Aussie048

The long hole for the spindle in the cross-slide was opened up to 5 mm using the Dixi horizontal miller as a boring mill.
 

Drilling out the the spindle hole in the old top-slide
 
However, the travel of the slide was too small, so an extension was made to give the slide a travel of around 50 mm, allowing the milling spindle to reach across a face-plate mounted in the dividing attachment on the mill. The extension is a fairly complex piece, fashioned out of a block of aluminium. This is jointed to the existing top-slide with two location pins and two countersunk screws (the holes used were already made by a previous owner).
 

Top-slide extension (under side)
 

Top-slide extension (upper side)
 
To it screws the housing for the y-spindle bearing. Watchmakers lathes usually have simple sliding bearings there, the end-play of which is controlled by a nut with a very fine thread. The elements of this arrangement would have been ground to give a smooth sliding. I decided instead to use miniature thrust-bearings with I.D. of 5 mm and an O.D. of just 10 mm. Two are needed, with the thrust-collar on the spindle in between. This gives an arrangement of 12 mm in length.
Centering the future y-slide spindle bearing-plate in large 4-jaw-chuck
 

Turning stub for spindle bearing-plate
 
The bearing-housing was made from a piece of 15 mm x 15 mm aluminium bar. The section was centred in the large 4-jaw-chuck on the lathe and the stub turned on. The piece then was reversed and taken into a 3-jaw-chuck so that the face that screws down onto the slide extension could be turned flat and perpendicular to the axis. The through-hole was drilled and reamed for the spindle. In the next step the seat for the bearings was bored out to exactly 10 mm diameter and a tad unter 12 mm depth.
Reaming bearing for y- spindle
 

Boring-out seats for thrust ball-bearings
 
Finally some cosmetic milling operations gave the bearing housing a more elegant shape.

Shape milling of the spindle bearing-plate
 
To be continued ...

I'd like one of these, a fully functional miniature Bridgeport!
 

Hi, Bob! It's my dream, but real... It's lathe TV-16, 1964 year, made in Soviet Union.

Hi folks, well it is time for another well overdue update.  Thanks all for looking in and the likes; much appreciate the interest and comments. Nice to see you back Mike.
 
I have now trialled a couple of methods for fitting the yards in such a confined space.  My solution is that after rigging the yard completely, I form the parrels off the model and hold them temporarily with the electronics micro-clips you can see in the photos below, lower the jeer blocks, fit the slings, fit the parrel then raise the yard into position..  i will post more detail when I get to this stage.
 
I form most of the blocks etc, as shown below, off the yard then rig them into place when all are complete.  I am at the stage of rigging the stirrups -  I think the photos show the process with sufficient detail to not provide further comment here.  When the stirrups are dry I will slide the blocks, tackle pendant, brace pendants etc into place (over the stirrups.  When all are in place I will trim the draw rope and seizing, then reeve the foot rope.  More photos of that stage to follow.  The other photos show some of the detail of the process and final fit.
 
cheers
 
Pat
 
 
 
 
 
   
 

So, I have started planking from the wales down and the garboard strakes up. I have defined three planking belts, so I am planking both Belt A (below wales) and Belt C (above garboard strake) at the same time, as well as doing both sides at the same time. So far, I have only one plank in each belt, so no pictures of that yet, but you can probably visualize that it looks like a bunch of clamps at this point. I was having some trouble visualizing the run of the drop planks at the bow and stern in Belt A, so I drew up a couple of simple diagrams (not to scale) of the planking in these areas and where I could put the drops planks. Here is what I came up with:
 
Port Bow Belt A:
 

 
Port Stern Belt A:
 

 
I needed the drops to be on bulkheads and I wanted to space them out a bit. It took me quite a while to figure this out, but I think I have it now. I will be using wider pieces of wood for the planks that continue after the drop, as they will be twice the width of the other planks at the bulkhead. There is a filler block between Bulkhead A and the stem, so I can put those last two drops at the bow there.
 
