HMC Sherbourne 1763 by tkay11 - FINISHED – Caldercraft – Scale 1:64 - A Novice’s Build

[egkb]

Dang!... Now that is something that never crossed my mind.. slightly embarrassing too as I was around ship/boat plans for most of my 'first' career must have gotten myself 'blinkered' with the build !

 

Thanks Tony  (again)

 

Eamonn

 

Thanks Kester, I think I shall have to 'Just get on with it'

 

E

Edited November 13, 2013 by egkb

[Stockholm tar]

Eamonn,

 

Don't you mean 'clinkered'!

[tkay11]

Clinkered-blinkered? No! Carveled-marveled.

 

Tony

[egkb]

Oh Dear G.d  , What have I started!

 

E

[Stockholm tar]

Eamonn,

 

Perhaps that'll be your Sherbourne soon?

[Hollander-jan]

Helo Tony and all other Sherbourne builders on this forum,

 

At last i have solved the problem that i had with the dutch supplier of Caldercraft kits. He was not able to deliver and send me my money back. At last after more then a mont of touble. Imidiatly ordered my ship at MODEL DOCKARD so that wil be allright i hope.

As soon as i have the ship I wil start a log of the build and looking forward to that moment. I wish yo all a verry good christmas and a splendid new year. Hope to meet you then on the forum.

 

Rgards Jan Vos from Holland

[tkay11]

Well, thank goodness it's resolved so you can start the new year afresh. You must have been quite frustrated.

 

We're looking forward to the build.

 

Tony

[Stockholm tar]

Jan,

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes with obtaining the Sherbourne kit. You shouldn't have any problems with the Model Dockyard, as I have dealt with then in the past and they have always been reliable. They were also quite prompt, so I would be surprised if you don't get the kit soon.

 

Looking forward to seeing you start your build log – and your Sherbourne of course!

[Shamrock]

Hi Tony

would you say that the difficulty level of your Sherbourne is "Beginner" - as it says on CMBs website? To me it looks quite demanding. Reason for asking is that I am finishing my Amati Shamrock (with resin hull) and thinking that "Beginner" is correct level for me when starting a double planked model, I ordered the Chatham from them. But looking at your model there seems to be a lot of difficulties to overcome. Should I have a nervous breakdown right now?

Shamrock

[tkay11]

Shamrock, it's only as demanding as you make it. If you've already done the Amati Shamrock (did you choose the model because of your name or are you just using your model's name for yourself?), then clearly you're not worried about working with wood and I should imagine you found various 'difficulties' of your own to get over during that build.

 

The Sherbourne is most definitely suitable for a beginner. After all, I'm a beginner, and have enjoyed every moment. The only new aspect that the Sherbourne or the Chatham might offer over the Shamrock is the planking on the hull (ok, maybe the rigging will be more complicated and there's a few guns to work on), but there are plenty of tutorials on this forum (which I myself had to follow) to help you along. When I first looked at the tutorials there were several aspects that had me totally mystified (especially the instructions on how to cut a garboard plank). But I soon found out that the best way of learning was just starting and trying it out. Of course mistakes are made, but then it's easy enough to undo them and start again. An advantage of double planking is that it really doesn't matter how badly you do the first planking since it's never going to be seen, and it gives you plenty of practice for the outer layer.

 

I am a complete beginner at working with wood and it is about 45 years since I fiddled around with plastic models (which at that time meant sticking one pre-formed part to another and following the instructions -- the only slight skill I had at that time was painting them). I thought, however, that if others could do these wonderful things with wood, and if others had similarly had to start somewhere, then it would be quite reasonable for me to try my hand.

 

At the time I started, there were a lot of Sherbourne builds and so it was easy to see the various stages of assembly and there was plenty of help and encouragement (a tradition that is strongly maintained on this forum) -- it still surprises me how the highly experienced modelers on the forum spend a lot of time with newcomers such as myself when they must have seen and been through the same stages many times over.

