KevinR

This is my first post concerning my present project, the Armed Virginia Sloop.  I received it in late August 2014 and then went on a two-week tour in September.  Have been working on it pretty steady since late September.

Very near finishing the Scottish Maid. Wishing Keith was around to see me complete it. Since I'm so near to the end I'm taking another look at the details around the ship. I noticed the reef points on the port side of the Main Mast Boom Sail. I have the sail catching wind from the starboard side, billowing out on the port side. The way this makes the sail shaped the reef points should not be laying sloppily against the sail on that side. I painted each one with watered PVA & clipped them to dry so they would hang down.
 
 
 

Hi Carl, I agree with your thoughts, I think that if I keep things consistent and have a good general flow then I should be OK.
I can push a fair bit of water through the .093 holes with a good pump and since I am not going to be running this engine for long stretches I am confident that I will be able to get enough cooling.
 
Thanks Druxey, I do have the small set of coils spring pipe bender that I purchased some time ago but they only work for gentle curves, I have done some more experiments with the styrene rod as a filler as suggested By Bob. The combination of the heavy walled brass tube benders that are bored to the pipe size plus filling the tubes with the styrene have greatly improved the quality of tight elbows. The styrene gets trapped and a quick play of the propane torch over the elbow pops most of the styrene out then after removing the blobs at each end of the bent tube a little more heat and the residue flames off, leaving a good bend and flow through.
 
Thank you Mike, Mark, Steve , and Nils for your very complimentary comments. A sincere thanks to all who have shown their appreciation by pressing the like button.
 
I am continuing with the experiments with the various shapes and components for the piping and valves. I am gathering a fair collection of bits for the spare bits box. The parts to the extreme bottom left hand corner are the present iteration, that i am working with. the hex sections have been filed instead of adding in some sections of hex stock this eliminated the need for threads etc and is quick enough to do with a few strokes of the fine file.
 

 
I filled the four mounting holes with some 00x90 threaded rod and soft soldered them in place because they won't work with the new configuration that is not quite there yet but is getting close.
 

 
I have been sorting out the stack of elements and seeing how to create the look of a number of parts screwed together but really being a solid fancy tube. here there ore the vertical part of the pump the valve to bleed off any air then the anti hammer bulb. it is bored out to accept some 1/8th inch copper pipe for the bottom elbow, and a .093 hole for the tee off to the upper union that connects the piping to the water jacket as in the one on the real engine. I am using the 1/4 inch brass rod that I purchased at home depot, this rod is nice to machine and not very expensive. By using the collet chuck instead of the three jaw I can shift the brass out as I complete each element. the collet has 6 slotted sections as part of its design which makes it easy to line up to file the hex sections.
 

 
I silver soldered the tee to the bulb section, not as good as some soldering I have seen but acceptable, in this instance.
 

 
Michael
 
 
 

Wow! those files are pricey Druxey.
 
the saga of the water-pump continues.
I am not happy with the sizes of things and also the elbow is causing the crankcase to be raised off the sump.
 

 
Mass confusion and general mayhem
 

 
A number of different experiments with heavy walled tube convinced me that it is easier to bend the heavy tube than to work at drilling 90 degree holes through elbows any other way.
 
That said I have come to the conclusion that all model locomotive engineers already know and i also knew it as well and that is one cannot scale nature, a molecule of water is a molecule of water and that is the fact of life. it also became a realization that I would not be able to get enough water through the water-jacket with a scale model pump for the same reason that nature is not scale-able.
 
I was able to make the pump open and close with a .093 ball bearing similar to a clack valve but being realistic demonstrated to me that this approach would not work to deliver the volume of water needed to cool the head(heat cannot be scaled either. (Nigel you already knew this too)
 
As there are two other places wher piping enters the water jacket I have decided to continue to make a scale operating water pump from the outside appearances but the actual path of the water will be through the other piping and will use a hidden pump that will be able to deliver the needed volumes. Disappointing in one sense, but that is the way the world works sometimes.
 
experiments
 

 
Now that I am on a new track I will be able to make the pump look correct, I have already done this with regard to the operation of the pistons and cylinders insider the engine and working to keep the exterior looking like hwe real engine.
 
I have developed a couple of new tools for bending the parts of the piping.
 

