Skipjack Kathryn by Mahuna - FINISHED - 1:32 - Based on HAER Drawings

[Mahuna]

On 9/15/2017 at 11:20 PM, GuntherMT said:

Kathryn is looking great.  Have a good vacation Frank!

Thanks Brian.  I hope we're able to have a meeting after mid-October.

 

On 9/16/2017 at 4:41 AM, druxey said:

Ah, well. You still have the evidence of your deck joinery in your photographic records. Well done, Frank. 

Thanks Druxey.  I struggled with the decision on how much of the deck to plank, but I keep going back to my original intent - to make both the construction and the appearance as authentic as possible.  As you say, I have lots of photos to show what's hidden.

[GuntherMT]

3 hours ago, Mahuna said:

Thanks Brian.  I hope we're able to have a meeting after mid-October.

 

I will be out of town (actually, out of the country) on the weekend of the 21st, but any other weekend should be open for me.

[Mahuna]

Part 40 – Yawl Boat cont’d

  

The last post on the Yawl Boat showed the hull being built.  The interior of the boat is mostly taken up by a Cummins 4 cal turbocharged diesel engine, covered by an engine housing with a vertical muffler/exhaust pipe.

 

The exhaust pipe configuration was made from the pieces shown in the following photo: three telescoping pieces of brass tube forming the muffler, with pieces of solid brass rod forming the exhaust pipe coming our of the engine housing.

 

                        

 

The muffler was formed first, and the first step was to solder the three tubes together.  Since there is a taper on the bottom of the muffler, the tubes needed to be different lengths.

 

                        

 

The soldered configuration was then chucked in the lathe and a hand file was used to form the taper.

 

                        

 

                        

 

The pieces that form the exhaust pipe were soldered together and then soldered into the muffler.

 

                        

 

                        

 

The configuration was blackened using JAX Warm Black.

 

                        

 

The engine housing was formed and painted, and the exhaust pipe/muffler combination was glued to the housing (using CA glue).

 

                        

 

Before the engine housing could be mounted in the boat, there were a couple of large ringbolts that needed to be installed inside the boat.  These were formed of copper wire.

 

The process for making the bolts uses a pin vise chucked into a hand drill.  The pin vise allows the use of very small copper wire that would be difficult to hold in the larger chuck of the hand vise.

 

                        

 

An appropriate sized drill is held in the bench vise, the wire is looped over the drill bit, and then the hand drill is turned until the ringbolt is formed.

 

                        

 

                        

 

This process results in identical ring bolts, and is very quick and simple.

 

The following photo shows one of the bolts installed in the forward part of the yawl boat after the bolt had been blackened.

 

                        

 

The engine housing was then mounted in the yawl boat.

 

                        

 

The Yawl Boat has a metal ring configuration attached to the stem of the boat, presumably for securing the boat to the Skipjack’s transom when in use.  This ring assembly required the use of a jig for forming and holding the ring configuration while soldering.

 

                        

 

The post is a 1/8” solid brass rod.  The ring configuration is made of 1/32” brass rod, so the ring outside the brass rod was made with a 3/16 end mill and the grooves for the straight pieces were made using a .040” end mill.

 

The 1/32” rod was annealed for bending around the 1/8” rod, and then the configuration was clamped in the jig for soldering the small crosspiece.

 

                        

 

After soldering the ring configuration was blackened.  The legs were left long so that they could be properly fitted during installation.

 

                        

 

A bumper on the front of the Yawl Boat appears to be made from an old tire.  This was simulated by shaping a piece of wood and then painting it without smoothing or sealing it.  This was mounted to the stem along with the ring configuration.

 

                        

 

                        

 

There are still a couple of items to be added to the Yawl Boat – some exterior trim (I’ll need to order some very small styrene half-round for this) and the boat’s propeller.  I’ve never made a propeller before, but there are some very good examples in other build logs.  This work will need to wait until I get back from our trip.

 

                        

 

I’ll be traveling for the next three weeks, so there will be no work on Kathryn until I return.  During the trip I’ll be able to see Kathryn up close and hope to get more photos of the details that are still ahead of us.  I’ll probably post some of those photos when appropriate.

 

I’ll check in on MSW whenever we get good WIFI.  Thanks everyone!

 

 

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank. 

 

Dang!  That yawl boat is as cute as a button!