 

The only real 'difficulty' that most people found with the Sherbourne was fitting the transom at the stern, and each individual chose their own way of doing it. Otherwise you can make the kit as easily as you please just using the parts supplied.

 

So it all depends on what you'd like to do. My own personal preference is to see every single part as a new model in itself with its own set of skills which I know I have to learn if I want to accomplish something better in the future. I have enjoyed exploring the variety of ways in which people have approached the individual parts. So I thought "hmm, nibbed planking, don't understand that, so I'd better see if I can learn how to do it". Then the same thing happened with the pumps, the windlass, and the other deck fittings. Then I saw someone making a ship's boat, and I thought I'd try that out as well. In other words, I liked what others were doing, and simply tried my hand at it. Maybe I am not achieving the wonderful finish that others have achieved, but it's been tremendous fun learning that I can actually do something like that.

 

In the last month or so I decided I was very unsatisfied both with the gratings and with the shot racks that I made, so I have torn off the shot racks and made them all over again, and I have remade the gratings after learning how to use my saw to do so. All that will be forthcoming in some future part of this log. I was also very pleased at finding a way to convert my Proxxon drill stand into a mill. You should be getting the idea that no matter what your starting point there's a lot that's very achievable even if you can't see right now quite how to do it. A lot of the fun is puzzling it out for the particular tools and materials that you have to hand.

 

When I go over the ways in which I have approached each step, I am highly conscious that others may have looked at the step in the same way and wondered how to go about it. So I just spend time explaining what I have done in case it helps other novices think through how they might approach it for themselves. The more experienced quite often will have done it better, but everyone understands that just doing it helps you develop your own sense of what you want to get out of the hobby.

 

Another word of caution: don't be carried away with the need to make a build as accurate historically as possible. There are only degrees of similarity. For one thing, the sizes are completely different. If you just stick to the kit parts you'll still have a very pleasing model. You just have to decide what is 'pleasing' for yourself.

 

The Chatham is a lovely model, and will have exactly the same skills required as for the Sherbourne. My estimate is that you will find it very pleasing but I can't predict what aspects you will find challenging. So why not post some pictures of your model Shamrock (especially if you have any photos of the building process) and start your log of the Chatham once it arrives.

 

I and many others will look forward to seeing your progress. The thing is not to think from the start that it is going to be difficult. It may be difficult in the sense that at first you may feel it hard to achieve a particular accuracy, but you'll find that bit by bit your skills develop.

 

I hope that offers some encouragement. You'll probably also find that once started not only will you not have a nervous breakdown, but that building these models is a great way to relax and to avoid one.

 

Keep us posted on how you get on!

 

Tony

[Shamrock]

Hi

thank you for a very complete answer. I feel more relaxed now and will - as you suggest - "see every part as a single model", will certainly make one think before acting wich is what I need to do.

I do not have any photos from the Shamrock build since I started and finished it about 7-8 years ago - long before I found this site. So it is only sails that I am finishing right now, but I will add some photos of the model when I have completed it.

Once again - thanks a lot

 

Shamrock (name stolen from the model)

[Hollander-jan]

Hoi Tony,

 

I have red this 135 post of you again and again and i can not more agreeable with you than I have already in earlier post expressed.

I have done my build clinker on one side and building a main whale from scratch, you will see in my build log what I have done must do to overcome a problem with the clinker planking. The point I want to make is that building this boat is so much fun and satisfaction and learning all the time.  I am thinking about the deck that will come as the next next project. Reading about deck in different builds and so on and so on. First I will plank the other side. I will post the progress and the building of the main whale on my build. Thanks for all the good advise you give in you posts.

 

Jan 

 

PS if my English is not to good excuses for that

[tkay11]

Thanks, Jan. It's catching, this model ship building thing, isn't it!

 

You're doing a great job on that clinker planking. Reading how people do things is exactly what I am doing all the time.

