Cazador Jabeque / Xebec by Katsumoto - FINISHED -OcCre - 1:60

[Katsumoto]

Thank you for the nice comments guys! I’m truly honored! 😀

[Katsumoto]

Chapter 14 - Woodcarving continues

In this update I'll continue with carving. This time the upper part of the bulwark aft.

It starts with a drawing of the design. Because the pattern repeats itself over and over again, I only needed to draw a section.

 

 

I made a cardboard template and drew the outlines on a piece of wood. With my bandsaw I sawed a slide of 3mm. It need to be thinned down to approx. 2mm. However this is for later. 

 

 

 

 

A dry-fit of the wooden part, just to be sure my measurements are fine...

 

 

Before we start with carving, the outline has to be cut out. Because of the small size of the carving, I couldn't use my scrollsaw and used my Proxxon / Dremel and my needlefiles.

 

 

 

Another dry-fit...

 

 

Time to carve. I'll start with the flowers, then the "C" parts. The three flowers on the right are done for the first step. (first step is to carve the depth and the shape) Step 2 is carving the details. 

 

 

It will take some while to do both sides of the ship but luckily there is no deadline... 

To be continued,

Peter

[BobG]

1 hour ago, Katsumoto said:

Step 2 is carving the details. 

 

Being able to carve such a small, delicate and intricate pattern is amazing, Peter! It may take a long time but it will certainly be one of the finest details on your model and it will make your model very special indeed.  

 

What tools do you use to do the carving at this point? Do you use a rotary, engraving tool with tiny bits?

[Katsumoto]

I took a picture with better lightning, to show the depth a bit more.

@Bobg, I use a Pfeill tools and also a Proxxon Rotary tool with micro bits as well...Indeed it's very small and fragile. 🙂

 

 

 

[BobG]

6 minutes ago, Katsumoto said:

Pfeill tools

 

I searched for these tools on Google and can't find them. Do you have a link for these tools?

[Katsumoto]

13 minutes ago, BobG said:

 

I searched for these tools on Google and can't find them. Do you have a link for these tools?

 

There are different sets with different sizes...

Amazon.com: Pfeil : Linoleum and Block Cutter Set of 6 Tools : Set B : Tools & Home Improvement

[yvesvidal]

You have such patience, it is incredible.

 

Yves

[Katsumoto]

5 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

You have such patience, it is incredible.

 

Yves

 

I think all we ship modelers have a lot of patience... 🤪

But thanks Yves, it's much appreciated! 👍

Edited February 14, 2022 by Katsumoto

[Katsumoto]

Mini tutorial - woodcarving part 1

 

So along the way I got some questions about carving, which tools I use and how I do it. First off all, it's not only the tools.
It's a combinations of the right tools, the right type of wood, a very good drawing and some insight how to carve. Experience and skills do help as well... 😅

 

 

You have to start somewhere so I tried to find stuff about woodcarving. Well, guess what. Most of the material I have found was about carving on a big scale like make a bear out a log with a chainsaw or carving a human form, leaves or animals with expensive chisels. None of it that really comes close to the scale we ship modelers have to work on. 
However I found one document of a fellow ship modeler "modelshipwright" or Bill Short, also a member of this forum, who made a very good and detailed document of how to carve with a rotary drill. I believe he uses an oldschool dental drill with beltdrive.

 

Again seeing experienced French model shipbuilders using "Boxwood" to carve the smallest details into, I figured out just to try it, buy the wood and tools and experience a bit. This was a couple of years ago, and this is what I want to share with you.

 

First of all let's get the obvious out of the way and you perhaps question yourself which tool is better, handtool or rotary tool? Well there isn't really a "better" tool only your personal preferences counts. This topic isn't a contest to see which one is better, (I know you Americans out there loves a good contest or two 😛) but a comparison of both to show you that you can get the same result with both tools. 🙂

 

I'll hope you find this tutorial helpfull, there was some time involved to make it...

