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Gahm

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Posts posted by Gahm

  1. I finished the stern ornamentation. One of the biggest problems
    for me was (and still is) to find a good method to transcribe the drawings shown
    on the plan to the target  piece of wood, which in this case was a piece of Swiss pear

    sanded down to about 5/64 inch. I chose the thickness of the wood slightly larger than

    what the ornament finally should be. As transcription method I ended up with using a copy of the drawings
    in the plan, blackened the backside of the paper with a pencil, placing the
    paper on the target wood and tracing the drawings with a pen. This leaves the
    traced part of the drawings as fine black lines on the wood. These lines I reinforced
    again with a pen (image1.1). However, I would highly appreciate ideas for
    better transcription methods! As a next step I glued the piece of wood with two
    little droplets of superglue on a larger block of wood for easier handling.
    Using a rotary tool as well as little chisels and an Exacto knife I first generated
    the coarse shape and then the fine details (image 1.2). Finally the wood piece
    with the carvings was detached from the wood block and sanded down until the
    wood matrix (background) disappeared (image 1.3) and only the carvings remained
    due to their larger thickness. This method allows generating carvings which ultimately
    are thin enough to match the scale of the model. Image 1.4 shows the finished
    result, images 2 and 3 show the Syren’s stern with the mounted ornamentation.

     

    post-925-0-65273900-1361752059_thumb.jpg

    Production of stern carvings.

     

    post-925-0-58984200-1361752067_thumb.jpg

    Mounted stern carvings.

     

    post-925-0-64282200-1361752076_thumb.jpg

    Stern view of Syren with mounted carvings.

  2. post-925-0-66754800-1361238912_thumb.jpg

    Test fitting of quarter gallery.

     

    I started to give the stern carvings a try. During this process I realized that I did not really understand the components of the central part of these ornaments. As a first attempt I tried to realize a medallion with two banners and a little eagle in the middle . . .  however I really would love to understand what should be there so that my next try might get a little closer (-:

     

     

    post-925-0-94404600-1361238919_thumb.jpg

     

  3. Building of the rudder.

     

    post-925-0-55813300-1361236789_thumb.jpg

    Finished pintles and gudgeons.

     

     

    Several views of Syren with mounted rudder:

     

     

    post-925-0-83891800-1361236794_thumb.jpg

     

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    post-925-0-72264400-1361236807_thumb.jpg

     

     

    Building of the starboard quarter gallery.

     

    post-925-0-00608600-1361236842_thumb.jpg

    The windows are constructed out of birch veneer and bass wood (1). (2) shows three finished windows and the main gallery body, in which the windows are test-fitted (3) and finally mounted with separating columns (4). At the right side of image 4 the carvings of the lower gallery body are lined up. From top to bottom: chains, moldings, leafs. 5 shows the assembled gallery body. 6 depicts the carving of the side ornaments. 

     

    post-925-0-68464200-1361238503_thumb.jpg

    Images 7, 8 and 9 show the construction of the roof with the backplane carvings and the shingle body. The shingle body on the right side in image 9 (3rd carving attempt) was used for the final assembly.

     

    post-925-0-58354200-1361236865_thumb.jpg

    Different views of finished quarter gallery along with Chuck's plan and the metal casting from the Syren kit.

  4. The copper plating of the hull is finished. After
    experimenting with different nail patterns I finally settled for one. The
    following images show the hull preparation, the production of the nail head using a variation of
    Alan’s method with the diabetes needles, and the resulting copper plating.

     

    post-925-0-19537300-1361235973_thumb.jpg

    I first prepared the hull by filling every hole with wood
    filler, treating the hull with MinWax Sanding Sealer and sanding it down to a
    very smooth finish.


    post-925-0-24241300-1361235979_thumb.jpg

    To produce the nail head I designed the desired pattern with
    MS PowerPoint, shrank it to the right scale and printed it out (image 2.1). I
    glued the image of the nail pattern on a piece of 3mm thick balsa wood which in
    turn was glued to a thin piece of plywood. I made sure that no glue was between
    the balsa and the plywood under the area where the printed image of the nail
    pattern resided. Using a #80 drill (~0.3 mm diameter; Micro-Mark) and a micro
    pin chuck (Micro-Mark) mounted in my drill press I drilled the holes for the
    nail pattern (image 2.2). The soft balsa wood allows the thin drill to proceed
    without bending. Once the drill hits the hard plywood the drill channel in the balsa
    wood acts as a guide for the thin drill ensuring that it enters the plywood
    without being deflected or bent. Next I removed the metal needles (~0.3mm
    diameter) from the plastic heads of the diabetes needles bought at Wallmart
    with a pair of pliers and inserted the needles into the drilled holes (image
    2.3). Pushing the balsa wood surface against a flat piece of metal ensures that
    all needles end in the same plane (image 2.4). The needle ends sticking out of
    the plywood side were glued together with JB Weld (image 2.5). Now the nail
    head can be cut out according to the drawing glued on top of the balsa wood.
    The balsa wood surface is then sanded down until all needles show a complete
    diameter perfectly aligned in the balsa wood plane (image 2.6). As a next step
    the balsa wood can be separated from the plywood (for this reason it is
    important to have no glue between balsa and ply wood underneath the nail
    pattern drawing, see image 2.7) and the nail head is finished.

