Charles W Morgan by ESF - Model Shipways - 1:64

[Loracs]

very nice...  a joy to watch you work!

[ESF]

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your interest and support.

 

Loracs, your kind words are inspirational.  Thank you.

 

Closing the gap.

With so many little planks requiring tapering, and with no power mini-saw, I use a sanding block mounted in a little vise that has served me well for model ships as well as house construction, additions and renovations, a big dollhouse and anything else that required a firm grip.  I notch and remove the waste with an X-acto chisel to reduce sanding time.

As the gap in the starboard planking closes I use bits of clothes pins to wedge the planks in position.

Of course nothing is foolproof.  While removing a reversed clothes pin (handles in to apply pressure outward against the plank edges) I squeezed the exposed head ends which drove the handle end into the plank, creating a dent.  Anguish led to immobility until I remembered a trick I learned from Mr. Bluejacket for removing dents.  The general idea is to introduce steam to expand the dented fibers.  I think the trick involved a drop of very hot water but I thought I’d try cold water followed by heating the dent with the electric iron.

Worked great.

So back to starboard planking closure.  The pics below summarize the action.

The starboard planking is complete.  If the port side reaches a similar finish, and if both sides smooth up sufficiently with sanding, I might paint the hull rather than covering it with copper.  A few more pics follow.

On to completing the port side.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[ESF]

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your interest and support.

 

Planking race to deadline

 

There were always deadlines in architectural practice, either self-motivated (I need to bill something this month) or by the client (the students will be most upset if they don’t have a place to live in August).  As they say in racing, when the flag drops the ___ stops.

 

So I gave myself a deadline:  Hull planked before Thanksgiving, with progress notices along the way.  Here we go.

Not letting a bloody plank get in the way I pressed on.

Since 11/22 would be a baking day the deadline got pushed up and the whiskey plank arrived a day earlier than expected.

Out came the celebration drink from the Admiral’s private stash of caffeine free diet Coke, in a suitably scaled crystal glass.

 

The planked but unsanded hull is below.  Some test sanding has shown that some planks are softer than others, a bit of a bummer when trying to avoid filler.

Sanding will follow a little break for Thanksgiving.  Dents will be attacked with drops of water followed by a steam iron.

 

For those who celebrate it, I wish you and your families a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[ahb26]

I like the way the bench got messier as the deadline got closer.  The blood was a nice touch too.  The hull looks great!

[ESF]

Andrew,

Thank you for your interest and your kind comments.  Real blood but it's on the inside of the plank so I used it 😁 .  The workbench is my old professional drawing board which must accommodate whatever I need in 37 x 60 inches.  Should be enough if I wasn't so interested in the next procedure that I forget to tidy up after the previous one.  But a good housekeeping is in order now that the hull planks are finished.  

Steve

[ESF]

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  To those who found time to drop in or gave likes at the same time you were eating, thank you for your interest and support.

 

A new challenge(?)

 

The drawings and instructions are quite specific about the number of strakes within each hull planking band (A-10, B-10, C-10, D-8).  When the counts were transferred to tick strips there were many instances where a 3/32" plank width was the logical choice, as compared to 1/8" which was the other choice.  Now that the hull planking is finished I found that I am way short in 3/32" strips (scale 6" plank width) for the deck planking, but there appear to be sufficient 1/8" strips (scale 8" plank width) to cover the deck.  The instructions call for 3/32".  The deck plank photos in the Charles W. Morgan picture history book from Mystic, when compared to shoes on the crew, seem to imply a 6" width.

 

I would like to make efficient use of the provided lumber but I don't want to make a muck of the deck appearance, assuming a 1/32" oversize on the planks is indeed a muck.

 

Has anyone run into this, either with a Morgan build or another project?

 

Thank you

Steve 

[ESF]

Skipping to the end, I just placed an order for the 3/32" width strips with Model Shipways.  If I'm going to build it I want to build it correctly.  Reminds me of my first architectural office, on the top floor of a three story walkup.  I put a little sign at the bottom of the stairs with my name on it and the phrase "Come up three flights to get the job done right".

