Phantom by FlounderFillet5 - Model Shipways - Pilot Boat

[FlounderFillet5]

Max thanks for the info. I would really like to see what you do for a mini lathe, i have been researching that side project for some time now

 

Gulf, I finally got around to making this lathe.  It is basic but I think it turned out ok... it should get the job of turning the masts done just fine.

 

Here is a picture of the completed lathe.  The base is made of a 2x6 board and another piece screwed to it with a couple 6" lag screws.  Then the rail is made of two aluminum right angle strips laid up against each other.

 

 

Here is a closer view of the drill and rheostat.  The drill is just a cheapie from harbor frieght.  I think I might change the rheostat to just a simple switch because the drill itself has a little knob on the trigger which works as a rheostat and the rheostat doesn't supply enough power until the very end of its range and then it only gives me like an eighth of a turn to actually vary the power.

 

 

 

The tail stock was just made of a scrap piece of 2x4 which I used my dremel to cut the slot for the tracks. 

 

 

The live center was made with a nail and a piece of the metal tubing I used for the mounting system for the hull.  the nail can spin freely inside the metal tube and seems like it will work great.

 

 

Last, the locking system for the tail stock is a couple nuts epoxy'd into the side of the 2x4 and a couple cut lag screws that will press against the rails on the base when tightened down.  The epoxy job got messed up a bit but I am going to go with this attempt until it fails, then I will rough up the inside surface and the nut better and re-pour the epoxy (and let it fully dry before removing the lag screw).

 

 

I am really hopeful that this lathe will work for the job it is intended for and be worth the $30 or so I spent on all of the parts and whatnot.  Eventually, I want to get a legit metal turning lathe but this will hopefully hold me over until that is feasible.  

 

Hope this helps!

[gulfmedic1]

nice

thanks Max

 

 

Scott

[FlounderFillet5]

Hey all, work has been getting done in the dry docks.  First, the fairleads have been installed on the cap rail.

 

 

The splash rails have also been installed.  I glued these in two parts to get the right bend in them.

 

 

 

The chain plates have also been coming along nicely.  I followed Chuck's instructions here.

 

 

After cutting and inserting the standing rigging line (.25mm), I crimped the loops down to hold the line in place.  The rigging line I am using on this build is not the supplied line, instead it was ordered from morope, they make really nice rigging line.

 

 

Last, I thought the kit supplied kits had way too thick of heads so i filed them down a bit, here is a picture of the unaltered vs. the filed nails.

 

 

Next, I will be installing the chain plates and start the first step of rigging, securing the dead eyes to the chain plates.

[russ]

Max:

Nice work. I like how the details are coming together.

 

Russ

[Mirabell61]

Nice metal work with the brass parts Max,

 

Nils

[FlounderFillet5]

Russ and Nils, thanks for the encouragement and stopping by.  

 

I threaded the rigging lines through the holes in the cap rail to test the fit of the chain plates and was kind of disappointed.  The rear chain plates came very close to the hull sheathing and all of the chain plates had the thin part very exposed which I figured out was wrong when I looked at the pictures of Chuck's install chain plates.  Here is a picture of one of the rear chain plates.

 

 

I remade the chain plates following the process outlined in DrWatson's build log, thanks Sal for the great example to follow.  These new chain plates came out MUCH better than the first set.

 

 

Then I chemically blackened the chain plates and am really happy with the results.

 

 

I think I am going to hold off on installing the chain plates until later in the build when the masts are up and I begin rigging so that I can get the proper angle on the chain plates.  Next, I think I am going to install the belaying pins and eye bolts on the cap rail and then get started on installing deck furniture.  I also need to wipe down the deck with some wipe on poly (this should have been done earlier in the build but it got overlooked) and paint the cleats black (this should have also been done before installation but I think we can get it done without too much of a mess.

 

Hope you guys enjoyed this update!

 

 

[_SalD_]

Max,

 

I'm glad your chain plates came out better.  The rear chain plate does come very close to the copper plating.  If you check the ship's elevation drawing you'll notice that it almost touches the copper.  Your Phantom looks great, good luck with the rest of the build.

