woodrat

I have installed the main deck beams and hanging knees as well as installing the bitts and all mast partners. The plan is to leave the deck largely onplanked so as to be able to see the lower cabins and the false deck.
 

Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

I have installed the main deck beams and hanging knees as well as installing the bitts and all mast partners. The plan is to leave the deck largely onplanked so as to be able to see the lower cabins and the false deck.
 

Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

Beams for the false deck below the main deck are installed as well as some main deck beams. The pump housing and forward bulkhead for the water storage hold are also installed temporarily.
 


 
 

the ladder inside the housing allows access to the cannonball storage around the base of the mast
Note the sliding access port to the housing
Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

This vessel did not have lodging knees but lodging planking, this would save money. Knees are made from grown compass timber ( this grain follows the shape of the knee) and for a humble merchant vessel would be expensive overkill. Hanging knees however were used and presumably grown.


Dick

I'm starting on a model of the Golden City, a paddlewheeler which operates on Ballarat's Lake Wendouree, run by volunteers  and taking passengers for trips around the lake every summer Sunday (weather permitting). It is a replica of one of the paddlesteamers which did the same thing back around the turn of the 20th century (unfortunately destroyed by fire some years ago).
 
It will be a Solid model, and I'm first making one at 1:50 to iron out the bugs. After that I'll be making another at 1:25 to present to the people who run her, who also run a museum dedicated to the vessel itself and its history. 
 
I've spoken to one of the organisers who's very keen on the idea - apart from anything else, visitors to the museum get disappointed when they can't see the vessel if she's out on the lake, so a decent sized model (68 cm or 27 inches long) would be a great help.
 
I've actually started on both models already, and if it all works out I'll simplify the design and make multiple 1:50 models to sell to visitors, as a fund-raiser for both the museum and for the Men's Shed where I make stuff (and which has so many wonderful boys' toys, like bandsaws, lathes, bench saws etc etc).
 
Here are some photos of her


And some I took close up while she was in her boatshed.




Plus photos of the plans which the museum kindly got out for me, and which I then redrew to make the model.


And here are the smaller and larger models so far. As you can see in the first and second photos the deck overlaps the hull considerably.

Upside down, showing the overlap.

And with 'paddleboxes' - just cut from a bit of 20mm wood with a hole saw and cut in half.

Comparative sizes - 1:50 in front and 1:25 behind.


The two together with paddleboxes. The bit in front is the roof awning, which fortunately is flat. And another shot of the two together. (The phone camera reduces the size contrast in the first photo and exaggerates it in the second.)

I think the most difficult bit for me will be the posts that hold up the awning and the railings. I can't see any way to make them except out of wire, and I'm currently rubbish at soldering. Well, another skill I'll need to learn . . .
 
Steven

Wire will make the strongest, especially if you use steel wire.  I’m not sure of the diameter of the stanchions and rails but at the scale I would guess they would be in the 1 to 1,5 mm region,
You could consider different materials like plastruct extruded sections ( ABS material ) which can be joined by solvent welding, but they might not be strong enough take even light handling.
Brass is easy to cut, solder and finish.
If you use steel wire - do not use the wire available in model shops, as this is Piano wire ( music wire to our US cousins) which is high-carbon, very hard and stiff and therefore quite difficult to cut to identical lengths, bend to repeatable curvatures, etc.  Engineers would say it is almost glass-hard.
Soft iron wire is probably too soft, but is easy to work, bend and solder*.  Samples are florists wire and some fence wire.  Bunnings do big hanks of garden wire - might be worth a look.
 
Piano wire can easily be tempered back to a useful hardness - same as your Uhfbert sword, but much faster ‘cos of its thinness.  Heat to dull red and allow to cool in air will produce very soft temper
 
*With the correct flux!
 
Sorry, I have rabbitted on too much.  
soldering easily learned - especially when shown the method.
Probably Pat’s resistance soldering setup is readily controllable and he might share his wisdom about it

4 secrets** of good soldering:
Cleanliness
Cleanliness
Right Flux
Cleanliness 
Enough Heat!
 
**. Like the Garden of Five Surprises

Thanks for showing us Kroum's Video, Steven. Very useful for future builds. Let's hope more preserved wrecks are found and that nondestructive visualisation of buried parts of the hulls and rigs can be achieved with further advances in technology.
Dick

Thanks for showing us Kroum's Video, Steven. Very useful for future builds. Let's hope more preserved wrecks are found and that nondestructive visualisation of buried parts of the hulls and rigs can be achieved with further advances in technology.
Dick

Thanks for showing us Kroum's Video, Steven. Very useful for future builds. Let's hope more preserved wrecks are found and that nondestructive visualisation of buried parts of the hulls and rigs can be achieved with further advances in technology.
Dick

As long as the weight of the knees doesnt sink the ship by the stern!😎
Dick

This painting of the stern of Venezianos nave shows somewhat less substantial supports for the stern castle than yours but of course it doesnt project as much as yours either.
Dick

As long as the weight of the knees doesnt sink the ship by the stern!😎
Dick

As long as the weight of the knees doesnt sink the ship by the stern!😎
Dick

This painting of the stern of Venezianos nave shows somewhat less substantial supports for the stern castle than yours but of course it doesnt project as much as yours either.
Dick

I have decided to install cross sections os the lower deck partitions. This the powder room, the lowest store. As this is a merchant vessel, it would probably double as a filling room and be accessed from a flush scuttle in the deck above. No iron fittings were allowed and all nails were of copper. A small scuttle in the floor would allow powder spills to be swept out to avoid risk of explosion. It is a good exercise to build the s storerooms as it made me research more .

this shows the sliding panels for distribution of filled cartridges. I assume that the powder barrels were loaded through the scuttle above. I have not shown the light alcoves  which separated the lanterns from the powder store . These would have been in the starboard wall. These would exclude flame from the store.
 

 

The beams for the deck above are in place.
Dick

here is the completion of the framing of the bow module. Phew!
 
The jarrah has been oiled to nourish the wood. It wont remain shiny and the wood will darken.
 

 
hawse holes are yet to be made.
 

 

By the way, and slightly off topic. I was very sad to hear about the death of James Byrnes, the man who built the fantastic table saw that enables me to machine wood to a stunning level of accuracy. He also made a rather lovely rope making machine as well as sanders and thicknessers, which would have been lovely to posess!
Link to his site with an obituary.
Byrnes Model Machines Home Page
 

I have installed the main deck beams and hanging knees as well as installing the bitts and all mast partners. The plan is to leave the deck largely onplanked so as to be able to see the lower cabins and the false deck.
 

Dick