Fair American by captain.jerry - Model Shipways

[captain.jerry]

I may go with this one but I think I can do better.  At least the window frames are the right size.  I would be happier if they appeared to be thinner.  These are 1/32" x 5/32 basswood with the 1/32" face showing.  An idea came to me today as I was painting these that might let me take the thickness down to about half of that and still retain the necessary strength.  It might be better done with boxwood.  I will try it first with the basswood but I will also work on the gun ports.

 

Jerry

 

 

[captain.jerry]

Scroll work, just for fun. 

 

One advantage of having several previous versions of the transom on hand is the opportunity to try my hand a freehand scroll work and lettering. 

 

 

It really is way easier than you might think.  I may just go with this version. What do you think?

 

Thanks Rafine, Gary, and Gunther, for posting likes on this thread.  It is nice to know that some one is watching.  I know I haven't  gotten very far but I'm not in any hurry and I don't want to dig myself into a corner or box myself into a hole so please weigh in if you think I am taking a wrong turn.

 

Jerry

 

 

[ASAT]

Great perseverence Jerry, have you thought of trying to make the mullions from brass? There should be some 1/16" strips of a suitable thickness that you could solder together with a jig, just a thought......

[captain.jerry]

Thanks for the post, Lou, and thanks for the "likes", Canute. 

 

I have indeed thought about brass and it would require some kind of jig.  I can't quite get my head around the jig, though.  Each window has nine solder points and they would all have to be done at once, unless I go the route of picking two different solders with widely different temp ranges.  Even so, controlling the temp on a part this size is very hard to do. Plus the jig would have to be designed such that it would not draw all of the heat or else designed so that it could also stand the temp and then bring jig and part up to heat.  I have a fairly extensive metal shop but it is presently in storage while a new shop gets built'.

 

My attempt at scroll painting and lettering really just in fun, or in jest.  I thought the "Kilroy" in the scroll work would give that away, along with the obvious misspelling.

 

Jerry

[Canute]

Jerry, that did. I laughed when I saw Kilroy.

 

There are some plastic model railroad window parts from Tichy and  GrandtLine that might work for you. They're finely cast parts. Since they're plastic, you may be able to skew them a bit to fit your window spaces.

[ASAT]

Well, how about some evergreen plastic strips and glue? A few passes qwith a needle file after and some paint should cover any imperfections.... Still need a good jig though..... BTW I totally missed the Kilroy and I thought the "FIA" was an acronym - maybe "forget it all" or something a bit stronger... :-)

Edited June 11, 2015 by ASAT

[captain.jerry]

Well, I'm glad someone got a laugh.  This stuff is supposed to be fun, isn't it.  In spite of what might look like a frustrating situation, I haven't come anywhere near a "FIA". I really enjoy this stuff.

 

Plastic castings and strips?  Is that acceptable?  I was hoping to have this displayed in a museum somewhere and I hear that they can be picky about materials and methods so I thought I should make it as difficult as possible and stick to wood. I have been able to produce wood strips that are close to 1/64" thick or .018" by .188" inch wide.  making the outer frames is not difficult at all not is the long vertical mullion but the very small cross mullion is tricky.  Notching the mullions for a half lap seems to be the answer. 

 

More later, I have to go exercise the dogs, and myself.

 

Jerry

[captain.jerry]

I don't usually need to exercise the dogs.  With ten acres at their disposal the can take care of that themselves but we have some construction in progress and they are too interested in all of the strangers and the equipment for their own good so their freedom is limited.  Four times a day, I take the four of them for a walk around the perimeter.  I guess its good for me too.

 

Here is a picture of a small four pane window.  The frames and the mullions are about .018 thick.  This one was done by eye so it is slightly skewed.  A forming jig will be needed. 

 

 

The problems start when it is painted.  Black is no problem.  It seems to make everything disappear.  The problem starts with the gold paint.  These frames are supposed to be gilded but the metallic gold paint is too heavy and forms globs and when thinned to a more workable consistency, does not show up at all. 

