Aussie048

I was able to get a good start on the 25 foot captain's gig today. As I did on the previous whaleboats, using the mold I made yesterday I created the keel assembly and planked the hull. This boat is slightly narrower than the whaleboats and the stern curves into the transom. Once it was planked, I inverted it to glue the ribs into the hull. I used walnut strips to make the ribs. I found the easiest method was to cut the strip a bit longer than the required ribs, Then use the Xacto blade to cut the thin ribs. Then I used the handle of the blade to press the thin rib into the workbench and curve it slightly. This curve allowed me to add thick CA then press the rib into position along the keelson, then press it in place with the bent tweezers without breaking it.
 
Once all the ribs were in place I sprayed the hull inside and out with primer then coated it with white paint. Tomorrow I will start working on layering the decking and assorted fittings into the hull. 
 
While the ribs were drying in the hull, I was able to take a thicker strip of walnut and make single blocks out of them. These will be required to rig the boats to the ship. I also pulled together the bamboo forks and skewers that will be made into the oars. I still need to decide how many oars I want to add to the boats. I know from the 34 foot boat, a full set of oars will obscure the interior of the boats. So I might put fewer oars than the full sets. I will make them and decide how many to use. 
 

 

 

I completed the second whaleboat today. Now I just have to build the 25 foot captains gig and accessories, and the ship will be ready for the display case. I have the mold ready for the gig, tomorrow I will start cutting the keel and strips to plank it. I will be painting it similar to the starboard whaleboat, white. I have photos of the two whaleboats and the gig's mold below. I also hung the green one in the starboard davits to see it on the ship. It will actually be on the port side. Again, I decided to have the rudder in place since my cannon are all run out, I would think the ship's boats would be ready to go. 
 

 
I will have to make a few more blocks before I can rig the boats to the ship, but I will wait until the gig is complete and I have all the accessories made. 
 
I also was refining the joints for the display case construction last night. I was still wrestling with the top mounted piano hinge for the rear access door. THe glass for the rear door weighs in with the frame at over 30 pounds. Putting it on the bottom is not something I want since it puts the door in the way of anything being done in the case. Having it on top though also presents issues. Raising it puts pressure on the entire case to move away from the door as it is being raised. I think that given the weight of the entire case, this would probably not be a problem but it also would cause stress on the doors framing. The frame is thin so it could blend in with the other sides. I planned on gluing the glass into the frame so this would give it strength. However, if the glue ever failed, the door could bend resulting in the thin mortise joints to fail and the frame separate. This would just not be good since the heavy glass would end up either crashing to the floor or into the side of the case. Either way would be a disaster.
 
So I looked at using a drop in door. The bottom and top would be slotted allowing the door frame to be pushed up in the deep top pocket, the bottom would swing in then set down into a shallower pocket in the bottom. This would mean no hinge, and the door would virtually disappear when it is closed. However how to handle the door to perform the shutting and unshutting has to be tackled. The answer is the suction handles used by glass and granite installers. These would adhere to the glass allowing the door to be positioned then removed and stored away once the door is shut. So this is the direction I will go with the case.
 
I also ordered the engraved name plate last night. I will mount it on a stand made from some of the real Connie's spar material. I have used this material in the ship's boats as well. I would have used it in the ship, but the hull was completed by the time I asked for the wood. Oh well, it is still in the model.
 
Next Friday will be the one year anniversary of starting the build where I left off. She has come a long ways and the finish line is within sight.  I have also included two photos from the day I uncrated her. The previous time she had seen light was 21 years before. Just as a reminder I have a photo of how she is now.
 

Works continues on left side
 

 
Bob, your idea about hiden suppirtin molding is briliant and neccessary for strongnes of rail
 

 
And again nice detail
 
 

 

Put the cans in hot water before you use them will make them spray thinner.
Paint splatters when it is too cold.
 
Tamia is a great brand for paint, I use them nearly exclusively. 