 
The elbow is first turned to include some flanged areas at each end, then annealed and slipped into the brass bending tools
 

 
I marked the center of the elbow with a felt pen and closed the two parts.
 

 
did the bend
 

 
after a few tries I am pleased that this method will work
 
 
 
michael
 
 
 

Hi everyone and thanks for all the Likes and comments.  As you can see from the photos below, I've started on the deck's framework.  As I intend to fully detail the interior of Rainbow's hull, it's important that as much of it can be viewed and enjoyed.  For this reason, the deck will be left open and unplanked.  
 
Progress is steady, yet slow.  No need to rush things; besides, I'm finding it too enjoyable to rush.
 
I hope you enjoy the photos so far.
 
All the best
 
Patrick

Lawrence, Pete, thanks for the good words.
 
I’ve been working on cabin details.  A little stain, cabinet doors, laminate on the tops and a stove in the lined alcove.  I made the stove out of brass.  Sorry I should have taken pictures of the stove before I cleaned and painted it.  Next I need to find some 1:48 scale vinyl for the mattresses.  Then I can move on to the cockpit.  More later.
 
Bob
 

 

 

 

 
 

Mike, Welcome aboard!
 
Michael, I believe I read that the average life expectancy of a Skipjack was 20 years. Of course The actual life expectancy for each boat varied based on how well they were maintained. The Skipjack Kathryn was built for oyster dredging about 1901, and worked until ~2008. From the survey Kathryn appeared to have been in much better shape than EC Collier and to have had fewer stop-gap repairs.
"KATHRYN is not typical of the skipjacks in her construction. Most skipjacks were cross-planked and built principally of pine. KATHRYN's bottom is plankd fore-and-aft, and most of her original structural members and her bottom planks are oak. This construction technique allowed the builders to round the chin much more than is found on cross-planked skipjacks. Kathryn is the only skipjack known to have fore-and-aft planking and a rounded chine." (Taken from the "Historic American Engineering Record" for the Two Sail Bateau "Skipjack" - Kathryn.) I believe the Kathryn was built by someone who, just believed, that the boat should be built to last.
 
Thanks everyone for stopping by,

Mike, Welcome aboard!
 
Michael, I believe I read that the average life expectancy of a Skipjack was 20 years. Of course The actual life expectancy for each boat varied based on how well they were maintained. The Skipjack Kathryn was built for oyster dredging about 1901, and worked until ~2008. From the survey Kathryn appeared to have been in much better shape than EC Collier and to have had fewer stop-gap repairs.
"KATHRYN is not typical of the skipjacks in her construction. Most skipjacks were cross-planked and built principally of pine. KATHRYN's bottom is plankd fore-and-aft, and most of her original structural members and her bottom planks are oak. This construction technique allowed the builders to round the chin much more than is found on cross-planked skipjacks. Kathryn is the only skipjack known to have fore-and-aft planking and a rounded chine." (Taken from the "Historic American Engineering Record" for the Two Sail Bateau "Skipjack" - Kathryn.) I believe the Kathryn was built by someone who, just believed, that the boat should be built to last.
 
Thanks everyone for stopping by,

You are doing a great job on the construction Kevin, very clean work.
 
 
This raises the point that the boats made with the less durable woods were probably built for a particular working life time-frame whereas the one built with the more durable material might have been built more as a recreational boat versus a working boat. Just my thoughts on the reasoning for the differences.
 
Michael

Hello Kevin
 
I discovered just your log and I will surely following ...
... like your project
 
Regards
Mike

Hi Everyone,
Well The weekend is over and I have made some progress. Most of the progress was in researching and planning my next move. I spent 3 days planning where to put everything. My skipjack is very close in size to the Willie Bennet, so I did not want to use the same deck layout. I was hoping to put the second cabin midship like on EC Collier and Kathryn, but there was not enough room. So I believe my only concession to be different is that the forward cabin will have a flat roof and not sloped like the Willie Bennet.
The living accommodations on the Skipjacks were pretty slim. The headroom in the aft cabin on the Willie Bennet was only 3-1/2 feet. On the EC Collier (50') which was 7 feet longer, the headroom was 5 feet in the aft cabin and 3-1/2 feet in the midship cabin. Apparently the second cabin on Skipjacks was only big enough to lay down in and the aft (main) cabin was barely big enough to sit and cook in.
 