 

 

I said small.  This is about 1/4" square. The actual windows in the transom are about 50% larger but this illustrates the problem.  Is there a better way to paint these?  I think I will experiment with a non-metallic gold acrylic.

 

Jerry

[Erik W]

Jerry,

 

As mentioned above, Grandt Line may have something you can use:  http://www.grandtline.com/products/arch/quarter/quarter_scale_architectural_windows.html 

 

As far as using a plastic detail on a wooden ship model, I'm not sure what's "acceptable".  It would seem to me if it's OK to use metal castings, it would be OK to use an odd plastic part if there were no viable wood alternative.  But, being new to this wooden ship endeavor myself . . . I may be branded a heretic for that suggestion.

 

Erik

[captain.jerry]

Eric, thanks for the link.  I did check out the site just for kicks. Nothing there  that would fit the requirement.  I don't think I will be buying any parts anyway.  My feeling is that if the ship needs a part that I can't make, then the ship will be fitted with the best attempt that I can produce.  There are exceptions of course.  I wont make cannons or ships wheel or grating.  I don't need to. the ones supplied with the kit are very nice.  I will not attempt carving the quarter badges or the figurehead.  That would not lead to anything good.  J will get these windows worked out.

 

The comment about expecting this to be displayed in a museum was just BS.  I fully expect it to be displayed on high shelf in my storage shed after a nationwide tour and exhibition schedule.  Details to be worked out.

 

Jerry

[captain.jerry]

I new I would get past the transom sooner or later and so I have. Here are the stbd gunports.

 

 

And here is s shot of the bulwarks.  Interior planking only on starboard and only the first interior plank on port side.

 

 

I took a slightly different approach from the plans and instruction book which recommend building port frames off of the model.  To me, that looked like a disaster in the making.  The one thing that I know about gun ports is that they are not all the same   so why mass produce them.  The top and bottom of each port is parallel to the sweep of the deck at that point and the vertical sides are indeed vertical, parallel to the frames and not at square to the top and bottom.  I also wanted to increase the size slightly and I wanted to do this without greatly increasing the height of the rail.  While looking at the situation, I realized that the tops of all of the frames were not at the same height or rather did not form a fair sweep which would make placing the rail difficult.

 

I decided to handle the ports and the rail sweep as a single project.  The height of the gun port sill is established by fitting a 1/4" high piece at each port space.  The bottom of this piece is flush with the bottom of the waterway which establishes the sweep of the sills.  Along side of each vertical bulkhead ext, I sistered in a pair of 1/8" basswood strips cut to a length of .300", which establishes the height of the gun port opening.  These strips come about 1/16" from the top of the bulkhead extensions.  I then cut off the tops of the bulkheads event with the top of the strips,  and after a little touchup and fairing with a sanding board, I glued a 1/8" square strip on top reaching from bow to stern.  It took a little steam to get the strip to take the bow curvature but the result is a smooth, fair, timber that will make a proper base for the rail cap and which raises the rail height by 1/16"  It was then fairly easy to cut and fit the side pieces for the gun ports.

 

 

I decided that I liked the look of the waterway with covering board as shown on the Model Shipways plans so that is show in the final picture.  This is slightly out of order since the waterway and covering board was installed first.

 

Jerry

 

 

 

[captain.jerry]

I have made some progress.  I spent several hours writing a detailed description of the following pictures and video and just as I was about to post the file, my computer froze, collapsed, puked and died.  I don't know when I will have the energy to write it all again so look at the pictures if you are interested.  The deck of the main cabin has been lowered to provide headroom.  Steering tackle has been routed under the deck.  There is plenty of room to do whatever they needed to do in there.  The steering is in an early design and test mode and is very crude.  So far, reliability has been the primary goal and I feel that I have worked out the operational problems so that I can now work on the appearance.  The interior may or may not be fitted out but the functional parts will be cleaned up and a new tiller will be built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 22, 2015 by captain.jerry

[jdbradford]

I must have missed it earlier.  I did not know you planned to have a moving ship's wheel and rudder.  That is very nice.  I was waiting on your last posts to see if you were having some of the same issues I was having on mine.  I am planking the deck so I can use one of the guns to see how much height I need to add to the Bulwark.  Your port work looks good too.

