vossiewulf

Good Wednesday evening MSW.  Progress on the Battle Station, finally. 
 
As is typical I am making the kit much harder than it has to be.  After adding all the blocking I shaved them down to pretty close with chisels, then sanded them flush.  Two coats of water based polyurethane and 2, possibly 3, coats of black paint (Abbadon Black because I have 4 bottles).  Then I added the veneer end frames and deck beams.  I had a gap between the deck frame and the beam end it rests on so I chiseled out the beam and glued a slightly larger one in place; looks fine now.

Then I glued the end carlings and beam ends in place.  I made my own out of frame pieces; the kit supplied ones were fine but challenging to hold and sand (they are 1/8" square so jumped out of my fingers like fish).  I made mine a little oversize and trimmed them to fit once glued in place.  I will have to touch up the black paint later on.
 
Next up was the frame the Station sits on, elegant feet on each corner with butt joints.  The edges are a relatively long horizontal run, compared to their height, and I thought some drops would help break up the space.  I have a Keepsake Box, below, which provided some inspiration.

I liked the cove molding along the top of the base frame too.  But I wasn't sure about replicating it at such a small scale.  Here's my initial try at a drop, which I thought looked acceptable.  Then I simply traced the original pattern onto some scrap AYC frame material and tried to make the other 3 similar.

Butt joints are simple, easy, look good, and idiot proof.  So I went with miters instead.  I had to shorten the Battle Station frame about 1/8" to make the frames fit (mitering has the effect of shortening the side frames).  I did the actual miters on my Ultimation sander.

And here is a shot of the inner Battle Station sanded even with the faux deck framing and the frame pieces.  I forgot I painted the ports with Mephiston Red earlier.

And finally the cove molding.  This was a challenge.  I figured a scraper was the way to go and I tried making one from a razor blade, shaping it with files.  It turned out to be way to bendy and flimsy but was good practice (lower right in below picture).  Then I made the profile in my usual scraping tool, a piece of old sawblade (upper right).  It has a wide flat area that registers on the wood top and worked pretty well.  I used again some scrap framing from the sprue that held the base pieces.  It was extra challenging as these pieces were 1/8" square if that and holding it all steady took some effort.  I found it helped to waste away most of the "point" with my veritas miniplane before scraping.

Here's a side profile of the molding.  The ends don't scrape well so the middle 3/4 of the strip are deeper but you get the idea.  AYC is a soft wood (harder woods are definitely easier to scrape) but I think its working out ok.  And the cove will match the frame.  I hope.

And thats where we are.  Next is gluing the base to the frame and starting planking.
 
thanks for reading
 
Cisco

The model mounted on a display board now. I'm not sure I will add more to the model at this point; however, if 'new' information appears I am not opposed to modifying what has been done to this point.
 
Friday the Santos-Dumont No 18 hydroplane will get a ride to the 48th Annual Midwestern Model Ship and Boat Contest. Very interested in what kind of feedback I will receive - hope it is liked!

Hello
Albert, thank you and all others also for your likes
After I cut out the oar ports, the ship looks really different. More like an ocean liner, or a space ship. 😀

Today I started with the production of the port lids. After doing some Photoshop work and test lids. 😐 But now, I think it works. 

The battle field in the winter garden, and the results. Half the lids are done.
After finishing the battens under the gun wale, I thought is that now masochism? This is in my opinion not far away from it. 😏


 

Greetings everyone, and for those who sent good thoughts for my new knee, thank you very much!
The Cori-Robotic surgery was very successful, the full replacement took only 90 minutes and I had a spinal anesthetic, not a general. 4 hours later the feeling came back and they got me up on my pins and taking my first steps! I was in overnight to make sure everything was ok, then I walked out using only the cane! After a week I ditched the cane and was back walking the dog, about 1000 steps per day.
The improvement is ongoing, and my second knee is scheduled for June 4!
I have been able to negotiate the basement stairs for about a week now so I have been back at the St. Roch, working mainly on the steering linkages.
 
