Young America by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper 1853

[Remcohe]

Nice to see the master at work, you make it look so easy.

 

Remco

[michael mott]

 

Stamping these plates is almost as thrilling as treenailing.

Ed your comment made me laugh out loud.

 

I liked the way you fabricated the gudgeons the shot of cutting them made me wince a bit though.

 

Michael

[GLakie]

Some beautiful work Ed! It's always a pleasure to watch.

 

Cheers

[JerryTodd]

BUT the nails are flat headed and counter-sunk - not round headed rivets

[SawdustDave]

The gudgeons are very nicely done Ed. The plating.... I am in pain for you sir. Never again for me.

[newbuilder101]

I see that your high level of craftsmanship extends to metalwork as well - not a surprise at all, but wonderful to see!

[SawdustDave]

Jerome.... best post I've seen lately. Love it.

[SJSoane]

 

Ed,

 

It is such a joy to see your step by step tutorials. It is impressive how logically you approach each step, and then it seems self-evident. But not until we see you do it!

 

Mark

[EdT]

Thank you for all of these comments.

 

Jerry, I hear you on the plates.  I had been planning to roll these flat after they were in place.  However, I am looking at other methods.  Rather than countersunk, I believe these 14" x 48" x .05" thick plates were prepunched pretty close to the pattern I have used , then laid over felt, then nailed with flat headed nails.  this would leave a decidedly quilted appearance - not something you see on models, but certainly more realistic if it can be represented well.  We shall see.  Stay tuned.

 

Thanks,

 

Ed

[mati]

Ed,

Try to replace steel nails from stamp.
Once I used medical needles (very thin of course) It'll give different patter on plates... I think more realistic.
I reamed a little bit inner hole of the needle... it gave nice effect of copper bolt head and flat one. Simply, idea is to stamp only the pattern.

Good luck!

Best regards,

Matt

Edited January 27, 2015 by mati

[EdT]

Matt, that is a very good idea.  I have some syringe tubing and will have a look at what it will take.  Interesting idea.

 

Thanks

[SawdustDave]

I have come to think of this crazy "hobby" we love in terms of fine art.

Having said that....Matt should feel honored.

I guess, even Michelangelo might have taken advise from fellow artists as he was chiseling away at the statue of David.

 

I think EdT's Young America might possibly be the Mona Lisa being created before our eyes.

If Ed is da Vinci, reincarnated as a modeler, by comparison, most of us would be Charles Schultz.

[rwiederrich]

Love the painting.....

[JerryTodd]

I pressed them from the front face so the dimples are pushed back when the plate is pressed to the hull.

Mind you, this is thinner peel-n-stick copper at a much larger scale (1:36), and done with nothing near the precision of your work - I offer it only to show the result I got which compared well with actual copper plating I've installed and in photos.

 

[EdT]

Thanks, everyone, and thank you Jerry.  Since I am not using adhesive backed plates it is a simple matter of turning them over and rolling them flat.  That is my fallback solution if my other ideas fail.  You're right 1:72 is a lot smaller than 1:36.  My pattern is fairly accurate but I need to reduce the indentation size and to do that the pins need to be a lot more regular in size and height.  Matt's suggestion helped a lot and got me on what I think is a good track.  I plan to try a new idea today/tomorrow.

 

Thanks,

 

Ed

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Hi Mark, here is another one.

 

 

[EdT]

Thank you Gaetan.  I assume the  plate in the picture uses syringe tubing.  Following Matt's suggestion I made a stamp using .014" syringe tubing, which corresponds to 1" at 1:72 scale - about the size of the nail heads used for metal sheathing.  Unfortunately, the dimples in the metal appeared much larger, so while good for larger scales, the dimples are too large for 1:72.

 

I have found a solution, however, using the points of .018" dressmaker's pins.  As I am sure you know, these must all be at the same height and the correct height to produce good plates.  The picture below shows the result with the pinpoints.  Visualizing this in a photo is difficult, but in the picture the indentations are in, not out - as nails in thin plate backed by felt would be.  Because of the lighting reflection (?) they also appear a bit deeper and larger.