 

With regard to the hull planking, I am not clear from your log whether you are already doing this, but one piece of advice that people give is that it is a good idea to work on both sides of the hull -- lay a few strakes of planking on one side, then do the same number on the other. The reason they give is, firstly, that it is then easier to establish symmetry of planking on both sides, and secondly that it avoids creation of strain on one side. I don't think it will make much difference in terms of the strain on the small boats we are doing, especially if we have filled between the bulkheads, but it is a good idea in terms of symmetry.

 

Don't worry about your English -- you're communicating well and that's what matters.

 

Tony

[tkay11]

 

I had started on the channels and deadeyes last month, but was distracted by the continuing discussions about mills. I was sure that there must be some way of modifying my drill stand to act as a mill, and sure enough, after a lot of web searching, I found a railway hobbyist who had done exactly that with his Proxxon drill stand. He was kind enough to share the details and provide a sketch.

 

So with the sketch in hand, I adapted my drill stand  as you can see if you look at my positng on the forum about this (see ‘How to modify Proxxon MB 140 drill stand to act as mill’ at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4539-how-to-modify-proxxon-mb-140-drill-stand-to-act-as-mill/?p=130660).

 

This in turn led me to buy an x-y table for the drill stand as well.

 

With all this thinking about better precision, a glance at the deck and looking at all the wonderful work on this forum showed me I could do a lot better with the guns, the shot racks, and the hatches. So why leave learning the skills to do better until later? Answer: do them again, but better if possible.

 

Replacing the shot racks

 

So the first thing to do was to remove all the shot racks. Unfortunately I had used epoxy adhesive to stick them to the walls. Despite much soaking in Isopropanol, they refused to give way, so I had to attack them with chisel blades. They came off, but it was clear I’d have to replace them as small patches of wood were also torn off the walls at the same time.

 

That done, I cut some new strips of wood from some pear pen blanks using my Proxxon FET saw (with which I am at last really comfortable and pleased with the precision it can offer) and loaded them on to a jig that would hold them on the x-y table.

 

That allowed me to mill a nice series of three hollows at a time spaced by 0.5mm, leaving gaps between each three hollows to file out as individual shot racks.

 

 

 

I finished them off with a face plate, and painted them. I again used the x-y table to drill holes for the gun bolts that would go into them, and then with some of the salvaged bolts and rings from the previous racks, installed the bolts. The racks were then set aside until I had finished more of the other deck furnishings.

 

Replacing the hatches – (1) the Gratings

 

I had for some time been thinking about learning how to do gratings for myself – I had read a lot about the standard technique of using a circular saw, but had been somewhat mystified as to how to get a groove exactly at the right spacing from the saw blade.

 

Of course, the answer was obvious the moment I decided to put blade to plywood panel. The way to achieve a perfect spacing was simply to start by cutting the slot in the panel by clamping the panel to the table top and having one edge of the panel firmly against the fence. Then, once the slot was cut, the panel was turned over and a spacer of the correct width was inserted between the panel and the fence.

 

 

I had decided that I’d go for 0.8mm strips for the gratings with a corresponding hole size of 0.8mm in order to achieve a scale size of 2” for the gratings (it’s a 1:64 model). The kit gratings are about 1mm and they just looked a bit too big to my eye.

 

Luckily I have a 0.8mm saw blade with no kerf, and after several attempts using a 0.8mm gauge from an old set of feeler gauges I had, I managed to cut 0.8mm strips that I could use in the slot.

 

 

One little hint that others might find useful is to set the depth of the cut using feeler gauges until you can just feel the edge of the saw over the edge of the gauge as you raise it through the slot.

 

 

I had especially enjoyed Dafi’s account of his trials making gratings (at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1449-making-gratings/?p=29923), and I went through similar set-backs. My main problem was making sure the grooves for the gratings were parallel. Given the grooves were 0.8mm, and that I was pushing the block of wood by hand over the blade, minute variations in the pressure I was using resulted in (1) increasing deviation from parallel as I went further into the block, and (2) a very small variation in the spacing between cuts. I found that a deviation of 0.01mm would translate into blocks that would have slightly different spacing, and that this would result in gratings that would only interlock for about 7 or 8 bars.