I thought Belt C was going to be easier to visualize as there are no drop planks at the bow, and I could use wider planks at the stem, but then I couldn't figure out the widths of the planks at their ends. So, another diagram to visualize the planks at the bow, which will help me get the widths right:
 
Port Bow Belt C:
 

 
You can see that the widths change as I get further toward the stem, but they are still pretty close so I can adjust as I go. I don't know how you all figure this stuff out, but I extended the edge of the garboard plank out to the farthest point on the stem, then measured the distance from the edge of the belt on the stem to this line, and used that distance to get the widths of the planks at that distance. Of course, they taper back to where they actually hit the stem, but now I can see how much that taper should be.
 
For the stern in Belt C, I just need a couple of stealers  to fill the width at the stern:
 

 
I will be using these diagrams as I out the next nine planks in each of the belts and will provide some pictures as I go.

Good Morning All, 
 
 Well I finally sucked it up and got the filler blocks finished on the port side. This was a evil job but one that I decided had to be done as the hull is only single planked. I know by following the plans and installing only bow and stern blocks it would have been just fine as the planks are 1.5mm thick. So, yes, I am a whole bunch nuts
It was a total of 30 hours finishing this side, starboard side should go faster I hope. I used basswood(and wood filler and spackle  ) which I think is going to give a real good base for the planking and proved to be fairly easy to work with.
 
Warning: the following pictures are not pretty and caution should be taken before viewing. This unorthodox method should not be tried in a normal home!!!
There was no alcohol consumed during any of this procedure, what happened after will remain private .  
 

 
Yah I know, crazy looking stuff. After a lot of sanding it is actually real smooth and test planks lay nicely on it, hopefully all this helps with the planking. It is now on to the starboard side as now she has a terrible list to the port  .
 The lumber in the pictures is for some flower/garden boxes that I have been hired to build so I won't have any updates for a few days.
 
 Take Care and Enjoy your builds

Hi all, well it is kind of embarrassing what I have to show as it is not much.
 I have been busy with just about everything except ship building lately. The spring yard work on the acreage is almost done and it is finally raining so I hope to get more time in the workshop.
 I took a little diversion from filler blocks and made the bits and started the mast tops.
 
Using the lathe with sanding blocks and files I shaped the bits
 

Here are the three finished bits, they still need poly
 

 
Mast tops are carved from 8mm dowel
 

 
Sanded taper using a shooting board
 

 
 Then the finished product, well not finished but I'm done with it ...... as it is cut 1.5" too short       . Not a total waste as it works great as a swizzle stick .
 Anyway I have since milled a piece of 8mm square walnut and will attempt to re-build to proper length today and possibly do some filler blocks.
 
 Thanks for stopping in and have a good one. 
 
 
 

Yeah, a couple of joints would be good, and some cold apple cider LOL

I'm a little off with the glue here, hard taking picture and glue at same time the rest are better   
 
 I'm off to the refreshment ridge, anyone need anything?  

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for all your comments and likes, I was caught off guard by all the responses here so I took some time off to get more chairs, re-stock fridge and grab some snacks    . I think we should be good now for awhile so I'll continue with the build.
 Next step up after sanding the keel is fitting the bulkheads and test fitting all the notches on them. Unlike most where a snug fit is wanted between bulkheads and keel to allow for glue the Trabakul requires the bulkheads to be tight as there is no glue applied to the notches. The bulkheads all fit great with only very minor adjustment required on one of them, the last three bulkheads are left off until the four pieces for the keelson are slipped in. When the final three bulkheads are installed the two side pieces of the keelson are glued into place the last two pieces are glued into place in between the side pieces. The top piece needs to be aligned properly as this forms the ledge for the floor.
 After keelson was completed the support beams were all installed, again everything fit with precision, only at the front bulkhead did I need to do some minor filing and that was just put a little bit of an angle on the notches to allow beams to fit properly. After glue dried I removed her from the cradle and glued the bottom of the bulkheads. This was a little overkill as once the keelson and support timbers were installed this boat was absolutely tight and sturdy.
 This ends the first part of the build next up is the interior, wish me luck.
 

