Schooner Germania (Nova) by KeithAug - FINISHED - Scale 1:36 - 1908 / 2011

[wefalck]

Yep, I like these complex machining projects too  👍

 

One could etch the lettering into some brass and the slighly dome the disc. Or, you could find a shop with an engraving machine, who might do it for you. The kind of shop that engraves pens for instance. Normally they use brass templates for the lettering, but a large paper template may work for a one-off job.

 

[michael mott]

Nice methodology for the fixture. I often for get the usefulness of gluing stuff for machining.

 

Michael

[druxey]

Whew! Quite the day's work, Keith. Very nicely machined. The lettering could be a photo-etch plate attached, perhaps?

[Bedford]

1 hour ago, michael mott said:

Nice methodology for the fixture. I often for get the usefulness of gluing stuff for machining.

 

Michael

Yes I've been learning that trick from Keith and used it extensively in the production of my turnbuckles

[Mark Pearse]

that's remarkably substantial piece of metalwork, & it's a pleasure to see the steps you took to reproduce it

[G.L.]

Keith, I do not know very much about metalwork but your step by step picture log learns me a lot about how things are made. However I have neither the skills or the tools to produce such a beautiful objects.

[KeithAug]

10 hours ago, druxey said:

Whew! Quite the day's work, Keith

I obviously misled you Druxey. I did the machining over 2 days. Dog walking limits my performance.

 

11 hours ago, michael mott said:

usefulness of gluing stuff for machining.

Michael - yes you would think that the cutting forces would break the bond but I have never experienced a failure. Modern glues are really impressive aren't they.

 

A number of you have commented and offered suggestions on lettering. I agree that your suggestions are quite feasible. The issue for me is that the size is so small that without a magnifying glass an observer wouldn't notice the lettering. 

 

2 hours ago, G.L. said:

However I have neither the skills or the tools

Hmmmm! Looking at your work I don't think the skills would be much of an obstacle, and machines can be bought relatively cheaply these days. 

 

Eberhard, Mark, Bedford - thank you for your feedback and suggestions. 

[KeithAug]

Today I managed to finish the bowsprit foot.

The larger middle section of the foot has 5 holes for 1 large eyebolt, 2 small eyebolts and 2 oblong bosses. I glued the part to a rod and mounted it on the mill rotary table and drilled 5 holes of 1/16" diameter.

I next made the large eyebolt. The outside diameter was .150" and rather than make a profile tool I decided to use my ball turning tool to create a sphere.

This was then thinned to .04" wide while mounted in a hex collet bock on the mill and a 0.1" hole was drilled to form the hoop.

Finally the part was moved back to the lathe where a 1/16 spigot was turned.

The eyebolt was parted off using the piercing saw.

The eyebolt was glued in place with CA and 2 holes were drilled in the rearmost of the 3 parts to take 2 more smaller eyebolts.

The other eyebolts (4 in total) of .09" diameter were made with the profile tool covered in an earlier post. These too were glued into the relevant holes. 2 further eyebolts were made with extended spindles to take the belaying pins and these were glued into the front of the 3 body parts.

The flange at the rear was then turned (from aluminium) with a 6mm hole for location.

I used the ball turning tool to form the the dome of brass boss and create the raised circular features.

This was then parted off with a short 6mm spigot on the opposite side to the dome.

At this stage I did a bit of polishing and then glued the 3 body parts together on a 6mm steel shaft. This shaft will fit inside a bore drilled in the rear end of the bowsprit.

It was at this stage I realised I had forgotten the oblong plates so these were made and installed.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by KeithAug

[Julie Mo]

I just finished catching up on your build, Keith and your work is, as always, absolutely superb!  Thought I can't absorb it all, I always walk away having learned a thing or two about model building.  Thank you for sharing your builds and for helping me so much through my build.

[paulsutcliffe]

Stunning work Keith, the lettering would'nt be a problem to a man of your calibre I think !!!!!!!😁😁

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up on your beautiful build, Keith.  All up to your usual standard!

 

John

[michael mott]

Exquisite! Sir. I cannot imagine what you would get up to at 1:8 scale.

 

Michael

[Valeriy V]

 

Keith, that's wonderful!

I enjoy watching your beautiful assembly!

[FriedClams]

Beautiful work Keith  -  every update is a treat.  Thanks for sharing your process in detail.

 

Gary

[BANYAN]

Nicely thought through and executed Keith.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[druxey]

Nothing I can add to the comments above. Outstanding.

[mtaylor]

19 hours ago, KeithAug said:

A number of you have commented and offered suggestions on lettering. I agree that your suggestions are quite feasible. The issue for me is that the size is so small that without a magnifying glass an observer wouldn't notice the lettering. 

Oh, just put a couple of squiggles on it and tell anyone that notices that it's the lettering and show them the full size photo.  Might be good for some chuckles.

[Bedford]

You could get away with the base of a 22/250 bullet cartridge if you didn't mind it saying "Winchester"  instead of Germania 🤣

[John Allen]

Keith,

 

You are the miracle man. Looking forward to see how you add the writing onto the brass disk. You know it will not be finished until you add that finishing touch.

