Aussie048

Almost losed my mind yesturday thinking what's wrong with my transom and how could the plans show some things so different and even impossible, but finally got this solved.

The answer might be here. The plans show how top of the counter block goes downward from the middle to the sides, and that causes the backside going curved as you can see there:



But is that counter block ment to go like that after all? Maybe it should be just straight? Because with curved backside transom frame 3 goes way too over and that was what disrupted me, because i tryed to get that frame to fit like the plans show. But cutting frame 3 shorter makes the extension of it (what goes to main rail) going so strangely, that it couldn't be the right way.

Also, with where the extension needs to be, it was impossible to get the other side of the frame to right position so the edge would be in the same level with bulkhead R edge, right there (the arrow):



So after that all, I've changed the angle and finished glueing all the 6 transom frames! I was very happy to get them done.

Needed to use some wood strips to help me get the places right. It felt like i'm building an aeroplane




Markku

..... continued.
 
I've finally come to making the actual rigging .
 
Collars
 
First step was to make the Collars for the hearts. These are Served for their entire length, so my new Domanov Serving Machine got it's first run :
 

 

 
For the serving line I used Quilting Thread, which is made from cotton with a polyester coating. It has no fuzzies at all, and is quite easy to work with. It also has no "rope definition", but at this scale that's not noticeable.
 
I used my vise to hold the eye and turned the excess serving line around the main line to make a very neat fake splice :
 

 
A couple of hearts with their strops. The larger is for the Forestay and has a double strop (one still to fit). The smaller is for one of the Bobstays :
 

 
A bobstay collar lashed to the bowsprit :
 

 
  Danny

Thanks Brian and Pat.
 
Hearts
 
The standing rigging for the bowsprit requires a number of Hearts, both open and closed. I made these from English Box in the following manner. First cut the groove for the strop using the table saw on both sides. Next I filed the groove on the end with a very thin needle file. I put the stock in my vise and tapered both sides, and used a 0.8mm "chisel" to recut the groove. Next step was to drill the centre hole using the mill - I drilled a number of holes and trimmed the excess with an Xacto blade. Finally I cut the heart from the stock on the table saw :
 

 

 

 

 
Continued next post ......

After almost 8 hours solid today I have achieved a good amount of tiles Rather Happy with the look so far.
 
Goes anyone know how to shine them?

To all of you who made such nice comments about my model i truly thank you.
 
The Red Dragon is my first model in a sense because i bought one Red Dragon from Antics it was the only wooden kit they sold,
so when home and atacked the kit i got as far as completing just the hull,i had just joined MSW SO When i compared my workmanship
to some of models in the gallery i realised my model was a bit of a mess so i put it in the trash bin the refuse collecter picked it up and 
put it in his cab.I Went back to Antics to see if they had anything i could buy and there on the shelf was another Red Dragon kit so now
i had bought severel  books the result is as you can now see.
                    Regards to all Janet B

I've drawn a circle at the top of each mast to be tapered the diameter I want the tip to be. The picture is blurry, but you get the idea. Then I plane and sand the cylinder until,the taper is correct.

A little further progress. I've completed the fore top (with one exception).I assembled the trestletrees and crosstrees and the mast block and glued them in place under the top. I then drilled all the holes for the deadeyes, the crowsfeet, the spritsail brace blocks, some eyebolts and to mount the railing. I also cut the hole for the lower yard slings and made and added the sling bolster. The assembly was painted black. The railing was made from a boxwood rail and brass stanchions, painted black and glued into the previously drilled holes. The eyebolts were glued in place. Lastly, I stropped the deadeyes and mounted them. The only item remaining was the spritsail brace blocks, which I had forgotten to order from Chuck, and am now awaiting.
 
I'm now working on the lower fore mast, and will complete that before moving back to the main top and lower main mast.
 
Bob

My mast grow taller. I've dry fitted them to this point. I can't seem to master how to fabricate the metal straps that hold the masts together. No matter how I bend the pieces they wind up not laying snug to the mast? Any ideas?

I was able to get more of the Bowsprit standing lines installed today. None of the lines are cinched and glued yet. I will wait until it has a chance to stretch out and have more of the rigging completed. Once I have installed as much standing rigging as I can without having the masts installed, I will move on to the Mizzen Mast and install it on the ship. Currently all the masts have their shrouds served and attached to the masts. Photos of the current build are below.
 
 

Two patient hours full of fight with thin and little devils, and it is done, step by step.

Ring is made of wood, little "thing" above from cooper foil. All painted in my version of bronze color

With Einhell tool I made half-rings from 1mm thin veneer


Glued with CA. It is still too thick and too wide



After glue gets dry, thinning process starts





When visualy get look as on CS ( ok, near as ) black painting all.