     

     

    post-925-0-33600600-1361235985_thumb.jpg

    Experimenting with different nail patterns. The 3 nail heads
    in the front were used for my model – one for starboard, one for backboard, and
    a symmetric one for the dress belt.

     

    post-925-0-19497600-1361235992_thumb.jpg

    The “Sensipress” (Micro-Mark) came in handy for the copper
    plate mass production.

     

    post-925-0-66872600-1361236003_thumb.jpg

    Resulting copper plate pattern.

     

     

    Here are some additional views of the copper plated hull:

     

     

    post-925-0-32628100-1361236023_thumb.jpg

     

    post-925-0-18361300-1361236029_thumb.jpg

     

    post-925-0-74212300-1361236033_thumb.jpg

     

    post-925-0-27489400-1361236044_thumb.jpg

     

    post-925-0-45458400-1361236050_thumb.jpg

  5. Hi, my name is Thomas Gahm. My build log disappeared as so

    many others during the recent crash, and I just try to reconstruct as much as I
    can.

     

    post-925-0-33715400-1361233701_thumb.jpg

    Bulkheads and filler blocks are being glued in place.

     

    post-925-0-15235500-1361233708_thumb.jpg

    Gun ports are framed and the fairing of bulkheads is finished.

     

    post-925-0-65110800-1361233713_thumb.jpg

    Planking of the upper part of the hull with bass wood
    strips. The strips were selected for homogeneous color and texture.

     

    post-925-0-46211900-1361233725_thumb.jpg

    Treenailing using the wood filler based method described by
    Chuck in the instruction book. During my last ship model build (Anfora kit
    Ictineo II) the combination of the applied wood stain and the slight fuzziness
    of the treenail hole edges led to a larger treenail appearance than initially
    intended. To avoid this effect I drilled holes which were slightly smaller than
    the intended treenail size of 0.5mm and I opened them up with a needle of a
    slightly larger diameter (0.53mm). This led to well defined, round holes with
    sharp edges, which once filled with wood filler gave me the intended
    treenailing effect.

     

    post-925-0-27498500-1361233734_thumb.jpg

    Planking of the lower hull with bass wood strips. As this
    part of the hull will be covered later by copper sheaths I did not particularly
    select the wood strips for texture or color.

     

    post-925-0-88900800-1361234360_thumb.jpg

    Finished hull planking.

     

    post-925-0-91089700-1361234385_thumb.jpg

    Lower part of hull planking. Two brass pipes were buried in
    the keel to allow for the possibility to mount the model later via two brass
    carriers inserted in these pipes. If these mounts should not be needed the

    holes can be covered up via the false keel.

     

    post-925-0-11823000-1361234396_thumb.jpg

    Stern view of the Syren. Mounting the Syren name turned out
    to be a bit tricky due to the small size of the photo etched letters. The
    following method worked for me: I painted the letters (white) while they were
    still attached to the photo etch grid. After separating them from the brass
    grid I arranged them to form the name “SYREN” on a sticky tape mounted on a
    flat piece of wood with the sticky side up. Once I was satisfied with the
    arrangement of the letters I covered them with a second piece of transparent
    tape with the sticky side towards the letters. After turning the whole
    arrangement upside down so that the first tape was on top and the second tape
    underneath the letters I removed the first tape while carefully making sure
    that the letters did not come loose from the second tape. Now all that remained
    to do was to apply some superglue to the uncovered letter backs and transfer
    the name as a whole in its final arrangement to its destination on the stern.
    The use of a transparent tape allowed for precise positioning. Once the letters

    were glued to the hull the tape could be removed. 

     

    post-925-0-39991400-1361234679_thumb.jpg

    Building of the stern transom. To form the stern transom I
    modeled it first with a piece of paper which I then used to cut out the wooden
    (bass wood) counterpart. This was then soaked in hot water and bent to its
    final shape in a jig. 

     

    post-925-0-66800700-1361234684_thumb.jpg

    The formed transom is glued in place.

     

    post-925-0-04597900-1361234690_thumb.jpg

    Finished transom.

     

    post-925-0-36501800-1361234695_thumb.jpg

    Front view of the Syren. The planks are stained with a
    mixture of 1 part Minwax Golden Oak and 2 parts Minwax Natural wood stain. 

     

    post-925-0-36941200-1361234704_thumb.jpg

    Stern view of the Syren.

     

    post-925-0-10390100-1361235120_thumb.jpg

    Planking of the deck using selected basswood strips. The
    planks were tapered towards the stern.

     

    post-925-0-43024400-1361235125_thumb.jpg

    Finished deck planking with waterways. I painted the
    locations of the future gratings black to prevent the possibility of the deck
    planking to be seen through the openings of the gratings. The deck was stained
    with Minwax Natural wood stain.

     

    post-925-0-53840900-1361235130_thumb.jpg

    Stern view of the deck with treenailing.

     

    post-925-0-09613200-1361235136_thumb.jpg

    Plank nibbing.

     

    post-925-0-22288200-1361235144_thumb.jpg

    Deck view.

     

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