 

 

I will say more about this in the next post.

 

Ed

[rtropp]

Ed,

I read how you made your gudgeons and I am going to try this for my Syren.  Do you think silver soldering is required or would regular, soft soldering of the tube to the sheet work ok?

 

Thanks,

Richard

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Ed, you nailed it.

5 minutes, 2 parts epoxy worked very good to apply plates, enough time to position and then masking tape to hold till it dries.

[EdT]

Richard, I personally would not use soft solder for something like this.  Silver solder is much stronger.  I would be concerned first about the joint breaking when you saw off the parts, then later breaking on when the rudder is installed and it is too late for a repair.  There is virtually no risk of this with a silver soldered joint - if it is a good joint.

 

I may use soft solder to fasten the pins into the pintles but there is very little stress on those joints and if I silver solder them there is a risk of opening the first joints.

 

Ed

[rtropp]

Thanks Ed,

An excuse to learn more tools and techniques.  And I thought this hobby was going to be all about wood :-)

 

Frolich was right.... "Model making requires...the need to master a multitude of techniques ... crafts.... wood, metal, fit, saw, turn, solder, glue, rope, drill, grind, cut sails.... He needs to be a carpenter, carver, coppersmith, block-maker, rigger, sail maker and painter."

 

Richard

[SJSoane]

 

Hi Ed,

 

When you post about the jig for the copper plates, can you also explain how you keep all of the fine pins at exactly the same height? I once tried making a jig for something unrelated, and had a difficult time fastening pins closely together at the same height. I look forward to how you did this.

 

Mark

[rtropp]

Ed,

I found that pins were subject to bending and dulling, even when short. I tested a number of different types. 

 

I finally used diabetes testing lancets.  They come in many widths and are very strong.  I could not use regular wire cutters as they would not cut the pins easily and in short order became damaged beyond use.  I ended up ordering side cutters.

Taking them out of their sheaths can be a pain in the neck, but they worked very well.  The ones I made were good for all the plates on my Syren and are still good to use.

 

Richard

[rtropp]

Mark,

 

I cut all the pins (diabetes testing pins) to the same length.  I made one stamping block that was about 2/3 the height of the pins.  I backed this with masking tape after the holes were drilled.  The block was placed on a flat surface, pins were inserted and drowned in CA.  Once dry I removed the tape and than added additional blocks to the bottom to get the stamp to the correct height for the stamping jig.

 

I put a grinding wheel in my mill (could use a rotary tool in a stand) and very, very gently took out any small variation that still existed. I emphasize gently because I went too hard on the first block and ended with pins pushed sideways in the wood block. (I was using basswood and it was a little soft.)  If I had it to do again I would use hard maple or hickory. 

 

Richard

[EdT]

Richard, what diameter were your lancets?  I found that with very small ( .014") syringe, the heads were too large.  I am using the actual points on nickel coated steel dress pins in a boxwood block with the pinpoints only a few thousandths above the surface.  I did basically as you described when I made the test with syringe tubes.  I did not grind the pinpoints, but machine ground the other cut off ends to get the height uniformity.  These were backed with a brass plate.  Only after testing did I CA glue the pins.

 

Ed

[the learner]

Ed,

 

On your post Page 79 on the block that holds the pins in making the plates, question? do the pins actually float in the block? or are they glued in? and why did you use brass as opposed to copper

 

Guy

Edited January 30, 2015 by the learner

[EdT]

Hi Guy,

 

The block on p 79 was the first version - made with small nails.  They were a tight fit in the holes and not glued.  The new fixture has the pins glued in with thin CA after I checked the heights of the pin points.  This is only to keep them from falling out.  There is a brass plate and a hardwood block underneath to take the impact.  I will take a photo for the next post.

 

Ed

[rtropp]

Hi Ed,

 

30 gauge lancets measured at .31mm

33 gauge were .19mm

26 gauge were .43mm

 

Here are some pictures of the lancets being used

 

I cut and removed the plastic from the two ends first, then with two pliers pulled the pin from the remaining plastic coat.