 

To overcome the problem of variance from parallel cuts, I used a block of wood that covered both sides of the spacing bar as well as the blade. This was then pushed through by the cross-slide/ angle stop. I never quite managed to make grooves that were perfectly spaced for more than a couple of centimetres, but I found that that did not matter – the only grating that was large was the main grating and I found all I had to do was make up the central section as a cross hatch and then simply add ordinary strips of the right depth to the remaining outer grating grooves.

 

 

 

 

 

Another recent purchase was a Proxxon sander. This I really find valuable. It allowed me to finish off the coamings around the gratings with ease.

 

Curving the gratings

 

I have seen that others bend their gratings using heat. I wasn’t quite sure how I’d do that and then put coamings round them. So I used an old biscuit tin first to shape the underside of the gratings, and then to shape a mirror mould so that I could curve the top of the gratings.

 

 

 

 

 

Replacing the hatches – (2) Main companionway

 

It has been said that the Alert’s deck plan would not work for the Sherbourne because the Sherbourne is smaller and using the hatches from the Alert would make the deck far too cluttered. That’s probably true, but I liked the look of my old companionway, so I just re-did it using pear wood from the pen blanks I had bought off eBay. It’s a bit better now, but not enormously so.

 

 

Replacing the hatches – (3) The Captain’s companionway

 

Much more interesting was the aftmost companionway. Others have preferred a tall structure, but I thought I’d stick with the Alert’s glass-covered one – mostly because I wanted to try my hand at using Perspex and embedding mullions in it. I didn’t like the rather tatty look of the one I first made, especially as I had CA glue marks on the plastic sheet I had used for the window panes.

 

At first I tried using my modified drill stand to mill the grooves for the mullions in the Perspex. However, it soon became clear that with my drill at its very high speed the melting Perspex on the mill bit made the process unworkable. Even worse, I snapped my 0.8mm mill bit when trying to remove it from a solidified ball of Perspex.

 

However, it struck me that I could use the skills I had learnt for the gratings. After a bit of experimentation, using a 0.6mm blade and making the necessary 0.6mm strip for the jig, it was relatively easy to slice grooves to a depth of 1mm in a 2mm Perspex block.

 

With another bit of luck, I remembered that some 0.5mm strips of cherry wood that I had previously ordered were in fact 0.6mm thickness – so they made perfect mullions for the grooves in the Perspex.

 

I first cut longitudinal grooves in the Perspex, then fitted the strips of cherry wood into those grooves (using small amounts of CA glue along the bases). These were sanded down to 1mm from the surface of the Perspex.

 

The block was then rotated and the horizontal cuts were made with the saw using the same jig – though this time the depth of the cut was adjusted to allow for the extra depth made by the inserted longitudinal strips of cherry.

 

With this done, the horizontal strips of cherry could then be inserted into the horizontal grooves, and the whole was then sanded down with the sander.

 

 

 

 

 

The final touch was to mill a couple of slots for the hinges and to insert two 2.5mm lengths of 0.5mm brass wire into the slots.

 

 

Watch out with the vacuum cleaner!

 

I had rigged up a vacuum cleaner nozzle over the sanding machine as I found that was more successful at removing wood dust than the outlet provided for the sander.

 

Unfortunately, the double sided tape I had been using to fix the companionway cover to a block of wood (to make the sanding more accurate and less dangerous) became worn and, as I was nearing the last bit of sanding on this rather precious piece, the vacuum cleaner simply sucked up the piece!

 

 

 

So I spent a dusty 15 minutes taking the bag out of the vacuum cleaner and sifting through the dust until I found my precious tiny piece again.

