Gorch Fock I 1933 by Snug Harbor Johnny - 1:100 - RESTORATION

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I've always been a 'hammer and chisel' guy, so it was high time I made a better stand for the restoration - the 'as-is' stand being rather crude.  A piece of mahogany was scrounged that looked about the right length ... the width ? ... well it seemed OK, and no use 'designing' something that would require buying a new piece.  The thickness is 3/4" (standard), and the ends can be trimmed with a table saw, but first the edges needed planing.  My favorite low-angle plane set to a light cut (and the blade is kept very sharp) made nice thin curls, once some of the roughness was removed.  Its not a proper jointer, but the idea was to remove just a little since the width is on the narrow side - ending up at about 3 1/2".

 

   After the ends were table sawn I thought I'd rout a nice recessed quarter-round - inspired by the nice bases that come in the vintage Scientific clipper kits.  The photo below is self-explanatory (having avoided the metal pieces pinching the board), and the piece was simply shifted a little laterally to complete the milling.

 

   The location of the cradles was judged by eye, then the same measurement was made from each end.  My old mitre box was used to hand-cut pairs of limiting lines carefully figured so the cradles should drop into rabbits with a snug fit.  Yeah, it might be easier (and more contemporary) to get a right-sized router bit, set up a stop and just make a single pass for each rabbit ... but (being an old-school guy - and having an afternoon to putz over something) using hand tools gives one a lot of satisfaction ... until something gets screwed up.

 

 

 

  Next up, a small hand router ... given the grain orientation of the base, it seemed wise to set the bit to 1/3 of the needed depth and work 'with the grain' on either side of the margins.  The picture below is actually the 2nd pass at 2/3rd the required depth.

 

 

 

  Once the edges have been shaved, the orientation of the cutter is made 90 degrees to the grain - which shaves off OK since the sides were done first.

 

 

 

  BTW, those checking this project from time to time will realize my pace is quite slow, with lots of 'thinking' in between steps.  No sense rushing, as I'm often quite absorbed doing things, then going off to do something else (many time seasonally influenced or otherwise mandated), then coming back and getting lost 'in the weeds' again.  'Suits me just fine.  Below is a full-depth rabbit.

 

 

   'Turns out the width is nice and snug - one can always trim or sand a tiny bit if needed, as opposed to trying to put wood back on.  There's one spot on the edge of the base that didn't quite clean up when edge planing, but I didn't want to take off the additional 1/16" just to smooth that spot.  A little sanding can help.  I also dropped the base and a small chip came off one corner - but no matter.

 

 

  The truly inspiring scratch build of the Mary Rose gave me the idea to get a profile (contour) gauge.  This will transfer the hull shape to the respective cradles before jig-sawing out the waste.  I realized that the hull lines constantly change, and that the cradles are about 1/2" thick,  so the hull profile of the forward cradle was taken from where the front face of the cradle goes - and the profile on the rear cradle is taken from the stern face.  I did mark the pieces lightly in pencil so I'd keep track of how everything needs to go together.   Note that the keel is pinned to the solid hull, and the applied trim on the hull is also pinned - a previously noted advantage of a solid-hull model.

 

 

  After cutting the waste from the cradles, a rotary tool was used (with numerous trial fits) to carve the cradle to fit more closely against the hull on the face opposite the one that the profile gauge marked.  Then some sandpaper (gripping reverse side paper would have been batter) was placed on the hull so the final sanding was done on the cradles where they are supposed to go.

 

 

 

  So far, so good ... but a trial fit of the assembly had the hull higher at the bow than it should be.  I noted that the deck in the raised stern section curves up, and the deck forward of the main mast curves up going forward (dead rise at the bow).  The picture below indicates that the bow cradle needs material removed from its base, and (after measuring) that cradle was removed and pieces of wood stacked to support the bow - adjusted so that the level was level just behind the main mast.  I judged how things looked by eye, and was satisfied with how it sat.  Re-measuring told me how much to cut from the forward cradle - which was done on a band saw with a guide.

 

  Below are the old and new bases side-by-side, and there is a marked improvement.  The cradles will be glued, then a pair of screws will be fitted from below as mechanical strengthening.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[_SalD_]

Big improvement over the old base, well done.

[Knocklouder]

That looks really cool, I may have to try that myself  for my Pegasus,,  I  will call it the "Harbor Stand" . 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Knocklouder
Yep typos 😒

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Thanks for the comments on the new stand.   A coat of amber shellac was brushed on, 'raising the grain' a little (typical).  Once dry, it was lightly sanded and a second coat will soon be on.  New-world mahogany is my favorite wood, and less available these days (plus more costly).  A French Polish finish is second to none in my opinion.  I'll have to make a nameplate.

 

  The builder used eyelets as they were, and the degree of flatness varies a bit - so a .125 hole was drilled in a piece of mild steel - with a larger hole for the next size if ever needed.  The shank of the small eyelets are about .120 in diameter, so they drop into the hole to set very lightly with a grommet setter (seen in the photo).  Then a planishing hammer flattens, a lick of fine sandpaper on the flat plus a little hand burnishing of the hole - and its done.

