Enterprise by src - Constructo - 1:51 - or Lessons in Adapt Improvise and Overcome

[src]

No worries Brian, I kind of look at my build log as a back and forth conversation. If it is reasonably close to being related to our builds, most anything that is not malicious ok with me.

 

Build time has been limited the last few weeks, between work, summer traveling and "Domestic Bliss" (chores) I have not been able to build much. 

 

I have several mini projects going at once, stern gun ports, rails, cabin, door the stem.

 

I decided to redo my gun port hinges, after some more reserch I noticed they were short and the barrels/knuckles of the hinge were incorrect. That required more solder of different melting temps to redo, still need to do that.

 

I was looking at the captains cabin or the hood as the instructions call it. I had originally stained then shellacked it, It came out too glossy and with my decision to go with a rubbed oil finish I had to strip the finish off. then decided it should have been planked so I dug up a couple of my last bits of planking and planked it. Turns out I have a few more small bits left, my redo my gun ports too.

 

My early attempts

 

this weeks version

 

Hmmmm... a bit like a jail cell.

 

Sometime back I decided to scrap the door that came with the kit and go with a wooden one. I made and finished one but was never really happy with it so made plans to re-re-do it.(or is it re-re-re-do it? I can remember) I made some photo etched frames for the new one, not sure yet if I like it, looks too much like jail cell bars. I need to refigure the jambs around the door, that is going to require a bit of surgery on the upper waterways.

 

Original stain

 

replanked and restained

 

That is about it for now, maybe the goddess of chores will be busy elsewhere and I can get some building done this weekend........Who am I kidding?

Sam

 

Edited May 13, 2014 by src

[russ]

Sam:

The door looks okay. I agree that the grill looks a bit dark, but you need to be happy with it, so go with what works for you.

 

Russ

[src]

Thanks Russ, the grillwork isnt cleaned up yet. That is resist on the brass, I just laid it up to see more or less what it would look like. If I use it it will be blackened.

I have some 1x1mm bass wood here I may try to make a window out of that and go with whatever looks better.

Sam

[src]

Not much progress the last few weeks. Between travel, family obligations, etc there has been precious little time to build. I did get a chance to see the log cabin that my grandmother lived in for a few years, it belonged to my great-great-grand parents. That was kinda cool, looks like "Little House on the Prairie" as you drive up to it.

 

Rebuilt my window frame out of some 0.5mm deck planking, I thought it was bass wood but no. I like the frame work better than the photoetched part, just a bit crooked-y. Its not real noticeable except up close, I may just leave it. The "glass" on the other hand. I used a product called Gallery Glass from an arts and crafts store. I thought it would work well and in the couple of tests I did it appeared to. I didnt take into account shrinkage though. After I took the pictures I applied some more, We'll see how it looks tonight.

 

Hmmm.... seems I cant get the uploader to work for pictures. It happened once before, I may need to restart safari hat fixed it last time. Its time to go to work now, rather than rewriting this, (I type REALLY slow) I will post and then edit wth pictures tonight.

 

Sam

[src]

Brian,

Thanks for stopping by, I never considered that. I saw another builder, Auger, redo his and thought, "Why not?" Then my nit picky nature kicked in and it had to be "perfect" whatever THAT is. Anyway I am mostly happy with the door, the window frames could be a bit more consistent. I set the door in place a few minutes ago and took an "installed" picture below. Other than my cabin being crooked I may leave it, the window frame is just set in place so I still have the option to push my sanity (and my eye sight) a bit more and re-do it.

May need hinges and a door knob now too. Not sure what the hinges should look like, I havent found anything in any of my books - all 4 of them.....

 

Ok here are the pics I couldnt post earlier this morning.

 

The window frame.

 

"Installed" in the door

 

Door progression to date

 

(edited for typos)

 

[

Set in place, Not too bad except the cabin site crooked. Gonna have to rip that off tonight.....  

 

Thats all for now,

Sam

Edited May 13, 2014 by src

[russ]

The door and new window look great. That is the best one yet. I think it is a winner. Good work.

 

Russ

[ZyXuz]

wow.. nice work on the door

well done

[src]

Russ, Brian, ZyXuz, Thank you!!

Brian, dont sell yourself short, I have seen your work, you may still.

sam

Edited July 18, 2013 by src

[Shazmira]

Sam, great door...you did well, give yourself a pat on the back!!

[src]

Thanks Robbyn, I am going to limit myself to just one pat though, dont want to get a swollen head.

Sam 

[Rich.F]

Hey, buddy. Sorry not been on much, been really busy and laptop broken, working off tablet atm, hard work. Been getting updates so been still following.. ill be updating mine this weekend with a few things I been working on. Come across some reworks, but thas life.. hope your well though, catch you soon,

 

Rich

[edmay]

Hello Sam,many thanks for the clothes pin idea, will come in very handy,Edwin

[src]

Rich, Sorry to hear about your laptop, thats no fun. I will keep an eye out for you.

