Swallow 1779 by tlevine - FINISHED - 1:48 scale

[Roger Pellett]

Sticking 100’s?, 1000’s? of these tiny copper discs on with CA glue is a nasty job.  I just recovered from several days of plugged up sinuses after using CA glue to assemble some metal military miniature figures.  As an ENT Dr.  You probably know the precautions to take.

 

Roger

[tlevine]

Roger, that is why I was hoping the adhesive-backed copper would have worked out.  And it did until I applied the finish.  

 

As I mentioned yesterday, I have finished the hull planking.  It still needs final sanding; that will occur after I have all the holes for the bolts drilled.  The wale become rather the worse for wear over the last several months so I sanded it down and applied a veneer of holly.  It will be painted with black artist acrylics after I have finished installing the bolts to prevent any further damage.  I will also be replacing the decorative strip for the same reason.  The pencil line at the stern represents the future location of the fashion piece, my next project.

I have drawn up the locations of the bolts and secured it to the building board.  These rows will be transferred to the hull and then the drilling will commence.

 

 

 

 

[G.L.]

Very good job, Toni.

I am following your log with most interest because I have also some clinker hull projects waiting in my drawer.

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up, Toni.  Looking very nice indeed.

 

John

[tlevine]

The fashion pieces are next.  As mentioned in a previous post, I did not realize that the model would require them.  I did not see any indication for them on the plan and the museum model was built without them.  Having been shown the error of my reasoning...  My construction technique would have been different.  At a minimum, I would have made the aft bulhead double to allow for the cutback of the hull planking. 

 

The fashion piece is very difficult to fabricate because of the compound curves.  Bending the wood with heat (both dry and wet) was unsuccessful.  They were carved from a solid blank of pear.  I drew the fore edge of the fashion piece onto the hull planking and using a chisel, removed the aft end of the planks.  As alluded to above, the width of the fashion piece was limited by the need to provide support for the hull planking. In the pictures, you can see the amount of planking which was removed on the starboard side.  Also visible are pencil lines indicating the hull frames and the #77 holes for the bolts.

The transom planking was removed and new planks were installed after the fashion piece was in place.

After I was satisfied with the appearance, I made the one for the port side.  This entire process took approximately 20 hours.  The final tapering of the hull planks into the fashion pieces will be done along the the final hull sanding after all the bolt holes have been drilled.

[dvm27]

Well done, Toni! That took a lot of guts to do at this point. I've been spending time looking at small contemporary models with square tucks and many of them have the fashion pieces. Something I never noticed until David Antscherl pointed it out.

[druxey]

That was a helluva way to achieve the fashion pieces! Well done, Toni. Cutting back the hull planking neatly and in a straight line must have been nerve-wracking. If you ever need to do that on another model the two-part fashion piece is so much easier (see The Hayling Hoy book, pages 12 and 82, if you have a copy). When complete, the 'cheat' is completely hidden.

[tlevine]

Greg, it took me a long time to bite the bullet and cut off the planking.  But we are all a little bit crazy, aren't we...  Druxey, if there is a next time, I will plan for the fashion piece from day one, not after most of the planking has been finished.  The Hayling Hoy is the only one of David's books I don't own.  Now I have a reason to complete my collection.

 

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Hi Tony,

 

a really wonderful buildlog and a beautyful model. It was a pleasure to read through your log. The fashion piece is really tricky. It took me also a litttle time and some hints from druxey, until I understand how it works.

[tlevine]

Thank you Christian.  And thanks to everybody for the likes.  Now is the tedius process of drilling the rest of the bolt holes and final sanding before starting the rove and bolt installation.

[allanyed]

Hi Toni

Sorry to be so late to the party, but I am here and have enjoyed catching up.  Regarding the fashion pieces, once again one person's challenge becomes another lesson for the rest of us.  Kudos

Allan

[tlevine]

All of the holes for the bolts have been drilled.  I then gave the hull a final sanding with 400 grit.  Time to start the process of installing the bolts and roves.  For anyone unfamiliar with the term, think of a rove as a washer, preventing the bolt head from digging into the planking.

 

The process (so far) is as follows:

   1.  make the roves,

   2.  attach the roves,

   3.  sand the roves,

   4.  insert the bolts

   5.  file the bolts

   6.  go batty from doing this several thousand times.

 

1.  I tried several different types and thickness of copper to make the roves, including self-adhesive copper designed for printed circuit boards.  The self-adhesive copper worked perfectly until, on a trial piece, the adhesive failed with application of the finish.  It might have worked with acrylic finish but I have never used one that I liked.  So I decided upon 0.002" copper sheeting for the roves and 16 gauge copper wire for the bolts.  This fits snugly in a #77 drill bit hole.  All my holes were drilled with resharpened carbide drill bits.  You need a steady hand because any twisting will cause them to break but they drill a consistently sized hole.  I get mine at Drill Bit City.  They run about $1 apiece.  The roves are made with a 1.25 mm hole punched typically used in the jewelry industry.  Mine were purchased at Rio Grande.   https://www.riogrande.com/product/swanstrom-1-25mm-hole-punching-pliers/111785

2.  I tried various adhesives to attach the roves.  Medium viscosity CA worked the best for me.  To prevent bleed onto the wood, I dip the back of the rove onto a drop of CA and then wick the excess off on a piece of paper before applying it onto the hull.  Once they have dried, I pierce the rove for insertion of the bolt.