 

 

  So when all were regularized, the count was 82 ... but there are 42 potholes per side, which means that there were a couple missing initially that I didn't notice, or I've dropped two along the way (more likely).  So the process to alter the modern replacements is to first flatten on the die - which makes for a wider face than the originals.  Then I used a shear to cut away the excess (with the eyelet on a mini file shank for convenience), as the brass had been work-hardened by the original forming and then the planishing.

 

  Then the eyelet was given a few licks of a flat file at the corners sheared, and held lightly to a grinding wheel ... that really made for a nice round periphery.

 

 

  The photo below shows the replacement on the left and an original on the right ... which is a little oblong (not round, as they vary).  I'll likely use the wheel to 'round' the oblong ones to make them more uniform.

 

  'Might as well make a number of 'spares', as I'm prone to losing things.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Such a glorious weekend for October in SE Pennsylvania ... and no 'first frost' yet, so all the annuals are still in excellent bloom.  Yet it is not to last, so there may be better restoration progress once the cold sets in (at last).  I ended up 'spinning' the original eyelets to get rid of any ovalness, and also to reduce the flange a little.  Now I'm really happy with them.  The lick of the grinding wheel did produce micro burrs, so each was de-burred and planished again to restore flatness ... all 82 of them (not counting 6 spares - 2 of which are already needed).

 

  What I seem to be doing is 'kitting' this project as each small bit is decided on and then accomplished.  There's a box with the purchased items, and the scratch or reworked items are going into plastic bags.  There are sail sets, cleaned masting, 2 sizes of turnbuckles - and the concept drawing for the rigging (yet to be finalized).

 

 

  Doing my own 'kit' is comforting, as I've always liked kits - whether built 'out of the box' or modified however much.  NOW was the time to grit my teeth and decide what to do with the bowsprit.  The concept of joining the original with a rod just won't provide the stability needed once rigging proceeds.  So a tapered piece of masting (some top mast) from a parts kit was found, then the last inch had the taper removed on the lathe so it will fit properly into a cylindrical hole to be drilled.  How to do that ...

 

  An ordinary bit was selected since the end of the bowsprit is a non-standard size, so I knew 'grabbing' and keeping the angle right would be tricky.  There was some tearing at the mouth of the bore, but ... there are always some unplanned things that happen.  You can see the 'sprung' trim on teh side, but that will be glued with a little pinning for good measure.

 

 

  The nail holes (previous uprights for the railing) will be filled with tooth pick and re-drilled for the nice brass stanchions purchased.  Before the bowsprit gets epoxied, it will have to have all the hardware mounted and be painted white.  Finishing the hull will also be done before mounting the bowsprit, since one done - it is a vulnerable part, and many models (like this one did before) are subject to accidental breakage.  Bur just to prove that my eye wasn't off, the stem was test fitted and it looks OK.

 

  

 

 

 There is work to be done in the bow area as well.  The above step, being accomplished, has me breathing a sigh of relief.  

 

The first coat of shellac was given a day to dry before light sanding and re-application.  Two more times it was sanded and re-coated.  Shellac is 'funny', in that the rough surface of the wood (if seen highly magnified) presents mountains and valleys ... and the shellac coats all evenly (with some absorption the first go-'round) - leaving the same profile.  Sanding 'knocks off' the mountain tops, but leaves the valleys slightly filled in.  Subsequent coats also tend to coat evenly ... don't even think of 'over applying' to try and "drown" or bulk fill-in those valleys, since that will make a gummy mess.

 

  With each sanding, more of the 'mountain tops' get leveled off as the valleys do finally fill-in.  When taken to a planar surface, then building up a thicker flat coat, some wadding inside a twisted piece of lint-free cloth is the applicator to keep everything smooth and even - with the final pass or two done with just a little alcohol alone.  This is what is known as a 'French Polish' - like on fine colonial furniture.  There is still some natural thickness variation that gives it a finesse - not the thick 'plasticky' look of urethane.  And some woods (like mahogany) have a 'shimmer' known as caytoyency - an almost 'jewel-like' appearance.  I only go to this amount of trouble on fine furniture.

 

  For the stand, I chose to leave some of the grain in evidence ... a little like the best of both worlds.  The color is a little off in the picture, and there are some flash reflections in dots or streaks.  The wood looks far better 'in person'.

 

  So far, so good.

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  The nail holes are being filled ... I trim off the end of a toothpick and file to make it more cylindrical (like the holes - which may have been drilled first just a little smaller than the nails used fore the stanchions), then trial fit before dipping the end in titebond and filling the hole.

 

  Step 2 is to flush cut.

 

  Step 3 is to tap lightly with a planishing hammer, and just a tap with the nub on a grommet set if needed.

 

 

  I'll touch up the color with shellac, which will also penetrate the end grain of the toothpicks.  The builder's hole pattern (such as they are) will be followed so as not to make any more holes in the deck as necessary.