 

Very nice. 

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

 

[Mahuna]

Thanks Patrick.  LOL - it's probably the size of your Shadow with nowhere near the details.

[PETERPETER]

Excellent work on the yawl boat. Resistance soldering is the absolute best way to go when assembling tiny parts. Solder goes where you want it and accuracy is maintained by fixing parts position before applying the heat. Have a great trip.

Peter

[popeye the sailor]

with how nice your yawl boat looks,  perhaps you should try your hand at a few miniatures     Kathryn has a beautiful child.  have a great trip!

[HIPEXEC]

Bless you, Frank. I couldn't do that work if you ripped my fingernails out! Nice job.

[HIPEXEC]

Welcome back, Frank. Too bad I can't make our next meeting

[Mahuna]

Part 41 – The Cabin

 

Hi Everyone

 

It has been quite a while since my last post.  Most of the time was occupied by a long vacation trip that included Michigan, Ontario Province in Canada, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, down through Maryland and ending in Virginia – lots of driving!.  During the trip we got to see relatives, old friends, and some new friends.  A stop in Maryland allowed a visit to the real Skipjack Kathryn, where I was able to take some photos of the details that will be part of the model work yet to be done.

 

Since returning from the trip I’ve been working on Kathryn’s cabin.  Kathryn’s cabin interior includes windows in each side wall and in the forward wall.  It also includes openings in the side walls and the aft wall for access to the berths that were previously constructed under the deck beams. 

 

The following are two photos from the HAER files showing the cabin interior.

 

                        

 

                        

 

Kathryn’s cabin has a ‘doghouse’ – a small structure with larger windows – presumably to add light and a little more headroom in the cabin.  This doghouse was added to the cabin after the original build but before the HAER survey.

 

                        

 

After a bit of time attempting to develop a plan for framing out the cabin and constructing the cabin’s interior and exterior walls, benches, and cabinets, I decided that this approach would probably be more difficult than I wanted to attempt.  Instead, I developed an approach that would provide the realistic appearance and would be within my capabilities.

 

The model’s cabin walls consist of a basswood form with the openings for the windows and the berth openings.  This form is sandwiched by paneling on the interior and planking on the exterior, and is the thickness of the studs that would have been used in framing.

 

The following photo shows the form and the paneling for the starboard wall.  The paneling is a piece of scribed deck planking stained with Minwax Sedona Red.

 

                        

 

After the openings for the windows and berth access were cut, a piece of transparency film was glued over the window opening in the interior face of the cabin form.  This simulates the glass of the window.

 

The openings in the paneling were framed out.

 

                        

 

The panels were then glued to the form.  The window in the exterior face of the assembly was then framed out with framing pieces that had been pre-painted.

 

                        

 

The exterior face of the assembly was planked down to the level of the deck.

 

                        

 

When this work was completed for all cabin walls, the walls were then glued in place.

 

                        

 

 

Molding was installed around the base of the cabin.

 

                        

 

The following photo shows the interior of the cabin.  The cabin deck still needs to be painted, and the settees and cabinets need to be installed.  A short companionway ladder will lead from the main deck down to the cabin deck.

 

 

At this point I need to point out an error I had made in Kathryn’s construction: the cabin opening and the aft hatch are too close together.  There should be about 3/8” space between them.  This resulted from a drafting error that I hadn’t picked up until too late.  I thought about doing some surgery on the deck to move the hatch forward, but the stanchion under the deck beam that supports the forward hatch coaming prevented this.  So the model will remain as it is, with the cabin too close to the hatch.

 

The roof of the cabin has an opening for the doghouse mentioned above, and has a camber that is the same as the deck camber.

 

Since the roof of the model needs to be removable in order to view the cabin’s interior, a form was developed that would provide a snug fit to the cabin opening.  Another form in the outside dimensions of the cabin roof was glued to the first form, as shown in the following photo.

 

                        

 

The roof camber was then shaped using a sanding drum on a Foredom flex shaft tool.

 

                        

 

                        

 

Each wall of the doghouse would be of two-piece construction, with the sides overlapping as in the following photo of the plans for the doghouse.

 

                        

 

The dotted lines on each wall indicate tabs that would be left on the interior piece of the wall to allow accurate mounting.

