USS Niagara by scott larkins - Model Shipways - 1:64

[scott larkins]

And so my next  build begins.

 

 

 

Here the instructions tell us to put wood dowels through the keel and into that center wood piece.  I used a small carbide drill (right) to put in a pilot hole and then followed up with the appropriately sized drill bit (left) for my wood dowels.

 

Commander, the keel has been laid.

 

Lets see how much I learned from building the Rattlesnake, my first wood ship build of this skill level.

Edited September 8, 2015 by scott larkins

[scott larkins]

Sorry it's been so long.  Trying to remind myself that this is not a race and to slow down and review our blogs and my own to get things right the first time.  So below are a series of pics showing some of the ribs  being too small from the laser cutting process.  I took my own advise from my Rattlesnake and photocopied each rib piece to make sure it was symmetrical on the center keel slot.  Luckily there were.  So one less thing to worry about.  So I clued the ribs on, which if I had followed my own build log I would have waited until I made sure the ribs were in line.  See pics  below, because they weren't.  I filed the too big ones down and had to build the thin ones up.  You will notice the last pics show where I added wood, notice the laser burned wood and the clean wood.  I still managed to make it work though.  Lucky me.  I just had to make sure to be careful not to brake the gunwale pieces.  Oops, messed that up.  Broke one.  MAN!  So a few weeks later I am now ready to add the bow and stern filler blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2015 by scott larkins

[riksgewijs]

Hello, nice ship. I see the laser cut isn't correct. I see this allot. Don't know why this is. Think about it, it's not man made. An computer cut these after a plan.

 

I see you need to fill it. Hope you get there right. And I follow you're build with great interest.

[scott larkins]

riks,

 

Yes your are right but remember, the computer controlled laser cutter is only as good as the data put into it. LOL  Just part of the ship building process.  I was not surprised when I put a plank on to see this.  I, like so many others, just dealt with it.  Thanks for following along.

[riksgewijs]

Yes, we deal with it. It part off what we do. I understand your point here. Still its strange. When you pay them, It should be good, If my work what i deliver doesn't fit, i don't get paid.

 

Don't take it to seriously what i wrote. Love to follow your work. It's a nice kit and a very nice vessel with a lot of fun building it.

[scott larkins]

riks,

 

Nothing taken seiously at all mate.  Thanks for following me.

[mikiek]

Scott - looks like you and I are at about the same place on the same model. This is my first. I'm having trouble visualizing the stern filler blocks based on the plans. I cut one set based on the plans but they are way too big. I do realize they can be sanded down but I feel like I am missing something.

 

If/when you get yours shaped would you mind posting a few pix. Especially a top down view.

 

Many thanks....

[xken]

Just a friendly tip about laser cut parts. The burning process creates a slight angle and the thicker the wood being cut the greater the angle. I mark parts with a pencil line before cutting front the parent sheet so I know which side is front so when adding the bulkheads I can position forward bulkheads one way and the rearward the opposite.

 

Sand the edges and put on a flat surface and set a square to see the difference. Just FYI.

[scott larkins]

thanks for the tip

[scott larkins]

Sorry for the long delay in posting.  Been busy with house items and working on a cosplay constume for next May's Detroit comic con.  But here are some updates.

 

First let me say that I have never worked with more brittle wood in my life.  I have broken numerous  bulwark ribs and stern pieces than I care to count, and I was being really careful too.  As a matter of fact, I broke those stern pieces so many times that after numerous regluings that they ended up not in the right place any longer.  So for those following along, all I can say is be very careful with the pieces of wood sticking up.  Twice I broke a piece off simply by rubbing up against it.

 

Below are my pics of the stern mess up and my fixes.

 

Here is how bad the stern pieces looked after numerous gluings.  I felt a little defeated.

 

After various shims on both sides of the stern pieces I was able to line things back up.