The first two pictures are the alleyways either side of the deckhouse... I added the steps up to the doors and the covers for the steering chains. There are shackles under the covers connecting the chain from the steering wheel gypsy to the steel cables running aft. I used .015 diameter black thread to simulate 3/4" wire rope. I scratch built the four cable pulleys from styrene.

Next I followed the original ship's plans to make the rudder bearing, which is bolted to the hull just forward of the rudder well. The bearing halves clamp the rudder post. The two steering cables are just set out of the way using the aft cleats.

I have started making the rudder quadrant, as seen in the last picture. Again, I followed the ship's plans to make an accurate shape. The quadrant is designed for chains. On the prototype there are 'Z' channels following the arc of the quadrant, the chains sit in the channels and are shackled to the holes visible on the quadrant. I tried bending styrene channel but this was unsuccessful, so I'm making the channels from individual strips.

There are chain pulleys guiding them out to the sides of the ship, where turnbuckles will connect them to the cables. I should be able to have the linkages complete shortly. I think at that point I will permanently mount the ship onto its' display base.
Thanks for looking in!
 

After two and a half years I have finally finished my Frigate Diana.  It took me awhile to determine how I was going to mount the ship.  This kit does not come with either a cradle for displaying the final model or for use during the build.  I built a crude cradle to use during the build, but I wanted to mount the finished model on a couple of pedestals mounted to a piece of live edge walnut that I already owned.  Unfortunately I didn't plan ahead.  I should have drilled holes into the bulkhead former to accommodate long pins when I could flip it over.  I didn't do that so I had to figure out a way to drill those holes from below with out flipping the model over.  
 
The base is 1 inch thick, and the pedestals are about 1.5 inches high   I installed a 4 inch long 1/8 inch diameter threaded rod from the bottom side of the base though the pedestals leaving about 1.5 inches that are inserted into the bulkhead former.  The bulk head former is slightly less than 1/4 inch thick, leaving very little margin for error.   I did have a problem with one of the holes, luckily it was on the side that is not displayed.  
 

 

 
After being in this house for about 10 months so far, thanks to my wife we have found a way to display my models.  At the bottom of the stairs to our basement we have a niche in the wall my wife wasn't sure what we wanted to do with.  As an early Father's Day present she found a chest of drawers that had been refinished and we decided to use that chest as a way to display my models in the niche.  The Frigate Diana's base is mounted directly to a couple of shelf brackets.  
 
I want to thank everyone that viewed, liked and commented on this build log.  I really appreciated all of you interest.  
 
I have already started my NRG half hull, and will get a build log started and catch anyone who is interested in that project soon.  
 
After that I though I would build the US Brig Syren that is in my inventory, but I think I will go with the USF Essex instead.  Hopefully I get that started in the next 30 - 60 days.
 

All ignition wires are in place and I believe I have done what I can wrt the engine. 

All the woodwork for the case has been completed. Staining / finishing and then model installation followed by a couple of final details; however, for the most part I think I'm close to a finished (for now) situation.
 

Thanks to all for the interesting and educational discussion on flag direction above.  With that issue resolved, time to rig the davits and hang the whale boats.  The Bluejacket instructions do not address the davit rigging, so I used @xken's superb build log for guidance.  The first thing I did was run a line connecting the eyehooks on the top end of each davit (circled in red below).  I ran the line through a bullseye which is seized to another line that goes to the deck and is used to raise and lower the davits.  
 

 
 
The line that is seized to the bullseye (green arrow below) runs up thru a double block which is tied into the shrouds and then runs down to a lanyard that will tie into the empty eyehooks seen in the deck.  At the time, I did not install the lanyard.  I just tensioned the assembly with a small clamp.  I would add the lanyard and tighten everything up after hanging the whale boats. 