 

Since the openings in the two pieces of each wall need to be identical, the pieces were first glued together so that they could be shaped together.

 

                        

 

In the above photo, the four pieces for both side walls are all glued together so that the side walls would be identical.

 

The drawing of each wall was glued to the appropriate set of wall pieces.

 

                        

 

The walls were cut out on the scroll saw and final shaping was performed using the sanding drum and small files.

 

                        

 

The wall pieces were separated in an acetone bath.

 

                        

 

In the above photo it can be seen that marks were made on the bottom of the pieces prior to separation – this allows the pieces to be properly aligned.

 

The inner piece of each wall had a piece of transparency film glued to it to simulate window glass.  The outer piece of each wall was trimmed to remove the tab from the drawing.  The ends of each wall were trimmed where appropriate to allow the overlapped construction mentioned above, and each wall was then assembled.  The following photo shows a side wall and the aft wall shaped and assembled.

 

                        

 

The front and side walls were glued together in a magnetic squaring jig before the doghouse was glued to the cabin roof. 

 

            

 

The roof of the doghouse and the cabin roof were planked and shaped, and then were painted.  The following photos show the cabin roof and doghouse.

                        

 

 

The cabin interior needs to be completed, and doors need to be added to the aft wall of the cabin.  The following photo shows the current state of the model.

 

                        

 

Thanks everyone!  It’s good to be back and making some progress on Kathryn.

[Omega1234]

Hi Frank

 

Woohoo!!!!  Welcome back.  I hope you had a great vacation.  

 

Lovely work on the cabins and interior work.  I must admit that the magnetic squaring jig is a really nifty idea.  It all looks like everything’s coming together beautifully.

 

Cheers.

 

Patrick

Edited November 2, 2017 by Omega1234

[Mahuna]

Thanks Patrick.  It's good to be back and making wood dust again.

[popeye the sailor]

you definitely came back rested..........the cabin looks awesome!   the windows look perfect      minor problem on the hatch......it happens......but it still looks very good.  I would have been clueless if you didn't point it out.  she's look'in super Frank...glad your back!   

[Mahuna]

Thanks Popeye.  The hatch has been added to “lessons learned” - and that list is getting pretty long!

[GuntherMT]

Looking good Frank.  Glad you had a good trip, and good to see more progress on the Kathryn!

[Mahuna]

Thanks Brian.  Apart from the obvious error, I'm pleased with the progress.

[Mahuna]

Part 42 – Cabin Interior

 

After building the structure of the cabin and doghouse, the interior of the cabin still needed to be fitted out.

 

During the time of the HAER survey, Kathryn’s cabin contained a stove, electrical boxes, a fuse box, and other equipment in a fairly well-ordered arrangement, as seen in the following photos.

 

                        

 

                        

 

Today, however, the cabin interior appears to have been neglected, and is no longer used for overnight living arrangements.

 

                        

 

                        

 

                        

 

Since the model is being built to reflect Kathryn’s status as of the HAER survey, some fitting out of the cabin was needed.  The first item was the construction of the low benches, called settees, along the port, starboard, and aft walls of the cabin.  The construction approach for settees in the model was simplified.  The tops were cut and shaped to the proper dimensions, while the sides that would show consisted of thick pieces of wood that eliminate the need for framing.

 

                        

 

The settees were constructed prior to installation.

 

                        

 

The settees were painted while outside the model, and were then installed.

 

                        

 

The companionway (ladder) reaches the top of the aft settee.  Before the ladder could be installed, however, the aft wall of the cabin needed to be completed.  The framing of the door was installed, and a watertight sill at the threshold was also installed.

 

                        

 

Kathryn’s ladder has curved sides and is relatively short.  The first step in making the ladder was to mill two slots for the treads in a piece of stock.

 

                        

 

The drawing of the ladder sides was glued to the milled stock, making sure treads in the drawing were aligned with the milled slots.

 

                        

 

The ladder sides were then cut out and trimmed.

 

                        

 

                        

 

Assembling and gluing the ladder was straightforward.

 

                        

 

After painting, the ladder was installed.

 

                        

 

Two narrow columns, simulating the cabin’s cabinets, were faced using the cabin’s paneling and were installed.

 

                        

 

The construction of the cabin is now mostly completed.  The remaining cabin-related work is the installation of the cabin doors, which will be completed at a later step.