 

And now I was able to add those other wood pieces across the top and making sure the two cannon ports were the correct dimensions.  Ironically by regluing those stern pieces I actually straightened up the gun port sides so I only had to add wood to make sure the dimensions were correct. I guess sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  LOL

 

And finally the side of the stern work.  I think it all came out pretty good with all of the mess ups.  Let me finish by saying this.  Getting those stern filler blocks right took a lot of work.  It was almost like working in 4D.  There are a lot of angles to consider back there. Front to back, side to sides, up and down and the angles between those.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2015 by scott larkins

[usedtosail]

I feel your pain Scott. I broke off many of the bulwark extension on the Conny before I got it planked. One thing I did do that may help you in the future is that when I glued the extension back on, I used a wood strip like you show in the above picture to align it to the other extensions and hold it while the glue dried. This helped me keep them in alignment as they were reguled.

[jct]

Nice recovery Scott, looks like you're moving forward

Great idea Tom, one of the reasons my Niagara is parked...got tired of gluing them back!!

[mikiek]

Hey Scott - don't feel too bad. I am completing the starboard bulwark on my Niagara. In doing so I have literally broken EVERY port timberhead. Some more than once.

 

Stay with it....

[scott larkins]

Thanks for the tip, good idea.  Just finished gluing the water way and corrinod pieces to the ribs.  Going to prime and paint soon,

[scott larkins]

Sorry for the long time between postings.  Been busy with putting together my next cosplay costume, computer games and slow build on the ship.  But here is where I am.

 

Here are the planksheer and water piece.  Looks like it has a pretty good bend with the ship.  Yes, I too had to add wood to the outside of the planksheer.  Like others it did not go all of the way out to the outer edge of the ribs.

 

A closer look.  Yes, I made the cannon port side planks a little larger then needed. I'll shape those down better once I put in the ceiling planks.

 

Here is my first attempt at the ceiling planks. This was my test area. You may notice that the lowest plank is a bit larger than the other planks.  According to the plans it is supposed to be a little wider so that it fits as one unaltered piece below the oar ports.  The dark green paint looks a little darker here in the pic than it actually is.  Notice how I did shape down the sides of the gun ports here and painted them accordingly?

 

These will be my next ceiling pieces to work on. I'm going to work from the bottom up in case I messed something up with the measurements.  I figure the top plank can be a little altered since it will eventually be a little hidden by the top rail piece and the numerous other added pieces in the future. LOL. See how wide that bottom plank is?  Always trying to think ahead.  LOL

Edited February 13, 2016 by scott larkins

[mikiek]

Hey Scott - welcome back.  One thing I'm finding is that you can control where the lie of the top plank by sanding the long edges. I went as far as to bevel the long edge - outside on the top, inside on the bottom - it makes each strake fit together a little more snug, and you can make them wider or narrower as needed.

 

Glad to have another Niagara builder posting again...

Edited February 13, 2016 by mikiek

[scott larkins]

Thanks for the tip.  I"ll look into that.

[texxn5]

Hi Scott, I just found your log and will be monitoring it. I have been thinking about the Niagara as my next project as well as having been on the Niagara twice in the last 2 years. I have extensive photographs of the real ship and museum on my website if you should need any photos. From some of your discussions here it appears that the framing wood is not good quality. If I could convince Chuck to make some scaled Carronades (lol),it seems that a scratch build here could be in order using Boxwood instead of the basswood. Good luck with the breakages they get frustrating to say the least. The photos I have are in the Gallery pages under Other Model Ship's. I'm also a Proxxon Tool distributor should you need any tools.

John

 

link to website: http://www.charleswmorganmodel.com/us-brig-niagra.html

[mikiek]

Scott/John - I have ended replacing a lot of the sticks from the kit - including square strips for the dowels -  with boxwood from Crown Timber. Much better to work with. That's not to say you couldn't get by with what comes in the kit, but I like the boxwood a lot.

 

You know it's odd. I have a Niagara practicum I bought, and the guy says (mind you his opinion) that the MS  3/64x3/32 and 1/32x3/32 are notoriously poor quality. I have nothing to back that up, but can say the boxwood replacements are cut better and hold together better. I'm already looking into having CT replace the entire timber stock for my next build - Rattlesnake.

