Aussie048

Steve - I think my notes would be too raw for most folks to have to wade through. Many entries are like - today i glued on the port main mast chafing fish piece, then made the starboard piece. Bla, bla, bla. I enjoy writing it down because it helps me remember what I did when I get around to that step on the next model. To me, it would be like having the raw notes an author takes to write a book. Not that I am going to be writing any books. On the other hand, the workplan probably would have value to other modelers. The problem with that is the parts I haven't gotten to yet are just an outline. I fill in details as I start planning those steps, so it won't be complete until the model is done.
 
Rob - it is like having an extra hand, almost.
 
Back in 2008, I visited the real Constitution one cloudy Saturday afternoon. Everyone else in the family was busy doing their own thing, so I had lots of time to myself to walk around and take pictures. It happened that they were in the process of taking down the top masts, which they do in the winter if I remember right, and the rigging and yards were laying on the wharf. I guess I wasn't supposed to be walking around them, but I had about 20 minutes before a guard kicked me out, and I took a lot of pictures. I just went through them again the other night, and I realized there are some good shots that will be useful to me and to others. I will include some in future posts as I get to those sections, but I will include some now so you can see what I mean.
 
Here is one that jumped out to me as I was looking through them, because when I was rigging the third bob stay I wasn't sure how the collar went around the bees.
 

 
When I rigged my collar, the eye loops were on the bees, not hanging below like shown above, so I removed the lashings and redid it. It now looks more like the above picture.
 

 
I am much happier with the new rigging. I notice that the real ship used black line for lashings, but I have always used tan line for some reason. Should I be using black line for the lashings?
 
More pictures in the next post.

Those last images are pretty dark. I have to figure out how to take flash pictures with the Aperture Preferred mode. I was doing better but lately they are all too dark. Good thing I can lighten them up on the computer.
 
I have now started the fourth year of this build. I had thought when I started this journey that it would take me three years to build it, but now I think it is going to be another two until it is done and in its case. That is not a problem for me though as I am really getting my money's worth from this kit. I probably average about 10 hours a week, so if I were to look at this as a full time job, I am working about a quarter time. That is time in the workshop and does not include all the time I am thinking about what I am working on or planning for future work on this model. That probably takes another 5 hours a week. I keep a pretty extensive build log as a MS Word document which is up to over 600 pages already. I also keep an Excel spreadsheet of all the steps and in what order I need to do as a work plan, which is also maintained weekly or so. That is 27 pages so far for the work plan, with other spreadsheets in the same document for things like the painting scheme, rigging lines and there sizes, and a rigging plan. All in all it is a lot of work, but fun and keeps me out of trouble and away from the TV!
 
I got the bow sprit shrouds installed. I had one seizing let go when doing the lashing, so I had to remake one of them.
 

 

 
The fore mast is ready to go and the main mast work continues. I have the square section milled and the mast tapered. I put on the manila bands on the round section, but tried something different this time. I chucked the mast in my lathe and hand turned it as I wrapped the manila strips around the mast, after gluing the end of the strip to the mast. I think they came out straighter than when I was just wrapping them with the mast on the work bench.
 

 
I milled more strip wood for the chafing fish (as opposed to chafing dish). I bought a larger round end mill bit that matches the curvature of the masts pretty well. It was too big to put into the mill though, because the Proxxon mill only takes bits up to a 1/8 inch shaft size. It does fit in my drill press though, so I bolted the fence I made for the mill to the XY table on the drill press. The tricky part was setting the height, as I had to do that by moving the whole drill head up and down by hand. It was a lot of trial and error to get it to the right height, but once there I was able to mill multiple strips repeatably for all the main and mizzen masts.
 

 
It made a big difference which direction I fed the strip wood in from, due to the direction of travel of the mill bit (climb milling vs. regular milling, I think it is called). Anyway from the right the strip stayed right up against the fence but from the left it wanted to wander off the fence pretty violently. I need to come up with a mechanism to make small adjustments in the drill head height, but haven't thought too much about it yet. If anyone has an idea or knows of something that would work, please let me know.
 
