themadchemist

continuation...
 
Deck nails imitation made as well using brass wire but in this case 0,5mm...
 
...becouse I broke few drills I said stop... and I made drill from... brass wire with sharp end... worked brilliant


 

 

 

 

 

 
...some overview of decks
 

 

 
...nothing special, just walls
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
...after all I started bulkheads, keel, sternpost, steam and finally planking...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
...meanwhile some ladders...
 

 

 
...and planking of course pear wood. Bow planking calibrate to avoid stealers. I formed planks using only water and 36,6 deree celsius from my hands. Pear lath if was cut properly it'll be very flexible Imitation of taring on the edge of each lath was made using soft pencil.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Haven't managed a lot of time in the shipyard lately, but the block party continues and the yards are slowly taking shape.  I completed belaying the Truss Pendants, Jeers, and Lifts on the Fore Lower Yard, and have just completed attaching the blocks for the Fore Topsail Yard.  I've decided to attach each yard to this (or relevant similar) stage before proceeding with sheets and braces etc.
 
The Topsail Yard is attached to the Mast via a Parral instead of Trusses.  The Parrals are made up of a series of "Trucks" (essentially egg-shaped wooden beads) separated by vertical "Ribs".  The kit does not provide for the Ribs, so consulting once more with Longridge, I decided to make my own.  Longridge provides a good diagram (with dimensions) and description on pg 213 (and Figure 139).
 
To make the Parral Ribs I first cut a strip of 1/32" x 3/32" Swiss Pear into pieces approximately 6mm long and then spot-glued these together in gangs of three and the ends tidied up on the Byrnes disc sander.  They were then roughly marked (by eye) to find the approximate locations for the holes which were then drilled with a 0.5mm bit.
 

 
The "B" shape was then drawn (again by eye) onto the gang, and filed to shape with a triangular needle file, finishing with a flat needle file.
 

 
The gangs were then given a 15 minute soak in bath of Isopropyl alcohol to soften the glue before carefully separating them again.
 

 
The results are quite pleasing - and of course I made about double the number needed to ensure the God of the Space-Time continuum gap is fed appropriately!
 
I was also a little side-tracked lately by completing this little model of Leonardo da Vinci's Aerial Screw that was given to me for my birthday recently (I beg the Mod's tolerance for this one off-topic pic):
 

So - progress continues (SLOWLY!!!).  Too much time on the road this month, but home now through mid-January (with any luck, at least...)
 
Moving along with the rigging - one backstay left to install on the main mast and then start belaying all these lines.
 
The doublings get rather busy at this scale!
 

 
Not the best shot, but gives you an idea of the number of lines involved even at this small scale!
 

 
Once I get the lines all belayed will start on the ratlines - using fine embroidery thread to try and stay in scale.  WIll be putting them on about 3/32" apart.  I may go blind in the process......
 

Still plugging along!  Re-doing the catheads - the first attempt just didn't quite look right.
 
Here is the first attempt from back in May.  Too square, doesn't really look right.
 
In progress

 
First results

 
Decided to try and do them out of single pieces of stock, so using some left over from the cabin structure to carve them out.
 

 
Some more sanding and shaping then need to drill the openings for the fake sheaves and re-rig them for the anchor.
 
 

For you, Admiral, I will see what I can do!
 

Thanks, one and all, for the kind words.  While still a bit sore and not yet back to "normal", the fingers are more flexible and less painful, so have put some time in on the HL this weekend.
 
Just prior to our packing, the main top mast snapped off right at the cap.  I had repaired it, but alas it did not survive.  Spent the weekend manufacturing a replacement (used a long toothpick as I was out of suitable dowel and didn't want to wait for an order to come in).  While waiting for primer and then paint to dry, I installed the several blocks onto the gaff.  Once the top mast was put into position, I rigged the gaff on a temporary basis just to see how it would look.  I think I need to replace the synthetic kit supplied thread with something better.  This doesn't really want to relax.
 
Still working on a replacement for the jibboom.  Sanding a 1/8" dowel down to 5/64" and it is taking quite a bit of time.  Of course, if the Dremel had a good charge it probably would have been much easier.
 
