US Brig Niagara by mikiek - FINISHED - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64 - First wooden ship build

[mikiek]

Happy DST everyone!  Hope you survived your first night. Personally I hate this, but I would take it if they just keep one or the other. Enough said.

 

Been busy on several fronts. I've wanted to get to work on the deck structures, so Friday night. I started the Captains Skylight. Not much fun. I really wanted to make the joints at the plank ends, but trying to put a dovetail in a 1/16"x3/32" stick - not likely. So I ended up compromising, by notching the ends. I was trying to hand cut/shape the side planks and going nowhere. No two planks the same length. Same with the notches. By the time I got to the second row the rectangular footprint was starting to look more like a rhombus. A pretty big scrap pile was forming.

 

 

Frustration set in so I called it a night. Next morning the kid starts thinking.  Time for the secret weapon. Shoulda gone here first.

 

 

Things start taking shape nicely after that.

 

 

I've finished a first attempt, including the barred windows and a moveable flap (I thought that was a joke at first). Did not include pix as I am in the middle of painting.

 

Next up, given that I have the masts assembled, I have been wanting to start some rigging. Not necessarily running line yet but things like adding all the tackle to the mast tops. Deadeyes for the edge of the fore & main tops were first. These are iron strapped with a small loop at the other end. It was funny (or maybe not) - I looked thru all the books I have trying to find a "how-to".  There were tons of pix of the finished product, but I couldn't find a single tutorial in my library. I did find one here at MSW and used that as a starting point.

 

The kit deadeyes are 1/8" and 3/32". The larger ones are used in the tops. I have been struggling with the deadeye kits from Chuck P.  The first batch I made I lost 50% of them in the block tumbler. I have since improved on that but for the deadeyes described here I used the ones in the kit. They don't look that bad, much better than the blocks.

 

So as the tutorial describes, I wrapped some .01 brass wire around a 1/4" dowel. The 1/4" came after some trial an error, trying to find the correct length of the wire and then a matching diameter dowel. I slid the coil off the dowel and cut them making rings. Below you can see a sample. Some are still open, some are close fit at then ends.

 

 

Now time to solder the rings. I struggled with this same exercise a few months back, trying to make rings for the spanker mast. They did not come out well.  At the time I was using a low heat silver paste which may have had something to do with it. I've switched to a gold paste now. I did that mainly for the color, but I have found this mixture just works better for me. For one thing, the joints come out much smoother with less residual. The stuff is VERY forgiving! I did not clean the pieces first and some of the joint ends were not butted together well. All usually bad things for a hard solder. I found that when heated the solder did not ball up at the joint, instead it seemed to fill and the rest just ran out along the wire. Very little cleanup to do afterwards. The paste cost more than a silver, but in my mind it is worth every penny. Your mileage may vary.

 

 

 

Soldered rings - no touch up

 

 

So after the soldering is where I broke away from the tutorial. I found I was struggling to take the ring and squeeze a deadeye sized loop on one side then trying to make an additional loop on the other. I made a jig to help me out and it worked quite well. Pardon me if someone else has already done this. I am not trying to plagiarize.

 

The loop for the deadeye actually has to be larger than the deadeye so the deadeye can be squeezed in afterwards. For the 1/8" deadeye I found a loop of 5/32" works well. The loop on the other end I wanted to be 1/16" So I found 2 short brass rods, one for each dimension. Drilled a couple of holes in some scrap wood and inserted the rods. The distance between the holes being how much iron between the deadeye loop and the small loop on the actual strap.

 

The ring is then squeezed a little bit to a shape that will fit around both rods. You can see this on the previous pic. I found that it is actually easiest if the shape doesn't quite fit around the rods. I can then stretch an end slightly to get it over the rod and this way the tension keeps the ring from sliding down the rods. Then you take some rounded long nose pliers (probably a better name for these) and quickly squeeze in between the rods. This starts the final shaping. A few more touch up squeezes finishes the shaping.

 

 

 

I then took each piece and gave it a good squeeze in some parallel jaw pliers to flatten them out.

 

 

Blackened

 

 

Finally the deadeye is placed in the loop and a few more squeezes lock it in place.

