Zebulon B Vance by ESF - FINISHED - Dean's Marine - 1:96 - PLASTIC - RADIO

[cog]

Well seamster(?) I found something else unfortunately ... I don't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, Steve. However, you have got far to many pipes running from fore to aft. Support pipes seem to be alright, as are the transversal ones. As far as I can distinguish only four pipes are running from front to back, both at the outsides, and at the sides of the centre structure. There is an additional horizontal transversal pipe just below the top for strength I presume at the fore.

By the way, it still does look good the way it is now, nobody will know if I delete my post

[ESF]

I'm not so sure Carl.  In the earlier post, in the post line behind the first row of exercising nurses there are five posts.  On the three interior posts there are support beams running fore and aft.  The perimeter post lines didn't have any fore/aft support beams because they were tied to the railings,  but I included them as a way to add stiffness to the tops of the perimeter posts.  At the aft edge post line in the photo there is a short transverse beam between the three interior posts as you noted.  Each of the three interior posts along the aft line actually has a diagonal brace running aft and downward from about the mid-point of the post, presumably to a deck plate.  Those three posts are in an area where there is no railing so it looks like the diagonals take the horizontal load.  I dispensed with all that and added a transverse top beam along the aft line, with sockets in the deck.  It's all not entirely correct, so don't delete the post.  I'll even give you a freebie since all my blah-blah-blahing probably left you exhausted.  The aft most ship's ladder from the main to boat deck is supposed to be in the middle but the lower end would land  on the removable plate that provides access to the rudder linkage arm.  The instructions say to build the ladder as a freestanding piece, which would be prone to future easy damage, so I chose to shift the ladder to starboard to clear the access plate.  Of course then I managed to create a conflict between a roller chock and the ladder which I didn't discover until installing the chock....  I guess artistic license is cheerfully at work here but hopefully the ship creates a reasonably good impression 🤪.  I truly appreciate your ongoing interest, support, kibitzing and joy of all things shipbuilding.  It's making this journey most enjoyable and has challenged me to do better.

 

Steve 

[mtaylor]

Indeed it's about the journey.    BTW, I was doing some reading (a lot lately) about Civil War battles and earlier ones (Revolutionary, French-British) and stumbled across the fact the Zebulon B. Vance was a Confederate officer in the Civil War.   Just a bit of trivia I thought I'd pass along.

[lmagna]

8 hours ago, ESF said:

I’m fully committed to a maiden, and probably only, voyage and if it sinks, it sinks.  What is it they say, It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey

You are FAR more philosophical than I am Steve. It was ALWAYS my desire that my models floated red side down. In all my years in RC I only broke that rule twice. Once when I was rammed by a careless skipper running a boat three times the size of mine, and the other time when I tried to bring a six foot tanker I was towing at a good clip around with my 18" tug and my tow line snagged off to the side and over I went. I think the tanker weighed something like 200 pounds and did not take kindly to either slowing down or to turning! I recovered the models in both cases but I can say that it is not only the model that experiences the "Sinking feeling"!

 

I think the only reason you made the Teddy was so that you could put it in the passenger seat and drive in the commute lane! (I am also pretty certain that your daughter commandeered it and would NEVER return it to you!)

[cog]

It is a joy to follow your builds, Steve, and at times send you in the wrong direction to test your sharpness (just pulling your leg). I'll have to go back to the picture, yet again. Soon it will be engraved in my "brain". Do you know yet , how many of those lovely sisters you have to make including jumpsuits?

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Mark, thanks for the trivia.

 

Lou, no commute lanes in our area.  The teddy was almost 30 years old when he made his one-way trip to the new home of one of our children and I thought he deserved more than being dumped in the trunk.  Sorry about the sinkings.

 

Carl, the teddy and dolly were my only stitching adventures, created many years ago.  

 

Thanks again.

 

Steve

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Steve

 

The seamster

The awning lashing is thin rope with beeswax, and a level of care to prevent pull through of the three-layer silkspan.

The outside perimeter lashing is finished so it was time for half-beauty shots.

The awning was temporarily propped in place but no attempt was made to insert the posts into the sockets or lash the perimeter posts.

The lashing is reasonably spaced and tensioned.

I tried for a shot to replicate the photo of the exercising nurses, but without the nurses.  Next step is the interior lashing.  Then the awning will be put aside until the port railing is ready to install.

[cog]

When will you try the shot with the nurses?

 

Looks you have got it nailed, the stiching looks very good, can see you have done that before

[popeye the sailor]

you weren't thinking of having figures on board,  were you?  it would be a nice touch,  but to find nurses in the proper attire would be daunting to say the least.   you did a great job there  

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Carl and Denis, thank you for your kind remarks.  The nurses jumped ship to visit the model progress and are enjoying their exercise in the shade, thanks to my daughter the web designer.

 

Steve

[popeye the sailor]

tell her it looks really neat!  jumping jacks?     

[cog]

Dennis, more like jumping jackies.

 

Steve tell your daughter well done, that's not an easy feat, especially with the railings

Edited July 21, 2019 by cog

[FriedClams]

On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 8:30 PM, ESF said:

I guess artistic license is cheerfully at work here but hopefully the ship creates a reasonably good impression 

I think it creates a great impression Steve.  Artistic license is a must when modeling something 96 times smaller than the original and I think your awning framework rearrangement was a good call.  It has the right look and feel.  Your ship is coming along very nicely indeed.

 

Gary 

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Dennis, thanks for your kind feedback.  I think it was either toe touches or side twists.

 

Carl, my daughter thanks you.  I like jumping jackies.  My other claim to stichery fame is below.

 

Gary, I appreciate your kind remarks and thanks for stopping in.  I just ordered new small blocks for the signal flag halyards since the kit blocks were huge and felt wrong, especially after I installed a few.

 

Steve

 

Ca. 1986, scratch built for my daughter from a pattern.  She has a pair of bunny slippers too but they keep sliding off.  Probably need some CA but I can't bring myself to do it.  The yarn rigging was given a surreptitious trim during younger years, much to my chagrin.

 

Back to ships next post.

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Steve

 

Smaller than a BB.

I pulled the upper decks to experiment with ballast using the 25 pound bag of shotgun pellets that arrived recently.  They’re smaller than a BB.  Following one suggestion I put a flood coat of glue in a few spots fore and aft, broadcast some pellets, then brushed them around, adding a bit more glue for coverage.  I’m anxiously awaiting drying.

I picked up a pack of 4 ounce plastic jars with screw caps, then added a strip of velcro to the bottom and filled each one with pellets.

By pure luck I can fit five jars in the open space on the battery deck.  There is space for two more ahead of the battery deck.  Fully loaded with ballast and two batteries the ship feels heavy and reasonably balanced and I’m getting pumped to have a test sail.  Removable jars means less weight carrying to and from the water.  I still have a good load of pellets and I’ll bring some plastic bags to use if I need to add weight. 

I have also started mast work.  I prepped for the flag halyard but the kit blocks are quite out of scale.

I decided I had too much work in the ship to let oversize blocks muck it up, so I ordered the smallest blocks (3/32 inch) I could get from Bluejacket.  They should be here in a few days.  I have to snip the big blocks off but fortunately I didn’t install the other eight before seeing the light.

 The awning stiching is finished and the frame awaits completion of the railings before final placement.

A progress shot from the stern.

[cog]

Steve,

Nice progress, have you taken into account that sometimes you need to have a bit more weight on one side than on the other, due to the hull's "deformation"/not being equal on each side. Probably wise to number your jars according to their position. You can fill some up completely, and others you can partially fill to get the proper trim

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Carl, thanks for your kind feedback and suggestions.  I had a few jars marked Port but numbering them for exact position is a much better idea.  I'm hoping the combination of screw top jars and tiny pellets will give me enough flexibility for balancing.

 

Steve

[ESF]

Popeye, I apologize for incorrectly spelling your name with a double "n" in my earlier posts.

 

Steve

[popeye the sailor]

no need to apologize Steve.........originally,  my name was spelt that way......long story why I changed it { kinda cute and humorous considering the age I was when I did it  }.   you could also spell it in the French Manner and get a laugh.......Denise ....pronounced >Denie'<  

 

again....you did a great job on the awning........even the joints of the framework have the appearance    have you considered trying seal-able plastic bags?  using the jars,  you'd be limited to large open areas to put them in.  with bags,  you can put them anywhere and they would conform to the shape of the cavity......you can go further towards the bow...and back towards the stern.  I don't think listing would be too much of a concern either,  since the bags would lay in place and not shift.  even if you still decide on using the jars,  consider using bags to fill in where the jars do not  

[ESF]

Denis,

Thanks for the compliment.  Yes, the plan is a combination of  jars and plastic bags.  I have an ample supply of sealable lunch baggies since I bring a sandwich to work almost every day, but I'm thinking of looking for something a bit stronger since the lead pellets in any quantity are heavy.

 

Steve

[Jack12477]

Steve, try the heavy duty Ziploc freezer bags, sandwich size. Might be strong enough.

 

[cog]

3 hours ago, popeye the sailor said:

 you could also spell it in the French Manner and get a laugh.......Denise ....pronounced >Denie'<

Strange French pronunciation ... I would expect "Denise" or /dəˈniːz/

[lmagna]

13 hours ago, ESF said:

the plan is a combination of  jars and plastic bags.

Hi Steve. Great progress, and I especially like the work on the awning workout area Oh how I wish There was way to get the right kind of figures from Preiser or Walther to recreate the workout. But the only figures I could find in adequate quantities of females not wearing dresses is a pack of nude women that you would have create the coveralls.

 

For your ballast Might I suggest only using plastic bags of any kind ONLY for your initial ballast and trim testing. Then with your sewing skills make cloth pouches to hold the beads. Eventually any kind of Zip-Lock bag that you may use will come open when you don't want it to, either by ripping or by the seal failing. In addition moisture collects inside and if you are using steel pellets they will rust over time. Sown cloth of almost any kind is not only stronger but breaths so it can dry out between voyages.

 

Just a suggestion,  you are doing great. I wish my first scratch build had been as nice.

 

By the way I am keeping your posts hidden from my wife. If she saw the dolls you make, she would either tell me I should do the same for her if I really loved her, or would want to marry you! We have a fairly large house that is pretty much filled with dolls in every room! I don't even want to hint at what some like the wax over porcelain or carved wooden dolls have cost! But I have never tried to make her one. 

Edited July 26, 2019 by lmagna

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Denis, Jack and Lou, thanks for your compliments and suggestions to use bags of ballast for final balancing.  I found some small muslin bags in the local craft store that are intended for wedding mementoes but the 3 inch x 4 inch size looked perfect for small loads of lead pellets.

 

Steve

 

Lights out.

Mast work was held up while waiting for the new blocks so I started fabricating the port side railings.

The port side ship’s ladders are in place.

The order of small blocks (3/32 inch) arrived promptly so work could resume on the masts.

I decided to use thin multi-strand brass wire for mast shrouds, so I cut some swaging from a piece of 1/16” aluminum tube, with a piece of brass rod slipped into it for tube stability when filing.

The mainmast is installed.  It was late at night and I forgot to glue on the ladders before stepping the mast so they will be fiddled on later.  The shrouds and rigging are representational, but more than shown in the instructions since they bore minimal resemblance to anything seen in the few photos of the ship. 

A progress shot of the recent work.

While twisting my ancient articulated Luxo lamp for photos the head came off in my hand.  The small casting holding the head mounting shaft finally fractured after 50 years.  The weight of the dust probably didn't help.  A near disaster if it had been over the ship.  Then I recalled seeing another identical fixture laying on a shelf in the garage.  I used a bunch of these in my architectural practice.  After cleaning a layer of grunge I luckily found out it still works.

[lmagna]

I think you will like the cloth bags MUCH better than Ziplock anything after you get the proper weight sorted out. You didn't even have to sew them yourself, (Even though I would once it is all measured out and no longer needs to be changed). Just stack them in the hull like sandbags or a cargo of grain and they will probably not go anywhere even in rough weather.

 

Good save on the lamp. Having spares is always nice. With a little work and time I suspect that you could repair the lamp you have been using as well and then you could have two. People around here keep saying that you can not have enough clamps. I would say at my age you can not have enough light! I would say something about the dust on the lamp but then I would have to prove that my lamp is not just as dusty! Can't do that so I will shut up! 

 

[Kevin]

have loved watching your progress on this build, yet another log i follow coming to an end

 

love the photo edit with the nurses

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Lou, I’m fortunate to have three lamps, two good and the injured one.  I needed multiple lamps during my drafting days because the table is 3 ft x 5 ft and I always had a plan table nearby.

 

Kevin, thanks for staying with me and for your kind remarks.  The exercising nurses are very popular and I'm mulling over whether to try to find some at 1:96 scale.

 

Steve

 

Masts and rafts

I built up the foremast.  The instructions show a sort of clunky plastic support for the signal halyard crossbar but I tried to make it cleaner with a pin through the bar and a bit of brass wrapped around the mast and extending under the bar.  After I installed the ladder and after seeing the photo I discovered the ladder was photo etched with two treads missing.  Fortunately I have some spare railing and grabbed the miniscule replacements.

The foremast and signal halyards are installed.  I'll clamp the hooks a bit tighter now that everything is tensioned.  While checking measurements and photos I discovered the shrouds appear to pass through the mast, rather than being wrapped and swaged, so I pulled the mainmast shrouds and re-did them to match the foremast.

With the masts and rigging installed I set the carley float rafts.  The one in the foreground that will sit above the awning is still loose.  The top deck railing has turned the aft corner and is almost finished.

Overview of the top deck

The forward rigging at deck level.  The real ship has a forestay but that would conflict with the removable upper decks.

I added the rope reels to the bow and stern.

Edited August 1, 2019 by ESF
add note a about ladder missing treads

[lmagna]

11 hours ago, ESF said:

The exercising nurses are very popular and I'm mulling over whether to try to find some at 1:96 scale.

I think I found a number the other day at 1:100. One set was possibly Preiser or Walther and was 100 mixed pieces. I think it was under $4 on ebay. Yoiu could get a few packages of these and should be able to make up enough women clothed in pants to get the job done. It has the added possibility that you could also find some crew figures as well. I think I also found some nude female figures that you would have to dress but at least they would not be wearing dresses that are almost impossible to alter at that scale.

 

Great work and steady progress. Can't wait until launch day. Have you found a little bottle of champagne yet? Well at least a good can of beer. 

[popeye the sailor]

....or just a thick coat of paint.....on one would know the difference     she's look'in sweet Steve........the railings  are very well done!  are you gonna add life boats on the port side?

[ESF]

To those who gave likes, thank you and thanks for stopping by.

 

Lou, thanks for the little ladies lead and for your kind remarks.  The admiral says nothing less than a full bottle of bubbly will be acceptable on launch day.

 

Denis, thanks for your ongoing interest and feedback.  I have had plenty of railing practice on this one, and I'm really looking forward to it being over.  The port side lifeboats and davits are ready and chomping at the bit to be installed but I need the railings first or the boats and davits get in the way.  The marshaling area (acrylic serving dish) below also includes some surplus cowl vents.