 
Have A Good One
 

This the start of my next build the “Trabakul” by Marisstella:
 
First up I would like to thank Marisstella, especially Zoran, not only for this great kit but also for the fantastic service and patience of putting up with my endless questions some of which were not that bright. That being said two of the concerns I had were the instructions and the shipping from Croatia and to that Zoran e-mailed me the plans and instructions. They looked real good with lots of pictures showing pretty much everything one would need, then to top it off the shipping was free ( not sure if this offer is still on you will have to check with Zoran) so I went for it putting my other kits back a little further on the list.
 
Time to Start:
 
Upon opening the box I was first impressed by the amount material it contained. This is a single planked hull, my first, so I guess I was expecting a lot less wood. I’m thinking maybe they know my skills with wood and just sent lots of extra as a way of me not bothering them anymore   . I went through all the packages and billets and everything looks excellent, one thing that did stand out is the fine laser cuts in the billets much finer than I have seen.
 The strip wood all looks real nice and of good quality even the dowels are straight (a real bonus!!).
 Reading the instruction book and going over the plans there is some challenges ahead, one being the interior which is completely finished (another first for me).
My plan is not to bash this kit what so ever and just build as is, now I said this is the plan not a promise  .
 
Here is the box and contents:
 

 
all pieces sanded and dry fitted. a little tough getting pieces out of billet but nothing unmanageable
 

 
a glass kitchen table is indispensable for this hobby, everything so far has gone well. Lots of charring but easily sanded
 

 
More to come, seem to have misplaced some pictures

Thanks everyone. The hand surgery went well. Now I just have to be patient to let heal. I appreciate everyone's thoughts. The good news is I should have full use of the hand which I have not had for awhile. Luckily, this is my left hand and I am righty!

Poop deck is finally on! 
 
I am now constructing the poop cabin. The fact that I am planning to light it is posing all sorts of problems and making me find different solutions to what would normally be a standard build. For example, the internal support structures are 3mm thick perspex instead of wood which I would normally use. I have to do this so that light gets through. 
 
After finishing the stern galleries, I should proceed to install the transom. However, because I am going to light the lanterns, I would have to install the lanterns as well. The thought of working on the rest of the ship while the fragile lanterns hang off the stern made me decide to put it off for now. I will finish all the major woodwork on the ship first, and then return to the stern. 
 

 
A bottom view of the stern, showing off the ceiling decorations and the column. 
 

 
You can catch a glimpse of the gallery in front if you look through the open door. 
 

 
The internal reinforcement for the poop cabin is made from perspex. I should note that the metal part supplied by Euromodel appears to be lopsided - the curve on one half does not appear to match the curve on the other. I initally obtained the shape by tracing out Euromodel's part, but when I realized that the shape was a bit off, I ended up drawing my own shape. 
 

 
The decorations were dry fitted for testing. 
 
The lower line for the decorations was obtained by using a compass and tracing a 10mm line above the wale below it. In fact, the lines for all the wales were obtained this way. I think it is important that all the wales are lined up, otherwise the model might look a little lopsided. 
 

 
The metal decorations are all sorted, cleaned with acetone, painted with metal primer, and ready for painting. 
 

 
Construction of a replacement front face for the poop cabin is under way. 

Also, I don't know if you are aware ... but toothpicks make great substitutes for paintbrushes. 
 

 
This is a comparison of a mark left by a toothpick against a 0.5mm pencil. I can leave a thinner stroke if I didn't load up so much paint on the toothpick. You can see that the mark left by the toothpick is neater and denser than both other marks. 
 

 
This is a comparison of marks left by a toothpick, a paintbrush, and the finest nib gold marker I could find. 
 
