gerty

Very nice work Elijah - look forward to following along !

Very nice work Elijah - look forward to following along !

Very nice work Elijah - look forward to following along !

Beautiful work Russ !  Congratulations ! 

Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words. I am my own worst critic. However, I know that the sails are far too heavy for this scale and their shapes could be much better, especially at the corners.
 
Here is another shot with the fisherman temporarily rigged. The model will be displayed with the starboard side out, so the jib, fisherman, and gaff topsail are rigged to port. This will allow the viewer to see the main and fore halyards.
 
Russ

Hello all! This will be my build of the Continental Gunboat Philadelphia. A brief history of her is taken from the model shipways website. 
 
"Launched in August of 1776, the gunboat Philadelphia is the oldest American fighting vessel in existence. Part of the American fleet commanded by General Benedict Arnold, she sank on October 11, 1776 during the Battle of Valcour Island against the Royal Navy on Lake Champlain. She remained sitting upright in the cold waters of the lake until she was raised in 1935. Today, she’s on permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., complete with 24-pound ball that sent her to the bottom. "
  Length 26-3/8”
Width 13-3/4”
Height 24-5/8”
Scale 1:24 (1/2” = 1 ft.)
 
The actual gondolas built by Benedict Arnold were armed with two nine pounders, one twelve pounder and a few swivel guns. Arnold's gondolas were around 53 feet long with 15 1/2 foot beam and 2 foot draft. 
 
An overview image from the website is the following. 

The first few steps were pretty simple. I removed the parts I needed for the keel, stem and sternpost and glued them together. The keel was very straight with no noticeable war page. I sanded most of the laser char off. 

The pieces of wood that form the rabbets are pretty simple to carve. I just used an Xacto blade and a sanding block. There are also the visible parts of the stem and sternpost a which get narrower towards the ends. I have yet to make these rabbets at the bow.
 
That's it for now. Thank you for looking in! 
 
 
 
 
 

Look forward to following along !

Hi Guys
Stunning Work Chuck Ive loved following the build - as a newbie here I feel like I'm walking where angels fear to tread suggesting this but thought I might share something which is sort of between both your and druxey preferences just a simple way to hold lines till you want to permanently fix them without using glue or marking them.
 
When I started rigging I found I needed at least three hands until I came across some various sized electrical heat shrink tubing. I used it for taking the strain during shroud seizing and just adjusting and holding any lines fixed or running in position till you were ready to finally tie them off.
 

 
Just cut two or three pieces of tube - thread the line or rope thru then around the block or deadeye then back up thru the tube. Move them to a position above or below where you want to place the final seizing. Hit them with a hair-dryer to whatever tension you want - easy or tight slip or no slip and when you've finished the final seizing take a no 11 blade to the rubber and it falls off with no marks or need for clean up.
.
Apologies for the Photo its from my Billings candidate for a Viking burial. Cheers Pete

Thank You for the kind words.
 
Here are some of the details for those folks that are building Cheerful too.
 
To finish the half of the sling that is on the yard,   I served a length of .035 dark brown rope.  Then I seized a thimble into one end.  I only made a few wraps of the thread when I seized it and then snipped off the loose end so it sticks out just a tiny bit as shown below.
 

 
The longer end was cut so the entire span was 2 3/4" long.  Then the long end was brought up to the thimble and glued into position.  The seam is hardly visible after it was glued.  The two ends were carefully butt against each other as well as the edges glue to each other.   Then I waited for it to dry thoroughly.  You can use Yellow  glue for this but use is straight because if you dilute it the joint wont be very strong....I suppose CA would work but I know that is frowned upon.
 

 
Once dry, I served the remaining area below the thimble so it strengthened the joint.  Then I carried the serving around the between the thimble and the split area as shown...just two wraps more as this also holds that splice joint together.   Then a thinned wash of yellow glue was brush all over the siezing and allowed to dry.  It was quite strong and did the trick nicely.
 

 
You can see this portion of the sling placed on the lower yard.  The same thing is done for the sling on the topsail yard but this time .025 dark brown rope was used.  and the length was much shorter.
 