 

Jeff

[GuntherMT]

Nice job on the rudder workings! 

[captain.jerry]

I have been fiddling around with a new tiller design which also means fiddling around with the rudder and as you might expect, the rudder broke.  In fact it broke several times and each time it was reglued but it is clear that there is an inherent weakness in this style of rudder because of the offset rudder post.  It leaves a very weak area where the post joins the body of the rudder. 

 

In real practice, the rudder was built up of several parts and the parts were arranged so that the wood grain in this area was lined up across the weak area instead of aligned with it.  That probably meant that meant bending the wood which I could do but this is a little bit tricky since it would take two sharp bends close together like a tight "S" bend.  I decided that Instead of steam bending a single piece that I would laminate a stack of thin strips.  I thought that I could control that much better.  I don't plan on double planking the hull so I have a supply of very thin walnut strips that I can use. 

 

I glued five of them together, formed the bends with finger pressure, and clamped them with clothes pins overnight and added the solid mahogany rudder this morning.  I wish I had taken the time to photograph the stack of bent walnut strips so that you could see it more clearly.  It is a little hard to see the way the grain of the strips bends across the curve and forms the rudder post but here is a picture.

 

 

I think this way, it will be much stronger.  I'm still fiddling with the tiller design and the rudder pintles so it will have plenty of opportunity to break if it wants to.

 

Jerry

[GuntherMT]

Neat idea Jerry, and I can see the curve.  Nicely done.

[captain.jerry]

Thanks for the response, Brian.  I'm glad you were able to pick out the "S" curve of the lamination.  I meant to post these pictures of the broken rudder so you could see where the problem is.  Basswood may not be strong enough for that part and solid mahogany may have been able to take the stress but I wanted to try the laminated method for added strength and piece of mind.

 

[captain.jerry]

Some progress to report.  Installed main wales, garboard, and first strake.  All pieces are full length, bent and glued with no soaking or steaming.  The bends in these pieces are not extreme but there is just a bit of edge bending and twist to deal with.  I believe that I will be able to plank this without steam except for the hard upturn at the stern.  I guess it helps to do this in Florida where temps are in the 90's and humidity in the 80's and it has rained everyday for the past two weeks.

 

I have always intended to paint this model so I have not bothered with pencil and trenails and where possible will continue to use full length boards.  I hope to be able to plank the bow without drop strakes by tapering all boards from 3/16" at midship to 1/8" at the bow.

 

It looks like I will need two or maybe three steelers in the stern.  That may not be the way you spell steelers but that's how I spell it.  I used to have season tickets and I still have a black and gold jacket and a terrible towel in the closet.

 

This is the first hull planking attempt and I expect to learn a lot from the experience.  My dad used to tell me, "If you have the speed, steal at every opportunity" but he was my baseball coach so it didn't get me in any trouble.

 

Question?  Is there rule of thumb for length of steelers? These planks are 1/16" x 3/16".

 

Some pictures of the progress:

 

[captain.jerry]

Thanks for posting the likes.  They are appreciated as this is the only way that I know anyone is interested but this is my first ship model planking so I hope that if I go to far off base, you will say so.

 

Planking continues, one at a time, like the way I put my shoes on.  I will now shift from bottom up to top down.  Why? Because that is the quickest way to get to the sharp up turns an the transom and that is what is disturbing my sleep.  I think that I know how I am going to approach the but I don't know how well it will work until I do it so here goes.

 

As I said, I want to stick with single planks stem to stern, if I can make that work.  The first plank below the wales is where the surface transitions from the ends of the transom planks to the lower edge of the ransom.  I probably got to this point by placing the wales too high at the stern by about 1/16" but its what I have to work with.  The end of the first plank can have its lower edge curve up to meet the whale or it could have its end bent around and up to the transom but since that would mean a very sharp bend right at the very end of the plank, I have chosen to go with option one.

