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

[Gahm]

Beautiful work, Harshil! A pleasure to follow your build log!

 

Thomas

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil,

 

your gallery counter and the painted-on ship´s name are excellent work!

 

Let me draw your attention on the picture above (4th from the bottom) where you show the inside of the bulwarks on the port side of the bow area. What caught my eye is the shape of the gun port sills and lintels, the gun port uprights and the frames. Imo they are too much sanded and show a too deep concave curve, viewed from inside. Furthermore I think you tapered the frames too abruptly from the gun port lintels upwards, they should be tapered more gradually beginning on the deck level.

Edited February 15, 2022 by wernerweiss
additional text

[WalrusGuy]

On 2/12/2022 at 3:40 AM, Theodosius said:

Beautiful! 🙂

 

 

On 2/13/2022 at 4:49 PM, desalgu said:

Looking very, very nice!  

 

On 2/14/2022 at 4:31 AM, Gahm said:

Beautiful work, Harshil! A pleasure to follow your build log!

 

Thomas

 

8 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

 

your gallery counter and the painted-on ship´s name are excellent work!

 

Let me draw your attention on the picture above (4th from the bottom) where you show the inside of the bulwarks on the port side of the bow area. What caught my eye is the shape of the gun port sills and lintels, the gun port uprights and the frames. Imo they are too much sanded and show a too deep concave curve, viewed from inside. Furthermore I think you tapered the frames too abruptly from the gun port lintels upwards, they should be tapered more gradually beginning on the deck level.

Thank you, Theodosius, David, Thomas, and Werner!

 

Werner, thank you for pointing that out. I will rectify the error before planking the bulwarks. I found that the basswood sands much easier than the plywood pieces, so it is a bit difficult to get a consistent surface throughout. I'll try not to apply too much pressure now to obtain a gradual taper.

[WalrusGuy]

The stern area is now planked and sanded smooth. Glad I did it now than later on since I felt very cramped holding the planks in place. The opened area on the sides were very helpful to get a grip of the planks and for easy access to sand them.

Also, I had to edge-bend the planks before gluing them since there are two axis that each planks bend in for them to match the light sills. I used filler wherever I saw some gaps between the frames and the planks.

The molding strip was added next. The edges were first softened. Then, I glued the center part first and waited for the glue to set before bending and gluing the rest of the strip.

I was first considering to continue on with the quarter gallery. Now after thinking for a bit, I am considering completing Chapter 9 to plank all the bulwarks. IMO, it seems to be the logical option as it would be better to finish the "messy" work before moving on. I know sanding the planks smooth will generate a lot of sawdust and it might be difficult to clean up from the lights. Once I finish planking, I'll paint the planks in the stern area white, and the rest red.

 

I wanted to also note, the supplied shells for the quarter gallery do not fit my model at all so I will need to scratch build them. Something I need to think about while I plank the inside of the ship. 

[realworkingsailor]

Looks really nice and tidy!

Sounds like we’re having the same thoughts regarding the bulwark planking; get as much of the heavy work done before the fragile stuff goes on.

 

Andy

[WalrusGuy]

1 hour ago, realworkingsailor said:

Looks really nice and tidy!

Sounds like we’re having the same thoughts regarding the bulwark planking; get as much of the heavy work done before the fragile stuff goes on.

 

Andy

Thank you, Andy. 

 

I saw your recent post and that's where I got the idea of finishing the planking. It's nice we are at the same stage of the build! 🙂

 

Harshil 

[desalgu]

I always enjoy seeing your work.  It's always so neat and clean looking.

 

I'm not building this one, but I agree with you to plank the inner bulwarks now.  Planking and sanding them will be easier now with less stuff in the way.  

 

You're moving closer and closer to scratch building by redoing the quarter gallery parts.  That's fantastic, and I bet yours will look a lot better than the kit versions! 

 

[WalrusGuy]

7 hours ago, desalgu said:

I always enjoy seeing your work.  It's always so neat and clean looking.

 

I'm not building this one, but I agree with you to plank the inner bulwarks now.  Planking and sanding them will be easier now with less stuff in the way.  

