rybakov

I glued the parts and there are still a few parts to be done.






 

Stair railing during construction on the forecastle.
 
What is the worst way to build the stairways? Glue the parts as they are done. Parts will be glued faster on the model but it will be harder to build other parts on the model itself. At the opposite, it is easier to build as much as possible without gluing. This way, a part can be remove as needed to be shape.
 
Often, it will be easier to shape a part on the vise, simply because the vise will easily hold the part, something that the fingers cannot do very well, and the hands will be free to hold the tool to shape the part: 
 
at the good working angle and at the good height. Not in all the situations, but often a part of the fabrication is much easier done if the tool meets the part at the good angle and also at the good height where it is easier to perform a movement.
 
2 things are needed to achieve this: an electric height adjusting table. This is 1 of 2 important tools that everybody should have when possible. The other one is a vise. Choosing a vise looks like to be very easy to do.. This subject comes back occasionally in the tool section. The newcomer will usually buy a vise at a very low price.
As in the learning of the model ship building, understanding what is a good tool often needs experimentation. When I was a beginner, I bought a hobby vise. With the wearing, the vise became harder and harder to squeeze tight the jaws. Also the angle adjustment had more and more trouble to hold the working position. It was not long that this tool became unusable.
 
The second category of vise would be in the metal machining category.  There is a company who made a good little one and this is Unimat. The problem with the milling vise, is that it is difficult to find a quality vise in the small sizes
 
 
Finally, a third category of vise comes from the jewelry tool industry. The range is quite large. Unfortunately, there is a bad side, the price. In this category, the price can be as low as$20 for something simple and close to $1000 for an elaborate one.
 
One of the main problem of the vise is to hold a part parallel to the table. The part has a tendency to be pushed out vertically, out of the vise. This is why a machinist will give the part a light hammer blow to seat well the part on the vise. This is also why the jaws need to have a way to stay well seated on the vise base.
 
There are a lot of vises on the market but very few can really be called a good vise!
 
 

Thank you for your comments.
 
 You need to take many photos to get one good one that you will like. Sometimes it is very difficult, sometimes it is much easier. Practice, again, is the key word. 
I like to experience different "tools" for photography. As we know Lighting is the base to get good results. Expensive equipment is not mandatory. I had some surprisingly good results with a flashlight and a $10  LED lamp from IKEA.
 
This week, I started the railings:

Photos 

Hello,
the billboards are now also ready. It was't easy because they are twisted a little.

 
The pictures with them ready where not sharp, so I delated them. 

 

 
The next things at my to do list are the windows at the quarter deck. 🤭 That means tiny carving, but one time I have to do it. 

Good morning,
I must say, most of the billboards where parallel sided, but not all. 
The Yarmouth 1745

 

 
and the Royal Oak 1741 for example

The whole lining is following a curve and I think I should do it also with the Tiger so. Because the channel is set back a little and I found no ship of this time with only at one side of the bolster a free space. 
The Tiger 1747

 

 
For a sailer to loot water depth is't there much space. It would be the most dangerous working place at the ship. The ruler is to scale in feet.

 
 
 

I did't find pictures where there is room enough, that there could someone stand. At later ships, like the Bellona, yes. There is the bolster extrem long forward. But even at her sister ship, the Superb, it would't work. There is't enough headroom I would say.

 
Here a picture from the Centurion. That part is there missing, but the notches in the channel indicate its place.

 
And here the other 60 gunner from that period. I don't think that there anyone could stand. But at least, they are both parallel sided! The not so parallel sided one are from ships, where the channels are lower and yes some had also this bolster. 

 
When I build that part like version #3, then is there a space 4mm deep and 6 mm long. Means 192 X 28,8mm. That is't really convenient to stand. 
I sleep it over and will see tomorrow what I do.
 
 

Hello and thank you for all your likes
Today I finished the chain plates at the star board side. 

I see it every time at the pictures, but the underwater ship is't so dirty. That is mostly noise in the picture.
 
The next thing would be, finishing the anchor lining. There I have 3 opportunities

After Goodwin the upper part should be parallel lined, but I found also models where it is't so. I would let the lining end under the channel, not in front of it, and prefer the curve #2. At these older ships the channels where mostly set at the waist rail, later below it, and I would't brake that line. At the models you see it sometimes so, or so.

We’re literally coming down the home-stretch with Dad.  We moved his furniture and belongings, this past weekend, and we will move him this coming weekend - HUZZAH!
 