[Julie Mo]

On 2/3/2020 at 11:14 AM, John Allen said:

Keith,

 

You are the miracle man. Looking forward to see how you add the writing onto the brass disk. You know it will not be finished until you add that finishing touch.

You are a trouble maker, John. 😉

[Hubert Boillot]

What to say other than I am in absolute awe of your machining skills and ingenuity ? 
 

Excellent work seems a bit lame for a compliment.

 

Hubert

[KeithAug]

Thank you all for taking the time to comment. The bullet idea looks the best bet for the lettering and I wait with anticipation for a arms manufacture called Germania to commence ammunition manufacturer. I also like Marks suggestion of using subterfuge to con the casual observer, however I'm not sure it would work on any of the shipwrights at MSW.

[michael mott]

40 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

however I'm not sure it would work on any of the shipwrights at MSW.

Yes we re a bunch of sharp scrutineers aren't we.

[KeithAug]

Moving on from the bowsprit foot the next component to have a go at is the substantial block of metal which anchors the foresail stay to the deck. As you can see in the photographs this is also made from "silver" metal. The lower portion of this feature is hidden below extensions to the capping rails and only the upper half of the hoop will be visible.

It also has a thickened central section but in this instance I think I am going to adopt a different approach to that followed for the foot. 

The hoop of this component doesn't actually touch the bowsprit, the diameter of the bore being somewhat larger than the bowsprit itself.

The size of this part can be obtained by scaling the plans and this together with the photographs provide sufficient information to produce a reasonable sketch.

I started by sawing off another chunk of aluminium from my 2"x1" bar - such fun.

The next step was to cut off the required length and bore the 0.5" hole to allow the 0.45" bowsprit to pass through. I looked through the scrap bin and found a piece of copper tube of 0.5" diameter to use as a mandrel for forming the hoop.

As previously the hoop was formed on the mill by machining a series of flats.

The hoop was then finished by draw filing to remove the flats.

The angles to the front and rear of the component are different and hence produce a tapered form. To machine the angles I cut wooden spacers of the correct angle on the table saw and then used these to support the component in the milling vice.

The angles were then cut using the face of an end mill. finally a slot was cut axially on the top of the hoop to take the "U" shaped bracket to which the the foresail stay is attached.

More fun in the workshop this weekend, weather permitting. We are importing an American storm over the weekend - lashing rain and storm force winds. Dog walking should be fun.

Edited February 7, 2020 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

How are you going to fix bracket on the hoop, the latter being aluminium ? Glueing ? Rivetting a spigot down from the inside ?

 

I might have taken out one of my miniature dovetail-cutters ...

[KeithAug]

Eberhard - the bracket will be in brass (to match the foot). I will inset a brass pin from inside the bore and solder it to the bracket. The slot is 1/8" wide - your dove tail cutters sound really impressive - where did you get them?

Edited February 7, 2020 by KeithAug

[Bedford]

Great work Keith, that ship has a lot of serious metalwork doesn't it.

 

Dorothea MacKeller wrote that Australia is "a land of drought and flooding rain" and in my 58 years experience I can vouch for that. Drought is always broken by flood and it's happening now, huge widespread downpours wiping out sporting events, concerts and the like but who cares, it's raining and a lot of the fires that were still burning are finally being extinguished. I guess what I'm going a long way around saying is, don't complain about the rain.

[Retired guy]

Absolutely brilliant Keith still going through your build log more likes to come 

I see your drawings and funny enough I do the same just not as tidy 😁

 

Regards

Richard

[KeithAug]

Thank you Steve / Richard. I'm glad the fires seem to be behind you Steve - it must be a relief.

 

I spent some of the day in the workshop finishing the forestay anchor and watching the storm through the window.

The top bracket was made from 1/2" x 1/8" bar.

I stared by accurately drilling .040" holes at the centres of the 2 key diameters and then slitting the slot to create the "U" of the bracket

I then made 2 sets of file buttons of .125" and .100" diameter respectively and filed the bracket to shape.

I then drilled matching 1/16" holes in the bracket and the boss.

I turned up a pin with a head of .070" diameter by .010" wide and a .062" shank. This was inserted from the bore of the boss and held in place by a scrap piece of dowel.

The bracket was then placed over the 2 parts were soldered.

I then needed to reproduce the thickened central section of the boss. As the bottom part of the boss is hidden I only needed to reproduce this feature on the top half of the hoop. I turned a piece of aluminium tube such that the bore matched the external radius of the boss. The wall thickness matched the up-stand of the thickened section i.e. .025".

The tube was then mounted in the square collet block and the tapered profiles cut.

These were then glued on to the boss with CA glue and .040" holes were drilled for small eyebolts.

Eyebolts were made as previously covered and they were then attached.

 

 

[wefalck]

The storm is chafing past us now ...

 

In spite of the storm, you managed to produce quality as usual ! Are you going to leave the brackt in brass ? I am using self-tinning solution to make such parts look silvery.

 

BTW, I checked my tool-drawer and the smallest dove-tail cutters I have are 4.5 mm in diameter. Got them some years ago on ebay, but they may well be kind of shop-made. Very small dove-tail cutters seem to be used in gun-smithing to machine the seats for gun sights. However, when you look a the prices in gun-smithing supply houses, they blow you off your feet like Ciara ...