HMS Druid by Krug - FINISHED - 1:48 - Hahn

[42rocker]

Nice Work.

 

Later Tim

[kruginmi]

Making some headway, the last connection to the berth deck was the ladder.  I decided a jig was necessary and I came up with below:

 

 

The length of the gaps allowed some tension to be available to hold the treads while the sides are applied.  I first measured the tread depth from the plan unfortunately from the stairs from the gun / main deck to the quarter deck.  After putting the stairs in place it was pretty obvious this didn't leave a lot of room for sailors to make it through the coaming!

 

 

Upon further investigation I found a view off to the side that showed a much skinnier tread.  The jig now paid off since it was just five minutes before I had a replacement made.  The result was much more viable:

 

 

With the windlass plate off you can see the two sets of stairs from both decks. This will definitely work.

 

As i complete the deck requirements from bow to stern I will very soon be laying the deck planks.

 

Mark

[capnharv2]

Mark,

 

I like your ladder jig. That looks very handy and adaptable!

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

[kruginmi]

Harvey, 

 

With the jig I can make a ladder in less than 5 minutes.  As a side note I did put that guide piece on both sides of the jig to avoid tilting the treads as they glue up.  I also only tacked the guide pieces at the top and bottom to keep the very slight flex to hold each tread.

 

I am quite happy with that creation.

 

mark

[capnharv2]

And since you've only tacked the guide rails, you can rotate them to create any slope stairs you need.

 

Neat!

 

Harvey

[kruginmi]

Success breeds progress.  Tonight was to climb the mountain.that I had thought about for a long time  - the pumps.

 

I had lathed out rods to represent the pumps a LONG time ago (in a galaxy / home far - far away).  Ever since then I had known that I wanted to improve their look above the deck where they were most visible.  That decision had churned in my brain ever since, growing larger and larger in mythical proportions of complexity.  Today was the day, they had to be done.

 

The following shows a before and after shot (hopefully you can tell the bottom pump is the before):

 

 

As is usually the case, the reality wasn't that bad at all.  After marking where the pumps came through the deck, that line was scribed with a knife and the rod paired down.  I used a draftsman guide of six sided shapes to find the appropriate size that I wanted.  Wood was cut to these dimensions and I eyeballed the necessary bevel at the edges.  These were then glued together and onto the rod.

 

 

I used piece of boxwood for a cap.  The actual handle will be generated later. 

 

 

Tomorrow the gun deck planking begins.  mark

 

 

[harvey1847]

Hi Mark!

 

I thought was boxwood like Bugra and I guess others. Thanks for the ladder jig practicum! Copy and saved on my "research folder"...

 

Beautiful work!

 

 

Daniel.

[kruginmi]

Thanks for stopping in and taking a look!

 

On to the gun deck planking!  Unlike most of the berth deck there are all sorts of items poking through the deck requiring special consideration and thought.  As an example the following (and where they fit):

 

 

For the target plank width I decided one fourth of the width of the coamings would be just right.  I do have some liberties here since this ship was originally built in America as a cargo ship before being bought into the British navy.  This decision made for some clean lines:

 

 

After getting these affixed I thought the open sections needed some cleaning up to get good lines for the eye.  I decided to go for a trim piece slightly less than half plank size and framed out the opening, using mitered corners at all joins.  There is no end grain visible.

 

 

For clean up I find a scraper (usually a straight razor blade) works best.  A few swipes and everything looks clean.  Now on to the deck sides.

 

mark

[kruginmi]

One item I should mention concerns the run of the steering tackle.  Without too much thought I had originally 'assumed' the lines went straight up from the tackle below the gun deck to the wheel spool.  So....only tubes were needed for where the lines passed through the decks.  WRONG.

 

Below is the top view of the setup I finally arrived at:

 

 

The tackle below the gun deck is at a fixed point (here denoted as the circle below the gun deck).  It doesn't move.  The rigging as shown travels through two decks to the spool attached to the ships wheel.  This spool is not filled with this rigging.  There has to be a portion that is clear both at the fore and aft end.  Why?  Because as the wheel turns the wrapped rigging will move either forward or aft - depending on a turn to port or starboard.  So you need to understand how many full turns the wheel needs to turn the rudder in both directions (hopefully the same amount if the rudder is centered).  This becomes the distance denoted as 'A' in the diagram.  This measurement will be the same for the aft and forward part of the spool.  Now if you zoom back out to the full diagram, the rigging will form a V with the bottom vertex at the fixed point as it moves through its total rudder allowance.  It is now seen that at the deck pass through points more than just a hole in the deck is required.