Main Topmast Stays
 
There is a preventer stay as well as a main stay for the topmast. These were made in similar fashion to the mizzen topmast stay. There is a Violin block attached to the lower end. I made these from one piece of stock the same way I make the Sister blocks :
 

 

 

 
The stays are served where they go around the mast head and for a few scale feet below the mouse. A Collar is used to hold a lead block to the mast. The preventer stay block is fitted just below the foremast hounds. This would have been considerably easier to fit on the bench before I'd fitted the mast top :
 

 
Here are a few pics of the main topmast stay ready for fitting :
 

 

 

 

 
And some more of both stays fitted. The preventer stay goes on first :
 

 

 
The lead block for the main topmast stay has a collar which could be slipped over the fore mast head. This pic was taken well after I'd fitted the stay - the fore topmast and shrouds had been fitted when I took the pic :
 

 
The sister blocks and their tackle at the foot of the fore mast. Hooks are used to attach the lower blocks to the eyebolts in the deck :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks for the comments John, Shaun, Juergen and Ray .
 
Main Topmast Shrouds
 
Before fitting any of the shrouds the topmast Burton Pendants needed to be made and fitted. These are served all over  I turned the thimbles on the lathe :
 

 
The four sets of shrouds were made up and fitted the same as the mizzen topmast shrouds. Once again the foremost ones are served for their entire length and the others for the uppermost parts :
 

 

 

 
The Backstay is separate from the shrouds and terminates on the aft section of the channel :
 

 
A Sister Block is lashed between the two foremost shrouds. I made these from a single piece of stock in the same way I make "normal" blocks. After first cutting the basic shape on the table saw most of the finish shaping work was done with an Xacto knife :
 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

Here's a "dry run" for the first two yards. They still need a coat of varnish and then rig their sails before installing them permanently. There's a lot left to do, but at least now I know what's ahead of me for rigging the sails.

Right side finished. Still need some triming (?) and correcting when glue dried





Another little sweet detail. Why I didn't make this for aft side? Why all the generals are smart after battle?



There are real chances for ending of attorney strike next week. We'll see ... It will be great victory for rule of law, and a great shame for actual government ... four months whole judicial system was stopped at all, only because Constitution Act for people in lead political party does mean - nothing ... 21th century ... civilized world ... and islands still in middle age ...

Ok, Denis ... "dummy" Nenad made brave step through fog

Rail - first stage, still not glued and thinned, without holes. Looking for proportion between narrow and wider segments









Rail is a bit wider than in C-plans, but whole feeling is ok, and I have got comfort space to fill it with little beasts without crowd

And the best : if you look careful, it can be seen that little "pillars" between white panels I made really long ago, finally got their meaning, look and feeling, as on picture above. That was plan when I was making white panel section, but considering mess I made before and after, on that time it seems to me that it was not appropriate to mention that.




It is so good to feel smelt of some sawdust, and to make something from wood larger than 5mm after long time

For compare purpose, I first made 2 shots of yesterday attempt.





And made a new rail, a bit wider, with thined outer edge to 1mm. Inner edge stays thick 2mm ( you can not see this) to give strenght to construction



It looks more better and visible thicknes of rail is more in scale





And here is detail of critical place



Did I mentioned this is still testing ? Nails are from yesterday, deadeye also. Eyeplates are pure fast improvisation

But, I think I found a way

Big question for tomorrow testing is joining two parts of rail

Obviosly, every step/foot of rails must be subject of investigation for dummy Nenad

Pins around deadeye at edge of rail? Where I saw this?

C-plans



As I can read this ants, this parts are called " 2 eyeplates for Main upper&lower T....n brace ....." letters on dots I can not read from my copy of plans



So, let us look at some photos made by Swen and Lou









A ha, now it is clear what has to be done on this position

2 eyeplates arround deadeye, and two another on the inside edge of rail

Loctite, or whatever is cheap.
 
I tend to use it for making jigs, small parts installation (not often) or holding ropes (again not often)
 
I like to use PVA as much as possible, as it is repairable, will not harden over time and will move with the model as seasons change and wood expands and contracts.
 
CA glues harden over time and will eventually fail if used to hold structural parts together.

This illustration comes from the steam tank that we used for preparing planks for bending at the Severn River Repair Center when I was in the Navy. 
 
 

 
The steam was regulated to about 30psi.  There was a shelf of expanded metal all the way through the steamer to hold the planks up out of the condensate. 
 
The valve on the upper right of the picture was opened after loading the lumber into the opening hatch on the left end and it was dogged down fully.  The steam was allowed to enter the tank with the bleed valve at the left bottom open for a few minutes, then it was closed for a bit. 
 