 

Back to the build.

 

Steve

[ESF]

I was counting the front steps 😀

[ESF]

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your interest and support.

 

Okay, one clarification.  My office was on the third floor and the little sign at the entrance said “Come up two flights to get the job done right”.  Memory gets fuzzy.

 

Hull sanded

 

The hull sanding is substantially complete.  I’m thinking the hull may be good enough to paint rather than plate.  Any opinions?  Pics below.

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[Landlubber Mike]

Nicely done Steve!

[ESF]

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your ongoing interest and support.

Mike, I appreciate your kind words and enthusiasm.

 

Question for hardy sailors:  I'm trying to determine where the red hull paint should start.  Videos of the Morgan post-renovation show the stem painting at draft mark 13 (feet) and the stern at almost 15 feet.  The question is measured from what?  The Coast Guard draft mark definition includes a comment that the starting line is the bottom of the "hull skin" but clarifies that the starting point may be the bottom of the keel where the hull skin cannot be reasonably determined.

 

The reference line (waterline?) on the drawing measures about 14'-1" from the bottom of the keel rabbet (hull skin?)near the bow (bulkhead C) and near the stern (bulkhead O).  Both measurements increase to about 16 feet if the starting point is the bottom of keel.  

 

On the copper plating drawing the measurement from bottom of keel to top of plating is 13'-8" at bulkhead C and 15'-0" at bulkhead O.

 

Several of the side view detail drawings make reference to a 16 foot waterline which seems to correspond to the reference line if the starting point is the bottom of keel but this doesn't seem to coordinate with the as-sailed condition.  I welcome any feedback.

 

Thanks

Steve 

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Steve, 

 

I think I'm going to go with the higher ("original") waterline from the kit plans.  Apparently the waterline was at different levels during various periods, so it depends on the period you are thinking about modeling I suppose.  For me, I like the look of the higher copper line, and it would save me from having to plank in ebony that much further down the hull.  If it helps, page 4 of my build log showed models with the different waterlines:

 

 

For the copper plating, I'm thinking of replacing the plates with those from Amati or Caldercraft (I forget which).  I'm also going to try to oxidize the copper a bit to get that green verdigris look.  I suppose you could paint it, but would the lower hull look like it's copper plated?

[ESF]

Mike,

Thanks for your ongoing interest and feedback.  I agree that the higher line in copper looks good.  I'm just not up to placing all those plates, especially with all the 1/32" overlaps and fastener imprinting, but I admire the discipline of you and others who have accepted the challenge.  I wish you best of luck with oxidizing or painting the plates and I'm sure with your skills it will come out great no matter what you choose.

 

I think the high line in red paint may be too much so once I figure out where the low line should be I plan on using that for top of paint.  The photos and videos of the renovated Morgan are a no brainer if I can figure out whether Mystic used the bottom of keel or bottom of hull skin (rabbet line?) as the starting point for the depth markers.

 

I'm fighting a cold so not much going on in the shipyard at the moment.  I also have a gingerbread house on the to-do list.

Steve

[ESF]

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your interest and support.

 

Not much accomplished in the shipyard last month.  Family get togethers, extended colds with coughs, scratch building a gingerbread house and ship research were all necessary and worthwhile diversions.

 

On the research front I contacted Mystic Seaport to try to better understand why pictures show the red bottom paint at the waterline extending almost up to depth marker 15 at the stern,  but only to about 13.5 at the bow.  I also asked where the depth markers start, at the bottom of the keel or the bottom of the hull “skin”, which seemed to be an option in some other reference material.  The answers I received were that the markers use the bottom of the keel as the zero line and the ship “has drag (deeper aft) by 1.5 feet”, so “the paint line is not parallel to the keel”.

 

Thanks go to Mr. Walter Ansel, Director of the Henry B. duPont Shipyard at Mystic Seaport Museum, for taking time to respond so quickly during the holiday season.