 

The stem end of this plank is tapered to1/8" and is fitted tightly into the stem rabet and glued to the first three frames, clamped with rubber bands and clothes pins.  There is a little bit of twist and edge bending so my procedure is to glue and clamp about three bulkhead at a time and let the glue set up for about 30 minutes before moving on to the next set of bulkheads.  These planks are not soaked or steamed.

 

When the plank reaches the transom, it is allowed to extend past it an is trimmed to shape with a #11 and sandpaper.

 

The second plank is more difficult.  It must take a bend upwards in the last 1/4" and join with the lower edge of the transom at an angle.

 

Please forgive me for ending this here for the evening.  I have just been hit with a massive fatigue.  Six hours on the lawn mower in near 90 degree heat takes a lot out of you.  I already had the pictures uploaded and I will try to give a more complete explanation tomorrow.

[GuntherMT]

Looks like it is progressing nicely Jerry.  One thing I noticed, and it could just be a photography thing - it looks like you might be getting some gapping at the bow where the curve is the tightest.  Are you beveling the edge of the planks where they lay up against each other?  If not, you should consider trying that, as if the edge is properly beveled you can eliminate most or all of the gapping caused when two planks are butting against each other at an angle.  

 

Bevel just the one side of the plank you are placing so that the bevel is tight against a non-beveled plank edge to make a nice close joint.

[captain.jerry]

Thanks for  the likes, Rafine and Canute.  They encourage me to continue.  I know that you both have experienced the extra effort that is required to keep up with a build log.

 

Brian, thanks for taking the time to look closely at the pics in my previous post and for taking the time to comment.  You are right in that it looks like some gapping an the curve of the bow.  I think that you are also right in that it may be a photography thing, lighting and timing. 

 

The two planks above the black strake are the main whales and are thicker than the planking so there is a shadow at the first plank.  As for timing, the second plank shows some space because the photo was taken before it was glued and clamped.  Here is a picture from a better angle and after the glue and clamp.

 

 

My clamping method which is to wrap the plank with two or three turns of a rubber band, applies quite a bit of edge clamping force without damage to the plank but I don't know how much higher I can take this because each new plank reduces the space for wrapping the band.  I will have to find another method when I run out of room.  The clothspin in these pics are not really appyling any clamping pressure.  The are just holding the rubber bands.

[jdbradford]

I am unable to open the ones you posted on August 5th.  The rest opened fine.  It is looking great Jerry.

 

Jeff

[captain.jerry]

Planking continues. Steeler at 6.  This my first and I am happy with it.  The steeler plank as well as the planks on either side have been steamed and edge bent.

 

Jerry

 

[captain.jerry]

Slowly, one plank at a time.  Oops! Dropped one.

 

Yes, that is a Sea Monster holding it.

 

Jerry

[captain.jerry]

Planking continues.  I have added stealers on each side, two planks above the garboard.  My planking plan has been to use full length 3/16" strips but it became obvious that my supply would not last if I didn't use the 8" pieces that were left after fitting a full strip so I began to use the shorter pieces, never more that 2 pieces to a run.  I made no attempt to show butt joints but just used a short scarf and blended.  Except for one wierd  plank on each side, none of them have been spiled. I have used steam to edge bend most planks and all planks have been tapered at the bow.  I have used one drop plank on each side at the bow and in retrospect could have used two more to reduce the crowding at the stem.

 

I am getting down to crunch time.  I have 3 1/2 runs on one side and 4 1/2 on the other. I may try reducing the width of all remaining planks so that I don't wind up with a very narrow final plank.   I'm not too concerned since I have always intended too paint the bottom, but this has been and continues to be a learning experience.

 

Here are some pics of the current status:

 

[captain.jerry]

Hull planking is finished!  The final plank on both sides is a drop plank.  The planks above and below were both tapered at the bow and installed leaving a very sharp pointed opening where the parted about 1 1/2" back from the stem.  The opening widened as it moved aft.  At about midship, it was almost 3/16" wide and began to narrow to about 1/8" at the stern.

