Fannie A Gorham by cdrusn89 - FINISHED - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1/96

[cdrusn89]

To the best of my knowledge this is the first build log on MSW for this kit.

 

Here is the apparently obligatory first picture of the kit box on the work bench.

 

Given the season I will probably not get to much done in the near future 🎅

[cdrusn89]

Upon opening the box I found (somewhat to my initial surprise) that this kit includes a pre-carved hull. I then remembered seeing that referred to somewhere in the BlueJacket's documentation. So here are the kit contents which include a significant number of Britannia metal parts including the yawl boat.

 

It is my intention to replace the metal blocks with Syren wooden ones and the metal yawl with a wooden one though at the moment I am not sure exactly how.

 

Having looked at the pre-carved hull and instructions for a minute I also though about cutting the bulwarks off on the main deck, adding the timberheads and bulwark sheathing as separate items. I guess I could try to thin down the provided bulwarks and if that proves unsightly (or I get carried away and make them too think somewhere) I could use this as my "Plan B".

[MrBlueJacket]

Some people cut off the bulwarks and replace them with1/16" plywood. Personally I think it is easier than trying to thin the carved bulwarks.

 

Nic

[cdrusn89]

Nic,

    Thanks. I also thought about taking the whole hull down an extra 1/32" and planking it to get the plank lines in the paint. I saw someone do that with the Smuggler in Model Ship World a few years back.

Edited December 1, 2019 by cdrusn89

[GrandpaPhil]

When I built Sultana, I used a chisel tipped X-Acto blade to thin the bulwarks.  It’s no where near as difficult as it sounds.  It sounds worse than it is.

Edited December 1, 2019 by GrandpaPhil

[cdrusn89]

I have ordered some 1/16 birch plywood from Northeast Scale Lumber as preparation for Plan B should that be necessary.

 

In the mean time I scanned in the hull profile drawing as a picture, cropped to just one half of the Hull Sections, imported two copies into PowerPoint (I have my 100K slides badge for PowerPoint and have not yet mastered Photoshop or TurboCAD) and flipped one copy horizontally and married the two to get an image with the forward sections on both sides. Then I printed it and compared the dimensions with the original. It took half a dozen iterations but I finally got both the copy and original the same size on paper (remember to turn off the "scale to fit" which at least on my printer/PP is on be default) both vertically and horizontally.  Then I repeated for the aft sections.

 

Now my plan is to print half a dozen copies of each, rubber cement them to pieces of file folder, cut out (and label) each section and use them as templates as I work the hull to the correct dimensions (at least in theory).

 

I have to do something similar to get a copy of the hull profile but since that drawing is bigger than my scanner bed I probably will have to use something besides PowerPoint. Luckily my prin ter will handle 11 X 17 paper so printing the hull profile will not require taping pages together.

Edited December 1, 2019 by cdrusn89

[Blue Pilot]

That is a beautiful ship.  I have looked at that in BJ catalog many times.  I think I will pull up a chair on this one.  Interesting discussion on the bulwarks. I will have to make the same decision on my Smuggler build.  I am trying to decide how best to make templates.  Your idea looks brilliant!  I don't have the computer skills to do the same.  My power point skills begin and end with watch slideshow.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Blue Pilot

[cdrusn89]

Welcome aboard Mark. I built Smuggler in 2010 (my first "real" ship model) and used a Dremel sanding drum to get the bulk of the material off the bulwarks. The issue is where the bulwark and deck join. The sanding drum does not reach that very well unless you keep the sanding drum just off the end of the supporting drum and that ruins sanding drums really fast and does not do a very good job. I finally resorted to Xacto knives of various configurations and folded sand paper. It came out okay in the end although I did sand thru at a couple of points near the bulwark/deck join. That was before I started taking pictures during construction (and before I was aware of MSW).

[cdrusn89]

I used the "Stitch" feature of the scanner SW (Canon Image Garden) to combine the two haves of the hull profile into a single image. The SW has no "smarts" (i.e. look for horizontal lines on both halves and align them) so I had to adjust the second image (by moving the paper on the scanner) what seemed like a hundred times (probably more like 15) to get the two haves lined up. The SW saves this as a .pdf file which I will print out (and compare to the original) when I find where I have stored the 11 X 17 paper

Fannie Hull Profile 1.0.pdf

[ccoyle]

1 hour ago, Blue Pilot said:

That is a beautiful ship.  I have looked at that in BJ catalog many times.