The height of the wood strip on the aluminum bar is measured to reflect the desired length of the pin (minus the width of the cutter used.)  Uniform size pins were created  by drilling holes into the wood to hold the pin while cutting and the aluminum bottom acted as a stop.

 

These are the lancets after removal from the plastic but before cutting, described in the previous step. You will notice they are all bent on one side. I believe that is how they are made to better hold on to their plastic sheath. Those were cut off and discarded during the sizing process.  By being careful I could actually get two "nails" from many of the pins.

 

The cutter in the picture was the only one that would work without getting chewed up. In preparing to cut the lancets I had to account for the width of one side of the cutter.

 

 

Richard

Edited January 30, 2015 by rtropp

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 108 – Sheathing plates/Deck members

 

Well, those brass plates I showed in the last post certainly sparked a lot of interest – and helpful comments.  Even as I posted those photos I was thinking about improvements.  The comments convinced me and provided some good ideas.   One of the final plates is shown in the first picture – an ultra- closeup. 

 

 

This has a very close duplicate of the original nailing pattern.  The sheets would have been pre-punched – perhaps like this one – then simply placed in position and nailed over a tarred felt covering.  In the lower row, the indentations are about 3” apart, so you can see that the dimples themselves are less than an inch I diameter – just about right.  This plate is 48” x 14” (about 0.67” x 0.195”).  The model plates are .002” thick brass.

 

The next picture shows the stamping fixture – sitting on the block of hardwood used to stamp the brass.

 

 

The top piece is drilled to accept .018” straight pins – a sliding fit.  A fence is added to align the plates.  The top row of holes is extended so the “dress course” (top row) can be stamped a second time so those plates will have nail rows top and bottom.  A brass plate is sandwiched beneath the top piece and a lower piece as a hard support at the bottom of the pins.

 

After drilling the nailing pattern the two blocks and the brass plate were bolted together.  Pins were inserted and clipped off.  These were then machine ground down to a few thousandths above the wood surface to make them a uniform length – as shown below.

 

 

 

With the pins still in the holes, the parts were disassembled and reassembled with the plate under the ground off ends of the pins.  After testing on some plates, the pins were wetted with thin CA to keep them from falling out.  The fence was then added.  The lower block is held in a vise for stamping.  Small dimples are best achieved with a hardwood block tapped lightly over the plate.  I expect to describe this process step by step in the book.

 

All of this was a bit of a side show because I am not yet ready to sheath the hull.  The main event this week has been the installation of the waterways and binding strakes on the main deck.  The first picture shows the starboard waterway being glued against the frames in between the beams and the planksheer rail.

 

 

After forming these pieces and fitting the scarph joints, they were painted light blue before being installed to avoid have to “cut in” the painted line by hand – too shaky for that. 

 

The next picture shows the two 10” wide binding strakes and the “nib strake” being installed on the starboard side.

 

 

The top of the outer binding strake is about 6” above the beams, the inner binding strake is tapered so the inside edge is the height of the common planking – 3 ½”.  The nib strake is that thickness and 8” wide.  The planking at the side will be limited to these three strakes.  There will be central planking between the hatchways.  The next picture shows the starboard side complete and work in progress on the port side.

 

 

Some of the starboard scuppers can just be seen in the above picture.  The next picture shows these being fitted through the outer planking. 

 

 

These will be filed off flush and blackened before final installation.  The remaining hull planking can then be painted and the sheathing installed on the starboard side.  The pencil  lines in the picture define the height of the dress course.

 

The last picture shows a pin rail drilled and shaped but not yet installed.

 

 

These rails will fit right under the main rail.  Paint has been filed off of the top timbers under the rail so the pin rail can be glued.

  

Ed

[EdT]

Richard, thank you for that explanation.  If my math is correct, the lancets are about .007" in diameter - about half the diameter of the syringe I was using.  Its very useful to know about these very tiny tubes.

 

thanks,

 

Ed