Paragon by Mahuna - FINISHED - a modified Mayflower

[GuntherMT]

The photo's really don't do this ship justice.  I think Frank needs a better camera.  

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank

 

Definitely, very, very nice!

 

Well done

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[captainbob]

Not only ships but you make the tools you can't buy.  Both are looking good.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

Brian - if you want to get me a better camera I'd be happy to take it!  

 

Patrick - thanks for continuing to look in - it means a lot.

 

Bob - yeah, making tools and jigs is a big part of what I enjoy about the hobby.

[Mahuna]

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower

Part 9– Stanchions and Railings

 

In the last post, I mentioned that I started the hull planking before I finished the planking in the Poop area, because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do there. 

 

I had already planked the entire stern area with African Pear and a little bit of Madrone, without carrying any moldings around it, and it looked pretty bare to me. 

 

          

 

I decided to add some decorative planks and moldings to the top of the hull in the area of the poop deck, and to carry that effect around the stern.  I thought that was more pleasing to the eye (don’t forget that I have lots of poetic license going here).

 

            

 

From the upper wale, moving up, there are 3 moldings of 1/16 x 1/16 Yellowheart.  There is a strake of Walnut between the second and third of these moldings.  Then there is a molding of 1/16 x 1/16 Bloodwood between two double strakes of African Pear.  The next molding is 1/16 x 1/16 Holly (I love this wood and wish I had used more of it on the ship).  The decorative works on top consists of two double-width (1/4” width) strakes of Yellowheart bordered by Holly moldings.  All of these moldings were carried around the stern, and I liked the effect much better.

 

Most of the details (stanchions, pin rails, ladders, etc) were made of African Pear, in keeping with the tones of the ship.  I wish I had discovered earlier how the African Pear tends to splinter.  By the time I discovered that, it was too late to change.  I used some polishing blocks used by nail technicians to try to smooth out the pear strips – it worked better than sandpaper, but still was not able to get a perfectly smooth finish.

 

            

 

The stanchions are 1/16 x 3/32 strips of African Pear.  I used a 1/8” strip as a spacer between stanchions.  After the stanchions were installed, additional 1/8 x 1/16 planking needed to be added to form ‘railings’ and to complete the body shape.

 

           

 

           

 

The result was pleasing to the eye, and could have been left as is.  In fact, this is how the kit model is finished. 

 

            

 

            

 

            

 

However, the ship I was building needed real railings to conform to descriptions in the story line.

 

There were parts of the ship built of ‘wizardwood’ that made the figurehead and the ship an integrated whole – the figurehead, the bottom of the ship, and the railings.  I used the Madrone as the ‘wizardwood, therefore I needed to install Madrone railings around the ship.

 

Long before I reached this point I had foreseen the need for miniature C clamps (and to be honest I just wanted to see if I could make them).  I used 3/4'” Aluminum U channel to make the clamps.  I drilled and tapped holes for 6-32 screw threads about 1/2 inch apart, then parted off slices slightly larger than 1/8 inch.  After filing the edges and sides to get rid of any jagged pieces I inserted 6-32 x 1 inch socket cap screws into the threaded hole, then added a nylon lock nut to the screw.

 

            

 

These clamps wound up being perfect for holding the Madrone railings while the glue set.

 

            

 

I mitered the corners of the railings, but needed to make adjustments to allow for the fact that the corners were not perfect squares.  Overall I’m very pleased with the effect, even though the railings are somewhat larger than scale would indicate, and I think the railings add a nice finishing touch to the ship.

 

            

 

            

 

            

 

            

 

            

 

            

 

Next up:  Pinrails and Kevels

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank

 

Marvellous stuff! I especially like the fact that you added the decorative strips because they add so much value to the stern's appearance. Nice!

 

Still can't believe you made those G Clamps, as well.

 

Well done.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[captainbob]

Frank,  The added trim dresses her up nicely.  Thanks for all the how-to's.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

Thanks folks.

 

I won't be posting any more updates for a few days - have some commitments for the holiday weekend.

 

Enjoy the weekend!

