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

[KeithAug]

12 hours ago, wefalck said:

Was it only soft-soldered ?

Yes Eberhard. The wire is quite thin (.031") and would melt if I tried silver solder. I thought it might work but the few pounds of tension on the stays was too much for it. However i do have a fallback plan.

 

8 hours ago, Jim Lad said:

beautiful bottlescrews, Keith.

Thank you John.

[KeithAug]

A quick update. I solved the "U" bracket attachment problem with some small split pins that i had in my bits box.

They are made from .040" x .020" rectangular strip.

 

 

 

I inserted the "U" bracket into the eye of the pin and then filed off the corners of the legs so they would fit in the .040" bore of the turnbuckle. I glued the legs into the bore and it is now much stronger.

 

My wife finished the netting some months ago, now i just need to attach it. But not until the model is complete enough to move out of the workshop.

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

That netting is a work of art in itself, Keith. Congrats to your good lady. Glad you've solved the turnbuckle problem as well.

[michael mott]

Nice solution for the bottle screws Keith.

 

Michael

[KeithAug]

Thank you Druxey / Michael. Also thanks to everyone for the likes.

 

I have been bitting around recently, Doing some of the mini jobs I missed out on the journey so far.

 

On the bulwarks 12 belaying pins are mounted, I toyed with the ideal of ignoring them but in the end I couldn't.

 

 

 

 

They are not terribly obvious and I guess most casual observers will miss them.

 

I had also missed a number of eyebolts on the jib mountings (annoying to make when setting up to do just a few).

 

 

 

I then moved on to stepping the masts - always a bit tricky to get the verticality and rake spot on.

 

Before installing the deck I had glued an extension to the keel to create a "tenon" to accept the mast foot. I had intended slotting the bottom of the mast but in the end went for a more sophisticated solution.

 

I turned a piece of dowel to fit the hole in the deck and into the end of this machined an oversized slot to fit over the tenon. I drilled an axial hole through the dowel and into this fixed a .312" brass rod of some 15 inch long. I then levelled the hull and set up the laser level to get the vertical. I then shimmed the slot with offcuts until I got the athwartship verticality correct. This achieved I marked the rake on the workshop wall and sighted against this line to set the rake angle. Adjusting the rake was simple as the slot was able to slide on the tenon. I applied wood glue to the slot and this gave me plenty of time to tune the rake angle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The whole exercise was then repeated for the second mast.

[druxey]

Brilliant stuff as usual!

[BANYAN]

Keith, your metal smithing skills and clever solutions for making 'things' never cease to amaze.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Jim Lad]

Superb!

 

John

[allanyed]

Keith

Your build log continues to be my all time favorite!!!  

What are your plans for the model when she is complete?   If you mentioned this earlier, my apologies for asking.  

Can't wait for the next post!!

Allan

[KeithAug]

Thank you Druxey, Pat and John.

 

On 10/9/2021 at 2:29 PM, allanyed said:

What are your plans for the model when she is complete? 

 

Thank you for your comments Allan. I'm not entirely sure. I sort of think it should go to my granddaughter when she grows up as it includes some of her baby photos. However my daughter has eyes on it for her new house. I think it will sit on a lounge table for a while (maybe years) waiting for a decision on its final resting place.

[mtaylor]

4 hours ago, KeithAug said:

Thank you for your comments Allan. I'm not entirely sure. I sort of think it should go to my granddaughter when she grows up as it includes some of her baby photos. However my daughter has eyes on it for her new house. I think it will sit on a lounge table for a while (maybe years) waiting for a decision on its final resting place.

Better just to hang onto it and tell them "I'm thinking about it." when they ask.  No point in starting a knock down, drag out fist fight at this point.   Sadly, I've seen those fights among relatives over the years.   

[KeithAug]

On 10/15/2021 at 10:31 PM, mtaylor said:

Better just to hang onto it and tell them "I'm thinking about it."