Here are a couple of photos of the main mast with temporary running rigging.  Hope you all had a nice weekend!
 

 

 

 
 

Jaws
 
I just hated the idea of installing the brass "crab jaws" that the kit provided so I began crafting wooden replacements. To get all the jaws for the spars to be at least close in size and shape I glued two pieces of solid mahogany with spray adhesive and traced a pattern on top. Before gluing them together like this, I drilled a hole in the centre of the piece and then sawed through the centre of the hole. I kept these two pieces together for all the rough cuts and shaping. I followed diagrams in Mastini and Lever for the pattern but, wouldn't you know it, the day after gluing the jaws in place on the boom I was checking out Longridge and The Anatomy of a Ship book, "The Cutter Alert" for details about the parrels and trucks and realized that I probably made a mistake on the shape and length of the jaws. Ah well, it's at least better than what AL had in my opinion.
 



 
 
I drilled holes for the thread that will hold the parrel trucks, which ended up being a bit premature because...
 
I still wasn't happy with the bulky look of the jaws on the spars so I brought out the file once again. After shaping the jaws a bit more I realized that I had just wrecked the location of a couple of the holes I had just drilled! Nuts! A bit more drilling fixed a couple of the holes but I ended up having to patch one hole and drill it again.
 
In my research on the jaws I read that they would usually be lined with leather to prevent damage from friction. Not exactly sure how this looked I did a quick search on the web and found several images. To simulate the leather I painted different shades of brown onto tracing paper. I chose tracing paper because it was very thin and would suit the scale of the ship better. After the glue dried on oversized strips of the painted paper I trimmed them back to size.
 

 
And speaking of trimming...I decided to sand the spars down a bit more. I brushed on some varethane and ran some thread through the holes in the jaws to make sure they weren't clogged. I tried out the beads I bought for the trucks.

Masts - part one
October 2013
 
The masts had been tapered years ago, but now a mistake in the instructions became evident. There is no mention of shaping in shoulders even though they appear in the plans. From the diagrams I had assumed that there was a bushing of some kind in the kit that would be installed. Not so.
 

Shoulders indicated on the plans...but not addressed in the directions.
 
 
The good thing was that I hadn't tapered the masts completely to their final diameter. I cut in to the masts with a hobby knife to mark the top of the shoulders and went at it with files and sanding pads. To complete the tapering I put the base of the masts into the chuck of my drill and used it like a lathe to sand them down..
 

Shoulders cut into the masts
 
The brass strips from the kit for the earrings and bands on the masts were very stiff and snapped when I began working on them. I therefore cut 5 mm strips off of brass shim stock using a straight edge and snap blade knife. My first attempt at the mainmast earrings looked good but when I dry fit the flag mast to to main I realized that the distance between them was much too big. The second attempt was much better. To keep solder from the outside of the brass I purposely left excess brass on the end. I tinned the inside surfaces first and then clamped the earrings with a hemostat and clothespin. It just took a little heat on the outer surface with the soldering iron to reflow the solder and make a tight joint. Trimmed the tail pieces to length, shaped the ends and drilled holes for the rings and the earrings were done. I followed this technique for the bands on the ends of the masts, bowsprit and boom.
 



The final earrings-with the mark I sitting in front
 
Fitted and installed brass bands on the ends of the jib boom and main boom. Here's another place where the instructions and the plans were at odds - and perhaps neither are historically accurate. The instructions called for two ring bolts placed on either side of the main boom through holes drilled in the brass. The plans show only one ringbolt on top of the boom and not through the brass but further out along the boom. The sheet appears to be wrapped around the boom just inside the brass. Again, I hit the books to find which one I should follow, eventually settled on the arrangement on the plans. I believe that, to be accurate, a sheave should be built right into the boom for the spanker sheet or a block on a pendant tied right onto the boom. I may just drill a hole to simulate a sheave. Can't decide just now...I want to get moving

There nothing wrong with a good stalling. I've been stalling on the DSotM rigging for a bit now. I'm using the excuse that I need more time to make decisions.
I seem to do this at every step, but I feel it pays dividends as I do a better job when I don't rush things. Sometimes one needs time to let ideas sit and develop before jumping into a new part of a build. I assume that maybe this is worse on a first build, or a part of a build that one has never attempted before. Say rigging a gaff fore and aft rig versus a square rig.
 