[captainbob]

Wishing you a happy fourth.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower

Part 10– Pin Rails and Kevels

 

When I decided to build the Paragon as my first scratch build, I also made the decision that I would not purchase any components for the ship, but would make everything myself.  Well, that lofty goal lasted until I reached the point that I needed belaying pins.  At the scale of the model, 14” belaying pins would only be 3/16”.  I do have a Sherline lathe, and I guess with enough trial and error I could learn to produce the belaying pins I needed, but I don’t want this to be the only model I scratch build during my lifetime.  Model Expo had some 3/16” belaying pins that I could buy, so that saved me quite a bit of work.

 

          

 

The pins are nicely shaped, and once blackened they served my needs well.

 

(The photos of the belaying pins and the pin rails leave a lot to be desired, and I apologize.  Once Brian gets me my new camera I’m sure the photography will improve.  )

 

Making the pin rails was pretty straightforward.  I made them out of stock 1/8 wide and 1/16 thick, and cut the lengths to conform to the number of stanchions they would need to cross.  I made brackets out of 1/8 x 1/8 stock for holding the rails to the stanchions.

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

The Kevels took a little more thought.  I decided to make them according to the illustrations in the kit booklet – a v-shaped upright with a cross piece. 

 

          

 

Since there were 8 kevels in all, and I wanted to make them identical to each other, I decided to mass-produce the uprights using Ambroid glue.  I started by gluing 16 pieces of 1/16 stock together.  Once the glue was set, I shaped the grouping to the profile of an upright – essentially a straight length of wood with a curved knob on one end.

 

          

 

When shaping was done I soaked the grouping in a bath of acetone, which separated the grouping into the 16 individual parts.

 

          

 

The cross pieces were made of stock 1/8 wide by 1/16 thick.  I milled a slot in each cross piece to allow the 1/16 uprights to fit in the slot, then assembled the kevels.

 

          

 

I was pretty happy with the results.

 

          

 

          

 

Next is fashioning the rudder and its hardware.

[GuntherMT]

It's sort of funny Frank, I never actually noticed the kevels when I was actually looking at the ship.  It's strange how the eye is drawn to specific features, and others are just missed, yet they really add to the overall look of the project.

 

I look forward to re-inspecting the ship and looking at those kevels tomorrow!

[Mahuna]

Lots of other strange things to look at on Paragon, as well.  Will you be bringing my new camera?  

[GuntherMT]

Lots of other strange things to look at on Paragon, as well.  Will you be bringing my new camera?  

 

Only if you'll be writing me a check to cover the cost!

[Omega1234]

Hi a Frank

 

Marvellous job on those Kevels. I have to agree with Brian, though, they're easy to overlook, but still add a tremendous amount to the overall effect of the model.

 

Nice!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[mtaylor]

Nice kevels, Frank.   I hate to sound like a party pooper but the pinrails seem awful thick.  Take some appropriate size line and fake a belaying and make sure it grabs and holds the bottom of the pin.  Maybe it's just angle of the picture....

[Mahuna]

Thanks Mark.  I checked as you suggested, and the pin rails are too thick.  I did follow the specifications for the kit, but perhaps the belaying pins for the kit were larger (and out of scale).  I could probably rip them out and correct the size of the pin rails, but I don't want to prolong this build so I'll find a way to deal with it.  This is, after all, a learning experience - and I've learned a lot so far.

[captainbob]

I'm not sure what your scale is, but at 1:48, a 1/16" strip is 3" in full scale.  That means your 3/16" pins are only 9" long.  That's too short 

 

Bob 

Edited July 9, 2015 by Cap'n'Bob

[Mahuna]

Hi Bob:

 

The scale is 1:77, so 1/16 thick is almost 5 inches actual, which is too thick.  I probably should have made the pin rails 3/64, which would have been about 3.5 inches.  I think the depth of the pins in the rail - they're centered on a 3/32 rail - is also going to be a little bit of a problem.  All that being said, I just don't want to rip it and and do it over, so I'm going to have to deal with it.

