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

[src]

Sjors, Maybe I should have gone with the 230 then. Like I said, its not a total waste, it is better than doing things by hand.

Today is my first day at the bench since last weekend, between work and having to put our dog down a couple of weeks ago there has been neither time nor real desire to work till now. If I get anything real worth posting done today I will get some pictures up tomorrow.

 

Sam

[Rich.F]

Sorry to hear that about your dog pal, ,

 

Other from that, today was my first time in a week or two,

Look forward to pictures, Tc.

[src]

Rich,

Sorry for the delayed response, Been neglecting my build here. Thanks for the kind words. His passing was really unexpected, it was supposed to be a bladder infection not cancer. 

Not much building going on at the moment, a variety of things including the dog passing are keeping me from building.

Sam

Edited January 30, 2014 by src

[HIPEXEC]

How in the world did you do that blond trim on your transom? It's perfect wood work! Also, how did you make the nail holes in your deck planks? I haven't found a good way to do mine yet.

[mtaylor]

Sam,

 

Sorry about your friend.  They're tough to lose either expected or unexpectedly.   We'll be here when you're ready to resume.

[src]

Rich, thanks for the kind words. The blond wood is boxwood from Hobby Mill. Lorcan (the cat) wasnt pleased with the material that came with the kit so she forced me to build my own.

 

Mark, thanks for the condolances, they really work their way in dont they? He was a package deal with the Future Admiral and ended up adopting me also. I am not sure who misses him more, my better half or the cat; they were best friends. Not that I dont miss him. 

 

A bit of progress these last few days. I finally rigged the gun ports. I am not totally satisfied with the knots and seizing. If I had rigged them before I mounted the transom like I planned I think i could have done a better job. I am going to accept them for now. once I have done some more rigging I might go back and have another go at them.

 

I started out with some tape to mark out the holes for the 'leather" tubes I made from rolled paper and painted

 

 

glued the rope into the tube and inserted into the hole. They dont look bad, but I think when I have some more experience I might revisit these. The seizing could be better but I had trouble getting in there to work, tight squeeze between the ring and the transom. A better way would have been to seize the cross rope to the rings and then mount to the transom. Another lesson for the future, Make a plan and stick to it to the best of your ability, dont alter it without a good reason.

 

Not bad at all from normal viewing distance.

 

Ok back to gun carriages.

 

Sam

 

 

 

[Shazmira]

Looks perfect from the normal view, and not entirely terrible close up either, only thing I would complain about if it were mine is the fuzziness of the rope. The brass tube is your usual ingenuity coming through again, kudos on that move!

[src]

Robbyn, thank you!! We are pretty much on the same page there, I tried the artist matte medium, I dont think I used enough. If I thought I could pull the rings out without destroying everything else I would. Once I get more comfortable with seizing I may revisit this.

 

Rich on the stern ring I traced out my shape to paper and then laid out my parts based on available material width. Once I had a layout that looked structurally sound (minimal short grain) and aesthetically pleasing to me I made several copies and cut out paper templates. I then used repositionable artist adhesive on the paper to stick to the boxwood. After that it was careful cutting with a freshly honed chisel. I left the parts slightly oversized on the outside, once everything was glued in place I filed to the transom.

 

As far as the planking, I made treenails and used a matching drill bit. The tree ails were made with a Jim Byrnes draw plate and bamboo skewers inserted into the holes and clipped flush then sanded

 

 

 

 

 

Sam

Edited February 2, 2014 by src

[JLuebbert]

Hi Sam,

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. Keep building. My wife and I lost three furry friends within 6 months last year. Being able to lose myself in my hobby really helped at times.

Your ship is looking great. It's great to see a build like yours as it is helping me at looking down the road with mine.

John

Edited February 1, 2014 by JLuebbert

[Sjors]

That's not bad at all Sam !

Very nice stern !!!!!

 

[src]

Jluebert, Thanks for the kind thoughts and visiting, always nice to see new faces.

Wow three that closely together? Very sorry to hear that. 

I just looked at your project links and see you have joined the Enterprise builders club, welcome. I will stop by in a bit and visit. Happy to see my mistakes are helping another.

 

Sjors, thank you!!  How does Anja feel about you complimenting another persons stern???

 

I am continuing on with my carriages, yesterday I made two jigs to hold the sides at the correct angle to the centerline so I can notch for the trucks and "pivot thingy" that mounts the barrel.  Capsquare? All my reference books are buried at the moment will have to look up the name later.

 

Pictures to follow when there is something to show....sorry Sjors.

 

Sam

[Sjors]

Sam,

 

You confuse me...is it not the stern ?

I'm that blond ???????

And I have permission from Anja to look at other sterns....

 

[HIPEXEC]

I'm enjoying watching your build, especially since it's a Constructo. How did you drill the hole for your bowsprit? I don't want to get too deep into finishing the hull and then drill the hole. I'd rather do it early. I'm rather clumsy when working close with power tools.

[src]

Rich, thank you.

I noodled around with how to drill the Bowsprit also. As a rule I dont let power tools anywhere near my build; I prefer to screw things up slowly.    If I recall correctly it was a couple of drill bits as well as rattail files and sand paper. I believe I used a1/8' or so drill bit, the largest that would fit in my pin vice and drilled through at the correct angle then enlarged with 3/16-7/32"(?)  I think I used 3-4 bits and stopped when I was 1/32-1/16 shy of what I wanted then used a rattail file and sandpaper around a dowel to finish. I still ended up slightly off center and not 100% round. One thing I wasnt sure about was how much clearance around the Bowsprit was correct. I guessed at least a couple of scale inches as i am sure a real part would move about when under sail.