Edwin, your welcome, but I cant take credit for it, I found it on MSW 1.0 BGC -"Before the Great Crash." Cant remember where I saw that here first.

 

Progress has been slow this week. Been making rings for my gun ports. I started out with 0.019 wire and that was just way to big. picked up some .012 wire, that was better visually, but working with it has been a bit of a challenge. Even with my little pencil torch at its lowest setting I have to keep the flame almost 1.5" away or things get hot so quickly I have melted the wire more than a couple of times. I think I averaged 4 failures to every success. I may need to look into a new torch, but my build budget for the year is getting low, have to see.

 

Cutting off a small enough piece of solder is a challenge also, regardless I have 4 sets of rings I am more or less happy with. Today i hape to blacken them as well as re-blackening my hinges and maybe even get them installed Then I have to see about making the little "leather" thingies that the rope passes through. Haven't figured that out yet, maybe try taking my smallest brass tube, .031x.006 wall and try to file it into shape.

 

I have also been noodling on how to make some hinges for my door. Even my thinest brass sheet, .005" looks thick laid on the face of the door. Its possible that hinges just are not in the future for this build, again we will see.

 

Need to do some more shaping and re-blacken. the left hand hinge came out visibly larger than the others so I made another.

 

Managed to get 4 semi-decent rings soldered up

 

Even this little torch wants to melt the microscopic wire if I am not careful.

 

Thats it for now, as always comment and criticisms always welcome

 

Sam 

Edited May 13, 2014 by src

[russ]

Sam:

If the .005 brass strip looks too thick, go with painted masking tape or paper.

 

The eyebolt and ring look good. I use a prefluxed soldering paste that had worked well for me over the years. I just get a small bit of on a toothpick and apply it to the joint. It takes a bit of practice to get good at soldering. Keep at it. It is looking good.

 

Russ

[src]

Thanks Russ, wont the tape peel up over time?

Mark, (Mtaylor) mentioned recommended black foil, that gives me a couple of options to play with.

Sam

[russ]

I would seal the tape with a clear coat. Actually, paper glued to the wood is my preference if it comes to that. I use Elmer's white glue and it works well.

 

Russ

[Shazmira]

Sam, that metal work all looks great.  As for brass for the door, have you considered faux hinges? I could not find brass sheets thin enough so I went to a fabric/crafts store and bought paper that looks like brass....I found it in the scrapbooking section. It seems to work ok...

[src]

 Thanks Robyn. 

More options to think about, nice, looks like a trip to Jo-anns fabric this week. More experimenting.

 

got my gun port hinges on. And, well, they look kind of sloppy. They are ok from a distance but......  I got sloppy with the epoxy. Even the tiniest bit seemed to oooz everywhere. Literally the tiniest bit on the end of the bolts was too much. I made the bolts with .019 wire heated and rounded over, thought they looked pretty good off the ship. Set them through the holes in the hunges and then put a tin dab of epoxy on and t=set them into place, still oozed out. &$^$^&$*       Not sure I will get them out, they are embedded almost a quarter of an inch in. Gonna try to rub some wax over them and see if that doesnt help blend everything in.

 

 

 

grumpy now....

Fingers crossed!

Sam

Edited May 13, 2014 by src

[russ]

Sam:

The hinges look pretty good to my eye. Even on the real ship they would not be perfect. They look kind of weathered to me. That is a good look.

 

Russ

[src]

Russ, Thank you very much. I am pleased with the actual hinges and the rings too - it only took me all 16 of the blanks I made to get 4 that I felt were acceptable!   I can accept that what I have is the best I can do at this level of experience. What I was really annoyed with was my sloppiness with the epoxy. I was (still am a little bit for that matter) having visions of being 7 and building my first model plane and getting cement all over the canopy. It really doesnt show in the pictures, so maybe it isnt all that bad since the close-ups usually magnify everything. I am probably just being obsessive. (Me? never! ) 

 

I am also a little underwhelmed by the plainness of the transom at this point. I had read that usually the builder would attempt to blend the stern gun ports. So I went with that idea. But now, when I look at the stern from across the room all I see is the hinges with no apparent reason for them being there. I am starting to wonder if I should have gone with a more contrasty wood for the frame work around the lid. Too late to do much about that now. 

 

Ok, not so grumpy now, time to start playing with door hinges and paper like stuff.

 

Sam

[Shazmira]

I am looking at that 2nd pic, the closeup...whatever are you complaining about? I can't see any epoxy anywhere, I think it looks down right fantastic!!!

[mtaylor]

Sam,

 

Great looking hinges and port lid....  where's the glue?... I don't see it.