 

I find I am working on a number of small projects at the same time - finishing up the lower fore mast, starting the lower main mast, making and rigging the bow sprit shrouds, and a few other things.
 
I had made the traveler rings for the jibbooms a while ago but since those spars are not installed yet, neither are the rings. I recently saw a picture of the rings that Syren is now selling and thought I'd give it a try to make mine look like those. I used wire for the rings instead of tubing that Chuck uses, but it worked out pretty well. I used a smaller size wire for the shackle and hook. The rings are glued with a small bit of medium CA instead of soldered. I still need to blacken them. Here they are in comparison to the previous rings I made, which were just rings with a bump for the stays to fit under.
 

 
Here is one of the bow sprit shrouds. I made the eye bolts that will go into the hull, since the eye bolts I had were either too big or too small. I made the eye splice in the line around a small piece of brass tubing, and instead of a shackle between the eye splice and eye bolt, I used a ring. I think it is hard to see the difference, since these are all black against a black hull.
 

 
The fore mast and main mast have boarding pike racks which I made using some sheet wood. I first used a circle template to draw two concentric circles, then divided them up into four parts. In one set I drilled holes for the pikes and the other set is left solid for the ends to rest on. I am going to use straight pins with the heads cut off for the pikes, after I blacken or brown them. i cut out the sections using a razor knife and sanded them round. For the inside curves, I used a piece of dowel with sandpaper wrapped around it.
 

 

 
Here I have glued one set to the fore mast. You can also see the completed chafing fish.
 

 
Finally, I have been making and serving line for the bow sprit rigging. The line on the bow sprit shroud above is some that I made. I was having a problem with the Serv-O-Matic in that my finger was getting really tired cranking with it. I found this crank that I had made for something else and thought to try it on the serving machine. I didn't want to drill into the machine in case it didn't work, so I just zip tied it on. It seems to work really well and now my finger is much happier. I may improve on this in the future.
 

 
The main mast is marked out and I have started milling the square section. No pictures of it yet.
 

Thanks for the likes.
 
I am working on the chafing fish for the fore mast, adding one piece at a time, so I have time to work on other things while the glue is drying. I lashed the bob stay, bow shroud, and fore stay collars to the bow sprit, after gluing the cap and martingale in place. I then made the first and second bobstays and lashed them in place. These are doubled, served line, that I first put through the eye bolts that go in the stem, then did all the seizings along the length, with a seized bullseye in the end. I seized each end at the splice, then wrapped some of the seizing line over the joint. I then glued the eyebolt into the stem and added the lashing to the bullseye in the collars.
 

 

 
The third bobstay is next, as well as starting to shape the main mast.

I hope everyone who celebrates this time of year had a nice holiday. I know I did.
 
In between gatherings with family and friends I have been working on the lower fore mast. I was able to use the dowel that was provided in the kit. I first marked off and milled the square section and tenon at the top. I am starting to get an appreciation for these types of clamps instead of a vise for these longer pieces. I also spent some time making sure everything was centered and square before milling, which for these longer pieces is very important, as small errors get magnified.
 

 

 
I tapered the square section and fit the two pieces that make up the mast cap to the tenon.
 

 
I then tapered the round section on the lathe and sanded in the transition from round to square. I cut strips of manila folder to make the 16 bands around the round section, after marking their positions on the mast. I put the joint in the front center of the mast, as this area will be covered by the chafing fish.
 

 
I cut sections of basswood strips for the chafing fish, and rounded the backs of them with the Dremel ball grinding bit in the mill, and finishing them with some sandpaper on a piece of dowel. I also filed in the angles along the edges on the upper part of the fish, where it will join other pieces of the fish. I marked the locations of the bands, then milled slots in the back for them.
 

 
I then glued the fish to the mast, using lots of clamps.
 

 
Next I will add the other pieces of the fish and round the outside faces of them to be parallel to the mast.
 
 

Thanks Popeye, Steve, and Al, and for the likes.
 
Popeye - I started this new job in Feb. and they shut down next week, so everyone gets it off. I wish more companies did that.
 
Steve - Thanks. Have a great holiday too.
 