Naturally, work on the ship is fairly meager, but I did get the deck sheathing and stove painted, and I did manage to make-up and fit the forecastle beam that will be visible at the break of the forecastle deck.  A montage that shows my paint processes, particularly for my natural “oak” finish:
 

 
For some reason, I can’t load the other two pics of the sheathing because of an “unknown server error”.  Anyway, the process is pretty straightforward; flat black spray primer, followed by Citadel silver (allowing some black to peak through), finished with grey enamel wash.  The enamel wash picks up all the nail heads and sheet seams nicely, while giving an oxidized metal finish.  The white stripes are masks for where the stove glues down.
 
The stove begins with Modelmaster Random Tan as my base coat over white enamel primer:
 

 
Although it will never be seen, I chose to represent the brick work that is sandwiched between iron and wood.
 
Next, I slather the whole thing in Windsor and Newton medium grey oil, and allow it to sit for five minutes, or so, before wiping most of it away.  This paint gives the wood a pleasing silver-ish cast, like newly oxidizing oak, and it gets into all the plank seams and grain structure:
 


 
Next, after allowing it to cure for a few days, I do the same thing again with W&N Van Dyke Brown.  This is what restores a sense of woody warmth to the surface, while enhancing texture and depth:
 

 
The plate mounted to the deck:
 

 
The iron blacked-in:
 

 
I decided to rub some powdered graphite over the black, so that the lattice would pop a little.  Again, this will never be seen, but I wanted to play around with powder effects. It is subtle, but effective:
 

 

 
Lastly, the stove on-board:
 

 

 
The stove gives me a central glue connection for that beam, which will lend some rigidity to the whole deck structure.
 
In other news, I have 2 of 3, aft bulwark gussets fitted and installed.  All the prep work on the last bulwark is done, so I will resume painting soon.
 
I hope all are well, as the holiday approaches.  Thank you all for stopping by.  More to follow!

Thank you scrubbyj427.  Photos

Work continues on chapter nine with some of the forecastle planking completed. W-O-P has not been applied which makes it harder to see the butt joints. Hopefully you will see enough to get the idea. That center piece behind the bollards was made that way which makes it easier to hold. The grain runs port and starboard. This makes it easier to slice off that long tab after the glue dries.
 

 

 
Mike

Good morning Håkan,
the cannons, also those for the gun deck, are ready. The beams for the upper gun deck are til now not all permanently installed.
With the lightning  and taking pictures I have no problems. I have LED lightning already in my shop. The only disadvantage with LED's is, that they did't have UV-A radiation. So the paint did't harden really good. 
 

 

 
 

@druxey
Hello,
first of all I would like to thank you for the appreciation of my work.
Of course, I'll be happy to show you how I make the thimbles. I hope that the following pictures explain this as far as possible.
Should there be any unanswered questions, please don't be shy and just ask.

 

 

 

Hello
and many thanks for your nice comments and likes. I'm overwhelmed 😮
I finished the fore mast port side and started with the main mast. 
 

 

 
And that are the bolts who hold the chain plates in place. But today wasn't my day. So I stoped working.  There where a 0,8mm bold should fit, I tried a 1mm bold and for the 1mm bold I drilled 0,8mm holes! And all ready with CA saturated 😬 

Continuation: Standing rigging of the royal masts
Meanwhile I am already installing the royal shrouds of the foremast. To keep the distances of the thimbles more or less equal, I use a correspondingly curved piece of wire for the installation.
 
 
See you soon ...

Thank you very much for yours comments and likes. Photos  transoms

Hi Rick,
 
Yes, it would be possible as they do on the second deck for the toilet room door but I do not think that they would do it because it is the great room where the highest rank officers meet and we would not want to risk to stumble because of a sill. You can see on the first photo taken by the Gopro camera what the height would need to be.







 
 

In the last 2 photos, inclination of the wall can be noted... the doors, not yet installed had to be opened towards the inside, impossible to open towards outside.

Thank you popash42
 
This forum is a great place to learn model ship building. Many excellent model ship makers participate.
 
I like to take photos of the construction progress in different styles of photography and I  also try to take photos during construction process to show how to get to build a part. This way, there is more to learn than just looking at the part completed. By example, I took a photo during the construction of the pillars to show How I slide the part to make parallel grooves.
 
I like to try new tools and I also like to try new photography equipment. The main camera I use is a Canon.For general photos, the main lens the 40-70mm 2,8. I also like to experience new lens. I remember the first time I used telephotos lens which at first glance seems insane but many good photos can be successful. During the last 10 years, I learned a lot about photography and I also experienced a lot. There is a common goal between the construction of a model ship and photography. There is an aspect which is essential for both: LIGHTING. If lighting is unsufficient during the construction, there are many details which are going to be missed, simply because, you will not see it. The same applies for the photography. During the years, especially the recent years, lighting took a giant step with LED. With LED lights, you can take photos without any expensive flash. It is not only the lens which will provide the details but also the lighting.
 