To prevent too much guilt for loafing, I started my longboat project, which is turning out to be a lot of FUN .
Of course Popeye goes into Henry Ford mode and starts an assembly line. Everyone reacts differently to those mid-build blues.
 
I suggest some good tunes and a few hours on MSW, cruising through some of the great build logs. Although that sometime can make things more clear, but sometime worse. Michael Motts Bristol cutter gave me some great ideas on rigging that I want to use for my pilot boats rigging but now I must think about scaling them down. The 2 edged sword of reality. Don't forget that thinking things through is part of building also.
 
No matter how long you need. Your fans will be here waiting to see what you've done. Genius can not be rushed and the Berlin deserves only the best.

Let the show go on :-)
 
The full crew was up to 14 men for both guns on each side of the ship. Strictly numbered, 1 gun captain, 2 second gun captain, 3 loader, 4 sponger, 5 sec. loader, 6 sec. sponger and 7 - 14 auxiliaries to pull the strings.
 
First picture for clarity without the auxs. One can see nicely, loader and sponger within the breeching ropes, sec. sponger and sec. outside bringing the next items as wad pads or balls. The gun captain is pressing a small leather bag against the vent, for that it is air sealed, for that no smoldering ashes are pressed by air pressure into the vent and that for by retrieving the sponge a vacuum is created that will put off all smoldering bits.
 
The second gun captain is here shown organising the tools like worm and the bars, his time will come, if he has to take halve of the crew to work the opposite gun if battle on both sides is required.
 
As one lieutenant was always taking charge of several big guns, Lt. Williams of course is present here at this excercising the great guns.  
 

 
And it gets really packed, once the auxiliaries are added to pull the strings
 

 
Also nice to be seen is that sec. loader and sec. sponger have to stand outside the side tackles. Also see the stick of the sponge protruding largely outboard.
 
On the capstan one can see the powder monkee, having prepared already the next cartridge. He is supposed to stay as far as possible for security reasons and to only handle the cartridge to the loaders and to nobody else. Also this was not a job for jung boys as generally thought, in fact Captain Duff of the Mars strictly forbid this as his log states. For the boys was to clean loose powder with a wet swab.
 
I like the two marines that were stationed on each big gun, gives a nice touch of color :-)
 
And also if I was a sponger and loader, I really would look out for that the man on the back tackle had a good lunch and that he makes sure, that there are no 3.5 tons coming towards oneself if a big wave is moving the ship ...
 
Some more pics to enjoy ...
 

 

 

 

 
... or a bit more inside the melée :-)
 

 

 

 
Cheers, Daniel

Herewego, Dr. dafistein coming straight from his lab ...
 
... breaking little bones of little people ...
 

 
... and reassembled, on the right, the poor lad before being transformed ...
 

 
... in his new life as gun captain, holding a leather bag against the vent  to air seal it, for that no smoldering ashes is pushed upwards, while the barrel is sponged.
 

 
Two of the Misters got funny tails ...
 

 
... a bit of paint applied ...
 

 
.... and the crew is complete :-)
The lieutenant, the gun captain, loader 2 with the bullet, sponger 2 with the wad pads, powdermonkee, the marine (at ease, the crossbelts off and the button opened). Sponger and loader are already at their place, waiting for the rest of the gang, the second gun captain and the 7 auxiliaries to pull the strings ...
 

 

 
Cheers, Daniel

What to do if one wants to play? One remembers old kids games :-)
 
So take a paper strip of exactemente 4,5 mm width ...
 

 
... folded once ...
 

 
... take a template to properly get the corner bent ...
 

 
... the second to come ...
 

 
... fold the lower part into the opposite way, shorten it and again bent around the corner ...
 

 
... prepared the other side ... 
 

 
... flattened ...
 

 
... opened and spread the opposite way ...
 

 
... already recognise it ??? 
 
Opened once more and ...
 

 
... and ready to be hatted :-)
 
Still have to send Lt. Williams to the hairdressers for that the chapeau sits to its designed location ...
 