I don't need to tell you the advantages of toothpicks: 
 
- cheap and plentiful
- no need to clean
- every time you need a new colour, just shave a bit off the top and keep using it
- superior mark to paintbrush and paint markers! 
- you are not limited by the paint marker's choice of colour. Any colour you can buy, or mix, can be used

It's just that you are being honest and posting your 'pick-ups' - many others don't but you can bet we all make them
 
cheers
 
Pat

Here are a few vanity shots ... just for fun. 
 

 
Taken in the backyard on an Australian winter morning. Yes, the sun is out. Grass is green, and the sky is blue. But it is really cold!! 
 

 
The other side. Decorations have been placed all the way to the front with the exception of the last piece. Once the beakhead railings go on, the last piece will be placed. The position of all the gunport holes have been finalized and cut out. 
 
Note also the gaps in the decorations that I left for the fenders. I have not shown a picture of the fenders yet, but they have been cut, sanded, and ready to be installed. Because the top of the fenders need to reach the cap railings, the top of the fenders have not been trimmed. I do not want to leave the tops sticking out while I work on the rest of the ship, so I will leave off installing the fenders until I am ready to install the cap railings - which will come after the transom is completed. 
 
You can also see that the pear planking in the front is a lighter shade than the rest of the ship. This is because it has been freshly sanded in preparation for the beakhead railings to go on. The darker shade of pear is what pear looks like when it has not been sealed and has been absorbing oil from my fingers for more than a year. 
 

 
From the back. You will note that the top of the decorations look a little irregular. Can't be helped, that is the nature of what was supplied in the kit. Once the wooden caps go on, everything will be sanded until it is flat. 
 

 
The completed repair of the re-positioned gunport I showed in my previous post. I saved all the offcuts from the decorations in case I might need them. In this case, I lengthened the decoration by gluing in parts that I had to remove from other pieces to accomodate gunports and so on. 
 

 
Close up of the three windows which I replaced. In hindsight I could have left on Euromodel's supplied smaller windows instead of removing them - they are barely noticeable when the model is viewed in full. And my replacement doesn't look that great. 
 
You can also see that I have filled in the gaps between the decorations with some epoxy putty and painted it over. Keith Julier says that the joints are almost invisible once you do this. Well, i'm no Keith Julier so my joints are still visible! I will probably go and sand them back a bit more to see if I can improve on this. 

Yes I think it would be. It is the only thing I have found that securely holds square chunks of wood in the lathe, too. The four jaw chuck does not work well for me, no matter how hard I tighten it the wood wants to move. I suppose I could turn a round spindle to the wood, then use that part in the three jaw chuck. Hmm I'll have to try that sometime. Thanks for the train of thought Geoff!

For the rivets I found only this photograph from the original boat
from http://cdn.silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Baby-Bootlegger-30-Bragg.jpg, the rows of rivets appear as dark points in the shadow

 
And one more from a model, made in Germany. Here are the rivets good to see, and the pattern seems to be close to the pattern from the photograph above. Pic comes from http://www.miniwerft.de/die-miniwerft/modelle-im-bau/

 
Regards
Gerhard
 
 
 
 

Hi Sailor
 
If the rivets were, they will be on the model, thats a fact! If someone here has a close shot from them would be nice to show, even the pattern this rivets were set would be interesting then.
The Baby was a really fast craft, no wonder with this giant Hispano-Suiza engine. More than 11 litres must have power....
 

 
Somewhere in the internet I found original drawings and the full handbook to the engine, so I might be able to rebuild it in measure, when my new milling machine is on the workbench!
 
Regards
Gerhard

Hi everyone
 
As my admiral commanded me, I will have to build beneath my historic old ships another. more modern boat, a BabyBootlegger will be made then. The plans came from John Toms free for download, lots of infos are to find in the internet. I found one really good building report at rc.groups http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1805606think I will try to stay close to this one. But not all that nails the builder used for his model, they were not there at the original boat, as photos from it show. I still have no clue what engine to use, maybe I make it electric at first, with an opinion for fuel drive later .
Here the plans again, 4 mm plywood is at home for the frames and keel works. under planking will be made with 3 mm Balsa wood, visible planking with 1 - 1,5 mm mahogany wood.
 