 
 
Time to hang the whale boats.  I was pretty much clueless as to how to do the small rigging between the end of the davit and the boat.  I knew I had to rig a line through the double block mortised into the end of the davit and the double block hooked to the end of the whale boat, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.  Shout out to Henry (a.k.a. @popeye2sea) for coming to the rescue.  He sent me a sketch that cleared things up.  I post the sketch below in case anyone else is as clueless about the rigging as I was.
    
 
 
Here's the whale boat hung from the davits.

 
 
After that, I circled back to install the lanyards on the deck and tighten everything up.  The working end of the lanyard is tied off to the pinrail on the mizzen mast.

 
 
Here's a picture of the entire davit rigging with arrows highlighting the 3 separate lines required for the rigging assembly.

 
 

Ratlines DONE!.  My My that was tedious.  Took several months, mainly because I just could not bring myself to do it.  But the edge of starting a new ship motivates me to finish this one first. 1250 clove knots later... completed.
 
Saw several approaches to the ratlines.  For me, it was the simplest: a) tweeter and scissor, of course. b) a popsicle stick to adjust spacing as I go, c) a level to parallel to the water, and finally d) patience, a lot of it.  This allowed me to easily reach behind to make the clove knots.
 
Next step, more rigging and the sails.  They were already made a few months ago.
 
 

First attempt at a drop plank.  This bow has a lot to curve so hoping this takes some of the stress off!

Next up.....3d printed thimbles...I hate making them so I am trying to print these tiny things.  Should know by next week if they work. Black resin is the goal.  Starting the test with 3 sizes and will adjust from there.
 

Sigh. Will be thinking about you. As for your decision, do the best you can- that's all you can do.
 

Started fashioning the Quarter Boats (Cutters), which were previously shaped. I followed the same procedures as for the Stern Boat. The frames are the tedious part. Applied a coat of Minwax Pre-Stain Conditioner followed by a coat of Minwax Golden Oak Stain. The floorboards were fashioned a la the Stearn Boat.  The thwart supports were added next. I used 3/32” x 1/16” wood strips. The strips were soaked in water overnight and then placed in a jig to bend them (see photo). The grates were next. The Quarter Boat detail seems to show a frame around the grates. I made a template based on the detail and used it to fashion the grates. I pieced together some walnut grating strips in the general size shown on the detail. I applied some AC to the grates to secure them together and then made an angular saw- cut on two sides. I added a 3/32”x 1/8” strip on 4-sides. The grates were finished with Minwax Pre-Stain Conditioner and Minwax Golden Oak Stain.

The stern sheet, bow sheet and thwarts were fashioned from 1/8” x 1/32” wood strip and painted (2 coats) with Vallejo Acrylic Paint, Flat Red.

The top rail was cut from 3/16” basswood in the same manner as the Stern Boat rail and sanded to achieve the proper overhang for the 1/32" x 1/16" wood molding strip. The rowlocks were cut from 1/32” x 1/16” wood strips soaked in water overnight and formed in the same jig used for the thwart supports. I found it easier to glue the entire strip to the top rail and to then cut out the oarlocks. Note: The locations of the oarlocks are different on the port and starboard sides. With that done, the top rail, trim board, knees, and rowlocks with finished with Minwax Tung Oil. The lifting hooks were added. The stern sheet, bow sheet and thwarts were glued in-place. I decided to make the knees, since there are only six of them. They were glued to the thwarts and finished with tung oil.

The rudders were finished next. I added some detail to them. The rudder handle was made from a toothpick that was placed in a Dremel and sanded down to shape. Added the 3/64”x1/64” wood batten slides (painted black). The strips were soaked in water overnight and then set in a jig (see photo) to bend them. Once bent, the strips were easy to install using just CA to secure them.


Rigged the 5/32” lifting blocks and tackles (.018” rope) and hung the cutters from the davits. I added the strap grips using .018” rope clove hitched to each davit midway between the cleat and the end sheave. The grips were “criss-crossed” as per the detail on Sheet 4 and secured to the davits.
 