 

Still to come:

• Cannon
• Channels and deadeyes

 

Tony

Edited March 18, 2014 by tkay11

[egkb]

Wow Tony, Sherbourne is really 'popping' with those upgrades.. really like the Glass Grating! (Capt Companionway)

 

Eamonn

[Gregor]

Oh, oh, this deserves more than a simple like! What I admire most: The idea of rethinking and doing it again in a new way.

Gregor

... and after rereading the post I have to add: Not only the results are inspiring, but also the techniques and with them the proof that - with much effort and ingenuity - there can be much progress.

Thanks again, Tony!

Edited January 16, 2014 by Gregor

[tkay11]

It was lovely to start up my computer this morning and find these nice comments and likes -- so thanks Gregor, Eamonn and Jay! As I keep saying, the continued exploration of others' work and the thinking I have to do to guess how to achieve the results are possibly the main factors for me in this hobby. Great fun and continued stimulation to keep the old brain ticking over.

 

Tony

[Stockholm tar]

Tony,

 

Good post on those upgrades, and I especially liked your technique for sanding the base of the gratings – so simple, and sets one to thinking now why didn't I think of that? That's why MSW is so good, someone is bound to think of new ways of doing things.

 

I have to say that I am rather envious of yours, and others, workshops. Not having a dedicated area in our flat, I use the worktop in the kitchen for my modelling, which means that I have to clear it all away after each session. Naturally using anything other than simple tools, like a Dremel, is out as it would create too much dust, and would certainly take up too much space – plus my wife might have something to say! It's nice though to see what others are doing.

 

I'd certainly agree with you, that thinking around the problems that crop up keeps the old brain cells functioning!

 

 

[tkay11]

Thanks, Kester. Certainly no need to be envious when your builds are so beautiful. It may well be that your focus on a simple modelling space gives you a similar focus on the perfection of your builds.

 

You're quite right about keeping tools simple. Underhill was a great champion of the card table and basic tools. I too had hoped I would avoid buying the nice new electrical aids (saw, sander, wood lathe) but I succumbed to the temptation as I kept being frustrated by my inability to use simple tools. I am also very aware of the fact that other modellers have been doing this for much longer than I have (or are people who've worked with tools and wood throughout their lives), and so have had time to build up their skills. In my case, now that I am about to be 67, and I haven't had such a lifetime of experience, I reckon the time available to build up those skills is limited -- even though I would like to develop those same skills. So it's all a bit of a balance.

 

Two examples of my failure:

 

(1) keeping the depth of the hollows in the shot racks constant (with my modified drill stand the depths are now constant). I can envisage being able to do it otherwise, but it was so much simpler to use a drill stand.

 

(2) sanding exactly parallel to a surface. I know I could build jigs to achieve flat sanding, but again it was in the end more convenient to buy a sander.

 

All the same, I'm glad you liked the biscuit tin -- even my wife approved! These simple solutions are definitely the ones that are the most enjoyable. The machinery is just luxury -- although it is also fun learning the skills involved in operating it properly.

 

Tony

[Stockholm tar]

Thanks, Kester. Certainly no need to be envious when your builds are so beautiful. It may well be that your focus on a simple modelling space gives you a similar focus on the perfection of your builds.

 

 

Tony,

 

Thank you for those kind words. I'm not sure she's that beautiful though, and I could list a few glaring errors, I've managed to hide - but then as you said, we are our own worst critics! However, you might have a point, re. the focus.

 

Well, I suppose there are things to be said for keeping things simple, and I've learnt to live with it (or perhaps that should be without it), but just occasionally I think it would be nice to have all this machinery. I do however, have a scroll saw at the summer cottage which comes in handy on occasion...

 

Btw, I hope to have an update to my log soon which, I have a feeling, is somewhat overdue...

[tkay11]

Ha! A scroll saw! Now that has to be next on my list -- when I get to scratch building, though, may be in 5 years' time.