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

It's fascinating to watch your problem solving skills put to the test with each step!  Such an interesting project.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

22 hours ago, Glen McGuire said:

It's fascinating to watch your problem solving skills put to the test with each step!  Such an interesting project.

  The restoration has indeed captured my imagination at present, and the plan is to proceed - albeit in steps - to completion before going back to the Vasa (the build title has the old Billings Wasa spelling, and that project is being 'busted' enough to get a 'reasonable facsimile' - no great 'accuracy' is possible due to the limitations of the earliest kit).  There is definitely a charm to the GF model, and I want to strike the right balance between some modest improvements and respecting the configuration as-built.  Once all the groundwork is done, actually finally getting some experience on rigging enhancements ('though with simplifications) should be a treat.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  While drilling for the bowsprit, a couple problems arose that were resolved sequentially 'on the fly' without even thinking to document them.  Needing both hands for a lot of stuff, certain things just don't get photographed.  It wasn't just a matter of drilling away, even after squaring the surface with a fine saw.  The drill bit needed kept wandering without biting - so I thought a much smaller pilot would worth trying.

 

  The pilot did grab, but soon wandered off-center - so that hole would be worthless since a larger drill will follow a smaller pre-drilled hole.  What I should have tried was to use a prick punch (or use a nail) to provide a center before drilling the pilot.  So a small 'U' gouge for wood carving was used to incise around the desired periphery (ignoring the errant beginning of the pilot hole) so it could be dug out in bits.  Being end grain, the excavation had to be done a little at a time to make a right-sized hole for the full-sized bit that was about 1/8" deep.  Then the larger bit drilled with light pressure and stayed on course - reaming out the remains of the original bowsprit still in the hull.

 

  There is a little room for adjustment with the new bowsprit installed, so it will have to be positioned carefully while the epoxy sets (when that time comes).  Of course, the hole could have drilled poorly, in which case the remedy would be to turn a suitable plug of wood to glue in with wood glue ... then a second go could be attempted.  This is a nice aspect of modeling in wood.

 

  I found a quote from Marcus Aurelius that applies to our hobby (and also life):

 

“While it’s true that someone can impede our actions, they can’t impede our intentions and our attitudes, which have the power of being conditional and adaptable. For the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.”

Edited October 26, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Sometimes a few days can go by with 'too many other things' to do, resulting in no progress at the shipyard.  But then I can do a bunch in three hours ... and the latest 'bunch' is split between 2 posts.  Now there are differences in configuration from the GF1 (as built), a couple of GF1 modifications and then the GF2.  From the pictures of the original I can see, there is some metal shielding at the bow, so I wondered if I could bend a piece of planking into a parabolic shape to go around the extreme bow.

 

  A spare scrap of mahogany from another kit was soaked and heated with an iron before trying to get a bend in various ways - including chewing.  The bend was too extreme, so I tried boiling the plank in water for a while - and this did soften it enough to bend (with just a few snapped fibers on the outer surface.  I figured that the bow of the model could be a form to tape the softened plank to and let it dry.  Due to aforesaid cracking, wood glue was applied to both sides and covered with wax paper before taping.

 

 

  When untaped,  it didn't look too bad ... but it was entirely vertical in relation to the deck, where the original guard is flared to match the angle of the hull side in that area.  Something else had to be tried, but below is a shot of the first effort.

 

 

   A roughly parabolic cut was made into paper (trial fitted & trimmed as needed to the bow.

 

 

 

  I decided to cut two pieces of ordinary walnut veneer (the thin sort), as thin stock can ben a lot even before heating/soaking.

 

 

 

  These pieces were boiled and got VERY flexible, so some wood glue was put in between before using the bow again as a caul ... actually, as many layers of veneer can be used as desired for thicker pieces - and when bent to the caul (form) they all shift as needed.  Trimming is done later, so the parts should be oversized when glued.

 

 

 

  I found later that the wetness of the stock made most of the glue 'seep in' to the parts, and the bond was not good.  So in a nearly dry state (having been pre-formed), they were still somewhat flexible, so fresh glue was put in between - and then many clamps were added (plus a little tape to slightly over bend, since there was spring back).

 

 

 

  It a perfect Indian Summer Saturday, and I must take the Admiral on an excursion shortly, so I'll finish last evening's progress in the next post.  If I'm lucky, perhaps we'll have a pleasure cruise this afternoon.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Second post of last evening's work.  While the veneers were drying, I went ahead and pinned down loose wales - something practical with a solid wood hull.  So not to split the thin wood, a pilot hole was hand drilled, but not as deep as the pin to be used.

 

 

  Bent pliers got the pin started into solid wood below, and could sometimes nearly seat the pin.

 

 

  A tap or two with the planisher was followed by a roughening with fine sandpaper so paint will adhere.

 

 

  Then replacement strips were added where the original was lost.  I decided to try a new filling compound - one that doesn't 'smell' of solvent.  I found that solvent-based wood putties can dry pretty darn hard, and can be difficult to sand.

