Brig Niagara by ronkamin - Model Shipways - 1/64

[ronkamin]

Mike

 

Thanks for the tip. I tried that the first attempt and it did not turn out well. I believe my copper wire was to stiff to wrap around the nails cleanly. I went back and annealed the wire and it worked a lot better. The only problem I ran into on the first couple of samples was I wanted put a touch of solder on the joints, but the solder would not adhere  to the wire once I annealed it. I believe annealing let a film on the wire that the flux would not clean off.

 

I am now sanding the wire before bending and then putting it in a bath of Sparex for a few minutes before soldering. That seams to solve the problem.

 

Now make the rest and blacken them.

 

 

Ron

[mikiek]

Solder is funny stuff. Make sure the 2 surfaces you are trying to solder are touching. It's damned near impossible to fill in a gap. Even a tiny one. Are you using an iron or a torch?

[ronkamin]

I have installed the starboard deadeyes and chain plates, forward and aft. This took some time and I do not feel the final results are acceptable. They ended up at different lengths and do not line up properly. I am contemplating removing the assemblies and starting over. Spending a little more time in alignment and spending more time on the rod length and shape.

If I am spending this much time in building the model I want to be sure it is the best, I can do. I will spend the afternoon making some new parts before I remove the old the parts and reassembly.

 

Here is how it looks currently .

 

 

Ron

[6ohiocav]

Ron,

 

If you do indeed remove the chain plates and redo them, you might want to check out post 211 and 212 of my log. I used a few tips I picked up from other build logs to make all of the iron work. Uniformity is a challenge and catches even the eye of the amateur.

 

For the long chains, while not shown in my log, I drove 2 small nails into a scrap board. I set the distance between the nails to the length of the iron and wrapped a stiff wire around them. I tried to solder the ends together where they joined and found that half of them failed. However, the wire I used was stiff enough that once I bent the ends together, there was actually no need to solder as long as they lined up.

 

From experience, if you have already decided you don't like the look of your work, you have to redo it.

 

Good luck and stay safe

[ronkamin]

Darrell

 

After I made my post yesterday I went back to your build log for inspiration. I tried your suggestion of using 24 gauge wire wrapped on a 1/4" dowel. I ran into a couple problems, The ring was a little bit too big, so I went to a 3/16" dowel, that seemed to be the right size for the dead eyes I have. The second problem was I broke the solder joint on most of the rings when I tried to form them. I broke 8 in a row before I got one to hold. I am using silver solder on the joint.

 

I plan on trying a few more options to find one that works better for me.

 

One question for you, the 24guage black wire you were using what hardness was it? Mine is medium, which may be my problem. I do have some bare copper wire I may anneal and give it a try. The issue then is how to blacken it once it is on the deadeye.

 

Thanks for your encouragement

 

Ron

[6ohiocav]

Ron,

That brings back memories of similar frustration. I would not worry much about non-union. I tried to place the joint at 5 o'clock on the deadeye so that if it failed, you wouldn't see it very well. I too had failures.  I tried to re-solder the joint while in the deadeye, but of course all I did was burn up the deadeye. In the end, I decided not to worry about the non unions. We are dealing with aesthetics rather than function. Even if the joint does not hold, I simply pinched them close enough to make it look like they were. Line up the unions so that they sit in the channels. When they are rigged with lanyards and placed in the channels, you can't even see the union, whether it is soldered on not. 

 

All I can say is that my black 24 gauge wire is stiff. I would stick with black. There is no way that I am aware of to effectively blacken wire while in a wooden deadeye without affecting the deadeye.

 

I hope this helps some.

 

Happy Easter

 

 

[ronkamin]

Well I went back and started making new parts for the deadeyes. This is a trying process. I took some hints from 6ohiocav (Darrell) on making the ring around the deadeyes. Started with a ring and then formed it around the deadeye.  I kept breaking the solder joint when I was forming the wire around the deadeyes. I tried the joint at the top of the deadeye and at the 7 o’clock position. I formed only one out of 7 or 8 without breaking the joint. I went back and looked at the break, it seemed clean so since the deadeye came out easily I went back and formed the wire so that the bend was smooth and the joint was close, I re-soldered it.  There was enough give in the wire that I was able to reinsert the deadeye. Problem solved, there were only a couple that I could not salvage. Below are picture of the broken parts and the final assembly. They still need to be touched up at the solder joint.