[GuntherMT]

When you are looking at it in person, the scale of the pin-rails doesn't really jump out at you as a problem.  Instead how tiny the belaying pins are is what grabbed me!

I think once you get them all half (or more) covered in rigging and rope coils, that it will be a non-issue visually.

[Mahuna]

Hi Brian, Bob, and Mark

 

After thinking some more about the pin rails, I decided to go ahead change them.  The old pin rails, being so thick, left very little pin sticking out of the bottom of the pin rail.  This would definitely cause some major headaches during rigging, so it's probably better to spend the time changing them out.

 

I used iso alcohol in a syringe with a very fine blunt needle to put the alcohol only where I needed it.  After letting it soak into the pin rails for a minute or two, I was able to pull the pin rails off their supports.  Most of the pin rails came off fairly easily.  Some of the supports came with them.

 

         

 

One of the things I was worried about was breaking a stanchion that a pin rail was attached to.  This did indeed happen, but only one stanchion.

 

          

 

The old pin rails were 1/8 wide and 1/16 thick, with the pins in the center of the rail.  I made the new pin rails 3/32 wide and .045 thick (slightly less than 3/64), and I also positioned the pins so that they are closer to the front - approximately 1/32 from the front edge.  The smaller width will allow me to position the pin rails so that there is a slight gap between the pin rail and the stanchion.  This may come in handy during some of the rigging.

 

In the following photo, an old pin rail is on the left and a new one is on the right.

 

          

 

The pins are 1/16" apart from each other.  This gives a pleasing appearance, but doesn't give much room for lines going to adjacent pins.  I've looked at the rigging plan, and there really aren't a lot of cases where this will be a problem, since most of the pins will be empty (since there are no sails the running rigging is much simplified).  In the case where there are adjacent lines, I will design the pin rail so that there's more room between the pins.

 

I'm going to keep working on this today until I get it completed (hopefully), then I'll post some photos of the new pin rails in place.

 

Mark - thanks for bringing this up.  It caused a little rework, but it will be well worth it.  

[mtaylor]

Frank,

I'm glad you're happy about the change.  Rigging is tough enough but if you can't get the rope secured, it becomes a royal pain.. been there, turned the air blue.  The new rails do look more in scale.

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank

 

Although it might have been a bit of a rework, the results are worth it at the end of the day.

 

Well done!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[captainbob]

The proportions on the new rail look much better.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

OK - I finished the new Pin Rails and installed them.  To make the pin rails I used some wood strips that were 3/32 wide and 1/16 thick.  I marked and drilled the holes for several pin rails in one long strip, then put the strip through the thickness sander until it was down to .045 inch.  I drilled the holes first because I knew it would be difficult to hold the thinner strip in the milling vise.  I then cut the strip into the appropriate lengths for the pin rails.

 

Here are some photos of the way they look now:

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

          

 

So, I need to thank a few folks for helping me catch this error:

 

First, Mark - thanks for pointing this out.  This is the real value of a build log, when another modeler sees something that isn't quite right and has the confidence to say so.

 

Second, Bob and Brian - you've both urged me to post a build log and for the longest time I put it off for several reasons.  Now I'm glad I finally got around to it, because without it I know I would have been struggling with tying off the rigging at the pin rails.  I think I'm in much better circumstances now.

 

 

[Mahuna]

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower

Part 11– Rudder and Rudder Hardware

 

The rudder did not need to be tapered, so constructing it was fairly straightforward.  I glued 4 pieces of 1/8 x 1/8 square African Pear stock together, and then cut out the rudder according to the plans.  I darkened the PVA glue by adding some burnt umber acrylic artist’s paint to it, so that the joins in the rudder would be more noticeable.

 

Again, I neglected to take any photos of the process, but the following photo of the completed rudder shows the effect of the darkened glue.

 

          

 

Making the hardware, the pintels and gudgeons, was much more complex.  I wanted to make them from brass, and if at all possible I wanted the hardware to work.  My initial attempts consisted of trying to bend the brass strips using my vise and pliers.  Some were satisfactory, while many were rejected.  Even those that were satisfactory were inconsistent and when taken together didn’t look very good.