Al - It is all new to me but it has been fun playing around with it. My father was a machinist, and my brother-in-law and my nephew are both machinists too. I got nothing on them and they laugh at the size of my machines. But, I have help if I need it.
 
I gave the steps a coat of white paint and just glued them in place. Once they dry I will clean them up a bit more and give them a second coat of paint.
 

 

Thanks guys for the likes. I made up a new set of steps for the bow sprit last night and I took some pictures during the process. I made these while the old steps were still on the model, in case I couldn't do any better. But, luckily that was not the case. I did spend some time thinking this through before I started milling wood, which I think really helped. So, here we go.
 
Bow Sprit Steps Take 2
 
After making the steps the first time, I realized that the right way to do this would be with a tilting table. So, since Proxxon doesn't make one for their mill, I bought the Sherline table and have adopted it to fit. Actually, I didn't really do anything to the table yet, as I can use just two hold down screws into one slot on the XY table. In the future, I should put a couple more holes in the base so I can use more then one slot, but for this job it was OK as is. I will be making some hold down clamps for the Proxxon vise to fit on the tilting table, but for this job the vise was not needed.
 
The steps are 3/16" wide and at first I thought I would use a 3/32" wide strip (which I didn't have). I pulled out a 1/2" wide strip and realized I could use the edge for the hold down clamps and would have access to the whole area I needed to cut. The mill came with the hold down clamps, so I only needed a few extra cap screws to fit into the tilting table to use them, which I had. I first mounted the piece upside down, and with the table flat I milled in a slight curve to fit the bow sprit roundness with a dremel ball head grinding bit. I used a large round file and some sandpaper on a piece of dowel to finish this curve.
 

 
I then marked the locations of the gammoning ropes and the bands on the bow sprit, and milled slots for these. Since I had extra room between the inner edge of the steps and the clamps, i could mill further than the line to get the sides of the slots straight all the way across the back of the steps.
 

 
I then test fit the wood strip and was happy with the fit, so I mounted it right side up, checked everything for straightness, set the table to 26 degrees, and started milling the steps. I started at the top so I had much less chance of hitting the table with the bit, as I was going down hill during the cutting.
 

 

 
You will notice the pieces of masking tape at each hand wheel to remind myself how many turns to make with each cut. i was surprised making them the first time how easy it was to get messed up. This time it went rather smoothly and before I knew it I was at at the bottom step. I removed the cut piece from the table and was unsure how fragile it might be. At this stage having the excess on the side was great as it added a lot of stability to the piece.
 

 
Before I sliced the steps off from the blank, I tack glued it to a backing piece of wood, that I had squared up in the table saw. I didn't want the steps to come apart in the saw while slicing them off.
 

 
After a few minutes, it was a simple process to slice off the steps to width.
 

 
I then soaked the steps in alcohol until I could slide the two pieces apart with almost no pressure. Here was the moment of truth. I half expected the steps to fall apart in my hands, but they were very stable and sturdy, to my surprise. And this was all with basswood. My thought was to try it and if it was too fragile, use boxwood for the next set.
 

 

 
After the alcohol had dried off, I painted the sides around the gammoning slots. Once I glue this down, I can then paint the rest of it without getting white paint on the gammoning lines.
 
At this point I removed the old steps, which came off rather easily with a little twisting pressure from the side. Here are the new steps just resting in place, waiting to be installed and painted, which I will do tonight. I was very happy not to have to redo the gammoning lines for a third time.
 

 
My Christmas vacation starts tomorrow, and I have all next week off, so I am looking forward to making some good progress on the rest of the masts.
 
 
 
 

Bow sprit gammoning take 2.
 
I made two new ropes last night for the two new gammoning lines. I have to say that making rope in the .02" to .03" diameter range is coming out really nice. I seem to have the process very repeatable with good results. I am using the Dormanoff rope walk in the horizontal configuration as I show in post #505. I am also using the back end from the ME rope walk, although I modified it by threading a bolt with the head cut off into the tube, which I can use with a hand drill to make the rope turns very quickly. The big break through came when I realized if I keep a lot more tension on the back end during the first winding, so that no hockles can form, then clamp the back end while I make the turns for the rope, and keep turning until the rope is nice and tight, this set up works well. I even have much less unwinding of the rope since I hold it under tension for a few minutes before taking one end off.
 
