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

[KeithAug]

I seem to be in rather a repetitive phase of the build. Having completed the main boom and gaff I started on 3 similar elements, the foresail boom and gaff and the staysail boom.

 

All were turned from mahogany dowel.

 

The only fairly unique part was the attachment for the staysail boom. This is a bracket that sits at the base on the foremast stay.

I decided to cut this out of flat brass bar - initially a bit of milling followed by shaping with a piercing saw, hand filing and machine polishing. The bracket is just under 0.3" long.

The mating bracket on the boom was turned on the lathe and slotted on the mill.

 

The foresail boom and gaff end fittings are at a very early stage of production. The wire holding the bracket in place is a "wondering part controller".

My helper is starting to develop very bad habits. I settle her down in the lounge and sneak off to the workshop. After about 15 minutes she notices I am missing and comes with her ball to retrieve me. I am then forced into 10 minutes ball throwing before I escape once again. This has happened 4 times today and it is very disruptive.

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith, what a beautiful helper you have, clearly she thinks she is part retriever and a quarter watchdog.

What would we do without their timely help?.

The quality of your metal work is inspirational.

Richard

[Nirvana]

Keith,

I am giving my helper a bone while in the shop, this way I have the company of him while I am fiddling with my build.

That metal work is very nice.

[KeithAug]

Thank you Richard, for both the build and dog compliments.

 

Thank you Per, and I'll give the bone trick a try.

 

I continue to make progress on the booms and gaffs.

 

The foremast boom and gaff have all their machining complete, the straps for the mast attachments etc are made and riveted in place and the track and rubbing strips are cut and glued with CA. Various wooden fittings (pulleys etc) have yet to be made and fitted. I found the track fitting to be quite a challenge - for some reason it kept going on "squint" and I had to apply heat to break the bond and try again. I did it 3 times in the end - not a good day.

 

The straps were cut from .030" sheet - using a slitting saw on the mill to get them accurate. they are 0.1" wide. 

The gaff with straps riveted in place and the rubbing strips inserted:-

Making the saddle - the soldering clamps work great. Soldering was done using a butane torch.

Finally a few views of the various bits. The dressmakers pins give a feel for the size.

 

[Nirvana]

A real femur bone, will keep her occupied for hours and then she will be tired falling asleep on a nice cushion or dog bed in the workshop.

 

That metalwork you are doing is so good, I am considering sending you the raw metal that I have to make wonders for me and Syren. lol

 

Beautiful work. 

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith, Regarding the track going "off", fret wire can be bought in various gauges and in straight lengths (guitar or mandolin). It is "T" shaped so would only be able to go "true" really. Perhaps something for a future consideration. It is also available in brass.

I am running out of superlatives for your work, it's just so very good.

Richard.

Would it be possible to detail your riveting method a little more? It looks very tight.

[dvm27]

One of the things that stands out on the beautiful Builder's Models made in the last century is the quality of the brasswork. Your Altair model would meet the approval of those very talented ship model makers.

 

By the way, with due respect to Nirvana, I have removed every type of bone from dogs in over 35 years of practice. Plus, the damage to their enamel can be quite significant. Other, safer treats, will keep her equally occupied.

[michael mott]

I have to agree with Greg on the brasswork, Keith it is beautifully executed.

Nice tip on the fret wire Riccardo.

 

Michael

 

[Jim Lad]

Obviously your helper is doing a very good job of training you, Keith.  Thanks for more pics of your superb metalwork.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Greg, thanks for the feedback and the doggy advice.

 

Michael & John. Thank you for your continuing intrerest and comments.

 

Richard. The problem with the track was all of my own making, I was a bit pushed for time so I was rushing. A case of more haste less speed. I had a look at frets on the web and they do look like an interesting resource for the future. The fret domed top wasn't quite what I was looking for as I don't think the flat bottom / sharp edge will work well with the slider design I have in mind -

I did the riveting like this - nothing special really.

 

 

 

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hi Keith, Thank you for the detailed reply, it is similar to what I had imagined when using a snap and set.

Fret wire can vary in profile and also is "crowned" after fitting and then "dressed" so the shape of the top can be varied.

Richard

 

[KeithAug]

After a few days away I got back to the workshop late yesterday afternoon and commenced the last phase of making the foresail boom and gaff and the staysail boom. The latter item isn't always deployed and I find a lot of photos with it omitted from the sailing rig. Both conditions can be seen in the next 2 photos.

