Bluenose by CPDDET - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64 - First ship build

[Retired guy]

Just catching up with your WIP Dave wow, well done on the brake beam and pumps 100% better than the supplied pieces and I know how small these are 

 

Regards

Richard 

[CPDDET]

That's a real compliment coming from someone with your skills. Thanks!

[Overworked724]

Awesome work, Dave!  

[CPDDET]

2 minutes ago, Overworked724 said:

Awesome work, Dave!  

Thanks, Pat!

[Toolman]

Absolutely beautiful.  I have this kit on the shelf.  I'm in awe of your craftsmanship.  

[CPDDET]

Thank you for the compliment, Toolman. Now that camping season is about over and the RV has been put away for the winter, I can finally get back to the shipyard. Except for Sunday football, of course.

[CPDDET]

Finally finished the forward boom buffer.

 

I decided to simplify this build a bit using three pieces of 3/32 brass tubing, 1.5 mm bolt, nut and washers.

 

After flattening one side of a washed and grooving one side of the center piece of tubing with a triangle file, I soldered the washer to the tubing. The other washers acted as spacers and the wire as the “legs”. This was all held together by 1.5 mm brass bolt which fit nicely through the pieces of brass tubing.

 

 

This was all held together with the brass bolt and a brass nut threaded on the end and finished with Casey Black. Not extremely detailed but I’m happy with it as it looks much better than the white metal piece that came with the kit.

 

 

The “cover” for the boom buffer came from 3 laser cut pieces in the kit. I glued these together using Titebond Quick and Thick white glue. Once dry I hand painted the piece.

 

 

All that was left to do was to drill 2 holes in the deck for the boom buffer “legs”, mount the piece and then add the “cover”.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I have to install the cleats / chocks and the deck will be complete. Looks like the white metal ones that came with the kit will be usable, just need to be filed a bit, cleaned up and painted. Then its on to the chain plates.

[Ron B]

Really nice clean lines and finishes...lots of patience, and inventiveness at work.....good on you, Dave.

[CPDDET]

In order to make the chainplates I needed to form a tight loop on the top end, drill two 1/32 holes in each one and cut them to the proper length.

Since I had to make 16 of the larger chainplates and 4 of the smaller ones, I decided to make a simple jig that would make the job of forming a small, tight loop easier.

I decided to bend each chainplate around a piece of 1/32 inch, round brass stock. So I cut a 1/32 slot into a 1/8^th piece of basswood and then cut that piece in half and set those 2 pieces apart, the same distance as the width of the chainplate material which came with the kit. These 2 pieces were glued to a scrap piece of cherrywood.

 

 

I then glued a thin piece of wood over the top of the 1/32 round stock. This allowed me to slide a piece of the flat brass stock under the 1/32 round stock and bend it up and over the round stock. Keeping the bend to a bit less than 180 degrees, I could then slide the brass piece out the top.

 

 

Using a scrap piece of 1/32 round brass stock and smooth jaw duck bill pliers, I completed the bend.

 

 

 

In order to get uniformity in the location of the mounting holes in the chainplates and the proper length of them all, I took a page from Suburban Ship Modeler and built another jig. After some careful measuring of where the holes should be and the proper length, I drew vertical lines to make sure the chainplates would be mounted straight. Then drew 4 horizontal lines, 1 for the top of the loop, 2 for the hole locations and one for the length. Then glued a thin piece of basswood along the top line. I added 2 strips of double stick tape to hold the chainplates in place.

 

 

Then mounted the chainplates to the jig

 

 

 

After squaring the jig in the mill, I used the X-Y table to make adjustments as I drilled all the 1/32^nd inch holes.

 

 

 

I then used a cutoff wheel in a rotary tool to trim each chainplate to the proper length.

 

 

After a cleanup, I blackened the chainplates

 

 

While the double stick tape worked in this process, it didn’t really hold the chainplates rock solid, still allowing very slight movement. This wasn’t going to work for the 4 thinner / shorter chainplates which required smaller, 1/64^th holes. So, after sanding off the guide lines used for the larger chainplates and drawing new ones for the smaller chainplates, I tacked them in place with gel CA before drilling them. Then used acetone to loosen and clean them before blackening. The CA held them rock solid.