[trippwj]

Nice job, Max.

[FlounderFillet5]

Hey everyone,  

 

Been finding a bit of time to build lately but I have been kind of all over the place with what I have been working on.  I got the chain plates and cap rail fixtures installed, have completed building the deck houses, and have been working on a plan of action to tackle the sails and rigging for this ship even though 1) I'm not there yet and 2) this model is not typically displayed with sails.  

 

Before I get into pictures I want to welcome Wayne back to the log, glad to hear from you again man.  

Also Sal, who is building a beautiful rendition of this model over in his build log and where I am drawing a lot of my inspiration. I got the chain plate technique from him and will likely be stealing another little trick he used on his Phantom, the lining around the sunken cockpit.

 

Now for progress and pictures!

 

Last time, I left you with the blackened chain plates and they are now installed.  When hammering in the nails, some of the blackening agent came off of both the chain plates and the heads of the nails, the one pictured here is one of the better looking ones but some lost quite a bit of their finish as shown in the second picture.

 

 

I'm not sure yet if I will just paint them black or leave them because it really doesn't look terrible, maybe it adds a little character?  I'll have to see what the admiral thinks.  Also, if you guys have any opinions on whether to paint them, leave them, or some other idea, let me know in your responses.

 

 

Here is a picture of the hull in pretty much its current state with the chain plates, eye bolts, and belaying pins installed on the cap rail.  Also, you can see the cleats are painted black and the deck has been wiped down with some wipe on satin poly.

 

 

Next, I have been working on the deck fixtures.  I built most of them a while back, before MSW 1.0 went down into the deep abyss, but there were still some details needing to be finished.  

 

Here is the progression of the companion ways' hatches.  This first picture shows the rails and the front and back of each hatch.

 

 

Once the hatch frames were assembled, I realized I needed to thin some more boxwood strips for the hatch roofing planks.  This is a simple jig I made which works quite well.  It is just a couple strips of brass which are the desired thickness (in this case 1/64"), the strip is placed between them, secured with thumb tacks, and sanded until the strip is flush with the brass strips.

 

 

Here are a couple pictures of the hatches .

 

 

 

I was really surprised to see the difference between the raw wood and the wood with the wipe on poly finish so here is a good comparison picture.

 

 

When installing the hatches to the companion ways, one of the hatches was not very square and did not sit flush so I clamped it down and let it dry.  The clamps made a great tripod for the photo :lol:

 

 

Last, a picture of the deck fixtures as they stand right now.  You can see the companion way doors are also installed in this picture, they are each two pieces of box wood with little notches cut out and filled with pencil lead for handles.  I think I will do some touch up painting before installing them and the wheel definitely needs a new paint job.  

 

 

I have made a little bit more progress but forgot to take pictures so I will do that when I get home but I made and installed the traveler and the cockpit coaming is done and has its own cap rail installed on it.  I am also really excited about the sails, I have bought some material and have been trying different techniques for the stitching and other details.

 

Hope you all enjoyed,

[Littlebob]

Great work on your phantom.

[_SalD_]

Max,

 

The deck fixtures look terrific.  I like the way you need your bars in the skylight window.  I also like that jig for sanding the wood down, I'll be borrowing that idea. 

[russ]

Love the companionway and the deck house. The finished look really good. Great work.

 

Russ

[FlounderFillet5]

Hey all,

 

Robert, Russ, and Sal: Thanks for the kind words on the progress.  Sal, glad you found something useful in my log, take any ideas you find here and run with them, that's why these build logs exist.

 

I have made some more progress and now all these small projects are finally coming together and being installed on the ship, exciting!  

 

I made the cockpit coaming cap rail by gluing on some rough shaped boxwood and filing down to size.

 

 

I used an idea that Sal came up with in his log to line the cockpit with a strip of painted material to make it look nice and neat.  I used some vellum paper painted white.