 
This is an image of the lower yard fully set up with stirrups and horses.  The brace pendants were set up for the fore and aft braces and the clue line blocks hung from the center of the yard.  I used .025 dark brown rope for the stirrups and horses.  The stirrups were wrapped three times around the yard and then the end with the eye in hung down the aft side.  It was 11/16" below the yard and a simple eye seized on its end so I could run the horse through it.  The stirrups also hang on the outside of the yard as opposed to the inside of the three wraps.  Hope that makes sense.  Also attached is a PDF of the yards and all the rigging as it differs a bit from the earlier plans that we made.  All new plans have been updated to show this layout.  The yards were a bit too long on my original drafting for the project.  I have shortened them up based on some research but the diameter of each yard stays the same as it was noted originally.
 
yards for cheerful.pdf
 

 
And the completed topsail yard
 

Thank Russ, Ken, CH, Sam, HH, Mark and to everyone who beat the like button like a red headed stepchild. Your encouragement and support are greatly appreciated.
 
Work on the deck fixtures has been progressing along fairly well. Quarter bits, chocks, belaying pins, galley light, smoke stack, seine roller and chain box with 90 fathoms of chain.
 

 
I finally broke down and bought Chapelle's book
The American Fishing Schooners, 1825-1935. An incredibly detailed listing of ships and their parts are of great help. I wish I'd bought it in the start.
 
So next on the list is the windlass and all it's parts. Thankfully Chapelle's book is quite detailed for this. Onward!

Hi All,
I have to move away from research for a while to build a little more.  Or I will know everything there is to know about the Mariefred and never build her.  The Mariefred is a very early (1903) steel boat.  So like Nils (Mirabell61), I had to plate her, rivets and all.  Maybe I shouldn’t say so but it was a lot easier that I thought it would be.  The main problem is finding the right foil for the job.  Most of what I found at the hardware store was too thin and doesn’t look right.  There were four or five brands where us non-professionals find what we want.  But walking down to the end of the store where the contractors go, I found the heaver foil that is needed.  I found an old clock gear that I made into a ponce wheel and with just a little practice . . . here’s the results.   I’ll accept it as a first try.  Now paint and on to the rest of the boat.
 
Bob

On another forum that I post this on (not a modeling forum, just a modeling thread) I was asked about fitting the ends of the planks on my bow decking to the margin plank, so I made a mini-tutorial on how I do that, so sharing it here as well in case someone might learn something from it (or tell me I'm making it way too hard on myself, who knows!).
 
-----------------
 
Here is that step-by-step thing on plank fitting that I promised last week and then didn't actually get to do until this morning.  The plank in question isn't a very good example since it's a very slight angle/curve at this location, the the process doesn't change at all, just the angle and length of the joint.   Step 1 - Place a piece of planking so that the end against the existing plank is right at the point it needs to be, and mark the opposite edge where it crosses over the margin plank.  At this point I also mark the other end of the plank for length, leaving about 1/8" or so (better too much than too little) extra to allow for the shortening of this plank as I work the end.     Step 2 - Using a small mitre-box I trim the piece to length.  I sort of failed on the camera angle here, but you can get the idea.     Step 3 - Also a failed camera angle.  Using a steel straight edge, I use a #11 blade to trim the end of the plank based on the mark I made on the edge to the point that was against the existing plank.  This leaves me with a slightly long plank with an angled end.     Step 4 - Place this cut piece into position and look at how it fits.  As can be seen here, I made the angle a bit too sharp, so the plank it tight where it's against the existing plank (where the blade is pointing) but leaves a gap as you get to the opposite edge.  This tells me that I am going to sand down the point of the angle, trying to curve it slightly to the opposite end where no sanding will be done.     Step 5 - Sanding.  I just do this by hand, using a 220 grit sandpaper, and kind of wing it based on how the fit was.     Step 6 - Dry fit again, and see what corrections need to be made. In this case you can see that I over-sanded the 'point', but there is still a gap at the opposite edge (red arrows) so now it needs to be sanded in the center where it's now tightly fitting (black arrow).  I just repeat this process until the fitment is good enough to make me happy.     Step 7 - Final dry fit.  To my eyes this looked really good.  The camera close up reveals that I could have done a bit more sanding as there is still a slight oversanding at the 'point' of the angle, but it's not really something that will be visible to the eye, especially after final finishing.     Step 8'ish - Not pictured - the center plank that was previously placed already has been coated with lead from a #4B artists pencil to simulate caulking in the finished deck.  The new plank now gets the same treatment, but only on the end where it meets the margin plank, and the outside where the next plank will be laid.  Coating both sides of a joint makes it too heavy for my taste.  Before adding the lead, the entire side of the plank gets a very slight bevel sanded into it with 220 grit sandpaper so that the deck surface of the planks mate very closely together.  The end where it will join with the margin plank was sanded with a bevel when I was shaping it.   Step 9 - Plank is glued in place and clamped.  Glue (yellow wood glue) is placed on the plank itself in a very thin layer using a flat end of a plank to smooth is and remove all excess.  The same thing is done on the deck surface where it will be glued.     Step 10 - Remove clamps and see how it came out.     The darkness of the joint along the margin plank will be reduced to something similar to what you see on the margin plank joints after sanding, and then hopefully be about the same as the bow planking came out once it's finished and wipe on poly is added.