Cooper thing made me pretty nervous, expressing his own will, but at the end I win



And then I made my "bronze" color mixing black gold and orange acrylic



And final look

Staus update.....
 
 
set up a jibsail stay together with jib spriboom traveler with integrated roller for jib downhaul, and sheave roller in the spritboom tip for inhaul / outhaul of the jibsail
 
drawn up a preliminary staysail ans spanker Arrangement into the Amati plan by means of editing the JPG pic with IFRAN view paint tool editor
 
Made the raw gaff- and Driver boom a nd the bead lock chain for the mast attachment
 
Nils

I finished the transom planking but failed to take a picture of it before removing the hull from the building board and turning it upside down for the rest of the planking. Here it is upside down, though:
 

 
I could not fit the upside down hull into the keel clamper because the clamps are in line with the keel and the gun deck is in the way. Oh well, the last time I planked a hull I used this method, which is to place the hull on a couple of socks filled with rice. I also placed some foam under the stem and stern to protect those areas. It is easy to turn the hull around this way so I can plank both sides simultaneously.
 
I used two battens per side to define the planking belts. I first started to use the measurements of the planking belts on the plans, but I did not like the way those battens were running. I am going to use just three bands between the keel and the wales instead of the four shown on the plans.
 
I cut the garboard planks in two pieces for each side. Since most of the remaining planking will be covered by copper plates, I am not going to use short pieces, but will use longer pieces that are easier to work with. I will still keep track of the butt ends of the planks just so I don't get them too close to each other. For instance, the garboard strake joints on each side of the keel are staggered. I found these planks very easy to make for this model, where in the past I have had problems with these. From the plans, it looks like these end at bulkhead B, so I used a piece of Scotch tape on the rabbet from bulkhead C to B and traced the outside edge of the rabbet. I then transferred the tape to a 1/4" by 1/8" plank and cut the curve out through the tape. The rest of the plank was straight, which is what made this easy. For the stern pieces, I just traced the curve of the rabbet to another piece of 1/4" by 1/8" plank and cut and sanded it to shape. After soaking these four pieces, I clamped them in place to dry, making sure the edge of the planks fit into the rabbet along the keel. Here is what that looks like:
 

 
The curve at bulkhead B:
 

 
The curve at the stern:
 

 
Tonight I will trim and glue these in place. In the mean time, I measured the gap from the bottom of the wales to the first batten to determine the number of planks to run in Band A and the widths of these at each bulkhead. I am definitely going to need to drop a bunch of planks at the stem and a few at the stern in this band. That should be fun.

By the way, I bought a Constructo  model because I wanted to see the Consttution all in natural woods with no paint. I personlly wanted to be able to look at each and every plank I labored so hard to install.

I've just plunged in to building the masts for my Connie. Constructo lacks details of where things begin or end...so all I did was attach one piece that was easy to locate and then I worked it to this point. None of what you see in the photo has been glued together...the stuff is just stacked for measurement purposes. Only the chafing cheeks and fighting top support have been glued. That support was the only piece I could correctly locate. The rest cascaded from its location.

Have you thought of fishing weights, they come in all sizes.
 
Can be halved if you do not want to make wells for them, they also come in mentalic  colour, just like cannon balls.



Something like this.
Just a thought.

Frank

I neglected in my last update to explain how I am going to proceed from here. The kit was designed as a hull only Admiralty type model. As a result, all of the masting and rigging has to be done from scratch. My two primary references for this work will be AOTS Essex and Lees. I am confident that a representative job can be done this way. All of the blocks and rigging line will be from Syren (Chuck). The deadeyes are from Model Expo (I have a lot of them on hand). Some specialty items, such as the already done hearts, will be done from scratch.
 
The order of the work should be roughly as follows: the bowsprit (done); the lower masts and tops; the lower deadeyes and chains; complete the hull by doing the hammock netting; the lower standing rigging; the topmasts and jib boom and their standing rigging; the topgallant and royal masts and the flying jibboom and their standing rigging; the yards and the running rigging; the boats, anchors, lantern and any remaining undone items.
 
I've begun the lower mast work by starting on the tops. So far, I've made up the decking from holly strip and added the rims and other reinforcing pieces from holly and boxwood. i've also made up from boxwood and dry fitted the trestletrees and crosstrees. A lot of holes need to drilled and other parts such as railings need to be added. These assemblies will be painted black. Before finishing the tops, I will at least partially make the lower masts.
 
Bob

..... continued.
 
To drill the holes at an angle in the Saddle I set it up in my mill vise :
 

 
The Saddle and Gammoning Cleats fitted :
 

 
The inboard end gets a "iron" band made from thin card :
 

 
The outboard end of the Jibboom has a shoulder cut into it and a tiny sheave :
 

 
Some views of the bowsprit assembled. As with the other masts nothing has been glued yet (apart from the fittings) :
 

 

 

 

 
  Danny

And thank you Piet .
 
