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

[KeithAug]

I bit the bullet and now have a slider. The pin is 3/4" long. The "T" of the track fits in the slotted hole and the sail attaches to the ring. I'm going to bed a little less daunted.

Edited August 21, 2017 by KeithAug

[kees de mol]

This metalwork!! Very, very impressive

[KeithAug]

Thank you Kees. I hope the job hunting is going well.

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith,

Lots of progress for me to catch up on. The anchors look spot on, lovely job of work. She is coming together beautifully.

Richard.

[KeithAug]

Welcome back Richard. Thanks for the feedback.

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Hello Keith,

I had to have little break and it's good to be back, thank you. I had been looking forward to your approach with regard to the manufacture of the sliders, your solution looks great. No doubt these will be mass produced as I believe that you need sixty ( plus extras for escapees, unless you have fixed the workshop floor).

 I agree with the call for this log to be regarded as  the definitive Altair practicum, truly first class model making and commentary second to none.

Kind Regards Richard.

Edited August 26, 2017 by Riccardo1966

[KeithAug]

Thanks Richard, you are too kind. I too am having a few days away but once back I'll do a bit of detail on my method, trials and tribulations in making the sliders. Then it will be on to masts and standing rigging.

 

I have been doing a bit of internet surfing on suitable materials for sail cloth. Altair has a "modern" set of sails so I need something to simulate these. I'm stilll undecided so suggestions are welcome.

[KeithAug]

And so on with slider production - 59 to go.

 

The sliders have to be sized to fit the track (00 gauge) previously fitted to the main, fore and staysail booms.

This meant a design as per the following sketch.

I decided the best starting point was .125" x .500" brass bar, this would allow me to make 6 sliders per batch.

 

The first operation was to drill (on the mill) the .048" slider hole across the .500" width of the bar. I use a broken drill ground to a point to centre spot the hole and follow up with a .040 drill followed by the final size .048" drill. This in my experience is the best way to get the hole to start accurately and run true.

 

I made 2 batches of 6 by working on both ends of the bar.

The next operation was to slot through to the hole using a .022 miniature slitting saw held in a arbour I made for the job. Slight run out on the saw meant that it cut a .025 slot. Accurate centring of the slot was critical because any offset between the slot and the hole meant that it would not slide (I know because I did it).

 

At this stage I did a trial check that the bar slid nicely on the track.

 

I now did a series of cuts across the 0.125" width of the bar to divide the edge into .060" wide segments. These cuts were only part way through because I wanted the assembly to remain together for later soldering.

The 2 ends were then sliced off .090" thick to make a "chocolate bar".

I had made up a simple aluminium jig to assist soldering. The jig has a small step (just visible in front of the shoulder) which locates the tube relative to the chocolate bar so that once assembled the two parts are aligned on the centre line. I used aluminium to avoid the possibility of the sliders attaching to it during the soldering operation.

The parts were placed on the jig and held with spring to close tweezers while soldering with a butane torch.

After a bit of polishing the slider segments were cut off using a razor saw.

To make 6 takes about an hour - so 60 is 10 hours (across a few days).

 

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by KeithAug

[herask]

unbelievable!! 

[druxey]

Well done, Keith!

[KeithAug]

Herask / Druxey, Thank you for visiting and your supportive comments. Also thanks to all of you who left likes or just paid a visit.

 

Well now for a fairly boring update - but the good news is that all 60 sliders are done plus 5 spares - for floor fodder. The sliders are currently stored on the tracks awaiting a later foray into sail making. I was a bit brain dead by the last batch - staring at small parts with less than perfect eyes is quite a challenge these days.

So to proceed I started thinking about the bowsprit rigging. The first job was to glue the bowsprit into the shoe. Id been avoiding this because something kept telling me I would regret it. Anyway its done and the worry about the mystery problem may come to pass.

 

Probably the best place to start with the bowsprit rigging is to have a look at a few photos of the real thing.

The bowsprit shrouds are going to be made of 7 strand stainless steel braided beading wire - .024" or a scale size of a little over 3/4 inch.  On the shrouds are attachment points for the skimpy lines that crew member is traversing. No netting here for whimpy crew members. The detail shot of the attachment point in the shot below below isn't entirely clear but I think what its showing is a protective band on the stay onto which the attachment lug is mounted. I thought it would be nice to try and reproduce this so I did a bit of experimenting.

 

I plan to make the lugs from thing hoops cut from tube. The tube is .092" od thin wall tube and the hoops are sliced off .050' wide - done on the lathe for accuracy / consistency. The jig / operation is fairly easily understood from the photos. The tube is held on the spigot with a spot of CA glue for the turning operation.

The hoops are very skittish so I made a lot of spares. I only need 12 so I am into overkill.

The binding on the shrouds is going to be made from .060" bore heat shrink tubing - brown to simulate leather. The next shots show the first attempts - I'm sure I will get better with a bit of practice. (I ordered a heat gun off the web for my next attempt - a match wasn't very effective).

I also started to assemble the components on to the shrouds. All a bit small but it fills the time quite well.

 

 

[michael mott]

Keith, more outstanding work, nice attention to the tiny details.

 

Michael

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Great work on the sliders, they look very uniform and neat.

Richard

[KeithAug]

Today I spent some time progressing the bowsprit rigging. I am conscious that loose lines don't hang realistically because they are stiff relative to their weight. Because of this I decided to make the athwartship lines from .017" beading wire. 

 

I decided I needed a jig on which to make the bowsprit rigging - this was quickly knocked up from MDF and pins. The base of the triangle was a little wider that the distance across the martingale struts to give the belly to the lines.

 

The ends of the athwartship lines were made by looping the wire through a .040" thin wall tube. The hoop on the end is the attachment feature for the bowsprit shrouds.

