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

[vaddoc]

Fantastic metal work Keith but the net indeed is a step further. The more I look at it the more difficult it looks...

[KeithAug]

I finished a couple of deck bits off over the weekend before commencing the manufacture of loads of stanchions.

 

Firstly the final cowl vent went in. It is mounted on a small box structure and sits well forward on the bow.

 

 

 

A deck board sits between the pair of skylights. I made the top solid on 4 transverse planks and then used a slitting saw to form the top planks.

 

 

 

I counted up the stanchions and came up with a requirement of about 80. Quite a lot I thought. They are turned from 1/16 inch brass rod as per the attached sketch.

 

 

I wanted to make the task as easy as possible so I created the following jig.

 

 

 

The spaces and fillets were supposed to control the position of the cutting tool and to be fair they did. Unfortunately running the rod within the jig badly scored the un-necked part to the rod and I wasn't satisfied with the finish.

 

Plan B involved making a "2 jaw chuck" and a tailstock support (The lathe chuck won't hold anything less than 3/32 inch diameter rod.

 

 

 

 

With this set up I was able to set the distance between the new chuck and the tailstock and then use these fixed points as  reference for the subsequent turning operations.

 

 

 

Then it was just a load of repetitive manufacturing operations.

 

 

 

 

Now I just have to cross drill 160 .025" holes.

 

[KeithAug]

Meanwhile the hired help is plodding on.

 

 

She is complaining about the difficulties of keeping track of the bobbins. I did a rough count - she seems to have about 70 on the go and all seem to need to be operated in sequence. a bit of a knotty problem so to speak.

 

 

But she is making progress. 

 

 

We both have our covid jabs booked for Friday - I hope your turns come soon.

Edited February 16, 2021 by KeithAug

[wefalck]

I don't want to belittle your work, but I quite admire that of your wife - perhaps technically not too challenging, but certainly a challenge to keep track of the movements of the bobbins ...

 

France is slow in rolling out the jabs, at least for the Pfizer-BioTech or Moderna ones, which seem to be more effective. Will have to wait until early summer probably.

Edited February 16, 2021 by wefalck

[Keith Black]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Firstly the final cowl vent went in. It is mounted on a small box structure and sits well forward on the bow.

 

 Keith, is that the cowl for the head? Your work is beautiful as always and aren't women amazing creatures. Their ability with thread, yarn, spinning, weaving, and quilt making trips my noodle. God certainly knew what he was doing when He created them as our helpmates. I know I would be cast adrift if it were not for my wife. Your wife is doing lovely work on the netting.......hired help indeed, lucky if you get supper. 

[KeithAug]

2 hours ago, wefalck said:

I don't want to belittle your work, but I quite admire that of your wife

 

Eberhard - Thank you, I keep telling her she is developing a fan base.

 

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

Keith, is that the cowl for the head?

 

Keith, i don't think so. You can see from the following plan that washrooms are positioned centrally in the crew accommodation area. I think the area below the vent is for sail stowage. Presumably it is ventilated to dry stuff out.

I think my wife sees me as the helpmate. In hierarchy terms I come after the dog.

 

[Bedford]

Keith, wives can be very helpful can't they, my ex used to do a lot of quilting and although she didn't make the sails for Bluenose II, the only static model I've put sails on, I knew the tricks needed like cutting on the bias from watching and learning and her machine had all the right attachments to make it easy right down to a foot that let me stitch the bolt ropes on easily.

 

The Australian govt has taken it slow and steady with the vaccine because we haven't been in dire need so it has been thoroughly tested and the Pfizer and Astrazeneca have both now received full approval and the shots will be starting soon. I believe we are making the Astra here as well.

 

 

[FriedClams]

Just catching up Keith.  Beautiful work on the cowl and stanchions, which I have naturally come to expect.  And the netting your wife is making is lovely and mind boggling. 

 

On 2/16/2021 at 2:18 PM, KeithAug said:

She is complaining about the difficulties of keeping track of the bobbins.

 

I can't imagine why.