 

 

  This new stuff cleans-up with water (that which has not dried).  The dried compound sands a lot better than stuff I've used before, as it is not as hard when dried.    You can see an add-on to restore the original shape of the prow, which had been damaged in the past - presumably when the bowsprit broke.  The new wood was glued on and pinned to the underlying wood - then filled.

 

 

 

 

  Now enough time passed that I unclamped the piece formed ... it still had a little 'flex', so it could be adjusted.  After some sanding and shaping, it about what I'd been looking for.

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   A trim piece is absent on the forecastle and poop deck - one seen in other GF models and also in photos.  Bending the long dimension just won't work on the curvature on the ends, so paper patterns were made and end segments cut out on a jig saw.  Thicker CA was used - first applying around the periphery of the deck, the wood (cut slightly oversized, since it can be easily abraded later) laid on (held with finger pressure) - while the other hand delivered a dollop of accelerator with a dental tool.  SHAZAAM, the CA set-up really fast, and bonded the wood to the varnished deck just fine.  The add-on piece was still fragile and cracked in a couple places, but the CA bonded them.  There is a slight 'sweet' smell of the bonding reaction, which is also exothermic.  As said elsewhere, the 'thin' CA is wicked stuff that wants to go everywhere ... but there are a few applications for it.

 

 

  Another pattern was made for the bow and the wood installed the same way.

 

 

  Here is a picture of the rough sanded stern.  I see a hull nick (tear-out) that I hadn't filled before - no matter, that is easily accomplished.  A rudder will be fashioned from the same thickness of basswood used for the bow repair, and I have a suitable prop to install ... the one supplied in OcCre's Endurance kit, as a two-bladed prop has already been obtained for that future build.

 

 

 

  Below is a shot of my inexpensive Harbor Freight mini saw ... and the deficiencies inherent in a budget tool were mentioned in another MSW thread.  However, the make-do fence clamped to the table seems to work for sawing the width needed for the rest of the top rail (wale? .. whatever).

 

 

  Below are shots of the CA'd wood added to the bow and stern.   'Seems OK to me.

 

 

  I'll even the color over the plugged holes with amber shellac, and the added wood as well.

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  So I thought it was time to mark out (by eye) the main rivet lines discussed earlier in the restoration ... but only using the modified ('nubbed') pattern wheel, with no actual rivets (out of scale) or other fiddling (tooling) with the hull.  These prove to be very small indentations to suggest the riveting on the original, noting that there are other weld lines that simply don't show from a distance.  Holding a mechanical pencil, other parts of the hull were used as a guide as the horizontal lines were drawn.  The verticals (the Pennsylvania 'Dutch' hereabouts pronounce it werticals, almost like 'where (it) tickles',  - the v having a w sound.  I used to work in a fabrication shop among many PA Germans, and asked one how he'd say valve ... what he said sounded to me like walf.) ... anyway, the verticals were spaced at about 2" intervals (roughed with a scale) and descended by hand.  Sometimes one just has to jump-in and do something - but I suppose if one either wanted to be super-accurate or to compensate for a less-than-steady hand, one would tape out each line individually.  

 

  I didn't want to fuss that much and thought NFW, I'll wing it ... they're only mere indications that will also be painted over.  The Admiral asked me about the acronym NFW, and I said that the N stands for 'No' and the W stands for 'Way".

 

  Next the wheel was used with 'just the right' pressure learned from practicing near the keel.  From pinning things in various places on this old wood hull - which I like working with enough to contemplate carving hulls for future models - much of it may actually be a dense basswood with maple blocks glued as the forecastle and the poop deck, since those areas were much harder to push a pin into.  The hand drill was just used a little deeper in those areas.  The weather deck has the same grain & appearance as the higher decks, so may also be an applied piece of wood, albeit thinner.

 

  The divot lines were straighter than the rough pencil guides (corrected in-process), but there are a few places with some drift - no matter.

 

 

  Now I thought it time to rough out a rudder from basswood stock about as thick as the keel.  The angle on the model is a  bit off, but that will be filed/sanded for improvement.

 

  As mentioned before, I'm using the OcCre Endurance 3-bladed prop that will be suitable for this restoration - the original prop on the model was a miserable piece of tin cut to have 3 blades.  To position it properly in the prop-space on the model, I decided to cut a shaft segment on the Unimat - center-drilling and end drilling a right-sized hole (2.3mm, which mic'ed about .092) for the pin  on the cast prop to fit into.  The diameter was made to be less than the hub on the prop.

 

  Below is another view prior to cut-off.

 

 

   I picked a number drill just under the brass shaft and twizzled it by hand with care into the end grain of the hull (after center punching lightly), and test-fitted for effect.  There was a bit of filing and shaping to correct the angles, and ended up with something my eye thought 'good enough'.  Then everything was CA's with gel (one at a time) and 'kicked' with dabs of accelerator.

