Aussie048

Today, I lofted out all the frames , as per the offset table. I then layed out all the frames on the wood ( Bass wood ) It took longer than I remembered the first time . I am pleased with how she is turning out so far. Next will be to cut out the frames and set up the Keel. Here are the results

Finished of the deck as much as I want too and added the waterways.
 
The tree nailing has come out well, is subtle on the deck but stands out on details like the waterway.
 

 

 
Next I trial fitted the pipes in position and the port side pipes are too close to my lumber rack.
I will have to coax them into position with a file and cover old holes as best I can, or I may remove a few deck planks and start again
 
The top gray sections are still far too tall, they will be cut to correct height and covered in copper foil, the bottom portion painted black to join the lower deck pipes.
 

 
 

 
This photo you can see where the pipes finish (so far), I do not think this is correct but it does look functional.
 

 
 
Till next time, I hope to get stared on the knees for this deck.

Get yourself a cheap fly tying vice - used for making flys in flyfishing. There are lots available on EBay. It will grip any block (or any other part for that matter) firmly and allow you both hands free to work. For really small blocks use in combination with a magnifier on a stand.
 

Back again with update;
 
I have been working on the pipe system for the pumps, I did not find a photo of the pipes in the lower hold, so I improvised and made a manifold that joins the pipes in groups of 3 to 1 then these 'drain' into the grate I put in to the mast holding device on both sides of the mast.
 
First photo shows the jig I made to get both sides similar 
 

 
Then this is the finished units, the 2 small pieces of wood with holes in them will go over the pipe and be stuck under the deck to fix the pipes hanging from under the orlop deck in correct position and angle.
 

 
I then started planking the orlop deck, I used thin brown cotton to simulate caulking, I have not seen this method used much here, but I like the rustic look that it gives.
You need to make sure that no cotton is higher than the deck level or it will turn to fuzz if you sand or scrape it before soaking with poly varnish.
 

 
 

 
Here you can see the holes that are for the pipes to pass through the deck, the small peice of wood with the hole will be glued in from below holding the pipes in these holes
 

 
I am part way through tree nailing, and need to finish some of the port side planking (some will be left out to show of the deck beams)
 

 
I have some lime wood shaped for the waterway/gutter/architrave, it will hide the last plank there that does not have caulking.
 
Next is to work out the arrangement of the diagonal knees for this deck and the gun deck. I have some photos of the orlop deck and lots of the gun deck, but the biggest influence is the existing model and fitting in with the Mamoli plans.
 
Hope to have all the knees worked out in the next week.

I've done my share of programming and shareware.  Never made a dime from it until I started work in IT.   I do believe in paying.  There's quite a few folks here that do things for us shipbuilders (such as the authors of various books and plans) and I want them paid and not have their work stolen.
 
 
Around 85 I think.   I hope not as they brought out more but as I recall it held the record for being pirated.
 
 
Anyway, that's the way I am. 

Thanks Nigel.  I'll go have a look then.     I'm just very cautious about such things.  Always have been and probably always will be.   Hell, I even paid for the original Leisure Suit Larry game way back when it was pirated by everybody. 

I've collated all the 77 videos available on YouTube of the Australians' visit to Dr. Mike. The complete list (with the  titles in Russian) is at
 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5wX2_PJGI8sxN_zzXNTWaZ9qi-U_9Zp7
 
I've used Google translate to compile the list in English with links but I find I can't paste the sheet without losing the formatting, and I don't seem to be permitted to attach Word or Excel files. So if anyone wants this list, you can download either the Excel or Word files from DropBox at
 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rx2ygepydpn2kja/AAD5j9X6QiKpQp_MhWU4Fcxla?dl=0
 
 
Tony

Hi Folks!
 
Happy christmas and a hope that you have a happy ending of 2014
Over on Youtube on the chanel "Modelsworldru";
https://www.youtube.com/user/modelsworldru/videos
you can see about 80 (!) videos from what I believe is this Dr Mike. Most of them about 30 mins long!
This might actually BE in part the DVD and MORE.
Prepare for loooong nights I think it is almost an entire build log in video format. And other stuff too.
Really made me wanna order some stuff from Proxxon. Seems to be very nice machines.
 