After about 5 minutes when the steam pressure was up to it's setting, the condensate valve would be cracked enough open to allow the condensate to dribble.  This allowed the steam to keep entering the tank, It was watched to make sure it did not let the steam to blow out.  Once it was stable, we would leave the wood in it for about an hour, and at that time, the steam was shut off.  
 
Then the condensate valve could be opened all the way to let the pressure off.  Once the pressure was down, and the steam had stopped blowing out, the dogs would be cracked and backed off carefully. 
 
One of the sand crabs(civilian shipwrights) showed me a piece of oak that I had helped him put in that was about 1"x2"x8' and I asked him how much bend could it take.  He showed me by tying a loose overhand knot in it with about a foot of the plank sticking out each side of the knot. He then straightened it out, and used it on the boat he was working on.
 
The pressure of the steam drove the moisture into the wood in just a little while.  When the steam was down, ie. not available, they tied some weight to the timber and attached a line to it and dropped it in the basin overnight.  That was not as effective as the steam, and it would not bend to the same degree without damage. 
 
I thought that some of you might find this interesting. 

The following photos show the various aspects of the parts designed by Bogey and printed in 3D (Frosted Extreme Detail - FXD) by Shapeways. 
 
This is my first resin 3D printed kit so I do not have much to compare with.  That said it appears a sound kit; I certainly cannt complain about detail as Bogey has included everything we could find to represent her appearance in 1975/76.  This detail shows up very well even at this scale (1:350).
 
I will provide a more detailed report of all of the bits and pieces as I get to grips with what is / is not provided and where greater detail will be needed.
 
These are the kit bits and pieces provided:
 

There are still a few bits to come  (mainly deck fittings), some PE and the decals.
 
I look forward to making a start as the research has been quite enlightening - trying to remember what all the equipment and their locations and arrangements.
I must also thanks Jim Lad (John) for the many trips to Vampire photographing all the details for me.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Introduction
 
The following overview of HMAS Vampire is adapted from the description provided in Wikipedia.  Further details can be found at: http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-vampire-ii and https://anmm.wordpress.com/tag/hmas-vampire/
 
The Royal Australian Navy initially ordered four Daring class destroyers, which were to be named after the ships of the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" of World War II.  The ships were modified during construction: most changes were made to improve habitability, including the installation of air-conditioning.  Vampire and her sister ships were the first all-welded ships to be constructed in Australia.
 
The Darings had a standard displacement of 2,800 tons, which increased to 3,600 tons at full load.  Vampire was 390 feet (120 m) long, with a beam of 43 feet (13 m), and a draught of 12 feet 9 inches (3.89 m) at mean, and 14 feet 6 inches (4.42 m) at full or deep load.  Her propulsion system consisted of two Foster Wheeler boilers, feeding two English Electric geared turbines, which provided 54,000 horsepower (40,000 kW) to two propeller shafts.  Vampire could sail at over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), and had a range of 3,700 nautical miles (6,900 km; 4,300 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).  Her standard ship's company consisted of 20 officers and 300 sailors.
Vampire was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, New South Wales on 1 July 1952.  The destroyer was launched on 27 October 1956 by the wife of the Governor-General, Sir William Slim.  She was completed on 22 June 1959, and commissioned into the RAN in Sydney a day later.  In June 1970, Vampire was handed over to Williamstown Naval Dockyard for a $US10 million modernisation.  Vampire re-entered active service on 4 March 1972.
On 25 June 1986, Vampire left active service.  She was decommissioned on 13 August 1986, having spent 27 years in service, and travelled 808,026 nautical miles (1,496,464 km).  She was later presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum for preservation as a museum ship.
 
I will be depicting her as she was when I served in her in 1973 through to mid-1976 when she was COMAUSDESRON 2 (Commander Australian Destroyer Squadron 2).  Her livery will reflect the “pretty work” detail she had when were deployed to the SE Asia station and her visit to the US Bicentennial celebrations.  She will therefore be sporting nice white bollards, fairleads and other tiddly bits .
 