 

 

 

    'Guess it's good enough.  Like the Coach told the Jamaican Bobsled team in the movie 'Cool Runnings',  "Winning a medal is a fine thing.  But if you're not good enough without the medal, you won't be good enough with it." 

 

 

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Looked at the stern below the waterline after the rudder and prop work, and thought the thickness of the flat ahead of the prop didn't look right ... way too wide for effective propulsion.  Good enough, perhaps, but I thought to myself, "Johnny, seriously ... you can do better."  So I got out a couple small wood carving tools and roughed-out better streamlining,

 

 

  Then the area was sanded and I could see an improvement ... when painted, it will then be a little better then 'good enough'.  

 

 

  On the other side the difference between the soft early growth and the harder ring growth started to show.  It then became apparent that the difference in the resistance to pin pushing was due the variability in ring distribution and angle - easier to push pins between the harder ring deposits.  Perhaps then the hull was carved from a single block of moderately dense pine - not the fast-grown stuff farmed in recent times for building houses.

 

 

 

  Our first house was built in 1927, and when doing a little remodeling I discovered how hard a stud cut from older growth with tight ring structure can be.  Framing timbers then were far stronger than what is used today.  The wooden hull of this restoration seems to be something 'in between'/

[Roger Pellett]

Back in the day, pine was the preferred material for solid hull ship models.  IMHO it is an under rated ship modeling material, much better than most kit materials, and better than Basswood.  American lumberyard softwood is usually SPF- Spruce, pine, Fir.  It pays to sort through the pile to find the pine.  Often it is not necessary for ship modeling purposes to buy the high grade select pine.  Areas of a plank with knots can be discarded leaving plenty of straight grained material for our purposes.

 

Roger

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

   Now it's time to paint the hull.  I bought a few tubes of middle grade acrylic colors at a local craft store ... I suspect that this is about the same as in the little bottles for models, but 5 bucks for a big fat tube seems like a better bargain.  The finish is flat, but with multiple coats can be semi-gloss - but I'll stick with flat.  

 

  I didn't want 'dead' white, so mixed a little unbleached titanium with mostly white.  Thinning a little with water (no smells with acrylic), the barely ff-white white was 'pounced' into the divots made earlier to make sure paint got in there - which would have otherwise been dark dots.  The brush used was a relatively still artists' detail brush.  Note that the original waterline in this close shot is definitely a bit 'rough'.  I'll do a little better but NOT try for a 'dead straight' fine line ... 

 

 

  This project is a restoration, so I wanted to hand paint as the builder did - leaving some grain visible on close inspection, as opposed to trying to fill everything to a flat sanded surface.  One advantage is that acrylic dries fast - which can also be a disadvantage.  Mixing green from blue and yellow was trying, so the Sap Green by itself was close - but a little dark as seen below.  Adding some yellow made it too light, but then some blue made it darn close.  The color did dry a tad darker than when it was wet - something seen when using latex wall paint re-doing a room.  Yet copper based anti-fouling paint does have a blue-green look to it, as seen with verdigris.

 

 

  Scotch tape was used to mask the wales, since it will be easier to 'fill-in' the gap between with a fine liner brush.

 

 

 

 

  So far so good.   The tape was stripped off before the paint set to avoid any peel-off, and there were few slops.  Being right handed, the liner brush was used from the right going all around the model on one side of the wales before flipping the model over to tackle the other sides.

 

 

  Below shows things looking about like I wanted ... but prior to the re-installation of the port hole surrounds.  Yeah, such surrounds were not on the original ship - but again (in the spirit of restoration) they are to be added since 1.) the perimeter of the holes on this hull are a tad irregular and 2.) a lot of time was spent re-conditioning and regularizing the brass grommets.

 

 

   Some of the grommets were snug, but some almost loose.  So to prevent future loss, a dab of glue went just inside the portholes, then after placement each grommet was set with the grommet setter - later inverted to tap the edges flush as needed.  There is a certain charm to them.

 

 

  I see the slight wave in the waterline, so after this picture was taken, it was straightened with a liner brush - easy enough to do.  Peering down the length of the hull revealed a few other places for slight adjustments in the line - now made.

 

 

 

 

[Glen McGuire]

Nice work with the brush.  Your paint job looks great!

[Javelin]

Great to see with what you started in the pictures at the top of the page and seeing where it's going now! She could really use some attention. 

Great job so far

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  I've taken a pause, in part to 'catch-up' on shop tidying.  As things progress from step to step; tools tend to get left on the table where last used, shavings and saw/sanding dust accumulates and stuff gets all out of order - which has me constantly looking for things.  So much of one afternoon was spend getting about halfway through the process of re-ordering.  Then came the duty of helping the Admiral do a craft show and now comes a weekend of 2nd shift hospital work.

 

  Anyway, I'm finally through the basic hull prep, so now must start pinning eyebolts, standoffs, pin rails and deck detail prior to re-masting.  It occurs to me that a Build log is really a type of Blog ...  a record of the mental process, choices, tools and techniques used to tackle a given circumstance.  And that is a presentation of a builder's life - or at least that which pertains to modeling.  I've found many good tips and techniques as well as ship info by reading many logs in MSW, whether on topics most interesting to me or on other aspects or ship types I hadn't explored before.

