Schooner Altair by KeithAug - Scale 1:32 - 1931 - Finished

[KeithAug]

A couple more deck features have been developed

 

Just aft of the deckhouse is a rather complicated little structure referred to on plans as the engine hatch.

 

The hatch is composed of 5 separate elements. On the port side is a sliding hatch leading to a set of ladders. On the starboard side front is a deck hatch and immediately behind this is a skylight (not yet made). To the rear of this is another low hatch. On the deck to the rear of the sliding hatch is a panel for the sailing instruments. The sailing instruments are obviously a retrofit since Altair was originally constructed. The whole of the hatch has the feel of being designed by committee.

 

 

Towards the stern is a small structure called the steering hatch. Quite a nice little box.

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

That's certainly a complex little structure, Keith.  Nicely put together.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Thank you John.

 

Immediately in front of the deckhouse is a square box which on the plans is referred to as the "gas box". On top of the gas box are stowed 3 demountable gratings. The use of the gratings isn't immediately apparent but I wonder if they form part of the companionway.

 

I find that small boxlike features are most easily formed on the mill and this is the approach I took with the gas box. By slotting out and inserting the frame features i can get a reasonable representation of the panelling.

 

 

The grating construction followed the fairly standard approach taken on other MSW builds. In this instance the gratings are small and I decided that hole sizes of .040" square were as small as I could go and still maintain definition. This scales somewhat larger than on the original.

 

Planks were thickness sanded to .080" before being slotted .040" deep by .040" wide. They were then glued in a sandwich using PVA. Finally .060 wide gratings were sliced from the sandwich - 3 in total.

 

 

 

 

 

[Landlocked123]

Very Nice Keith! Best & Merry Christmas, John

[KeithAug]

Thank you John and Merry Christmas to you and all visitors to this build.

[Jim Lad]

An interesting way to make gratings, Keith.  The 'gas box' wouldn't have been stowage for gas bottles, would it?

 

John

[KeithAug]

John,

 

Im assuming its stowage for the cooking gas. Cant see what else it might be.

 

I thought my grating technique was fairly standard - I have borrowed it from somewhere but can't remember quite where. The slicing off of a number of identical gratings seemed fairly obvious but of course is only applicable to long narrow shapes if using a slitting saw.

 

Have a Merry Christmas.

[captainbob]

That method shows up in "Ship Modeler's Shop Notes".  It's nice to see it used.

 

Bob

[KeithAug]

Thanks Bob. I knew I borrowed it from somewhere.

[Julie Mo]

Looking awesome, Keith!  Just one question, are those charts I saw up to date?

[KeithAug]

Hello Julie,

 

A friend of mine commented that for a 1931 boat the admiralty charts should be in black and white. I replied that I was building Altair as she is now and the yellow, blue, green and black charts were more correct. As for being up to date - not quite - they are from the first decade of the century. Have a happy new year.

[Bedford]

I think the charts will be adequate for the sailing she'll do.

[KeithAug]

Good point Bedford.

 

I have made a bit more progress on the deckhouse.

 

Firstly I built and attached the skylight pods to either side of the deckhouse.

 

 

Of course this meant more skylight windows.

 

 

The time had then come to glue the deckhouse roof in place. Not altogether straightforward as a protruding rim exists just below the junction of the roof and wall. I decided to shape the roof to be an exact fit and then remove it and add the protruding rim to the underside of the roof before refitting and gluing.

 

 

With the rim attached all round and sanded back to a .040" protrusion the roof was then glued in place with PVA.

 

 

The roof has edge rails down both sides as well as running rails for the roof hatch. The former were made from .040" x .100" strip while the runners were .100" x .080" with a .040" x .040" slot to take the hatch. I a bit of care was required as I wanted the hatch to slide.

 

 

[Landlocked123]

Hi Keith,

 

She's really looking beautiful.

 

How did you end up finishing the mahogany. In an earlier post, it looked like you had used some type of varnish or shellac, but in the last few pictures you achieved a really nice, rich, deep, mat finish. Thanks.

 

Best,

John

[KeithAug]

John

 

Thank you for your positive comments.

 

The finish is a trick of the camera. For the most part the deckhouses are still in their raw state - just sanded. They look a lot better when photographed in natural light without flash. Interestingly with no flash they are much closer to what the eye sees. The camera flash tends to accentuate the dust / grain in a way that looks quite odd. I am planning to finish the all deckhouses in silk finish PVA. The mahogany on Altair is polished to a high shine and I wanted to give a polished impression on my build.  

[michael mott]

Keith, Altair is really beginning to look superb. Thanks for explaining the differences in the apparent finish.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Thanks Michael.

 

I spent a bit of time fitting the sliding roof hatch. It worked out pretty well.

 

 

I then made a start on painting the various deck structures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KeithAug]

I have to confess that I started the deck structures to put off the task of masking and painting the bulwarks and waterline on the hull. Masking is such a pain and airbrushing seems to be 10 minutes of painting followed by and hour of cleaning for every coat. Anyway the time came when it could be avoided no longer. 

 

But first I had to glue the previously made scupper covers in place.

 

 

I reattached the strong back to give me a marking out datum.

 

 

I needed a flat surface for the datum and fortunately my wife was out so I used the expensive stone worktop in the kitchen. I think I got away with it! I find it easier not to mark the hull but instead use the pointer to position the masking tape directly on the hull.

 

 

I completed masking in the dining room. The workshop temperature is below 6 deg centigrade and thats a bit too cold for my liking. I must get round to installing some form of heating!

 

 

In the mean time the deck structures got another coat of poly.