...hihihihihihihihihi...
 
... sincerely yours, the dafi

The worm that we use on our working 1812 era cannon is made from cast iron and the head looks like a spring.  The arms really do not scratch the bore of the cannon at all. The pitch of the helix is smaller than you have depicted. The 'arms' make more that 2 complete revolutions.  The sponge and rammer are on opposite ends of another pole.
 
In addition to unloading the gun the worm is used as part of the regular gun drill.  Here is the drill we use.  It was standard during the war of 1812
 
1.  "Search your piece"  The worm is inserted down the barrel and given several turns to snag any unburned wadding or cartridge left over from the last shot
2.  "Sponge your piece"  The wet sponge is run down the barrel to extinguish any burning embers
3.  "Search your piece" 
4.  "Sponge your piece"
5.  "Advance cartridge"  The cartridge is brought to the loader
6.  "Load cartridge"        The cartridge is inserted into the barrel and rammed home
7.  "Load with shot"       The round shot (or other shot)  is inserted into the barrel a wadding is inserted after and the shot rammed home
8.  "Prick and prime"     The gunner inserts the prick down the touch hole to pierce the cartridge bag and then fills the touch hole with powder.  A lead apron is the placed over the touch hole to protect the powder.
 
The gunner then sights the gun and the crew uses handspikes to train and elevate the weapon.
9.   "Make ready"        The gunner blows in the linstock to make sure it is burning well.  The apron is removed from the touch hole.
10.  "Fire"                   The gunner touchs the linstock to the touch hole.

Sometimes, yes sometimes I hat me for what I am doing to myself ...
 
... example needed?
 
The worm hook to extract cartridge remains ...
 
... already I glued a nice long spiral onto a stick and just then looked into the literature ...
 
... bloody mental cinema ...
 
... it is not one long spiral but two short opposite spirals, which makes sense for the purpose.
 
First soldering trial with the 0,3 mm copper wires went bad until I remembered that there is a protection around :-(
 
Once removed, results became better, but still quite breakable, but then realised, the spiraling method does not work ...
 
... okokokokokoko ...
 
... back to start, rethink and resolder ...
 

 
... but how to do the double helix?
 
Took a fitting drill with the right lead ...
 

 
... and carefully embedded the wire into the grooves.
 

 
The lead still being too high, respaned the opposite way against a 1 mm mandral, and carefully readjusted the lead.
 

 
And here we are, it finally worked ...
 

 
... even fits for the bore :-)
 

 
 
That is why I sometimes hate myself, took me days to work this out until it fitted ...
 
... so I got really time enough to hate myself ...
 
... deeply contrited ... 
 
...yours dafi

Anyway, no something completely different ...
 
... re worked the anatomic side of Sponge-Bob as my son calls him and Dr Tentacle also got his wild brothers put into custody.
 

 
While the starbord side is deserted as we know from previous posts, we can slowly start populating the port side. As everybody was given a number, n# 4 is already swapping the barrel with his sponge while n# 3 is helping with the cartridge.
 

 
Still looks quite spacious ...
 

 

 

 

 
... but with the training in place it is getting tighter and tighter. Also I would not like to stand there without somebody holding the back tackle - if not one wave and some tons of iron and wood jump towards you and no way to jump out of this tackle bondage.
 

 

 
And now imagine 5 guys on the tackle left and 5 guys on the tackle right, pulling the strings, helping with the handspikes, reaching for worm-hooks, wad pads and cannon balls and the guncaptain touching off the hole with his thump - THAT will be hot. And then the same to the gun on the left and the same to the gun on the right. Better than the tube at rush hour ...
 
... seen from the top, one really can imagine.
 

 
Soon more,
 
XXXDAn

Very interesting video.
I like how they made the little guys arm move with the tiller. Plus the scratchy sound of that old ragtime vinyl was perfect background music.
 
Looking at the waterline on that build, it looks to be up on the side further. On masking tape, width is important. using thinner tape or electrical (which would stretch) would help.

Nice job on the railing.
That should help make her less of a sleeve snag while working on her.
 
That last picture is at just the perfect angle to really show my favorite aspect of the Wasan. That teardrop shaped profile is just so gorgeous.
 