Cheers!

Here is a few shots of the first one, 

After Taking a break ,I decided to build the Herreshoff Buzzards Bay 14ftr. This boat was designed by L. Francis Herreshoff . What he had done was to lengthen his father's ( Capt Nate ) Famous 12 1/2 . I have the plans and have built one ( it can be seen in the Gallery ) I did get the Keel layed out and next will layout and cut out all the frames. The boat will be built in a 3/4 " = 1' - 0" Scale Here are the results after day 1

Thanks very much John, Aldo and Richard. Good to see you back on the site Aldo .
 
Shroud Cleats
 
There are about two dozen Shroud Cleats needed as far as I can tell, so I've made them as a bit of a break from tying ratlines.
 
Instead of making them one at a time I've used the method learned from others to mass produce them. First I cut 26 pieces (a couple of spares) from 2.8 x 1.32mm stock at 7mm lengths. These were then glued together with PVA and allowed to dry. A bit of disc sanding got them evened up after this pic was taken :
 

 
Next I cut a slot in each long end, and a shallower one for the centre lashing on the table saw :
 

 
Then I clamped the whole section in my vise and did some final shaping with a needle file :
 

 
Finally the section was dropped into a jar of Isopropyl Alcohol to dissolve the PVA. A little bit of rounding up will be done, and I'll stain the cleats a darker brown so they don't "jump" at you :
 

 
  Danny

Thanks very much Aldo,
 
due to the small boat fabrication there has been a Little pause in the rigging sequence, but now ist time to get the Yards and the square sails under process.....
Wish you all the best for your heath for 2015 and happy modeling with your "Triton"
 
Cheers,
 
Nils
 

I felt the need to post some pics to celebrate the completion of the gundeck 'treenailing'.The aft section still needs sanding smooth and I will then apply a coat of thinned poly to protect the deck during future work.A rough count up shows well in excess of 3000 fixings Some sanity has been retained thanks to the music of Vangelis and Hans Zimmer
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Today I finished adding the quarter davits to the ship. This means that nothing else needs to be attached to it other than hanging the three ships boats. I hung the davits by pinning the bottom to a bracket I made out of brass. Once I marked where the bracket would be I carefully scrapped all the paint off down to the bare hull. I roughened up the back of the brackets with course sandpaper, then used thick CA to attach them to the hull.
 
I strung the davit lifts per the AOS. At least my interpretation of the AOS. Overall I am pretty happy with the way they came out.
 
I ordered the legs and inlays for the case. It will take a few weeks to arrive so hopefully, I will be done with the ships boats and ready for them.
 
As promised, once I completed adding the davits to the hull, I brought the ship upstairs to get some photos in a better light. Here they are. I will do this once agin once I build and hang the ships boats. Sorry to post so many. She is a proud ship.
 
 

I spent the day fashioning the new davits. I cut the 4 davits out of a piece of mahogany I had and after shaping them to match each other I started fashioning the attachments to each. These were the stairs up the top, and the two cleats as well as 4 rings for the end.
 
You can see in this first photo, the broken metal davit, davit and cleat blanks, two of the roughly assembled davits. To fashion the stairs I glued short lengths of a small square strip. These extended over each side of the davits. Once the glue dried, I sanded these flush to the side and reduced the height of them to the stair depth, then cut the angles for the treads.
 
For the cleats I glued the strips together then did a rough shaping before gluing them to the blank. Once the glue dried, I did the final shaping of the cleats. 
 
   
 
To mount the davits I created brackets from brass sheets and soldered them together. Prior to soldering them I drilled the holes for the davit mounting pins. Once soldered I cleaned them up with a file and did the final shaping with needle nose pliers.
 
I washed them all in acetone to remove the soldering oils, then stained them in a blackening solution. Once dry I also covered the sides with a light coat of the black paint to even the color.
 
