USF Confederacy by UpstateNY - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[UpstateNY]

Good morning All!

 

Firstly, thanks Elijah...always great to have extra eyes checking things are OK.  And of course my thanks to all for the kind comments and the "likes"..always appreciated!

 

This week has been spent getting the deck completed. First up was I decided to plank the bulkheads by the false platforms.  Hardly any of this work will be visible in the end, but I expect a couple of viewing angles could show the plywood frames so I went ahead and did this.  It also gave me a chance to practice staining the basswood strips and matching up their colors. This planking ended up being more work than I expected, but I am glad I did it.

 

Attaching the false deck was the next step...as Chuck warns in his instructions, some filing of the slots was needed to get the decking to line up correctly along the center of the bulkhead former. I also had to make some shims as a couple of bulkheads were lower than all the others. I didn't want to push the deck down and end up with a low spot. Looks like I should have used a batten when setting the bulkheads to make sure their top surfaces were even...learning for the next build!

 

Final item was to compete the mast support holes. I'd already added some extra fillers by the masts for more support and the kit interestingly provides these!  I then drilled out the holes to a 1in depth using progressively larger drills. A bit nerve wracking as I needed a 7/16th drill for the main and foremasts, but all went well!  Final step was to cut the heads off some long 3in nails and drill some deeper holes to add additional support.  I will use these to help set the mast rakes per the Crothers plans of 1/8 per foot for the mizzen and main masts while the foremast is vertical.

 

Thanks as always for reading...images below. Next up is Chapter 4 and gun port framing!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John Maguire]

Nigel,

 

"Request permission to come aboard, Sir". Excellent, high quality work. Looking forward to following along, if I may .  .  .  .

 

Respectfully,

John Maguire

Seattle

[UpstateNY]

Thank you very much John and of course..welcome aboard!

 

First step in chapter 4 is to plank the beakhead bulkhead which is taking more time than I expected!

 

To ensure the plank edges lined up across the bulkhead, I glued prestained strips across the full length of the bulkhead. A pencil was used on one edge as usual to simulate the caulking. I used a piece of scrap planking on the deck to act as a spacer so I can slide the deck planking under the bulkhead planking and so get a clean edge.

 

Doors frames were cut out by drilling small holes at each corner before using a keyhole Xacto saw to rough out the door openings in the bulkheads and then filing to finish. The bowsprit hole was also drilled out before filing it to shape. The outer plank edges were faired in to match the bulkhead fairing except I left an extra ~1/8in on each side at the top. I did this to correct a fairing mistake as  I found I'd rounded off the top edges of the beakhead bulkhead. A light sanding was then done w 320 grit paper which showed how variable my initial staining depth was!  

 

Same steps were repeated to plank the inside of the bulkhead, except unstained planks were used given these planks will be painted crimson. Next steps are to add in the door jambs and frames, deck planking, treenails and of course restain the bulkhead planking! 

 

Thanks as always for the likes and a few photos are below!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UdoK]

Great Progress Nigel, keep going!

 

On my build I'am right now thinking of ripping off the beakhead planking and replace it trough a different sort of wood. I find the kit supplied basswood planks a bit too soft, no sharp edges.

[UpstateNY]

Thanks for stopping by Udo and for the kind words! Replacing the kit wood w Swiss Pear or Castello boxwood will make for a wonderful looking model. 

 

I am going to try and make the kit wood work given the replacement cost for such a large model would be rather high.  I recently learned that the direction of sanding and cutting makes a huge difference on basswood and how clean it can look. Will require care on my part to make sure I know how the grain is running for each plank so we will see how successful I am!!

 

Link below allows you to find the interesting article by Dave Stevens from the Lumberyard in case you find it useful.

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13061-spring-2016-issue-of-the-msb-journal/

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[UdoK]

Nigel, thank you for posting the link, quite interessting article.

You are right for the high costs to replace kit material. I think I will stick on the basswood and replace the bad planks on the beakhead bulkhead only.