As for the lower mounting bracket, I followed 6ohiocav suggestion on his build.  Flatten the end of brass rod and drill a hole. Worked fairly well except for breaking drill bits.  Using my Dremel drill press helped a lot, better than trying to using a pin vise. The only difference was that I started out with a copper rod at .81 mm. I am blackening them as I type this.

Ron

[6ohiocav]

Ron,

 

Looking good! Very uniform. Once you mount them and rig the deadeyes with lanyards, it will be almost impossible to see any imperfections in the wires.

 

By the way, more expensive kits provide all of these parts pre-made. The MS kit forces us to develop skills that will come in handy for the future.

[mikiek]

If you think back 75 years ago and farther, modelers didn't have all the brass strips & sheets we have today. They took wire and beat the heck out it - just like you. That is a very good skill to have some knowledge of and experience with. I guarantee ya it won't be the last time you have to do that. As for the holes, using a center punch (or even a nail in this case) to start the depression for the hole really helps.

 

Stay with it.

[ronkamin]

Here is what the Deadeye and Chain plates look like before installation.

I then proceeded to install them on the starboard of the ship. I used cutoff dressmaker pins (straight pins) as the nails holding the lower plate. The pins are about 27mm long and I only needed them to be about 6mm. Once they were installed I use a dab of black paint on the head of the pins.

Here is what the starboard side looks like once completed.

I am happier with the outcome. Now to do the Port side. One point I found, when you cut of the head of the pin to make the nail, it makes the cut off end pretty jagged. I found I needed to file it down slightly to make insertion a lot easier.

 

Ron

[6ohiocav]

Looking good Ron.

 

 

[mikiek]

The rework was worth it.

 

One thing that can help with soldering is be sure the surfaces you are soldering are hot as well. A drop of hot solder on a relatively cold surface will not bond very well. That's why I started using a butane torch for soldering instead of an iron. It's easier and quicker to heat up your surfaces before you apply the solder. If you use a torch you can also switch to silver or even gold solder, which for me seems to work better. And as I mentioned earlier, be sure there is no gap between the 2 surfaces.

[patrickmil]

Hi Ron,

 

Looking through your build log brings back fond memories of putting my Niagara together. You've done a fantastic job so far. I'm anxious to see more!

[ronkamin]

Well I took a few weeks, no maybe a couple of months off for the summer. The weather was really great this year so instead of working on my ship I decided to work on my yard. Now that the summer is coming to an end so I decided to get back to the ship.

 

I stared by working on the foremast. I am doing the taper by using my drill and sanding it down to the proper dimensions. I did find one tip on the forums that helped a bit, I put a piece of plastic tubing on the dowel before inserting it in the drill chuck. This saved, almost eliminated the chuck of the drill marring up the end of the dowel.

 

Next I worked on adding the square and hex part of the mast. The upper square portion was fairly easy to do, but doing the hex portion was a bit of a challenge. Lining up the upper and lower portion was the part that I found difficult. I ended up making this part twice. The first attempt did not turn out as expected. The second attempt turned out better, not great but passible.

 The biggest problem was getting the mast wedges to slide on to the mast without leaving gaps. After some sanding, filing and adjusting it turned out acceptable. I started painting the mast and it covered up the irregularities in the lower hex portion.

 

Next I made the metal band that is installed half way up the mast. I used 3/16” brass for the band and then soldered a length of 1/16” tubing. I made the band first and soldered it with silver solder, then added the ring using a soft solder at a lower temp. I filed it smooth and its now ready for blackening.

 

Ron

 

[6ohiocav]

Ron,

 

Glad to see you back at it.  I worked on my yard as well until the summer drought cooked it. 

 

Good looking mast.

 

 

[ronkamin]

The Fore top mast was started. Not quite completed but am happy with the results so far. The octagon swell near the top was a challenge. I finally ended up by adding material to create the swell.

 

I installed the metal band on the fore mast, and started assembly of the trestle trees.

 

 

I also started assembly of the deadeyes and felt it would be easier to install them before the trestle tree was installed. I made the strops with 26 gauge black wire, wrapped around the deadeye and twisting the end. I ended up making the lower loop once in inserted.

I decided to make all the stays and install them before installing the top mast. There is a lot of serving on the stays so I decided to buy a serving jig. Syrens Serv-o-Matic came in today. Needs to be assembled before I start that task.

 

 

 

Ron

[6ohiocav]

Well done.

[ronkamin]

Finished up the assembly of the trestle tree, built up the blocks, then added it to trestle tree.