 
Then I inserted a pin through the brackets and davits and epoxied the pin ends on the brackets.
 
 
 
Tomorrow I will mount the brackets to the ship. Instead of the are bar that the Mamoli plans have between each pair of davits, I plan on rigging a line per the AOS. This line mounts to rings forward and aft of the brackets along the same elevation as the brackets. Then it runs to the outboard rings of each davit. Another line mounts to the inboard rings of the davits and ties them together. This should create a firm frame. The upper rings will be rigged to a black set holding the entire assembly at the proper height.
 
The full davit would have sheaves built into the end but given the scale, I decided to attach a double block to a ring underneath each of the davits. These will be rigged to single blocks with hooks to attach the ships boats to.

More pics of the shrouds going on

Thanks Mike, yeah I'm using a cigarette lighter on the fuzzy rope, works okay. I'm continuing on with the shrouds today, turning in the deadeyes.

I'm currently doing the foremast shrouds. The foremost shroud is served all the way to the end and all the others are served one-fourth the way from the centre. I'm using Syren rope for the shrouds, its cable-laid and its nice and fuzz free. I put a round siezing on using some of the thread supplied with the partwork, not that happy with it - very fuzzy finish.

All ready to start fitting the shrouds

Thanks for dropping in again, and your kind comments John, Nils, Allan, Richard, Maury and Frank.
 
 
Richard, I'm not using a "professional" setup. I use a pencil torch from Bernzomatic, which uses butane. The solder paste is a medium melting point from Fusion.
 
 
Maury, I cut the plates to length after soldering and before drilling the holes.
 
Ratlines
 
Time for the "fun" job of tying the lower ratlines. I printed out a spacing template using AutoCAD and taped it behind the shrouds :
 

 

 
The lowest 6 and uppermost 6 ratlines don't tie off to the outer shrouds. There is some minor adjusting to be done which I'll do when they are all completed.
 
  Danny

Setting the shrouds will probably be the most difficult thing I have done on this build. The shrouds that are served are VERY difficult to seize. The line does not slide along the length. Instead it falls & catches between each wrap of the serving. If you pull the seizing too tight, it goes in between the serving wraps. If you don't pull it tight enough, it cannot be placed easily. It moves & twists when you try to wrap it.  Here is my first seized deadeye. This took close to an hour, & it's just a topmast shroud. The main shrouds will be even worse.

The plans call for a double block called a sister block by Lever in the topmast foremost shrouds. Here you can see how Lever shows it & how I made mine. This is kind of cool. I enjoyed this.

Here is another shot of the top.

Here's another gotcha I missed. Be sure to cut the spanker mast above the top. I cut mine even, but there are some blocks that need to hang around this mast. I ended up gluing a short piece in place to make up for it. You can see it in these pictures.

Jus' a quick update to show where I'm at with me sails ...
 
"After 'most three gruelling weeks working with needle and thread," CaptainSteve did moan, "I has completed the sewing stage o' me sail-making."
 
In fact, Our Hero could have finished this stage some two weeks ago ... if only he'd bother to learn how to use the sewing machine gifted him by his mother !!
"Arrr ... it be too bloody hard and complicated fer my brain to figure out", he was heard to mumble.
 
So, here they be ...
 


 
They does look a little rough around the edges at the moment, but that be because CaptainSteve has recently laundered them and they be in desperate need of a good ironin'. 
 
Next up, will be the ties (INSERT ACTUAL NAUTICAL TERM HERE) on the sail bands, and also ringlets at the lower corners (for tying off the rigging) and along the upper edge (to attach to the spars).
 
As for weatherin' and weather-beaten, he didst experiment with soaking a test swatch in coffee for some days, but found this produced a tan (coffee-coloured??) stain effect which was even throughout.
 
"This be not the look that I was tryin' for," CaptainSteve explained.
 
And so, experimentation upon the test swatches doth continue ...
 
 
PS: Merry Christmas to each an' every one o' ye !!