Miss Caroline by Bedford - Scale 1:8 - model of my full size build

[Jim Lad]

What a little beauty, mate!

 

John

[vaddoc]

Large scale small rowing wooden boat, what a fun project! And very nicely done!

[Bedford]

There's more to come but I think it will slow down now because I have to make a lot of fittings before I can build the sailing rig

[KeithAug]

Bedford - The finish is absolutely exquisite - wonderful job.

[Bedford]

The rowlock bases are made and fitted, it's moments like this I really wish I had much smaller and more accurate machining capabilities.

I was able to do some on the machine thankfully but the final shaping was done by hand and even at this scale the bases are too small to drill all the screw holes and fit brass nails as screws but after fitting them I realised I could have just drilled small holes and put the shaft of the pin in to represent the screw heads. Too late now.

 

I drilled a 1.5mm hole down through a piece of 3mm brass then used the Dremel cutting wheel in the mill to open the hole up then using the same wheel I cut that edge off the stock and into 6mm lengths for the pivot holes which were then soldered to two layers of 0.25mm brass plate bent at right angles then soldered together to give the 0.5mm thickness required. 

 

Next onto the rowlocks themselves

 

[G.L.]

Nice metalwork, Bedford.

[Bedford]

Thanks, I've now pulled the pins and reduced the size of the heads so it looks better. The pics made them look huge!

[Mark Pearse]

Hi Steve,

 

lovely work, & it's great how a model is every bit as fascinating as a full sized boat. I'll be following along with great interest for the rest of the ride.

 

PS If you are interested, the Balmain Regatta Sunday week has a waterman's boat event, I'm entering & launching across the bay at Woolwich....be in touch if you are interested, we could meet & row across together

 

all the best,

Mark

[KeithAug]

Nice work on the rowlocks - particularly given your lack of machine tools, fine work indeed.

[Jim Lad]

Very neat looking metalwork!

 

John

[Bedford]

13 hours ago, Mark Pearse said:

PS If you are interested, the Balmain Regatta Sunday week has a waterman's boat event, I'm entering & launching across the bay at Woolwich....be in touch if you are interested, we could meet & row across together

 

all the best,

Mark

That sounds interesting but I'm crewing Waratah that day. 

 

I am however taking the boat to the Davistown regatta this weekend

[Bedford]

I'll let the pics talk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2019 by Bedford

[Mark Pearse]

a great result Steve, very delicate

[Bedford]

That took 4 hours Mark and it isn't polished yet!

 

Hopefully now that I've worked out the process the remaining three will be quicker to make.

 

When I sail I tend to row out then set sail so I sail with forward rowlocks in the stowed position and the aft ones in the working position so I might display the model that way because I intend to put the sailing rig on her.

[wefalck]

Nice way of doing the row-locks from the solid. Not terribly material efficient, but good for keeping small parts under control.

This is one reason for which I built my small milling machine with dividing head.

[KeithAug]

Bedford - Nice work on the rowlocks. I find ER collect blocks make the job much easier when you need to flip work over and mill from both sides - you might want to consider.

[druxey]

Very impressive; I'll order a dozen!

[Bedford]

1 hour ago, KeithAug said:

Bedford - Nice work on the rowlocks. I find ER collect blocks make the job much easier when you need to flip work over and mill from both sides - you might want to consider.

Thanks Keith, I was unaware of those but a quick google and I think I'll be buying some!

[Bedford]

1 hour ago, druxey said:

Very impressive; I'll order a dozen!

At $20 an hour, and that's cheap here, that'll be $960 for the rowlocks and $240 for the bases!

[druxey]

Perhaps I'll reconsider....

[Bedford]

Well I was right, now that I've worked out how to make the rowlocks it became quicker, 1 hour each but they still need a touch of sanding

 

[wefalck]

Yes, collet-blocks are very useful. I had one for my watchmakers lathe collets for many years.

I think the ER ones are also available 6-sided.

[KeithAug]

11 hours ago, wefalck said:

are also available 6-sided.

Eberhard is correct.

[Bedford]

I've now made some eye bolts for her, I used the same manufacturing process as the rowlocks but these are much smaller.

 

The eyes in the transom breast hooks are what I attach the mainsheet horse to when sailing and I attach steering blocks to them when motoring.

 

[michael mott]

Exquisite work on the oarlocks Steve.

 

Michael

[Bedford]

Thanks Michael, on the rowlocks/oarlocks, I had the full sized boat in the Davistown putt putt and wooden boat regatta on the weekend and while maneuvering for the start of the grand parade the master of the heritage ferry Protex called out that he loved the rowlocks and where did I get them?

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by Bedford
Trying to upload a pic of Protex but can't

[KeithAug]

On 10/22/2019 at 8:30 AM, Bedford said:

I've now made some eye bolts

Steve what size are your eyebolts please - Outside diameter will do. I have a load to make at 1/8" outside diameter and I sort of wondering what might be possible.

 

[Bedford]

Keith, my eye bolts are 1/8" O.D.

 

I cut the various O.D's for the pin, base and eye then drove a "V" into the stock at either end of the eye to give the rough shape then just used a small file with the lathe running to round it out. After the milling and drilling I filed it more to shape using the drilled hole as a sight guide. After cutting it off the bar I held it in a pin vice to finish the shaping.

[Bedford]

The chain plates and stem head fitting are now done, the chain plates were cut from 1mm brass plate while the stem head fitting was revealed via the mill from a solid brass off cut from a part I made for the real boat

 

 

[wefalck]

I like this description ".... while the stem head fitting was revealed via the mill ..." - reminded me of the joke, where an old lady asked a sculptor, whether it was difficult to sculpt a lion. The man responded: "Quite simple actually, Madam, you just take a big block of marble and knock away everything that doesn't look like a lion" ...