 

 

This is a picture of installing it in the cockpit.  Here you can see the cockpit coaming installed with its cap rail.  I had test fitted this coaming multiple times and then when I went to install it, it cracked a bit so I had to glue it, leaving another little line in the cap rail.  

 

 

Then I shaped the cockpit grating with my template I used to carve the sunken cockpit.

 

 

 

The wheel house installed with the grating in place.

 

 

I made some make shift seizings that I am installing on all of the stropped blocks.  This jig is a number drill held in a vise and the string is wrapped around several times and glued with some thin CA.  I also drilled a hole through a little piece of brass that is used for breaking the glued siezing free from the drill bit shank.

 

 

The traveler I mentioned that was installed last time with siezings in place.

 

 

Here are the bollards for the deck.  I made them out of some boxwood and some of the thin black wire supplied with the kit.

 

 

Here they are installed.

 

 

And last but not least, a top view of the aft deck nearly completed.  I think all I have left is to install the stove pipe (being painted right now), the wire frame that will protect it, the skylight, and the navigational lights which might be put on hold a little while longer until the fore deck is also completed so that I don't accidentally knock them off repeatedly which seems like an inevitability if I install them now.  Oh, I guess the fife rail also needs to be installed before the aft deck is complete.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this update, I know I have been enjoying actually installing all these things to the ship, hard work is finally paying off!

 

Best Regards,

[russ]

Very nicely done. I like the use of the vellum in this instance. It came out beautifully and if you had said it, no one would know it was vellum.

 

Russ

[usedtosail]

That is some very nice detail work at a small size. Very good work.

[hamilton]

Wow - having built the Phantom as my first model I know how small these parts you've made must be! Magnificent work - I'm particularly impressed with the chainplates - I found those to be very finicky! Again - amazing work here!

hamilton

[FlounderFillet5]

*Stretch* *yawn* *stretch*

After a year of hibernation, I think it is time for this thread to come back to life. Classes have just kicked back off so there is no guarantee for regular updates because classes have been demanding but working in the dry dock has proven to be a stress reliever in the past.

First, I want to make some very belated responses.

Russ, the vellum worked great; I was really happy with how it came out and a year later out in the garage and elements, it is not showing any sign warping or peeling.

Tom and Hamilton, thanks for the nice words. The chainplates were certainly finicky, they were one of the first things I had to fabricate a second time for acceptable results. I do like how they came out the second time though!

Update: 

It took about two days to clear the workbench, get it mildly organized again, and set back up for ship building.

After getting set up, I began working again last night. Most of the work from this first update is work that was completed a year ago so details might be a little scarce. Last night I drilled the #78 holes in the aft deck for the two pumps and an eye bolt that will be used later for tying of a row that will come off of the fife rail. The pumps were some of the previous work but they were cleaned up with needle files and i decided to drill a couple holes in them because they are not supposed to be solid pieces, the results are only okay but they are such small pieces that it's no big deal. They got eyebolt posts installed and then were painted black. Those items are now installed and glued in place.

 

 

With the aft fife rail installed as well.

 

Next, I noticed that the cleat on the fore deck fife rail was missing so I fabricated a new one out of boxwood and just need to glue it in place. The fife rails were made last year and were just cleaned up and then drilled with a #75 or #76 bit for the belaying pins. Chuck said that it would be impossible to drill between the two uprights but I found that to be wrong, not sure why he said they would be so difficult to drill, though mine are a little lopsided so there was some merit to his statement. I like having the extra two pins back there though.

 

Last thing I worked on last night were adding the belaying pins to the navigation lights to be handles, I drilled the holes with a #76 bit and added just a touch of glue to keep them in place. The navigation lights were fabricated following Chuck's recommendation to use paper clips for the posts but my painting job from last year is not very good so I may end up sanding then down and repainting them when I paint in the light colors. I just wanted to confirm which color goes on which side, if I recall correctly, the green good on the right and red on the left but I want to make sure before painting. Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

That's it for this update, it was great to get back to this project and I am going to try to knock out my obligations quickly today so that I can make a little Labor Day progress, stay tuned.

