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

[vossiewulf]

3 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Apparently doing what she wants earns me points which I can trade in for a better quality home when the time comes.

Ok that made me officially LOL.

[Keith Black]

2 hours ago, KeithAug said:

dry to the touch in 4 hours

Horsepucky! They lie Keith, I've never gotten 4 hours dry time even at temps 70 degrees or above with 60% humidity. I've always had to wait overnight before handling or applying the next coat. The hull is drop dead gorgeous, the WOP really made her pop.  

[KORTES]

 

Dear Keith,

The hull of the yacht is of an amazing quality and beauty. And I think so too, that it would be a pity to hide it under the paint.

I wish you inspiration in your work.

My best regards.

[Chasseur]

Looking good Keith. The poly and multiple coats are something I wasn't aware of until this build. That trick is tucked away for the future!

Funny what we do for friends and family.

Can't wait to see more.

Jeff

[KeithAug]

Thank you all for your continued interest and comments and if I make you laugh that is a bonus.

 

I would struggle to make paint drying very interesting so my posts may be a bit less frequent. As expected the first coat didn't dry and was still much too tacky to do anything with this morning. The hull is now in the boiler room - hopefully a little heat will help.

 

5 hours ago, Chasseur said:

The poly and multiple coats are something I wasn't aware of until this build

Jeff, it is easy to forget that I sometimes do things not everyone is familiar with. I think I should explain myself a bit more.

 

I picked up the technique of wipe on poly some time ago from another build on MSW. I use clear polyurethane either matt or silk finish. I avoid the gloss stuff because to me it looks quite unrealistic at small scale. You can buy wipe on poly but it is basically only normal poly diluted so I just buy the normal stuff and dilute it myself, usually 1 part poly 1 part white spirit. I apply it by taking some wadding and wrapping it in a lint free cloth and then wrapping an elastic band round the neck to hold the wading in place. 

I always wipe the poly on in thin coats to avoid the potential for runs and always finish the wiping process in the direction of the grain. After each coat I buff back the surface with wire wool. It usually takes 4 or 5 coats before the wood is sealed and an even sheen begins to appear. If I do mess up and get a run I sand this back locally with wet and dry paper. By 10 or so coats I am finding it difficult to see any improvement with each coat so I stop.

Edited April 10, 2019 by KeithAug

[vossiewulf]

13 hours ago, KeithAug said:

I picked up the technique of wipe on poly some time ago from another build on MSW.

Add some pumice stone and it's a French polish for ship's hulls.

[KeithAug]

1 hour ago, vossiewulf said:

Add some pumice stone and it's a French polish for ship's hulls

Sounds interesting Vossie -  but I don't really understand. Can you explain more?

[Bedford]

Keith, I was thinking french polish when you mentioned the cloth, wadding etc. It's the way they do it but I have no idea where the pumice stone comes into it.

[Chasseur]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQXP5OKM9ag

Bedford is right, however same here, I don't know about the pumice stone. Attached is a link to an amazing video of a Chap who has French Polish down to a science.

Jeff

[vossiewulf]

8 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Sounds interesting Vossie -  but I don't really understand. Can you explain more?

French Polish supplies

[KeithAug]

Vossie - Thank you for the clarification.

Jeff - An interesting video - don't you hate it when they make it look that easy.

Bedford - I guess have both learnt something today.

 

After 36 hours the hull was dry enough to take the wire wool and it now has a second coat. I'm hoping that the next coat dries more quickly.

 

Apart from the lawn and the dog walk I made progress on the port holes - 30 required. As I said previously they are pretty simple. I turned them on the lathe with the inboard end facing the tail stock. 8mm brass bar was drilled out to 5.5mm and then counterbored with a 6mm milling cutter to give a decent finish to the bore. I then did a further counterbore with a 7mm end mill to a depth of 5mm. this produced a shoulder against which to push the "glass" made form acetate sheet. I then parted off the resulting "stepped tube" at 5.5m length. 

 

I needed to cut accurate 7mm diameter acetate circles so I made myself a punch out of a couple of pieces of mild steel from the scrap box. The hole bore was reamed 7mm.

In the next photo the acetate still has its protective film on both sides.

 

I have backed the acetate with off-black card circles as I found leaving the acetate without a backing somehow looked wrong.

I have to admit however that the photographs don't give a good representation of what the eye sees.

 

I was pleased to see that one of the commissioning team turned up early and took up residence in preparation for sea trials.

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by KeithAug

[paulsutcliffe]

I used pumice powder to polish the ebony wale on my Sirius hull, acquired form a dental laboratory where they use it to polish resin flexi dentures, mixed with water and rub, polishes up nicely and leaves a sheen rather than a shine

Regards

Paul 

[wefalck]

Traditional French Polish by rubbing-in pumice with shellac is a bit outdated for a project like this. A cellulose-based wood filler does the same job. However, rubbing down gently a varnish coating with pumice powder and e.g. a humid cotton ball takes out any traces of wiping- or brushing-on the varnish. It leaves a matte to satin finish that then can be polished to a gloss using polishing wool (as you would use for a car, for instance). This procedure reduces the thickness of the varnish to a minimum and gives a very even surface.

[druxey]

Pumice on a paint or varnish finish 'breaks' the surface and dulls it to a satin sheen. Following this with rottenstone will give a somewhat higher sheen.  If painting the wales of my models (rather than staining) I use both compounds. 

 

I take a piece of felt, wet it, then pick up the powder on it and rub the surface with a circular motion. A damp paper towel removes residual powder and burnishes the finish.

[Bob Cleek]

Pumice and rottenstone powder is readily available in paint and hardware stores in the US, at least. (Or used to be. We never know when a tried and true traditional product will be outlawed for some environmental safety reason!) It's not expensive. It really does produce a wonderful finish. It's best applied with some sort of vibrating pad, if one's available. Doing it by hand, while very effective, is a lot of work on a less than perfectly coated surface, as it removes material very slowly because it is so fine.