 

 

This has worked very well for me considering the first one I made by hand took over an hour and was quite ugly. I finished up 12 of these in under an hour and I think there is still room for improvement.

 

Last note on this, the plans show holes apparently drilled into the wooden edge of the tops for these deadeyes. Well that just doesn't fly -at least not at my skill level. I ended up notching the edges. I will put the deadeyes in place, possibly with a dot of CA. Then I have a darkened brass strip to place around the entire edge of the top. Actually the strip was already there, I had to tear it off to make the notches.

 

 

And if all that wasn't enough, I managed to make the starboard side nibbing plankset so the pieces for both sides are finished. I've stained these parts so the color scheme ends up decking - boxwood natural, nibbing - redwood, waterway - red. I'm trying to decide what to use as caulking here. I want a fairly thick stripe between the planks and the deck so just marking the edges with a marker will not be sufficient. I would show the top side of the deck but it sits on the frame (seen here) so it is slightly elevated and I can't fit the nibbing strakes up against it.

 

 

And with that I will say good night!

Edited March 14, 2016 by mikiek

[texxn5]

Looking good Mike. Havin' fun yet?? She's shaping up...

[mikiek]

Thanks John - yeah we're having some fun. Doing this kind of little stuff I find intriguing, but it's a painful reminder how fat my fingers are

 

Hey on a side note - I was revisiting the Niagara pix on your site, looking at the deadeyes both in the tops and chainplates.  They look dark in color. Are those painted? Stained? Just weathered?

 

Just wondering, as the photo on the front of the kit box appears to show them untouched. The deadeyes in the kit are kind of a gray/brown color. I need to decide whether to paint them or leave them.

 

 

Thanks again for your site. It has been the ultimate reference guide for me.....

[Elijah]

Looks good. When do you plan to plank the hull? Keep up the good work!

[mikiek]

Elijah - I am avoiding hull planking like the plague.   Anyway I want to get the deck fastened down first. For that to happen I have to fit the deck with nibbing strake - lot's of sanding. I also want to get a handle on the deck structures - probably cut out the openings for them and get some coamings installed.

 

Thinking about it, hull planking will probably be one of the last things I do. If it weren't for rigging it would be the last thing, but it would be pretty tough to plank a fully rigged build

[mikiek]

I forgot one big task. Before getting the deck in I have to repaint all the bulwarks. Started that last nite. I also forgot how tedious the masking is. I believe I said this before - 90 minutes of taping for a 2 minute paint job and then you rip it all off.

 

Due to the cheap paint jars I used, what little paint I had leftover from the first painting attempt is no good so I'll be mixing all new colors. It could be a blessing in disguise. There wasn't enough leftovers to do the entire job (both bulwarks) so at least I don't have to do any color matching.

 

I made a new red for this try. The Tamiya Flat Red looked a little off to me. I think the flat finish made it look a little darker than it is. This time I added some white and a touch of clear semi-gloss. It looks a lot better.

 

I'm hoping I learned a few things from the first time I did this.....and man, how sweet is the airbrush!

[Elijah]

Good luck!

[mikiek]

MIxed up some yellow for the outward bulwarks. That Tamiya Flat Yellow is BRIGHT - even with some darkening colors.  The first coat looked like mustard on a hot dog.

 

I've added a fair amount of flat white, buff and even black  to tone it down some.

[jbshan]

Mike, try starting with the buff and make that brighter with some white and maybe the yellow.  Tiny amounts at a time, then check the results, drops and half drops, and a bit on a mixing toothpick that you have half wiped clean.  What you probably should be looking for is something in the spicy brown mustard range.  I don't agree with the box art on this one; I don't think they could get that bright saturated color with the pigments available.  And, it's not a circus wagon.

 

For my take on this vessel, go to

 

http://modelshipwrights.wikispaces.com/file/view/Winter-2003_small.pdf

 

That is issue #4, there is a historical essay in Issues #1 and #2, and also higher resolution versions of the articles.  The archived issues are at

 

http://modelshipwrights.wikispaces.com/W2W_Archives

[mikiek]

What a wonderful read Joel !!!  All of them. And I feel like I got to know you a little better. Your research is truly amazing. Interestingly, you and I had many of the same requirements when choosing kits. I didn't know much at the time, but Niagara seemed like an obvious choice.