I then mounted the trestle tree to the mast.

The server was assembled and ready for use. I started with the shrouds. Using the serving jig, made this job really easy. The first (forward) shroud took a little more time, figuring out the lengths so that the burton pendent worked out correctly.

I next tackled the Fore and Preventer stays. I served the line down to where the raised mouse was positioned. This was my next challenge, how to create the raised mouse. I tried wrapping several layers of serving line, this did not turn out as expected. I then tried drilling out a small deadeye, and wrapping it with serving line, again it did not turn out well. I finally tried using a small bead on the line and it turned out a lot better. I put a couple of coats of flat black paint on the bead and it blended in to the line. I also made the course yard sling.

Next project is to install them and move on to the fore top mast.

 

Ron

[Srodbro]

Just a tip I found useful :

Several of those double blocks eventually have buntlines run thru them. I found it very useful to run a few temporary lengths of line thru those blocks now which can later be used to reeve the buntlines ... running them later, once your mast is mounted, the yard hung below, and shrouds and stays supporting the mast are in place, is a really tough access puzzle. 

[ronkamin]

Thanks for the tip. I found that I need a lot of time checking and double checking that I have installed all the parts while I have the parts on the bench. Drawings are on several sheets, requiring double checking.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Ron

[ronkamin]

I next installed the shrouds, fore and preventer stay and yard sling. I also installed the yard lift blocks before I installed the mast cap. This was a lot easier serving and seizing on the bench than trying to this on the mast.

 

I found seizing the shrouds on the serv-o-matic was easier than trying to it on a bench vise.  I used a piece of string to hook the shroud to one end of the jig, see pic. I plan on make a small hook that would fit into the brass tube of the serv-o-matic.

 

I then installed the fore topmast.

 

The next project was making up the topmast shrouds. Used the same procedure as the lower shrouds. I did come up with one question. I spent two days trying figure out what the Burton pendant thimble is connected to the middle drawing.  I went over the plan several times and could not find the answer. I even went through several books I have and none of them refer to Burton pendants. I plan on making the pendent and installing it and hopefully find its use as I continue the build.

 

Ron

[ronkamin]

I know installed the shrouds to the deadeyes.. I used a bent piece of wire (as shown in the instructions) to keep the shrouds and deadeyes at a proper length.

Once all the deadeyes were installed I began reeving the deadeyes trying to keep them all in line.

I then installed the shear poles and began installing the rat lines. To ensure I kept the ratlines evenly spaced I clipped to pieces of scrap wood. These pieces of wood had some fine sandpaper glued to one side to keep them from sliding on the shrouds.

Here is a better shot of the clamp. I used two pieces of 1/16 x ¼”  of scrap wood and glued some 220 sandpaper to one side. The sand paper helps to keep it from sliding on the shrouds.

I found this hint on the forum several years ago, I can’t remember who posted it.

 

Here are a couple of shots of my progress installing the ratlines.

Ron

[Keithbrad80]

Very nice work, it looks great!

Edited November 3, 2020 by Keithbrad80
Spelling

[ronkamin]

Before installing the foremast I decided to finish installing the jib boom, flying jib boom and the spirit sail yard. I installed the forestay and preventer ends.

 

I then made the flying jib boom iron from a piece of 1/64 x 1/16 brass. Needs to be cleaned up and the gap filed in.

This is what it looked like installed.

I moved on to installing the bobstays. The instructions said to make the bullseyes by drilling out a deadeye. After several attempts using my drill press, I either broke the deadeye or ended up drilling it off center. Going on-line and purchasing the parts seemed like a good idea. Expect to see the parts in a few days from Ages of Sail.

While waiting for the parts I began making the yards.

 

 

Ron

[ronkamin]

Finished up the fore main course yard. Used the supplied eyebolts on the yard, and modified small fish hooks to make the stirrup. I cut the hook end off a size 8 fine wire fish hook, the only issue was it would not blacken so I painted them.

The bullseyes came in so I started doing the rigging on the bowsprit. I found seizing the lines off ship if possible made the job a lot easier.

 

Here are a few shots of how far I got.

 

Ron

[ronkamin]

Just an update to the progress on the build. I have been having some medical problems over the last several weeks, keeping me from working on the model. I hope to be feeling better in the next several weeks so that I can get back to the project.

 

Ron

[6ohiocav]

Outstanding work Ron.

 

Hope you feel better soon.