 

Tony

[hopeful]

HI Tony,

 

Just getting back to work on my build after some absence. Thought I would fist stop by your build log to see what you have been doing. Wow, I always learn lots by going through your log. 

 

Wish you well as you move along this year.

 

Cheers,

Hopeful aka David

[tkay11]

Many thanks, David and Dirk. You can see how much I've been picking up from you and the others who have been so helpful in getting me started.

 

I'm waiting for your rigging to begin on the Sherbourne, Dirk, so I can pick up hints on that as well before I have to start on mine -- so you'd better get cracking!

 

Tony

[Hollander-jan]

This is all very impressiv. And a major contribution to how to do things. I feel a near neatherthaler as I read this.

 

It is all really nice and off a great workmansship.

 

looking forward to the cannons working on them now they are so small!

 

Jan

[tkay11]

Thanks very much, Jan. I think we must both be in the same age group, then. I'm certainly no better than you when it comes to workmanship.

 

You are lucky in that I haven't taken pictures of all the failed attempts at getting things right. After failing with the milling idea, I made two complete captain's companionway windows before I could find the skills to finalise one -- the perspex was particularly difficult to get the hang of as it melts so easily with the heat of cutting, and if CA glue comes into contact it ruins the surface (the trick here was to leave on the plastic covering that comes with the perspex sheet and remove it just before the final cut of the horizontal grooves).

 

So you see it really is just a matter of determination, thinking, learning about the materials and tools, and, of course, practice to see what happens when you try something out. The pictures I made of the final version make the whole process seem more straightforward than it was -- although in reality, once I had the hang of things, it really was straightforward (discounting the unexpected episode with the vacuum cleaner!).

 

As to the cannon, well, I'm just about to try my hand at milling the sides today -- having spent a while yesterday making sure I have the measurements right and practising on a bit of oak floorboard that my neighbours threw out. It's going to be very interesting, and I'm waiting to see how it all turns out myself!

 

Tony

[Hollander-jan]

Thank you for that perfect post. I dont't know if we are in the same age I am turned 66 last december retired after 43 years of hard working. I have all the time in the world to spent on my family, dog, boat, and housholding. The admiral is younger and stil working. It is realy wonderful to see and read what you do with the boat. I myself doing the best I can and it turns out satisfactory for me. In my own post I wil tell about a jig I have made for the construction of the cannon cariages. Works wel and gives me confidence for the rest of the small stuf. It was  fun to do this jig.

 

Jan

[tkay11]

Yes, we are both Neanderthal, except yesterdayI finished with 66 and today started with 67. I'm still working, but gradually trying to phase out -- it's just that people keep asking me to do some more.

 

Looking forward to your jig! They're very satisfying once you get them working. I'm doing mine as a block which I will then mill. I'm still waiting for a particular mill bit, so last night I started trying to work out how to do the wheels.

 

Tony

[CAd My Fingers]

Tony, Happy Belated-Birthday!  Like Gregor said, a simple like isn't enough for your latest upgrades!  You regularly come up with great innovations to improve your build and accompany them with excellent tutorials--your most recent is no exception!   Had a good laugh about the vacuum...that's happened to me on a few occasions.   I will remember your and Dafi's grating work...if I ever can get to that construction point (sigh! ).

 

Likewise, I'm with you on tools upgrades.  On the one hand, it's nice to keep things simple but on the other hand, they can lend a precision that's not always quite possible with doing things by hand--to wit, your shot racks.  I ran into the same with a build, the extra tools helped tremendously with improving the appearance and simplifying the tasks I was working on (plus, they help lessen some frustrations!).  

 

Like you, I'm looking forward to seeing Dirk's rigging!  Between Kester and his work, we'll have some excellent references to follow when we get there!

 

Thanks again for your wonderful ideas that you freely share and also, again, Happy Birthday!

 

Best wishes,

Jay 

 

 

[tkay11]

Thanks for the birthday wishes, you guys! I don't normally leave personal details on fora, but I just wanted to prove I'm as much Neanderthal as the next guy. Yes, self image changes with age. I used to be Tarzan.