 

Now its on to building the deadeyes.

[Nirvana]

That's a nice way to do them.

And they look great. Should had thought about that jig idea before I made mine.

[Overworked724]

Great way to plan those plates, Dave!

[Ron B]

Dave,

 

As usual you're a fount of knowledge

 

Ron

[CPDDET]

I didn’t care for the deadeyes that came with my kit so I ordered some from Syren. These are laser cut boxwood and come in 3 layers that must be glued together. The inner layer is slightly smaller than the outer two, forming a groove for the strop rings.

The instructions said to use CA to glue them together. But since this was my first time assembling deadeyes, I decided to use wood glue which would give me a bit more time to be sure of proper alignment.

 

Fairly straight forward process, I used straight pins to help keep the layers aligned properly.

 

 

Then some simple clamps to hold the layers together until the glue dried.

 

 

I reamed the holes out to remove any glue blocking them

 

 

Then gave them a turn in the tumbler.

 

 

Now I must figure out how to build the strop rings that fit around the deadeyes and attach them to the chainplates.

[Overworked724]

Those kit dead eyes look great!

[bhermann]

FWIW, I described how I did the deadeyes for Bluenose in my log, entry 26.  Here is a link if you are interested:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/217-bluenose-by-bhermann-model-shipways-2130-164/?do=findComment&comment=10527

 

I don't claim to be at as high a level as you are, it may serve as something to get you thinking about one way to do it.  I love those Syren deadeyes, much nicer than the kit supplied version.

 

Bob

 

[CPDDET]

Thanks Bob, I'll check it out!

[CPDDET]

Things slowed over the past 3 weeks. Was down with a sinus infection for a 10 days, then came holiday decorating and finally the family Christmas celebrations. But eventually I got back to the build.

 

After measuring the proper length of the strop needed to get around the deadeye, I grooved a scrap piece of wood on the Byrnes saw to hold the individual strops. To keep things as accurate as possible I cross grooved the scrap piece wood and glued in a piece of wire to butt the individual strops against. I rough cut the strops laid them in the jig and glued them in place with CA. Then added a thin piece of wood on top so the strops were sandwiched between the two pieces if wood. Then trimmed the exposed end of the strops.

 

 

After soaking the jig with acetone, I removed the strops and cleaned them up in an acetone bath and a soft sponge sanding block. Using a pin driver, I flattened the ends of each strop and drilled holes to accommodate the bolts I will be using.

 

 

 

 

Threw together a jig using a dowel rod of the same diameter as the deadeyes. The horizontal piece of wood butted up against the dowel was used to simulate the width of the chainplates. Using a very thinly pointed pair of tweezers inserted in the end holes, I was able to shape the strops around the dowel.

 

 

Then got them cleaned and blackened.

 

 

Still must blacken the bolts and nuts and then begin the assembly process.

Edited December 31, 2021 by CPDDET
change

[CPDDET]

I should add that I used 20 gauge solid copper wire for the strops. I found copper much easier to work with than brass wire; softer, easily shaped and less "springy" that brass. From what I can find out, there should be no reaction between the 2 metals (brass & copper) being in contact with each other.

[CPDDET]

In order to assemble the chainplates, deadeyes and deadeye strops I needed a way to hold everything in alignment. So time to build a jig.

Using one of the deadeyes as a template, I marked the 3 holes and drilled through the wood base. Since these holes needed to be as straight as possible, I did them on the mill rather than free hand (a drill press would work nicely as well). Then ran 3 straight pins through the wood base from the bottom with a touch of CA and clipped off the excess length of the straight pins. This allowed me to drop each deadeye over the pins and hold it in place.

 

To help keep the deadeye, strop and chainplate in alignment, I added a piece of scrap wood and sanded it down to ½ the thickness of the deadeye.

 

After placing a deadeye on the pins, I added the strop and laid in one of the chainplates

 

Used a straight pin to further align the pieces

 

Then used a pushpin through one of the predrilled holes in the chainplate to help hold that steady.