 
And one photo from the original, source was
http://cdn.silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Baby-Bootlegger-302.jpg

 
The model will be about 90 cm long and about 18cm wide.
 
Regards
Gerhard
 

DISASTER!!!!
 
I am brokenhearted. I was working on these pieces, (125 and 126) which come flat and are supposed to be bent to form some sort of 3 sided semi-circle. When I tried to bend them, they broke, wood and windows came apart and it was a total mess.



 
My jaw dropped when I realized that without these parts the ship could not be completed.
I contacted a fellow member here who was building this kit and after planking the hull he decided to quit in order to focus on more important things for him. I asked him to sell me those pieces, but he already gave the kit to someone else.
I have contacted several kit sellers who sell this kit to see if they sell spare parts, with no success.
 
So after a long thought I decided to try and make them scratch using sheet aluminum. I've never tried something like this.
Anyway, here is some progress.
 
I am tracing the profile of the parts using a pen engraver.


 
It is actually nice to see a shapeless and ugly hole like this...

 
...becoming, after some time and careful effort, a nice square like this...

 
I am not sure what the final outcome will be. Anyway, this will be one hell of a job for me since I've never attempted anything like this, and one that certainly will keep me busy for the next several days.
Wish me luck!!! 

Hi Ulises, the method for measuring mast and jib boom / bowsprit angles is also dependent on what tools (levels) you have.  I think what you have done verifies you are in the ballpark.
 
One method I use is very similar top your approach, in that I ensure the work surface and waterline are parallel.  I then use a digital angle level/protractor which I zero on the work surface and then place on the spar to be measured and read off the angle (adjusting the alignment chocks etc as I go to achieve the correct angle).
 
Another, more crude method I have used is to print off a paper protractor (series of lines at regularly spaced intervals).  I stick this to a temporary holder (scrap wood) then use a plumb-bob to align a true perpendicular and adjust the paper protractor to the required orientation and perpendicular alignment. Then read off the spar angle against the lines. Again you need to ensure the work surface and the waterline are parallel and preferably level.  I hope that makes sense.  I used this method until I purchased the digital angle level which are quite affordable - very often on special for a few dollars at our local hardware outlets such as Bunnings (in Australia).
 
This image of one is taken from an eBay advertisement; it differs from mine in that the bubble level on the top is an additional enhancement.  I have not ties etc with this provider with the image used only to illustrate the device.
  
 
cheers
 
Pat

Thank you all for your comments!
 
Pollex... I specially appreciate your comment. So I went to check things and this is what I did and found:
 
I measured the angle in the plans and it is 34º
 

 
I don't know any method to actually measure the angle in the ship so this is what I came up with:
 
Placed a bubble thingy on the deck to check for correct level.
 

 
I then used the same 34º in my tool and checked by eye and hand how close the bowsprit angle was to 34º. against the waterline.
In my opinion, it is very close, but as I said, this may be a very crude method for checking that. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. (If the ship looks not aligned, its because the camera is tilted.
 

 
Thank you!

Hi Geoff. I am not sure what pedestal you are referring to because I didn't use the mill for the ships wheel. But, if it is the fixture shown in post 823 in the lathe and then in the drill press, that came with the Proxxon lathe when I bought it. It has holes in it so you can screw wood on from the back. Here is a picture of it from the catalog (lower right): 
 

 
If that is not it, let me know.

Ok, some testing
 

 

 
Much better, but ...
 
When I was calculating width of dead eye, I forgot to count depth of wire.
 
0,5+0,5mm=1mm !!! Enormous 1mm on that place in this scale!
 
And exactly this 1mm produced all 4mm dia dead eyes to be too much close to each other
 
Tomorrow I'll consider the possibity to make ALL of dead eyes from 3mm laser cutt pieces, if I have enough of them