 

Carving with handtools

I'll start with the handtools. I use wood gouges of the Pfeil brand. They are very small Lino wood gouges which comes in different shapes and sizes.
You can get them online at various webshops. There are of course a lot of brands selling micro gouges. I just like the shape of the handle, it fits my hand perfectly compares to others.

As you can see in the picture below. I have a couple selected. I have a choise of more than a couple because I really love the gouges, however for this tutorial I use only two of them.

 

 

So, I'll show you step by step how to carve a simple flower. As always you need to do the following prior to carving.
1) Make a good drawing on scale

2) Select a piece of wood and shape the wood so it can accept your drawing

3) take away the excess of wood so only the outline of the piece to carve remains.

 

When you did all that, time to carve!

Find the deepest point and the highest point. In my case for this flower, the center of the flower is the highest point and also the edges of the leaves.
The deepest point is just around the center part of the flower. So, I use a half round gouge to start from the highest point of the leaves and carve into the wood in the direction of the center. Be sure you don't cut away the center!!!

 

 

 

After this step, your reference lines / drawing is gone. So for the next step is to re-draw the lines you want to remove for the next step.

 

 

The next step is to carve on the lines you just drew, only the shape of your object guides you in which direction you should work.
For this instance in need to separate the leaves from one another. The line is wide and deep on the edge of the leave and becomes thinner and shallower in the direction of the center. So I start from the center en work towards the edge and I use a different gouge with a "V"shape.

 

 

 

Next step is again to draw your lines to carve...In my example the line that divides the leaves into three sections. 

 

 

To carve these lines I use the same gouge as the step before with a "V" shape. Again from inside towards the edge of the leave.

 

 

When finished with carving, it's time to clean-up the work. You can use some fine grid sandpaper, a sanding pad, a polishing disk etc etc.
What you want to achieve is to soften the hard lines and to smoothen all the details a little bit. It will improve the overall appearance.

 

 

For this tutorial with handtools, I did not fixate my work piece. It is however a preferred way to do so. You're working with very very sharp tools and you do not want this into your fingers, believe me. Second, when your piece is securely fixate to your workbench, cutting mat etc, it's much easier to operate your tools with both hands. You can use double sides tape to fixate your piece. You can also use a mild glue. It depends on your preferences again. 

And last but not least, to quote Norm Abraham "the most important safety rule is to use "these" (pointing at his glasses) safety glasses". You don't want a chip of wood into your precious eyes.

 

Next part will be part 2 where I use my Proxxon rotary tool to carve the same flower. Different tool, different technique, same result! 

 

Cheers,
Peter

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Katsumoto

[Katsumoto]

Mini tutorial - woodcarving part 2

So I'll use this post to show you guys how to carve the same flower only using a different tool and to be more precise a rotary drill.
I've used a Dremel, it broke down. Changed it to a Proxxon recently and to me it's all the same and does the job fine.
So, do not fixate to much on brand but more on what's available and how the handle lies or fits into your hands. It's again a personal preference.

Some of the users prefer a old school dental drill, the one with belt drive. Again, it's up to you!

 

 

With a rotary drill, you need bits. Please use good ones made out of strong hardened metal. You only need a few so it is wise to spend your dollar / Euro etc on good bits. I use a medium to low RPM to carve. With sharp bits you'll get through the wood easy as a hot knife through butter and you don't burn your bits.

 

 

Again the same preparations are in order prior to carving as with is mentioned with the handtools.

 

1) Make a good drawing on scale

2) Select a piece of wood and shape the wood so it can accept your drawing

3) take away the excess of wood so only the outline of the piece to carve remains.

 

When you did all that, time to carve! With a rotary tool, you need to use a different technique, but you can follow the same steps as with hand tools.

Find the deepest point and the highest point. In my case for this flower, the center of the flower is the highest point and also the edges of the leaves.
The deepest point is just around the center part of the flower. So, for my example I use a pointed bit to carve a circle on the deepest point.

 

 

 

With the first two steps, your lines are gone. You need to redraw the lines for the step you want to execute. 

