Ragusian Carrack by Bender - Marisstella - 1:59

[Bender]

Thanks Mark, Red and Don for looking in and for your comments, and thanks all for all the "likes"

 

Here are some pictures I took while building the head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bender]

I did a lot of sanding on the hull and deck, and attached a few more pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[donrobinson]

Hi Al, man she is looking real good. I am surprised at all the little details that she has, you are doing a great job. What plans do you have for a finish?

[Bender]

Hi Don. I have been playing around with linseed oil. I like how it looks on this light colored walnut. I've never used it before so I need to read up on some how tos.

 

I started attaching the top gallant rails.

 

 

 

 

 

I need to add some explanation here. The plans did not have the top gallant rail curving up from horizontal on the bulwark to vertical up the back side of the forecastle and font side the bridge deck.

 

The plans had the rail running parallel to the main deck between the fore castle and bridge deck. And then once the rail was in place, breakwaters were placed on top of the rail and against the forecastle.

 

 

I had a hard time matching the mitered edges while attaching this rail on the aft deck, so I glued the edges together first. It was much easier this way.

 

 

 

Sometimes you just have to stop and clean up the mess.

 

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Bender,

 

she turns out really good...

 

I was wondering what do you do with those topgallant rails... Now I understand ... it's just fine, looks good ...

 

Best regards,

Zoran

[Red]

Hi Bender,

Your looking good: very good.

Would you consider this model adequate for the less experienced ship modeller?

Kind Regards

Red

[donrobinson]

Hey Al, the rails look top notch. Nothing wrong with doing it that way, I mean you don't build a frame around a picture you build the frame and put picture in it. You have some nice tight mitres there, looking forward to more and especially to your tutorial on using linseed oil

[Bender]

Thank Zoran for looking in on the build. You have made a good kit, but it is a challenge to my rusty skills.

 

Hi Red. You ask about the skill level. The round bow is very hard to plank. It is single planked with 1.5X4mm walnut. I broke a few strips The maker of the kit, Zoran from MarisStella--who made the post right above yours--has written the direction for this kit with a skilled person in mind.. This would not be a good choice as a first kit but third, fourth, or fifth would be okay. This is my twelve the kit.

 

Don, on the mitres I use paper board and "cut and check" until I have it. And I still end up throwing away some wood pieces.

 

I don't have any updates but wanted to show a picture of my work shop.

 

I try to get outside early while it s cool and cut enough pieces to keep me busy inside. It was 92*F or 33* C today when I finally went in. I am about a week behind in posting pictures.

 

 

[MarisStella.hr]

Mr. Al,
this looks fantastic !!!

[Louie da fly]

Nice work. You've done a very good job.

 

Steven

[Red]

Hi Bender, 

Thanks for the reply.

Lovely garden and a great place to work. Try working outside that over here (UK), you would go rusty in about ten minutes.

Kind Regards

Red

[Bender]

This picture show the start of the vertical timbers.

 

I measured and pinned the vertical reinforcement timbers in place. I did this in sets of 5 and made sure the five were perpendicular to the keel and parallel with each other.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bender]

The building continues but at a slow pace. I'm still making the vertical reinforcement timbers.

 

These pieces go on the forecastle.

 

 

I needed to remove a vertical piece I had attached earlier. You can see the scuffed planks at the front edge of the forecastle.

 

 

It is alway "fun" trying to figure out a way to clamp each piece.

 

 

I also needed a curved piece. I tried to make it out of walnut, but the walnut kept snapping. I had some boxwood. I'm always amazed at how easy It is working with boxwood. I made one piece wide enough for the two pieces I needed.

 

 

And then cut the two pieces to the size I needed.

 

 

 

 

Here's how it looks now

 

 

[Bender]

I need to repost the first picture in the last post. It seems to have been cropped.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Bender

[Seventynet]

Lovely job Bender and a pleasure to follow.

Regards, Ian

[riverboat]

Really nice build AL, excellent work .... doesn't look like you've  been away from building at all....... MarisStella's kits look really nice.

 

Frank

[donrobinson]

Sweet Al, some real nice work there. D-construction don't you just love it?

[Red]

Hi Bender,

There is some really clever modelling going on here.

Love the boxwood bends, really neat.

Regards

Red

[Bender]

Ian, Frank, Don, and Red:

Thanks for your kind words and for looking in on this log.

 

Don,

D-construction has happen a lot on this build. I have mentioned a few cases but not all. If one were to look back at the "in process" decking of the bridge deck and then look at the finished bridge deck, you could see that the hatch is in a different location. I'm still,trying to figure out where my head was when I was planning out this.

 

I've finished all the vertical reinforcement timbers and finished the railing on the forecastle. I used a thicker piece of wood for this top rail with plans in my head for some added details later. Also, the middle balusters on both sides of the forecastle railing are not supposed to connected to the vertical reinforcement timbers. Again, this is part of plans to a few added details later. I'll point out this change below in the pictures.

