Germania Nova 1911 by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:36 - replica of schooner Germania 1908

[KeithAug]

10 hours ago, BANYAN said:

Are these built in gratings or lift-out panels

Pat - If you look carefully you can see the seams - so I believe they lift out. They only sit a few inches above the deck and in that location (where the hull depth is very shallow) its hard to believe that anything below requires access. Indeed it is a bit odd that the gratings are required at all. How are you getting on with sorting out your lathe eccentricity problems?

[BANYAN]

Thanks for the feedback Keith, I had been wondering why the gratings were there also, probably serving more as 'duckboards'?  

 

I have decided, based on costs and type of type of work I need to do in the future,  to purchase a few more Sherline WW collets (to widen my range of collets) rather than go the ER32 route.  Anything greater than 8mm can be chucked, and taking your advice I will invest in a better dial indicator for centring in my 3 and 4 jaw chucks.  It was a close run thing between purchasing the additional (I think much overpriced Sherline WW collets) and buying a new ER32 Chuck and full set of collets - time will tell

 

I followed your technique with making the eyebolts with great interest and have tucked that aside for future use .  I am busy finishing the broadside guns etc at the moment and will post an update soon. 

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited December 5, 2019 by BANYAN

[KeithAug]

I thought I would make a start on the deck cleats. Once again the dimensions were scaled from drawings using the deck plank width of 3" as a comparator. 

From the photos I drew a scale sketch.

 

The key element is the pedestal. It looks big on the drawing but in fact is a little over 1/8" high. All pedestals of course need to be identical and the initial cleat count 24 led to a requirement of 48 pedestals. Mindful of earlier problems with the plans I did a check of the deck cleats against the photographs. This confirmed all of the cleats with the exception of the 6 associated with the foremast. While these cleats were on the plan they were definitely missing form the photographs.

This is a bit odd as in my experience winches and cleats tend to appear in pairs. 2 missing can be explained by the deletion of the 2 winches discussed earlier but why the other 4 have gone missing is a bit of a mystery. Anyway the original requirement for 48 pedestals was reduced to 36. 

 

As with the eyebolts I started by making a form tool. This was made to create a .090" diameter ball on a .065" diameter shaft. The plan was to turn the neck and the shaft (using the form tool) and then use a round ended lathe tool to create the concave neck profile with a minimum width of .050".

As previously the stock was mounted in a hex collet block and then in the lathe chuck. The saddle was locked to the bed and the form tool plunged in the make the ball on a shaft. To make the plunge depth repeatability easier I attached a spare digital linear scale between the cross slide and the splash guard - held by rare earth magnets (obviously this only works when the saddle is locked). This meant I only had to note digital reading and didn't have to count and record hand wheel rotations. The plunge was made until the ball diameter was .090"

The round nose lathe tool was mounted in a quick change tool holder and positioned so that the neck could be shaped with a plunge cut without unlocking the saddle. As with the profile tool the digital reading was noted once the plunge had thinned the neck to .050". Finally I turned a mounting spigot of .050" diameter with a parting off tool.

Once the profile had been created I moved the hex block to the mill which had been set up to plane off both sides of the ball and shaft to a thickness of .040". As with the eyebolts the x axis was locked as was the vertical (Z) position of the cutter. The cut was made by winding the y axis of the mill.

Finally a .040" diameter hole was drilled in the same way used for the eyebolts and the pedestal was cut off using a jewellers saw.

After a few hours work I had the first of the 36 pedestals. (in the following photograph compared with a standard sized safety match).

With all the setup stuff completed It took 90 minutes or to make the next 19.

Now only 20 more to make (including 4 spares for black hole problems).

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by KeithAug

[druxey]

Can you make the gratings first, then add the rail and finally slide the gratings into place under the rail?

[KeithAug]

27 minutes ago, druxey said:

Can you make the gratings first, then add the rail and finally slide the gratings into place under the rail?

Druxey - that would have been my favoured option but the sternmost bulwark bracing struts are in the way and  I think they will prevent the grating sliding rearward if the cap rail is already in place.

Edited December 6, 2019 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

I finished off the remaining 20 pedestals and then made the cleat bases - .46"x.14" by .02" thick with holes for the pedestals .25" apart. To make them I milled a .5" x .250" rectangular brass bar down to .46"x.14", rounded the corners and then drilled .05" diameter holes lengthwise.