Mini-update with almost no progress!
 
My margin plank on the stern decking failed miserably.  I made a paper pattern by tracing the outside of the deck, and then using a compass to run the inside edge and determine the centerline and split.  The two outside edge pieces came out great, but somehow the curve on the center piece is wrong.  My guess is that the paper didn't get laid down onto the wood properly when it was glued, since it's just notebook paper.  So now I'm going to re-do it using card-stock and see if that works better since it is much stiffer obviously, and should be much more resistant to being changed when glued to the wood.
 

 
Stern margin planking, round 2!
 
Made new patterns, this time out of card stock (manila folder) so that it would not deform when gluing it to the wood.
 

 
After cutting the wood out, test fit with the patterns still on the wood, and it's much better, the curve is pretty spot on, just need to make the joints fit tight.
 
 

 
I glued the center curve into place, and then adjusted the joints on the side pieces to fit well, and then glued them in place and clamped.
 
 

 
 
I can live with this.
 
 

 
Now I can add the planks.
 
I've found that all of the decks that I planked have developed a massive amount of warp, I'm guessing due to the stress as the glue dried between the layers, so now all of the completed pieces are beneath a big stack of heavy wood and steel weights to hopefully straighten them out.

My time in the shop has been really limited, but I have made some slight progress on the picket boat.
 
I finished the other main cockpit deck.
 

 
And then I started working on planking the faces of the bulkheads that will be exposed when everything is completed.
 

 
I have a couple more bulkheads to plank, but they were stupidly already attached to the keel prior to realizing that they would be exposed, oops.  I am going to try to plank them in place, we'll see how that goes.  In the meantime I decided to work on one of the tricky pieces, the bow deck.  This piece is tricky because of the two sections of margin plank that are curved and funky-shaped at the stem.  Because of this, these pieces need to be custom cut out of a wider sheet of wood.  I tried three times to get it right by tracing the outside of the deck and then measuring and tweaking, and this was the best of the three attempts:
 
 

 
At this point was when I realized that I'm a stupid idiot.  I have plans, I have a scanner, and I have a laser printer.  Also, I'm apparently too stupid to think of using those tools to make a thing called a pattern.  Anyway, I scanned in the part of the plans with the bow, then messed around with the printer settings until I nailed the proper settings to get it to print in exact scale (because for whatever stupid reason the image the scanner makes is not the right scale when printed actual size).  I cut out the appropriate part of the printed plan, and pasted them to the sheet of wood.
 
 

 
What do you know, using that 'pattern' thing is actually a pretty good way to make things.  Who knew.
 
This was the first piece cut out using the patterns.
 
 

 
Other than cutting the front shape a little odd, it's almost perfect, and having the front over-sized isn't a big deal, I can trim it back when it's done.
 
The second part glued up with pattern still attached, and then removed.
 

 
I had to do a bit of careful trimming and sanding to the inside of the curve right at the bow because I managed to glue the 2nd piece in place slightly out of alignment with the first one, but some patience and sandpaper wrapped around the round end of a small file took care of it so that I could start the planking.  I laid a 5/16" center plank and then started placing 1/4" planks to either side.  Matching the curve at the end was easier than I thought, and this part went pretty well without a hitch.
 
 

 
And the finished bow deck with a coat of wipe on poly.
 
 

 
Still have to plank the stern which will require a 3-piece margin plank and then a couple of benches for the aft cockpit and the two bulkheads that are already attached to the keel  I am also going to have to re-do one of the bulkheads because I realized that I didn't account for the propeller shaft coming through it, and made the planking notch way too high.

the last segment is cut and cemented in place......even though there is a 1/32 difference,  it looks much better.
 

 

 

 
I am thinking of using some .5mm strips to make up the difference.  it would cover those nasty seams and it would look a bit better.  I ran a center line down the middle.
 

 

 
I have some 5mm wide strips.......but then I thought of the dark mahogany strips I have.   these strips are an inch wide {about 25 mm}......the insert is about 5 inches wide.  it will save me from dealing with all those smaller strips.
 