I got back to work on the boat and added the aft strongback, the forward strongback with knees and started adding the ceiling floor in the fo'c'sle cabin.

A belated welcome to JesseLee. And Welcome Dave and Druxey.
 
Thank you everyone for all the complements and the likes.
 
Cap'n'Bob, I like the detail of the framing and the cross planking as well. It it is a shame to hide it, I just hope the ceiling floor will look good enough to make up for it. What is really a shame, is the whole thing will be painted except for the wainscoting in the aft cabin.
 
Marty, after drilling a couple of holes in the keelson and trying to join the holes together, I decided I really did not want a working centerboard. Maybe next time.
 
My first foray into scratch building should have been with a set of plans, not a book showing how easy it is to build a skipjack. If I was to do it all over again I would build the EC Collier. The plans are very detailed and combined with the information for the Willie Bennet, would make a beautiful and detailed model. 
 
If someone wanted to build a plank on frame model of a Skipjack, the plans for the Kathryn are almost as complete as the EC Collier's. I thought it was funny that the skipjack was suppose to be an easy and cheap boat to build and someone comes along and spends the extra money to build one plank on frame. i.e the Skipjack Kathryn. The Kathryn may look like the other Skipjacks but she was built to last. The EC Collier was made of pine and fir. The Kathryn used oak framing and I believe pine planking. The plans for both describe the materials used in the original construction. 
 
My plan is to leave the hatches open to both of the cabins and allow the hatch covers to be removed. This will allow viewing of the inside details. My fall back plan is to glue them shut if I screw it up. It is always good to have a plan.
 
Speaking of planning below is some of my planning for the aft cabin. I need to reduce the cabin hieght by about 6 inches.

 
 
 
 

A belated welcome to JesseLee. And Welcome Dave and Druxey.
 
Thank you everyone for all the complements and the likes.
 
Cap'n'Bob, I like the detail of the framing and the cross planking as well. It it is a shame to hide it, I just hope the ceiling floor will look good enough to make up for it. What is really a shame, is the whole thing will be painted except for the wainscoting in the aft cabin.
 
Marty, after drilling a couple of holes in the keelson and trying to join the holes together, I decided I really did not want a working centerboard. Maybe next time.
 
My first foray into scratch building should have been with a set of plans, not a book showing how easy it is to build a skipjack. If I was to do it all over again I would build the EC Collier. The plans are very detailed and combined with the information for the Willie Bennet, would make a beautiful and detailed model. 
 
If someone wanted to build a plank on frame model of a Skipjack, the plans for the Kathryn are almost as complete as the EC Collier's. I thought it was funny that the skipjack was suppose to be an easy and cheap boat to build and someone comes along and spends the extra money to build one plank on frame. i.e the Skipjack Kathryn. The Kathryn may look like the other Skipjacks but she was built to last. The EC Collier was made of pine and fir. The Kathryn used oak framing and I believe pine planking. The plans for both describe the materials used in the original construction. 
 
My plan is to leave the hatches open to both of the cabins and allow the hatch covers to be removed. This will allow viewing of the inside details. My fall back plan is to glue them shut if I screw it up. It is always good to have a plan.
 
Speaking of planning below is some of my planning for the aft cabin. I need to reduce the cabin hieght by about 6 inches.

 
 
 
 

A belated welcome to JesseLee. And Welcome Dave and Druxey.
 
Thank you everyone for all the complements and the likes.
 
Cap'n'Bob, I like the detail of the framing and the cross planking as well. It it is a shame to hide it, I just hope the ceiling floor will look good enough to make up for it. What is really a shame, is the whole thing will be painted except for the wainscoting in the aft cabin.
 
Marty, after drilling a couple of holes in the keelson and trying to join the holes together, I decided I really did not want a working centerboard. Maybe next time.
 
My first foray into scratch building should have been with a set of plans, not a book showing how easy it is to build a skipjack. If I was to do it all over again I would build the EC Collier. The plans are very detailed and combined with the information for the Willie Bennet, would make a beautiful and detailed model. 
 
