AON

Enjoyed seeing her at today's club meeting!

Thanks Alan! The help given me by yourself and others really helped the build come together!
I am looking forward to presenting my first installment of Lilla Dan's rebuilding in April, also by then St. Roch should be in her case.

Enjoyed seeing her at today's club meeting!

Enjoyed seeing her at today's club meeting!

Happy New Year everyone!
Now that the relative riots are over, the turkey coma has passed, and the decorations are being put away for another year, it is time to get back to modelling!
St. Roch now has her mainmast installed!
The steps to finish the spars and main sail, and to assemble the mast, are the same as I carried out for the foremast, so I won't be repeating them here. The first picture is the mast assembled, held in my drill press vise that I brought to my model bench. Note the running rigging is pre-installed, and the cargo derrick is in place with my scratch built gooseneck.
Note also the chain and footropes on the main boom...

St. Roch originally had a gaff mainsail, but this was cut down and the gaff removed by captain Larsen after her maiden voyage. Presumably the smaller sail area helped her sailing characteristics, which were not very good. And here is the mast installed onto the ship...

The running rigging has been belayed to the pins at the mast foot. The back stays are installed. The main stay is installed to the spreader on the mast.
The crow's nest will be installed above the spreader, which keeps the stay out of the way of the nest. I made the Jacob's ladder and installed it between the top of the shrouds and the bottom of the nest. 
As will be seen, crew climbed into the crow's nest through the bottom, not over the top.
The shrouds have yet to be made and installed.
 
In these next two pictures you can see the cargo derrick set up, with the crewman pushing his load of sacks to the side of the ship. The tackles used to swing the derrick are left slack on purpose, and the ends will be belayed to pins at the lower end of the main shrouds.


I normally do not include crewmen, since I am not very good at making them. However a friend on another forum and his 3d printer came to the rescue. I thought the open hold looked too sterile and the crewman would give scale to the model, so I used the following picture as inspiration to create this mini-diorama.
 
The photo was taken in 1928 during St. Roch's maiden voyage, as evidenced by her original small deckhouse and the note that she is unloading at Cambridge Bay.

It is interesting to note that there is no sailor manning the winch, the crewman appears to be working alone to get the cargo over the side and into, presumable, a shore boat...
This last picture shows my take on the scene...

Now all that remains are the main shrouds and some final details before St. Roch goes into her display case!
Thanks everyone for looking in and following along, and for your comments and support during my build!
Regards,
Bruce
 
 
 

Hi Mike, to add  to your LED update, as a comparison:
-my bridgeport milling machine  came with a fluorescent light close to the cutter
-2 examples of working lights: on the working table and on the ceiling
 
The best working light you can get are effectively LED lights. The best ones come from photography. You do not really need to adjust the color temperature, it is better to choose one with only daylight which will give a constant light as if you were working outside during the day, this way you will always see the real color of what you are working.
 
It is preferable to have an adjustment for the intensity of the light.
If you want to get rid of the shadows when you are working, you position one light on both sides
The foot of the light is what you could call a universal position adjustment.
 
Continue your good work.

Some more work done and this time it's the windlass pawl which is a very simple mechanism on this ship.
 
Firstly I made the hinge out of brass but I forgot to take any photos of the actual process.  It was quite simple really as all I did was to silver solder some 2mm tube onto some 1mm plate and then put it in the milling machine.  The only issue I could foresee was that the holding point in the vice was very small so only light cuts could be taken.  I also had the machine running at 10k rpm which lessoned the vibration during cutting.  Why is it I always drill one hole out of line?  I wouldn't mind but I centre punched it too........


The pawl has a wooden piece that it is recessed into  - its this wooden part which locks into the windlass.


Finally the completed installation and I'm glad to say that it did fit into the windlass  



My next job will be the hatch surround on the forecastle deck and then the pin rail.
 
Thanks for all of the comments, likes and help
 
Mark
 

Exceptional Execution!!  This scale allows such beautiful detail.   Your milling skills allow precise duplication and give these pieces life of their own.
 
Thanks for sharing this wonderful build with such good descriptions and wonderful photography!  We all look forward to your next post!!

Another update on Le Rochefort and this time it's the catheads and snatch sheave blocks.
 
Making the catheads I found to be relatively straightforward; the only issue I had was that my end mill was too short to complete the sheave slots from one side.  It was just one of those times when you have to trust your datums and turn the piece over to complete the cuts.



Now fitting the catheads is not easy at all.  You need a bit of bottle to cut through your newly made gunwale, moulding and waterway.  I just took my time and removed little pieces at a time.




Next I made the snatch sheave blocks - these are really nice to make as they really make you plan the cutting order to still be able to hang onto them.

Next were the sheaves and I have had this piece of ebony wood knocking around in my drawer for ages.  So I thought it would be very nice to make them out of that.


To finish all of the pieces off I made the ring bolts, iron ring and fitted the sheaves in place.


And finally I fitted all of the parts to the ship




Next up I'm going to finish off the windlass by making the locking pawl.
 