 

Also on the research front I was exploring options for the tryworks brick, other than hand cutting 450 pieces, when I discovered Monster Modelworks at Larkspur Laser Art, which offers a variety of laser cut basswood sheets.  One of the sheets I purchased and a sample corner I made up are below.  S-Scale (1:64) conveniently matches the ship scale.  I filed the joints at the corner line to better represent how the bricks and joints make the turn.  I’m waiting for paint to dry before schmoozing spackle or putty into the joints.  Seems like a good option, even though I need to slice and dice the sheet to match the real brick installation.  I need a better red too.

The TV room couch keeps singing its siren song but I'm fighting the urge or I'll never get anything done.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[Landlubber Mike]

That looks like a great option for the tryworks.  Whenever I turn back to mine, I might go that route.  I did find someone on eBay that was selling these super tiny bricks I believe made of actual clay that I might try using also.  I didn't want to have to cut that many tiny bricks out of basswood either.

Edited January 19 by Landlubber Mike

[JJUSNRET]

I really like the brick sheet you showed so I just ordered a sheet.  Concerning the color, have you tried a thin application of a brick stain to get this closer to CWM try works station?  I should get mine in about a week.  This issue has been bothering me for a while so MANY THANKS!  Will advise when I get it done.  JJ

[ESF]

JJ, thanks for your ongoing interest.  Very soon I will be posting the work up to the finished tryworks.  I used a primer red flat rattle can spray paint from the local hardware store for the final  brick color.  Below is a sneak peek with no mortar and before the door frames were painted.

Thank you

Steve

[ESF]

To those who dropped in or gave likes, thank you for your interest and support.

 

It’s amazing how something so small can take so long when you are in scratch mode.

 

First, thank you to Gerald Spargo for his very informative tryworks guide.  I can’t hope to match his skill but have tried to be a good follower.

After making my brick sample using the laser cut brick sheet I started on the front wall.  Two things needed to happen.  The brick sheets needed to be sliced to remove the header courses (the row of short brick faces), except for the headers at the top course, because the real tryworks had no headers within the body of the walls.  Second, I needed a way to create the stepped appearance at the top of the front wall.

 

Initially I thought that contact cement would be my friend but that only worked where there was a field of bricks in the sheet.  CA worked better where I was working with individual courses (rows).

 

After slicing out the header courses I backed up the brick sheet, which is only 1/32 inch thick, with a layer of 1/32 inch basswood.  This gave a strong (relatively speaking) composite without too much thickness.

I had some strip styrene leftover from the Vance build which was exactly the dimension of one course of bricks.  Each thickness of styrene made a brick course step which in the world of masonry is about two inches for corbels (steps).  So working from the top down I started with one course using no styrene, the next course with one styrene backup, and then adding a styrene thickness for each successive course.  The wall and the section through the wall are below.

Now the challenge was to make the side and rear wall coursing approximate the front wall.

Not so easy since slicing up the front wall courses introduced some variability between courses on the other walls.  I tried several times to fatten up individual courses to effectively make the joints wider.  After the angst I realized that the side and rear walls would be hidden behind wood planking.  The only brick to be seen on the side was through the gaps between planks.  Oh, well it was a fun exercise.

Once the front wall was built I cut the door openings.  I only went as far as the face of the styrene layer.  That layer was quite thick and with the styrene painted black the door opening would have some depth to it.  I placed bent copper to form the door jambs and head.  One head is a bit wonky but flat black hid a bunch of sins.  I used thin brass rod for the door sliders but I haven’t fabricated the brass turn latch between the doors yet.

For the front hearth I cut individual bricks.  The rear strip between the chimneys is made of two rows of brick so I cut longer strips and pieced them together.

Borrowing a tip from Mr. Bluejacket on his tryworks log, I used a rattle can of flat red primer paint and applied one light coat to all the brick.  Once that was fully dry I mortared the joints with spackle, then applied a layer of dullcote to all.