 

I am now feeling quite guilty over a number of build choices I made. The paint, the deck for starters. Your conclusions regarding them seem so obvious. It's very tempting to backtrack and redo them.  Fortunately, some of your other points, the deck structures for instance, I have not yet started and will reconsider their necessity based on the facts you point out. And yes even I - the newbie - wondered how the capstan would be turned with all the clutter on deck!

 

As for my yellow, I just finished painting the port outer bulwark this afternoon and tore off all the masking. Then I came in and found your links. Even with my last adjustments to the paint it still looks like a Coney with lots of mustard or 'a circus wagon'. Your idea of a buff base colorized with a sprinkling of other colors is more appealing.  Honestly I like the black outside white inside idea, but as a display I think it needs a bit more than that. Sad but true....

 

Thanks for all your input to my log. I've learned a lot from you. Not just facts, but how to think about this hobby.

[jbshan]

Thanks for all your kind comments, Mike.  In trying to resolve some questions I had I wound up going down some interesting byways.  When X, Y and Z all seem to be pointing in the same direction, A & B kind of get discarded.

Some of those sources I had to go to the rare books room.  They didn't make me wear the white gloves, but I had to leave my jacket (it was February) outside the door.  ???

I had done some investigations into color a few years earlier while I was painting, so have perhaps a leg up on some other folks in that department.  The green inner bulwarks has one example from the time, the Hull model of Constitution.  While that shows green was apparently used, it is only one example, and one example does not make a universal rule.

I ended up making my capstan a larger diameter over the whelks as it looked kind of skinny compared to most you see on warship models and other documentation.  The model is based on the replica so almost anything is fair game, once you decide to go past the slavish attention to the details of the kit.

To the rest of you watching, if this doesn't make sense, read the material on the links I last posted.

 

Cheers, Sir.

 

Joel

[mikiek]

Lots to log this evening. I wish every weekend was this productive.

 

I'm still painting the bulwarks. To backtrack a little, here's the waterways and port trim started out.

 

 

As mentioned earlier, I started the outward with a modified yellow. The Tamiya Flat Yellow is just too bright, even after I "browned" it up some.  French's Mustard comes to mind.

 

 

I've taken Joel's suggestion, rather than a yellow base and adding Buff, I took a Buff base and started adding Flat Yellow and Flat White. It was sort of a "season to taste" excercise. I didn't make notes but I made a pretty big bottle of it. Here's the comparison.

 

 

The result below. The gunwale will be painted back - a nice contrast. There will be a black shoulder above the gun port ceiling and then the handrail.

 

 

Prepping the Yellow side for the recolor. For all the masking, I painted the tape edges with Red to keep the other colors from wicking under - 2 coats. This worked out much better than my first painting episode.

 

 

The one problem with masking, after 3 coats of primer (to cover the Red overage) and 3 coats of color, there is actually an edge when I pulled the tape off.  There's always some hand touch-up after removing the masking, but it looks like I am going to have to touch-up with several coats to build up the the edge. You can see here.

 

 

I have also completed the strapped deadeyes for the fore top. As I mentioned before, I had to notch the top edges to make a spot for the strap (see pic in previous post). I used a dot of CA to hold the deadeyes in the notches, and then re-glued the reinforcement strap (my own addition) back to the top edge.

 

 

 

And I have finally taken the plunge and begun gluing the nibbing strake to the deck. After seeing a few pix of Joel's Niagara build, particularly the deck, I had an idea. Rather than making some sort of black filler to fill in the space between the strake and the deck - I have struggled with this for weeks - why not eliminate the space? One of those "duh, moments". So between coats of paint, this afternoon I did a lot more shaping on the strake pieces. There's still some gaps, but it's much better.

 

 

The outer edge of the strakes still need to be sanded down to fit in between the waterways, but here is the deck just dropped in. Kind of nice looking.