 

These first two pictures show all the progress as a whole.

 

 

 

The two small horizontal rails below the thicker top railing is supposed to be attached on the outside of the balusters as it is on the backside of the forecastle railing. On The left and right sides you can see I've inset the small horizontal rails on the inside of the balusters. This was needed because of changing the shape of the balusters.

 

 

The picture below better shows the inset small rails. Also notice the five vertical timbers.

 

 

The plans show only the first and fifth vertical timbers and balusters as one piece. As you can see I made all five as one piece.

 

 

 

 

The curved pieces are also different. The plans show these pieces being curved 90 degrees where I cut them with a 180 degree curve.

 

 

This pictures shows the thick upper rail. I used a piece twice as thick as the plans called for.

 

 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the plans as they are. All of these little changes are just me chasing wild ideas.

[Red]

Hi Bender,

What a great ship,

You are certainly doing it credit.

Regards

Red

[Bender]

I am posting my attempt at carving. The kit came with a laser cut sun, but I butchered it badly. This is my third attempt.

 

I copied the image and glued it onto a piece on boxwood.

 

 

Here a picture to show its size.

 

 

I first drilled holes at the base of the sun rays. It seemed to make it easier to stop at the correct spot when band sawing. I used three sizes of bits.

 

 

I then took out a little wood with a bandsaw.

 

 

Then I shaped the sun rays with a small bench belt sander.

 

 

 

I rounded the face.

 

 

I tried to carve the face by using the paper as a pattern, but it didn't work. I ended up needing to draw the face. I cannot draw.

 

 

The is about three hours in.

 

 

And this is the final result.

 

[donrobinson]

Works for me

[cobra1951]

Nice result

[Red]

Hi Bender,

You're doing great. you've got the knack.

I cannot master carving, my attempts ended up looking like 'Popeye on steroids'.

Kind Regards

Red

[Bender]

Thanks for the very kind words on the "carving." I look at the carving from other build log and am in awe of their skill. I am not yet in awe of my skill, but hopefully I will get better. This Friday I'm going to try again and see if I can get it a little better.

[Bender]

It seems like the rail would be high enough, but I guess these guys didn't want a sea monster climbing on board. This rail sits on top of the bridge deck railing. These are the rails at the left and right edge of the next picture.

 

 

and the top edge of this picture.

 

 

Each post leans in toward the center line. See the top picture. And sits vertical on the top rail that runs at a slope. See second picture. The Byrnes saw does not have a tilting blade, so I came up with this way of cutting the needed compound miter.

 

By placing this piece against the t-slide and holding the 4X4 Tilted back against this piece at 45*, and setting the t-slide at 73*, I was able to get compound angle.

 

I Used a spacer between the 4X4 and the saw fence to keep the cut piece from wedging between the blade and the fence and flying away.

 

You can see the gap between the piece and the fence.

 

I needed 14 posts but cut 25 pieces.

 

After cutting the 25 pieces, I needed to cut two slots in each post to except the horizontal rails.

Here the blade is 1.5 mm high.

 

My fingers were very close to the blade when I cut the slots. I couldn't get an actual picture of me cutting these pieces. By using the wood piece against the t-slide, I was able to keep my finger further from the blade than this picture shows.

 

Here is what the slots look like. I also drilled a hole in the bottom of each post and glued in a brass pin.

 

[donrobinson]

Very well executed Al, the rails look perfect and thanks for the tutorial. 

[Bender]

Don, thank you much for your comments. It is alsways good reading your replies.

 

 

 

This is the same picture I posted in the above post, but this time I'll talk about the railing on the bridge deck that overlooks the main deck.

 

 

The kit doesn't come with any spindles. I bought these spindles from Model Expo many years ago.

 

 

I ran a brass wire all the way through the spindle so that the spindle is attached to the deck and the rail. The belt snapped on my mini drillpress last winter so I had to drill the hole with a handheld drill. My fingers got tired of holding the tiny spindles, so I made this simple holder.

 

 

I needed a bunch of them. Here are the spindles strung on the brass wire.

 

 

The bridge deck has a nice curve. I soaked and bent the rail to shape before drilling holes in it.

 

 

I made this jig to make sure I had the holes centered in the rail and evenly spaced.

 

 

I drilled one hole and then used a pin to hold the rail in position to dry the next hole.

 

 

 

After drilling all the holes in the rail, I used the rail to drill holes in the deck.

 

 

Here the railing in place.

 

[MarisStella.hr]

Hi Mr. Al... THIS IS THE BRIDGE !! IT LOOKS GREAT !

You are right, the spindles (the pillars) are not included in the kit as the fittings because they are not the same... There is a dowel 4mm in the kit... the main idea is to make the different pillars by a hand or using the lathe ... but this You have done is great ... Thanks Al for sharing this with us... Can't wait to see the rest of this work..

Regards,
Zoran

[Red]

Hi Bender,

Lovely work.

The ship just gets better and better.

Regards

Red