 

Thanks everyone.

[HIPEXEC]

Great progress while I was gone. Nice cozy cabin.

How'd the meeting go?

Rich

[Mahuna]

Thanks, Rich.  Welcome back!

 

We didn't have a meeting - I came down with a little bug.

[thibaultron]

A little bug, was it a 1/32nd scale bug?

[popeye the sailor]

wicked nice     mirrored the real thing very well!

[Mahuna]

Part 43 – Rudder

 

Kathryn has a stainless steel inboard rudder today, and this rudder was already in place during the time of the HAER survey.  The construction of the rudder and its hardware is different from what is normally seen with traditional rudders, as can be seen from the following HAER drawing.

 

                        

 

The rudder rests on a bracket attached to the bottom of the keel.  Just above that bracket there appears to be a fairly typical gudgeon, and at the top of the rudder there appears to be a bracket that is attached to the rudder post.  Aft of that bracket is an unusual configuration on the face of the rudder.  I’ve learned that this is actually a ‘sacrificial anode’, generally called a ‘zinc’. 

 

From Chemistry LibreTexts:

 

When metal surfaces come into contact with electrolytes, they undergo an electrochemical reaction known as corrosion.  Metal in seawater is one such example with the iron metal coming into contact with electrolytes. Under normal circumstances, the iron metal would react with the electrolytes and begin to corrode, growing weaker in structure and disintegrating. The addition of zinc, a sacrificial anode, would prevent the iron metal from "corroding".  According to the table of Standard Reduction Potentials, the standard reduction potential of zinc is about -0.76 volts. The standard reduction potential of iron is about -0.44 volts. This difference in reduction potential means that Zinc would oxidize much faster than iron would.  In fact, zinc would oxidize completely before iron would begin to react.  

 

Although the actual rudder is stainless steel, the rudder for the model is made from wood.

 

                        

 

The bottom bracket was made by cutting the shape from a flat piece of brass bar stock, and then finishing the shape using files.

 

                        

 

The bracket was then annealed to allow bending, and was bent around a piece of ¼” square brass bar.

 

                        

 

                        

 

A vertical post on the bracket fits into a matching piece at the bottom of the rudder.  A hole for this post was drilled using the Sensitive Drilling Attachment.

 

                        

 

The post (a 1/32” rod) was then soldered to the bracket.

 

                        

 

And a sleeve made from 3/64” tubing was then attached to the post using CA glue.  This sleeve serves as a ‘stop’ to keep the rudder from bottoming out on the bracket.

 

                        

 

The ‘zinc’ was made from brass and then was finished with Flemish Black to impart a silver color.  In actual practice the ‘zinc’ would not have been coated.

 

                        

 

                        

 

The gudgeon was fabricated from a 1/8 x .025 brass strip, and the pin was soldered into place.

 

                        

 

The finished rudder was installed.

 

                        

 

                        

 

The steering gear is housed in a wooden box aft of the cabin.

 

                        

 

A thick piece of stock was used for the ends of the steering box to allow a secure installation of the steering wheel.  Since the wheel is set at a slight angle, the top of the forward face was cut to that angle, and the hole for the steering wheel’s shaft was drilled perpendicular to that face using the Tilting Angle table on the mill.

 

                        

 

The sides and ends of the steering box were glued up using the magnetic squaring jig.

 

                        

 

The top of the steering box was made to fit.

 

                        

 

The top was then planked and the body of the box was painted.

 

                        

 

In the following photo the finished box was set in place but not permanently attached.  This will wait until the ship’s wheel has been fabricated to ensure that there is enough clearance for the cabin doors.

 

                        

 

Most, if not all, of the wood construction is now completed.  There is quite a bit of complicated (for me) metalwork ahead, and I will need to spend some time planning the next steps.

 

Thanks everyone for following, and for the ‘Likes’ and comments.

[Omega1234]

Hi frank

 

It's always a joy to look at your tutorials.  Your rudder tutorial, once again, is a study in good forethought, planning and precision.

 

Nice job!

 

Cheers  

 

Patrick

[cog]

Impressive work again.

There are two questions comming to mind though.

- Why did you solder with an iron instead of a torch?

- Why didn't you solder the sleeve, you were soldering anyway ...?