Raised the Pennsylvania State Flag and the "Don't Give Up the Ship" flag (not furnished with the kit). I found the flags on the internet. I copied an image of each flag, reduced to an appropriate scale, printed two images of each flag end-to-end on copy paper, cut them out, and folded them over and glued them together. I inserted a small ring in the top and bottom of each flag at the bend, rigged them to .008" lanyards, and ran the lanyards through a 3/64” block on top of the mainmast and foremast. With that, except for the monotonous task of making numerous rope loops, the ship is complete - 2 years and 10 months in the making.  I've added some additional photos.
 

 

Hi everyone, I just wanted to say a quick hello after having had my application to become a member approved!
 
Whilst I’m a new member on this forum, I’m not quite a newbie when it comes to model boat building.  
 
I’m a keen modeller and hobbiest, albeit primarily plastic kits and tabletop gaming. That was until about five years ago when I rashly purchased a constructo HMS victory wooden kit from eBay which looked like it was particularly good value.
 
Fast forward five years and I am about halfway through the build having picked it up and put it down several times, but I’m currently back to really enjoying the process.  Work and four children make time Precious hence it’s taking me longer than anticipated.
 
The process of rigging is looming large and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need some support with that hence was looking around for Online advice and found this forum which hopefully will be useful.
 
I visited the real HMS victory last year and a couple of weeks ago went to Chatham historic dockyard where the ship was originally built but which also boasts a huge collection of wooden replica ships of various scales.  This was massively inspiring for me and I would absolutely recommend it.  It was funny seeing the same techniques being used on an industrial scale (steaming wood to fit the hull for example)!
 
I’ve had a look at some of the Previous posts which do warn against first timers starting a very advanced kit, there is definitely some truth to that. I was pretty sure I was only going to ever build one wooden ship and wanted to ‘go big or go home!’
 
Overall for me, I’m pleased that I started with this kit as my first attempt. I’ve definitely made a few mistakes along the way, but my skills have improved massively through the build and I’m now significantly faster as a result of making those mistakes, practising my skills and investing in a small number of high-quality tools.
 
If I were to go back to the beginning, I would give my Previous self (and other potential beginners) three bits of advice:
 
 1. It doesn’t have to be perfect! You can make mistakes (in my experience most of these get covered up with subsequent bits of the build).  Some bits of your build are going to be really really tricky, just do the best you can and if it’s good enough for you then that’s all that matters.
2. If you’re getting frustrated or bored, stop. No one‘s forcing you to do it. Have a bit of a rest, do something else for a bit and you can come back to it when you are feeling in the mood.
3. Look ahead. It’s easy to focus on one particular instruction or part of the process.   Skip forward a few pages, look to see how one particular part of the building is going to impact on other parts.  That will tell you how important accuracy is going to be and how you may make life easier for yourself in the future.
 
Thanks again for letting me join your club and I look forward to hopefully becoming an active member.
 
 
 

Video #12 Complete
 
Video 12 was fairly straight forward. Mostly just fitting the items built in the previous video.

Fitting the compartments was much easier than I thought it would be. I did have to adjust the stern wall to fit as I clearly didn't get the wall in the correct position, and the same with the beam at the bow.

The Bounty Launch is finally complete! A very long learning trip, in which I early decided to now follow Occre's planking instructions and do a proper planking. Also added some little details inspired in other buildlogs and a couple more things. In the end, I think only one structural mistake was not corrected. I the first picture it can be clearly noticed that the bowsprit does not properly sit in the hull and, in consequence, the end if a few degrees upper than it should be, which in turn changed the front sails disposition a bit. Still, all in all, I'm very satisfied.
 

 
Some details on the rigging, added some coils in the ends. Also tried to do different coils so it would not be repetitive and a bit more realistic. In the picture it can also be seen how the roar blades were bevelled.
 

 
Some more detail on detail in the rigging endings, now in the certer mast. Coils in the floor can also be seen.
 