 

  So here are a few shots of 'where I am' in the shop:    The movable work table is pretty much cleared for action, other than a couple remaining tools and a good brushing off.  Its a sewing work table with folding wings.   Old kitchen cabinet were moved to the basement (I mostly redid our kitchen myself upstairs), the area from the Dremel jigsaw (quite useful) past the small tool box and cutting mat (I make colonial soldier hats piecework from time to time - but no orders lately) have been vacuumed.

 

  I'm getting used to my hand-me-down camera, the pictures are dragged to the desktop after attaching the camera to the computer.  Then I'll open photoshop (I'm a rudimentary user) for the most basic adjustments: cropping, rotation (if needed) and then the simplest of brightness/contrast adjustments.  Photoshop might be compared to an Olympic sized swimming pool where I've barely dipped a toe into the shallow end ... make that the spa tub next to the pool itself.

 

  Moving to the right are open doors showing an attempt to segregate supplies by type, and below that is the suspended Vasa build so everything will be there when its time to get back to it.

 

  'Rather fond of the old Wasa ... and I'm surprised I've got her this far, considering the limitations of what I started with.

 

 

 

  On the other side corner are some shelves - from the bottom up is the finished Khufu's barge, the rough bulkhead framing of the Great Harry and a small hurdy-gurdy kit busted so it actually plays.

 

 

  So whats left to clean-up is on the other side of the shop (a partitioned side of the basement).  I have to do the workbench area ...

 

 

 ... and the high bench area.

 

 

  Of course there are other shelves to tend to, but they are holding stuff not related to ship modeling .

[Keith Black]

 In the first photo I see a wall clock on the shelf, battery or windup? 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

On 11/11/2023 at 4:40 PM, Keith Black said:

 In the first photo I see a wall clock on the shelf, battery or windup? 

  The clock high up on the shelf is an antique wind-up clock (mid 1800s) ... but its only a 24 hour winding, so to run it one must wind it every day (technically 36 hours per wind, but after 24 hours the clock slows down because the spring gets too weak).  Because of that, I don't bother to wind it.  What you don't see (out of the frame on the left) is another late 1800s clock that can go for 7 days when fully wound - and i do wind that up every week, since it has a nice bell that rings the hours if the striking spring is also wound (not quite the sound of a ship's bell, but pleasant nonetheless) and I notice that even when concentrating on something in the shop.

 

  I have several other clocks throughout the house that are also 7-day wind-ups, but since all of them can start to lose steam near the end of the week (the winding day being Sunday), I give then a 'midweek boost' of 4 half-turns on Thursday to insure accuracy until the following Sunday.  Then it takes about 10 half turns of the key to feel 'tight enough' to stop - something learned by experience to prevent 'overwinding', and the possibility that the coil might seize or even break.  One of my clocks has a mechanism that automatically prevents overwinding.

 

  Now heres your 'challenge'.  You have pointed out one clock in the first picture, but there are TWO other clocks also in the picture !  One needs maintenance, and the other I have running.  I thought this might be a little like "Where's Waldo" - can you find the other two clocks and note where they are hiding?

 

  In the second and third pictures there is what looks like a miniature piano next to the Wasa - it is an early 20th c.  Schoenhut toy piano (two octave, white keys only) in need of restoration.  I found it in an antique shop in Lancaster Pa (there are many such shops there and in Adamstown), and some of the tones sounded with clear chimes (small xylophone plates), unlike most such toys that use cheap-sounding metal rods.  I ought to get to that sometime.

 

[Keith Black]

31 minutes ago, Snug Harbor Johnny said:

can you find the other two clocks and note where they are hiding?

One is sideways on the third shelf down, the other is facing outward this side of the corner, both clocks are at the same height.  

 

 I have four winders, one is DOA. I wind em up on Wednesday and Sunday. I have several old battery clocks and one old Nestle 'A Time for Baking' electric clock. I love to hear the winders sing out on the hour slightly out of time. My world is thrown into a tizzy if one of the clocks grows still and needs attention. There's something calming about listening to the orderly march of time.  

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

1 hour ago, Keith Black said:

One is sideways on the third shelf down, the other is facing outward this side of the corner, both clocks are at the same height.  

 

 I have four winders, one is DOA. I wind em up on Wednesday and Sunday. I have several old battery clocks and one old Nestle 'A Time for Baking' electric clock. I love to hear the winders sing out on the hour slightly out of time. My world is thrown into a tizzy if one of the clocks grows still and needs attention. There's something calming about listening to the orderly march of time.  

Keith, I forgot all about the sideways facing clock ... it needs restoration and I haven't got around to it.  You spied the clock behind the jigsaw, so that means that there is STILL another clock hiding ...  hint (spoiler)  it's next toe one behind the jigsaw, concealed by some pussy willows. 