Before painting the brick I prepped the top panel for the cauldrons and chimney area brick strip.  Since the brick was on 1/32 inch backup and the cauldron panel was a full 1/16 inch thick I edge glued the two panels, then added tabs to help support the span.

 

I’m not sure of the maximum upload so I’ll finish up in the next log.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[Capt. Kelso]

Here's a photo from the Morgan for reference.

[Vlax]

Great work, She’s looking good 😊 

[ESF]

Tryworks continued.

 

To those who stopped by or gave likes, thank you for your interest and enthusiasm.

 

Capt. Kelso, thanks for the photo.  I hope I’m doing justice to the real tryworks.

 

Vlax, thank you for your kind words.

Before gluing in the cauldron/chimney area panel I test fitted it many times and installed support strips along the front and back inside brick walls.  I also added triangle shaped corner braces to hold the brick walls in square.

 

After tracing the cauldrons on the underside of the panel I drew and cut a line inside of the tracing line so the panel opening would align with the inside edge of the cauldron top.  The cutting went very quickly with my new jeweler's bench vise and saw with its tiny blade.  I fitted the cauldrons to the underside of the panel and beveled the panel around the cauldron edges.  This eliminated the problem of the cauldrons falling through the panel.

 

Sounds so perfect, except that after I glued the cauldrons to the panel I forgot to test fit the assembly to the opening.  I blithely applied CA to the panel, aligned the back edge, then tilted the panel forward and down.  Obstruction!

 

The round bottom of the cauldrons hit the forward corner brackets.  Now I had CA setting up at the back and a front that wouldn’t go down.  So I pressed harder.  Finally I heard a welcoming crunch as the cauldrons broke the corner brackets, allowing the panel to complete its move into place.  Once the panel was in place the corner brackets weren’t needed anyway.

 

Note to self:  Every time you add something to an assembly, check the clearances again, even if you think it is out of the way.

 

Once the cauldrons were installed and painted I tried simulating some rust which shows up in tryworks photos.  Lousy job so I repainted the panel.  I’d like to give the panel  some character but this isn’t it.

I made the basket that hangs between chimneys out of copper strips.  Not the greatest but seems okay.  Tough to see the individual strips when painted flat black but maybe just as well.

The wood side planks were pretty straightforward.  The corner plates at the base were made from painted Bristol board, a heavy artist’s paper (the paper is heavy, not the artist).  I spaced the bottom of the tryworks brick assembly slightly above the bottom of the wood base to allow for scribing the base to fit the transverse deck curvature.

 

I was musing over how many ducks could fit in the narrow slot of the duck pen under the back wall.  Then I discovered a note on the drawings that said the “duck pen” just provides access to a water filled tank under the tryworks to separate the hot cauldron fire box from the ship’s deck.  Live and learn, rinse and repeat.

 

The work to date is below.

Now I just need a deck on which to place the tryworks.  Maybe I’ll try the skylight first.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[ESF]

Landlubber Mike, I realized I neglected to recognize your last comment.  Thank you for your feedback and your ongoing interest.

 

Steve

[Landlubber Mike]

No worries Steve.  I'm really enjoying following your build.  It's looking really great.

[JJUSNRET]

WOW!!!!!!!  I have been sweating having to cut 450 brinks and somehow building this thing.  Your photographs are extremely well done and clearly demonstrates how to do it.  I really appreciate the end on shots that show the layers.  This is truly the work of a master builder and will following this will truly help any builder make this possible.  Using Gerald Spargo's templates gives the dimension of each part so I feel that I can actually build it.  SUPER JOB AND THANKS!!!!  JJ

[ESF]

JJ, I'm humbled by your kind words and invigorated by your enthusiasm.  Thank you.  When you are comparing dimensions to Gerald's instructions please note that using the brick sheets resulted in the top of construction being about 2 millimeters higher.  I accepted that difference and worked to keep it by adjusting the number of brick courses, as compared to reality and to Gerald's beautiful handmade bricks.