 

You're moving closer and closer to scratch building by redoing the quarter gallery parts.  That's fantastic, and I bet yours will look a lot better than the kit versions! 

 

Thank you, David! Now I'm also considering finishing the decking before moving onto the details 😅

[wernerweiss]

On 3/1/2022 at 3:34 AM, WalrusGuy said:

The stern area is now planked and sanded smooth. Glad I did it now than later on since I felt very cramped holding the planks in place. The opened area on the sides were very helpful to get a grip of the planks and for easy access to sand them.

Also, I had to edge-bend the planks before gluing them since there are two axis that each planks bend in for them to match the light sills. I used filler wherever I saw some gaps between the frames and the planks.

The molding strip was added next. The edges were first softened. Then, I glued the center part first and waited for the glue to set before bending and gluing the rest of the strip.

I was first considering to continue on with the quarter gallery. Now after thinking for a bit, I am considering completing Chapter 9 to plank all the bulwarks. IMO, it seems to be the logical option as it would be better to finish the "messy" work before moving on. I know sanding the planks smooth will generate a lot of sawdust and it might be difficult to clean up from the lights. Once I finish planking, I'll paint the planks in the stern area white, and the rest red.

 

I wanted to also note, the supplied shells for the quarter gallery do not fit my model at all so I will need to scratch build them. Something I need to think about while I plank the inside of the ship. 

Hello Harshil,

Excellent work so far, and I look forward to the pictures of the finished model!

 

With the "shells" do you mean the "drops" below the quarter galleries? On my model, these parts also did not fit at all....the angle of the topside to be glued under the bottom of the galleries is wrong. However, I used these parts after correcting the wrong angle with putty.

 

Regards

 

Werner

[Brucealanevans]

I used putty as well. With some trimming of the pieces it worked well, and the precise window cutouts were thus preserved. You also need to watch carefully the spacing for the trim strips so that there is proper room for the decorative photo etch strips. 

[WalrusGuy]

On 3/9/2022 at 11:22 AM, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

Excellent work so far, and I look forward to the pictures of the finished model!

 

With the "shells" do you mean the "drops" below the quarter galleries? On my model, these parts also did not fit at all....the angle of the topside to be glued under the bottom of the galleries is wrong. However, I used these parts after correcting the wrong angle with putty.

 

Regards

 

Werner

Hi Werner,

 

Thank you for your kind words! By shells I mean the parts that contour around the sides of the quarter gallery that holds the lights in place (see the image below of these parts). No matter the orientation I try, they don't fit nicely so I'll need to make my own parts. I plan to carve out the drops with boxwood (it will be my first time ever trying miniature carvings like this). If my trials don't turn out nicely I'll be using the supplied castings since they will also look good once painted.

 

Harshil

 

[WalrusGuy]

The interior of the bulwarks are now planked. The foreword piece with the notches was around 1-2mm short, so I had to trim the exterior planking slightly. I found the spirketting the most challenging part of this chapter, especially at the bow. I needed to use slivers of wood beneath the plank while the glue set so that the plank was oriented with the top of the port sills correctly. Here are some photos before I start painting:

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil,

You make good progress with your model, and I would like to make some remarks regarding your pictures. 

1. A good run of the spirketting shows the ups and downs in the run of the false deck especially at the edges. This was also the case with my model, and I adjusted the "waves" using appropiately downsanded 1,5 mm veneer as a second layer on the according areas of original false deck. (This is time consuming but worth the while because the waves will not disappear with the deck planking).

2. Before you paint the bulwarks I recommend that you drill the holes for the eyebolts for the gun riggings, that means 4 holes on each gun port. A selfmade drill template is very helpful.

3. I also used the provided shells, it works with a little trimming (but not on the aft edge because the space is needed for the decorative etch strip)

 

Regards

Werner

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

8 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

Hello Harshil,

You make good progress with your model, and I would like to make some remarks regarding your pictures. 

1. A good run of the spirketting shows the ups and downs in the run of the false deck especially at the edges. This was also the case with my model, and I adjusted the "waves" using appropiately downsanded 1,5 mm veneer as a second layer on the according areas of original false deck. (This is time consuming but worth the while because the waves will not disappear with the deck planking).