 

3.  Next, I use 400 grit sandpaper to gently sand over the roves.  This smooths out their appearance and lets me know which ones were not securely attached.  The first picture is before sanding and the second is after.

4.  I hardened the copper wire by stretching it and then inserted it into the hole.  The fit is tight and only a few holes needed supplementary adhesive, in this case PVA glue.

 

5.  Even though I used a side cutter, the end of the bolt needed to be filed flat.  In the following picture, one can see all of the steps.  From left to right, sanded roves, bolts, filed bolts and unsanded roves.  The effect of filing is subtle in the photo but is more obvious in real life.  

 

6.  What you see here took three hours.  So if you don't hear from me for the next month, you will know why.

 

 

 

[dvm27]

Very nice Toni! I admire your desire to make everything yourself. I might have purchased the copper rivets and roves from Scale Hardware https://model-motorcars.myshopify.com/products/rivet-1-8-mm-head-diameter-copper-k109?_pos=4&_sid=f8b163f3f&_ss=r but perhaps they're not small enough.

[druxey]

An impressive start with steps 1 to 5 repeated. Try not to achieve step 6, please, Toni! See you in December....

[tlevine]

Greg, the bolt is only 0.5 mm (scale 1") in diameter and the rove is 1.25 mm, so their rivets would be significantly oversized.  I will definitely try not to achieve step 6.  But if I act strangely at the Annual Meeting, you will know why.

[shipmodel]

Hi Toni - 

 

You've achieved a really nice solution to a tricky problem.

When I tried to make metal foil roves I completely failed and fell back on paper saturated with glue.

It was for the Gokstad ship, so the roves would have been iron in any case.

 

I could not tell from the photos.  Are the roves on the inside or the outside of the hull?

 

Great work.  Thanks for sharing.

 

Dan

[Jim Lad]

A very nice solution, Toni!

 

John

[druxey]

Um - usually roves are on the inside over which the nails are clenched.

[tlevine]

Druxey, then what is on the outside?  I have drawings showing roves both under the bolt head and internally, where the bolt is clenched.

[druxey]

From Wikipedia:

With copper or iron rivets consisting of a square nail and a dish shaped washer called a rove. The land is pierced, the nail knocked through from the outside, the rove punched on while the head is held up by a dolly (a small portable anvil, usually of cylindrical shape). The nail is cut off just proud of the rove and the cut end clenched over the rove while the dolly is used to hold the nail in place. In planking up clinker work, one man can hold both dolly and clenching hammer.

 

From Steel's Naval Architecture:

CLINCHING or CLENCHING. Spreading the point of a bolt on a ring, &c. by beating it with a hammer, in order to prevent it drawing.

[tlevine]

So what I am doing is wrong, if I understand this correctly.  There would only be a square copper head visible on the outside of the hull?  Is Goodwin incorrect in his depiction of interior and exterior roves or was that technique specific to Alert?

[druxey]

Unfortunately Goodwin's Alert volume has a number of issues, this being another that I hadn't picked up on before. As far as I know, the rove is what tightens up the connection as the nail point is hammered back over it. There is a leverage effect. Perhaps a search of clench construction online might - um - clinch the issue for you!

Edited November 17, 2020 by druxey

[kurtvd19]

Toni:

Contact Cole Seskind as he purchased Roger Cole's Alert model.  If they show on the outside I would follow Roger's work - if they are not on the outside I would put my money on Roger having the right answer.  He didn't do things halfway.  Roger gave me one of the 6 copies he did up documenting his work on that model - unfortunately it grew legs some time ago...

Kurt

[tlevine]

That was really bad, druxey.  I guess that I should not have relied on just one source.  I have not found any other sources that confirm Goodwin's approach.  Thank you, Dan for bringing this to my attention.  In a way this is a blessing.  Those little copper circles are a pain to install.  I just hope I can remove them (and the adhesive) without causing any damge.  To say that I am not in the mood to replank the upper four rows would be an understatement.  

[tlevine]

Thanks, Kurt.  I will ask Coleman at the meeting tomorrow night.

[dvm27]

Here is a link to an article Roger wrote. There are hi-resolution photos and I'm betting you're not going to like what you see. But it's a beautiful model.

https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/BuildingAlert.pdf

He also published articles in the NRJ regarding planking and coppering: “Clenched-lap Planking Over a Framed Hull,” Nautical Research Journal, Vol. 44, No. 4; and “Coppering a Clenched-lap Hull”, Nautical Research Journal, Vol. 45, No. 1.

Edited November 17, 2020 by dvm27

[tlevine]

Thanks for the article, Greg.  He obviously did not follow Goodwin's drawing.  

 

Happily, I only had four rows completed.  They are gone now.  I used so little CA to apply them that with some sanding, no glue marks have been left behind.  

[druxey]

I had a conversation with N. Roger some years ago around the time he was rigging Alert. He pointed out to me the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in Goodwin's book. Part of the issue, in his opinion, was that several artists had been involved in the illustration work. As an example, he said that the angle of the stern post is different in different drawings! I checked and, sure enough, this is so. The angle on pages 52, 58 and 84 is demonstrably greater than on pages 46, 56, 66 and 78.

 

I rest my case, m'lud.

[tlevine]

Lesson learned, sir.

[druxey]

Don't believe everything that you read or see, Toni - including posts from me! No-one is infallible.