 

On 2/16/2021 at 5:16 PM, KeithAug said:

In hierarchy terms I come after the dog.

 

There is something oddly comforting about knowing ones place on the list.  Sometimes it's comfort enough just to be on it.

 

Gary 

[michael mott]

Hi Keith, looking at the stanchions will you be changing the thickened portions to the bulbous shapes after you have drilled the cross holes?.

Stanchions are a b@%%er to make. I remember what a difficult task it was on the Albertic.

 

Nice work on the cowl

 

Michael

[Retired guy]

I am also catching up on your brilliant project Keith and wow what eye candy that was just love the detail you add 👍

 

Regards

Richard

[KeithAug]

On 2/19/2021 at 2:15 AM, michael mott said:

Hi Keith, looking at the stanchions will you be changing the thickened portions to the bulbous shapes after you have drilled the cross holes?.

Hi Michael, although Germania has spherical thickened sections on the stanchions a lot of modern yachts have thickened sections which are cylindrical. I prefer the aesthetics of the cylindrical design and they have the advantage of being easier to make. Without the advantage of photographic magnification it isn't very obvious anyway.

 

On 2/22/2021 at 10:31 PM, Retired guy said:

I am also catching up

 

Thank you Richard, I periodically look at your bluenose but she seems to have been going slowly of late. Shipyard labour problems I assume?

 

Edited March 4, 2021 by KeithAug

[KeithAug]

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted a build update. The weather went from very cold to quite warm almost overnight prompting work on tiding the garden ready for spring. In consequence the shipbuilding suffered.

 

I did manage to drill all the stanchions with either 2 or 3 x .025" holes depending on their purpose. A piece of a kitchen cutting board was used as a soft jaw to prevent damage.

 

 

A couple of hundred holes later:-

 

 

The stanchions fit into circular brass bosses on the rail. These bosses were made as brass washers from 1/8" rod.

 

 

The rail needed to be drilled with .062" diameter holes to take the stanchions. The depth of drilling needed to be controlled to prevent the drill breaking through and damaging the hull. I made a stop for pressing over a 1/16" drill bit.

 

 

The stanchion positions were marked out on masking tape attached to rails and then the positions were hand drilled using my home made drill press.

 

 

 

 

The stanchions were a press fit in the rail so they were tapped home with a pin hammer. Once installed a .025" length of rod was passed through the stanchion top hole and the stanchion was rotated until the hole aligned with the rail.

 

 

 

With the stanchions in place and correctly orientated a drop of CA glue was placed at the base and a washer was passed over to simulate the rail boss.

 

[FlyingFish]

Great work Keith - the drill press is interesting - how did you make the ratchet on the stem?

[FlyingFish]

...and  is that curtains in the windows I see? Immaculate detail.

[allanyed]

Keith,  Any possibility you could please move to SW Florida and give classes?   I would be your first student, and probably the oldest as well.

Allan

[Keith Black]

 Keith, neat clean work as usual. Are going to home run the wire railings? 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Keith Black

[KeithAug]

On 3/9/2021 at 8:47 PM, FlyingFish said:

how did you make the ratchet on the stem?

Flying Fish the stem is made from a broken camera tripod, it  already had the rack and pinion. Thank you for your comments on the build.

 

On 3/10/2021 at 12:04 AM, allanyed said:

Any possibility you could please move to SW Florida

Allan, My wife doesn't like the heat and I am a bit nervous about the alligators.

 

On 3/10/2021 at 12:32 AM, Keith Black said:

Are going to home run the wire railings? 

 

Keith - I think I will take it a base at a time. 

 

Thank you to everyone for the visits and likes.

[druxey]

Drilling for the stanchions must have been a bit nerve-wracking! Lovely result, though, Keith.

[KeithAug]

On 3/11/2021 at 12:43 PM, druxey said:

Drilling for the stanchions must have been a bit nerve-wracking

 

Druxey - more laborious than nerve wracking. I think the professionally made ones are very expensive but I can see why.

 

At a number of positions the stanchions have a bracing strut - hence the third hole in some of them. The drawing is a guide rather than exactly what I made.

