USF Confederacy by Augie & Moonbug - FINISHED - Model Shipways - 1:64

[Kevin]

I see you found the rear gun port hinge in post 2067

[Moonbug]

Ha! I did Kevin!

 

Although there are a couple other missing random bits, that according to Augie's notes they are stowed in his "magnetic ashtray"... No doubt Diane will one day come across a few belaying pins or blocks.

 

I'm glad the Confed kit comes with a fair amount of extra pieces. :-)

 

-Bug

[BIGMAC]

Hello team!

 

   Got a question for the group regarding rigging the cannons.  The Confed directions call for gun tackles on either side of the cannon.

 

Screen Shot 2016-05-14 at 9.35.38 AM.png

 

According to Augie's hand written notes in his folder, he didn't intend to rig these as he felt it made the deck a bit crowded. I'm a bit back and forth on this, but ultimately the decision is made a bit easier as it would be nearly impossible to add the side gun tackles to the cannons already mounted on the lower deck.  ;-)  

 

However - I like what our friend Sjors has done here with his Agamemnon and rear gun tackle.  

 

Screen Shot 2016-05-14 at 9.38.36 AM.png

 

My question is - would that have been appropriate on the Confederacy?  I'm having some difficulty confirming one way or another.

 

Thoughts?

 

- Bug

what if you fully rig a couple of them, as a demonstration?.

[Moonbug]

Thanks all, appreciate the input, comments, and likes. I'm headed to Atlanta and Myrtle Beach this week, but will hopeful have some shipyard time this weekend. I've started on the cat heads and can't wait to get back at it.

 

Mac - that's definitely the leading prospect at this point. While I think I can get away with it on an Admiralty display, I'll have to determine whether my Inner-OCD will allow me to have some cannons rigged and some not. ;-)

 

-Bug

[BIGMAC]

Thanks all, appreciate the input, comments, and likes. I'm headed to Atlanta and Myrtle Beach this week, but will hopeful have some shipyard time this weekend. I've started on the cat heads and can't wait to get back at it.

 

Mac - that's definitely the leading prospect at this point. While I think I can get away with it on an Admiralty display, I'll have to determine whether my Inner-OCD will allow me to have some cannons rigged and some not. ;-)

 

-Bug

"I think I can get away with it on an Admiralty display":  thats my point exactly!!!!! Admiralty display is a demonstration, not a complete model..very well said Bug!!

[Blue Ensign]

Hi -bug just catching up on your progress.

 

Regarding the gun tackle question, at the scale involved I would fit the side tackles as they would be fitted to help secure the gun.

 

On Pegasus I cheated tho' as all too often side tackles look overscale. I used 2mm blocks stropped with 34 gauge wire the ends of which were formed into hooks,

a 0.15mm dia line was attached to the strop and frapped to give a neat and less obtrusive appearance.

 

The guns on Pegasus were quite small six pounders, with larger guns I would modify the arrangement with perhaps using wire hooks fixed into the end of the blocks rather than attach with a ring and seizing which can look too bulky.

 

 I would also visually check the suggested scale line size by reference to the breeching tackle and sometimes it is better to go with a size less for the side tackle, again to give a better scale appearance.

 

I tend to agree with Augie about 'clutter on the deck, and I also tend not to fit train tackles for that reason.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

 

 

[Sjors]

Wow,

 

I'm back from my vacation and you have a lot of updates Bug !

I'm only smiling from ear to ear !

You make me proud and I know that someone above are also very proud with what you are doing !

Keep on going like this !!!!!!

 

Sjors

[Moonbug]

Thanks Sjors!  Still pluggin' away...  

 

Hope you had a great vacation!

 

- Bug

[mobbsie]

Hi Bug,

 

I'm late to the discussion as usual but I only have one point.

 

If your building the ship as close to Augie's concept and he's written notes to say he wasn't going to rig the guns then surely there is no question, don't rig the guns. 

 

I would however place the ringbolts and Breach ropes and leave it at that.

 

Your doing good mate, keep it up.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Bug

Just started to read this log. It is extremely nice of you to complete this very important build. It is not only for Augie's immediate family, but for our family in this wonderful forum. God bless you for stepping up for this venture.

Havagooday

Greg

[Moonbug]

  Thanks for the input Mobbsie. I'll have to consider how to stage the breach ropes without rigging them.  

 

  Thanks Greg, I appreciate the kind words. 