 

Looking at a simplified top view:

 

 

You can see that slits are actually required to allow this full rotation (equal to defined distances 'B' and 'C'.  This is larger at the top given a larger distance from the fixed point.  The gun deck slit will also need to be boxed on the Druid given it is the main deck and often wet. 

 

Additionally, I had thought this rigging on original ships was one continuous line.  However, I am told the wrapping on the spool is not always tight enough given the sea state and tension leading to potential slips.  So, the lines were usually brought up independently and affixed to the spool at the center point to insure this does not occur.

 

Such much information once taken for granted to relearn!

mark

Edited February 11, 2014 by kruginmi

[garyshipwright]

Hi Mark. It is very interesting that you say the lines for the steering was brought up independently and allways thought like you that they were one line. Can you post were this information came from? Very very interested in this. Thank you sir. Gary

Edited February 12, 2014 by garyshipwright

[kruginmi]

Hey Gary,

 

Being on the 'Great Lakes' I have befriended a few mariners, particularly one who has sailed his whole life - both small and large wooden craft.  He has taken an interest in my hobby and likes to see what I am doing.  It was in conversation with him on the steering mechanism that this was discussed.  He saw the original rigging leads and through questions had me think through the issues and come up with the correct solution.

 

He was pretty adamant that you would have quite a problem if the ropes were allowed to just slip over the drum (not be affixed), that the tension would be very difficult to remain sufficiently tight under all weather conditions.  It certainly sounds plausible.  Maybe some of the other mariners on this site can chime in. 

 

mark

[dgbot]

Inquiring minds would like to know.  As a TV detective once said "Very Interesting."  I am now showing my age.

David B.

Edited February 12, 2014 by dgbot

[kruginmi]

I looked in a lot of my books and this subject is just not talked about (is this rigging or hull?).  However,  'Sailing Man of War' by Peter Goodwin does talk about this on pages 135 - 138.  He talks about the use of tensioning tackle to take up issues with cord stretching from temperature and humidity, and not affixing the line to the spool.  He also talks about that around 1815 hemp tiller rope was replaced by rawhide to reduce this play.

 

I am assuming affixing to the spool is for smaller wooden craft without recourse to the above.  For my ship (again, I have an out because it was built for cargo) I will drill through the spool at the center point and pull up the two separate lines through this hole and affix.  Then the lines around the drum will be pulled over this hole so it can't be seen.  Since I do not have miniature people to rig this up with one line it is either this or somehow splice them together.

 

Mark

[garyshipwright]

Hi Mark and thank you sir. Some where and please don't ask me were, maybe in Goodwin's book, that the cable was taken around the spool or drum about 5 turns. They then  put a nail  or staple, on the middle run on the bottom of the drum, which means you had two and a half turns to port and two and a half turns to starboard. How far that would turn the rudder, this am unsure, maybe some one know's the answer to this one and will chime in here. This also as you said above gave space for the cable on the drum. Hum very interesting. Gary

Edited February 12, 2014 by garyshipwright

[garyshipwright]

Mark I looked in Boudroit book, The 74 gun ship, Vol 2, and seems this is were I found the information on the wheel, rudder and tiller rope. As I posted above the rope was taken around the barrel a even number of turns and then taken back down to the tiller. Boudriot says that the mid point of the tiller rope is nailed to the barrel, and on either side of this fixed point it is wound round twice in opposing directions; thus if the barrel is turned in one direction the rope is wound on of the fixed point and unwound in the other, abaft the fixed point. Gary

[kruginmi]

Thanks for the good information Gary.  Constantly learning in this hobby.

 

This evening I had some time and have diagrammed out my plan for the outside planking.  I had wanted to include some locking planks for the experience in making them and also the look they provide. 

 

 

With the space available I am opting for two regular plank runs, one on both sides of the locking planks.  The final run is the trim piece that totally encircle the open space.  I am still undecided if I should work from the mid section to the outside or from the hull towards the middle, but will probably work from the outside in.

 

Lots of sanding and fitting in my future.

mark

 

[garyshipwright]

Mark that looks good sir and do agree with you on working from the outside to the inside. When I laid Alfred's gun deck plank's, I went from the outside towards the middle and from the bow to the stern. A whole lot easier fitting the plank up against the water way then fitting it after every thing else is laid.

 

Gary

Edited February 13, 2014 by garyshipwright

[kruginmi]

Finally got the starboard side all planked up (with a coat of gel coat).  It became evident pretty quickly that in order to plank the outer sides (with locking planks) you need to have the plan in place for the bow and stern planking.  This was my first go at this.  These areas are totally covered up by the quarter deck and forecastle but I still wanted something seemed plausible with my knowledge.  The result was:

 

 

The gel coat enabled the seams to really pop so all this hard planking work was not lost (hah, hah).  I ended up using a trim outline (around half a plank width) to frame in the open area of the deck.  So there is no end grain visible.  It really seemed to tidy things up and give a finished look to it.