The bases were then cut off to the required thickness using a small .028" thick slitting saw. I made the required 18 and was fortunate the the drilled holes were just deep enough.

The bases were then polished by hand on one side using 2000, 5000 and 7000 grit wet and dry paper.

The horizontal bar of the cleats was made from .04" brass wire cut to length using a jig. The ends of the wire were made spherical by placing the wire in the hand drill and holding it against the aforementioned emery paper.

 

The final piece of the cleat kit of parts was a stepped jig with holes. This will be used for drilling the deck mounting plinths once they made and glued to the deck.

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

BTW, there are also hollow burrs to round-off the ends of wire. They come in various sizes. Very handy.

[shipmodel]

Keith - 

 

Beautiful metalwork.  I am green with envy.

How do you keep the deck plates from flying into Neverland when you part them off?

I would be hunting them for days.

 

Dan

[KeithAug]

1 minute ago, shipmodel said:

How do you keep the deck plates from flying into Neverland when you part them off?

Dan. Towards the end of the cut when only a very thin web remains the cutter tends to push rather than cut and the deck plate starts to lift away from the top of the saw. With care you can stop the cut just before it parts company and then tear off the remaining web which by this stage is only a few thousandths thick.. Thank you for the compliment.

 

1 hour ago, wefalck said:

BTW, there are also hollow burrs to round-off the ends of wire

Eberhard - thank you for the tip. I hadn't come across them but found them under the name of "Cup Burr". I think I will add some to my Santa list. 

[druxey]

Cup burrs are incredibly useful!

[KeithAug]

Almost at the end of the cleat saga:-

The cleats sit on wooden plinths. Size .52"x.2"x.03". I shaped a piece of mahogany to .52"x.2" cross section and 3 inches long. The edges were sanded to a radius and then the plank was put on the table saw and .03" thick slices were cut off. I needed 18 but made a couple of spares (not all shown in photo)

I cut card strips and stuck them on to the deck to fix the positions for the plinths. The plinths were glued in place with a dab of CA.

I proceeded in this way until all plinths were in place.

The drill jig was then used to drill the the plinths to take the cleat pedestals.

At this stage all the plinths were painted with 4 coats of poly prior to the brass bases of the cleats being glued in place - once again with CA.

 

 

[BANYAN]

Nice work (as usual) Keith, that deck is starting to look very 'busy' now.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[FriedClams]

Your deck is looking great Keith - populated with small clean details.  I do like your card method of symmetrically locating the plinths.  Many times I've glued on tiny parts like these only to later find that they slid just slightly from position as pressure was applied.  Resting the part up against the card edge would solve that problem as well as accurately locate it.  A simple and clever solution.  Thanks. 

 

Gary

[michael mott]

Lovely work on the deck furniture Keith, I like the way you used the card to position parts accurately,  simple methods, we often forget.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Pat, Gary, Michael - thank you for visiting and taking time to comment. Also thank you to everyone else who has visited and or liked my build.

 

It seemed a bit warmer in the workshop over the weekend so I got on with finishing the cleats. As all the bits had been made previously this just involved assembly and careful glueing with CA. Not a lot to be said so I am just posting pictures of the result.

 

The first image is significantly magnified (but it does make the deck planking look neat).

[mtaylor]

Fantastic brass work.  Seems like every other post is an education.

[KeithAug]

On 12/16/2019 at 3:50 AM, mtaylor said:

Seems like every other post is an education.

Thank you Mark.

 

Over the past two days I have been making the raised grating deck at the stern.

I made a template for the deck - basically paper glued on to 1/32" ply. This was shaped until the profile was a good fit to the inside profile of the bulwarks.

On to this I drew the pattern for the solid planks which separate the gratings. Counting the grating holes on the photographs allowed me to get a good representation of the correct shape.

As stated in an earlier post I decided to make the grating hole size slightly larger than on the original - equivalent to 1.1" square holes at full size. I worried that smaller gratings would be a bit too delicate. I used a 0.8mm (.031") slitting saw to cut the grating slots in timber .750" wide by .062" thick. The slots were machined .031" deep. The following photo shows the slotting at an early stage. The numbers down the side are the micrometer setting for the saw - you can see they are all .063" apart.