 

Edited January 10, 2017 by KeithAug

[michael mott]

 

The workshop temperature is below 6 deg centigrade and thats a bit too cold for my liking.

Wow that's positively balmy in my neck of the woods, The last few weeks have been brutal here, most mornings the shop is -5 to -6 Celsius and by noonish it is up to 8 or 9 Celsius. while outside it is -20 ish

I have to admit I am really getting tired of it.... but then "I'm a lumberjack an' I'm OK"

 

Nice work on the hull.... seriously you are going to airbrush in your kitchen.... wait till Judy hears about this.

 

Michael 

[KeithAug]

Hi Michael

 

I wouldn't dare airbrush in the kitchen. Only masking in the hot part of the house. Airbrushing reserved for workshop. 

 

6 deg is plenty cold enough when wearing t shirt and shorts!!!!!!!!! 

 

Number 1 airbrush failed, today - o rings seem to be shot. Now using reserve airbrush but I now need a reserve for the reserve. Reccomendations from shipwrights would be most welcome.

[Landlocked123]

Hi Keith,

 

Sorry about the airbrush. Here's site from a guy named Don Wheeler who has reviewed virtually every air brush out there.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/home

 

I've read a lot of his reviews and he seems pretty impartial. Someone on MSW pointed out the site awhile back.

 

Kurt Van Dahm from NRG & MSW is a real expert. I attended his roundtable on airbrushing at the Mystic NRG Conference in 2015. If you reach out to him, I'm certain he would be of help.

 

Best,

John

[KeithAug]

Thank you John, that is extremely useful.

[KeithAug]

I airbrush quite infrequently with long breaks, typically of a year. I therefore need to relearn the technique each time. This time the relearning was complicated by a different model of airbrush - gravity feed as opposed to suction feed. The new brush delivered a lot more flow which was a bit of a surprise and I ended up with a couple of runs - which fortunately I blew out with air. The paint was matt white Humbrol enamel.

 

The pictures are of the 2nd coat ( I am now on coat 5). I was pleased with the definition on the sculptured hull. The matt white seems to emphasise this and create really good definition.

 

 

A couple more coats should do it and the masking tape should come off Friday morning. I a hoping that I won't get any bleed but at the same time I am a realist and therefore expecting a little. 

 

Brush painting of the deck structures continues - now on 6th coat (with poly thinned - half and half). 2 more coats should do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Kieth, A great project beautifully executed! Your deck structures are particularly impressive. For many years I have been thinking of building a 1:32 scale model of a Royal Navy Steam Pinnace. The bright finished cabin aft presents a particular challenge but your deck structures are an inspiration. I have several chunks of Mahogany salvaged from an old chair. It is at least 75 years old, tight grain and deep colored that I have been thinking of using for this purpose despite model building book advice that Mahogany is not a good choice. Your work proves the exception to the rule.

 

Roger

[KeithAug]

Hello Roger.

 

My mahogany comes from a hundred year old table. The down side is it is very dry and a little brittle. The up side is it cuts beautifully with a   very smooth surface. The real payback is when the poly goes on - the wonderful almost ruby red tones are mesmerising. I sometimes just sit and admire the depth of colour and the natural beauty of the wood. I'm not sure why model building advice warns against mahogany (it is claimed to be too coarse) but I prefer it to some more commonly used timber.

Edited January 11, 2017 by KeithAug

[Roger Pellett]

The name Mahogany, at least here in the US, is used for several different tropical hardwoods. Some if the stuff is pretty poor, stringy and course grained. I believe that the real stuff is Honduras Mahogany, very difficult to find today. Mahogany salvaged from old furniture is therefore like gold.

 

Roger

Edited January 12, 2017 by Roger Pellett

[Bedford]

Wow that's positively balmy in my neck of the woods, The last few weeks have been brutal here, most mornings the shop is -5 to -6 Celsius and by noonish it is up to 8 or 9 Celsius. while outside it is -20 ish

I have to admit I am really getting tired of it.... but then "I'm a lumberjack an' I'm OK"

 

Nice work on the hull.... seriously you are going to airbrush in your kitchen.... wait till Judy hears about this.

 

Michael 

Sounds just like Orange in winter!

I now live in the outskirts of Sydney and we are having 40 plus. It's killing me.

But once in a while someone makes a simple sly Monty Python reference and I see more beautiful progress on a stunning model and it eases the pain!

[Mirabell61]

Hi Keith,

 

I love the way you made your deck housings, they`re looking fantastic, together with the very nice hull they bring that beautiful classic appeal to the ship

 

Nils

[KeithAug]

Roger,

 

Your explanation of mahogany types makes a lot of sense. I have used "modern" mahogany with mixed results. What I have found recently is that dark wood antique furniture is out of fashion and that auctions are selling it for a song. A great source of quality wood if you are prepared to put a bit of work into cleaning it up and ripping it to size.

 

Nils,

 

Thank you for your comments

 

And thank you to all of you who have hit the like button.

[KeithAug]

I finished airbrushing the white enamel today and being impatient to see the results I started to peel back the masking. I always find this stage a bit stressful - Will the edges be crisp? and how much bleed will have taken place?

 

Starting with the waterline the masking was removed.

 

 

Generally the result was good with one minor area near the rudder that needed a bit of attention.

 

 

So far so good so I continued to remove the masking from the bulwark area. 

 

 

The bulwark capping rail had proven tricky to mask, particularly at the stern so I wasn't surprised to find paint bleed in this area.

 

 

Fortunately a bit of scraping with a craft knife improved it.

 

 

Generally the result was better than I had feared.

 

 

Meanwhile another coat went on the deck fittings - only one more to go I think.