I think she looks more interesting with it fitted and this is the way I will go.

 

I made and mounted the various wooden appendages:- Most are .080" wide to give an idea of scale

I also made and installed the .035" wide sheaves.

This time the track went on easily. Wonderful what taking a little care will achieve.

The gaff saddle was also finished with the stirrup installed.

For some light relief I went back to the yards and made the lights, GPS antenna, beacon etc. The lights are cut down LED's. I decided not to have working LED lights. I find I hardly ever switch them on and the batteries rot away and make a mess. 

The antenna / beacon will be painted white.

 

[Mirabell61]

super metal work Keith,

excellent fittings on masts and deck !!

 

Nils

[Jim Lad]

Yet more magnificent eye candy, Keith!

 

John

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Very  sharp looking woodwork, she is really coming together.

Richard

[KeithAug]

Nils / John / Richard - thank you.

 

Today:- A quick paint job followed by a day of small part production.

 

The deck is festooned with deck eyes - over 50 in total - today I made all of them.

I wanted to sort out a relatively straightforward way of reproducing consistent version of the mounting foot. The sketch gives the details.

 

I decided to make the mounting foot out of 1/4" brass bar, drilled with a central hole and then thinned to .100" on the mill. The feet were then sliced off .020" thick using a .025" slitting saw, again mounted in the mill.

 

I then polished each one by hand on a 400 grit diamond stone followed by hand polishing using polishing compound on a MDF board. I now have no skin left on the ends of my fingers but at least I won't leave finger prints when pulling off my next heist.

 

I have seen tools for forming eyes but I don't have one - so it was down to hand production using round nose pliers.

 

in passing I notice the various spars lined up on the deck and thought they made an interesting collection.

 

[KeithAug]

I thought I would carry on with the production runs by starting to make the turnbuckles - the body components are fairly straightforward so I thought I would start with the end brackets. I wanted to make them uniform so parting them off from a pre-shaped billet seemed to be the way to go. I needed therefore to do a bit of planning to get the machining sequences right. I started with a roughed out design.

I had some .125" by .500" brass bar which I decided would form the basis of the end brackets, a row of brackets being cut from each edge. The finished brackets being .1" x .125" x .200" maximum dimensions.

 

The through holes for the retaining pins (.040" dia) were all pre machined into the bar before slots were cut along the thin sides using a .030wide slitting saw. Holding the bar for the slitting operation involved a bit of head scratching but in the end I improvised a clamp using an upside-down lathe tool post with the workpiece held in the tool clamp. The slices out of the corner of the tool post were made by a previous owner - honestly!

It worked reasonably well - nice clean and uniform cut.

The bar was then hacksawed down the middle and end milled to the finished height.

 

I then hand filed the rounded end shape and polished the strip on the buffing wheel. Finally the individual brackets were parted off from the strip. 

I then made the treaded rod using .050" wire. I quickly became board with hand screw cutting - mannnnnnny rotations per inch.

So I improvised and stuck the rod in the lathe and finish it in a few seconds.

 

I don't really know why I bothered as the threads were virtually impossible to see with the naked eye.

 

[Guest Riccardo1966]

He Keith,

Amazing work, quite a challenge thread cutting with such thin stock.

Cheers Richard.

P.s. I will be very interested with regard to the fabrication of the sliders for the booms, no doubt these are well in-hand.

[michael mott]

Keith, a very interesting way to make the turnbuckle ends, I like the way you used a tool holder as a small vice. You rally are a master of working brass.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Richard / Michael - Thank you.

 

I made up a couple of turnbuckles - but have still to round off the square ends. They are about .750" long.

I then moved on to making the belaying pin rails which sit inboard of the bulwark on either side of the main and fore masts (4 in total)

 

The rail was made from 1/16" brass wire - 2.2 inches long and cross drilled with 5 holes of 1/32" diameter. At this size I find even my finest centre drills are not pointed enough so I "drill" the starter holes with a broken .040" end mill ground to a fine point. 

 

The thickening where the belaying pins penetrate was created by slipping on pre cut and drilled sleeves.

The wire was then bent to shape with pliers and a small hammer. The first 3 went well but then I switched to another wire for the 4th which was much more brittle and broke twice. I softened the 3rd attempt with a butane burner and all was well.

 

The sleeves were aligned with sewing pins which formed the core of the belaying pins. (pins .025" x 0.7")

Micro-bore tube was used to create the belaying pins.