After a number of hours I had 2 stacks. (One side of the wood had paint on one edge - hence the 2 colours).

The stacks were then glued together with PVA glue. 

The set up probably needs a bit of explanation. The "V" block is clamped to board with a right-angled up-stand. The stacks are pushed against the up-stand and the "V" block. The silver thing on the left is a large rare earth magnet and this is providing the clamping force by attraction to the "V" block.

Once the glue dried gratings were sliced off in preparation for cutting to size and shape.

 

[KeithAug]

I continued making the raised deck at the stern. I was concerned at the lack of strength in the gratings so decided to build the deck on a 1/32 ply base board. I checked that the holes in the gratings were of insufficient size to make the ply visible. Shaping the gratings to size was a bit tricky given their fragility but with a sharp blade and jewellers saw I got it done. I had intended cutting the curved outer plank of the raised deck out of solid wood but I couldn't get the fit around the gratings tight enough. Laminating the edge proved to give a much more pleasing result.

The strips laminated up to create the edge plank wire .025 thick. I needed 5 laminations.

The edges needed to be shaped and chamfered to fit inside the bulwarks.

I then finished the raised deck with a few coats of poly.

The raised deck sits on small pedestals - I can only see the ones at the front edge of which there are 3. 

I used the raised deck to trace the front edge on a piece of masking tape and then used this line to position the pedestals.

The pedestals were made with a spigot and holes were drilled in the main deck to take them. A 4th pedestal was placed under the raised deck for extra support.

Edited December 20, 2019 by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

Often times the grates on a model look out of proportion due to the holes being too large. Keith, yours looks spot on and fit wonderfully. 

[wefalck]

Now the shipyard workers can have a well-deserved Christmas vacation 👍🎄

[Hubert Boillot]

If it was ever possible, you keep besting yourself ! You certainly did with these gratings 👍 !

 

Hubert

[shipman]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 11:39 AM, KeithAug said:

Richard

 

I emailed the builder but didn't get a reply - probably a victim of their spam filters. I not too worried as I think I will get a decent result from the image I have.

 

The instruments are Staedtler. The large compass has a nifty collet arrangement on the adjustment screw to give fast action as well as fine adjustment.

The instruments are Staedtler.

Ah, I have several similar sets from different eras.

Show them to kids today and they think you're going to dissect them.

I never mastered the ruling pen. Pencil, ruler, a couple of squares, a compass and dividers and some basic arithmetic and you're away!

The marvels of antediluvian science.

[G.L.]

Keith, you continue to surprise us. Really beautiful work on those gratings!

[KeithAug]

Keith, Hubert, G.L thank you for your supportive words.

 

Eberhard - workshop closes for Christmas festivities one Christmas Eve. Plenty of time for a bit more metal work.

 

Shipman - its good to know I am not alone.

 

I find myself avoiding putting the capping rail on, basically because I think it is going to be tricky. Maybe I am over thinking it but in any case I decided to avoid the problem and start on the valves.

 

From the photographs I have found 4 right-angled globe valves and one linear ball valve. Three globe valves are close together amidships and next to them in the ball valve attached to a hose - next photo. Not sure what the valves are for - one presumably is a water inlet but as to the other 3 your guess is a good as mine. I also need to make the vent pipe on the right hand side.

The other globe valve is adjacent to the table and seats at the stern.

By scaling the photos I came up with the following drawing. I also did a bit of geometry to define the shape of the profile tool that will form the globe. The profile tool sketch is below the valve.

I find my large scale sketches deceive me into thinking that I can do more detail than is sometimes practical. The globe valves will be about 1/4" high so how much detail I get in will be interesting. 

 

My target is to get the valves and the vent made by Christmas Eve. Hopefully one more update to come before Santa arrives

Edited December 22, 2019 by KeithAug

[Jim Lad]

She simply continues to impress, Keith!

 

John

[BANYAN]

Up to your usual impressive standards Keith; looks very good.  Don't delay the caprail. 