[Keith Black]

 That one is very difficult to see, I can just make out it's top if that's the clock you mean. 

 

 Once upon a time you could find some pretty good deals on clocks on eBay and Craigslist, not anymore. People want big bucks for junk. I'd still like to acquire a nice drum clock, like my life is incomplete without one. 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Still thinking things out ahead of doing anything I might want later to un-do or wish I did otherwise ... details like how the foremost stays are to be done.  The first one (a pair) going from the fore top to the forecastle deck will have a pair of turnbuckles at the bottom (as seen on other examples).  The ratlines and stays (fore and back) were of wire rope versus fiber rope used much earlier.  From what I can see in a couple of photos of the 1st GF, the jib stays may have gone through sheaves and passed inside the hollow steel bowsprit - presumably to be tensioned under the forecastle deck.

 

  So I'll likely make slight mortises where needed on the wood bowsprit, insert a sealed end of black line into the mortise and secure (with CA) a small brass sheave pushed into the mortise.  The loops (wherever they occur) in stays and shrouds will likely be seized with a pair of small beader's crimps - so I'll have to get the tension right.  The jib sails and stay sails will likely get suitably sized metal rings that the stay lines will pass through.  In-haul lines will pass through the  rings to blocks below (and thence to belaying pins).  Out haul lines should be as typical.

 

  The idea is that each time a line is put on, it has to have a purpose - a beginning and end point consistent with that purpose.  As mentioned before, there will necessarily be simplifications to the 'actual' full-rigging (never the purpose for the sake of restoration), yet I'd like to have better rigging than the rudimentary ropes thrown on the original model.  After all, I'm the 'Master' of this representation of the ship - the final say in the details of rigging will be mine ... such as they are.

 

  I see by the photos below (one of which is of the GF) that sails tend not to be 'pure white', due to various reason for some discoloration.  And there are often obvious signs of repair/maintenance.  The restored sails on my model do have an off-white appearance (I might have even done less whitening, but that step is past), but that is as they should be.  The second photo below shows how the varying light of day can also influence how the sails appear.

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Had a look at my few GF 1 images and printed the stern and bow decorations (adjusting for scale) to see if I could paper cut them out and glue them in place ... given that I wasn't going to attempt intsy-teensie carving, and my freehand with inks would also not pass muster.  If presentable, I could touch them up in place with micro tip color pen.  I think I'm ahead of the game according to the picture below.  The blow-up magnifies irregularities, so just looking at the hull, its presentable enough.

 

 

  I decided to install two small pinrails near the extreme bow to hold 3 brass belaying pins (to be drilled for soon) on each side for the jib sail inhaul lines (choice of side to belay them).  The work at 1:100 tells me that that is really the smallest I shall model in, at this stage in life and skillset.  Each rail was given a little gel CA (which does not set-up so fast), then applied with fine tweezers - pushing in place to hold while the other hand daubed some 'accelerator' from the end of a dental tool.

 

  Nearly at once, the accelerator made the gel CA 'grab', but there was still a couple seconds for a slight tweak before the reaction went entirely through the join.  Then, some more CA gel was put on the underside to make a 'fillet' - and kicked with more accelerator daubed on.  This technique, done carefully, is really nice in my opinion ... and as said before, I'll avoid the 'thin CA' (except in rare circumstances) because it is too hard to control and gets everywhere on its own.  Now the center bow guard (which has had some more trimming since first pictured) represents about a 31" parapet.

 

  The bow guard is metal on the ship, so it will be painted white, I may leave the pin rails wood.

 

  It occurred to me that this would be a little high to just step over, even if going out on the bowsprit to mount or dismount the jibs would be done in port.  Other models of this ship do have it this way, and I haven't found just the right image to see just what the configuration of the original was.  If a 'scoop' in the middle was made to lower the step-over to, say, 15" (scaled)  I don't think it would look right to my eyes - also there might be a gush of sea water shooting through such a gap (instead of straying upwards), so there will be a representation of a welded step - and a corresponding landing on the front side - both to receive white paint.

 

  After installing the steps, and gluing bow decoration on, I took a profile of the bow.  The image was 'flipped' on the computer for the other side.

 

 

  Detail by detail is likely how to proceed in this 'instruction-less' project.  BTW, another technician has suddenly retired at the hospital where I work per-diem ... so there will be more demands for my time - and between now and the Holidays the Admiral has me ferrying her to craft shows on the weekend to assist her shop.  No matter, there is no 'time limit' on my own projects.  Below is another angle of the bow (the guard just sitting in place, unglued as of yet).

 

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Some clear shellac was painted over the pasted paper, touched up with water based micro marker.  The alcohol does not affect the applied color, and prevents accidental running in future.  The paper effectively became a 'decal' - the hull color over the place of application being white.  I suppose on a hull of a different color, the image could be printed on that color paper stock.

