ianmajor

The roof of the coach has been completed and installed. As this is curved, a suitable strategy for building it is needed. I considered carving it from solid, but this would be difficult to keep a consistent thickness. I decided to cooper it, that is to say, build it up as one would a barrel. 
 
The first step was to carve a form to build it on. I hollowed a piece of basswood to the appropriate radius, which in this case was 3½" full size (first photo). It was then shaped to the shape of the roof and marked out for the six planks that are nominally 1' 0" (scale) wide. These were cut and shaped with a slight bevel on each edge. They were then glued up on the form. 
 
Once complete, two 'rafters' were glued on the underside to maintain shape and integrity. A piece of fine sandpaper was rubber cemented to the form and the upper side of the roof sanded (second and third photos). The outer side edges of the roof were sanded flat, to fit the coach top edges. 
 
Following the color used on Prince Frederick's barge, I painted the roof a blueish green to imitate a verdigris copper roof. On the actual barge, the roof appears to be covered with painted canvas. I used a mix of viridian green, some white and then toned down with the addition of a touch of black. The top of the capitals on the coach were also painted this color and the roof glued in place. 
 
Next is the decorative work at the stern.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 157 –Deadeye Chain Backing Plates
 
Each of the larger channel chains is bolted to the hull through a backing plate (or preventer plate) for additional support.  These larger chains anchor the chain deadeyes for the lower shrouds and topmast backstays.  Chains supporting lighter rigging have a single bolt and no backing.  These plates are about 3’ long and about 1” thick with bolt holes at each end.  They are bent in an offset to fit over the chains.  The chain fabrication will be covered later.
 
The first step in making the numerous required plates was to solder brass tubes to the edges of a brass plate.  This fabricated piece is shown in the first picture after pickling and buffing to remove oxide.
 

 
I used wire silver solder and black paste flux for this.  The tubes were held for soldering with pins.  I used a small oxy-propane torch on the first side, then running out of O2 used a larger propane torch on the other side.  I normally use a small propane torch but in this case the large joints benefited from the extra heat.
 
The individual backing plates were then sliced off this strip in the circular saw using a screw slotting blade.  They were sliced off slightly over thickness.  In the next step the plates were filed smooth on one side, then flipped and filed to final thickness on the other.  The next picture shows this being done with the aid of a holding fixture.
 

 
The fixture has two milled slots, one slightly deeper for the first filing, the second milled to the final thickness for final sizing.  Both sides were polished with abrasive sticks.  The next picture shows plates before and after filing.
 

 
Each plate was then bent as shown in the next picture to form the offset.
 

 
Finally, the plates were pickled in acetic acid (white vinegar), given a degreasing bath (TIVA®) and submerged in a very dilute solution of Birchwood Casey® blacking.  They are shown after drying below.
 

 
Around 50 of these are required, but quite a few extras were made to account for expected attrition at each step and shape issues.. 
 
Chain fabrication and the 16” deadeye itting will be covered in the next part.
 
Ed
 

Thanks Pat.
 
The Mainmast Partners on Vulture are rather unusual, being a wedge shape. There are four pieces to them :
 

 

 
The Pump tubes fitted :
 

 
  Danny

Thanks, guys!!!!
 
The next steps to model the pavillon was to make the pavillons deck and the walls.
 

 

 
And after this I had to cut in the windows.
 

 

 
cheers Hartmut

And... the coach sides and ends have been completed, the 'glass' installed and the four sides permanently assembled. After some fien adjustment, the corners came together quite nicely. For the statisticians among us, there were 53 separate parts required just for the outer surfaces of one coach side alone! Next, the coach roof.

Greg,
 
That is absolutely gorgeous. Well done.

Greg,
 
That is absolutely gorgeous. Well done.

Greg,
 
That is absolutely gorgeous. Well done.

Thanks for dropping by, everyone.
 
The outer sides of the coach have been completed and gilded. The coach is only test-fitted together at present. I'm now in the process of panelling the inner sides and refining the fit of the corners of the coach. The latter needs particular care: take too much material off a corner and....
 
The door hardware has been added. The door knobs are of brass wire whose ends have been melted. If done correctly, the ends of the wire will form a small spherical ball. The 'bronze' hinges are pieces of bamboo treenail and paper, acrylic painted.

Hello,
to all a heartfelt thank you for the nice comments and the LIKES.

For the construction of the two rudder for the cutter, I show a small image series:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the comment and advice Carl, all.
 
Well, I think I'm able to declare success!
 
Had the quarterly meeting of shipmodelers at our gathering place at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum yesterday morning. After nearly 3 hours ship model shop talk about lunch with a fellow shipmodeler afterterwards, I managed to have a marathon session of rattling down the shrouds. All worked out pretty well and I didn't notice the stretching issue as much.
 
So, this morning, I tried spraying the completed work with the fixative. The matte varnish had a bit of sheen, so I used the matte fixative, which dried much faster, so I could use a heavier coat. It didn't really do much to lock the clove hitches in place, so I just brushed on some acrylic matte varnish. I know it works and it's quick to apply.
 
I trimmed off the excess line from the ratlines and the shouds looked okay.
 
 

 
 
But, then... I went ahead and took a thick piece of black rigging line, threaded it under the shrouds and then pulled the line tight. As I did, I could feel it slip tight against the mast head and I could actually see the shrouds tightening up.
 
I know it's cheating, but you will never be able to see this extra piece of line at this scale. And, after all, much of model making is about the art of illusion. Below, you can see the excess line sticking out.
 