 

 
not to worry about that cover I wasted my time on.........I'll put it to good use......somewhere 
 

thanks Bob    OK........so my cross trees don't make me look fat........GOOD!   my first attempt at making them {it wasn't on this build}......I'm not too happy with.  if I ever get back to said build,  I might change them.  the day did not go as planned..........
 
I had left the bow railings on the desk,  in the event during the week end,  I felt up to some play time.   I didn't.   so,  the day began with getting then done and out of the way.   one of the railings.....I forget which one,  had a pin that was out of place.   in trying to fix it,  the pin broke.....so a new one was cemented in it's place......that is,  after filing down the stub of the old one.   the first strand was strung on,  when I realized I would not have enough to do the aft railings.   getting a short length of light cord from the garage,  a fresh bunch of wire strands was extracted.


both railings were strung and cemented.......I found a pair of tweezers that do the trick with straightening out the rungs.......these actually came out looking better.   I may be getting used to this lilliputian modeling    after a bit more tweaking,  they were given a coat of paint.

I made a special sleeve to keep the wire in.......I kept out two for the aft railing.  capping off one end of a plastic tube,  it works perfectly.

the bollards need to be prepped and painted.   in assembling them,  the pins to insert them in the base,  are too long and stick out the bottom.   they need to be filed down first.  once filed,  they were stuck on a piece of tape,  that I had laid out.   the lonely one on the right broke,  so the base needed to be replaced.......good thing I have the extra parts panel,  that I ordered from Cornwall.....I have the part to fix it.

you can see how flimsy the bases are.......made of that thin stiff plywood.   why that particular material was chosen,  is anyone's guess.   the panel I'm talking about can be seen at the beginning of this log.......if you recall,  the parts for the structure in the background,  is on the same panel.   I started to make the fife rails........and the bow fife rail....but I got distracted.........I began thinking.........     I wanted to do something on the trawler.........but that wasn't it      I was befuddled    something that will make a lot of sawdust .......  looking at my desk.......I don't know where I had left off   I know I had the bow rail somewhere..........

 

WHOAAAA!   clean up the cobwebs and dust!  at least all the pictures are still here.......I thumbed through the log.   it's been a while since I last worked on the project.   I was gonna pull out the other fishing boat....but that needs paint.   I'll wait till I can set up in the garage...late spring and it's a wet one so far.   this one is not far behind in that respect.......add a few things and she'll be good to go.
    I thought........rub rails.......but first,  I gave the hull a good going over with the sandpaper.   the split in the bow stem was fixed......the plywood had separated.   there's also an area that I'm going to fix.    I pulled out the diagram of the side profile and laid out the main part of the rub rails.   I still have to round off the ends,  as I've done with other vessels.  I recalled using the metal pulley blocks,  when I did the Andrea Gail.  Billing's was out of stock,  so I did try my hand at making them from scratch for another project.   it worked out well....but,  in ordering the belaying pins for the Thermopylae,  I saw them......so,  I got a package of them.   they come ten to the pack,  and they do require assembly.

the rub rails for this boat was fun to do......there are some at the bow I still need to add.   next update.




I need to see what I have for the cap rails........I have the pair for the bow.   now.......perhaps with time that has past.....I can arrive at a solid solution to solve my 'pain in the deck'.  

it doesn't look bad,  but it has some buckles in it.   with what I learned with the U.S.S. United States deck work,  I should have run a pair of 1/8 strips parallel underneath.....it would have thwarted it from happening.  we'll see what I come up with     as always.......thanks for looking in.
 

well Bob........you did say you wanted to see me back at work on my builds :D ...careful what you wish for    I found out that I'm not on Santa's nice list........I guess in a way it'll be good......I'll need all the coal I can get to power the heaters at the wharf
 
never a dull moment Adam.........never a dull moment     I love it as well!
 
 
 
well.......the cover is dry now.  I fitted it in place,  and to be honest,  I'm not happy with it.   it sticks up in places,  the curvature isn't right,  and there's gaps.   I could add a border strip around it,  raising it up a little,  but then I'd have to contour it to the deck curvature.....too much work,  in my view.
 

 

 

 
since there is a lip around the hole,  and I do have some 1/16 flat stock,  I decided to go the route I should have done in the first place.   the cover will have to be made in three pieces......so I cut the first segment.   the decking is 3/32 thick.....I'll have to make up the difference somehow.  I cut the second segment,  and held it in place.
 

 
it looks pretty good........I cemented them down.  for the seam in the middle,  I reinforced it with a strip of wood,  so it would mate flush.
 