 

 

With the weekend gone, the painting will go a lot slower, 1 maybe 2 coats per day, instead of 4 or 5. I've still got the inward starboard bulwark to paint and the outward port to recolor. The touch-up around the masked areas is going to be pretty time consuming. I can only do so much of that before the hand starts shaking. Then it's on to the deck. After reading Joel's write-ups, I will be considering using just grating were several structures are called for in the plans. And finally I can get the deck on the boat permanently.

 

 

 

 

[Elijah]

Looking good Mike! I'm going to have to take a look at those links by Joel!

[mikiek]

Thank you Elijah - there is a lot of good history regarding the Great Lakes portion of the War of 1812. Completely unknown to a lot of folks. Until I started Niagara, I would fall in that group.

[mikiek]

I'M TIRED OF PAINTING!!!!

 

I'm still fighting the problem of the tape edge leaving a paint edge (there's a pic in my last log entry).  I was hoping that I could hand paint some thick layers to fill up to the edge top, but 4 layers haven't helped much. The hand painting is starting to show on top of the airbrushed layer. To make matters worse, I guess I didn't mix the paint well one time, as there are some spots that are darker.

 

So as a last ditch effort, I am back to the airbrush again. Against conventional wisdom, I am spraying a thick coat around the problem edges. I'm also leaving the hull on it's side - maybe gravity will work with me instead of against me. I figure I can go back and hand paint the insides of the ports again when this is done.

 

I did get some good general tips from the thread I started in the paint forum.

 

The only other alternative I see would be to strip down the paint. Is that even possible with acrylic on a model?

 

There's more to report, but I'll do that when I am feeling a bit more positive. I do have the week off, so I am hoping to get a lot done.

[texxn5]

Hi MIke, I'm not real sure, but you might try sanding it rather than stripping. I'm not too sure you can strip acrylic with making a huge mess. Sanding might smooth it the way you want, and then you can repaint it to cover up the sanding marks. Might be worth a try.

John

[mikiek]

John - I tried sanding once before but I suspect the paint may not have been completely dry. It didn't come out well. Of course I was repainting the sanded spots by hand which didn't help.

 

It does seem like the logical answer. Since I'm back to airbrushing again, I'm going to put the hull out in the sun this morning and get it bone dry and try again with a 1000 or 1500 sand sponge. Not much to lose at this point.......

[mikiek]

Well, I think I am on the right track. Thank you John for the sanity check! Rough surface? What else would you do but sand?

 

I did that early on, but it did not come out well. Acrylic paint is weird, it gets dry to the touch pretty quick, but if you drag a fingernail along the surface it doesn't feel right. Sort of like you could make a dent with your nail. I get the feeling it takes a lot longer to cure or harden. I believe that's what happened the first time - it wasn't cured.

 

After a heavy layer of paint at those edges last night, this morning it had that uncured feeling. We had a beautiful day today (I know you'll agree John) with low humidity so I put the hull outside in the sun for about 6 hours. The surface felt much better after that (harder) and it sanded much better. It still took a heavier spray than normal but I think the starboard side is there. I've lost most of the grain in all the paint layers, but I couldn't move on until those edges were gone. I'll take the trade-off.

 

Port had the same problem but I had yet to "hose down" with the paint. I tried sanding and spraying without that but there was still some signs of the edge, so I went ahead and doused that side. Hoping to get the hull outside again but the forecast doesn't look too good. It's drying in front of a fan overnight. I'll sand and paint sometime tomorrow.

 

I'm sick of looking at the edges so I didn't take any before/after pics. I'm expecting a positive report tomorrow evening. There's lots of other things to log, so see you then........

[mikiek]

It's tomorrow right? Man, I have been on a painting extravaganza. It has been time (for some time) to wrap this up. Bulwarks with some colors not others. Changing colors midstream. Masking and remasking. Terrible raised paint edges from the masking. And then - oh yes - BORDER WARS!!!!.

 

To backtrack a little - at Joel's suggestion I mixed a complete replacement for the yellow - I call it Dijon Yellow. Very nice but since it was lighter than the original I elected to re-prime. Keep in mind I had all the ports, gunwales, etc. masked off. So first paint over the tape edges, prime, then several coats of Dijon. Removed the tape. The paint left an obvious raised edge against the tape. Finally ended up sanding those down which pretty much destroyed the red around the ports. So one more good coat of Dijon - sprayed over everything. Figured on re-painting the ports afterwards.