[src]

Hey all, thank you! Looking at it through magnifiers and work lights its more noticeable, but under regular light and from even a foot away its not really noticeable. So Robbyn, Mark I guess it really isnt as noticeable as it felt when I was posting. Not nearly as grumpy with myself anymore. Amazing what a good nights sleep, a Beatles cover band and a couple of drinks will do for your outlook! Done whining. 

Brian, just blocking, sorry. One day maybe. There is a company called Gilderfluke that make a really cool series of robotic controllers that are not much more than a med priced kit. That would be quite and exercise in miniature animation. Not this build though, not even the next, who knows perhaps the third I will let my inner DisNerd out.

 

In the mean time I may have solved my itty-bitty solder cutting dilemma. A friend reminded me what happens when solder drips on a concrete floor, it spatters out in all directions and makes little tiny bits-o-solder. I took one of the FA's favorite glass pie tins - SHhh! dont tell her - I cleaned it several times when I was done.  Left it on a black garbage can to warm up and dripped solder on it with a big torch from about 6' off the ground. It worked, but not like electrical solder.

 

Next I tried putting the dish in the freezer till it was cold to the touch and ran to the garage and tried it again. this time I got a whole bunch of little wirey like bits that look like they just might do the trick. My only concern is will the oxidation I see affect the joint? I am thinking the flux should take care of that.

 

 

The blob in the upper left corner is from the first attempt and measures about .5" across. The pieces in the center are from the 2nd attempt and are in the neighborhood of .010". All in all I used about 3" or so of .031" dia. solder.

 

Thats it for now,

Sam 

[src]

Not a whole lot of progress in the last several days. Work interfered again. I have not decided what to do about my door hinges yet, I found some thin black tape at an art store as well as some brass foil. One of those should work. 

 

In the meantime I have continued on my journey to complete the stern and rudder. Earlier I discovered the kit parts had predrilled holes that didnt look right when installed; the holes were huge and the spacing bothered me. Some research in "Fully Framed" and "Arming and Fitting" gave me some idea of what I needed to do to make my own. I had grand plans of forming the gudgeons and pintles out of solid bar and soldering on the straps. Experience and tooling (read "lack there of") had other plans. It just wasnt working for me, so I adapted. I made a jig and bent them out of strips and soldered some tube in place to accept the pins.

 

I also learned the rudder was set too far back of the stern post. I fit everything up based on the instructions - I swear, I WILL learn one day, promise! I dont have material to fashion a new rudder, but I did have some material left over from the rudderhead. It changes the shape of the rudder slightly and is probably not correct, but I think the installation will look better with a smaller gap. 

 

I still need to re-shape the pockets for the pins on the pintles and refinish the rudder. 

 

Kit Pintles 

 

New Pintle. Needs more cleanup and to be blackened. I think I will reinforce the attachment with bolts like I used on the port hinges; a hammered over bit of wire and lightly ( ) epoxied in.

 

Mated with a gudgeon

 

Mocked up on the rudder. 

[russ]

The rudder and the pintles and gudgeons look pretty good. So long as it all fits properly on the model, it should be fine.

 

Russ

[src]

Thanks Russ,

They mate up pretty good, there is still that little planking woops from a couple of pages ago. I'll go with the sliver of wood under the gudgeons and be done with it. 

Right now I have the pintles cleaned up and drilled out for bolts, hopefully by Sat I can have the gudgeons finished and everything blackened. The rudder installation may have to wait till next week - work is picking up again and is likely to be busy till November. 

Sam

[Shazmira]

Well done Sam, progress may be slow because of life, but what you are getting accomplished is top notch! Be very proud of yourself!

[Rich.F]

Looking fab sam well done. Mine coming along nice

 

Rich

[src]

Thanks everybody.

No progress to show at the moment, just drilled holes and resoldered a couple of pins that were off center. there is a little gremlin on my shoulder whispering in my ear to rebuild the rudder. there are a couple of spots where the gap is inconsistent with the stern. They are minor but my eye keeps being drawn to them, re building will fix that. rebuilding means buying more lumber.... decisions, decisions!   Everyday on my way home from work I drive buy a model train shop that has walnut, it wont match the Mansonia but should be close, we will see.....

Sam

[src]

Sigh..... The Gremlin won! He tricked me into going into the store the other day. "We will just go in for a minute and look around" He tells me. "See if they have the .014" brass rod you want.  Look Sam Look! Walnut! Almost the right thickness too!" So now I am rebuilding my rudder.

 

I am using the old rudder as a template and "Fully Framed II" for the joinery. Rather than making the rudder head out of the same piece s as the rudder itself I am taking a bit of license and making the head separately. The length of walnut I came home with had some grain change in it and I wasnt sure I could keep it from breaking as I carved on it.

 

 

A bit thick still

 

 

Almost there, the paper template is on the other side.

 

Sam