...and your painting highlights and washes really make her look real. Its funny, you find the shaping and sanding tedious and the painting Fun and it is the opposite for me. Keep up the excellent work my friend, she's really stating to take shape.

Here is the completed Midwest Products "The Fantail Launch II". All that remains is to install the radio control equipment. Thanks to those who followed my build and gave kind or encouraging words and helpful advice along the way.
 

Well I got the the water line painted and it sure looks goofy to me from certain angles but it's placed where the plan and the finished model on the box indicates. The next steps are to glue the flags to the bow and stern, install the rudder and then the radio gear. Over all I am very pleased with the model.
 

I always did my first test in the bath tub.  I didn't have to go anywhere.
 
Bob

Hey all, been working on the base for the rails this week. Pretty tedious work as I had to reshape many pieces to get it right. Reshaping also means repainting, but for some reason that part of the work feels fun.
 
The horizontal planks are first painted with  brown washes to get a slightly darker nuance. Then I sanded the outer sides to make it look like its painted. Then thin dirt streaks like it had rained on them. Then lighter washes to make it realistic and finally some light sanding to make it blend. I want to get many nuances of the washes so I had to paint all the vertical pieces using different shades of washes.
 
 
/Matti

I started working on the ship’s boat in-between working on the side rails.  Somewhere in a friend’s family an unopened AL Bounty is gathering dust in a cupboard and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a trace of the launch boat’s laser cut frames.
 
 
I scaled the drawing down to the right size in photocopier (the length overall of the SFII boat is about 10cm).  I used 1.5mm plywood for the frames.
 
(AL metal boat vs scratch build)


 
I have no instructions, so I’m just improvising as I go along.  I made the floorboards from mahogany veneer, using some of my spare deck planking veneer as a backing. 
 

 
I ended up cutting the 5mm mahogany strips in half, else the width of the floorboards seemed out of scale.  My first attempt did not look nice, since it is difficult to see individual planks at this scale.  The floorboards ended up looking like one solid piece.  To make the edges of the floorboards more pronounced, I used one of the methods to simulate caulking – running a black marker along the edges of the strips before gluing them into place.
 

 
I have no idea how I’m going to get this boat planked.  This 4’’ thing is flimsy.  I’m also not sure if I should paint the hull white on the outside once it is planked.  I’ve always liked the look of the white launch boats seen so often on later period models, but I’m not sure if it was done in the early 17th century.  If you can paint the hull, your planking does not have to be 110%.

 

Actually Lawrence its not really a builders personal touch, but rather changes made between the First SF kit and the second. My kit is still in the box on the shelf (it is a SF1) and the two pictured are from other builders off of MSW. Wolf's change is kind of a step between the 2, I guess one could always fabricate the one piece upper bulwark as is used in the SF1 if they didn't want the break in the flow into the head.
 
If I'm remembering correctly I've read some where that the one piece bulwark that wrapped to the head was a problem for people to build, so they redesigned the kit with two pieces. The other really big kit difference is the SF1 is double planked and the SF2 is single planked. There are also many other subtle changes.
 
I think its interesting how the 2 kits compare and how builders improve on the kits. The one issue both kits have are those metal gunports and Wolf has really made that not just go away but made really awesome scratch port doors. I had plans to do that and it's always nice to see someone clear the path. In my opinion the custom gunport doors make a HUGE difference on this build. 

Nice detail.
Its all straight lines, but the angle of intersection make this a real work of art... and patience.

It's been a while, but between being busy with other things, what I've been working on has been a little tedious. The irony is, this is but a taste of what is to come...
 
Work is continuing on the A Frame bracing. Gleaning what I could from photos, I feel I've come pretty close to the prototype. The two triangular braces are built with styrene angle stock. The cross bracing between the legs was angle that I made up with some thicker material for added rigidity. After that I've been working on the small braces that run across the webb of the main girders. Ohhh... lot's of fun this.
 
Like I said, only a taste of things to come. The unloading boom will be the ultimate challenge. I've got enough resource photos to use for the basic construction, at issue is the order to procede. More on this as I get further down the line...
 
Andy