[NMBROOK]

Nice clean methodical work Nigel,looks great

 

Kind Regards

 

The other Nigel

Edited April 5, 2016 by NMBROOK

[UpstateNY]

Thank you Nigel...appreciate you following along!

 

You're welcome Udo... I hope the info helps.

 

Thanks to everyone for the likes...much appreciated as always!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

Edited April 6, 2016 by UpstateNY

[Elijah]

Nice progress Nigel! She's getting there!

[Kevin]

Lovely work, I am so looking forward to the day when I can start my own 

[tuciship]

nice , I look forward to your working

[UpstateNY]

Elijah,..welcome back.. I was glad to read in your log that you had a great vacation! 

 

Kevin..Many thanks...I am looking forward to you seeing you start your Confederacy as well...that way I can enjoy from afar!

 

Tuciship, Welcome and thank you the kind words! Hope you enjoy following along.

 

Currently working on gluing up the beakhead doors...about ready to breakout the paint so we will see how close I can get to a decent finish.  I will be trying Chuck's technique of applying many (20?) thin coats...should be fun!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Not a real update, but figured I'd post this early in case this helps someone out. I know Udo is currently working on his beakhead planking.

 

In doing a test fit of the beakhead doors, I found they did not fit as they were too high for the openings in the bulkhead.   Checking the plans, I found the doors matched the drawing of the completed beakhead on sheet 4, but were indeed higher than the door openings for the beakhead bulkhead G as detailed on sheet 3. An early test fit of a door should show if your kit has the same issue.

 

I've now increased the height for two of the four doors as you can see in the picture below of a test fit. I've also put a door next to the unchanged openings as a reference using a deck plank to set the height.  Pretty glad I found this now as normally the doors are added after finish out of much of the interior bow decking, furniture and painting.

 

Hope this is useful.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

[UdoK]

Thanks Nigel, I have checked my doors and openings and found the same situation.

I will take care for it later on in the build.

Edited April 18, 2016 by UdoK

[pompey2]

Hey Nigel

I've been enjoying your build, lovely work.

I've just started on my Confed after finishing my last model of Victory.

I'm getting together some bits and pieces before starting a log but will do soon.

Also waiting for some replacement timber to arrive.

 

Your log has been a definite help, advising on things to watch out for.

Keep up the good work

 

Nick

[Mirabell61]

Hi Nigel,

 

the "Confederacy" is a beautiful frigate, wish you ongoing good further success with the build..

 

Nils

[UpstateNY]

Hi Nick,

 

Good to hear you are starting your Confederacy and thanks for the kind words....I'll certainly watch for your log.

 

Hi Nils,

 

Thank you for stopping by and for your good wishes for my build...I will certainly need them as  this will be a very long build! I also hope you are now feeling a lot better! 

 

Well, things have been a bit slow in the shipyard recently given work and also all the lovely spring weather. I have made a little progress, along with starting to go up the learning curve on how get a smooth finish using basswood.  For this I need to thank Dave Stevens for his interesting article in the Spring MSB Journal. Link below.

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13061-spring-2016-issue-of-the-msb-journal/

 

Once I got the all the door openings opened up, I decided to go ahead and make some door frames as the instructions suggested.  I figured it would be a nice detail to add a profile into the frames so I used one of the brass profile tools included in the kit. Took more than a few tries to find the correct direction to create the profile by repeatedly using the tool at a shallow angle and light pressure. Eventually I managed to get a reasonable profile in a 1/16th in square strip. I then carefully cut some 45 deg miters so the profiles matched to create the top and side frames. I then glued them to the door frame so they overlapped the edges to hide the join between the planking and the door opening.  Last picture shows the test fit in place.

 

Pictures below and thank you to all for the "likes".  Always appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2016 by UpstateNY

[Elijah]

Looks good! I just noticed how you held up the wall planks to the right height with planking strips, good idea!