If someone wanted to build a plank on frame model of a Skipjack, the plans for the Kathryn are almost as complete as the EC Collier's. I thought it was funny that the skipjack was suppose to be an easy and cheap boat to build and someone comes along and spends the extra money to build one plank on frame. i.e the Skipjack Kathryn. The Kathryn may look like the other Skipjacks but she was built to last. The EC Collier was made of pine and fir. The Kathryn used oak framing and I believe pine planking. The plans for both describe the materials used in the original construction. 
 
My plan is to leave the hatches open to both of the cabins and allow the hatch covers to be removed. This will allow viewing of the inside details. My fall back plan is to glue them shut if I screw it up. It is always good to have a plan.
 
Speaking of planning below is some of my planning for the aft cabin. I need to reduce the cabin hieght by about 6 inches.

 
 
 
 

This morning I started out cementing all the eye bolts, pulley blocks and cleats to the new woodwork.  
 
Then I masked around the cabin roof so I can paint it.  After the paint had dried enough I removed the masking paper.  Hmmm, I should have waited with the painting till after I was done fiddling around that area,  And in the course of removing the cabin doors to replace the hinges with something better looking I made a divot in the fresh paint.  Needles to say I now have to mask it all off again and respray the roof.
 
Yeah, I was not happy with the way the door hinges looked and decided to make new ones, most likely from metal.  They are rather simple to make and look more authentic.
 
I then looked at how the kit wants you to make the two cleats on the toe rails at the bow.  They are supposed to be made from wood and I guess, with a little effort you can make a decent looking cleat.  However, I thought - - - why not make them from metal    Soooooh - - I drew up a sketch and cut some pieces out of brass sheet stock.  Lacking a milling machine or any other fancy tooling I made them out of three pieces.  two that are bent into a cleat shape and a flat base.  I then soldered them all together and filed them into presentable cleats.  Yeah, it's all hand filing, no machining except for drilling the bolt holes. 
 
All I need to do now is drill the bold holes in the base and fashion a few bolts.  Actually, they'll be CA cemented to the toe rails and the "bolts" are for show.  I think I'll leave them bare in polished brass.
 
I'm now ready to paint the trim, I thimk   Oh yeah, fabricating door hinges first 
 
I didn't take any more pics of the stained woodwork, you've seen them once and they haven't changed much.  Here are a few pics of the two hardware pieces I slaved over.
 

I made a bolt and a new nut to bolt the bowsprit to the Samson Post.  I could utilize the two washers I made previously.  The bolt shank is made from 0.8 mm brass rod and the head and nut from 0.8 mm brass sheet.  The head and nut will take a 2 mm wrench    I actually made two nuts but one served as the head, which I soldered to the  brass rod.  I also "cut threads" in the shank for the nut.  Sorry, I just get a cick out of doing this kinda stuff, forgive me for having a little fun
 

This shows the cleats I made as described above.  The brass is 0.8 mm thick but I filed a good portion away to make them thinner and less bulky.  They are just temporarily laid on top of the toe rails.  I still need to drill the bolt holes and polish them before I can cement them onto the toe rails. 
 
Cheers, 
 
 

Well, it's been a few days but I was not sitting on my hands.  Had to do other things that took priority over model building.  Yes, there are a few more important things - - - when the Admiral suggests that something REALLY needs taken care of - - - 
 
In any case, I painted the trim work green and put some poly on the decks.  Looking okay but the trim needs some touching up.  That'll be an ongoing thing with me I'm afraid.  I keep seeing things that could be just a tad better.
 
While the paint was drying I started making the cabin door hinges from 0.1 mm brass shim, 1 mm brass tube with 0.5 mm brass rod for the hinge pins.  All very fiddling work but it went off like clock work, no problems.
 
Next came the job cementing these little parts to the doors and then the frame parts to the door frames.  First I cemented the door parts to the doors with CA. Okay, now to cement the frame parts.  I taped booth doors together front and back with masking tape and then set them int the door opening.  As the pics show I also secured the doors to the bulkhead.  Hey, my mommy didn't raise a dummy 
 
I then clamped the model into my small Proxxon vice by the cutwater so she stands bow down.  This way the door bulkhead is now horizontal.  The small fame parts could now be placed on the frames and slid into the hinge pins.  So far so good.  A little touch of CA and holding them tight against the frames till te CA had done its grasping job and presto, job done.
 
Now I had to give it the hingeing test and wouldn't you know it, one of the tubes was not soldered on correctly.  So, that one had to be redone and reinstalled.  No problem, just another 15 minutes and it was back on.
 