 

 
 
So, now, after I secure that piece of line and cut the excess, I can comfortably start rigging the standing rigging on the bowsprit.
 
 
Clare

Hi again, and thank you all for your  likes !!
Today was not so much time for the ship, so I made only the first of the straight levers, and the soldering form of course. The method is the same as before, and I could manage to set the first set of levers together for a first fitting test. Everything looks fine, when all levers are done I can make some changes at the soldering forms to complete the whole sets.
 



 
Best regards
Gerhard
 
 

Learner: I didn't miss the panels: I simply took the photos while the sides were in the process of being built up!
 
Grant: Yes, it's true. Even professionals have to re-do things. Errare humanum est and all that.
 
Thanks for looking in, everyone.

Thanks once more for the likes and comments, everyone.
 
I had to re-do the side of the coach. I found that I had cut the lights to the wrong depth. In addition, the lights were uneven in width. So, a second round.
 
When dealing with tiny pieces, I've found it easiest to leave them over-length to glue them on (top photo). I then use a chisel to cut the pieces to exact length. The top and bottom pieces of the panel frame were cut a little overlength, then sanded using a sanding stick to trim them to exact dimension (second photo). 
 
The inner side of the piece has had card strips glued on to leave channels for the glazing (third photo). In this case I shall be using mica. This is a naturally occurring mineral that is fairly transparent. It can be peeled into very thin layers and cuts easily. The pieces will be slid into place from above before the roof is installed. The cutaway at the bottom of the side is because the hull curves inward here and this allows for the changing interior contour.
 
The last photo shows the work to this point. Next will be the inside panelling and the other side piece.

The first of the two coach sides is now in the process of being constructed. These are built up in the same way as the fore and aft ends of the coach. As there is a slight curve to the sides, allowance is made for some flex between each of the three lights.
 
Toni: to answer your question, I'm delaying a final judgement on the degree of reflectivity of the gold until the model nears completion. Also, the photographs don't really give the effect of the actual appearance to the eye.

No further progress to present at the moment - everything happens between my ears...

Small update in the overall scheme of things.
 
The new rudder is ready for the metal work and some additional holes.  For example the two tiller holes are drilled but need squaring up with some file work and a couple of small holes for the eyebolts/ringbolts need drilling   All things considered and compared to the elder brother rudder, I'm happy with this.  There is one minor defect that will be hidden by the rudder coat.  And no, i"m not going to forget this bit.....
 
The opening for the pintles is shaped now like the French ones and not like the English properly. I also used boxwood from three different sheets/scraps in order to have some variation between the three slabs of wood.
 
Edit:  Actually... I'm wrong.  Both the English and the French did that same way.  The square openings are the way many kits do them.   I have much to unlearn... as well as learn.
 
For the metal work, I'm going with smaller diameter pintles and cudgoens than on the first version. the irons (straps), I'll make from the same material as before.   Also, I'm considering right now eliminating the bolts holding the irons to the rudder and hull because even though the I'm using are the tiniest I can find, as this scale they are still too large.  i believe if my measurements and eyes are to be believed they work out to having the heads 3" in diameter and standing proud at out 1.5".
 
I'll be using epoxy for securing the metal to the wood, although I need to test first and make sure that it will hold.
 
 
 
 

Hello again,
 
a friend send me this picture of the now new restored Victory. Maybe they have seen my blog? 
 

 
This is my lobby 
 

 
Regards,
Siggi

Bucket ... just fooling arround ...
 

 

Search lights added and time to start rigging.

Now a word about customer service. After I finished my Varyag, I was in love with their fittings that are just not available commercially. I e-mailed Artwox with a photo of the Varyag I built (it was their kit) and asked if I could purchase some of their fairleads and a couple of small funnels for the Emden. The deck plans have 6 fairleads and if you look at the photo they are 2mm and I just could not replicate them.
 
In the mail today I received the items in the attached photo. I just had to pay for postage from China.
 
That, my friends is customer service. Eduard, take note.

Now, the searchlights and their controllers, the circled blob is the revell search light, the aftermarket ones are as close as I could get to the plans. I made the control boxes out of a resin funnel vent filed down with the addition of 3 flywheels. I will run a small piece of ezyline up to the base of the search light to represent the control rod. You can just make out the scratch built pin rails, I made 4 from wood or the deck and 3 smaller ones for the bridge in plastic. 

Plodding on. I have painted the masts. You can see from the Huff plans there is a LOT of rigging to do.

Do you ever have one of those days when your shoulders just camp up from too much time at the table?
 
Moving onto the masts, I was going to use brass and redo the entirety of both Masts from scratch. The kit ones are just not that bad, they just have no detail.
 
I trimmed off the yardarms, and started with them at bare poles. At this scale, this is where the sore shoulders began. As you can see the photo of the photo etch, the platforms for the searchlights are planked, but Huff says they were metal plate, so I just glued some on top and filed it down.
 
Using some spare yardarms from my Varyag build, I added proper yardarms and signal rods, plus the other etched platforms required. Rigging this stuff will be a nightmare. I still have to add the 4 lights which are aftermarket as the kit ones are blobs of plastic. I also have to add the searchlight control boxes which sit below them which I'll fabricate from resin. 

There were 6 carronades on the poop from 1780 to 1792. These were not refitted after the great repair. Neither the less the ports could still be "visible" in one way or the other in 1803, if this area was not subject of a complete rebuild.
 
The best guess so far for the swivels is the use as signal/salute guns, as the ship was visibly disarmed when Turner drew it.
 
XXXDAn