USF Confederacy 1778 by WalrusGuy - Model Shipways - 1:64

BobG · November 25, 2022

The bricks are fantastic!

WalrusGuy · December 4, 2022

Thank you, Bob!

Currently working on the decking. Here are some few progress photos 😊:

Also, I was thinking of exploring more ideas for the checkerboard pattern. I am worried that any small mishaps or stains (like glue seepage or paint droplets) on the printed cardstock may be hard to remove since it is very porous just like paper. Might test out label paper..

Harshil

wernerweiss · December 4, 2022

Hello Harshil,

once again, very clean work!

Yes, one has to be very careful once the cabin floor is finished, and later on there are two cannons and possibly furniture to be positioned and glued.....

Did you print the pattern directly on the card? I printed it on self-adhesive paper (is this what you mean with label paper?)

Werner

WalrusGuy · December 4, 2022

1 hour ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

once again, very clean work!

Yes, one has to be very careful once the cabin floor is finished, and later on there are two cannons and possibly furniture to be positioned and glued.....

Did you print the pattern directly on the card? I printed it on self-adhesive paper (is this what you mean with label paper?)

Werner

Thank you, Werner!

Yes, printed directly on card stock and glued to to a thin sheet of wood. And yes, I did mean the self-adhesive paper. Is the surface of the self-adhesive paper similar to normal paper?

Harshil

wernerweiss · December 4, 2022

5 hours ago, WalrusGuy said:

Thank you, Werner!

Yes, printed directly on card stock and glued to to a thin sheet of wood. And yes, I did mean the self-adhesive paper. Is the surface of the self-adhesive paper similar to normal paper?

Harshil

Yes, it is. Exactly, I had the pattern printed on a normal A4 paper sheet with a peelable back in a copyshop so I could glue the pattern on a piece of ca. 1,5 mm thick card. So I did not use a wood layer and glued the card directly on the false deck.

Edited December 4, 2022 by wernerweiss
additional text

wernerweiss · December 4, 2022

However, I would recommend to finish the stern lights and the gallery lights first, because there is much work from inside the cabin, just to avoid scratches on the cabin floor

wernerweiss · December 5, 2022

Hello Harshil, thank you for your likes.

But I was wrong when I said that regarding the lights there is work from inside the cabin.....maybe I remembered it wrong because I doubled the frames, but all work to glue the frames and the "window-panes" is done from outside....

Werner

WalrusGuy · December 5, 2022

No worries Werner. I'll be sure to be very careful when the tiles are glued to the false deck. I plan to glue it once I finish with the treenails and apply the finish to the deck.

WalrusGuy · December 6, 2022

A quick update on the decking. Managed to get some hook scarfs at the bow.

For this, I used a planer for the long end, and an X-acto blade at the forward-end of the plank where the planer could not reach. Then carefully peeled of 0.1mm slices until the plank was completely flat. I checked the end result against a normal plank facing a source of light to make sure no light seeps in any potential gap. In some cases where light did seep in, I used sandpaper glued to the edge of a flat piece of wood and lightly sanded it straight.

Harshil

Edited December 6, 2022 by WalrusGuy

WalrusGuy · December 14, 2022

Thank you all for the likes!!

Decking is now completed 😁

There are some mistakes with symmetry, especially for the edge planks. That made me realize, it would be best to plan ahead of time and mark the plank locations (similar to the hull). I also had to redo the aft planks as I realized I did not follow the same pattern as the forward part of the ship. But glad I found that before it was too late!

Before I forget to mention, I spot glued this plank to make sure the decking would be flush with the great cabin

And here are some photos of this stage completed.

Next is the treenails, waterway, and then lastly finishing with tung oil.

Edited December 14, 2022 by WalrusGuy

abelson · December 20, 2022

Your work is consistently so neat and clean. A level of perfection that's hard to achieve. Don't know how you do it.👍

desalgu · January 8, 2023

I'm in awe of your work. Bricks are awesome! And very nice deck planking.

