Great Republic by rwiederrich - FINISHED - four masted extreme clipper - 1853

[rwiederrich]

14 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Lookn' good Rob, nice work.  certainly on the homeward bound leg of this building journey now.

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

Yes indeed Pat...nearly 6 years of building and planning.   I'm working out my plans for the case I need to build for it and a bit of rearranging of the library where it will reside.  It will require a significantly large case and case table.  I plan on displaying it in front of a large picture window.

Till then, I still have plenty of rigging to finish up and many minor details to bring this build log to a close.  (How weird is that?) And in only 38 pages too.

 

Rob

Edited January 28, 2020 by rwiederrich

[Dowmer]

Rob, just thinking out loud, but this exquisite model sitting in front of a window with all the UV light, will it damage it in the long term?

[rwiederrich]

2 hours ago, Dowmer said:

Rob, just thinking out loud, but this exquisite model sitting in front of a window with all the UV light, will it damage it in the long term?

 

I think I thought of that....since the great window is overshadowed by a large expansive cedar...no direct sunlight actually enters the room from that window.  Just ambient light filtered by sheer window treatments.

 

I hope it will suffice.  The trees plus several large Rodies block all the direct sunlight.

 

Thanks for noticing the potential problem......

 

Rob

[Bob Cleek]

32 minutes ago, rwiederrich said:

no direct sunlight actually enters the room from that window.  Just ambient light filtered by sheer window treatments.

I have a model in a similar situation. It's about twelve years old now in front of a the north-facing window. It's positioned so no direct sunlight ever hits it. It's in a case with UV filtering picture-framing glass. The UV issue concerns me, too, but in all that time, I've never seen the slightest evidence of UV deterioration. I do rotate it every so often so the exposure is even, just to be on the safe side.

[rwiederrich]

45 minutes ago, Bob Cleek said:

I have a model in a similar situation. It's about twelve years old now in front of a the north-facing window. It's positioned so no direct sunlight ever hits it. It's in a case with UV filtering picture-framing glass. The UV issue concerns me, too, but in all that time, I've never seen the slightest evidence of UV deterioration. I do rotate it every so often so the exposure is even, just to be on the safe side.

*12 years*  That is a goodly amount of time.  I built the display stand with the ships name of both sides for the precise purpose of rotating her.

I'm hoping it will survive my life time while I still can enjoy it.

 

Thanks for the fine comment Bob, I appreciate that.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

Hey....does anyone have any good glass case plans I might look at?   I'm planning on building my own case for the GR but would like some ideas other that what I have already devised.

 

Rob

[BANYAN]

I thought there was something in the database Rob, but unfortunately I cannot find it.  I remember a member writing a mini-tutorial of sorts when he built his case.  I will have a look and see if I can find it as he asked me to have a look at way back as a potential article; may not have been hosted/posted.

 

I did a quick search on glass cases and a lot of interesting posts came up, which may be of some use.

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited January 31, 2020 by BANYAN

[druxey]

Interesting that the moment I read Rob's post about 'model' and 'window', my mind went straight to the points made by you other gentlemen. The other issue other than UV is heat gain from outside and differential in temperature on each side of the model.

[Keith Black]

Rob, at the end of his build log Alex shows the steps he took building his case. 

 

 

[rwiederrich]

Thanks so much Keith....his design is nearly the same one I came up with.....however I will not be utilizing a large flat piece of wood/material for the bottom of the case.  I will be using the same frame design, but the frame will rest directly on the antique desk the model/case will rest on.  Due to the size of my case....I will be siliconing all glass edges in their wood channels.  I am, however resting the top glass in recesses from the top, so I can remove it if necessary.  I will using small LED rounds simply placed on the glass aiming down into the case when scutinous viewing is required.

 

Rob

[rwiederrich]

I'm converting this old table into a case for my GR model....I need to do some work on the base run of the glass frame but it will fit nicely on the table face....of course the maple will be stained and treated to mimic the same color of the table.

 

I have the top section drying in the garage and its still gigged up.  I have to mill out the corner posts and router out the top glass recess in the top frame.

I will be siliconing all the glass edges accept the right side..it will be free so I can open the case and turn the model.  The top will also be removable.

I'm thinking of green felting the base......on the table top...so the wood base of the model will be more prominent.

 

Rob

[BANYAN]

That will look very good Rob and a great way to show off the model.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[rwiederrich]

Spent a bit of time tonight on the spanker port shrouds......

[druxey]

You're getting there, Rob! Won't be long before the launching ceremony....

[rwiederrich]

Spent some time today finishing up the woodwork for the case.  Just finished laying on a coat of tung oil.....