 

The centre position is a support come bracket. Making this involved some "fine" turning. The bracket was made from .125" rod with the mounting spigot turned down to .030" to go through the hole in the wire / sleeve. My lathe isn't very small but by making very small tools and taking small cuts I manage to make 4 good ones out of 5 attempts. The mounting leg was made from tube and inserted over the spigot.

I then did a bit of polishing and made the mounting brackets for the 3 legs.

I then stopped to admire the sunset from the garden. Quite dramatic - taken without any filters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Yet more beautiful work, Keith.  I love your rigging screws.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Thank you John,

 

I have had a production run on turnbuckles. The shrouds require 8 per mast and 16 in total. I made these but a number of others are still required for various locations. The turnbuckles have a fork on one end and a boss on the other.  I covered the fork in an earlier post and the boss was a straightforward tuning / drilling job.

 

I had to tap more rod - in all I accumulated a pot full of parts.

 

The boss's and forks were soldered in place using solder paste and a butane torch.

 

The boss ends are attached to the deck via a deck eye and shackle. Both the shackle and eye are are from 1/32" brass wire.

 

 

 

 

[Nirvana]

My oh my,

I have run out of complementing words!

Just amazing!

[KeithAug]

Thank you Per and all of you who have visited.

 

Today I spent some time working on the port side main mast stay fixings.

 

I started with a number of small plates which fit around the rail fixing for the turnbuckles. They are .125" x .260" x .025" and have a central slot of .040 width. I needed a way of making a number of reasonably identical plates. I did this as follows:-

 

I drilled the slot end holes and then cut out the middle with a piercing saw.

I profiled one end and cleaned up the slot with a 1mm end mill. I only used the end mill in the plunge mode as any sideways pressure causes breakage.

I then cut the plates to width using a .025" slitting saw.

 

I profiled the other end as far as I could using piercing saw and then needle file.

Having done most of the shaping I separated the plates from the bar and cleaned up the profile with a file.

 

The plates fit on the rail as follows:-

 

The turnbuckles were then mounted.

 

The two remaining turnbuckles are deck mounted. These were located together with the belaying pin rail.One down three to go!

 

[Jim Lad]

That really is something special, Keith.

 

John

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith,

Lovely work as always, I really like to see the way that you solve the intricacies of making even the smallest of details.

Regards Richard.

[mtaylor]

Thanks for letting us look over your shoulder, Keith.  Beautiful work and a great "step-by-step" to see how it's done.

[KeithAug]

John, Richard - thank you very much.

 

Mark, Thank you - it's really good to see you back in the groove.

 

A bit more progress - all 4 sets of pin rails and turnbuckles installed. The picture shows starboard foremast fixings.

Then time to get on with the multitude of deck eyes. Before and after photos below.

Getting the location right is somewhat of a challenge. I don't have a lot of confidence in the plans so I spend a lot of time scrutinising photographs. Interpreting the relative positions of one item to another and constructing the chain of evidence back to a known and accurately located point takes an age and slows progress to a snails pace.

 

Not all deck fixings are the same - some of the deck eyes sit on pedestals.

 

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

I think it's really worth the time to carefully check the photographs, Keith; then you know that what you're building is true to the actual vessel.  Most ships and boats are not only altered over their lifetime, but also during the actual building process, so the plans may well not agree with the vessel as launched.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Thanks John - I also think the photos I have reflect two configurations - before and after refit. It all ads to the fun!!!!!

 

Today I "finished off" the various deck fittings - at least that is until I discover more when I get to rigging. But for now that is it.

For a distraction I though I would have a go at making the bell mouth of the vents - four needed in total. This is a first time of doing this and I have a couple of options to try. Today I had a go at the "pressed" option.

 

I started by making the press tool consisting of a circular die with a corner radius and a plug with the bell form machined on to it. The die bore was .400" and the outside diameter of the plug was .350" - equal to the bore diameter less twice the thickness of the copper sheet I was using. The copper was a piece of domestic water pipe split and opened out.

The press was the lathe tailstock.

 

The procedure involved annealing the copper (heating to cherry red) and then pressing a dimple .020" at a time - in total I did 12 annealing /pressing steps.

On the first one I had a bit of an experiment on how aggressive I could go with the pressing steps. The answer was "not very".

So I did it again taking more care.

To clean it up I glued it to the plug and filed and emery clothed it in the lathe.

 

I was happy with the result.

 

Next I will have a go at a machined option.