 

  'Had a look at the deck house ... its dirty and simplistic, but with some tidying up it can be re-fastened (perhaps with CA this time).  Being a restoration, I don't want to re-make much.  I can just see some deck marked out under the crud.

 

 

  The builder had some splitting when tacking the nails used for stanchions.

 

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  So the cabin was cleaned up, things re-glued and touched up with some acrylic paint.  Then it was CA'd in place and firmly fixed - the idea being to pre-drill for the brass stanchions.  Shown below are examples of a stanchion, a tiny eye (intended for jack rail installation) and a brass belaying pin of some age.  The pin is close to scale - representing about 2' ... perhaps a typical belaying pin is around 18".  The brass has a natural patina and will eventually be brown in color.

 

  Again, smaller scales will be henceforth 'right out' - although some are able to manipulate super tiny things ... they built Swiss watches, didn't they?

 

 

  After drilling stanchion holes, it occurred to me that the cabin on the original has 'grab bars' on the sides ...  dang, its going to be hard to install them with the cabin already fixed to the deck.  Once again, I didn't quite think everything through .. so step one was to mark the attachment points (such as they will be on this model) with mechanical pencil.  I started to measure the places, but ended up doing it 'by eye'.  Then bent pliers were used to push a straight pin (but bent, due to the odd angle) into the wooden cabin for the brass eyes.

 

 

 

  Next came hand drilling with a pin drill, also bending the fine drill (but not enough to break it) a bit to deepen the starter hole.  This is painstaking, so rather than had all the stanchion holes (shown later) by hand, I used a rotary tool.  Still, one has to be careful not to snap a drill.

  

 

  A small dab of old Gel CA was put on a pair of attachment points.  The advantage of using 'old' gel CA is that it takes longer to set-up, thus allowing time to fiddle and drop stuff, reposition, try again ... the picture is 'upside down' because I'm working that way with the hull in my lap.  Like what was said in Pirates of the Caribbean, "Down is up."

 

 

  Now getting the second eye on was a pain.  When the rail is to be placed on a corner, the eyes can be installed first, then the rail slid in and cut to length.  Here the panels on the cabin sides (as built and re-glued in place) limit sideways rail movement.  I suppose I could have left the eyes 'proud' of the panels, slid the wire in, cut, the push everything down.  But I didn't think of that at the time.

 

  Fiddling these small bits in a tight place produced a fair share of 'dang its' and gol-darn sumb-witches ... to be expected.  What Ben Franklin said about getting a Constitution through Congress (comparing it to bringing a child into the world) might be applied to model ship building ... "half improvise and half compromise".

 

  Next more old CA was applied - in this case (with one hand holding the camera and the other trying to keep the glue bottle steady) there is too much on the joint - so he excess had to be wiped away with a bit of absorbent material.

 

  Now a dental tool applies a bit of accelerator (the tool was dipped into a small amount of it in a nearby cup).  and BAM everything locked-up nicely.  I suppose new gel CA would not have as much working time ... so just let a bottle set on the shelf for a year (like I did) and its still quite useable by this technique.

 

 

  Now a right-side up view of how things are coming along.  The next consideration is the ladders to go from the weather deck to the forecastle (same astern).  The model being restored has flimsy rubber ladders that are not at all satisfactory.  I'm going to have to build my own using material from a parts kit on hand.  I'll have to figure out how railings will be done.  Once the first ladder is figured out, the other three will be done in the same way.  There is also some re-thinking of where all the lines will have to be routed and belayed ... that will be done much later on.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Snug Harbor Johnny

[Glen McGuire]

Superb work on some very small components!

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  'Seemed like the discs at the base of the masts would make better circular belaying pin racks than using wood, due to grain problems sometimes cropping up on small bits.  Of course, I could laminate veneers to get around this problem.  But what the builder used at the base of the masts project too far for what one might expect to see, and they are some sort of fiber or compound that has become age hardened.  The material looks like the stuff that used to go between flanges where a water pump was used on a hot water home heating system, and washers of the same stuff were used beneath metal washers to be sure the pressure was spread evenly over what could be a not fully flat or smooth surface.

 

  They also seemed to be stuck tight, but I figured with a little persuasion they might come off.

 

 

  A handy vise was used to support the washer (mostly) and a few judicious taps were to be applied.

 

 

  Sure enough, off popped the washer - which was marked, pricked and drilled for belaying pins ... shown below.

 

 

  Perhaps I'll turn a little ring for the base of the mast.  I'm really lucky the masts were able to be winkled loose - other wise I'd have to work around them (a pain) or perhaps cut them off and later splice new wood on (never quite as good as the original) - or use a brass collar between the bottom of the circular pin rail to the deck to conceal and strengthen the dry join - which would permit future disassembly.  Note to self:  rigging will secure the masts just fine, so do not glue any in place on future builds.

 

  The order of assembly is being thought over ... still no rush.  And I'm re-drawing my diagram of where all the anticipated lines will go - making such a plan will doubtless aid the process.  I'm favoring rigging from the 'inside out' as some have done, with ratlines being perhaps the last thing done.