 

Then it was just a matter of removing the straight pin and replacing it with a .8mm bolt

 

Threaded on the nut and trimmed off the end of the bolt

 

One down and 19 to go!

[Overworked724]

Beautiful work, Dave. I love the detail!  Those strops are awesome. 👍🏽

Edited January 5, 2022 by Overworked724

[CPDDET]

Thanks Pat, slow going but forging ahead. 

[Overworked724]

How’s your sinus infection?  I hear champagne toasts during the New Year cure most infections! 🍾

[CPDDET]

I find a good bourbon worked wonders. 🤪

[Ron B]

Glad to see you're recovered....sinus infections can be nasty

[CPDDET]

Took forever but all the chainplates are finished and ready to install. Now just have to work up the courage to mark the locations and start drilling the holes for them.

 

 

 

[CPDDET]

Installed the starboard side chainplates today.

 

I used the 3 tools pictured here: a 1/32 drill bit mounted in a pin vice, a #11 knife and a 1/32 PCB drill bit. I received a set of the PCB drill bits for Christmas but haven't used them much as they seem to screw themselves into material rather than drilling a hole and clearing the shavings as a regular drill bit does. If you look closely your can see the difference between the bit in the pin vice and the PCB bit. While I'm not familiar with the correct names of drill bit parts, the PCB bit is more like a screw. But I found it works rather well when used as a file in this application to elongate the drilled holes.

 

 

I started out by drilling 1/32 holes for each of the 5 chainplates and then used the PCB bit and #11 blade to elongate them.

 

 

Wanting a strong bond to the hull, I sanded off a section of paint so that the chainplates would adhere directly to the wood  instead of the paint.

 

 

I used CA to attach the chainplates to the hull and added some small nails to simulate bolts. These small nail heads probable won't be very visible once painted but I thought they were a nice detail, even if only I know that they are there. This is the forward starboard side.

 

 

This is the aft starboard side where I had to be a bit more precise with my drilling. The slot for the chainplate needed to go through the monkey rail, stay on the outboard side of the the monkey board and then through the main rail.

 

 

Once I finish up the port side I will re-paint the hull.

[CPDDET]

Repainting the hull went pretty smoothly. I used larger pieces of tracing paper and blue painters tape for masking.

 

 

Then used my airbrush to repaint. I decided not to extend the yellow stripe over the chainplates as I wanted this detail to stand out a bit.

 

 

Did a little brush work on the chainplates to finish them up, so that part of the build is now finished.

 

I had planned on moving to the bow sprit next but decided that now was the time to get the ship mounted to a base. I already had a nice walnut base and brass standoffs but, do to ANOTHER beginners error, I neve prepped the keel / hull for mounting nuts / screws. So I've decided to build some type of cradle for the model. Going to have to get creative here as I need to secure the ship upside down to work on this step. Ill keep you all posted as that progresses.

[CPDDET]

The first challenge was to figure out how to flip the ship over so I could design the cradle. Luckily I had a piece of balsa wood that was spongy enough to friction fit in the mast mounts. Then just mounted the ship upside down in the keel vice. Since I made the error of not prepping the keel/hull for mounting bolts I decided to use dowels to strengthen the cradle assembly.

 

Using a profile gauge, I managed to copy the hull in two places and make cradles out of basswood.

 

 

Then test fit the cradles on the hull.

 

Using double stick tape, I mounted the basswood cradles on the walnut base and double checked the fit.

 

 

Picked up a piece of walnut and used the basswood pieces as a pattern to mark the walnut and cut them on the scroll saw.

 

Then drilled holes in both the base and cradle pieces

 

I glued wood dowels into the base and glued the cradle pieces to these

 

Then drilled holes in the base of the cradle pieces to accept dowels that I glued into the keel

 

 

Then put 3 coats of wipe on poly on the finished piece.

 

Now it’s on to the bow sprit.

[bhermann]

What a great save!  I may have to do something similar with mine as I didn't consider how to mount the model when starting the build.  I have been leaning toward a cradle in my mind and your solution looks simple yet elegant.

 

Bob

[CPDDET]

If you go the route of the cradles as I did, let me know. Using the contour gauge for this purpose is a bit tricky. I'll pass along some tips.