Dunbrody by Mahuna - FINISHED - 1:48 - Cross-Section - Irish Famine Ship

[Mahuna]

Great looking as always Frank, but I noticed in the last two photo's a gap between the keel and frame 44, is it seated and glued in the photo?  Or is that just a shadow from the light in the photo?

 

Hi Brian - good catch!  The frame was glued in place and I didn't see that gap (forest and trees kind of thing?).  The problem was caused by the bottom of the floor not being level, so that when I adjusted the frame to be perpendicular this gap opened.  I've removed it and fixed the problem.

 

I probably would have seen the gap eventually, but most likely that would have been when I couldn't do much about it except to use filler.  This is the frame that everyone will see, so it would have been pretty bad.

 

Once again we have an illustration of the real value of posting a build log.  Thanks for being my Quality Assurance department - you're really good at it!

[GuntherMT]

It pays the bills Frank.  

[Mahuna]

I needed to mill a few more timbers for making chocks, so i thought I'd show the setup I use.

 

I have a Rotary Column Attachment on my Sherline Mill.  This allows me to tilt the column right or left to as much as a 90 degree angle.

 

          

 

After establishing the correct angle I mount a piece of the appropriate sized stock in the vise and mill along one side of the stock.  I then reverse the stock in the vise and mill it again.  

 

          

 

After milling the stock I slice off an appropriate sized piece on my table saw.  Each piece is long enough to get about a dozen chocks out of it.  After tilting the column I use a dial indicator to make sure it's back at the true vertical position.

 

I also thought I'd show a new tool I found - a Starrett 816A Prick Punch.  The point is longer than a center punch and very sharp.  It allows me to use one tool for marking the pinning holes for drilling, rather than the two tools I showed in an earlier post.

 

         

 

         

 

My friends all know I love to find new tools!

[GuntherMT]

Find new tools?  I thought you mostly like to make new tools!

[Elijah]

Nice forward frame! Good catch, it is always great to reach a milestone!

[Mahuna]

Nice forward frame! Good catch, it is always great to reach a milestone!

 

Hi Elijah - thanks for the comment.  One of the good things about working in wood is that most errors/problems can be corrected if found early enough.

[druxey]

Enjoy your new toy - I mean, tool! Nice progress on your frames as well, Frank.

[Mahuna]

Part 15 – Installing the Frames – completed

 

Since my last post about a week ago, I’ve been focusing on getting the installation of the frames completed.  The aftmost frames have a slight bevel, primarily in the bilge area.  I beveled the frames using a rotary tool I’ve had for quite a while.

 

The tool is a Marathon Power Hand from Gesswein that I used for bird carving.  Bird carving is an exercise in power carving, using a couple of different types of rotary tools.  These tools work on the same principle as a Dremel rotary tool, but run much smoother and at much higher speeds.  The Power Hand is capable of speeds up to 55,000 RPM.

 

                        

 

The Power hand has a variable speed foot switch, which gives me a lot of control over the grinding.

 

                        

 

The frames were sanded to the line for the forward frame sister on the outside of the frame, and then sanded to the line for the aft frame sister on the inside of the frame.  Sanding on the outside was accomplished using a combination of the disk sander and the spindle sander.  Sanding on the inside was accomplished using the spindle sander only. 

 

This left an area on the aft frame sister on the outside of the frame that still needed to be sanded.  Similarly, the forward frame sister had an area on the inside edge that needed to be sanded.  After the initial sanding mentioned above was completed, the rotary tool was then used to complete the sanding in these areas.  Only the edge of the frame was sanded to the line, and then the frame surface was flattened to these lines, resulting in the bevel.

 

                        

 

The orange funnel in the photo is a port for a portable dust collector, shown in the following photo.  This is also a carryover from my days as a bird carver, and is very useful for setting up temporary dust collection for tools that don’t have a dust port, like the scroll saw, milling machine, or lathe.

 

                        

 

So, after a long process, today I installed frame 19 - the aftmost and last frame in the sectional model.  The following photo shows the frame clamped in place and being glued.

 

                        

 

All told, the 26 frames in the model are made up of 594 individual pieces, including the chocks.  They also contain over 700 monofilament ‘bolts’. 