Freebird · January 21, 2023

Walrusguy,

I’ve been closely following your fantastic log and applaud your talents and efforts! Quick question for ya (perhaps Chuck can chime in also). I’m a big fan of Alaskan Yellow Cedar (AYC), because of its wonderful color and workability. The question is, do you think that using thinner 1/32 thick planks instead of 1/16 thick planks is doable? Thanks for your thoughts!

Best Regards …. Rick

WalrusGuy · January 22, 2023

Thank you Steven, David, and Rick! Your comments are much appreciated

I think using thinner planks should be doable, but some adjustments should be made for the wales, and decking (since the gunports would be slightly higher from the deck level with thinner planks).

But curious to hear what @Chuck thinks.

Harshil

Chuck · January 22, 2023

For deck planking on top of a base false deck it would be fine. Being just a hair thinner shouldnt effect the gun height too much. But it wouldnt work for hull planking unless you plank two layers. They are too thin for use on a single planked hull. Hull planking on a pob hull with thin 1/32 planks is not a good idea unless you fill all the spaces between bulkheads with balsa to make it solid.

WalrusGuy · February 5, 2023

It's been a while since my last update! I finished treenailing the deck, installing the waterway, and have stained everything with tung oil. I shaped the waterway to be in a convex shape using a planer and sanding sticks. I have not yet glued any of the deck fittings in case they come in the way when installing the ladder etc.

Here are some photos of where the model is at currently:

The next step would be to paint the margin plank + waterway in the great cabin white before gluing the checkerboard pattern. In the meantime, I will also continue thinking of different options for the checkerboard pattern as I am not too confident that I can keep the printed card stock pristine throughout the whole build...

wernerweiss · February 5, 2023

Hello Harshil,

Congratulations on this progress, excellent work as always!

Yes, you have to be very careful not to spoil the great cabin' s deck with its pattern.....but so it is with the much bigger area of the gun deck, the basswood is very soft and does not forgive tools falling on it, but, as modelers we ARE careful..

I am going to update my Confederacy build log soon showing the progress of the forecastle deck and the bow stem

Greetings

Werner

Edited February 5, 2023 by wernerweiss
writing fault

WalrusGuy · February 6, 2023

20 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

Congratulations on this progress, excellent work as always!

Yes, you have to be very careful not to spoil the great cabin' s deck with its pattern.....but so it is with the much bigger area of the gun deck, the basswood is very soft and does not forgive tools falling on it, but, as modelers we ARE careful..

I am going to update my Confederacy build log soon showing the progress of the forecastle deck and the bow stem

Greetings

Werner

Thank you, Werner. After correspondence with Chuck, I think the best option would be to glue in the pattern section, then covering it with paper to protect it until its time to install the guns.

Looking forward to seeing your update post 😁.

Thanks again for the nice words and thanks all for the likes!

Harshil

WalrusGuy · February 8, 2023

The checkerboard pattern is now glued to the false deck 😬

Fingers crossed I don't mess it up during the build. I'll try to be as careful as I can. Also, I hope the stick glue I used to bond the card stock onto the thin basswood sheet would hold up over the years. So far it seems good, but let's see....

Anyways, below are some photos. I guess this marks the completion of Chapter 10!

For the next step, I am thinking to backtrack to finish up the stern. Hoping I can get better at the carvings this time around!

Harshil

Edited February 8, 2023 by WalrusGuy

wernerweiss · February 8, 2023

Hello Harshil,

everything looks very fine, and painting all floor surfaces white is a good idea.....

I´m going to take the next pictures of my model today and continue my build log...

Werner

WalrusGuy · February 15, 2023

Thank you, Werner. Thanks all for the likes as well 😊

A bit of a shorter update. I was not very happy with the kit supplied window frames. They did not fit well on model for some reason. I am not sure why as I did check their fit during the initial framing stage of the build. Also, they had some notches on the sides (not sure why it has these).

So decided to try building my own ones. While working on them, I did think I may have taken on more than I can chew...