Agreed Mark!

 

A minor manufacturing jobs done this week together with one complicated and frustrating task.

 

Starting with the job. With the temporary metal masts in place the next job was to make the boots.

 

I had decent photographs from which to produce the drawings. The only difference between the two boots was the difference in the mast diameter.

 

 

 

The boots are canvas but at model scale material does not work well so they were made from painted wood. They were made in 3 parts with an intermediate aluminium disc to simulate the clamping band.

 

 

Then came the frustrating task of sorting out the locations and designs of the various mast bands for both masts.

 

Unfortunately when it comes to masts photographers don't seem to find them very interesting. The photographs I have are therefore indistinct and confusing. The plans don't really help with anything other than the locations of the intersections of the rigging lines. Trying to interpret the photos did my head in but in the end I think I got it about right. I now have loads of sketches which I hope I can understand when I come to use them. I have included a selection below/

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

After all those spider band sketches you are still sane, Keith? That must have been quite a job figuring them out. Nice boots, BTW!

[BANYAN]

That last full length top view of her really shows the quality of your build Keith; that is some extraordinary detail you have included.  A feast for the eyes!

 

cheers

 

Pat

[FriedClams]

Nice to see your updates again Keith.  Very fine modeling as always and I like your method for truing the masts.  Clever.

 

Gary

[KeithAug]

Druxey, Pat, Gary - thank you all for your comments.

 

Last week I made the hinges for the goosenecks. I did the sketch on the whiteboard (a handy addition to the workshop).

 

.

Complicated little pieces to make, they were milled from .250" square brass bar using the sides and face of a .125 diameter end mill. The through holes are .062" diameter. The outside curves were filed using filing buttons.

 

 

 

I then moved on to making a start on the masts. I have sized all the masts and spars, 11 in all excluding the bowsprit which is already made and fitted.

 

 

The fore and main mast were made from mahogany dowel. Having cut 2 lengths for the main and fore masts i marked the positions for all the mast hoops. I then drilled each position with a through hole of .040"diameter so that the position wasn't lost during further machining operations.

 

 

 

I calculated a series of cylinders to give me the correct taper and then machined the cylinders on to the mahogany dowel, The mast lengths are longer than I can cope with on my lathe so I took the tailstock apart and used an oak bush in the bore as a steady.

 

 

 

With this set up I machined the cylinders. Once done the steps were removed by sanding to produce a smooth taper.

 

 

The 2 masts were drilled axially to fit over the steel bars previously installed in the deck.

 

Once stained and finished the masts were positioned on the steel bars to see what the looked like.

 

 

[wefalck]

It the precisely shaped pieces like the hinges that really make the difference !

[Jim Lad]

That's looking fairly reasonable, Keith! 

 

John

[michael mott]

Lovely work as ever Keith. I like the way you have the quick tool holders set up at the back of the lathe, slotting them onto the wood holders makes good sense.

 

Michael

 

[KeithAug]

On 11/2/2021 at 1:49 AM, michael mott said:

I like the way you have the quick tool holders set up at the back of the lathe,

Hello Michael - yes and it was very quick to make. It saves a lot of time looking for the holders particularly if I keep them in the same order. I always find I have 2 holders less than I need, but when I but 2 I am still 2 short. Thank you for the comments.

 

John / Eberhard thank you and thanks to everyone for for all the likes.

 

And so to the mast bands. At deck level I have fairly good images of the various mast fittings, but as I raise my eyes to the heavens everything becomes a little vague. The following series of shots gives a feel of what I am dealing with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The images gave plenty of scope for interpretation - which I don't really like. However I pressed on regardless.