A couple of experimental ones are displayed in the photo.

 

 

I figured that to get them identical I needed a jig.

 

 

I had a fair number to make, 12 in all. They are 0.6" high.

 

 

I needed to accurately space the holes in the rail so I made myself a little drill guide.

 

 

As per the other stanchions the braced ones were pressed in to slightly undersized holes with brass washers at their base held by a spot of CA glue.

 

 

At the fore and aft ends of the stanchions the grand wires are attached to eyes mounted on the rails. The eyes were turned and milled as previously described.

 

 

Tensioners are attached to these eyes - simulated from micro tube and wire.

 

 

 I used 0.017" beading wire for the guard rails. The wires were looped at the ends trough ferrules made from .031" bore micro tube.

 

 

At 4 positions on the rail are openings for embarkation / disembarkation. These are protected by chains. I had some very fine jewellers chain which was ideal (except that the holes were so small I couldn't see them). The pin in the photo is .025" diameter and is only marginally smaller than the chain.

 

 

A bit of a fiddly job to mount but with perseverence and profanity I got it done.

 

 

 

 

I cant complete the rials abreast the fore and main masts until I have completed the standing rigging.

 

Hopefully I will make better progress this week.

 

[Kevin]

Stunning work Keith

[Keith Black]

 Photos 10 and 11 are indeed stunning and very believable.  Keith, brilliantly executed!

Edited March 21, 2021 by Keith Black

[FriedClams]

The tensioners are a nice detail - wonderful work Keith!

 

Gary

[vaddoc]

Keith, simply wonderful. Indeed every piece you make is a model on its own. Lovely!

[Moab]

WOW! I'm out of superlative words...Moab

[michael mott]

Very nice Keith, sometimes it is easy to forget how small a lot of these details are, because you have executed them so well.

 

Michael

[Omega1234]

Hi Keith

 

Just catching up at long last.  Oh..My..Gawd!!!!  No words, Keith.  Simply no words can sufficiently describe your work.  It’s THAT good.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick 

[druxey]

What he said, Keith. First rate work on the rails.

[KeithAug]

It has been quite a while since I last posted. The easing of lockdown regulations made catching up with family feasible and this plus various garden jobs led to little available time for boat building. What time I did get was quite disjointed and this didn't help progress. Thank you Michael, Patrick and Druxey for you comments and thank you to everyone for the thumbs ups.

 

I made the 4 fairleads from a solid piece of brass bar .500" wide by .125" thick.

I drilled a series of .0625" cross holes and then removed the central webs with a jewellers saw and needle file.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The square edges were then rounded off and the resultant piece was removed from the bar.

 

 

 

 

I glued this piece to a scrap of wood and slit off 4 fairleads .080" wide.

 

 

A bit more filing to round the edges and then the base flange was drilled to take the mounting bolts and the roller.

 

 

The rollers were turned and then the fairleads were mounted on the rails.

 

 

I then  moved on to the turnbuckles of which 21 were required. 16 for the mast shrouds, 3 for the bowsprit braces, 1 for the forestay and 1 for the mainmast brace.

 

I started with a sketch. I proposed to make the body in 3 parts, two identical conical sections each with an integral collar and an axial .04" hole. The 3rd piece was a .080" length of tube to create the central boss. I then made one to check that it looked ok.

 

 

 I then proceeded with the manufacture of the next 20.

 

 

 

The elongated eye was bent from .040" wire using a bending jig.

 

 

 

 

The eyes were closed with soft solder.

 

 

I then moved on to making the Y shaped section for the other end. I am part way through this but I don't like the results so may have to have a rethink.

Edited April 28, 2021 by KeithAug

[TBlack]

Nice work and gives me an idea. but I thought they are turnbuckles on this side of the pond and bottle screws in the old country. Did I get that wrong?

Tom

[BANYAN]

Great to see you back in the workshop Keith; I have missed your updates. 

 

Another fine example of your techniques, machining skills and execution mate, they look great.

 

cheers

 

Pat