 

As for the rigging, Dirk, you've unfortunately let on that you can do it beautifully with your Swift and Krick Alert (for those who haven't seen, have a look at https://plus.google.com/+DirkKarsten/photos?banner=pwa. So you can't call 'chicken' on this one!

 

Tony

[tkay11]

Wheels/Trucks

 

I haven’t been satisfied with the gun carriages I made, so I set about thinking how to do them more accurately.

 

First off was the problem of how to make wheels. Making the rods that were to become the wheels was fairly straightforward. I used a tip from Hubert Sicard’s site ‘Wooden Ship Modeling for Dummies’ at http://www.shipmodeling.ca/, where he suggested using an adjustable spanner with wet&dry paper glued to its faces. That gives a rod of the diameter you want. You can see how this is done in the picture below. I used a stick of pear wood cut from a pen blank (you can buy these cheaply at eBay).

 

 

But how to drill the holes for the axles?

 

For a long time I couldn’t think how to drill holes in the centre of the wheels to take the axles.

 

However, once I had the wood lathe in place, I thought it would be simple to shape a rod and then drill a hole in the end using a Jacob’s chuck. At first my attempts at centring the hole were not good – until I found that I could put some shims into the tailstock end. You can see the details in my posting at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2765-proxxon-mini-lathe-db-250-opinionsassessmentsrecommendations/?p=154323.

 

With that sorted, I found I could drill the holes quite centrally, but found three further problems:

 

1. Because of the length of the drill bit, I could only drill a hole to its depth, which was the equivalent of about 5 or 6 wheels. That meant I had to drill the hole each time again after cutting off 5-6 wheels.

 

2. I also found that despite a good initial centre, the drill had a slight tendency to go off centre the deeper it went. It was slightly reassuring to read in Frolich’s book ‘The Art of Ship Modelling’ that even he had the same problem with his Unimat lathe when making his wheels.

 

3. My skill with the adjustable spanner probably not being perfect, I could not make perfectly circular rods. I found that there could be up to 0.2mm discrepancy in the diameters.

 

Whilst thinking about these problems, I made a simple jig for my saw to cut the wheels to 1mm thickness, as you can see in the following photos. The spacer block is there to act as a stop.

 

 

 

 

Once the wheels are cut from the rod, they go back on to the drill bit to be filed of any burr.

 

 

 

You might think I was satisfied with this result, but because of the three problems listed earlier, I thought I’d have a bash at other ways of achieving perfectly circular trucks with perfectly centred holes for the axles.

 

My solution was to use concentric brass tubing.

 

Starting with the central hole, it was important to have exactly the right diameter. So I took a 2mm diameter rod and, using the wood lathe again, widened its 1mm internal diameter to 1.2mm for the axles. This is to allow for the same drill bit to be pushed into the central tube once the jig has been made.

 

 

I then added the higher diameter tubes. One thing I noticed was that the tubes had a wall thickness of 0.45mm, thus leaving a 0.1mm gap to the next tube. I reckoned that if I were to put a layer of PVA glue round the tubes that would spread evenly and fill the gap. It seemed to work.

 

 

Finally the inner tubes were filed smooth at the ends, ready for the outer tube to be slid over to hold the wheel.

 

 

 

Clearly this method will only really work for wheel diameters that increase in 0.5mm amounts since the tubing can only provide 0.5mm steps. I had chosen to have wheels at 4 and 4.5mm diameters, so that worked for me.

 

In reality, there was not much difference between the two methods (drilling with the lathe versus drilling through a jig made of concentric brass tubes). The brass tube method allowed for consistency and speed, although its limitation is that of the 0.5mm steps. It also means I am left with a jig that will work for future wheels of the same size. The lathe method works fine too, but takes longer and is more fiddly.