 

- Bug

[Beef Wellington]

Bug - just caught up after you assumed this honourable task.  You seem to have everything under control, so I'll pull up a seat.  Best of luck, know you're up to it.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Beef Wellington

[popeye the sailor]

nice to see an update..........how are you my friend?       yea......it's a tough thought.   we all know what Augie was planning.....but you have the seat now......it's your call.   you could add the breech ropes somewhat coiled up in back of the cannons,  since there are folks mentioning that they weren't used when the cannons were inactive.  you've had a few ups and downs in getting to know her........you expect that      it's nice to see her again.

[Moonbug]

Holy Cow, Progress!

 

   Yeah, it's been a while, an it's been slow: But I finally have some progress to report.  I've been traveling several times a month, which inhibits my progress of course.

 

   In addition to that, I had a little mishap with my hand that inhibited my progress as well.  I won't go into the details of being stupid, but let's just say that 25 yr old Martial Artist Moonbug used to be able to put his hand through a board pretty easily...

 

 

    45 yr old drunk Moonbug the show-off ... not so much.   :-)     Karma 1, Sean 0.  (Broken hand)

    Ah, boys will be boys...

 

Anywaaaaay....   I started with some easy stuff - rails and rope.  Augie had in his notes that he preferred to use a particular scale of rope so that's what I went with.

 

 

More progress to in a separate post.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Moonbug

[Moonbug]

    So, the catheads were pretty straightforward given Chuck's instructions.  It did take a bit of fiddling of course, to match the sanded size of the catheads and then properly notch out the side of the ship for a snug fit.  There was a lot of delicate sanding and tiny bit at a time with varying sandpapers and files, then fit the cathead, then sand some more.  A patient process to be sure.

 

 

   

   Though I fitted the cathead with the wedge as outlined in the schematics, I ended up sanding it almost all the way down. This was a little challenging as the wood here is pretty soft.  But all in all it fit together pretty tightly.

 

 

   To make the sheaves, I filed down some boxwood then cut out ovals.  Although obviously they'd have been circles, the ovals made for a better fit and ultimately finalized look.

 

 

  Then the catheads in place.  Because the fore of the ship is not perfectly symmetrical, I did my level best to get the catheads to look as symmetrical as possible.  The discerning eye will notice they're not quite exact - however, I don't think it'll be noticeable for the most part.

 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Moonbug

[src]

Well done Bug! Its great ti see some progress on this. THe Cats look great, I cant see the differences you are talking about myself

 

Ahh the things we could do as younger martial artists. I feel for you, I never tried assaulting a board in my day but there was that time I tried to demonstrate disarming a ratan stick from somebody and the stick bounced straight off the concrete and back up into my eyebrow. The number of "Sharp stick in the Eye" jokes people came up up with.......

Sam

[Moonbug]

   So here's a little preview...  

 

   Although I was quite happy with my home-made ships wheels HERE: and they took a pretty ridiculous amount of time and patience to build, once I saw Chuck's laser cut wheel kit HERE, I pretty much fell in love right away.

 

   So, I have one wheel done, and I'm working on the second.  But before I post that mini build and progress, I decided to have a little bit of fun, and I created a video of how I spindled the spokes. 

 

    I followed Chuck's Instructions and mounted the spoke in a dremel attached vertically to my desk with a vice. Then I laid out the process here in THIS VIDEO.  It's only about two minutes, but if you're looking to build the wheel it may be helpful.

 

    As I said, I'll post the entire process soon.  In the meantime, Thanks Chuck! The wheel is awesome!

Edited July 10, 2016 by Moonbug

[mtaylor]

Nice work, Sean.   And I feel for the broken hand, you have my sympathy.   I'm not sure getting older does us any favors in the "hey... I"m going to try this.. " department especially when we're less than sober.

Edited July 10, 2016 by mtaylor

[src]

Yes nice work. I didnt see any marks when you started shaping, did you measure anything or is it just by eye?

Sam

[Jack12477]

Sean, nice work. Sorry about the hand; looks like you suffered the same fracture, same hand,  my son (40) had about 2 months back, except he had to have surgery to fix his (4th and 5th metatarsal/metacarpal bones - ring and pinky fingers).  I can sympathize with you. Oh and he was cold sober when he did it.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Jack12477

[Moonbug]

Thanks for the looks and likes everyone!

 

Sam - a little of both. The size of the strips of sandpaper and the size of the triangle file were my essentially my marks. For instance, I made the notches on the base the length of the file down from the stem. That kept them consisted for me.

 

-Bug

[Salty Sea Dog]

Ouch!! You must have been Kung fu fighting a board of white oak! The busted hand has not diminished the terrific quality of your work though.