 

Time to mask around the ports - AGAIN. I have been having a miserable time with paint wicking under the tape. Even when painting over the edges. This time rather than colored paint I used a Flat Clear paint. I don't know why that would behave differently, but the results were outstanding!!!   I have not had a single instance of wicking since then, and believe me I went thru a lot of masking. Lesson learned - I will always have that on hand from now on.

 

In the middle of all that, I finished up the nibbing strake around the deck. It's about time to fasten in, but I want to cut out the spots for the structures, or more likely that grating that will replace the structures. In the pix below, the deck is sitting on the bulwarks but not glued.

 

 

 

 

If you haven't read Joel's Niagara write up yet (links in previous post) you should. In it he theorizes the colors used on the MS kit (and on the replica today) may not be correct. He's suggesting all black on the outside. While I want a little more color variation than that in my build, I have to admit it's pretty cool looking.

 

 

You will notice I finally have the railing installed. Those parts have been sitting around forever. The starboard pieces painted, the port parts untouched. The bulwarks were starting to look so nice and the area where the rail sits on was looking so lousy, I repainted the black strip (more masking) and then glued down the rail. This was the first time I have ever used pins. You can't just start gluing the pieces down you have to see how they all fit, especially at the transom. Good thing, as something was hosed. The port side pieces laid out perfectly, the starboard side didn't reach the transom rail. It was off by a good 1/4". No idea how I managed that. So now I have to make some filler pieces.

 

 

 

Of course this was after the pieces had been painted, so now there was some sanding, filling and repainting to do. The scarph joints needed the same so there were numerous places to repaint. Since I had air brushed originally I wanted to do that again so more masking first!

 

So finally done? So he thought until he sees the photos. I'm real close.

 

I know you are sitting at the edge of your seat - Border Wars???  The yellow has a spot of black - well touch that up. Oh man, I got some yellow on the red. This spot wicked paint under the mask - touch up with the red. Ahhhh, got some red on the black.  And so it goes.......

 

Been thinking about the materials used for rigging. Don't care for the kit lines. The small stuff just looks like thread. The larger sizes look OK except it's all right laid. The running lines are 3 different variations of beige.  I would really like to make my own, but finding the material to make the small sizes has proved daunting. There's a good thread here. To make small cable laid rope you need very small left laid thread. If you know of a source please let me know. Mean time I'm going to use Chuck P's rope for this build.

 

The rope thing came up because I finished all the yards and the plan that specs these shows stirrups and foot ropes. Yeah, I know no one but a modeller is going to know cable from shroud laid. But personally I want to do it right.

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, that is a stirrup - eyesplice and all - hanging off the course yard. Trying to work on a system for that. I know the technique, but a third hand would help. A fourth too

 

 

[jbshan]

In re paint colors, I finally found a color version of the painting of the four largest vessels done within days after the battle.  This was done by one of the British Lieutenants and is now in the Royal Ontario Museum.  It shows Detroit full length, Queen Charlotte from the starboard quarter, just the last 30 feet of Niagara also from the starboard quarter and Lawrence in full broadside view.  In B&W, the port strakes of Detroit and Queen Charlotte are very similar to the port strakes of Niagara.  Lawrence's side is totally in shadow and 'could' be the same as the others but the shadow makes this equivocal.  In color, Detroit and Queen Charlotte clearly show a creamy color on their sides, while Niagara, while similar in grey scale, clearly is grey and not any sort of creaminess.  Lawrence clearly is all one shade of grey or black.

I don't remember if I put this in the article, but Ships in Scale did a series on the building of the replica vessel which appeared in about 1990.  It is on the CD of that time so you can maybe find the B&W version of the painting if you have the CD covering that decade of the magazine.

[mikiek]

 

 

Pardon my French but this was one of the scariest damn things I have done in some time. 'Nuff said.

 

You'll excuse me now, I have to go check my shorts......

 

 

 

[mikiek]

 

It is done.....

 

 

Weapon of choice....

 

The framing I added under the deck seems to be working out well. I just cut out the structure footprints based on those. I imagine they also gave the deck planks support during the cutting.

