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

[ESF]

A little bit of parallel build logging underway.  See Skiff by Legodude with ESF, introduced today.  I'll do my best to keep up with both.

[cog]

1 hour ago, ESF said:

A little bit of parallel build logging underway.  See Skiff by Legodude with ESF, introduced today.  I'll do my best to keep up with both.

that's what they all say ...

[ESF]

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

 

Carl, when I installed the first railing section I used the tweezernose pliers to push the stanchions down, which did a fine job of stripping the stanchion paint.  I changed to gentle finger pushing from the top.  So no paint loss on almost all the railings but a bunch of touchups needed on the first section.  And thanks for your kind comment.  The good news/bad news is I have the shipyard to myself while waiting for Legodude to finish the school year so we can have another weekend of skiff construction.

 

Steve

 

Lifeboat Assembly

Apart from installing the eyes for the davit hooks the lifeboats are all prepped and the assembly line is set up.  I have to make the most of the shipyard while Legodude’s skiff is on hiatus.

The footing installation was tricky since the inside of the boat is not flat.  I thought I could lay a few medium CA beads down the middle and squash the footing in place but it has just enough stiffness not to work.  And the footing is grooved with a tendency to split both longitudinally and transversely.  After a few false starts I settled on a thin bead of CA on the underside, right along the edge of the footing, and clamping the footing edge with clothespins, resulting in a good perimeter bond and a flat footing surface.

The footing has a molded in simulation of wood planks.

A test fit of the thwart.  The thwart (thwarts?) has (have?) a slightly different end profile relative to the boat but a few sandpaper swipes at each end takes the curse away.

The 1/8” cargo blocks are painted and ready for davit rigging.

[cog]

thwarts usually, when talking about a boat, since it has a "multitude". Nice solution on the floor board. 

 

You just scared that boy off with your big ship, so you could finish it!!!

[ESF]

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

 

Carl, thanks for clarifying.  Thwarts it is.  Legodude is anxious to get back to work but he also wants to finish the school year.

 

Steve

 

Lifeboat Assembly the saga

Back to the thwarts.  Here’s what happens with a moment of inattention while scuff sanding.  Fortunately CA came to the rescue.

After matching up all thwarts to boats and gentle(!) sanding where needed the assembly process was medium CA along the underside perimeter of the thwarts, allowing some carryover to the edges, set the thwarts in place, pinch the hull snug to the thwarts, install a rubber band near one end, apply binder clips at that end to push the thwarts onto the supporting strip, repeat at the other end, then fill the gaps with more binder clips.  Repeat 16 times.

The thwarts are now assembled.  The PE rudder/tillers are in the paint shop.  Two boats shown as motor launches have their respective cabins but they need portholes, doors and paint.

[cog]

Walk in the park! Cabins look a bit high to me ... as if the centre of gravity is coming way up, and will make the boat instable. Are those really that high?

[lmagna]

Sorry to say buy I tend to agree with Carl. They look a little outhouseish. I know it's not a word but I had a huge day fixing clogged 121 year old sewer line, and my brain just refuses to find a proper word. 

 

Now not only does my ankle hurt and is all swollen but I have blisters on the palms of my hands even after weeks of toughening them up with crutches! Happy Fathers Day. 

[mtaylor]

Happy Father's Day, Lou..... for that I gave you like.   Everything else is "meh"....  Plumbing is not fun.

[lmagna]

Thanks Mark

I didn't mind some of the plumbing part so much, but waiting for a shower until it was all fixed this afternoon was NOT fun. When EVERY toilet in the house has backed up and overflowed onto the floor, (With ALL downstream contents) and no water turned on until late in the day in order to prevent more of the same I am almost certain I would not have been allowed in too many public places. I scrubbed my body with soap until I ran out of hot water and threw all of my clothing in the washing machine as soon as I finished moping and scooping up the floors!  I need to buy some bleach tomorrow and clean it again!

Edited June 17, 2019 by lmagna

[ESF]

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

 

For the crapper contingent (I believe it was Thomas Crapper who invented the flush toilet), I am more than pleased to get rid of the outhouses.  In the photos I have of the sister hospital ships the cabin only shows up once looking longer and lower, and in a John J. Meany photo (the Vance in hospital mode) a blurry image implies there might be one but the blur also looks longer and lower.  Consider them gone - what a relief!  

 

Steve

[cog]

In all honesty, they looked like the old small children's trains with their short bodies and tall stacks and housing ... (yes I am that old)

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, ESF said:

(I believe it was Thomas Crapper who invented the flush toilet)

Nope, afraid not Steve.

The "Crapper" predates Thomas by a few hundred years or more depending on what you use as a starting point for the design. https://www.history.com/news/who-invented-the-flush-toilet The first patent predates him by over a hundred years. He was responsibel for improvements that made it less prone to clogging, and his company became noted for manufacturing them along with manholes, and of course his name will forever be associated with the design.

