Emma C Berry by Maury S - 1:48 scale - POF rigged as schooner

[Maury S]

Thanks, Michael.  Continued work on iron bands, etc.  Not up to Ed Tosti standards, but moving in that direction.

 

The gammon irons (on the left) look awful at this magnification...I'll clean them up and re-blacken.

Next will be the deadeye straps.

Maury

[Maury S]

The chainplates are attached to the deadeyes with a pin made from black monofilament line.  I touch both ends of the line with a soldering iron set to 240 degrees...just hot enough to partially melt the end and create a rivet to hold it in place.

 

I'll touch up the copper with LOS and put a coat of WOP on them.

Maury

Maury

[Maury S]

I can't believe it's been since April when I last posted.  A few issues have kept me out of the shipyard and at least I'm in the sail loft for now.  This is my first attempt at sails.  Silkspan is the material of choice and David Antscherl's Sail Making Supplement is my primary, but not sole source of technique.  First came the wooden frame...straight forward.  Next is to soak the silkspan in water "for a few minutes", lift it out and let the water run off...at which point the material ripped apart.  Next try was to leave the material in water for less than a minute, lift it out and lay it on the frame.  It still tore near the corners but full enough to use the gummed paper tape to hold it to dry.  I came out tight as a drum as David indicated.  You can see the tears and som wrinkles near the corners but plenty of material for a first try.  The dark blotch in the lower right is an image behind the material as it is very translucent.  Next is painting...

Maury

[druxey]

Have fun, Maury! Good to see you back working on the model.

[Maury S]

Painting the silkspan tore it with the softest brush in our collection.  I don't like the color but the tearing is a problem.  Next time I'll support the material and maybe use a more dilute paint.  Any suggestions?   Maury

[shipshaper]

Hi Maury,

Many years ago I was in a model airplane club and used silkspan all the time for covering the wings. The process we used was similar but slightly different. We would put it on the wing assembly dry and used a product called DOPE (a paint used for model aircraft, it came in various colors put for this process we used clear). We would paint the edges of the wing frame and then stretched the silkspan around the best we could until dried (you are using tape for this process). Then after dried we would spray it with water from a cheap squirt bottle until good and damp (you are dipping it in water which may be too much) and then let to dry, sometimes using a hair drier to speed the process. then we would paint it (using DOPE) either with a bush or spraying and never had issues with it tearing as you have experienced. Next time you try this I would suggest not dipping it in water but using the "squirt bottle" and see if it helps to keep the integrity of the silkspan better. Impressive work! looking forward to seeing more...................Mike

 

[allanyed]

I use the booklet as well with a variation or two.  First I use tape to hold the span to the frame.

Also, make sure to use the plug when wetting for the first shrink and again when painting.  Do remove once wetted or when the paint is applied so it does not stick.

I like to do two coats of diluted tubed artist acrylic.

Allan'

[druxey]

When wet, SilkSpan is delicate, as you've discovered. It needs gentle handling  when lifting out of the water. Hold the piece by the edges on a diagonal, so excess water runs off the bottom corner. Once it has about ceased to drip, the sheet needs to be flopped carefully onto the frame with the plug in place. Wait a bit until it begins to dry before taping down, then remove the plug to let things dry and shrink taut.

 

Using 'dope' (mentioned above) might affect any use of acrylic or other water-based paint adhering.

[shipshaper]

Quote

Using 'dope' (mentioned above) might affect any use of acrylic or other water-based paint adhering.

Hi Druxey, Sorry if I miss lead you. I did not mean to use dope but to show if can be brushed or sprayed after shrinking. I still think wetting with a spray bottle and not dipping would be a better way to go, less handling. You are correct that when wet it is VERY delicate. I also agree with Allen that using a diluted acrylic is an excellent choice for painting.  

[gsdpic]

I've never tried this, but seems like an airbrush would be perfect for this.  You could attach the silkspan to the frame and then first just put water in the airbrush and spray the silkspan to wet it.  Then after it is dry and shrinks to be tight, use the airbrush with diluted paint to apply the color.

 

[Maury S]

I have an airbrush but never used it...maybe it's time for some more experimentation!  Kurt Van Dam has posted many times on airbrushing.  He's probably done this before.

Maury

[Maury S]

So this is all for practice while I wait for some more silkspan...  I laid out the scaled-down main sail, marked the panels with a medium brown pencil and folded over about 1/16" all around for the boltrope.  I simply laid a steel ruled (no cork backing) along the edge of the sail and ran my finger nail along to crease it, folded over and pressed the steel ruler.  Matte medium should secure the rope.  It's looking better than I feared for a first try.  It's going to be furled so no reef points...

Maury

[druxey]

There you go! Trying new techniques for the first time is always daunting, but then one finds it not so bad after taking the plunge. You might want to make the 'seams' a bit wider next time.

[Maury S]

Thanks, Druxey.  By wider, do you mean a thicker line (less sharp pencil) or maybe a double line?

