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

[CPDDET]

Thanks Fright, not as good as I would like but I'm learning.

[DBorgens]

Beautiful work! You are putting a lot of craftsmanship into your build.

 

Dave B

[CPDDET]

Thanks Dave. Doing my best but lots still to learn.

[Nirvana]

Dave, 

Your deck furniture is looking so much better than mine, I might reconsider my idea of creating them.

[CPDDET]

That's quite the compliment, considering I'm new at this and this is my first build. Thanks for your kind words.

 

The skylight is going to be a real challenge for me. Trying to keep everything is scale at 1/64th to an inch isnt easy. Especially since I'm only using hand tools.

[Nirvana]

Oh, stupid question, how did you work out the curvature between main cabin and deck?

[CPDDET]

No such thing as a stupid question. 

 

While my solution isn't the best, I placed a sheet of sandpaper on the deck and worked the housing fore and aft on it until it conformed to the shape of the deck 

 

Perhaps not the best solution as it caused the base of the housing to be a bit thinner at the center point. But at this scale I found it to be acceptable.

 

Much easier than trying to shape the base of the cabin to the very slight arch of the deck.

 

If you noticed, I didn't arch the roof of the cabin either. Just to slight of a shape to bother with in my opinion.

 

But if you're looking for absolute perfection. Then the base should be cut to fit the curviture of the deck. And the roof of the cabin arched as well.

 

Hope this answers your question.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2020 by CPDDET
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[Nirvana]

Dave, thanks that's what I did with my solid piece.

[CPDDET]

I agree that using solid blocks is the most expeditious way to build these housings. And with the right trim they look great. My instructions even show solid block options.

 

The only reason I decided to build mine was to teach myself methods for a future scratch build, if I ever finish this one. 😄

[Nirvana]

Dave, I have faith in you. You will finish your Bluenose before me. I also have ideas of scratch building. 

[mtdoramike]

Well if this is your first build, I'm going to love to see your last build. Gorgeous.

[CPDDET]

Thanks for the votes of confidence!

[CPDDET]

Working on the skylight. Here is the top and end views from the build plans.

 

 

I began by building the base, making it as square as possible

 

 

I then hand drilled holes in the frame and inserted copper wire

 

 

There are a few issues with this method. The “bars” look oversized, the bars are crooked, the frames need to extend slightly beyond the fore and aft end pieces and slightly past the bottom edge of the long side. Another problem was that the dimensions of the fore and aft end pieces was wrong. I had cut it too narrow. Obviously this isn’t going to work.

 

My next attempt was to use a solid block between the fore and aft end pieces.

 

 

This was another fail as the bottom edge was too wide after being trimmed.

 

Here is my 3^rd attempt. The base is the correct size and the frames fit nicely (not shown) the pieces have been mounted on temporary stands for painting. The problem with this attempt is the frames are so thin, 1/32 inch, there isn’t enough surface at the butt joints for a good gluing and when I attempted to lightly sand these they came apart. I’m also not happy with the frames as the edges and joints look sloppy.

 

 

But I am satisfied with the base so it’s now trying to do my best effort for the windows. I decide to go a bit thicker on the frames at 1/16^th inch thick. This would scale out at about 4 inches. I pulled out the Dremel drill press and drilled 1/64^th holes. Then inserted 5 pins. I’m pretty happy with this. The bars do a good job of resembling the bars on Bluenose II and since I’m build somewhat of a hybrid of the 2 ships that’s fine with me. The pins are straight, about at the right scale and evenly spaced. The plans show about 12 bars, but at this scale I doubt I could accomplish that. I may try stretching rigging line and see how that looks but 12 strands across that small width might be a bit to “busy”.

 

 

Have a ways to go. Still have to build another set of these, the side pieces and decide if I want to attempt cutting lap joints for a stronger bond. Also try using rigging line if I can get a strong enough joint to take a bit of pressure. The work continues.