 

                        

 

I have to admit, though, that the last week was spent redoing work on three frames that didn’t come out right (due to a senior moment I had at the end of last week).  My scrap box is getting full – all told I needed to replace 5 full frames and numerous individual timbers.  This has been a great learning experience.

 

                        

 

I’m pleased to have reached this milestone (while retaining my sanity, I think).  Some of the next work will consist of fairing the inside of the frames, installing mounting bolts to secure the frames to the keel, preparing for the keelsons, and replacing the filler blocks with battens.  I’ll post some progress reports as I proceed.

 

Thanks everyone for following!

[HIPEXEC]

Looking good!

[mtaylor]

Looking good, Frank.   By the way, that scrap box isn't full as we can see the bottom of it.         Which adds a pile more of "well dones" as you got things right.

[GuntherMT]

Fantastic looking work, as always.  Hope it's travel-worthy for the next meeting.

[albert]

Beautiful work.

[Mahuna]

Looking good, Frank.   By the way, that scrap box isn't full as we can see the bottom of it.         Which adds a pile more of "well dones" as you got things right.

 

Thanks Mark.  I'm hoping the scrap box doesn't grow too much more, but there's still a lot of work ahead, which means many more opportunities for re-do's.     

[Mahuna]

Fantastic looking work, as always.  Hope it's travel-worthy for the next meeting.

 

Thanks, Brian.  I'd need to feel confident in taking it off the shipway, so I guess it depends on how much I get done before the meeting.  

[druxey]

As usual, it's a pleasure to follow your progress, Frank. Seeing your scrap bin is a nice reminder that even expert modelmakers have a failure rate!

[captainbob]

Well done.  The section is really taking shape.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

As usual, it's a pleasure to follow your progress, Frank. Seeing your scrap bin is a nice reminder that even expert modelmakers have a failure rate!

 

Thanks Druxey - that's encouraging, since I'm far from being an expert model maker!

 

 

Well done.  The section is really taking shape.

 

Bob

 

 

Thanks Bob - not perfect, but coming along OK.

[Elijah]

Wow! Nice job in reaching this milestone! Have fun with that hull!

[Mahuna]

Wow! Nice job in reaching this milestone! Have fun with that hull!

 

Thanks Elijah.  The repetitive work of building frames is finally over, and now the real fun begins.  

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank

 

Congrats and like you, I always look forward to the internal fitting out of the ships. I'll be eagerly waiting for the next updates.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Mahuna]

Part 16 – Prepping the Hull

 

Once the frames were installed, a lot of odds and ends had to be addressed.

 

First, I wanted to install a temporary Batten at the planksheer on each side.  I didn’t want to make any holes in the frames at this point, so I decided to use copper wire to hold the batten securely.

 

I measured and marked for the planksheer using  a height gauge, then clamped the batten in place.

 

                        

 

                        

 

I then drilled a hole in the batten on each side of every frame.

 

                        

 

I inserted copper wire into the hole on one side of a frame, wrapped the wire around and brought it out the hole on the other side of the frame.  I then carefully twisted the wires until they were tight, keeping a close watch that the frame remained perpendicular.  I cut away the glue on one side of each filler block as I was working, so that the frames could move in or out as required.

 

                        

 

The hull begins to taper on the fore and aft ends of the sectional model, and this shows up in the size of the 4 frames on each end of the model, which begin to gradually reduce in width.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to match the required taper on the batten, so I decided to pull the ends of the battens towards the center of the hull by using copper wire.  This brought the battens into proper contact with the narrowed frames and gave me a good taper fore and aft.  I made sure to measure the taper on each side of the centerline to keep the hull properly shaped, then reinstalled the cross spalls.

 

                        

 

I wanted to fair the inside of the hull to the approximate height of the accommodation deck.  I didn’t want to proceed above this point, since the frames were only held in place by the glue on the keel and by the battens at the planksheer.  I had drilled holes for mounting bolts in each frame, but before I could insert the bolts I need to make sure the cutting down line was flat and level to take the keelson and sister keelsons.

