Sultana by SardonicMeow - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[SardonicMeow]

The pumps on the Sultana are quite beautiful, particularly in the long curve of the handles.

Here is the initial 3D design.

I 3D printed parts, painted them, and tried them out.  They were good, but looked a little too tall.  Also, the interesting transition from octagon to square at the bottom wasn't distinct enough.  I revised my design and created a new set.  The old version is on the left, new is on the right.  The new pumps also have wire out the bottom to help hold them in place. 

Here are the pumps installed on the deck.

Edited February 6, 2020 by SardonicMeow

[yvesvidal]

You should negotiate a contract with Model Shipways to provide them with high-quality parts for some of their kits.

 

Yves

[Guest clipper randy]

yes !! this is what I am looking for- added bulkheads and  if possible to increase without too much distortion and consistant with given frames 

[Matt D]

The high level of detail you’re creating is incredible.  She’s a beaut!

[SardonicMeow]

Work on the details of the Sultana's hull is nearly complete.  Soon I will be moving on to the masts, spars, and rigging.  Here is what the Sultana looks like now.

Actually, that's the real Sultana back in December, when her masts were removed for maintenance.  The picture is from the video Winter Maintenance on SULTANA’s Masts.

 

Here is what my Sultana looks like.

Details that have been added include:

• Rope railing and white cover on the main hatch.  I was originally planning to omit these details, but the hatch looked too plain as it was.
• Metal, oval-shaped mystery hatch at the bow, port side.  Maybe for refueling?
• Box for storing propane gas at the bow, starboard side.
• Various eyebolts and cleats.
• Additional signage on the hatches and opposite the ladder.

The next steps include understanding and planning out the rigging, and making the figurehead.

 

[SardonicMeow]

I developed the figurehead in Blender, as I haven't been able to understand how to work in the sculpt environment in Fusion 360.

 

The legs were relatively easy, just a matter of drawing the outline as they intersect with the plane of the ship's stem.  Then I built the rounded form out.

For the head and body, I used the reference images to find contours and borders.  Working from those, it was a matter of building the form out, vertex by vertex, face by face.

After several restarts, I ended up with the best shape I could.

I included the shape of the ship's stem in the 3D environment, to confirm that the figurehead would work with the actual dimensions of the model.

The final 3D printed part was so small that many of the details of the 3D model were lost.  Oh well.  I painted and glued on the pieces.

It could be reasonably argued that using carved wood or clay or something else would have produced a better result, but I'm satisfied with my work here.

 

[SardonicMeow]

After a little hiatus, I'm back to working on my Sultana.  No much progress since my last update, but the lower deadeyes and chainplates have been added.

[Matt D]

Peter, it’s good to see your post, my friend.  I hope you’ve been well.  Your chain plates look great!

[SardonicMeow]

Thanks, Matt.  I hope you're doing well too.  I had a look at your Winchelsea build log and it's looking great.  You should be proud of your planking effort.

[SardonicMeow]

Time for some work on the masts.  For the mainmast I need...

 

An octagonal thing at the base.

 

And some cleats.

 

 

And the boom rest.

 

 

The mast was shaped, stained, and painted red at the bottom.  The parts from above were 3D printed in black and glued on.  Here is the base of the mast dry-fitted.

 

 

I did similar work on the foremast but discovered that the cleats were positioned too low, so that will need a redo.

 

[SardonicMeow]

All the cleats have been added to the foremast.

 

 

Yes, there really are more cleats on the foremast than the mainmast.  They handle the brails, foresail tack, and something else that I don't remember at the moment.  The picture below is from my visit to the Sultana in 2018.

 

 

The mast hoops were very simple to design.

 

 

A nice side effect of the 3D printing process is that the filament layers ended up creating a kind of simulated wood grain on the mast hoop pieces.  Adding wood stain onto the beige plastic makes them look convincingly wooden.

 

 

[Matt D]

That looks great, Peter.  It's really cool that you have pictures of the real thing to compare to and make it as true to life as possible.

[yvesvidal]

SardonicMeow,

 

You should offer a special add-on kit to the Model Shipways kit, with all the parts printed in 3D. The original kit would benefit greatly, from these very nice improvements that you are adding to your model.

 

Yves

[SardonicMeow]

On 10/25/2020 at 10:49 AM, yvesvidal said:

You should offer a special add-on kit to the Model Shipways kit, with all the parts printed in 3D. The original kit would benefit greatly, from these very nice improvements that you are adding to your model.

Thank you for following along, Yves.  I am very proud of the 3D printed parts I'm making.  At the same time, not always satisfied with the results due to the limitations of 3D printing, and I think others would feel the same.  My 3D printer can only produce a certain level of detail, which is often inferior to what a wooden or molded plastic part could be.  Even so, I would be happy to pass on any of my 3D model files to anyone who wants to use them.

[SardonicMeow]

I have been trying to think about what final details I can add to the model while it is still easy to do so.  Once the shrouds and other rigging is in place, it will be much harder to fix anything on the deck.

 

I stropped several blocks and lashed them to eyebolts on the deck.

The bitts were designed in Fusion 360.

And the bitts were glued into place.  I also created a piece to cover the area where the bowsprit disappears below the deck.

 

[SardonicMeow]

Some work on the bowsprit and jibboom has been completed.  Chocks were added to the bowsprit and sections were painted black where appropriate.  The bowsprit cap was 3D printed and an eyebolt was added to hold a block for the jibstay outhaul.

Here are the pieces dry-fitted.  It sure does look fragile.

 

[Matt D]

That looks great, Peter.  Did your 3D printed bowsprit cap look much different than the kit version?   