 

I can't make the manufacture of bands very interesting - mostly it is matter of turning internal and external diameters with small radial holes (for eyebolts) being machined on the mill. The most interesting part was sorting out tube stock, near enough in size to minimise waste. Where I didn't have appropriately sized tube my box of redundant brass plumbing fittings came in handy,

 

 

 

It wasn't an inspiring task so when a slightly more complex band presented itself it was a bit of a relief. `Such was the case with the dual band at the bottom of the main mast. Here two bands are connected by a vertical strip. I started with a 1/2 inch plumbing connector which I bored out to the desired internal diameter and then glued to a wooden spigot.

 

 

The outside diameter was then turned before moving to the mill with a vertically mounted rotary table. Using an end mill I cut away the unwanted walls.

 

 

The various radial holes were then drilled.

 

 

The application of a little heat broke the superglue bond and allowed the part to be removed and checked on the mast.

 

 

That is it but for now but I do have all the bands for the main and fore masts so the next post may be a little more interesting.

 

 

 

[druxey]

Nice plumbing conversion, Keith!

[Keith Black]

Keith, clever work and the band turned out great!

[KeithAug]

Thank You Druxey and Keith.

 

At the risk of boring everyone I am proceeding with the mast fittings.

 

Starting with the brackets for the main mast gooseneck. 2 brackets are mounted on separate bands to form the attachment points for the hinge. These were machined from .312" square section bar using end mills.

 

 

 

The brackets were rounded using a file. The hole in the front edge takes a location spigot.

 

 

 

 

 

They were then soldered in place.  Small lugs were also attached to simulate the flanges on the band.

 

 

 

The equivalent fitting on the fore mast has a horizontal axis for the hinge unlike the main mast which is vertical. It isn't obvious why the main and fore masts are different in this respect but interestingly the same discrepancy was also a feature of Altair. Does anyone know why this is so?

 

Again the bracket was machined from .312" square bar using end mills and a bit of filing.

 

 

 

 

I then went on to make and mount the mast bracket for the spinnaker boom.

 

 

 

 

I then moved up to the brackets for attaching the top masts. These are quite indistinct on photographs but they seem to be square externally. See arrow.

 

 

I made these from .5" x .125" brass rectangular section bar (more end milling).

 

 

 

Because of the taper on the masts the hole to curved edge web distance has to be different thicknesses  for the lower and upper brackets. This is necessary to make the axis of the top mast parallel with the axis of the lower mast. You can just about see the difference in the above photo. The two pairs are slightly different in size matching the difference in diameters of the main and fore masts.

 

The next photo shows the brackets with their matching bands.

 

 

Once again the parts have location spigots as seen in the next photo with the parts assembled ready for soldering.

 

 

With the brackets soldered they were test fitted to the mast with a steel bar representing the upper mast.

 

 

The workshop is starting to feel a bit colder - 10c (50f) today. I was feeling a bit cold after 4 hours. I may need to break out a second jumper.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by KeithAug

[Keith Black]

8 minutes ago, KeithAug said:

At the risk of boring everyone

 

 Fat chance of that happening, you have a captive audience. Keith, lovely work as always. 

[wefalck]

Well, these tours de force in brass-work are never boring !

 

Perhaps the horizontal hinge for the fore-boom is to allow it being topped-up ?

 

I admire the resistance of you Brits - with 10°C only my workshop would have closed already for hibernation ... 🥶  ... We whimpish continentals were brought up in heated schools and with long trousers.

[Jim Lad]

Suck beautiful blacksmithing, Keith!

 

John

[wefalck]

Goldsmithing, John !

[druxey]

Boring? Hardly. Your step-buy-step is most instructive. Lovely work, yet again. Break out the winter woolies now, Keith!

[BANYAN]

Couldn't agree more with the previous correspondents Keith - you black (sorry gold) -smithing  and especially the way you approach each piece is always worth viewing.  In the words of that cheeky young mite , " Please sir, can I have some more".

 

cheers

 

Pat

 

 

[Mark Pearse]

10 hours ago, KeithAug said:

The equivalent fitting on the fore mast has a horizontal axis for the hinge unlike the main mast which is vertical.

Hi Keith, do you have a detail photo?