Continuing on with the Bowsprit. The Cap has been made - this one is considerably more difficult to make than the mast caps, due to the angle of each cut. The groove in one side is the seat for the Jackstaff :
 

 

 
I cut down and soldered one of my spare trunnion caps for the jackstaff capsquare :
 

 
Also made were the Bees and Bee Blocks, the Spritsail Yard Sling Cleat complete with "lead" liner, the Jibboom Saddle and a Woolding :
 

 

 
Continued next post ......

Well progress has been made on the Connie. She has a nose now - and a long one it is! I decided to follow the rigging as described in Vol 4 of TFFM. So I will start with the bow spirit, then move to the mizzen then work forward until the standing rigging is completed.
 
I set the bowsprit into it's footing, then started on the lower standing rigging. Tomorrow, I will continue the bowsprit. I have photos below of the progress I made today.

Fighting tops trimmed. I'll add some more reinforcements later, but I need them to build the elaborate support systems for them so I can start working on the masts. The fighting tops need to be cleaned up a bit.

I know it has been a long time since I updated this build log. Well I am back to rigging. My surgery was a success and my arm is feeling much better now. I have spent a couple of weeks looking at  and building various prototypes for replacing my current metal wheel with a wooden one using wood from the Connie. However, the wood has pretty wide rings and just isn't suitable for trying to carve something this small out of it. So I will plan on using it in the ships boats, and for the plaque/name plate once the case is done.
 
I started work on the shrouds for the mizzen today. I served the lower shrouds (with the forward shroud being fully served. Tomorrow I will start rigging them to the mast. 

I thought it was about time for an update as the last one was several months ago   .
 
I have fitted the waterway and quickwork to the other internal hull face and completed the planking of the deck.I am currently completing  the exposed frame finishing pieces and working on the deck finish.I anticipate many coats of poly rubbed down every three coats.This gives a glass like surface as whilst I wish to see joints in the woodwork,I don't want to be able to feel them.
I feel these pictures may be a little on the red side.The pear is definitely brown with no hint of red,trouble is outdoor daylight pics are hard to come by as its dark when at home during the week and we have had some awful weather on the weekends
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Time for an update.
 
1. I did a little more work on the stern filler blocks.
 
2. I installed the keel, stem and stern post, all are made from walnut and pinned for strength.
 
3. The false deck was also added. All comments welcome.

Tim, I am glad to hear I am not the only one that this doesn't work for.
 
I started planking the transom by adding the planks above and below the windows, leaving a 1/32" rebate around the windows.
 

 

 
I then added the planks above and below these, and along the outsides of the outer windows, again leaving a 1/32" rebate. This shot looks like Connie is having a bad hair day:
 

 
For the counter planks, I first filed the ends of the wale planks so the counter planks would fit inside of them. I didn't cut in the airing ports, as I am just going to make thin covers for these later and place them over the planks.
 
Here the last two transom planks are being glued on, after some preliminary sanding. These need to be trimmed for length after they dry. I used vertical pieces of planking between the windows, which worked out to be just the right size. When I build the window frames later they will fit into the rebates and be sanded flush with the planking. I am glad those gallery pieces are now secured with planks instead of just being edge glued on. I figured I was going to knock at least one of them off.
 

 
I will give these planks some more sanding, then it is on to planking the hull below the wales. I will probably start with the garboard planks and work up for the first band, but we will see. I have to figure out how to secure this beast when it is out of the build board and upside down. I have a keel clamp that might work or I may just put some padding on the workbench and hold it that way. We shall see...

Over the weekend, I was finally able to experiment a bit with blackening the britannia metal, using two of the extra dummy cannon barrels that came with the kit. I first soaked the two barrels in white vinegar to clean them, rinsed them, them put one in a cup of Blacken-It solution (left) and one in a cup of Casey Brass Black (right), both at full strength. As you can see, the Blacken-It went to town and after a few seconds was all brown and cloudy. The Casey solution just sat there, doing nothing.
 

 
After 10 minutes in the solutions, I pulled them out and rinsed them off again. Here are the results:
 

 
The Casey's did almost nothing and as an aside I then threw a few copper eyebolts into it and they turned black almost instantly, so it works well on copper, just not on white metal. The Blacken It did make the barrel darker, but it was uneven and not very black, and it seemed to deplete a lot of solution for this one barrel. To do all the barrels would take quite a bit of the solution, I think.
 
So, I am going to stick with my usual approach for white metal - clean in white vinegar, prime with Bulls Eye primer, and paint with Floquil engine black paint. Here are the dummy barrels after that procedure:
 

 
I may spray these with some Matte Finish to protect them when they are dry.