Cheers Mark
 

Daniel
I found "guns" to be quite confusing.
Discovering that swivel guns on the fighting tops and carronades on the weather decks weren't counted as guns.... in this age I can only wonder why?
Even some of that era questioned it.
Alan

DITTO!  😉

Albert as druxey said both hulls are beautiful examples of framing. You are one heck of a speed builder and I really enjoy seeing you build them so quick. Takes me forever just to build just one frame. Keep up the great build's. Gary

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔

Funnily enough I wasn't sure about whether I would make all of the parts or not as some parts are so readily available on line.  I didn't make the bricks in the stove but the more I build the more important it is that I do make as many parts as possible.  I'm sure that many other builders feel the same as the satisfaction is just so nice when the part you make just fits the ship.

Hi Alberti
It was a long time ago since i purchased the plans so i have reached out to Micheal and asked him to comment. Here is what is written on the offer.
”SeaWatch has teamed up with David Antscherl and Greg Herbert to continue to help you on your Swan journey and we are delighted to offer the plans for the Swan class sloop featured in David and Greg's four-part series Fully Framed Ship Model.

The plans have been drawn up expressly for model makers who wish to build a fully framed model. Drawn to the classic scale of 1:48, each set consists of two plan sheets. The first includes the sheer and profile, half-breadth and body plan. The second sheet includes all the masts, spars, etc. required for a Swan class vessel or similar ship rigged model of that period. The 35 patterns for the floors, futtocks, toptimbers, hawse timbers and transoms will be included as digital downloads for those who buy the plans. This will enable the builder to print out as many frame patterns as needed to construct each frame.’
So that means to me that you will get all the digital files needed to allow you to make up all the frames, but Michael will respond more directly. When i purchase the plans we got a paper copy of the frame plans. I would have preferred a digital copy.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔

Starting on the catheads I could see that they both have a cleat on the top of them and there are 6 others across the gunwale.  So I thought let's start with them as I've never made cleats before and I can make them all in one go.  For some reason I thought it would be good to make them out of brass and blacken them as in my mind they will make a nice contrast to the wood.
 
So without knowing what I'm doing I started with a piece of flat brass bar which was 3 times thicker than required at 6mm.  I used this piece simply because I'm still waiting on a chuck for the tail stock so I couldn't centre drill a hole for the live centre.  I needed some strength in the material due to the amount of metal sticking out of the chuck.
 
So once again I used an independent 4 jaw chuck to hold the brass and using the drawings I roughed out 8 cleats leaving plenty of material between each one.

I then placed this on the mill and cut the piece down to its correct width of 2mm.  The rough finish is because I held it down on the tooling plate with double sided tape.  I also thinned the bottom of each cleat to make the separation from their tops.

Next was to cut the familiar curved top edge and then cut the cleat off using a hacksaw.  Then I could finish the basic shape by hand using a file.


After that was done I drilled 2 - 0.5mm holes in each cleat and put some 0.5mm brass rod through.  This acts as both the fixing heads and location dowels onto the ship.  The rods were fixed in place using a small drop of Loctite 271 rather than soldering.



Finally I rounded everything off as best I could and chemically blackened them.  I fitted the 4 cleats onto the bow gunwale and 2 onto the stern as per the drawings.  This leaves me 2 left for the catheads.  All in all I'm pretty pleased the way these have turned out as I made up the cutting sequences on the go.



 
I would like to thank everyone for the advice, corrections, encouragement and the downright lovely comments.
 
Catheads next  
 
Cheers Mark
 
 

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔

Well, I managed one of the two upper cheek finishing bits. It is presently soaking to be removed from the baseboard.

I also installed the trail boards and decided on the figure, a griffon or gryphon if you prefer. The drawing has been mounted to some bass wood (linden) and that glued to a baseboard in readiness for carving.

As I am getting tired of looking at my mistake at the stern, I've cut out the transom taffrail board in black walnut, steamed it, and it is presently clamped and drying. The clamp piece is a scrap 2x4 piece of lumber cut to the curve of the present stern taken with my profile gauge. I will not unclamp it until after Christmas. I intend to remove the offending counter timber tops sometime soon (in the new year) and will replace them with the taffrail board.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔

Ah; chip happens!

Alan, if the carving details continue to give you issues, I’d strongly advise switching to a better carving wood such as boxwood or some other hardwood with a fine solid grain.  Bass wood/Lime wood/Linden is fairly fiberous and soft and has a difficulty holding fine smooth details at your scale.
 
great progress btw and enjoying your journey. 

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
some update pics
The Taffrail has been drilled and pinned to the stern, and the counter timbers have been cut back to a proper termination level.

The Griffon/Gryphon carvings are coming along but at such a small scale I wonder if I just need more practice or should I use a different wood — Castello versus boxwood basswood (Linden), as I've already lost a hind foot!

I tried using rotary cutters but reverted to mini chisels.
We'll have to wait and see how the head turns out!
🤔