Same here. There are not a lot of >2-masted schooner kits on the kit market, and I think that BJ offers the majority of them. When Wyoming comes out, it will probably be a super-majority. Now they need to turn their attention to a 3- or 4-masted barkentine (hint hint, Nic).

[cdrusn89]

Yikes, is a Wyoming kit in the works? I would have a hard time NOT buying that one, especially since I was at the Maine Maritime Museum and saw their Wyoming display this past summer. At 1/8" scale that would be longer than the 1/35 Endeavour that I just finished (though no where near as tall - the Endeavour is over five feet from cradle base to top of mast).

[cdrusn89]

After cutting out the profile it appears that the first order of business on the hull is to get the stern closer to what is required in order to get the template to at least approximate what the stern area should look like. I think this might be easier done before I mount the hull in a vise.

 

So that is what I am going to do now. Take my Dremel drum sander to the stern area to remove what looks like where the hull blank as attached to whatever was used to carve the basic shape.

Edited December 2, 2019 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

While watching football this evening I glued the hull section drawing that I printed out onto file folders (blue for aft, yellow for fwd) ready to cut out once I get the hull closer to a configuration where I can use the templates.

[cdrusn89]

 

I took one of my copies of the hull profile (I checked it against the original and it is an accurate representation) and glued it to a piece of cardboard (from the kit box) and used that as a template. I had to cut it in two as it appears the hull is a bit longer than necessary.

 

I worked on trying to get the stern to a shape closer to what the hull profile calls for and got it pretty close.

 

I would be inclined to add some filler to the keel area or add some material to the keel piece(s) that will be added later to close the gap at the bottom.

 

Having seen that the hull was too long for the profile I decide to see just how much too long. I set up the hull on the profile (from the kit, not a copy just to be sure). I used a ruler to align the bow with the drawing and a carpenters square to mark the stern of the hull. It looks like the hull is about 19mm (~ 3/4") too long.

 

Now, what to do about it??

 

 

 

 

[Blue Pilot]

You are moving fast.  Looks good.

[ccoyle]

4 hours ago, cdrusn89 said:

Now, what to do about it??

Fudge. No one will notice, and I won't tell. 😉

[cdrusn89]

I got tired of working the stern (which appears to need a lot of work) and switched to the bow. Along the way I took the instructions advice and screwed a 7" piece of 1 X 3 into the hull so I could clamp it in the wood working vice.

 

I got the stem piece from the kit and used it as the template for the bow. Does not make any sense to use anything else (assuming I don't break it somehow).

 

First I used the Byrnes disk sander to get the bow to a straight line below the bulwarks then used a 60 grit sanding sticks for the "heavy lifting" and a 180 grit when I got close.

 

When I had the profile correct I drilled a set of .024" holes in the stem and put pieces of .020 phosphor-bronze wire in the holes to hold it in place while I traced the edges on the hull.

 

Next task is to bring the hull edges to the pencil marks so they form the hull/keel joint. I may put a little taper on the hull side of the stem to serve as a rabbit if I decide to plank the hull over the solid. It will not be much as I plan on using 1/32 thick planking if I go that route.

[cdrusn89]

Mark - house guests are gone and the cleaning crew finished up so there is n o reason not to "get to work". Besides it is going to be cold here tonight, like 45 - Brrrrrr.

 

Chris - I certainly do not intend to sand 3/4" off the hull. When I get the stern and bow shaped correctly I will measure again (although I doubt there will be much change).

[cdrusn89]

Once I got the bow more or less finished I followed the instructions and moved on to Station 8 - amidships, the extreme beam according to the hull sections.

 

I got it pretty close (see below) and here is an idea of how much material was removed. My guess is 3-4mm (~0.1"). I am going to leave some material in excess of the templates since there will clearly be somem "ovewrall" hull sanding to be done when the templating is finished.

 

Moving on to stations 9 and 7

Edited December 3, 2019 by cdrusn89

[Blue Pilot]

Those templates are really nice.  I like the way you did those.

[cdrusn89]

Mark - the file folder works okay, especially where the tumble home makes the template narrower at the bulwark then at the deck. Easier to get onto the hull than something stiffer. In a perfect world I would have these and a half set (just one side so getting it on the hull is no problem) in something stiffer, like 1/16 plywood.

[MrBlueJacket]

On 12/2/2019 at 10:57 AM, cdrusn89 said:

Now, what to do about it??