Glass shops were not open today so probably monday I will order.

The drawer will be installed after the case is complete.  The forth corner post is in the other room...it has decided to develop a slight bow.

All this maple came from an 90 year old tree that died in my yard....it lay dry and dormant for about 5 years before I had it cut down and sectioned into 10 and 8ft legths that I had milled into 1 and 2 inch thick boards.   I milled these pieces from that tree....it almost looks like walnut..so dark and knotty...with no rot.

 

Rob

Edited February 9, 2020 by rwiederrich

[popeye the sailor]

she's a fantastic model Rob....so very well detailed    worthy of a case for sure......

[BANYAN]

Nice little 'home' for your creation you are assembling there Rob; look forward to seeing it complete.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Bob Cleek]

Beautiful figuring on that wood! It really comes up nice with a bit of oil on it. It's a great match for the table. It's going to be a very elegant presentation.

 

Those will be pretty good sized panes of glass. I expect moving the case will be a two-person job for sure.  I hope there's no stability problems with the weight on the table. It would be a disaster if it came to pass that somebody decided to lay a heavy book on one end of the top of the case and the whole shebang tipped over sideways!

 

(Don't ask me what caused me to think about this... fortunately, I caught it. Living in "earthquake country" makes me think crazy things like that.) 

[rwiederrich]

 

 

The two front and back pieces of glass will be 31 1/8" X 47 1/2" the sides are 31 1/8" X 16 1/8" and the top is a whopping 15 7/8" X  47 1/2"

On 2/9/2020 at 2:38 PM, Bob Cleek said:

Beautiful figuring on that wood! It really comes up nice with a bit of oil on it. It's a great match for the table. It's going to be a very elegant presentation.

 

Those will be pretty good sized panes of glass. I expect moving the case will be a two-person job for sure.  I hope there's no stability problems with the weight on the table. It would be a disaster if it came to pass that somebody decided to lay a heavy book on one end of the top of the case and the whole shebang tipped over sideways!

 

(Don't ask me what caused me to think about this... fortunately, I caught it. Living in "earthquake country" makes me think crazy things like that.) 

 

 

Bob..the case stand is quite stable.  I'll be picking up the glass today and assembling the case.  I will silicone the glass in place on 3 sides...allowing for the right side to be simply slid into the recesses.  The top fram will sit on top with the glass placed within their recesses and then brass screws will be placed at each corner. The top glass rests in recesses cut along the inner edge of the frame.   This way I can remove the top and one side so I can flip the model if need be.   I test fit the model on the case bed to see how well it sits and how it is harmonized with the stand.   Here are some pics with the model on the stand base.

 

Rob

[Bob Cleek]

It looks beautiful! From the angles in the photos above, I can see that it isn't as long as I thought it was. I recall your asking for input on case construction and I'm only now finding time to respond, for what it's worth. You've probably got a lot more experience building cases than I do.

 

I've had good results building my cases as solid boxes with the glass set "dry" into grooves cut in the frame pieces, including the top "rectangle." I've never used anything to glue the glass in place. I just cut the grooves so the glass is a slip fit into them with a bit of extra depth to account for any movement in the wood frame. That bit of "fudge factor" in the fit of the glass serves to prevent the glass cracking if there is movement in the frame structure from humidity changes or a "bump" at some point. (I once encountered a case which had the glass so tightly fitted that it cracked for those reasons.) I make the bottom "rectangle" a bit taller in side elevation than the rest of the frame pieces for strength, as well as appearance. The mitered corners (but not the glass!) are glued with epoxy adhesive and allowed to thoroughly cure. The top "rectangle" has the glass set into the grooves and its corner miters are joined with epoxy, as with the bottom "rectangle," and allowed to thoroughly cure. The sides are then assembled into a rectangular box with the glass panes slid into the grooves in the posts in identical fashion, a slip fit with a small bit of extra depth. The top and bottom ends of the posts are cut perfectly square. The rectangular box created by the side and end panes and the posts is then positioned on top of the base with the bottom edges of the side and end panes slid into the grooves in the base "rectangle." The bottoms of the posts are glued with epoxy adhesive to the tops of the four corners of base "rectangle." (At this point, the edges of the side and end glass panes slid into the grooves in the base "rectangle" will define the square shape of the case and hold it all together quite securely.)  The top "rectangle" with the top pane in it is then placed on top of the box created by the side and end panes and the vertical posts, letting the top edges of the side and end panes of glass into the grooves in the frame pieces of the top "rectangle" and the corners of the top rectangle are epoxied to the top of the vertical posts and allowed to thoroughly cure. After the epoxy has cured well, I drill a small hole diagonally across each mitered joint in the top and bottom "rectangles," entering from the sides of the case, not the face of the case, and two small holes down through the top of each piece of the frames of the top and bottom "rectangles," one on each side of their mitered joints. (It goes without saying that great care must be exercised in not drilling into the glass in the grooves when doing this.) I then epoxy a nail with the head removed in each hole. (These nails aren't "nailed" into the holes, I just use nails as they are convenient pieces of metal. The epoxy holds them in place.) The nails are sunk into the holes below the face of the wood and the holes plugged with a small wooden plug, or, if appearances permit, the hole can be plugged with a touch of furniture restorer's wax colored to match the wood's appearance. As the holes through the miter joints are drilled from the sides of the case, there will be no hole visible on the front or back of the case joints, but only on the sides, if at all. These metal pins serve to provide mechanical strength to the case "box" in addition to the epoxy. This is perhaps a "belt and suspenders" approach, but I never trust any adhesive in such an application, even epoxy.