 

I saw an idea in an MSW build log for making a wooden jig that would allow bending the brass at a good angle.  Using that idea, I milled a jig from heavy brass stock that would allow me to make hardware that was consistent.  My process was as follows:

 

First, I annealed the brass strip, then bend it around a brass rod that was the same size as the intended pintel.

 

          

 

          

 

Then I placed this into the first stage of the jig, which has a hole for the loop made in the prior step,

 

          

 

and a ledge to keep the strip straight while being bent.

 

          

 

 

Then the arms were bent to a horizontal position

 

          

 

I made enough pieces to form the pintels and gudgeons (and lots of extras)

 

          

 

I wanted to be able to mount the pintels and gudgeons using brass rods as pins, so the next step is drilling the holes for these pins before final shaping of the hardware.  I wanted to have a method for drilling uniform holes, so I devised the following jig:

 

          

 

The bottom piece has a channel within a channel.  The larger channel is for the top piece of the jig to fit in, and the smaller channel is for the brass strip for the hardware to fit in.  The holes in the top piece are one drill size larger than the drill used to drill the actual holes in the hardware.  The holes in the bottom are several drill sizes larger and go all the way through the bottom to allow for clearing out the swarf and to prevent the drill bit from jamming and breaking when the jig is being used (I learned this the hard way and had to make a second jig).  The two pieces of the jig are held together with 4-40 set screws.

 

In use, the set screws are loosened, the brass strip is slid into the jig until the curved piece stops against the jig, then the set screws are tightened.  The jig with the brass strip inserted are then placed on another wooden jig that is held in the drilling vise. 

 

          

 

This wooden jig holds the drilling jig loosely, so that the drilling jig can be manually adjusted so that the drill centers itself once the drilling starts.  This combination of jigs allowed me to drill the holes with consistent spacing.

 

          

 

The brass strip was then inserted into the original jig, in a second position.  This position was made by drilling a hole the correct size for the bent part of the strip, and then using a slitting saw to make a slit the correct size to hold the flat part of the brass strip.

 

          

 

A groove was cut on each side of the jig to allow the arms of the pintel/gudgeon to be bent to the correct size.

 

          

 

The resulting pieces could then be cut to the correct length and final shaping was performed.  The following photo shows a piece before trimming and shaping.

 

          

 

The pintels (small brass rods) were soldered to the part of the hinge that would be attached to the rudder, and then each hinge was attached to the rudder and to the hull with brass rods.  These rods were then nipped off with straight clippers, and the small ends that were left proud of the hardware give the impression of bolt heads.

 

The brass jigs were made on my Sherline milling machine, and were my first complex pieces made on that machine.  Consequently I learned a lot about a very valuable tool.

 

A pleasant result of using the drilling jig was that the drilled mounting holes lined up so well that each mounting pin went all the way through the rudder and lined up perfectly with the holes on each side of the rudder.

 

Before mounting the brass hinges on the ship I blackened them but was not pleased with the results.  (Instead of brushing on the blackening agent I put the hinges in a bath of the agent – big mistake)

 

          

 

I used a product from JAX (Instant Brass and Copper Cleaner) to remove the blackening, intending to try blackening again, this time by brushing it on.  However, the cleaner removed not only the blackening but the residue and discoloration from the soldering, and I really liked the way the brass hardware looked, so I mounted it as is.

 

          

 

Making the rudder, the rudder hinges, and installing the rudder took several weeks, and there were lots of ‘do-overs’, but it was a great learning experience.

 

Next is another learning experience – making the Beakhead.

 

[GuntherMT]

I'm beginning to think that ship modelling is just an excuse for you to experiment making new tools and jigs.  

[Mahuna]

Gosh, ya think?  That's one of the things I love about this hobby.  (And scratch building calls for more tools and jigs, by the way.  You'll find out soon enough!)

[captainbob]

Way to go, Frank.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

Paragon – a Modified Mayflower

Part 12 - Beakhead

 

A figurehead would be a major part of the Paragon, and since the Mayflower did not have one, I needed to make some modifications to the way the beakhead was constructed.  The Mayflower beakhead, as designed, came to a fairly narrow forward end, and this wouldn’t be wide enough to support a figurehead.