 

I had the same dilemmas with "Victoria'; doubts and a  lack of 'strong' fitting points etc.  In the end, I didn't bother with trying to pin it, just ran a bead of two part epoxy along the top of the upper plank edge and the tops of the roughtree timbers - THEN held my breath while fitting - worked out quite well and it is still very strongly attached (despite some 'accidental' knocks.  I used 10 minute epoxy to give me a little wiggle time   The hardest part was ensuring the rail sat parallel to the deck (and remained that way while it dried.  I simply put a few, evenly spaced small flat 6mm ply boards over them so that it was evenly spaced over both sides which seems to have kept them properly levelled.  

 

Looking forward to how you make those valves; I will tuck that away as another mini-tutorial for my records.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Bedford]

Keith, I wonder if the ball valves (as we call them in Aus) might be for fire fighting.

 

The handles are red which often indicates a specific use and is nearly always used to indicate fire related items on my side of the planet anyway. There would be a few outlets and probably a few redundant systems so that could explain the number of valves.

 

Whatever they I'm looking forward to see how you make them.

[KeithAug]

11 hours ago, BANYAN said:

In the end, I didn't bother with trying to pin it, just ran a bead of two part epoxy along the top of the upper plank edge and the tops of the roughtree timbers

Pat - yes I was thinking that glue would be the solution, but how did you hold the curvature while the glue dried? 

 

Thank you John.

9 hours ago, Bedford said:

nearly always used to indicate fire related items on my side of the planet anyway

Bedford - interesting thought. 

[BANYAN]

Hi Keith, the whole cap was made and dry fitted on the bulwarks to test for clean joints and alignment etc .  The scarf joints were located away from any hard 'dip' in the cap/deck/bulwark longitudinal direction; but,  fortunately there was only a very gentle dip between stem and stern with a very slight nadir (probably only about 4mm).  When we dry fitted we built some 'platforms' from scrap wood (4 each side) either side of the hull on the cradle; these were shimmed as required to ensure the ply strips (sitting on the cap) would mate properly with these (made for getting the level easy when gluing up with a short dry time).  We then knew that if the strips were sitting on each of the platform tops the whole lot had to be mated correctly, and that it sat parallel to the deck etc (level) .  Perhaps, if you have a deeper, or more complex curve/dip) shaped chocks between the strips, which would remain level to hold the weights, and the cap might assist?

 

WRT the curves to follow the sheer, we cheated a little and cut the lengths of the cap from wide planks appropriately thicknessed so there was no stress in a lateral dimension at all.  It was just a matter of dry fitting then gluing the caps together on the top of transparent 'wax' paper laid over a plan of the upper deck to ensure all was correctly aligned and fitting as required.  While dry fitting with the cap held properly in place, two alignment holes were drilled in the cap assembly (one forward, one aft ).  These were located in places where once they were filled and painted they would not be evident (if the filler compressed later) and temporary pins, protruding through the cap holes, were used to allow quick alignment in situ (hope that makes sense).  As you have varnished finish, the use of the alignment holes may be a little tricky unless you have a couple of spots where equipment or rigging penetrated the cap rail?

 

When we were ready (there were two of us) we ran the glue bead along the top of the bulwark upper plank, one working each side, then lifted and fitted the assembly onto the bulwarks/roughtree timber tops using the pins as quick guides to position the cap before setting it down, we then placed the ply strips, and after rechecking level (the hull is mounted in a cradle that was already leveled) we added the map weights to provide some 'clamping' pressure for the glue.  Whole thing took us 6 minutes or so from starting to lay the glue bead.  If you do this by yourself perhaps a 15 minute epoxy may be better?

 

I hope all that makes some sort of sense, and my apologies up front for any 'motherhood' - I just thought it better to spell out the whole process we used.

 

Have a great Christmas with plenty of 'cheer'

 

Pat

[KeithAug]

4 hours ago, BANYAN said:

(there were two of us)

Pat - thank you for your very full and detailed explanation of the process. It sounds like the sort of job I need to do sober - so maybe not in the next few days. The most difficult thing for me would be persuading my better half to venture into the unheated workshop to provide an extra pair of hands. If I press this point I might well enter the New Year searching for a new wife. You have eased my fears that the glued approach can work.

Merry Christmas - Santa can't be very far away in your part of the world, I hope he delivers some much needed rain, we have plenty to spare, maybe you can have some of our.