 

The gun carriages

 

Having sorted out the wheels/trucks, the next stage was the carriages. I decided I’d use my modified Proxxon stand, [which you can see at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4539-how-to-modify-proxxon-mb-140-drill-stand-to-act-as-mill/?p=130660, together with the x-y table] to mill a block from which the carriage sides would be cut. This method is the one used by Frolich, along with countless other modellers on this forum and elsewhere.

 

The second iteration of the carriages had been based on CAD drawings I had made of the carriages scaled down to 3 pounder carriages. This proved awkward, because the barrels provided by the kit are in effect 3.5 pounders, but I thought that few would notice their over-size if I placed them in 3 pounder carriages.

 

This time round, for the third iteration, I thought that in order to make everything match up, and because I couldn’t imagine making barrels myself, then the carriages ought to be 3.5 pounder carriages as well.

 

So I rescaled the drawings to make 3.5 pounders. As before, I cut pear wood to size with my table saw and used CAD drawings glued to the wood sheets to cut out the beds, quoins, axles and bolsters. The handles for the quoins were made from rods of pear that were passed through a drawplate.

 

 

The next stage was to prepare a jig on which to assemble the carriages. I had seen several jigs made of wood, but I was lazy and decided to use double-sided sticky tape. It’s transparent, so can be laid over a print out of the CAD drawing. With this, it was easy to hold the two axles in place in order to put the sides on to them.

 

 

 

It should be noted that the transverse bolt was used to link the two sides before placing on the jig. This helped in accurate placement.

 

You’ll also note that I have drilled holes for all the bolts that will be going into the carriages. Before painting, they will have brass wire placed in them to make sure I can find them again after painting!

 

 

 

 

The gun barrels

 

Having done all this, I once again looked at complete guns with carriages and thought that the barrels looked distinctly ropey. But I couldn’t make the barrels myself.

 

Or could I?

 

I decided to give it a bash with the Proxxon wood lathe. I first tried with some of the same pear wood I had used for the carriages. This didn’t turn out too well as the wood just looked too grainy (probably my ineptitude, and I hadn’t thought of using filler), but it gave me the courage to try again.

 

I thought I’d investigate how to make them in brass, and so posted a question on the forum (you can see the discussion at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5975-using-chisels-for-turning-brass/). It turned out that I didn’t really have the right tools to do this, so I thought I’d have a go with boxwood.

 

I still have plenty of the wood from the boxwood ruler I had bought on eBay to make the gratings, and lo and behold the thickness was 4.5mm – just the right size to make 3.9mm barrels with.

 

The barrel rings were left over-sized until the last. This allowed me to use them as markers for the different barrel diameters as they decreased. At the same time I made constant reference to the CAD drawing held by forceps (shown in the picture).

 

 

 

 

This was all quite interesting as, until I had actually made the new barrel at the proper size for a 3pdr, I had thought that the difference in size with that of the kit would not be really noticeable. In fact the difference is size is very noticeable. I can now see that should I make all the cannon at this size, they would fit the gunports perfectly.

 

The barrel hasn’t turned out as beautifully as those made by other modellers, but I now have the courage to improve the skill.

 

Although I had thought making barrels would be incredibly difficult, in fact it just required patience and care, shaving very small amounts off at a time with the turning chisels. The Proxxon turning chisels proved to be wonderful, and I now understand why boxwood is so admired for this kind of thing – it allows for very precise cutting indeed.

 

The big decision now is whether to make a THIRD set of carriages to fit the new barrel, and therefore to make a complete set of barrels.

 

I am still thinking on that one! I have just ordered some ebony at the suggestion made by Nigel in the discussion referred to above about cutting brass and will try turning a cannon in that wood before I make any final decision.

 

Oh, decisions, decisions! But all this experimenting with techniques is definitely going to put me in good stead for future builds. Spending time on getting techniques right at this stage is, in my view, a very good investment for the future.

 

Tony

Edited March 14, 2014 by tkay11