Maury

Edited December 2, 2022 by Maury S

[druxey]

Well, the real seams had an overlap where the canvas was doubled. It was probably at least an inch or two wide. One would not see a stitched line at scale size. The effect is more obvious in transmitted light:

 

[Roger Pellett]

I used silkspan to make furled sails for my Longboat model.  Here’s how I handled it:

 

I built a wooden frame and taped the silkspan to it.  I used regular blue painter’s tape and taped it continuously around the frame.

 

Next, I sprayed the silkspan with water.  I used a spray bottle, Not a squirt bottle.  An airbrush would have worked just as well.  The next day the silkspan was drum tight.

 

I placed the frame with the silkspan over a wooden plug.  I put a piece of wax paper between the plug and the silkspan.

 

I rolled a coat of acrylic paint onto the silkspan using a short, small diameter foam roller.

 

The coated silkspan could then be cut from the frame to make the sails.

 

This scheme avoids the need to handle loose pieces of wet silkspan.

 

Roger

[allanyed]

On 12/2/2022 at 3:35 PM, Maury S said:

medium brown pencil

That sounds like a great idea to try.  I have used Permatex marker pens with success as well as I can cut the applicator tip to 2" scale width but can see how this can also be done with a soft coloring pencil.  A bit a difficulty in this part of this step is finding a pencil or pen that is a color that is appropriate for the sail color.   Either way, it looks so much better than out of scale cloth sails and stitching lines.

 

Allan

[druxey]

I use a ruling pen whose tips can be adjusted for width with acrylic paint, suitably diluted to flow nicely. (Each time you load the pen using a brush, test draw on scrap first!)

[Maury S]

Druxey, I used to have one of those architect's bow pens from my father's set (long since lost).  I'd be scared to go anywhere near using that instrument.

 

More practicing...installing the boltropes (one word?).  I started in the middle of the foot since that are will be hidden by the furling.  Per David Antscherl's Sail Making Supplement [SMS] I used Matte Medium to tack some .018" (.45 mm) light brown rope (2.75" diam. at scale) (SyrenShipModelCompany.com) and wait for it to dry before moving along the edges of the sail.  At each corner I laid a loop (cringle) that will eventually be lashed.  Folding the 1/16" tab over the rope and painting matte medium as I moved along.

The matte Medium is showing up glossy.  Any solution?

Is the boltrope an appropriate scale (1:48) size?  I could go down to .012".  Comments?

 

Maury

[Maury S]

New Silkspan arrived so I set it up on the frame but this time I soaked the material for maybe 15 seconds before mounting and taping to the frame.  Much easier to handle that way.  Tight as a drum and no tears.

After drying on the frame overnight, I mixed a new batch of paint a bit darker than the first attempt and applied two thin coats with a 4" roller.  The color is darker than the photo shows, Half-way to the color of the gummed tape in the photo above.  A piece of my first attempt is shown along side (and it to is darker than the photo.

 

Still trying to figure how to eliminate the gloss from the matte medium as described in the prior post.  Experiments with the smaller (.012") line for the bolt ropes (1.8" diameter instead of 2.75") looks better.

Maury

 

 

[Maury S]

Sail color still a little browner than the photo...

[Maury S]

Glossy matte medium issue resolved...Serious stirring up the bottom, putting a couple glass marble in the bottle and vigorous shaking for several minutes brought the matting material into the mixture.

[Maury S]

Practice securing the mainsail to the gaff, all on a scrap dowel and the practice sail.  The final version will have the line running through the cringes at the upper corners.  Once the grommets are drilled, they don't stick out.  I just have to be careful about keeping the paint "dots" to less than .05" (2.4" full scale).

Maury

[Maury S]

Sails completed...boltropes installed, corners reinforced, grommets painted on and ready for drilling:

TIP:  Working with the matte medium, I had to find something to work on that would not stick...wax paper is often used.  I ended up using (cooking) parchment paper.  No wax, and nothing sticks.  I used (weighted) scraps to hold down the folds over the boltropes while the medium dried and they all came out smooth.

Maury

 

[Maury S]

Sail lashing comparisons.

Which of the two methods shown above is correct or looks better?

Maury

[ccoyle]

Looks-wise, they both look good, but off the top of my head i can't tell you which one would be a better choice for your subject.

[Maury S]

Misc. Hardware.  Various copper sheets and wire hammered into flat shape and silver soldered.

 

They go on the bow sprit, booms and gaffs

Maury

[Mic_Nao]

It's a very nice work, bravo !

[Tigerdvr]

Nicely done. I did that conversion many years ago but not nearly as extensive as your project.

Will enjoy watching the progress.

[Maury S]

More work on the mast iron work.  The background is a page from Chapelle's American Schooners...where most of the details are

documented

The rods sticking out will be the supports for the bail and will be trimmed back, but holding things in place for soldering has to be thought out as well.

Keeping in mind all of the parts that have to go on in order is important like the mast hoops on the top mast before the wyes are installed.

 

Maury

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by Maury S