The only problem is that the doors won't open all the way when the fish bin hatches are on.  They'll just have to squeeze through a narrower opening, sorry guys     
 
I could now finish with paint touch-up on the door bulkhead.  I'll have Gwen, the Admiral, look at it tomorrow and let me know where else I need to touch-up.  
 
If the paint job is satisfactory then I can start with putting the bowsprit on and rigging that.  Then the mast and rigging it.  Hmmm, we are slowly getting there.  The sails will be a challenge for me 
 
Here are a few pics of my efforts of the last few days.
 

This shows the three parts that make up the door parts for the hinge.  A similar setup applies for the frame parts, except that I made them smaller as shown in the next picture.
 

This shows the completed door hinge assembly.  
 

This shows how I jigged the doors so I can cement the frame ends to the frames.  Sorry, I didn't take a pic with the boat bow down in the vice but it worked like a charm.
 

This is another shot of jigging the doors.
 

This shows the completion of the door hinge installation.  I think it looks a little better then the paper hinges I had on previously.  This is taken before I repainted the bulkhead.   
 

This is how my little sloop looks like as of today.
 
Cheers,

What's in the box? The more I start to look around the more I am impressed. Tools are included and quality of them is pretty good! I'm really happy with the plastic boxed and the fact that they have a little indent (See picture) so when you drop it you don't loose everything! (speaking out of experience.) Everything looks great!  
 
 

This set of photos show the yards and anchor being installed.

Doing a little at a time. Rigging sheet & clew lines. Added the stay & flying jib sails.
 
 

Sign ready to hang....

 
check out the ship figure.
This was a fun little break ...
 

 
Back to the Mayflower....

UPDATE - SHOP SIGN PROJECT
 

 
Finished and assembled. Four or five coats of poly and ready to hang. Pretty pleased with the way it came out EXCEPT FOR ONE THING...
 
I decided the little sail boat in the center of the original just didn't really represent my "Ship Yard" since I don't actually build sail boats. I build SHIPS.
 

 
So I've got to come up with something more appropriate for the center.
Guess I'll have to break out the carving tools....

Born in Plymouth and brought up in Pompey. 6 generations of Royal Navy on both sides of my family (all mainly Chief POs, ranging from stores to engineers) but I let the side down when I broke the traditions and didn't become a matelot (mainly because I wanted to fly harriers but got diagnosed as colour blind at 11, so that was out, and lost the heart to do anything else RN related!). So.....I became an accountant, via a trip to Uni to get a Marine Engineering degree....what else!
 
Live in "Admiralty House" (now I'm 40 and have my own nice enough to merit the name), prints of HMS Victory and HMS Royal Sovereign adorn the entrance hallway, stairs and my office, so doing all the "right" things. However, I've always wanted to build a big, wooden, model of "Vicky" as a nod to my Naval heritage and all those family members who have served before. Call it my "apology", if you like.
 
So, my Grandad (stoker/engineer, turned Seawolf programme leader post-Navy), then 81, bought me the Billings Boats kit in a "get on with it then cos I want to see it finished" prompt. This was 2 years ago and I'd made some good progress but it stalled what with the general time-constraints of life (work, kids, divorce, re-marriage etc etc) but I want to kick-start it again and get going. Partly prompted by the fact that same Grandad, now 83, went through a tough time recently and I've now taken him in to live with me and my family (as a thank you for looking after me all those years my Dad was away when I was younger).
 
Wish I'd found this site sooner as have been reading with interest some of the other build logs and some of the hints, tips and problems I've faced so far may have been a bit easier to overcome!
 
Anyway, I will start to post photos of the work to date and some of the above issues and then carry on from where I left off. First ever build, so it's not perfect (so please be gentle all you pros) but I've tried to show (mainly Grandad) that despite being a number-cruncher by profession now, there's a real marine engineer (not just the right letters after my name) in there somewhere!
 
Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
 
Cheers,
 
Chris

Looking really great Kevin. No big deal on the centerboard, I will be watching to see the future unfold.
Happy modeling.
Marty

The framing and floors in the bottom look great it's a shame to cover it with planking.
 
Bob

Just 'discovered' your build log. Very nice work and interesting construction details, Kevin.