 

The final plank was fitted by eye and by hand using a #11 knife.  I started by opening the space at the forward end as if for a typical drop plank, tapering the opening back to the midship point.  I trimmed the plank to fit.  Then I started opening the slot and tapering the plank to fit as I worked toward the stern.  It was easier than you might think and the fit was way better than I could have wished for.

 

Some pictures:

 

 

 

Final plank count:

 

   Stem 14 planks

 

    Drop planks 2

 

   Midship  16 planks

 

     Steeler planks 2

 

    Stern  18 planks

 

As I said yesterday,  I could have used one or two more drop planks to reduce the crowding at the stem.  Twelve planks would look a lot better, particularly If doing a full detailed treenail job.

 

So far I have given the bottom a good sanding and a coat of shelac. Tomorrow I will try some more sanding and maybe some primer.  If that turns up some problems, I may try some filler putty.

 

Jerry

[twintrow]

Jerry pay attention to the aft cabin wall.  There was not enough room for the cannon rigged in the gunport just in front of that wall in my build.  Ended up having to tear out the wall and move back a few mm.

Tom

[captain.jerry]

Jerry pay attention to the aft cabin wall.  There was not enough room for the cannon rigged in the gunport just in front of that wall in my build.  Ended up having to tear out the wall and move back a few mm.

Tom

 

Tom,

 

Thanks for the 'heads up' about the wall.  I became aware of this problem from reading all of the other build logs for the Fair American, and have moved the wall to the aft side of the #12 bulkhead.  It still looks a little bit tight but I needed the support of the bulkhead to help support the full working steering arrangement.

 

Jerry

[jdbradford]

Jerry,

 

I have not responded recently and also am at a standstill on my build as I am waiting on some additional wood strips I ordered from Crown Lumberyard.  Your planking looks excellent and I wish I had read more on your build and others before completing mine.  I tapered the planks toward the stern too much and ended up with steelers, spilers and sea monsters on mine.  I used wood filler, lots of sanding and priming thinking I was going to plank with the thin walnut strips.  I may still have to go this route, but my concern is that the 1st layer of planking is even with the stem, keel and stern post.  I think the plank will stick up too much, but as this is also my first attempt, I have made so many mistakes, it is very disappointing after seeing yours and others wonderful work.

 

Looking back, I should have framed my gun ports before planking the hull.  Now that I have laid the decking, I found that I could not get enough clearance for the guns.  I ended up adding an additional plank to the bulkhead height, and then adjusted the gun ports up some to facilitate the waterway and sill of the gun port.  I am hoping that the changes will turn out okay for my build.

 

I will keep watching yours and other builds for support.

 

Jeff

[captain.jerry]

Hi Jeff

 

It took me a while to reply to your post but I certainly appreciate your comments.  My planking turned out way better than I had expected.  Good thing it did.  Like you, I have no idea how to approach the second layer.  I barely made the rabbet deep enough for the first layer pf planking so there is no way to get another one in there and so it will be painted.

 

Now that my number one fear is behind me, my new number  one fear is planking the deck.  There is no way to cover up mistakes with paint.  The instructions recommend planking the deck before the bottom bu I went the other way and I am glad that I did. Doing it that way let me let me get a good edge clamp on the planks using rubber bands.

 

Now on to the deck.  I plan to use a margin plank without nibs. Getting a good finish on the deck is going to take a lot of scraping and sanding and I can't see anyway to do that in the ship, particularly at the pointy end and with the two level surface so I am going to use a false deck and do all of the deck work that I can out of the ship and then install the deck. 

 

I know that gunport clearance can be an issue and it is important to keep the deck level as low as possible so the false deck is a piece of 1/64" thick plywood sheet that offers strength and flexibility with minimum thickness.  I may take a bit off of the bulkheads as well.  Right now, I am working on cutting and fitting the plywood sheet.

 

Jerry