 

The one catch in this method, as with any case-building method, I suppose, is that the fabrication of the pieces must be precisely accurate. All mitered joints must fit perfectly. I procure the glass panes before setting out to make the frame and build to the size of the panes. The panes must be cut accurately  as well. That is not always done by glaziers, who may be off by a 32nd or even a 16th or an inch sometimes if they are used to cutting glass to fit in window frames. (I get my UV resistant case glass from picture framers, not window glaziers' shops.) It's more important that the dimensions of the panes match than anything else. Cutting the depth of the grooves in the frame pieces a bit deep allows for some margin of error in the glass and frame dimensions, should they occur, as well as allowing for the differing coefficients of expansion of wood and glass.

 

I've found this method, particularly with the glass pane on the top of the case set into grooves in the top "rectangle" frame, produces a very rigid box structure. There is no "wobble" or weakness because the top "rectangle" is quite rigid with its epoxied corners and glass set in the grooves ties the sides together well. The wider frame pieces of the bottom "rectangle," having a greater faying surface at their epoxied mitered joints, hold the "square" of the open bottom of the case box securely. Fitting the edges of the panes into the grooves in the top and bottom "rectangles" makes the structure self-aligning and capable of being assembled single-handedly with relative ease. I found trying to assemble a case with glass panes "glazed" into rabets, as with a window, becomes an exercise requiring at least three arms, as the frame structure wants to wrack this way and that and collapse in three different directions at once during assembly! 

 

When the glass case box is complete, the base of the case is made with a plinth or "step" such that the glass case box may be placed over the base and fit around the raised plinth or step and so held in place without sliding around. This is made to be a bit of a loose fit around the plinth or raised part of the base and I place some sort of unobtrusive "spacers" on the bottom edge of the glass case box so that there will be a small bit of air space between the outside and inside of the case. (For this purpose, I've used those small silicone adhesive-backed "bump cushion dots" sold to attach to the back edge of kitchen cabinets to good effect, one at each corner.)  A really large case would require more ventilation, but for this size, I suppose a tiny bit at the bottom is better than none at all. Ventilation in the micro-environment of cased ship models is significant for preservation of a model, according to the curators of the US Navy's extensive ship model collection. This is particularly so not only with respect to lead corrosion, as most probably know, but also with respect to "out-gassing" of acidic fumes from some other materials routinely used in the construction of models. See: https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Carderock/Resources/Curator-of-Navy-Ship-Models/Lead-Corrosion-in-Exhibition-Ship-Models/

 

I figured here was as good a place as any to share my experience with case-building, for what it's worth. Others' mileage may vary, of course. However you end up doing this one, it's going to be a spectacular treasure!

Edited February 11, 2020 by Bob Cleek

[rwiederrich]

Bob...what a wonderful explanation of your experience building your case.

Actually I had the glass cut afterwords, but my measurements were accurate....and I had the glassier read back to me the measurements.  I insisted on accuracy.

 

I used flexible silicone on all the edge and bottom joints.  The top merely sits on the glass with them resting within their grooves.   I will(when the silicone is dry), remove the top, place the model and slide in the right side, then replace the top frame and then the glass.  Once assembled I will then screw into each corner from atop, small brass wood screws to secure it.

 

Here is a pic of the glass in place.

 

Rob

[Bob Cleek]

It looks great, Rob! I know how hard it is to get the frame as perfect as it must be for it to all come together like that, especially while keeping the frame pieces narrow enough not to distract from the appearance of the model. Well done!