 

When I drafted the frames I used the sizes of the keelson and sister keelsons from the hull cross-section provided in the plans to determine the width of the cutting down line.  After reviewing the topic on keelsons in the Crothers book, I decided that the sister keelsons were very undersized and that I would make them somewhat bigger.  This necessitated widening the cutting down line and then tapering the frames to that flat area.

 

Using a small square I marked the centerline on the keel.

 

           

 

I marked the boundaries of the cutting down line using a piece of stock cut to the proper dimension, and then used that piece to check the level of the line I had sanded.

 

           

 

Once the cutting down line was ready, I was able to proceed with installing the mounting bolts.  The bolt holes were already drilled in the frames but were not yet in the keel, so I carefully drilled through the frame mounting holes and into the keel.

 

                        

 

I used 3/64 brass rods as the mounting bolts, since these are functional fasteners.  These were glued into the mounting holes using epoxy, and then were snipped close to the frames.  After the epoxy set I used a riffler file to smooth the bolts flush with the top of the frames.

 

                        

 

With the frames now secured to the keel I could begin fairing the frames.  Even though the drafting and frame building provided fairly consistent frames I found that a few needed fairing – mainly because of some errors I made in the construction.  I used my rotary tool with a Dremel sanding drum to reduce any significant high areas.  The motor of the rotary tool has a removable forward piece for changing some accessories.  One very useful accessory is the ‘Slender Head’, which allows the rotary tool to be used in tight areas.  This allowed me to reach into the hull while keeping the sanding drum fairly level.

 

                        

 

I also used a variety of sanding sticks for the fairing.  The sanding stick with the curved edge (bottom of the following photo) proved very useful in the forward and aft areas where the frames begin to slope upward.

 

                        

 

It was also useful for carefully sanding the upper areas of the frames.

 

                        

 

Sanding the tight curves in the bilge area required another type of sanding stick.

 

                        

 

                        

 

With all of this sanding going on, I made sure to position my dust collector near the hull to try to capture any stray dust.  It’s getting warmer in Arizona and I need to keep the windows closed and run the A/C, so the atmosphere in the shop will get pretty dusty if it’s not filtered.

 

                        

 

The next part will deal with the installation of the keelsons.

 

​Thanks everyone of following!

[mtaylor]

Very methodical and well thought out, Frank.  The pictures reflect this very well.

[GuntherMT]

Your precision and planning continue to amaze me Frank.  Makes my 'bumble ahead and see what happens' system look pretty neanderthal in comparison.  

 

I hope you decide it can survive a trip to the meeting next week!

[Keith Simmons]

Outstanding work Frank,

 

  Will be watching closely and hopefully, I can learn something....

 

    Keith

[Mahuna]

Your precision and planning continue to amaze me Frank.  Makes my 'bumble ahead and see what happens' system look pretty neanderthal in comparison.  

 

I hope you decide it can survive a trip to the meeting next week!

 

Hi Brian - your system (and skill) produced a beautiful AVS.  If I get a few more key timbers in the hull this week I hope to be able to bring it.  I'll be losing a couple of days of modeling with some more medical stuff, so we'll see.

[Mahuna]

Very methodical and well thought out, Frank.  The pictures reflect this very well.

 

Outstanding work Frank,

 

  Will be watching closely and hopefully, I can learn something....

 

    Keith

 

Hi Mark & Keith - thanks for the fine words - it's always encouraging to hear from other modelers.  I'm learning every step of the way.

[EdT]

Beautiful work, Frank.  Your meticulous style is making me crazy.

 

Ed

[captainbob]

Beautiful work Frank.  And if it gets too hot in Phoenix you can always get a summer place up here in Prescott.

 

Bob

[Mahuna]

Beautiful work, Frank.  Your meticulous style is making me crazy.

 

Ed

Wow, thanks Ed.  I read your comment just before heading to the shop for some more work, and it had me feeling really good.  However, I came crashing down to earth when I discovered a MAJOR (and uncorrectable) mistake I made yesterday.  Trying to correct it would probably result in the entire model joining the scrap bin.  I'll cover it in my next post.  

[Mahuna]

Beautiful work Frank.  And if it gets too hot in Phoenix you can always get a summer place up here in Prescott.

 

Bob

Thanks Bob.  And I've often thought that the Prescott area would be a great place for second home, especially for the summer.  Now .... if only I could afford it.