[Moonbug]

  The Roundhouses

 

   The Roundhouses seemed to be pretty straightforward, however Augie had written in his notes that he was intending to use the Swiss Pear instead.  I really liked this idea, as it would surely set off a bit of color on the bow of the ship. 

 

   It really didn't change how I approached the Roundhouses initially, but soon after I discovered the slightly thicker Swiss Pear was going to involve a little more intricate bit of beveling than the stock parts.

 

 

    In addition to mitering the edge, I also sanded the inside of the strips with a round file to try and match the shape of the guides.  Then I marked the inside seams with a sharpie to simulate the caulking between the planks.

 

 

    Chuck's instructions call for a bit of 28 gauge wire glued under the overhang, which is a very nice touch.  Instead - for me to pull in a little bit of the natural color of the bow, I used the original light colored overhang, sanded it down, then covered it with the swiss pear roof. 

 

 

   Finally, I dug up in the "extra pieces" bin, some small circular brass rings with a lip that came from who know's where, and I used those to bring out some detail int he ventilation scuttle.

 

 

   Ultimately, Augie nailed it with his approach (as he always did), and I really love the way the swiss pear looks on the bow.

 

Edited July 11, 2016 by Moonbug

[DBorgens]

Bug,

Great detail work on the cats and the roundhouse. I do like your approach toward the roundhouse and will add this to my list of " how to's". Keep posting, we're enjoying your progress and the popcorn.

[popeye the sailor]

nice job on the cat heads and the round house....once the port side round house is in place,  it will look super     hope the hand is on the mend.....reminds me of a vid on you tube......too bad I can't post it here.  but consider putting the experience in the "betcha won't do that again" category  

 

awesome update Sean!   

[Sjors]

He karate kid   

 

Very nice progress you have showing us.

You are a real building master !!!!!

One question.....why is one part of the roundhouse outside the hull ??????

I think there will be  good reason for that but please........explanation ?????

 

Sjors

[lambsbk]

I'm thinking that was the disposal method of the relieved sailors...over the side...

[Moonbug]

Hey Sjors!  Thanks for the look-in, I hope all is well on your side of the world.

 

  I'm not entirely sure, and I can't remember where I may have read this, but as I understand it - the roundhouse was a private privy for the midshipmen, and hung over the edge of the beakhead to provide open air disposal. 

 

   As I said - I'm not sure, maybe someone with a bit more nautical knowledge than I can confirm?

 

- Bug

[Moonbug]

Ship's Wheels - Reboot

 

Although I was quite happy with the ship's wheels that I'd created by hand SEEN HERE, when I got a look at the new ship wheel kit created by Chuck, I knew I had to get them for the Confederacy.

 

   Chuck's instructions for the wheel can be found HERE, so I won't go into full detail. But, the kit comes with 29 laser cut pieces that eventually come together to form the wheel, along with small "jig" used to help in the construction and measurements.

 

 

 First, the two sides of the halves of the jig are glued together to form slots that are precisely spaced. Small laser cut blocks are detached and sanded. However, as Chuck insists, the sides must remain precisely measured; so only the top and bottom are slightly sanded to get rid of the laster cut char and fit into the jig snug but not tightly.

 

 

Once the blocks are fitted in the jig, they outer portion of the wheel is glued into place. This creates gaps in which the spokes will fit. 

 

Next up, the spokes - which are the most delicate part. Each spoke is laser cut with square edges. To round the edges, the spoke is mounted in my Dremel, which is in turn mounted vertically in a vise. Each spoke is just an inch or so tall and tapered from about a millimeter thick.

 

 

The Dremel serves as a lathe, and the spoke is shaped and ultimately detailed.  I decided to get a little creative and documented the process in this YouTube video.

 

 

The spokes are place and glued around the center core of the wheel, placed in the jig with the square portion of each spoke fitted in the slots created by the blocks.

 

 

Finally, the entire wheel is sanded and smoothed with 600 - 4000 grit sandpaper, then stained. Because the char lines and creases created by each piece made visible lines in the wheel, I chose a darker mahogany stain to cover that up as much as possible and make it less visible to the naked eye.

 

 

Because the wheels were now more ornate, I decided to give the base for the wheels a different treatment as well.  Using a scrap of wood left over from a penholder I acquired some time ago, I cut and sanded down two pieces of framing to whole the new wheels.

 

 

I'm not entire sure what kind of wood this is, but it's very dense and very hard, so although tedious it made for precision carving and sanding, and ultimately I believe looked pretty good as a complete assembly.  

 

Edited July 16, 2016 by Moonbug

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the wheel, Bug.   The stain makes it pop.