[vaddoc]

How about using very thin copper wire, wearing gloves pass it over 600 or 1200 grit sand paper, then use liver of sulfur to blacken it. No issues with scale and being very thin you can pull it pretty straight. Use CA to secure it maybe

[CPDDET]

My concern in using wire is twofold. One is will the CA hold metal to wood. The second is if I glue the wire to the back of the window frames will I get a tight fit between the window and the housing.

 

The tight fit issue might also apply if I use rigging line.

 

The best remedy seems to be going through the top and bottom window frames. This would allow a tight fit to the housing.

 

Dave

[David Lester]

Dave, those pins look pretty good to me. I have also found it virtually impossible to make decent frames out of 1/32" material. It can be done without too much trouble with 1/16" wood and it will probably look ok, but if you thought it was too thick you could make the frame up including the pins and then sand the whole thing down on both sides, in order to keep the pins centered.

 

I don't think you'll have any problem with ca glue doing the job. There will be no tension on them and a friction fit alone would likely hold them.

 

Your base is looking great.

David

 

 

[CPDDET]

I'm pretty happy with the look and your right about the friction fit holding the pins without the need for any gluing.

 

I also like your idea of sanding the frames after they are assembled. 

 

It's tedious work that can't be rushed. Pulling out the camper for a few days so the build will be on the back burner for a bit

[Overworked724]

Awesome work, Dave!!!  

[CPDDET]

Thanks Patrick. 

Almost finished rebuilding the skylight window frames.  Went a different route and they came out much nicer. Will post an update later this week.

 

Dave

[Overworked724]

On 5/16/2020 at 10:17 AM, CPDDET said:

 

 

 

 

Dave, I was wondering what tool this is with the small round end?  Do you know where I can get one?

[CPDDET]

"Embossing Stylus Tool Set by Craft Smart®"

Got mine at Michaels craft store. 3 piece set with 5 different size ball shaped ends.

Very reasonable price wise.

[CPDDET]

Finally back in the boatyard. Had some emergency medical issues to deal with but back in fine shape now. Also decided to reorganize my work area as things were getting too cluttered.

 

The issues I was having with the skylight are now solved and thought I would go into a bit more detail on how I solved them. The workmanship still isn't what I would like but at this stage of my skill I feel its my best effort.

 

The two problems I was facing was building a strong enough window frame and drilling holes for the bars that would line up from the top frame to the bottom frame so the bars would be straight.

 

I built a jig that would hold 2 pieces of wood stacked on each other.

 

 

Then, using my Dremel drill press, drilled five 1/64" holes through both pieces.

 

 

 

 

In order to build a stronger window frame I decided to use thicker stock and cut lap joints to give the Titebond something to adhere to. So I made jigs that would limit both my vertical and horizontal cuts. 

 

 

Then carefully cut the 4 sides of each frame.

 

 

Using pins that would eventually become the bars for alignment, I glued the frames together.

 

 

 

 

 

After painting the frames I inserted 5 pins in each and trimmed them to fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the housing I glued in a piece of craft paper to hide the framing that would show through the skylight.

 

 

 

I glued some very thin craft plastic to the back of the frames to serve as windows panes.

 

 

After gluing the windows to the housing I fashioned the top piece. This took a bit of doing but my new Byrnes disk sander made it much easier, sanding the 40 degree angles to fit. Then stained the piece and glued it in.

 

 

Now it's on to the compass housing.

 

[CPDDET]

Finished building the compass housing, just have some sanding cleanup and painting to do. Really tried to keep things in scale and decided on 1/16 wide by 1/32 thick boards for the top cover. This is equal to 2 inches thick by 4 inches wide.  

 

I started by putting two pieces of 1/16 stock together with double stick tape. Copied the shape of the front panel from the plans, cut it out on a scroll saw and sanded the edges of both pieces smooth.

After separating the two pieces I drilled the needed hole in the front panel.

 

Using another scrap of 1/16 stock I made a base to join the front and back panels. Then ripped a piece of 1/32 thick stock to make a 1/16 wide plank several inches long. After cutting the plank into 10-12 pieces, which were slightly longer than needed, I glued them in individually to form the cover of the housing.

 

Cutting the planks / boards a bit longer than needed allowed them to slightly overhang both the front and rear panels. Then it was a simple job of sanding them flush. Came out fairly well.