[ESF]

To those who stopped by or gave likes, thank you for your interest and enthusiasm.

This was a fun challenge.  I believe this is a skimmer for scooping out unwanted stuff from the trypots.  The handle is a 1/16” aluminum tube placed in an electric drill and filed to make the outside diameter a bit thinner.  A sewing needle slid into the tube forms the forward part.  The needle has a bend at the forward end to provide an attachment to the basket which is formed from a brass disk and strip.  The holes were made using an awl that my grandmother brought with her from England.  Must have been good steel because it punched through the disk with very little effort.

The real skimmer had a lot of rust in the forward end and basket so I used rust colored paint, and painted the handle black.

As previously noted by many other builders, the skylight glass areas are a corker.  My first try was 1/32 inch square basswood, drilled for the bars.  A couple of holes and it basically split along the centerline of the holes.

Next I tried 1/32 inch x 1/16 inch stock.  Held up to the drill a bit better so I experimented with “bars”, including very thin stretched brass wire (not bad but need a smaller drill bit), black annealed steel wire (too fat and can’t stretch it straight like brass) and monofilament fishing line (a bit fat and unsure how to make it straight or whether it takes paint).

Another question is how to align the holes.  For tiny holes I’m limited to hand drilling with a pin vise.  I thought I might try stacking the muntins but on the first try the drill bit, or my eye, or both, got tired and canted so far out of plumb that the bit came out the side of the stack near the bottom.  And the wood started to split anyway.  And the 1/32 inch face of the muntins looked too fat.

 

So out came the styrene strips I used during the tryworks build.  Being monolithic they accept closely spaced drilling better than wood, but the thin strip is quite flexible.  It’s a possibility though, and I’ll post the pics, either good or bad, when I get some smaller drill bits.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve

[JJUSNRET]

Steve - I was about to begin the sky light when I saw your input.  The wood is so small it will be difficult to make them. Two ideas.  First would make a difference to treat the wood with titebond first then drill?  Another idea could be to reduce the number of holes from 9 to five.  As to the extra 2 mm, thanks for the heads up!  Truly impressed!! JJ. 

[Srodbro]

When drilling holes in, say, a farelead, ….several aligned holes in a small piece of wood, or a hole near the end of a piece subject to splitting, I’ve had luck first coating the wood with CA, letting it dry, then drilling. Drill first with your finest bit, then enlarge. Seems to form a chemical matrix on and in the wood that reinforces it. 
But, consider how you want to finish the piece, since stain won’t agree with the CA. 
Good luck. 

[JJUSNRET]

Thanks Steve - my brick sheet will be here Monday.  

[ESF]

To those who stopped by or gave likes, thank you for your interest.

 

JJ and Srodbro, thanks for the Titebond and CA tips.  I’ll give them a try when I receive my stash of size 78 and 80 drill bits.

 

I have some acetate leftover from the Vance build and thought I’d look at two options.  First was ink lines using a fine line marker, specifically an ultrafine Sharpie permanent black, and a Faber Castell PITT artist pen superfine. Both required two passes for each line to get a dense black but the Sharpie was a bit fat and the PITT ink rubbed right off.  The Sharpie ink bonded well and a new tip (mine has seen considerable use) would likely give a better line, which makes it a possibility.

 

Next test was to try gluing thread directly to the acetate using PVA (white Elmers glue diluted with water).  I thought the glue might dry clear, which it did, sort of.  Some thread stuck but was relatively easy to dislodge and the glue brush marks were somewhat visible in a grazing light.  Maybe a clear craft glue?

 

A primary goal in all this has been to maintain 9 bars on each side at the skylight roof.  Fewer bars would make the task easier but I want to see if I’m up to the challenge.

 

Just got a notice that the drill bits have shipped.  In the meantime I’ll pick up a new Sharpie and give that a chance.

 

Thanks for viewing.

 

Steve