 

 
now to cut the last segment......I reinforced the seam here as well.
 
 

Coming along very nicely Denis ! -...late to the party - but look forward to now following along !

Coming along very nicely Denis ! -...late to the party - but look forward to now following along !

Coming along very nicely Denis ! -...late to the party - but look forward to now following along !

Coming along very nicely Denis ! -...late to the party - but look forward to now following along !

And so it continues.  I was working from home today, as work is sort of a mess right now, but the nice thing about working from home is that I can pretty much keep my own schedule, and I can go do a bit on the boat, and then go work while I'm waiting for something to dry for the next step.  Working like that is sort of a pain, but it does allow me to make slow progress even when I don't have time to sit down and plank the poop-deck of the AVS.
 
After cleaning up the ribs a bit, the next items on the agenda are the in-wale and gun-wale.  These are made with cherry strips in the kit.  The in-wale is pretty straight forward, trim the strip to length and glue it along the top of the ribs between the two end decks.  No particular issues other than accidentally cutting one a bit too short and having to insert a shim.  Oops.  Only 1 spare strip of cherry, so I didn't use it since the gun-wales would be the real challenge (this turned out to be the right decision).
 
Here the in-wales are both placed and glued up.  I went back to the white PVA glue for this.

 
The next step was the gun-wales, which turned out to be what is likely the most challenging part of this kit for a new modeler, as it certainly was for me.  The cherry strips are 1/8" x 1/16", and they need to be tapered for the final 3-1/2" of the ends of the gun-wale to a 1/32" square.  So they need to taper in both dimensions, to an extremely fine point, and then they have to be bent to fit the curve of the deck!  Cherry isn't nearly as flexible as basswood.
 
The instructions say to soak the planks in a 50/50 ammonia/water mix and then super glue one end, follow the curve of the hull, and then at some nebulous point, trim the other end to length and taper it.  Umm.. yea, sure, that will work great!  Or maybe not.
 
I chose to taper one end of the plank, then use the "Chuck" bending system to get it shaped to follow one end of the hull.  Chuck's system is pretty simple, using 3 clamps and a board, you apply heat to the bent plank (I use a heat gun, Chuck demonstrated with a hair dryer), and then let it cool.  When you un-clamp it, there is very little spring-back.

 
After getting one end shaped, I clamped it in place, all the way along the edge of the hull, and then marked where to cut the other end off, tapered the other end, and then bent it to shape.  After I was happy with the curve at both ends, I glued the plank in place and clamped it.

 
While sanding the taper on one end, I managed to snap one of the planks in two about 1/3 of the way down.  So much for a spare plank!
 
Luckily I managed to get two of them done without breaking another one, and got them in place.  Once they are glued in place, I sanded down the top of the wales to be even with the hull from end to end.  And that's where it is now.

 
The next items in the kit are the thwarts, and the seats.  After that comes the paddles and it's finished.  I'm going to play some finishing games though, and I think I'll do that prior to placing anything else into the canoe, so it will probably be a bit before there is another update, as the finish will take a week or more to complete due to drying between layers.
 
Hopefully I'll have the 'finish reveal' by next weekend.
 
In the meantime, I'll get to planking the poop-deck of the AVS tomorrow I think.  Just need to figure out a good way to make a jig to cut 26 identical tapered planks for that.
 
Cheers!

The little canoe continues to progress in my spare moments.  Work has been crazy this last couple of weeks, so the canoe has been nice to have, as I can pop into the work room, do a couple of planks in 30 minutes, and then go back to work or take care of other things around the house.  When I'm working on the AVS I tend to want to have at least an hour or two in a solid block to work on it, and I just haven't had that lately, so if I didn't have the canoe going I probably wouldn't be doing any ship work at all.
 
In any case, progress update.
 
The more planks I got on, the simpler the clamping arrangements became, as there just isn't that much room left to put planks on as the remaining area to be planked shrinks.  The little alligator clamps worked great, since the 'bulkheads' are not going to be part of the finished model, so it's no big deal if their sharp teeth tear up that wood a little bit.
 
I also used a lot of little spare pieces of planking material to act as wedges.

 
And.. then it was done.  The last plank in place, and rough sanded.

 
After work tonight I'll do a final sanding to smooth the wood out a bit and remove any fuzzies, and then pull it from the strong-back to complete the planks at the stems which extend above the gunwale and aren't supported by the strong-back.

Thanks, Gerty ! Good to see you back at the shipyard, looking forward to following your skipjack build.