 
Something I decided to also change, rings both in the benches and sails were neither left bright brass nor painted black, instead worn (in vinegar and salt).
 

 
And finally, since the model had no stand, I built one based on the one included in the Albatros.
 

 
That's all my friends, already starting the Albatros, where I'll try to learn weathering techniques. Thank you all for following, for your patience and, most of all, your fruitful advice. It has been a pleasure!

I’ve managed to find time enough to make a couple more extras. A fishing net I made from cotton gauze. Although it did have spongy threads going one way that makes the holes smaller.
 

 
An anchor. 
 

 
I want to make an oil lamp, just not mounted on the bow like I thought about earlier:-) The mossy shipyard is about ready for me to disassemble my work area and move it out there. I’m trying to finish this up before that happens, because I won’t be able to find anything I need:-)

Rattlesnake is Getting closer to being completed.

I finished the figurehead:
 










 

Video 9 is complete. This structure was a bit more challenging than the first one. I have it separated into 3 sections. I feel like it will be a bit troublesome to try and glue this thing down to the deck as one piece. There are a few areas I still need to touch up with white paint yet. Reality is that you can't see much of this other than the extreme right area of the picture below.
 
Moving on to video 10, there are a few more smaller structures to build for the orlop deck. The deck is glued into the model in this video. I'm not ready to do that yet. 
There are a couple things I still need to do in the hold first. One is the lighting and the other are the flour sacks. Once I finish these last few structures then I'll head back to that.
 
One thing I've done in preparation for the lighting is acquired a smaller soldering iron more suited to the fine soldering needed and some finer solder. I'll practice the soldering a bit on some spare led diodes that I have before tackling that monster.
 
For the flour sacks, I picked up some resin printed sand bags that I think will work. They are a bit smaller than those the kit has you make and seem more to scale to me. I really don't know for sure what size flour sacks were loaded on ships in those days though.

Brief update.  Finished the main shrouds, same as mizzen with serving and parcelling.
It was at this time I realized I needed to rig the main yard lift tackles. Access to the mizzen and fore mast is straightforward, as I have yet to place the fore cabin. but the main mast is severely restricted.  Should have rigged them prior to stepping the main mast.
After strapping 3/32 single blocks with 26ga copper wire and rigging the tackles with .008 line, I was fortunate to get the lower blocks into the eyebolts next to the mast by working under the fife rail.  Would have been much easier before the masts and shrouds placed!
Next up are the other lift tackles and the main stay.  Working from aft, forward has been much easier than forwards aft!!  Thanks Rob and George for the great suggestion!!

So today I had at it with a hand sander, sand paper and file to fair the hull. Below is one side done compared to the other. You can see the bow requires a lot of work
 

 
 
 
Now after both sides done
 
 
 

 
 
Lastly, the false keel added
 

Seems like forever since I did any work on the Constitution.  But I got my Kenoshi-sen to a point where I'm comfortable I can meet my deadline with it, so now I can focus on getting the Constitution across the finish line.  I'm definitely on the home stretch here.
 
Next on the list was getting the US flags flying.  The original builder had mounted a small, paper flag on the bowsprit cap.  I had to remove it when I rebuilt the broken bowsprit, but now it's back in its original place waving proudly forward.  

 
 
 
Looking at a variety of finished Constitution models, I saw many that had a larger flag flying from a halyard rigging off the gaff.  I went to my favorite poaching box (Artesania Latina kit for the USS Constellation) and grabbed the flag from it.  I've poached so much stuff from that box that if I ever decide to build the ship, I will probably have to buy an entire new kit.  Or try and build it from scratch (YIKES!).  
 

 
 
I also found a beautiful piece of Patagonia rosewood that I'm going to use for the base.  I had a buddy of mine rout the edges and I applied a few coats of poly for the finish.

 
 
Next up is hanging the 3 whales boats from the davits.

Sigh. Will be thinking about you. As for your decision, do the best you can- that's all you can do.