 

 

 

When finished with the previous step, your lines are gone again. So you need to draw the lines for you next step.

 

 

 

When finished with carving, it's time to clean-up the work. You can use some fine grid sandpaper, a sanding pad, a polishing disk etc etc.
What you want to achieve is to soften the hard lines and to smoothen all the details a little bit. It will improve the overall appearance.

 

 

This is the end of the second part of this tutorial. Maybe you want to try woodcarving? I would say, give it a go and perhaps you will like it.
I think it will enhance your model and personalize your model ship more.

And last but not least, to quote Norm Abraham "the most important safety rule is to use "these" (pointing at his glasses) safety glasses". You don't want a chip of wood into your precious eyes.

 

Good luck with yours and perhaps you will show it here on this forum as well. I'm looking forward to it. 
If you have any questions related to this tutorial, please feel free to comment in my buildlog or send me a pm.

 

Cheers,
Peter

 

[BobG]

Thank you so much, Peter, for taking the time to write and illustrate how you do these wonderful carvings. I've never done any carving at all but I would like to take a try at it someday.

 

How do you securely hold such a small and fragile piece of wood without breaking while you are carving?

[Katsumoto]

18 minutes ago, BobG said:

Thank you so much, Peter, for taking the time to write and illustrate how you do these wonderful carvings. I've never done any carving at all but I would like to take a try at it someday.

 

How do you securely hold such a small and fragile piece of wood without breaking while you are carving?

try double sided tape! 

[Katsumoto]

Chapter 14 - Woodcarving continues part 2

 

One side done, the other side I'll start this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Katsumoto]

Chapter 14 - Woodcarving continues part 3

In this update I'll like to show you 3 vertical pilars I've carved out of boxwood. The pilars have a leaf motif. Between the last and the middle pilar I need to carve a frame with a flying eagle on it. It will be a difficult one. Also I need to carve some decorations around the round gunports. These are for later...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really appreciate your support, likes and comments! Thank you for following my log! 😀

Pter

[BobG]

Stunning work, Peter! It's amazing how good the carvings are and they make the model look so much more realistic.

[Theodosius]

Thank's for your how-to-carve! 🙂

[Katsumoto]

Chapter 15 - Woodcarving continues part 4

 

Hi guys,
Ouch, I was searching for my log....it was on the third page. Guess a new update is in order. 😛
I had some obligations towards my family and I was occupied by my job, so you had to wait for this update. Thank you for your patience. You guys are rocking it with all the new posts in your logs. Keep it going! 

In this update I'll continue with some carving elements on the side of the ship. I made a new design for the frames around the gunports. Somehow the laurel wreath didn't do it for me. Second I made the panels and third I made the carving for the back panel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still not done, but I'm getting there....one step at the time..... 

If you're here reading my log, thank you and please leave a comment if you like.
Until next update,

Regards,
Pete

[BobG]

I'm amazed every time I see your carving, Pete. Fantastic work!

[Louie da fly]

That's beautiful carving, Pete. I've tried doing it with a drill but I haven't had a lot of joy with it. Partly because my bits keep going blunt. I think this is probably a combination of inferior bits, lack of experience with these drills, and trying to take off too much wood with the drill, rather than remove a lot by other means first.

 

Possibly also because I'm making 3 dimensional figures rather than "friezes" (again, trying to take off a lot of wood at once). I find I end up going back to the old standard No. 11 scalpel blade. But it does show the facets from the blade if you look carefully enough.

 

 

Steven

[Katsumoto]

1 hour ago, Louie da fly said:

That's beautiful carving, Pete. I've tried doing it with a drill but I haven't had a lot of joy with it. Partly because my bits keep going blunt. I think this is probably a combination of inferior bits, lack of experience with these drills, and trying to take off too much wood with the drill, rather than remove a lot by other means first.