In the next picture the 6 lines are compete and the port and starboard longitudinal lines (braided fishing line) have been tied. All a bit tricky to see - sorry.

The whole thing is loosely fitted in place. I really need the hot air gun I ordered.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by KeithAug

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Great progress made, the smallest details beautifully crafted.

Richard.

 

[KeithAug]

Thanks Richard,

 

However I started today by trashing yesterdays work for a few reasons: 

 

1, I couldn't get myself convinced that the fishing line would hang in a natural curve.

2, I realised that by not paying great attention to the orientation of the hoops on the ends of the athwartship braided wire that I had introduced a twist that made them want to follow a serpentine path.

3, I didn't feel that I had allowed enough belly below the bowsprit.

 

So it went in the bin and I was glad that I had made all those extra end hoops.

 

To solve the fishing line problem I decided to resort to further use of braided wire, it may not hang under gravity but the shape is more controllable. Fixing the orientation of the end hoops required a bit of a development of the building jig as follows:-

Two brass rods (.040" diameter) were slotted through the hoops at each end of the athwartship lines during their manufacture - thus eliminating any twist caused by them being aligned on different axes.

To give more belly I widened the base of the jig (drilled wider spaced pin holes).

 

The finished assembly of lines and fittings felt a bit more workmanlike. The longitudinal lines were tied on with cotton thread and then secured with a spot of CA.

I then went back to the shrouds and fitted the heat shrink tubing to simulate the protection at the attachment points. Fortunately the heat gun arrived at lunch time. The shrouds are temporarily fitted, tensioned and held with surgical clamps.

With the protection completed the clamps were removed and the shrouds were slotted through the end hoops on the athwartship lines. The shrouds and the the longitudinal lines were then secured and the end hoops crimped on to the heat shrink on the shrouds.

 

The resulting shape felt pretty good.

[Guest Riccardo1966]

There are certain compromises that can be made and those that can't, when there is any doubt in ones mind some of us know at that point that it has to be fixed, call it perfectionists' pragmatism ha ha.

It is a definite improvement and was worth the effort.

Richard

[michael mott]

Excellent solution and it looks exquisite.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Thanks Richard, I know many would have made a perfect job of a thread solution - I did wonder about setting the thread into the correct shape using PVA glue or similar, but in the end decided I was more confident using beading thread. 

 

Michael, thank you. I'm pleased you think it looks good.

[Nirvana]

Keith, your craftsmanship is amazing.

All these small details you are adding, each must feel like a milestone accomplished.

Your dedication to this yacht is top of the line!

[KeithAug]

Thank you Per. I find I get a bit drawn into the detail. I wonder if my skills are up to doing something so I give it a try, if it does not work I try again. Sometimes I give in, but most of the time I get comfortable with the result ( Acceptance is helped by my eyesight not being as good as it once was).

 

Once again thank you to all the other visitors.

 

I think I mentioned earlier that I had drilled a couple of holes in the wrong place on the deck.

The larger one in particular was bothering me. I considered a couple of options for hiding it including a coil of rope and a drinks tray with wine and beer. Not particularly satisfied with either option I was pleased to be struck by a "flash" of inspiration. 

The saluting cannon was featured in one of the videos of Altair.

I moved on to stepping the fore mast. Verticality, rake and rotational position were all a bit of a concern so I took a deal of care with numerous repeat checks. I started by levelling the hull across the beam and ensuring that the waterline was parallel to the workshop floor. 

 

I also marked the rail on either beam with blue masking tape aligned to the ribs.

I then used precision eyeballing to sight the athwart ships verticality against the frame of the workshop french doors

.

To fix the rotational position I sighted down the mast aligning the yards against the blue tape. The process was assisted by the camera flash and the shadow it cast.

The rake was set by sighting against the workbench legs (to the side of the yacht).

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2017 by KeithAug

[Guest Riccardo1966]

Good creative fix with the cannon. I also have used my camera to "check my work", they are incredibly useful in this way.

Richard.

[Bedford]

I always look in to see your progress and am never disappointed. I will point out something my woodwork teacher taught me in high school (he'd probably fall off his chair if he knew I'd been paying attention but I'd imagine he's fallen off the coil already)

"Never assume anything is square or plumb" a sheet of ply isn't always square and a door frame isn't always vertical !

 

That said it looks pretty plumb.

[Mirabell61]

Beautiful work Keith,

 

Nils

[John Allen]

Keith,

 

Masterpiece, museum quality me thinks.

[KeithAug]

10 hours ago, Bedford said:

"Never assume anything is square or plumb" a sheet of ply isn't always square and a door frame isn't always vertical !

Hello Bedford. I thought someone might pick this up. I was fairly confident because I laid the floor and built the frame for the french doors. However you caused me to recheck, fortunately spot on. 

 

Nils and John, thank you for visiting and for your kind words.

 

John I'll be watching how that canoe develops and Nils when is the next keel laying ceremony?

[Derek C]

Keith

she is a beautiful ship , and the metal work is outstanding . 

Derek

[Bedford]

Sorry mate, didn't mean to make you second guess yourself

[KeithAug]

Bedford

 

Its always good to get a friendly reminder, no need to be sorry.

 

Derek

 

Thank you for your comment.

[KeithAug]

A little progress (yesterday and today) with the rigging. Altair standing rigging makes use of a lot of steel cable terminated with fittings. Fortunately no need (or desire) for many hours serving lines. 

 

But first I had to mount the radar / horns "A" frame on the main mast. I glued it in place and then did the bindings to reflect the detail on the real thing.

The "A" frame, radar and horns were made some time ago and reported in an earlier post.

 

And then on to the standing rigging for the fore mast - the shrouds are in place but I have now run out of braided beading wire - ebay to the rescue.