 

 

 

 

When this is done I’ll move on to the vent / smoke stack which I plan to build from brass tubing. Time to gather the needed tools and material for that.

[CPDDET]

I’ve been working on the smoke stack / vent that mounts on top of the main cabin house. I really wanted this to be copper so again, there was a bit of a learning curve.

 

I started by placing 2 pieces of Blu Tack  on a carbon block. Cut a piece of 3/32 brass tube at a 45 degree angle and aligned them for soldering.

 

 

After soldering I cleaned it up a bit, cut it to proper dimensions and glued a brass washer on the short end where it will meet the cabin top.

 

 

For the resting block I used a small piece of 1/16 square brass stock and filed a notch for the pipe to rest in.

 

 

 

Still have some cleanup to do on this piece. But now that the skylight, vent and compass housing are finished I can finally get everything mounted on the cabin roof.

[Overworked724]

Really clean work, Dave. Your brass and metal work really sparkle!

[CPDDET]

Thanks for the compliment, Pat. Means a lot coming from someone with your skill and uncanny ability to work out processes.

 

Metal working presents new skill set for me to learn. Not to mention the investment of some new tools.

 

 

[Overworked724]

Dave, I’ve got nothing on you. Your work shows both patience and skill. Not sure I could repeat what you are doing to the same effect. Bloody nice work!

[CPDDET]

I'll take that compliment, but learning a lot from your techniques.

Carry on!

[CPDDET]

Couldn’t get the boom buffer placed under the aft rail so I decided to tear it out and start over.

 

 

As others on this site I really didn’t like the white metal buffer that came with the kit so I decided to make my own. A big hats off to Richard (Retiredguy) for all his help. We exchanged many emails and he was kind enough to send me some parts he had left over when he built his boom buffer. While I didn’t use them, I was able to gain some insight and ideas from his expertise.

 

I also borrowed a trick from Pat, (Overworked724) to drill holes in brass tubing. Thanks Pat! I have a Dremel tool mounted to a Dremel workstation drill press. Not the most accurate tool but it will suffice until I get a new mill.

 

Using a block of wood, I drilled a hole to fit the brass tube. Inserting the tube in this hole, I then drilled down through one side of the tube so could attach the “legs”. I cut the tube pieces to proper length after drilling.

 

 

I used a small piece of tubing for the center and the 2 drilled pieces for the end pieces. Soldered the “legs” on the end pieces and soldered small diameter wire for form loops then added the ring.

 

 

 

Before finishing the main cabin I noticed the sailing version of this model required 1/32 solid wood hand rails on both sides of the cabin. I took “solid wood” to mean no stand offs so I cut the hand rails on the Byrnes saw and glued them in place.  Since the roof of the cabin was finished with tinted poly, CA glue worked just fine.

 

 

After staining the handrails and installing the side port lights I mounted the rest of the fixtures on the cabin, then mounted the remaining fixtures to the aft end of the deck.

 

 

Next up was the aft hatch. First I need to create a “shelf” that would hold the hatch cover flush with the sides of the hatch housing. I did this using the saw.

 

 

After cutting the four sides to the proper size I mitered the ends and glued them together to form the housing.

 

 

To create the small cove I made a shallow cut with a razor saw. Using this cut as a guide I used a 1/32 inch ball tip stylus to impress the cove into the wood. The cut with the razor saw keeps the stylus from wanting to follow the grain and wander.

 

 

To plank the hatch cover I first measured the inside of the housing and transferred that measurement to the saw. I did this for each plank individually.

 

 

 

 

 

After placing (not gluing) the hatch cover on the housing I sanded it down to match the edge of the housing and removed it for finishing. I could have hand painted the housing but using the airbrush gives a much nicer finish. But have to admit it longer to set up and clean the airbrush than it did to do the actual painting. Used the same tinted poly to finish the hatch cover and once dry I assembled the two pieces and added the eyebolts.

 

 

 

 

Will be taking a few days off from the build to study up on my new power tool, a Sherline lathe.

 

[Overworked724]

Is that a mini lathe?