 

Steven

If you're using a drill, keep it on a low RPM. When the RPM is high, your bits become very warm / hot and the metal looses it's hardness quickly. The same is when you use too much pressure. The result is a dull bit. So, low RPM and let the tool do it's job for you. Do not take too much wood at a time. With 3d figures use a saw / scrollsaw to shape the profile of the figure.
So sideview and front view. The rest you can do with chissels or your drill. Patience is a virtue my friend....😉

 

Thanks for the reply, your figures looks very nice tho, don't give up, keep going! 👍

Edited March 14, 2022 by Katsumoto

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, I'll take your advice on board. Certainly, I think I've both been having the revs too high (not sure if I can adjust them to be lower) and pushing too hard.

 

No carving on the agenda for the moment anyway, but I'll keep this in mind.

 

Steven

[Katsumoto]

On 3/14/2022 at 10:37 AM, Louie da fly said:

Thanks, I'll take your advice on board. Certainly, I think I've both been having the revs too high (not sure if I can adjust them to be lower) and pushing too hard.

 

No carving on the agenda for the moment anyway, but I'll keep this in mind.

 

Steven

You're welcome! I'll have to do a figurehead which is a 3d sculpture for this ship. I'll shall make some more pictures during the process and perhaps this will help you on your next "project" 🙂

[Katsumoto]

As from now on, my log has been moved to the right era 1501 - 1750 in the buildlog era's. Apparently I made a mistake and somehow started this log a while ago in the 1751-1800 era.  

 

Thank you @James H for helping me out and moving the log to the right era! 🙂

[Katsumoto]

Chapter 16 - Correcting the stern and placed the rudder

It's been several weeks since my last update on Cazador. Well, sometimes work and family takes up all my time and so the ship had to wait.
However, I found some spare minutes last week and made some progress on Cazador. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to shoot pictures of the building process and for that I'm sorry. Next time I'll keep in mind that the creative fabrication process is one of the most appealing things to watch.

The things I've done so far is remodeling the part where the rudder meets the hull. The kit had it wrong so I needed to correct this before attaching the rudder to the ship. I replaced the plywood with walnut and copied the original piece with these "notches". I removed the wood between the notches and placed a solid walnut piece in between. Much better if I may say so....
Also carved some more items and placed these on the stern of the ship.

 

 

 

After this I attached the rudder and finally applied the Danish Oil on the outside of the hull and the inside of the bulwarks. Time to pop the texture of the wood out. I love this moment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you guys like the progress, next time I'll make some photo's of the fabrication process, promise! 😉

Cheers!
Pete

 

[Baker]

Very impressive work 👍

[BobG]

Beautiful, Pete!

[bruce d]

Really like the look you have achieved with contrasting wood and painted pieces. The carvings are impressive, hoping for more images up close.

Bruce 

[Katsumoto]

Thanks for the likes, loves and comments guys. Much appreciated! 

 

@Baker thank you! 😀

@BobG thanks Bob. 👍

@bruce d I like the colorscheme as well. It turned out okay so to say. Always a gamble when you try something new. I shall make some more pictures up close of the carvings, but a few posts back a lot of detail photo's are allready posted. 😉

[Katsumoto]

Working on the gun carriages

Hello guys,

Last weekend I continued to work on the fabrication of the gun carriages. I needed to make 20 in total and already made two previous examples.
So, I opened the production line and get started. First step is to cut some Limewood strips to length. I use a simple strip cutter from Amati. Second is to model all the individual parts like sides, axels, wheels etc. For that I use my knife and needle files.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next update will show all pieces ready!

Pete

[Katsumoto]

Hi guys,

I'll continue with the gun carriages. This time I fabricated all wheels. I use two different diameters on the wheels. The front wheels are bigger that the ones on the rear axel. I have only one diameter of walnut and so I fabricate the smaller wheels by hand with a knife, file and some elbow grease.
 

 

 

 

Wheels done, time to move on to the fabrication of all the axles. I made them out of toothpicks.
 

 

All the carriages are rolling now but I need to make all the parts that support and aim the guns.
 

 

 

 

Well, still not finished, to be continued...

regards,
Pete