 

 

 

Only 1 casualty. You're supposed to be awake when you play with power tools

 

 

Then I experimented with the structure base/coaming. This started out as a 1/4" square strip. Cut notches in appropriate places. Mitered the edges. Fairly labor intensive. Yeah, I know they're crooked - they're not glued. Then I realized I was framing the companionway (which will be different than all the others) so I haven't bothered to square it up yet.  The 1/4" looked too big so I did the same with a 3/16" - shown below.

 

 

May still be to big. I am now toying around with a 1/8" square with a 3/16"x3/32" strip glued to it to keep it flush to the edge of the hole. I'll notch that for the grating.

 

Dang, vacation is over. The week flew by. I could get used to that life.  Come on retirement......

[mikiek]

You know I did learn one thing while doing the framing for the holes.

 

When I admire some of the truly exceptional builds here and elsewhere, I marvel at how some features - deck structures for instance - look so precise they almost look like injection mold plastic or something. Even the coloration doesn't look like most.

 

My first attempt at the frames was done with basswood. It came out OK but like typical basswood there were flakes & feathers, the edges didn't look sharp and the color was a flat whiteish/yellow.  The second try was with boxwood. Low and behold the pieces had that injection mold look - crisp edges, exceptionally smooth finish and a deep rich color.

 

Just shows what a good piece of wood can do for you....

[mikiek]

Have been having a really good thread regarding grates & coamings. I've fabricated several "versions" of the coaming pieces and made my decision but have also come to a realization (and a big step).

 

The pieces will be crossing the centerline of the deck, which as of this moment is still separate from the hull and lays flat on my workbench. When the deck is installed, the centerline will be at a peak and and the deck slopes outward from there. If I start gluing things to the deck now, a lot of it may pop up when the deck is suddenly not flat any more.

 

So, time to install the deck?  I think so.

 

I am trying to think if there is anything else I need to do before I glue the deck down. I do have the mast chocks glued to the keel, but beyond that I can't think of anything else.

 

I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

[Elijah]

I'm not sure what you mean by your question. I hope someone can answer it for you.

[mikiek]

Elijah - I built a frame shaped like the deck and planked that outside of the hull. It was a good step for me but not all boat designs allow for this.  The idea is to then glue the frame (with the deck) to the top of the bulkheads, which is where you would normally lay down your deck planks. I believe there are a some pix a few posts back.

 

There is a slope in the deck - think centerline from the bow to stern as the peak. The deck slopes slightly downward on each side as it moves out to the bulwarks.

 

So if you were to glue anything flat on the centerline, it would teeter like a seesaw. Right now the deck (uninstalled) is flat. After I glue it in, it will not be flat any more. The coaming pieces I am talking about are just frames around the deck hatches. But they are flat pieces that cross the centerline.

[mikiek]

Well, already found one thing to do prior - one more hatch hole to cut. Man that would have been ugly to do once installed. I've been staring at that spot for the last hour and didn't realize it needed to be cut.

[Elijah]

Oh! I see! If you pin or attach sandpaper to the spot that the deck item is going on, you can sand the item back and forth along the deck, sanding the camber into the deck item. I hope this makes sense, if not, I will try to create a visual. I hope this helps!

[jbshan]

The roundup or camber (athwartship or side-to-side curve) should also be on the tops of the coamings and gratings.  If you have left the deck solid and plan to glue things on top sanding the bottom of your deck furniture is an old trick that some use.

It is easier to have the deck openings cut before you mount the deck, if that's the way you are going.  I plank around the openings, then insert the objects as required.

[mikiek]

Smart guy Elijah - I would not thought of handling it that way. As Joel mentioned I have hand sanded the underside of the frame pieces to fit.

 

Joel - there are holes (really squares) cut in the deck but I had not planned on mounting structures to the underlying bulwarks/keel. You can see I took another approach.

 

 

 

 

The frames sit on the deck with a strip glued to them to keep it snug against the deck edge. The strip is also at the right height to act as the lip to lay the grating on. Of course this method did require me to sand a curve into the bottom of the pieces that run athwartship.

 

I can see now, if the structures were mounted on the bulwark/keel inside the holes, then the deck curvature becomes irrelevant.