[Charter33]

I use both pumice powder and rottenstone to refine french polish, reducing a 'glassy / gloss' finish to a satin or more matt finish. I usually use a soft lint free cloth dipped in a little linseed oil to pick up the powder and, as Druxey says,  use a circular motion to apply it to the french polished surface. To achieve a good finish can take up to 40 coats of french polish, but the biggest difference between shellac polish and other varnishes is the way each layer dissolves into the previously applied layers rather than lying on top. It's this that produces such a beautiful effect. Not sure I'd use this on a model ship itself, but probably on a stand or display cabinet. Hope this is of some interest.

Graham.

[Bob Cleek]

6 hours ago, Charter33 said:

To achieve a good finish can take up to 40 coats of french polish, but the biggest difference between shellac polish and other varnishes is the way each layer dissolves into the previously applied layers rather than lying on top.

That and the fact that you'll want to kill any person who spills an alcoholic drink on it!  

[wefalck]

Forty layers seems to be a bit exaggerated. If one needs so many coats, it means the wood was not properly pepared (by modern standards). In the old days only shellac and pumice was used, but today good sanding fillers on nitrocellulose basis are available that cut down the effort. It also depends on the kind of wood, the larger the pores, the more work. Dense wood works faster. There is also the risk, if one does not work fast enough or too wet, to dissolve too much from the underlying layers and then you have to begin again. In practice, I found a couple of coats of sanding sealer and two to three coats of shellac are sufficient, if you don't want a mirror-like surface (which I don't like anyway).

[druxey]

My objection to French polish using shellac is its sensitivity to moisture. We've all seen rings left on beautiful table surfaces by condensation from a cold drink!

[Charter33]

I'm just grateful we have such a variety of modern alternatives to chose from. 40 'coats' might sound extreme but 'bodying up' the surface, especially on an open grained timber quickly accounts for many, and several can be applied in one session before the rubber starts to grab. I share the preference for a less glassy

finish, but watching a skilled polisher achieve one using a clean rubber soaked in meths, hovering just above the surface of the polish with just the fumes producing the final finish is a inspiration.

[KeithAug]

Wood finishes seems to have prompted a degree of debate - I thought I would update on progress with my unsophisticated approach.

 

I am now on coat 3, coat two having dried eventually. Before applying coat 3 I sanded out the portholes to 8mm with my improvised cone sander (basically a dowel with  cone turned on the end and a piece of 240 grit sandpaper stuck on)

The holes sanded out quite nicely.

And then it was on with coat 3.

In parallel I started making the compass binnacle which I will start to cover in the next post

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

Can't wait for the journey the binnacle takes us on. 

[wefalck]

Just beautiful, the hull  👍

 

 

 

[BANYAN]

I do like to paint my models BUT, that is one stunning hull finish Keith.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[GrandpaPhil]

Very nicely done!

[Jond]

Keith

It is such a joy to sit down with a cup of coffee and read the next few pages of your build. I just learned all about options to finish wood at this scale , to turn portholes and to punch acrylic so they look real.  This last image showing the hull should make the team rooting for paint pause.....if only briefly.  It is gorgeous.   I can't wait to find out what you decide to do.  

 

Jon 

[KeithAug]

Eberhard, Phil - thank you.

 

Pat / Jon - thank you - It feels like the late voting is starting to swing towards natural.

 

Keith - and so to the binnacle.

 

As usual I started with a search of my web photographs.

 

I find it is quite easy to overestimate the scale size of these items and grand ideas often meet the reality of my capability. My admiration of watchmakers grows daily.

 

The photographs were printed measured and converted to as good an interpretation of the binnacle as I could produce.

Today I started on the brass housing for the compass. This I made out of 8mm (.315") rod. I usually drill angled holes before turning. In this case this meant drilling the hole for the viewing window skirt.

I didn't take any photos of the turning operation as it was fairly straightforward - I did however leave the housing attached to the rod to ease handling during the next operation which was soldering. You can see from the photos that the housing has an appendage on the starboard side. Not sure what this is but it is attached by a "T" shaped bracket. I shaped the end of a piece of "I" section brass to locate against the housing and I also cut a piece of brass tube to form the skirt for the viewing port. These were then soldered in place.

I thought that my sophisticated soldering set up was worthy of an image.

The appendage was turned from a small piece of 1/4 inch brass rod, reduced to the desired dimensions. The excess of the "I" section girder was cut off and the end was shaped to take the appendage. This was then glued in place with CA. Finally the viewing window was formed with a glob of 2 part epoxy.

And that was another day gone.

 

 

[wefalck]

Keith, the 'appendage' is the lamp to illuminate the compass. It is obviously an electrical lamp on the modern version, as otherwise the binnacle cover would have had a short 'funnel' on top, to release the hot air from the petroleum lamp.

 

For starting a drill hole at an angle, I use an end-mill that cuts over the centre. In this way the drill doesn't wander off.

 

Nice job, btw.

 

This is a specimen I did some 30 years ago (diameter about 6 mm):

 

 

[KeithAug]

52 minutes ago, wefalck said:

For starting a drill hole at an angle, I use an end-mill that cuts over the centre.

Eberhard - yes I use that method as well. Also I thought it might be a light - but I couldn't work out how the light got from the appendage into the body of the housing - I guess the connecting bracket is actually a square tube. Nice job on your binnacle.

[Keith Black]

Eberhard

 Your steam tug's binnacle (circa 1870) has Kelvin's balls, isn't that a bit early for those as Lord Kelvin didn't patent the idea until the 1880's? .......KB