[SardonicMeow]

On 11/3/2020 at 12:45 PM, Matt D said:

Did your 3D printed bowsprit cap look much different than the kit version?

Here is a picture for comparison.  I included one of my 3D printed mast caps too (which hasn't yet appeared in my build log).  The major difference with the bowsprit cap is that mine has a parallelogram cross-section while the kit piece has a rectangular one.

Edited November 7, 2020 by SardonicMeow

[SardonicMeow]

The bowsprit cap was glued onto the end of the bowsprit.  I attached one heart and two deadeyes for the bobstay and bowsprit shrouds respectively.

I have been happy with some of my 3D printed parts and disappointed by others.  The 3D printed hearts have been one of the more successful ones.

I glued the bowsprit into place and tied on the gammoning.

Among the (many many) reference photos I have collected of the Sultana replica, the gammoning is sometimes white and sometimes black.  I thought that black looked better.

Finally the bobstay and bowsprit shrouds were attached.  The deadeyes hanging from the eyebolts on the wales will be used in the future for the jibboom guys.

 

[SardonicMeow]

I attached blocks and line for the tiller.  This was my first time using the Syren 2mm blocks.  Manipulating them and threading line through them was a big challenge.  There are some other areas of the ship that call for these small blocks and I'm not looking forward to it.

 

[Matt D]

 

1 hour ago, SardonicMeow said:

This was my first time using the Syren 2mm blocks.  Manipulating them and threading line through them was a big challenge

 

Well they sure look nice, so I'd say it's worth the effort.  

[SardonicMeow]

The anchors have been added.  I'm mostly satisfied, but in hindsight, I feel that a thinner anchor cable would be better.  (I used the .045 miniature rope as in the Sultana practicum.)

 

[SardonicMeow]

The ship's bell can be found on the back of the mainmast.

These cleats on the bulwarks are for the foremast running backstays.  There is no way I will be able to reach them once the shrouds are in place, so I attached some line and left a length sufficient (I hope) to rig the backstays later.

Here is a picture of that particular cleat on the actual ship.

Finally the masts were glued in and the trestle trees on top of them.  The mainmast trestle tree has a platform for the radar.

Here is the 3D design for the trestle tree.

Next time, the shrouds.

 

[yvesvidal]

4 hours ago, SardonicMeow said:

Next time, the shrouds.

 

Are you going to 3D print the shrouds, too? Just kidding of course....

 

Yves

[SardonicMeow]

Here is the method I have been using for seizing.  I think I found this in the build log of Jersey City Frankie's Niagara, though I am unable to find that build log anymore.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Tie thin thread at the point where the ropes join and secure with a tiny drop of CA glue.
2. Cut off the loose ends of the thread.
3. Use a tiny drop of CA glue to attach a small strip of black crepe paper and wait for it to dry completely.
4. Using a mixture of 50% white glue / 50% water, dampen the crepe paper strip and wrap it around the ropes.

There is a 3D printed solution to every problem.  I was thinking about how to get the correct spacing of the deadeyes, and came up the with part pictured below.

Here are the spacers at work.  (The upper deadeyes are oriented incorrectly in this picture, but were turned the right way later.)

All the deadeyes were seized to the shrouds following the method described above.

Now it's time to thread the lanyards.

The greatest challenge at this point is the small space between the lower deadeyes and the side of the hull.  In order to fit the lanyard line through the lower deadeyes, I cut short a thin beading needle and bent it into a semicircle.  The final state of the poor abused needle, after all the lanyards were threaded, can be seen below.

All the lanyards have been threaded but not yet tightened, so they are not yet in their final, properly spaced positions.  But this is a good stopping point for this build log entry.

 

 

 

[Matt D]

That’s a neat idea for spacing the deadeyes, Peter.  Nice work on your shrouds.  So is there no rope other than the first thread before the crepe paper?  Do you have a close up photo?

[SardonicMeow]

Right.  The single thread at the beginning really just serves the purpose of holding the ropes together so a little CA glue can actually bond them.  The crepe paper covers the glued spot, and both adds strength to the bond and adhesion, since it's saturated in the diluted glue.  I have tugged at the seizing points and they are held together well enough to endure some abuse.  At 1/64 scale (and probably 1/96, 1/128, etc.) it's an effective illusion of seizing and much easier than seizing with thread.

 

[SardonicMeow]

All the lanyards have been tightened and the sheer poles have been added.

The next logical step is to run the ratlines.

 

Yes, the ratlines are definitely the next thing that should be done.

 

I have never done ratlines before.

 

I'm really intimidated by the ratlines.

 

An so, to avoid doing the ratlines, I worked on the boom and gaffs.  First, of course, a few 3D printed parts.

The dowels for the boom and gaffs were cut and formed.

And all of it was glued together and painted black.  Also pictured is the jib boom which I worked on a little while ago but haven't pictured here before.

 

[Matt D]

It looks great, Peter!  Your 3D printed dead-eye spacers did an excellent job helping you get those shrouds up with perfect spacing.  
 

That’s funny - I put off rat lines too.  But I did it by leaving a perfectly good kit on the shelf and building an admiralty style model instead.  They look tedious for sure.  I’m sure you’ve read dozens of build logs to find a good method, and I’m looking forward to seeing your winning approach to them.

[SardonicMeow]

The ratlines are complete.  Quite a time-consuming operation.  It took me... wow. What year is this?

 

As shown below, I printed out a spacing guide and used chalk to mark the location of each knot on the shrouds.

 

 

Here's a shot with all the ratlines done.  Note the gaps in the ratlines.  Those will be addressed in the next update.