2. Before you paint the bulwarks I recommend that you drill the holes for the eyebolts for the gun riggings, that means 4 holes on each gun port. A selfmade drill template is very helpful.

3. I also used the provided shells, it works with a little trimming (but not on the aft edge because the space is needed for the decorative etch strip)

 

Regards

Werner

 

 

Hi Werner, 

 

Thank you for these tips! I especially found the drill template idea very interesting. It will save a lot of time trying to find the correct location for each hole. 

 

Do you have photos of your model with 2nd layer of the veneer sheet on the deck? I'm wondering if you only glued this sheet on areas of the wavy "dip". Did you glue the sheet before sanding the area flat? 

 

Thanks again! And thank you all for the likes 🙂

 

Harshil

Edited March 18, 2022 by WalrusGuy

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil, 

no, I don't have photos of the unplanked gun deck with the veneer pieces as a second layer in the "dips". I suggest to glue pieces of veneer reaching a bit over the "dips" and sand them down until you get a smooth transition to the original false deck. One question regarding the bow area: Did you glue a beam on the backside of the beakhead bulkhead as support for the fore edges of the false deck halves?

I attach a photo of how I made the drill template. Just copy the area of the provided sheet and cut out according to the red line. So all you have to do is to put this template "over" each gun port and stitch through the middle of the depicted eyebolts. The bottom edge of the template just "sits" along the spirketting plank. 

 

 

[WalrusGuy]

On 3/18/2022 at 2:41 PM, wernerweiss said:

One question regarding the bow area: Did you glue a beam on the backside of the beakhead bulkhead as support for the fore edges of the false deck halves?

No, unfortunately I did not do this. Wish I thought of this earlier! I did check if the false deck is rigid near the beakhead bulkhead and it does not seem flimsy at all. I hope problems do not arise because of the lack of support underneath the sheet.

 

Thank you for forwarding the image of the template, it will be very handy in the coming week.. Much appreciated! 🙂

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil, 

the point is that this support is not mentioned in the instructions. To fix the problem I suggest the following: Carefully cut out both sides of the false deck along the fore edge of frame F and both sides of the bulkhead former. Then glue new supports in appropriate height along the fore edge of frame F, both sides of the bulkhead former and additionally on the beakhead bulkhead. Then you can glue the parts of the false deck on again.

If you regard it necessary you can repeat this procedure between the frames F and E only on the port side. The gap between the false deck and the spirketting plank should then be disappeared.

[WalrusGuy]

After some consideration, I decided to paint the bulwarks before drilling the holes. Reason being, the paint will clog up the holes, and I will need to pierce the holes again after painting. And I chose to paint the bulwarks in the great cabin white after seeing Werner's and Dirk's gorgeous builds. 

 

Also, I ended up using the kit's shell pieces for the sides of the quarter gallery instead of scratch building them. They needed a lot of tweaking for it to fit well, and not to mention a lot of filler as well 😁

Shaping and gluing these pieces is probably the trickiest part of the quarter gallery construction. There are a lot of angles to work with. It's not perfect, but I am happy with the outcome.

And here are some photos of the painted bulwarks:

I will be gluing a thin veneer on the false deck at the portside of the bow since there is a large gap beneath the spirketting which is very noticeable. The starboard side has a more consistent gap throughout the entire hull.  I was afraid to remove the false deck neatly, so that's why I am thinking of following this route instead.

[wernerweiss]

It is always a pleasure to follow your log and to see how you deal with the challenges of the details. 

One point before planking the gun deck.....close the gap between the false deck and the stern lights with another white plank. I think the deck planking will be too flat (just 1/16) to close the gap.

[toms10]

Walrusguy

You did a fantastic job on the quarter galleries. The whole build is very neat and clean. I like the white on the inside of the great cabin. I am enjoying following this build. Keep up the great work. 
Tom

[Gahm]

Wonderful job, Harshil! Your Confederacy is a real beauty!

 

Thomas

[michael mott]

Excellent work Harshil!

 

Michael

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you, Werner, Tom, Thomas, and Michael for the generous comments. And thanks all for the likes 🙂

 

Good catch, Werner. I'll make sure to fix the gap before working on the deck. 

 

Harshil

[Retired guy]

Just caught up on your excellent build (Wally) Harshil brilliant job.

 

Regards

Richard

[abelson]

Just catching up on your build. As usual, nice crisp and clean work. Excellent job on the sides of the quarter gallery.

[WalrusGuy]

Thank you for the kind words, Richard and Steven! 🙂

 

Continuing on with the quarter gallery construction with the mouldings and cap rail. I opted to go for two mouldings on the roof instead of the three as depicted in the plans and instructions. Reason being, the space between them was too narrow for the brass scrollwork, so I decided to omit the middle strip. I will try to carve out some larger scroll pieces that fit in the larger space.

 

After gluing the cap rail, I realized that the middle piece was a slightly different tone of color than the side pieces. I think it will be less noticeable when all the carvings are in place. So I decided to leave it as-is (and I was also afraid I may damage the other delicate areas surrounding the piece if I tried to remove it). 

 

Below are some photos of where I have reached:

 

Lastly, I placed a 1/16in thick strip as a sample deck plank, and it seems like I do not need the extra plank below the bottom white plank. Any comments would be appreciated!

Now I am thinking to finally start working on the carvings. I have no idea how they will go as it is my first time trying it. If my attempts fail I will use the supplied pieces.

Edited April 7, 2022 by WalrusGuy

[wernerweiss]

Hello Harshil,

Clean and accurate work as always!

Some remarks:

1. The different tone of color of the middle and side parts of the cap rail is the result of the different kinds of wood - the middle part from a stripe of basswood, the side parts from laser cut plywood. On my model, this did not occur because all wooden parts except the deck planks are painted with acrylic.

2. I looks as if there will remain a gap beneath the bottom white plank, but anyway you are perhaps going to use a kind of "washboard" along the deck edge.

3. To make the carvings yourself is very ambitious, and I wish you success!

 

Werner

[WalrusGuy]

Hi Werner, thank you for writing. And thanks all for the likes 🙂

6 hours ago, wernerweiss said:

The different tone of color of the middle and side parts of the cap rail is the result of the different kinds of wood - the middle part from a stripe of basswood, the side parts from laser cut plywood. On my model, this did not occur because all wooden parts except the deck planks are painted with acrylic.

I used basswood strips for both the top and side pieces and did not see the color differences until I applied the tung oil finish. Funny enough, I did not use the laser cut cap rail pieces I was afraid of the color differences when I apply the finish (since the wood curves towards the end grain).

The color difference is bugging me more now, so I will see if I can replace the side ones to match the top. The color of the top one matches the mouldings so I think I'll leave that glued permanently.

Another option I am considering to paint the cap rail black as shown from the post below. Let's see...

[desalgu]

Beautiful work, as always!  Strips of basswood will have some color variation in them when finished.  On the hull planking, you've got similar color differences and it adds to the look.  But I agree it would look better to get the side cap rails to match the top piece and the moldings.  Perhaps when you make new ones, you can put finish on them before gluing them on to ensure you get a good match with the top piece.

 

I'm real curious how the carvings go.  Based on what I've seen of your work, I bet they'll be awesome!

[WalrusGuy]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:36 PM, desalgu said:

Beautiful work, as always!  Strips of basswood will have some color variation in them when finished.  On the hull planking, you've got similar color differences and it adds to the look.  But I agree it would look better to get the side cap rails to match the top piece and the moldings.  Perhaps when you make new ones, you can put finish on them before gluing them on to ensure you get a good match with the top piece.

 

I'm real curious how the carvings go.  Based on what I've seen of your work, I bet they'll be awesome!

Thank you so much David! After some thought, I decided to leave the cap rail pieces as-is. Painting them black would make the quarter gallery too plain looking imo. I was afraid I will damage the thin delicate pieces if I try to replace them. And the added decorations would make the pieces harder to spot. I learnt for next time to apply the finish before hand to make sure the strips are of the same color (or use a better quality wood with less color variations per piece 😉).