2 hours ago, cog said:

(yes I am that old)

Carl, you are just a young "Whippersnapper"! Now that I am turning 70 I somehow feel EVERYONE is a young whippersnapper! I didn't feel this old a few months ago.

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, cog said:

with their short bodies and tall stacks and housing

[cog]

If you have two, Steve could use them on the Zebulon B Vance

[ESF]

It sure would have been a simpler way to do the railings (and ladders, and portholes, and doors....)

 

Glad to hear that Thomas improved clogging problems.  I once had to prove to a contractor that his proposed substitute cheap toilet for a large housing renovation project was not the equal of the quality unit we spec'd.  Anyone care to confirm the standard test?

[cog]

clogging ... you could use these ...

 

not certain if these will solve the problem ...

[ESF]

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

 

Carl, you may be a shoe-in for the entertaining contributor award.

 

Steve

 

Windlass Wondering

The windlass instructions are limited to a simple isometric and a square drawn on a plan view showing the location.  The drums at the end of the main shaft were cast with shafts of their own, so the shafts were cut off and holes drilled to accept the main shaft.  The main shaft also needed trimming down and in the process I managed to snap one end off, necessitating drilling  into the main shaft gear to accept a piece of brass wire, which is waiting to be trimmed.  The kit makes mention of a brass rod across the top, around which the PE handles(?) are to be bent 90 degrees “to engage the main shaft”.  I used a piece of plastic rod but could use a thinner brass wire if the plastic is out of scale.  There is no mention of the flat plate with cutouts seen in front of the windlass, or what looks to be an electric box and conduits.  It is also curious the secondary shaft would be cast with the left hand drum spaced away from the thicker part of the shaft, unless that is where the curved nib on the cutout plate rests.

 

The windlass in the kit photos is painted glossy black which obscures most of the detail, but it appears that the main shaft faces forward, the anchor chains rise out of the hawse pipes, pass over the main shaft to the outsides of the main shaft gear wheels, pass under the secondary shaft and descend into the chain pipes.  Does that sound right?  What is the flat plate with cutouts for and where should it go?  Should the handles be attached to it or to somewhere else on the main shaft?  Sorry for so many questions but I’ve been looking online and in the blogs and haven’t seen a similar configuration.  More windlass pics are below.

The rudder-tillers are painted.  The PE also contains a bunch of propellers which don’t look like they belong on the lifeboats.

Below is a proposal for placing the rudder-tiller stored in each boat.  I also thought it might be placed on the footings but it seemed to be more accessible laying on the thwarts.  Opinions or firm direction are welcome.

[cog]

Awards!?!?!? a prize! (a pair of cloggs no doubt ...)

 

maybe this will help (slightly)

(curtesy of navy.memorieshop.com)

 

or have a look here

and maybe this will help

Edited June 19, 2019 by cog

[popeye the sailor]

the winch looks a little rough........    Carl has some good links there,  but take a browse in some of the ship sites....Billing's,  Model Expo,  or Ages of sail.

    they might have something that resembles the ones used......do you have any pictures of the winches to go by?

[ESF]

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

 

Carl, thanks for the photo and links.  Lots of good info on various configurations.

 

Denis, thanks for the suggestions.  I took your roughness observation to heart and worked the parts with a Dremel buffing wheel and a file which seems to have taken the curse out of the finish.  Flat black should help disguise defects too.  I have a few pictures from my Hospital Ships of World War II book that capture a view or two, and the kit unit has a general resemblance.

 

Steve

As mentioned above I took X-acto blade, files and Dremel buffing wheel to the windlass parts which seems to have helped their appearance.  Photos typically show the main shaft (large windlass wheels) toward the bow and since there needs to be something to pull the chain over the large drum it makes sense that the chain would pass under the secondary shaft before dropping into the chain pipe.  So I mocked up the installation, both off and on the ship.  Thankfully the windlass is not glued in crooked as in the last photo below.

The chain has a nice profile as compared to real chains but the length seems a bit skimpy after cutting it in half.  I would have thought the hawse pipes would be farther forward.

Sorry the last three pics are dark.  The ship is still moored in the dining room, waiting for the return call to install the boats and davits.  The hospital ships book shows the windlass farther forward than the laser layout line on the deck.  If I push it forward it should look better with more clearance forward of the breakwater.

 

I expect to paint the windlass and the centers of the hawse pipes and chain pipes flat black, the hawse pipe surrounds and chain pipe frames gray to match the deck, and rust color on the chain.  I’m thinking I should cut the last link of chain at each location and glue the remaining half link so it looks like the chain descends into the blackness.  Still haven’t figured out the PE handles and the junction box and conduit(?) locations.  The junction box doesn’t fit anywhere on the windlass except on the side between two drums which looks completely out of place.  I need to learn how the handles were used to better understand how they interact with the main and secondary shafts.