 

 

So, when I take a step back and look at the final view of the cut out deck (at least the starboard side) I am left pretty happy with my efforts.  It took a little longer than anticipated - but what doesn't in this hobby?  I am relying on the stern planking on the wall to clean up the join with the floor.  I need to construct a rudder head box along with a seating / storage area in this section.

 

 

So on to the port side and trying to produce close to a mirror result.   - mark

[kruginmi]

Thanks for all the likes (and looks),

 

I am still pounding away at the port side.  Making those irregular planks at the bow / stern sure take some thought and time.  One they are attached though, the work pays off.

 

 

 

A lesson learned is to always use basswood first.  Even if I move to other woods I will always have a supply of at least 1/16th inch basswood boards for prototyping and trying things out.  I do start with paper, but that wrinkles and folds and can only get you so close.  Basswood is pretty easy to work with and will generate a 1:1 template for very little cost (even if the first one or two don't work out).

 

At the other end of the ship I am still looking at a gap that I hope to fill by tomorrow night:

 

 

My current plan shows this ship finishing up the middle of the year at the current pace and tasks remaining (making it around 13 years since the first cut).  I even caught myself looking at some plans thinking about the next one.  Must focus!  Lots of things left to do.

 

-mark

[dgbot]

Great idea.  I have used strips from manila folders .

David B

[kruginmi]

A pretty big milestone in my build - the gun deck planking baseline is complete!  I had hoped to finish it this weekend but had had my doubts.  Finally I was able to stand back and view the deck as envisioned. 

 

 

Still lots of details to work on for this deck before I can move up but I take the victory today.  I did put everything that had been laid aside back on to insure I still had everything as well as see that nothing had changed fit wise.

 

 

Finally to add some proportionality I provide a view of myself and the ship.

 

 

Tonight I move on to my 9 year old's F-14 plastic model (last hope in the family).

 

mark

 

 

[dgbot]

I hate to see the case when you get done.

David B

[kruginmi]

Luckily, this will not be masted or rigged......(even the masts shown will be eventually cut down a little more). Still sizeable, but manageable. 

 

My better half has said she likes the look of a rigged ship, but I will get only one in the house of this size.  Still undecided as to which ship that will be, but I do like 1/48th scale.  Being practical that scale eliminates anything over a 36 gun ship.

 

Mark

[harvey1847]

Congratulations Mark!

 

Beatiful work! Any pics of that F-14? Is it on another forum? I have upstairs 4 of them, 2 F-18 and a Viking waiting to be build...

 

Happy modelling!

 

 

Daniel.

[kruginmi]

The F-14 (glue splattered, fingerprinted, hacked off the stem) is a thing of beauty to my son.  I am trying to pass on the merits of modeling but the first four kids (I have six) have shown little to no interest.  The youngest (at four) is still a little early.  He has become excellent at patience for his age.  I won't go into the pull of digital games (a topic for another part of this forum).  I do have a couple of basic ship kits in the wings but for now I let him pick his own subjects to keep any momentum going....

 

For myself, I think the stern fixtures around the rudder cap is up next for treatment - then on to the wall planking.

 

mark

[kruginmi]

On to the lockers.  These aren't on the plans but the rudder head required a cover and I decided to spruce things up a bit.

 

I prototyped a first vision (nothing is glued down):

 

 

I am thinking the rudder head locker should be less wide and stick a little farther into the cabin. 

 

The side lockers should have less depth and maybe a little less height.  I don't think I will extend them to the bulwarks on either side.

 

Once decided on how it will look, there will be hinges, knobs and trim added to clean up the final version.  Pretty much lost to view under the quarterdeck but there will be glimpses if you look hard enough.

 

Suggestions invited.

 

- mark

[dgbot]

Your joinert is fantastic.  nice and crisp.

David B

[kruginmi]

Version 2.0.  What a little sleep and doodling during some (boring) meetings can do to you.

 

 

This is a cargo ship so simpler is probably better.  Still some embellishments, sanding and finishing to go but this is the version I will go with.

 

Now to start getting those walls planked.

 

Mark

Edited March 7, 2014 by kruginmi

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, mate!

 

John

[Sailor1234567890]

Looks really cool. I'm also trying to get my son (I only have one kid) interested in something crafty and handy like model building. So far he's interested in "The King" from the movie Cars and "Skipper" from the movie Planes. I'll have to steer him toward boats or I might lose him to the other elements. LOL