However, I thought it would be best to take some time off and think about this problem for a bit and tackle it more systematically. So, first I made a simple jig for my mini planer to glide on the rails to thin down some larger pieces of Alaskan yellow cedar I had laying around:

Using this jig, I was able to create relatively square strips (around 0.5mm x 0.5mm):

Next, I used the kit supplied frame as a reference to notch out sections of strips, then glued them together to make the entire frame assembly.

Below is just a test piece I made to make sure the method I used can work. The strips are not parallel since I did not pay much attention to the notch placements. The second iteration will be more carefully done to ensure it is better aligned.

And here it is on the ship:

I will use this test piece to try out the Micro Krystal Klear solution as well.

So next I will redo the frame for better alignment. But I am sure the angled windows will definitely be more challenging....

Edited February 15, 2023 by WalrusGuy

Retired guy · February 15, 2023

Hi Harshil, catching up with your brilliant build, great to see you are doing a bit of scratch work, I find the small details always brings out the model 👍

Regards

Richard

wernerweiss · February 15, 2023

Hello Harshil,

I agree that the window frames provided with the kit are not of the best quality, and I see that scratch-building them ist not at all a problem for you....

I accepted the provided frames as they fitted perfectly into the openings. What I did was to order another set of frames (thanks Model shipways) to double the frames of each stern and gallery light with the acetate inbetween. As you may see in the pictures showing the openings for the stern lights I glued a 0.5 x 0.5 mm stripe on the bottom and top edge (not visible) as a rabbet for the inner frames. They were glued first, then the acetate and last the outer frames.

In other build logs of various models I saw pictures where the builder depicted the window glass with micro crystal clear, and I preferred the acetate.....

Regards

Werner

desalgu · February 20, 2023

Great work as always! You always amaze me. The checkerboard floor came out real nice. Some thin plastic over it to protect it for a while would be a smart move.

Loved your tool for creating small square strips with a plane. I need to learn to make little tools and jigs like that to make things easier. I tend to just jump in without thinking. You're braver than I am to make window frames from scratch. The test window frame looks pretty good from the photos. No matter which window frames you use, you may end up having to add shims or something to get the proper fit.

I think it's personal preference whether you use the Micro film or thin acetate sheets for windows. Or you can be a wimp and not use anything like on my models. Whatever choice you make, it would be nice to be able to see the inside of the cabin with the floor and other items.

David

WalrusGuy · March 17, 2023

Thank you so much for the kind words and the 'likes'😄

I have been slowly working through the window frames. I finished the portside frames.

For the angles windows, I used the kit supplied ones as a guide. Here, I glued the two outer strips and used the kit frames to get the right angle by letting the glue set as the strips rest on the edges of the kit piece.. After letting the glue set and doing the same on the opposite corner, the 2 'L' shaped pieces were then glued together, followed by all the internal strips:

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Here are a few photos of how it looks on the ship (only dry-fitted for now):

I got to say, all this is really really fiddly work. Getting the notches in the correct spots on each strip is very tricky. Had to discard twice as many as those that made the final round!

Edited March 17, 2023 by WalrusGuy

toms10 · March 18, 2023

Walrus Guy,

That is one beautiful stern. Nice job.
Tom

KurtH · March 18, 2023

Absolutely immaculate as always!

desalgu · March 21, 2023

Fiddly is hardly the word for your windows! Absolutely incredible work. You are moving up to a different level and will be carving figureheads before long. 😄

WalrusGuy · April 9, 2023

Thanks so much, Tom, Kurt, and David!!

I finished up with the windows! A very tedious task... but I did become quicker in assembling them towards the end.

I tested the micro crystal clear solution for the windows but I wasn't too big of a fan of the frosted window look. So I opted to use the acetate instead. I placed each window frame on the sheet, ran a #11 blade on the outside edges of the frame, lightly marking the acetate. Then I used a metal ruler as a guide to run the blade multiple times until it went through. Finally, I used the micro clear solution as a glue for the frames on the acetate. Here are some photos with the windows+frame dry-fitted in the openings: