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

[Jim Lad]

Catching up again, Keith - she's really looks grand.

 

John

[KeithAug]

Thank you all for your comments, I have done the hawser pipe trick in previous builds and am sure to use it again - probably at the deck end of the pipe. 

I have spent a lot of time validating and marking out the deck fitting holes - currently about 80% done. The deck is now looking like it has a bad case of woodworm.

I can see that I am going to be very carful about inserting the correct fitting in the correct hole.

By far the most difficult holes to position were the aforementioned holes for the deck end of the hawser pipes. I used the hawser pipes mounted in the hull without the deck fitted to make a template and used this to mark put the position.

I drilled holes at both ends of the ellipse and opened these out and connected them with a needle file.

I am getting fed up with holes so may move on to something else for a break. I hope to catch up with all your builds over the next few days.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

Indeed, getting the hawse-pipes coming out at the right place is a challenge - guess how I know, what you are talking about

😏

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Always a very tricky piece of work, Keith. Looks like you've got it OK.

 

John

[KeithAug]

On 10/14/2019 at 7:41 PM, wefalck said:

guess how I know, what you are talking about

Yes Eberhard - you have to have done it to know how something as simple as a hawser pipe can turn out so tricky. All those compound angles make ones head ache.

On 10/14/2019 at 8:54 PM, Jim Lad said:

Looks like you've got it OK

Hopefully so John.

 

I wanted to get away from holes and I ended up doing even bigger ones. On the rear deck are 3 hatches. When I built Altair I somehow missed the deck hatches and when I realised it was too late to rectify. 

I carefully marked out the locations after establishing the positions from photographs. It took a bit of interpretation but I'm fairly sure about the result. 

Having marked the positions I drilled holes at the corners and widened these with a round file - the corners of the hatches have a circular profile. I then cut the sides carefully with a craft knife (supressing the worry that I would slip and wreck the deck).

I then laid up planks on a ply base and cut this up to form hatches. To create the definition at the edges of the hatches I glued black paper strips around the edge before insertion. The hatches are inserted in the next photo but not glued.

I then cut the notches to take the simulated hinges - to be installed at a later date. I then glued the hatches in place and sanded them back flush with the deck.

There are two further small hatches at the bow but I have only scant information on their shape and size. Only fragments of them appear on my photos. I think I will leave them out.

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by KeithAug

[michael mott]

Beautifully done Keith, You know you could probably get into marquetry.

 

Michael

[druxey]

Sweet! A very nice result, Keith.

[KeithAug]

On 10/16/2019 at 2:37 AM, michael mott said:

you could probably get into marquetry

Not sure about that Michael - I'm ok with straight lines but all those fancy curves are a bit too taxing.

 

Thank you Druxey.

[Dr PR]

Keith,

 

I have been following your build for some time and it is beautiful. I especially appreciate your attention to the fine details.

 

The subject of trunnels/trenails came up with the deck planking. You remarked that they didn't show in photos. I served on three ships with wooden decks in the 1960-70s. Two were wooden minesweepers and one a metal hulled cruiser. The wooden plugs over the bolts holding the deck down were not apparent unless you got down on your hands and knees and looked for them. The decks were holy stoned and bleached so all the wood was the same color.

 

One fellow commented that the wood the plugs must have been installed with the grain matching the grain of the planks. That is exactly the way the blueprints for the Cleveland class cruisers call for laying the deck planking!

 

The metal deck was sealed and tested for water tightness before the planks were laid. Threaded studs were welded to the deck and holes were drilled in the planking to fit over the studs. The holes were a loose fit over the studs at the bottom, and drilled wider above to accommodate a nut. The planks were laid in a thick film of rust preventative compound. After the nut was tightened the hole was filled with white lead and the wooden plug was driven in to fit securely. The wood plugs were of the same material as the planking, with the grain running the same direction as that of the planking. Then the plugs were sanded flush with the planking.

 

In addition to the ships I have served on, I have visited several historic ships and looked at photos of many more. The trenails aren't visible on any of them unless you look very closely. For this reason I don't bother putting them on ship models.

 

Horrors! Did I just speak ship modeling blasphemy!?

 

Note: there are exceptions. The deck on the USS Little Rock CG-5 (the last Cleveland class cruiser) museum ship was in very poor shape in the early 2000s. With no crew to maintain and occasionally holy stone the deck many of the wood plugs had risen above the planks, probably due to leaks and expansion of water in the holes as it froze in the winter. Since then the deck has been replaced - with artificial wood. I haven't seen it so I don't know if the original requirements for installing the plugs were followed.

 

So with a very poorly maintained ship the trenails might be visible.

 

But on your beautifully maintained Germania you can be forgiven for not installing the studs, drilling the planks, bolting them down and inserting plugs with aligned grain. None of it would be visible, not even to rivet counters.

 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Dr PR

[Jim Lad]

More beautiful work on those hatches, Keith.

 

John

[BANYAN]

That is some very nice clean work Keith, a pleasure following this build and learning some new ways to to do things.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[KeithAug]

John - thank you. Also thank you to everyone who has visited and liked.

 

20 hours ago, Dr PR said:

The subject of trunnels/trenails came up with the deck planking.

Phil - thank you for your very informative comments. It is difficult to know what they did on Germania but your explanation seems eminently sensible. 

 

16 hours ago, BANYAN said:

and learning some new ways to to do things

Pat - I think we all learn from one another - MSW really is a special place isn't it.

[KeithAug]

I'm still doing holes - this time various penetrations in the bulwarks.

You may recall that I had predrilled the plywood backing to the bulwarks so all I needed to do was extend the penetration trough the mahogany planks. Mindful of the possibility of splintering I drilled small holes from the plywood (inboard) side and then opened the holes with a file from the outboard side. The tape on the outboard side is in preparation for painting the inner bulwarks white.

 

The bulwark penetrations on Germania have reinforcing (anti chafing) rings around the edges. These rings look identical when viewed from both inboard and outboard.

I scaled the rings (2 sizes) from a combination of plan detail and photographs and then had a root through my "bits stock" until I found some eyelets which were pretty much spot on. My plan was to remove much of the neck of the eyelets and inset the shortened rolled over ends from both sides of the bulwarks. The neck needed to be shortened by more than half - to a length of .050". I needed to do this accurately and also needed to clamp the eyelets while cutting. The following sketch shows the cutting jig / clamp I made.

I cut the jig out of a piece of .5" x 1" bar. The webs are .050" thick one each for the smaller and larger eyelets.

With the eyelets in place the jig is held in the vice clamping the eyelets and allowing them to be cut and filed to length. 

I test installed the eyelets which turned out both neat and realistic, the butt joint being virtually invisible.

I now have all the eyelets cut awaiting installation later.

[Keith Black]

Spot on Keith! I love the jig, great problem solving. I'm most impressed by the fact that you managed to keep from crushing the rim of the eyes when clamped in the vise. 

[druxey]

A very neat solution to the problem, Keith.

[BANYAN]

Now that is a clever way of resolving that problem!  You were fortunate to find eyelets to the exact diameter you needed, which sure saved on some manufacturing.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[michael mott]

Keith it is such a pleasure watching how you solve some tricky fabrication issues, nice one on the eyelets.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

That, my friend, is going straight into the "tips and tricks" file, brilliant!

[KeithAug]

12 hours ago, Keith Black said:

you managed to keep from crushing the rim of the eyes

Keith - the soft jaws on the vice plus only light clamping pressure preserved the shape.

 

Druxey, Pat, Michael, Bedford - glad you liked it, sometimes the simple solutions take the most thought.

[michael mott]

On 10/20/2019 at 5:50 AM, KeithAug said:

sometimes the simple solutions take the most thought.

So true, and then when you see a solution by somebody else you think to yourself "why didn't I think of that?"

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Today I went off on a bit of a tangent. You may recall from earlier that I had simulated scuppers on the outside of the bulwarks. Photo below:-

I needed to create the matching feature on the inside of the bulwark as per the next photo.

The rim needs to be quite shallow - circa .007" thick. Plasticard seemed to be the sensible choice. I wanted all the rims to be identical so I contrived the following production method:-

 

I started by cutting the plasticard into a series of oblongs.

And these I stuck together using double sided sellotape.

I then went to the milll and drilled the internal corners of the scupper before removing the centre with a 2mm end mill.

I then cut the external profile on the table saw.

I then shaped the external corners with fine sandpaper before soaking in terps to separate.

I will simulate the hinges with thin plastic rod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

Now that is ingenious.  

[FriedClams]

Catching up on your build Keith and enjoying observing your progress.  As usual your work is well thought out and immaculately executed.  Thanks for sharing your work process in detail.  

 

Gary

[michael mott]

Nice!! I love all the different types of double sided tapes.

 

Michael

[wefalck]

Going to face the same problem soon, except that my portholes are only 3 by 5 mm ... have been tossing with various ideas, including etching and laser-cutting. The problem there is that I would like simulate the rivets at the same time ...

[KeithAug]

9 hours ago, wefalck said:

The problem there is that I would like simulate the rivets at the same time

Eberhard - could you use porthole eyebrows - 2 for each porthole.

 

I bought these more than 30 years ago - and they do have rivets.

2 together

Size

Any good? - how many do you need?

[KeithAug]

Thank you Mark and Gary.

13 hours ago, michael mott said:

I love all the different types of double sided tapes

Michael - yes double sided tape comes in very handy.

 

 

[wefalck]

Thanks, Keith, but I just realised, that I used the wrong term: wanted to say freeing-port, rather than port-hole. The freeing-ports on SMS WESPE have a rectangular, U-shaped frame that is rivetted to the bulwark. I was going to 'fake' the freeing-ports by glueing the lids onto the outside and the frames to the inside. In this way I do not need to cut out the bulwarks and weaken them. I gather at 1:160 scale this is an acceptable short-cut.

[KeithAug]

More forward progress since the last post. The workshop was cold today and rain poured down all day. The sort of day it would have been better to stay in bed.

 

I got fed up with drilling holes so got the paint can out. The rest of the deck holes can come along later.

 

The deck has been given 4 coats of clear poly and in consequence has darkened up significantly. The next photo is taken mid way through the 1st coat. 

The next sequence shows the deck at the end of the 4th coat. More coats still required.

 

I also had a go at the deck bosses for the bulwark reinforcing struts. 100 of these bosses are required - more on that topic in a later post.

I decided it was time to mate the deck with the hull. The deck has to follow the convex shape of the frames while taking on a slightly concave shape fore and aft. I had checked the deck flexibility while planking so I was fairly sure it would bend without breaking or cracking. I also knew that I would need a lot of pressure to hold it in place while fixing. To apply the pressure at the deck edges I manufactured a set of hold down beams with spreaders at the deck edges  The pressure was applied by many elastic bands. Liberally applied PVA glue was used to secure the deck.

[BANYAN]

That deck colouring looks great Keith.  The jig you used for shaping the deck is ingenious (simple and very effective-noted for future use ;))

 

cheers

 

Pat