Hope this helps.

Sam

[HIPEXEC]

I'm with you....no power drill for the bowsprit hole. I''ll go in like you did...small hand drills building an ever bigger hole. I think I'll build a small jig to match the angle on my plans. Constructo doesn't show actually drilling into the deck, though, so I guess I'll stop after I get through the bow rail and see what I can find out about setting the bowsprit into the deck.

[src]

Rich,

Sounds like a plan.

Building is down to a crawl here. Work is been keeping me hopping and we adopted a German Pointer a couple of weeks ago. He has the potential to be a great dog for us; no hunting instinct untill he is in the same room as the cat, then he starts to stalk her. She is so dog friendly she just rolls on her back to play. Over the last week I have managed to make up all my rings for the gun carriages and solder the hops for he breaching ropes as well as carving the small round in the bottom of the carriage sides. If I am lucky I'll get time this weekend to start on the trucks.

sam

[Bindy]

Congrats on your new furry family member!

 

The ones that leave us can never be replaced ( I was so sorry too to read of your loss ), but every home is happier for new padded footsteps!

[mtaylor]

Sam,

 

Enjoy the pup while you can.. all to soon they grow up.  Err, wait a minute... yeah, it's supposed to be "kids" not "pups" but it works the same.

[src]

Bindy, Mark Thank you!  Always nice to see a new face Bindy. He is quit a friendly guy.... with people. Needs some socializing and Kitty respect. 

I'll play by MSW rules and leave my comments to that. Anybody interested can go here:

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4473-to-all-those-who-love-dogs/page-5

 

In ship build news, VERY slow right now. Been tinkering with carriages a bit. Most of my "build" time has been vicariously through other logs. Might have something to show next weekend, too much going on this weekend. I need to win the lottery so I can retire early!

 

Sam

[Bindy]

I need to win the lottery so I can retire early!

 

I know your pain!

 

I have had the 100% correct numbers each week for the last three weeks myself.   Sadly, the Lottery people had the wrong ones though

[src]

Woo! Hooo!!! is been months since I had something to show. I havent been idle, just busy with work etc. 

 

When I last posted an update I had just re-cut my carriage sides, the next step was to let in for the axels, I made a two sided jig so I could cut everything on the table saw safely. Clamp to the sled and cut away for all the left side parts, flip it over reset and finish the right side parts. Worked pretty well over all, a little sloppy on a couple of the cuts, nothing the wheel and a filler wont hide. Something slipped when I was milling, I dont think I had everything clamped down as tight as I should have. Some short work with a carving chisel and I had a mostly finished side. Still some work to do final sanding, cut the slot for the trunnion, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Next was the Axletrees. I milled them in pairs it was safer; make a cut flip the part around and make the matching cut. After I separated them into individual parts I puzzled over how to make a nice round axle. I started out chamfering the corners and planned to file everything round. That wasnt working so well, I was getting ovals and eggs. After ruining two I made a plug cutter out of some brass tube that was about the right I.D. After chucking that up in a drill motor I had more or less round axles, just a bit over sized so I made a drawplate out of brass. steel would have been better but I only had 70 or so axles to true up so brass worked out well. It started getting dull towards the end, a quick pass with a #4 cut file and all was well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entire time I was doing all this I was noodleing over how to  assemble all these carriages easily and consistently. I made up a plug to the same dimensions as the inside of the carriage and then built up guides and keys around that. After that it was just a matter of inserting two sides and gluing everything up. Like all my jigs its not pretty like some I see here but its functional.

 

 

 

 

Sometime whilst all this was being done I spent a couple of evenings making a drilling jig for the rings and predrilled for those - on the wrong side! a little bit of filler will take care of that since its on the inside.

 

 

Thats it for now, hopefully its not 3 months till my next update.

 

Sam

 

 

[trippwj]

Nice work on the mass production techniques, Sam.

[russ]

The gun carriages are going to look very good. Very good work there.

 

Russ

[Sjors]

Thanks for the tutorial Sam,

 

They looks if they are coming from a kit !

Great !!!!!!!

 

[src]

Thanks everybody. Got a whole pile of parts ready to go as well as a couple more plugs so I can glue up more than one at a time.

Right now the better half and I are taking a few days for some R&R.

See you soon.

Sam

[Sjors]

You and the Admiral, enjoy your R&R.

And no, I don't ask for pictures......  

 

[Bindy]

You HAVE been busy!

 

What a clever jig!  Thank you so much for the photos and explanations of how you are making these carriages, as you make it so easy to understand but also to appreciate your skills

[src]

Thank you Bindy! Sometimes half the fun is figuring out how to get from "A" to "B" - although it doesnt always feel like it at the time.

 

Back from R&R, had a great time. Enjoyed some adult beverages, sight seeing, some girl watching while the better half enjoyed some boy watching. Tried zip lining, that was fun, dont feel any burning urge to do it again, but wont rule it out either.

 

Back to building, gonna see how many carriages I can glue up today. Might even get the metal work blackened. I still have to make a plug cutter for the trucks and the quoins, bolster and beds. Looking back I should have made the bolsters out of the same plank I made the rear axletrees with. 

 

Pictures when there is something to show.

 

Sam

[Shazmira]

I think your jigs are prefect. I do mine the same way, cheap, with spare bits laying around. They serve their purpose perfectly. Your carriages look great, keep up the great work!

[Rich.F]

HI Sam, Welcome back, glad you both had a good break, Pictures and build looking great as always,