While I was writing this I just got the .04 and .05 " diameter rope from Syren. It is beautiful and I am very happy that I am not trying to make rope this thick. To do it right, you have to make smaller strands then turn those into the bigger rope, which takes a lot of time.
 
To do the gammoning this time, I put one loop around the bow sprit and held the rope vertically, then drilled a hole at that location for a piece of wire to act as a stop while I did the rest of the turnings. After I wrapped the second gammoning and tied them both off, I coated the turns with some diluted white glue to hold them in place while I marked their locations on the steps and filed away a groove in the steps to fit over them. I removed the wires and glued the steps on. Well, let's just say this step didn't go too well, as I broke the steps so now I had three pieces to line up. Here they are glued onto the bow sprit.
 

 

 

 
I am not happy with these, although I probably could live with them. But, since I seem to do all of the hard stuff three times, I am going to attempt to make a new set of stairs, but leave these on until then. I recently bought the Sherline tilting table which I am adapting to the Proxxon mill, so I should be able to make the stairs in one piece. i also want to make them thinner and more even, and I think I have a way to do that. I'll take pictures of the process and post them here as I go.
 
 

Thanks Dave. There are some great Constitution build logs on MSW that I have used a lot, including the current build by XKen. I can't wait to see your approach to this ship.
 
I finished the collars for the bow sprit using three different sizes of served line. It got easier working with the served line as I went along. The lashing lines are on so they are all ready to install on the bow sprit. But before I do that, I want to install the gammoning.
 

 
Since I am building an 1812-ish version of the ship, I am using rope gammoning instead of chains, as on the modern version. I had made the holes for these in the stem very early in the build, and I have pretty good access to this area under the bow gratings. I made two gammoning lines with the rope walk and installed them last night. I was not happy with them, though, because there are no stops on the bow sprit to keep them from sliding down toward the bow. The steps that go over the gammon have cut outs that act as stops, but I am going to install them after the gammoning is on. The forward line was really bent toward the bow. Anyway, I removed what I did and after making more rope, I will try installing them with temporary pins installed to act as stops until I get the steps put on.
 

 
These have since been removed. they look good from the top, but if you looked inside you would see they are bent. The gammoning should be straight up and down when seen from the side, according to the TFFM Vol 4 Rigging book, which I am finding very valuable for general rigging information.

Update....
 
handrail for deck housing and halfround light shaft dome windows...
 
Nils
 

 
 

small update....
 
this little structure sits up on the boats deck between 2 nd. and 3 rd. funnel.
This is the position where the large 1 st class dining lounge is situated over several decks across the whole width of the ship, because here no stackshafts interfere with the dining area.
The half round stucture will be modeled to the light dome of the dining lounge comprising about 30 single little "glassed" frames
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Transom re-framed....
 
Three days later.... a little over twenty hours of ripping out and fixing this very important part of the model.
Here we are back to the same point.....
 
First, the transom frames are now well aligned with the widened filler block.
Also, the frame-to-frame alignment has been fared left to right and top to bottom.
Finally, the six window openings measure precisely to the plan sheets.
 

 

 
 
 
 

I use this stuff:
 
http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MI-9
 

USING 3.5" FLOPPY DISKS FOR WINDOW GLAZING (NO SCALE)
 
Hi,
 
CaptainSteve asked if I would do a post on using floppy disks for window glazing after he saw it on my Borodino build log so here it is.
 
Firstly, I would usually give credit to the person whose techniques I use and post on my build log but in this case I am afraid I have no idea where I picked this up from as its probably been a couple of years but only using it now.
 
The floppy disk could be used to ‘glaze’ stern galleries and quarter light windows as well as portholes.  My example is for 2mm photo-etch portholes in spare card that came with an other model I am building.  It could probably be cut to fit between the transoms and munnions on larger wooden or photo etch frames.  It is easier to just cut it oversize and glue from the back and in the case of the portholes the best method (probably the only method).
 