 

I thought it made sense to design and construct a prototype figurehead before deciding how the beakhead needed to change.  Thinking that the figurehead should be carved from wood, I tried carving the figurehead from castello boxwood.  I didn’t use any pictures as a guide, relying solely on my imagination of what I wanted the figurehead to look like.  I had envisioned the figurehead as being in a semi-horizontal position, so that’s how I carved the figurehead’s position.

 

          

 

          

 

Carving at this scale proved more difficult than I had planned (I’m used to carving larger items, like green herons, peregrine falcons, and the like).  So I decided to create the figurehead from clay, thinking that I would use the clay version as a 3-dimensional model for carving the final version from wood.  I modeled the figurehead from Sculpy, which is a clay that hardens when baked.  (I plan to provide more details on the process when I cover the creation of the final version of the figurehead.)  First I modeled the head.

 

          

 

          

 

Still envisioning the figurehead as being in a semi-horizontal position, that’s how I modeled the body.

 

          

 

          

 

I thought the clay model looked pretty good, so I took some photos to see how the figurehead would look on the ship (this was in the early stages of construction, before any planking began).

 

          

 

I wasn’t happy with the result, and it was clear to me that the figurehead needed to be in an upright position.  This actually made the redesign of the beakhead much easier than if I had stayed with the semi-horizontal position.

 

I spent some time drawing plans for the revised beakhead.  First I tried shortening the beakhead to the point where it was wide enough to support the figurehead.  The plans and instructions called for using thin plywood templates as the base for building the beakhead, so I cut out the beakhead templates to see if it made sense to use this approach to construct the beakhead.  After several frustrating attempts, I decided to frame out the beakhead rather than using the plywood templates.

 

I shortened the stem knee, then after installing it I built a mounting platform for the figurehead at the end of the knee (I later removed this – it looked too much like a chair to me).  Then I installed beams on either side of the stem knee, using battens laid athwartship to ensure that the beams were at the correct height.

 

          

 

          

 

Then the side beams needed to be notched  to allow deck beams to lie correctly.  I used a batten with a small piece that would fit in the notches in the stem knee.  This helped me mark the beams so that the notches would be in the right place.

 

 

The beak would have slats for decking, except for small removable gratings to allow installation of the gammoning, so after installing the deck beams I needed to add ledges that would support the slats and the gratings, as in the following photos (taken from the underside of the beak).

 

          

 

          

 

This photo shows the slats being installed and shows the ledges supporting the slats.

 

         

 

As work progressed towards the forward end of the beak, I realized there were going to be too many divisions in the slats, so I removed one of the forward deck beams.  This allowed me to install longer slats forward, which I thought looked better.

 

          

 

The slats as initially installed were very uneven, so I used files to clean up the arrangement.  I also made two small removable gratings for either side of the gammoning slot.

 

          

 

          

 

Next was the installation of the sides for the beakhead.  This started with two planks of African pear, then the installation of stanchions to support the rest of the moldings and planking.

 

          

 

The planking and molding continued the pattern from the hull planking previously installed.  (Lesson learned: it would have been much better to construct the beakhead before the final planking)

 

I added a small fancy rail on each side of the beakhead, and carried the railing aft into the forecastle area.  The following photos were taken before the beakhead was finished with poly to match the rest of the ship.

 

          

 

          

 

You can see that the corner of the forecastle above the railings looks unfinished.  The plan is to add some ‘fancy work’ in this area, but that will be delicate and won’t be added until after rigging is completed.  The following photo is of a prototype for the fancy work.

 

          

 

And here are a couple of photos where I was trying out some ideas for the fancy work.

 

          

 

          

 

I’ve just started the rigging, and the removable gratings for the gammoning slot were very handy!

 

          

 

The next post will deal with ladders, the ship’s bell, and other items.

 

 

[GuntherMT]

Fantastic work on those slats Frank.  Going to have to take a good look at them Saturday, as I had no idea that those were built up that way.