[cog]

You will probably glue the chain down to the deck. If so cut the last eye  at an angle in half and glue the half to the respective "openings". It will look somewhat ... natural ...

 

Your buffing turned out quite nice!

[popeye the sailor]

yes....that does look a whole lot better    what color do the pictures show the winch?  hate to see it in black.....it will lose some detail.  .....and even if it shows a little bit of roughness........well,  you should see some of the winches in other boats.     I tend to favor the off color greens and blues......I'm working on the Progress's winch at the moment.  usually Billing's sells them entirely made of metal,  but since then they have changes some of the parts over to wood.   it's a bit delicate to work on,  but I think I can pull off a nice one    the metal yours is made of is terrible.......you can get something nice,  or you can get one that came from the shredder {the lead stuff was the worst!} .

 

[ESF]

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

 

Carl, thanks.  Would that I could make myself buffed as easily.  When I cut the chain in half I had two nice half links and as I threw them away a little bird chirped “you’ll probably wish you kept that”.  So now two already short chains will be a little shorter.  I thought about drilling out the chain holes through the deck but when the ship sails I want as few openings as possible and I don’t have good access under that part of the deck to build a sealed box.  So half-eyed natural will be as good as it gets.

 

Denis, the Progress winch work is great but I see how delicate it is.  I think I’ll stick to the lumpy one I’ve started.  The windlass color in the black and white hospital ship pictures varies from dark to light.  Taking your advice I think I’ll try a Model Master flint gray on the windlass to add some life to the forward area.

 

Steve

 

Bouncing from windlass to rope

After looking at a lot of photos I believe I had the windlass orientation backward.  Several photos place the secondary shaft toward the bow, with the anchor chain draped over it, rather  than under it.  Above and below are the new orientation, which can easily be swapped back if the members think the first way is correct.

The kit photos of completed models show no man ropes (person ropes?  hand ropes?) between the davits but they are clearly in all the real ship shots.  The challenge is which way to display 64 of them; either hung down with knots every three feet, or stowed (with knots conveniently “hidden” amongst the coils) and ready to be dropped.  I have seen photos of both.  The stowed version looked like it could be a rope coil cinched in the middle with an eye at one end and a tail for pulling at the other.  Easy to make since I have experience in rope coils from the Bowdoin.  The knots are another matter, there being about 900 of them to cover the full scale length of rope from davit to waterline for all locations.  Since I was leaning toward the stowed look anyway I decided to make up a few to settle on a method for production.  The good news is they don’t have to be identical -  the real ones weren’t consistent in their stowed appearance, some taller, some shorter and fatter, even within one boat.

I tried one with a fatter rope but it looked out of scale.  These seemed to be better, particularly alongside the davit rigging (not shown).  The proportions between stowed length and lifeboat will be much better once the boats are up on the davits, but overall the stowed version looks workable and do-able.  Only 60 more to go.

[Rcboater Bill]

Steve, 

 

The kit supplied ground tackle is missing a few details, including one that may solve the hawsepipe issue....

 

On all the ships I’ve been aboard, there is a removeable metal cover that fits over the opening where the chain comes on deck. This serves two purposes- one to to keep people from accidentally stepping there when underway, and two to cut down on the water shooting out when the ship buries the bow in a large wave. Adding this detail would hide the fact that the chain isn’t going into the hawsepipe...

 

An item missing on many models is the chain stopper- it is a separate item that hold the weight of the anchor when it is hawsed.

 

I’ll try to post a couple of photos from Knight’s “Modern Seamanship” later tonight....

 

-Bill

[ESF]

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

 

Bill, thanks for offering guidance on the windlass.  I'll also search on chain stopper and hawsepipe cover and see what comes up.  Hopefully it's not just the rubber drain stopper and little chain we used to have on our bathroom sink!

 

Steve

[ESF]

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

 

Bill, I found some photos of hawse covers.  I made one (actually two but the first was a bust) from a spare PE door.  With a little sanding and paint it looks like it could conceal the end of the chain.

Okay, bad, indifferent, or better left off?

 

Thanks

 

Steve

[mtaylor]

Looks good from here though I think the opening shouldn't end in a "point"... more rounded maybe.   

[Kevin]

just found this image

[ESF]

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

 

Mark, I agree.  This is my first time working with a very small, very thin bit of sheet brass, and inside curves in tight quarters are a challenge as you can see in the first attempt in the background.  Hopefully I won't run out of spare PE doors before I get two good ones.

 

Kevin, thanks for the photo.  That's actually the one that inspired the pollywog above.

 

Steve

[ESF]

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

 

Here’s hawse cover attempt 3, photo-bombed by the disappointed first and second.  I realized that if I folded the PE in half the inside curve is easier to cut.  I also used a PE door with surface detail to add a little bling.  With some edge filing and painting this looks like it could work.

 

Steve