I would imagine most people have floppy disks lying around in the house somewhere.  It’s probably well over a decade since I owned a floppy drive to read them.  If you haven’t I would imagine you could still source them from the internet maybe.
 
Firstly remove the metal door from the case.  If you don’t want to keep it just rip it off.  Since it’s nice and thin at 0.19mm (slightly thicker than photo-etch I wanted to save it in case something comes up where I could use.)  Prise it up from the backside of the case to lift the 2 tabs out of the groove.  Once clear of the groove it drops off.
 

 

 
 
To get to the floppy part I pushed a Stanley knife blade into one of the joins at the corner.  The case is glued (plastic welded?) only at the corners so you want to cut this bond free.  Then do the same at another corner.  You only need to do 2 corners then you can pull the case open until the disk drops out.
 

 
 
The disk itself is actually pretty amazing.  I thought it was made of Mylar and CaptainSteve confirmed this, also informing me it was coated with iron oxide.  I used my Vernier to measure it and it was 0.08mm which agrees with CaptainSteve’s 0.003”
 
It is very tough; I was unable to tear an undamaged disk by hand.  The disk is very shiny and some care should be taken to avoid marking the surface; probably not a big deal on 2mm portholes but you don’t want any blemishes showing up on larger stern gallery windows.  I also avoided touching the surface with fingers to avoid leaving finger prints for the same reason.
 
With this is in mind I used a plastic school ruler as opposed to my usual steel rule.  To cut it with say a No.11 blade I found it best to hold the knife at a very shallow angle.  I prefer to use small super sharp scissors to cut it as I don’t need to cut out accurate dimensions and they don’t burr the edge which sometimes happens with the knife blade.
 

 
 
To glue the window ‘pane’ I use normal PVA. This is more than adequate for securing the part to paper and photo-etch; wood also I would imagine.  As with most things less is more when gluing and I usually use either a sewing needle held in a pin vice or an old 000 paint brush for applying glue.  I used the paint brush in this case as I need to spread it out on the back surface of the ‘model’.
 
I guess most glues would be suitable and you will need to experiment for yourself for your glue of choice; I will add I wouldn’t use CA glue.  I know CA glue fumes can fog up clear styrene canopies etc so as an experiment I placed a drop of CA on the disk to see what would happen and it did slightly discolour the edges of the glue blob.
 

 
 
To fit the window I used a photo-etch parts placer.  It is basically like a pencil with a hard waxy crayon centre.  You can sharpen it to point using a knife or pencil sharpener and with use it loses its tackiness so you can resharpen it again but I usually just give it a quick scrap with an old blade.
 
If you do a lot of photo-etch it is invaluable and has the benefit over tweezers with flat pieces as you don’t need to worry about trying to grip the part on the edges.  Try not to slide the ‘pane’ around when placing as you don’t want glue smears/blemishes on the part spoiling the effect.
 
 

 
 
The finished porthole next to an unglazed one.  With the macro you can see a shiny window and even at normal viewing distance a dark shine is noticeable so would imagine the effect would be even more pronounced with larger scales and windows.
 

 
 
Now if I could only find the same disk material but transparent all my window glazing needs would be met LOL
 
Cheers
Slog

Here's a 1934 12" Craftsman-branded Walker Turner scrollie I just picked up last weekend for $20. It has the original stand and fretsaw blade vises and guides. Sometimes you can find oldies that still work well. Apart from being slathered in oil because of a leaky crankcase gasket, this saw is in great shape and runs smoothly. Switching blades is very easy.
 
Steve
 
 

Thanks for the likes everyone.
 
First off, here is a picture of the first batch of hammocks. These are made from an off white Sculpey material rolled out to about 1/16" thick, cut to 1/2" length and folded in half.
 

 
While they were baking, I made a jig to make it easier to hold them together during gluing. I am making them in 3/4" sections of 6 hammocks each, which will fit between each crane.
 

 
I glued the first group together upside down, so when they are dry I can sand the bottoms level with the jig to even them out. My hope is that the tops will be level when I take them out.
 
I also drilled holes into the hammock boards to take those tiny eye bolts that I made. The boards off the model were a lot easier to do then the ones already installed.
 

