from building, I've made due with plotting out my next two builds - finishing rigging tables for the Fair Rosamund (OcCre Dos Amigos) and the Yacht America (Mamoli). Both will be made more or less out of the box, I think (after all the modifications and corrections on the Blandford, I'm looking for something more or less straightforward....I may replace some parts on both but no major modifications on these...
 
Anyway, here are the photos documenting the progress to date on Blandford - you'll notice in the first couple perhaps that the mizzen topsail yard is a little jaunty - I fixed this as I hope is visible in the final shots. Hope you're all keeping well and having fun!
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks all for the compliments - and thanks Collingwood and Harlequin for the holiday wishes - back to you and all!!
 
Harlequin - it's good to hear from you! I hope to see some progress on the Bellona soon! Mine is still a very long way down the road - initially there was only one model between the Blandford and the Bellona, now there are four!! Anyway, I need to hone my skills a bit more before diving in - and I'll no doubt be stealing a lot of your ideas once I come to it!
 
In the meantime, some progress has been achieved on Blandford - essentially I've constructed and rigged the crossjack yard. It was quite tricky to rig - particularly the sling, which at such a small scale and in such a tight corner was difficult to achieve. But in any case, it is now on and looks not bad...you be the judge!
 
Happy holidays to all, once again!
hamilton
 

 

Bitts are re-done.  Sheaves line up on same axis.  This time I drilled and cut the sheaves in the bitt after I installed the cheeks.  Cheeks are 3"+ above the top of the deck beam notch to allow for the planking.
Maury

The sheaves were cut from a thinned-down piece of 1/4" dowel.   Glued in the mortise and then set on the bitts at a point above the allowance for the 3" deck planks.  The sheaves in the cheeks do not line up with the ones in the bitts.  I'm guessing that is an error in measuring along the way.
Maury

Thanks for all the likes.
"It really is amazing what we can find lurking in the wood isn't it?"
 
Steve yes it happens when one is open to options.
 
Bob Had I been more conservative I would have cut a shorter piece of the end of the small log and would have also missed it.
 
Daniel, thanks.
 
Today was a good day for clamping.
 
The inside cover was glued first and now the task of adding the layers one piece at a time.
 

 
After the rest are glued up then I will shape the profile
 

 
 
Michael

Thank you all for the "likes"
 
Sailor, thanks for the compliment.
 
Denis, Thanks, I really do enjoy working with Metal, although it does have its quirks.
 
today I unclamped the strips for the cockpit cap and began to think about the next steps which led me to cut a wider strip of a slightly thinner piece measuring .259 high x .040 inches thick which will be glued to the inside first to act as a lip for the top strips which are .190 x .050 inches. I did try using a curling iron but it was a bit too big in diameter, the Admiral was at work (shhh) I ended up plugging in the soldering station dialing back the temperature to about the half way point on the dial. slowly moved it back and forth whilst applying pressure to the strip to freehand the curves. It was then clamped into the cockpit to dry.
 

 
While it was drying I cut a short 2 1/2 inch section off the 3 inch diameter log of English Boxwood  Buxus sempervirens to make some larger blocks for the boom and the main sheet the top one will be a triple and the lower a double both 8 inches in scale. after squaring it up I cut some pieces which are 3/4 x 1/8 inches by 2 1/2 inches long laying out the ovals for the blocks, it occurred to me that I would end up with a larger more useful offcut if I drew the ovals at each end of the wood.
 

 
As I was fretting the ovals out it dawned on me that there were two cleats just hidden there waiting to be found, I think seeing Doris' wood cleats must have been lurking there in my subconscious.
 

 
I was happy to make this discovery and now I will have a few cleats to shape up as well.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Sailor I checked out the net , what a great bunch of images for shackles.
 
Used to sail, Thanks.
 
Nils thanks, I need quite a few it seems.
 
Today I did some work on the cockpit cap, I soaked some spruce for an hour or so while I made a former to bend the wood.
 
I will be using 5 strips to create the rough form once they are prepared I will glue them together.
 
I used a sheet of 6 mm aircraft ply to make the basic shape and bolted it to a sheet of 6mm plex
 

 
The sharp corners were not easy and I think that I will need to bend up a few more strips I did these first ones cold but I will use some hot pieces for the next strips I clamped them using some drop in pegs and wedges.
 

 

 
Michael
 
 
 

Finally it’s painted.  Filler, sand, filler, sand and sand and sand, then paint, mask and more paint . . . finally.  Well here it is.    
 
Oh, yes.  I still need to add that gold stripe.
 
Bob
 

 

 

 

Laying the planking of the bridge .......
Mauro