This forum has been on line for more than 10 years now but It is only this year that the administrators agreed to add a section for the photography. I strongly believe that a camera is an important tool as much as a saw can be for the model ship builder. There are many types of saws, there are many types of camera and it is worth to learn how to use it.
 
The construction of the windows continues. For this particular 74 gun ship, do you know how much false windows there are?
The number is quite high: fourteen, 5 each side, 4 in the back. If they had pushed, they could have even go up to sixteen false windows! On the previous build of the 74, black paint was applied behind the false windows to fool the eye. This time to understand the construction process, I will not apply paint.

It is time to clean the spider webs and continue the work. The goal for the moment will be the windows but before  we need some  moldings.
The longest one are cut from a 3/4 by 3/4 inch  plank.

The work will now be aft outside. In preparation the windows. The process of building is exactly as a real home wall framing, openings, covering the walls, moldings. Many windows are fake, meaning no glass, and a black back. I revisited the notes from the first forum about it. In 2009,  with Jack Nastyface and Wacko Wolf we had an interesting discussion about these fake windows. The fake windows are mostly on the sides, For 6 windows, 1 1/2 is true, on each side. I am actually working on the framing that I began few years ago. Unfortunately, I have a big dilemma about the number of windows on the first deck which is 10. With the fake windows, they wanted to give the illusion that the ship was much important than it really was. I began the work by covering the beams. Working this way, it means that there would be 8 windows. But in this megalomania, on the plans, unfortunately, for me, there are 10 windows. Maybe, I should have done the same 74 as Mark, the Bellona which has 8 windows at the first level. So, now the question is will I be cheating or undoing some works?
 
Fortunately, model ship building is not the only pleasure. I like to make adaptors, sometimes called jig and sometimes called tool. I always try to apply the same principles. It must fill a need, it must be as simple as possible, it must be made as fast as possible, when metal is not required, plastic or wood is used.
 
I bought a brush made with v dents to clean the polishing wheels. Very efficient to clean.




 
 

Hi photo.

@giampieroricci
Thanks for the recognition.
I admire your work as well.
I would also like to thank everyone else for the many LIKES.
 
Continuation: Mizzen topgallant and mizzen roayl shrouds
The shrouds on the royal mast on my corvette have a model scale of 0.25 mm. The following picture shows a prepared shroud with integrated thimble (ø 0.9 mm) and the counterpart for the lanyard lashing, which is attached to the end of the crosstree of the topgallant mast.
  

In this context I show again the thimbles I used on this model, which are made of blacked brass. The smallest thimble has a diameter of around 0.9 mm.

 
The mast trucks that were stupidly glued in place by me when building the topgallant masts are of course extremely cumbersome when laying the shrouds and stays. It is very problematic when attaching the stay collars with the integrated thimbles. So I tried to carefully remove these mast trucks again. This worked quite well for the fore and main mast. With the mizzen mast, on the other hand, it did not work with the best will in the world without causing damage. As an alternative, I therefore tried to install the collar for the lifts of the mizzen royal yard directly on the model, which ultimately succeeded with the help of a corresponding device.

   
I tried the first variant with a rope ø 0.35 mm for the collar and with thimbles ø 1.2 mm. The dominance of this collar on the royal mast top bothered me and seemed immeasurable to me. So I started another attempt with a rope ø 0.25 mm for the collar and with thimbles ø 0.9 mm, which now suits me much better.

 
So the next picture shows the completed standing good of the mizzen mast, starting with the crosstrees.

  
Which means I can then move on to the main mast to attach the royal stay and shrouds there too. I have already prepared the royal shrouds for the main and foremast with other corresponding rigging components as shown in the last picture.

 
Up soon …

The stove is ready for paint:
 

 

 

 
The best scale effect for the lining plate lattices was pedestrian typing paper cut into narrow strips and CA’d in-place.  I sanded coarse scratches into the planking, so that the exterior will pick up the Van Dyke Brown distressing well.
 
I still need to make the “metal” deck sheathing that goes beneath the stove sleepers, but that is a simple thing.
 

 
I’m close to being ready for paint on the aft, starboard bulwark.  I took even greater care in fitting this last piece because I did not want to deal with any putty at all, on the outside seam.  Paint touch-up was a real pain for the three bulwarks prior.
 
More to come!  Thank you for your interest and for stopping by.

Moving onto chapter 9, I decided to start with the caprail along the waist. I've completed one side. What's interesting is what I had to do in order to get the caprail close to the scroll molding which it sits against at both ends. It was tricky and took some time to do. I'm happy with the result. 
 
Each end had to be shaped like this. .

 

 
Mike