 

This has caused us some concern. Investigating it, it appears that back who knows how far, someone shrank the hull profile  a bit to fit an 11 x 17 sheet for convenience. We will be changing it to the correct dimension. If you use the deck layout, the hull fits perfectly.

 

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Nic - I had to check every time before I printed something as my printer defaults to "scale to fit paper". I made three copies of the hull sections before I noticed they did not "look right".

 

I am taking Chris Coyle's advise and "fudging it".

[cdrusn89]

I worked most of the day on the hull fwd (stations 1 - 8).

 

I believe I got it pretty close. There will still be some "overall" sanding with 120, 220 and 320 grits once I am satisfied that the hull is "close" to the templates.

 

Here are some overall shots and with templates 3,4 and 6 in place. Template 8 was in yesterday's post.

 

Now more fun with the stern stations.

 

Still considering planking the hull and cutting off the bulwarks. I ordered some Caldercraft 6mm wooden pillars. I am not real crazy about the Britannia metal ones in the kit. I have never had much luck getting them to look good painted. When I have used Britannia fittings I blackened them but that would not look so good in quarterdeck railing.

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Thinking some more about planking over the solid hull. When I did Endeavour I essentially planked over a solid hull as I filled the spaces between the bulkheads with balsa wood and then sanded the balsa down fair with the bulkheads. It was easier than the typical plank on bulkhead planking since you could use push pins to hold the planks to the balsa at almost any point where it was required. Of course that was at 1/35 scale and the objective was a hull without the planks showing. The full scale Endeavour had a metal hull.

 

For Fannie I guess I could use 3/32" wide planks - 9" at scale if I did the math correctly which is a pretty reasonable width for ship, side planking. Or so I have been lead to believe by the books on the subject I have.

 

I do  not have enough 3/32 X 1/32 basswood (or any other variety of wood for that matter) so I will either have to mill it myself or buy it.

 

I have yellow cedar that I got from Syren for the Endeavour deck that I could mill to that size. Anyone have experience with using Alaskan yellow cedar for hull planking? I finished it with Min-Wax on Endeavour, how does it take paint?

 

[GrandpaPhil]

If you have a Hobby Lobby or Michael’s near you, the basswood sheets are only a couple dollars.

 

I buy a lot of mine from the craft stores.  The other thing is that the wood pillars are pretty easy to carve yourself if you wanted to try.

 

I accidentally found out that I have a lot of fun making pieces like that.

Edited December 4, 2019 by GrandpaPhil

[cdrusn89]

Phil - thanks we have both within a few miles. I will check them out. I have serious doubts about my ability to turn out 30 wooden pillars in a consistent enough manner to look presentable - especially at this small size (I measured the Britannia ones, they are 4.7mm tall excluding the locating pins so at 6mm I will need to trim them down a bit).

 

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Ah, okay.  I see.  Making 30 at that size would be annoying.

[cdrusn89]

Rather than continue aft from station 8 I decided tom start at the stern and work forward. It appears that there is na good deal, of material, that has to be removed at stations 15 and 16.

Based on my experience with Endeavour which had significant curves leading to the fin keel I used a piece of plastic pipe (1/2" in this case, larger on Endeavour) and 60mgrit sandpaper wrapped around it to remove the area along side of the skeg.

 

I got stations 15 and 16 pretty close on the port side and in the picture below you can see how mach material has to be removed. This side was all done with sandpaper and elbow grease. Now that I can see what it should look like I am going tom use my Dremel tool with the 120 grit sanding drum on the flexible drive to get closer to the final configuration before I resort to sandpaper.

 

You might notice that in forming station 16 I seem to have gotten part of the transom "mis-shaped". The kit includes a laser cut piece that becomes the transom so I think this area will be covered and not be a problem. I will be more careful on the starboard side.

[cdrusn89]

After a brief panic when I realized that the templates I was using for the hull were from the "reduced" plans sheet I redid them using the hull sections on the "real" drawings (the one that matches the hull perfectly as Nic showed in his post) and actually they showed I had more material to remove. So I did that and believe that subject to one m ore check at the bow I have the hull sanded down to a reasonable match with the plans. I finished off with 400 grit sandpaper and wiped it down with paint thinner.

 

Now it is decision time. To plank or not to plank and remove bulwarks or not. I am leaning to removing the bulwarks if for no other reason that trying to cut out the scuppers without tearing up the bulwarks. If I use 1/16" plywood I will have less fear of splitting the wood trying to make the scuppers (and there are 15 opportunities for disaster on each side). That and removing the bulwarks makes getting the camber on the fore deck much easier.