 

I have a similarly sized cased model on a similar narrow topped "hall table," although it has four legs. Living here in the SF Bay Area all my life, I screwed a bracket beneath the back of the table through which I placed a screw through the drywall and into a stud to keep it from toppling in an earthquake. Here, it's not a matter of whether, but rather of when. The experienced "locals" do that around here, along with fastening all our bookcases, china cabinets and the like in similar fashion. (In fact, all the local building codes actually require all water heaters to be secured to the studs with metal strapping and there's a big fine if they catch you without it.) I don't live in fear of "the Big One" so much. It's the little ones that are sometimes just enough to rattle a breakable treasure off a shelf that can make you cry.

 

[rwiederrich]

13 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

It looks great, Rob! I know how hard it is to get the frame as perfect as it must be for it to all come together like that, especially while keeping the frame pieces narrow enough not to distract from the appearance of the model. Well done!

 

I have a similarly sized cased model on a similar narrow topped "hall table," although it has four legs. Living here in the SF Bay Area all my life, I screwed a bracket beneath the back of the table through which I placed a screw through the drywall and into a stud to keep it from toppling in an earthquake. Here, it's not a matter of whether, but rather of when. The experienced "locals" do that around here, along with fastening all our bookcases, china cabinets and the like in similar fashion. (In fact, all the local building codes actually require all water heaters to be secured to the studs with metal strapping and there's a big fine if they catch you without it.) I don't live in fear of "the Big One" so much. It's the little ones that are sometimes just enough to rattle a breakable treasure off a shelf that can make you cry.

 

 

Bob.... can you take an image of that hallway case so I can see your work?

 

Rob

[Bob Cleek]

It took me forever to figure out how to rotate a photo and get it posted here.  

 

The below case isn't representative of my "later period." I think I must have done this one sometime around 1980 or so. The case pictured had tenons at the ends of the posts which let into the corners. Way too much work! The table gives it a touch of class. I found the table at a used furniture store. It's a modern piece and didn't cost much.

 

I built this case in the manner described in my previous post. It's of oak and the base plinth is walnut, IIRC. (It was just some scrap I had in the shop.)

Edited February 13, 2020 by Bob Cleek

[rwiederrich]

3 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

It took me forever to figure out how to rotate a photo and get it posted here.  

 

The below case isn't representative of my "later period." I think I must have done this one sometime around 1980 or so. The case pictured had tenons at the ends of the posts which let into the corners. Way too much work! The table gives it a touch of class. I found the table at a used furniture store. It's a modern piece and didn't cost much.

 

I built this case in the manner described in my previous post. It's of oak and the base plinth is walnut, IIRC. (It was just some scrap I had in the shop.)

 

 

My case is built almost like the latter one you build...wonderful work.  Only real difference, is mine is made from dark maple...

 

Rob

[Bob Cleek]

14 minutes ago, rwiederrich said:

My case is built almost like the latter one you build...wonderful work.  Only real difference, is mine is made from dark maple...

It's a beautifully figured piece of maple. It's going to add a lot to the presentation of the model !  Be sure to post a photo of the model in the case on the table when it's all done.

[GrandpaPhil]

Beautiful work!

[rwiederrich]

Over the last couple of days...I've had to make some considerable changes to my case plans and its location in the Library.

The primary location, was to be in front of the large picture window...this devolved drastically, because the actual size of the case required that I needed to remove an entire couch from the Library(That, in of itself, was not a bad thing...but)….it left a significant unused space that looked awkward and threw off the balance of the room.  I also was becoming worried about the UV issues. I then tried to place the case in the middle of the space...permitting room to view from all sides, but this proved just as awkward.... since the case is very tall it blocked clean, clear views across the space,  in essence, forming a block to the flow of the room.

  I opted to remove the case from its 3 legged pedestal  and I placed it on a short built-in to the left of the fireplace.

 

There, it is out of the egress path within the library, as well as the room is more open and its layout flows much better.  You can access the books on both the North and East walls easily as well.

 

It is a compromise, but the space flows much better and it still serves primarily as a library.....so that is my first goal.  The case is a bit lower then I would have liked, but the wall will not be totally blocked, so I can continue to display the items already mounted there.

I'll post an image later.

 

Rob

[Bob Cleek]

I've always found the case to be larger than I imagined before it was built. Perhaps it's spending the time building a model in miniature that "shrinks" one's perception. I'm quite comfortable with the size of a model, but it's always a surprise to me that the case always makes the whole thing so much larger. Sounds like you found a good solution!

[druxey]

There's a lot of 'air' or dead space in a case for a rigged model. That's why it seems so bulky.