I think I know the answer of the last question, but am not certain

Edited November 16, 2017 by cog

[Mahuna]

6 hours ago, Omega1234 said:

Hi frank

 

It's always a joy to look at your tutorials.  Your rudder tutorial, once again, is a study in good forethought, planning and precision.

 

Nice job!

 

Cheers  

 

Patrick

Thanks Patrick.  The work is starting to get a little more complex, so I'll be going slowly.

[Mahuna]

2 hours ago, cog said:

Impressive work again.

There are two questions comming to mind though.

- Why did you solder with an iron instead of a torch?

- Why didn't you solder the sleeve, you were soldering anyway ...?

I think I know the answer of the last question, but am not certain

Thanks Carl.

 

The soldering device is actually a resistance soldering unit.  Works great for the size of components we deal with in modeling.  I decided to use CA to secure the sleeve since there wouldn't be any stress on it.

[cog]

29 minutes ago, Mahuna said:

I decided to use CA to secure the sleeve since there wouldn't be any stress on it.

That was not my thought, I gathered you had to correct the angle on the rod before you could attach the sleeve ...

 

A resistance soldering unit ... well now that is new to me

Looked it up, what I make of it, is it looks a lot like welding with solder ... interesting device

[Mahuna]

Part 44 – Turnbuckles

 

There hasn’t been too much progress on Kathryn lately.  Holidays, other activities, and some inertia have kept me from getting much modeling done.

 

There is a lot of planning and experimenting needed before moving on to the next stages.  One key item is turnbuckles.

 

Since the shrouds will be made from wire, some working turnbuckles need to be created to allow tensioning the shrouds.  The turnbuckle sizes require the use of jewelers taps and dies for threading.  Since these tools only come in right-hand thread, the end that would normally have a left-hand thread will have a swivel arrangement instead.

 

I started by making the turnbuckle body from 3/32" square brass bar stock.  After breaking some taps, drill bits, and a fairly expensive small end mill, I decided to make the turnbuckle body from wood.

 

The first turnbuckle I made is 3/8” long – 1 foot at 1:32.  A 3/32” square piece of castello 3/8” long was held in the lathe using a 4-jaw chuck.  The first operation was facing the end of the piece. 

 

                        

 

A small centering drill bit was then used to drill a pilot hole.

 

                        

 

A #69 drill bit was then drilled into the end of the wood.  This hole would later be threaded to take a 1/32” threaded brass rod.

 

                        

 

The end of the turnbuckle body was then rounded to a depth of .050”

 

                        

 

These operations were repeated at the other end of the turnbuckle body, with the final hole drilled with a #72 drill.  This would provide clearance for a smooth (unthreaded) piece of copper wire that will act as a swivel.  A small knob on the end of the wire will prevent the wire from pulling out of the turnbuckle.

 

The slot in the turnbuckle body was cut with a .045” cylindrical carbide cutter on the milling machine.  Prior to cutting this slot the milling vise was indicated to ensure that the slot was properly cut.  Any slight variation off center would be very noticeable at this scale.

 

                        

 

The end of the turnbuckle that was sized for the 1/32” brass bar was threaded.

 

                        

 

A piece of 1/32” round brass bar was also threaded.

 

                        

 

The following photo shows the finished turnbuckle body, still unpainted.

 

                        

 

The turnbuckle body was painted using a steel color ModelMaster acrylic paint.  The final turnbuckle appeared too thick when compared to photos of the real Kathryn, so the process was repeated using 5/64 wood stock.  The following photo shows the comparison of the two turnbuckles.

 

                        

 

These turnbuckles are ‘prototypes’ for the final turnbuckles, so I didn’t spend much time in the painting step.  Prototypes will also be developed for the various shackles, clevis ends for some of the turnbuckles, and other small items.  There is also quite a bit of planning required for the stages still remaining, so progress will be slow for a while yet.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

[druxey]

Miniature left hand taps and dies, although not inexpensive, are available, Frank.

[Mahuna]

50 minutes ago, druxey said:

Miniature left hand taps and dies, although not inexpensive, are available, Frank.

The smallest LH taps I've been able to find are 0-80, but at 3/64" I think that's too big for the turnbuckles.  The swivel seems to work OK if I can figure out a way to add a ring at the end after the rod has been inserted into the turnbuckle.  

Edited December 3, 2017 by Mahuna