[scott larkins]

Nice pics texxn5.  I saved a couple for reference points.  My bucket list included getting to see the Niagara in port.  I just went out today and purchased new paints.  I did not like how the MS paints were almost "dull" in color.  Not sure if they were going for a realistic time frame color or what I like my colors a little more "rich"  So I am now repainting insignia red and medium green.  Close matches but richer in color.  I'll post pics when I'm done.

Edited February 13, 2016 by scott larkins

[scott larkins]

Okay, finally got the bulwarks finished.  Repainted the red because as I said, I thought the paint I purchased from the modeler was too washed out and too thick.  The paint kind of clumped on instead of painted on.  My opinion at least.  I used insignia red and medium green from testers.  Anyways here are my pics.  I took them outside so I could see a "truer" color.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2016 by scott larkins

[scott larkins]

Got in a couple of good full days of work on the outside upper walls on my ship.  Here are the pics.

 

Unpainted bow wood work.  Looks like I got lucky with the two different wood thicknesses.  I did have to soak the thicker pieces of wood in hot water to get them to bend but not really a difficult issue.  The thinner planks I had no issues with.

 

Yep, I painted the top rail black. I initially painted it the model suggested buff and I didn't think it looked right.  I looked at Niagara ship pictures from over the years that were taken by ship visitors.  I noticed that the top rail had been pained buff, yellow ocra and black.  So I opted for the black. I thought it flowed better.

 

 

 

And the unpainted sides vs the painted sides. The most difficult part was trying to paint that little lip on the thicker wood.  Small brush and a steady hand...... and of course some scraping and repainted where I goofed.  LOL  No one's perfect.

 

And finally the stern.  For some reason those back rope chocks look like they are angled down in the pic but they aren't.  I used a very small jewel's file to file down into the wood and then used a jeweler's hack saw blade, without the hack saw, to cut out the little lower wider rope area.  Then I glued the whole piece into place.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2016 by scott larkins

[texxn5]

Just getting caught up with your progress Scott. Looking good, keep up the good work..

[mikiek]

Hey Scott - have you drilled the holes in the chock rail yet? I can't seem to find the spacing measurements anywhere in the plans. I see the rail on some of the plan pages but it's hard to gauge from that where they should be placed.

[scott larkins]

Nope, didn't drill the holes yet.  I was going to wait until I get to the rigging part and figure it out then.  The only thing I saw was a pic in the instructions booklet, but nothing specific.

[mikiek]

Will let you know if I find something. I'm thinking precision placement may not be too important.

[scott larkins]

I'm still alive guys.  Been a little busy with outdoor work and other life things.  Currently planking the hull.  I'll get some stuff up soon.  I'm just over 50% done with it.

[mikiek]

Hey Scott - good to see you back into it again.

[scott larkins]

Okay, the hull is planked and sanded.  Finishing the transom and decrative end pieces.  Then I'll post pics.  Been a busy summer between work, house improvements and writing weekly lesson plans for my first college class I am teaching.  So soon.

[scott larkins]

I'm back as promised, or I warned you.  The hull work is done.  I followed the diagrams and instructions the best I could.  I can tell you there was a lot more plank work on this ship than the Rattlesnake.  Primarily due to the fact that there are three different plank widths to use.  The Rattlesnake used just one so using the planking pattern guides out there was easy but not for the Niagara was virtually impossible.  Or I'm too stupid to figure out how to use that plank guide on three different plank sizes.

 

Either way, I found that every single plank was sized down to as small at 1/16 wide at the bow and had to be tapered as the plank went back.  And then at the stern, the plank was resized but not to the same extent as the front.  This is primarily because the plank twisted and had to cover much more space at the stern.  I did use stealers but not the exact ones shown on the plans.  The instructions did say that that situation was possible.

 

I can say it didn't all go as planned.  I'm sure if a die-hard ship building looked closely at my model he/she would probably shake their head on the last three planks I put on.  Was it truly ugly, well no, but probably not realistic either.   Did my puzzle work on those planks fit? Yes, with a little effort.  So below are my pics.  I wouldn't suggest you ask me how I did a specific plank.  There are people on this site I think you should ask that question of.  She's planked and ready to be painted and still looks like a ship, so I guess I had some success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2016 by scott larkins