[UpstateNY]

Thanks Elijah and yep, I am finding that using simple spacers and templates really helps to keep things aligned and evenly positioned.

 

A side benefit of using the decking strip as the spacer is I can now just slip the decking planking under the beakhead planking to get a neat finish.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[cog]

Nigel,

 

That's some sturdy looking door, looks like it can withstand a band of mutineers ...! Well thought of the spacer ... you can make life easier in the near future like that

 

Cheers

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Slowly getting back on the wagon after a long break for work and family, but with the New Year starting, it seemed like the right time to try and make a fresh start. Amazing how fast time goes by...

 

So, picking up where I left off on the beakhead, the first step was to paint the interior and the doors crimson. I found it hard to get an even paint finish even using multiple thin coats. I am wondering if I got some glue deep into the planks as the finish was really uneven. Unfortunately, I can’t recall which build now (my apologies!), but I remembered someone using gesso.  By applying a thin gesso coat, followed by a very light sanding, I finally got a more even finish using many thin coats as Chuck recommends.

 

Exterior deck planking followed and then I tried to treenail the front bulkhead  I used a 0.65 drill per the instructions and Elmers natural filler to fill the holes.  Unfortunately, after sanding them smooth and then re-staining,  the treenails look too obvious and also rather uneven. I am going to think about it for a couple of days and start to run the battens for the gunport sills, but I may have a redo coming! 

 

A few pictures below...doors and frames are just press fitted.

 

Good to be back modeling again!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

[cog]

Glad to see you back at the bench, Nigel. For the treenails ... try toothpicks. A bit more effort, worth the try ...

 

Cheers

[UpstateNY]

Hi Carl,

 

Thanks..a bit worried the end grain of the toothpicks may also stain up too dark, but yep it is certainly worth a try. Of course if it works, then I'll need to do the entire hull that way down the road to match which was one reason I figured I'd try the filler method first! 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[cog]

Ah quite .. the easy way out   You should try it on a test piece. Then you will be sure about it

 

Cheers

[SawdustDave]

Hi Nigel - I am also happy to see you back to your Confederacy (my favorite build of all time).  Personally, I think this is Chuck's finest work ever.
Treenails.... I find pulling bamboo through a draw plate produces the best treenails of anything I've tried.

Beautiful job on a beautiful subject mate.

 

Cheers

[UpstateNY]

Hi Carl,

 

Yep...easy until it doesn't work out as I just found out..

 

I also just went down to the workshop and gave the beakhead a good dose of looking at...yep...redo time! No point in spending the next 5 years or so building this model and being aggravated about the way the bow looks. I also just went over the planking section in the instructions and found a reference to using a #75 drill for the treenails so clearly I overdid the hole size! Need to find a way to template the design better as well so some tests are definitely in order.

 

Hi Dave,

 

Thanks for the welcome back, for the kind words and for suggesting bamboo...I will add that into the toothpick vs filler tests. I can use this work to set up for all the hull work to come to get the treenail technique sorted now.  I was looking for a reason to get the Byrnes draw plate so every cloud has a silver lining! 

 

.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[Jack12477]

Hi, Nigel, nice work on the model.  I use gesso on my boat hulls (Marie Jeanne and Willie Bennett)  to seal the wood before painting. Works fine for me. Thin it down a bit with water first. Try it on some pieces of scarp first before committing it to your model.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Jack12477

[UpstateNY]

Thanks for stopping by and for the thinning tip Jack....I will certainly try a test first. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[Jack12477]

Nigel, the way I thin the gesso is to pour some onto a pallet (I use the plastic ones from Michaels that have dimples like a deviled egg platter), dip the brush in water and swirl the brush in the gesso to thin (repeat as needed till you get the consistency you want) - don't get it real watery. You want some thickness to it. It will raise the wood grain slightly - but okay - lightly sand with 400 grit when it dries - leave dry overnight for best results.

[pompey2]

Nice to see your log restarting Nigel, looking good.

Nick