 

 
I lost quite a few in the process, especially adding them to the boards already on the ship, but I had made enough spares to finish without having to make any more.
 
 

I need very small eye bolts to take the ends of the lines running through the hammock cranes. These attach to the hammock boards which are very thin. So, I tried my hand at making some. I first tried some steel wire but could not get them small enough, then I found some 30 gauge artistic wire that I had bought for another project. I put a U shaped piece of wire into a pin vise then SLOWLY wrapped it around a #78 drill bit. You have to go slowly to avoid breaking the wire. That's the drill bit in the picture.
 

 
These are by far the smallest eye bolts I have ever made. I drilled a hole into a hammock crane to test them, and placed one in without any glue. I was able to thread some line through it and tie it on and it all seemed pretty solid, so as long as I can manipulate them, which is pretty hard since they are so small, I should be good. I had to make about double the number I kept because of breakage or lossage or it just didn't look right, but it did not take too long. I have half of what I need but I am going to make a bunch more just in case.

I was asked a question on what I was working on. The main material is usually aluminum, stainless steel being laminated
to either shockpad and or cross-grained masticated. While they can be machined they tend to either burn out HSS bits and make
a lot of smoke. Carbide bits are used when available but you still have to be careful of your speed and feed. Since most of
the stuff we work with is non ferrous you have to learn the hard way and add notes in the mfg instructions for the next guy.
The first time I worked with a piece of polyurethane and clogged up the end mill and almost ripped the part out of the vice.
David B

Ahoy Mates
 
To start with I am a now retired tool and diemaker who has been using mills of all types for the last 50+ years. What advice I would give all about milling is that,since you are not having to do it for a job with time being a large factor- Take your time milling. Small cuts do two things: 1- it saves wear on your cutters which are costly to replace and 2 nd  it reduces any deflection of either the cutting tool and reduces the over cutting of the mill cutter in your work piece.
 
The small milling machines are not built to handle deep cuts by the milling cutters. In size a standard Bridgeport milling machine handles cutters up to 1" dia. but even then they have a hard time with full cutter depth cutting.
If you kept the same size and capibility ratio of milling machine to cutter,the small mills would have only a cutter of 1/4" dia. with a cutting flute depth of only 1/8".
So take it easy.
 
And if you are burning wood,either your speed is too high,feed too fast clogging up the flutes of the cutters,or you have a cutter that doesn't have enough room for the chips created by you cutting speed and feed.
 
Mini mills  EQUAL MINI CHIPS!!!
 
Keith

Another way to go is to see what happens with the feed:
 
   if you need to go too slow it means you want to chew too much
   if you can feed very fast  may be you could go a bit deeper
 
Often in these situations, as well as in turning, the middle is often the best way to go
 
you need to feed easily without any wobble in the machine

One of the things I learned was if not sure take a light cut then go a little deeper with each cut .  This was how I learned to mill the stuff at work.  Hogging is a fast way to remove excess material but you have to be aware of what you are removing and the mill or cutting tool you are working with.  
David B

Immerse the mill half the diameter or less. Pine is treated badly because of the resin inside the wood.

Hi Geoff
 
With pine (provided you are not cutting through any knots) I would say cut the depth of the diameter and you will be OK i.e. 3mm deep for 3mm diameter etc.I would not go any deeper than 1mm for a 1mm cutter,you are more likely to snap the cutter rather than burn it out in this instance.I would halve this rule for harder woods
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks popeye. You're right about the speed of the build. I am having fun, although last weekend I was stuck in the cold and rain of NH when I would have liked to have been in the shop. Oh well, we still had fun.
 
Just a quick update. The port side channels are all finished with their chain plates and backing links (I have been calling them chains and plates, which is not right). I have also touched up all the areas around them with black paint, which does hide a multitude of sins as popeye said. My goal is to someday build a model with all natural wood, but I am not there yet.
 

 

 
I have the starboard side channels in place and have stropped and painted all the large deadeyes for that side, so I can start installing them tonight. I still have to strop and paint some medium and small deadeyes, but only a few.

Worked!!!