At that time, post-refit, her main armament comprised six 4.5-inch (110 mm) Mark V guns mounted in three Mark 6 twin turrets, two forward and one aft.  Her anti-aircraft outfit consisted of six 40 mm Bofors; two single mountings on the forward superstructure, and two twin mountings on the aft superstructure.  Four 0.5-inch (13 mm) Browning machine guns were carried for point defence.  For anti-submarine warfare, a Limbo anti-submarine mortar was carried on the aft deck, offset to port.
Vampire was fitted with a Type 170 attack sonar, a Type 174 search sonar, and a Type 185 submarine detection sonar.  The fire control directors were two WM22 units.  The long range air warning radar was an LW-02, and an 8GR-301A surface search and navigation radar was installed.
cheers
 
Pat

Hi folks,
 
My next project will be the HMAS Vampire based on a 1:350 #D printed model from Bogeys Bits (via Shapeways).
 
I served a very enjoyable 2.5 years in this ship and it will be a joy building this model of her as it will rekindle many good memories.
 

 
This photo is from the official RAN website.
 
This log is being started now but no serious work will begin before mid-2016 while I research, acquire detail parts etc and get to grips with working with this material. 
 
This is my first non-wood build so I will be learning a lot as I go.  In the meantime I will have to devote some serious time to my long-suffering Endeavour (if I don’t, the Admiral will have some stern words ).
 
Introduction
Hull
Main deck
B Deck (forward lower superstructure)
X Deck (after lower superstructure)
Bridge and GDP (Gun Direction Platform)
Main Mast
Funnel
Radar Superstructure
Boats and Davits
Main Armament
Secondary Armament
 
 
Cheers
 
Pat

Today, I started by truing up all the frames , Next I glued in the first 4 frames then built the Mast step , I then attached the 5th frame ( or frame 7' - 6" ) ,   this was one of the things that is easier to do now rather than the way I did it on the first one . Next will be to detail the cockpit frames and install them. All the connections were glued with Titebond 3 ( waterproof glue, as she is being built so that she will be able to be sailed ) Here are the results

I have not done an update for a while, the truth is that I got side tracked on the Herreshoff 12 1/2 . I decided to try out the Keel revisions that I had done. ( after building the proto type ) I will have an update on the Buzzards Bay in the next day or so . Here are a few pics of what I have been working on, with the Buzzards Bay 14 in the foreground in photo #1

I really want them to look cooper d, individual planks and the tops to look like the wood is the right thickness
 
This is the test unit, I will post some pics of the process when I have a few done.
 

 
There's still issues with this one but they should work out.
 

Got the hatch started.
 
Cut a neat hole in the deck,then made a frame to fit it.
 

 
 
It fit so well that I just left it in position after test fit, no glue used.
I then had to scrape a rebate to get the next part to sit flush.
 

 
I then made a frame to fit on top of the opening.
 

 
 

 

 
It still needs a coat of polly but I think the fit is nice, still waiting on ladders.
 

 
I think I have come up with a way to improve the mamoli barrels. It involves little bits of string
 
I will get some photos of the process and make a mini tut on the process I am using.

My old Dremel had a major failure, it is very old model, so I went and bought another    

Thanks for the praise Patrick I looked in on you build log, looking great, much bigger project then mine is.
 
I have installed the knees.
 
I prepared all the knees the same size as the vertical knees provided with kit, but these were too short I discovered after fully painting them.
I had to lengthen them with CA glue and off cuts.
 

 
I glued them in with wood glue.
 

 
Making sure to scrape back the paint to get a good bond.
 

 
I then painted it all white again (still needs few touchups).
 

 

 

 
Next is partially install the pipes for the pumps, and start installing the deck beams for the gun deck.
I also have to fill both decks up with interesting 'Stuff' Table, benches, barrels, boxes, stacks of wood.
I have extra barrels coming from different supplier, so the ship is not filled with identical barrels.
Any suggestions of 'Stuff to lay around on the lower decks would be appreciated.

Well it feels real good to get back to woodworking again making all the yards...but as soon as I reach for string, line or yarn and blocks....I turn into a big pile if incompetent mush! I've got to read and practice how to do rigging before I can progress from here. Well...nobody said it was easy.

Hola Rich:
 
I dont have a lathe either but I used instead a hand drill fix to a support to shape the spars and other pieces:
 

 
Hope it can be useful.
 
Saludos, Karl

First Happy New Year, Today, I cut out all the frames and set up the Keel to accept the frames , Next will be to detail the frames ( seats deck camber etc.) The first thing that I did differently than the first one was to lower the cockpit floor . I am pleased with the way this one is turning out. The frames are just dry fit into the Keel  Here are the results