Groggily,

Edited September 8, 2015 by FlounderFillet5

[_SalD_]

welcome back to the shipyard Max things are looking good and good luck in school.  you're right, green is starboard and red is port side

Edited September 8, 2015 by _SalD_

[usedtosail]

Good to see you back at work to her, Max.

[FlounderFillet5]

Sal and Tom, welcome back to my log!  I hope I can continue to contribute to the ever growing knowledge base here on MSW.  Your builds of the Syren and Constitution are both coming along very nicely, very ambitious builds and impressive work so far.  I look forward to moving into plank on bulkhead and advanced kits in the future, hopefully I can do them justice!

 

Mini update:

 

I have been working on a bunch of the final deck fixtures that need to be completed before moving on to the rigging portion of this build.  

 

First came the ventilator, I cleaned it up with a needle file and then added some vertical grooves in the top cap, though it was difficult to keep it in place while making the cuts so they are not perfect.  No biggie.  

 

 

I also forgot that I have an airbrush for painting so this one was hand painted but I will be switching back to airbrushing, whenever possible, for other items moving forward.

 

 

Next, I began working on the anchor.  I decided to drill small holes between the main anchor and the bar that runs it's length (not sure what this part is called).  Similar to cutting the scuppers in the bulwarks, I just drilled some holes and then cut out the remaining material with my exacto knife.  I like the effect of this, it separates the different pieces.  Just needs to be painted now.

 

 

Last thing for this update, the windlass.  I decided to scratch build this item out of some spare boxwood so that it would match the deck and other deck fixtures.  I had to glue some strips together to get the desired thickness for the square stock.

 

I cut the two uprights to length and then gave them 7 degrees of angle on the bottoms so that they would stand vertical despite the angle in the deck.  I took this from the plans as it looked like they were vertical in them.

 

 

Next, I glued the horizontal timbers into place, making sure to match the 7 degree angle on the bottom so that they would be parallel with the deck and hopefully better accept the bowsprit.  

 

 

 

Then I just sanded them flat and filed the horizontal timbers so that they were smaller squares and matched the plans/cast windlass that came with the kit.

 

 

Finally, I fabricated the winch bits out of some more scrap boxwood and cut a piece of brass wire to length.  

 

 

 

 

Here is one last picture of where the windlass stands right now, just needs a coat of black paint on the winch bits and then I will use some copper tape to fasten the winch to the windlass.

 

 

 

Before logging off, I have a question regarding the anchor and how to display it.  I have some cable laid rope in 1.2mm (black) and 1.5mm (tan) and was wondering:

 

1)  Should the anchor cable be tan like running rigging or black like the standing rigging?  It seems like the tar would have made it more durable but harder to work with so I am not sure.

 

2)  If I want to display it with the cable attached, how should this be routed?  I figure it would come out of the hawse pipe hole but then should it come over the cap rail onto the deck where the anchor is stored?  Also, should the extra cable just be coiled and placed inboard near the hawse pipe hole, this would certainly help cover some of the imperfections in the forward decking up near the bow.

 

3)  I know some ships had a few feet of chain connecting the anchor to the anchor cable, would this be accurate on the Phantom, I have so much trouble finding information on these ships that I can't find anything related to this detail of this type of ship.

 

As always, I hope you enjoyed the progress update and I definitely appreciate any input you guys may have about the anchor questions raised above.

 

 

Until next time,

[_SalD_]

Nice work Max the windlass looks great.  I'm not sure about the anchor questions off hand, I think I had found something about it but I need to look through all my old notes.  If I find anything I'll let you know.

[trippwj]

Looking good, Max. Love that windlass!

I doubt the rope was tarred - just a dirty look to reflect the immersion in the ocean followed by drying below deck. The last 30 or 40 feet would probably be mud stained and more scarred from periodically lying on the seabed (rarely would the cable be taut to the surface).

Not sure if there would be chain - this was mid-19th century, about 1870's, as I recall?

Edited September 11, 2015 by trippwj

[FlounderFillet5]

Sal and Wayne, I am very satisfied with the way the windlass came out as well.  Pictures of the finished product are below.  As for the anchor cable questions, I did check the model expo site and the model they took pictures of have a "cable" installed.  

 

 

It looks like they placed the anchor cable out through the hawse pipe and over the cap rail onto the deck.  It also appears that they used three ropes instead of a cable but I imagine that this is due to the lack of a model expo supplied cable laid rope.  This has raised one more question for me, if the hawse pipe leads onto the deck, then would they have to have stored the entire anchor cable on deck?

 

Update:

 

First, here are couple pictures of the windlass in its final steps of fabrication.  I decided to wrap the windlass handles with rope.

 

 

This picture also shows the navigation lights painted, I still think the painting on these is quite rough but I am just going with it.

 

 

A couple pictures of the windlass installed.

 

 

 

Next, I made the davit as described in Chuck's practicum.  Just used a few drops of glue to make the ball at the end, it did take a few coats of the CA to get the desired size of this feature.  

 

 

A picture of the davit installed.

 

 

I then installed the ventilator, ventilator cage, fore fife rail, and the fore companionway.  Pictures of the completed fore deck with fixtures installed.

 

 

 

I drilled the holes in the deck for the navigation lights and installed them.  The brackets for the navigation lights were made from extra copper tape.

 

 

The bulwark step at the bow of the ship was carved out a little too much when I made the cut out for the bowsprit earlier in the build, I wanted to repair this. Here is a picture of what I am referring to.

 

 

I sanded down a small piece of kit supplied basswood and fitted it into place, it just needs to be trimmed to size and painted black to match the stem.  

 

 

Last picture of this update is a top view of where my build stands, with everything installed except the anchor since I am still trying to figure out exactly how I want to display it.

 

 

The rigging portion of this build is going to be put on hold for a little while since I just ordered some new toys(read: tools) and want to fabricate the bowsprit and masts on my shiny new lathe and mill when they gets here.  Can't wait to get some time using these tools, I am very excited!

 

I look forward to your comments/input,

[SkerryAmp]

Max, that build really is coming along incredibly well.  Great attention to detail and love the additions and modifications from the kit you are using to break it out of the kit build and into something truly fantastic.

 

I am looking forward to when MS releases the plank on frame version of this kit - may have to steal some of your ideas =)

[FlounderFillet5]

Adam, great to hear from you again! Thank you for the kind words. From what I understand, the MS Phantom POB kit is on hold indefinitely which is too bad because I feel that many builders would like to build this ship as a POB kit, especially ones who build the solid hull version as their first build years ago. At least, I imagine there would be a market for it. I just checked out your build logs, you are a busy guy! I can't imagine working on that many ships at once, how do you keep them straight? and how do you have space for them all? Impressed, all I can say is, I'm impressed lol. Have a good one Adam and I hope you continue to pop in from time to time.

 

Later,

Edited October 7, 2015 by FlounderFillet5

[FlounderFillet5]

Hey guys and gals,

 

Just wanted to stop in and give a quick update, the build has been on hold while waiting for, and setting up my new tools. Everything is set up and tuned in for the most part, with the exception of my mill as I had an issue with the headstock overhearing with the high speed pulley set installed. That will be sent off to sherline tomorrow for diagnosis and repair. I will say this, assembling and squaring up the sherline 2000 mill could have been a build log in itself! That took some time but it should be a very useful tool when I get the headstock back from Sherline. I also gained a better appreciation for the Byrnes tools, since they come assembled and ready to make saw dust right out of the box.

 

Now that the tools are all sorted out, I should be able to get back to the Phantom soon, I have just been busy with school, tools, and bowling and have had trouble finding the time. This weekend, I think I week head down to Denver for the Rocky Mountain Ship Wrights meeting, I think they have a couple members on here and their work looks to be top notch from their website. I also think they are having an exhibit this weekend, so I should get to see a variety of very nice models. I am excited to see what they are all about.

 

Anyway, I hope to have an update on the Phantom by next week.

 

Until next time,