USS Kearsarge by gak1965 - BlueJacket Shipcrafters - 1:96

[Nirvana]

George, I just finished reading your build log with interest.

Looking good and you have overcome small difficulties very well.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Rick310]

It’s coming along nicely!

Rick

[gak1965]

On 5/18/2024 at 11:11 AM, Rick310 said:

It’s coming along nicely!

Rick

 

On 5/16/2024 at 12:34 AM, Nirvana said:

George, I just finished reading your build log with interest.

Looking good and you have overcome small difficulties very well.

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks Rick and Per!

 

I haven't had a ton of time to work on this lately, or look into MSW for that matter. However, the basic hull shape is pretty much done. I put in the lower part of the stem and the false keel, sanded, primed, and sanded, and I think it is ready for the next steps. I also painted the inner bulwarks white, I prefer to paint as I go rather than doing a lot of complicated masking, so we'll see how that goes. Here is what she looks like now:

 

 

Anyway, next step is to cut out the gun and sally ports. I was looking for the best way to transfer the locations, and thought I would use the deck on the plans (and will) but I was slightly annoyed to see that the plans are slightly smaller than the actual deck piece. If you look at the photo below, I've aligned the stack, and as you move forward and aft, everything on the plans is closer to the center than the rastered markings. Bottom line is that I'm going to need to locate the cuts, correcting for the size difference, and be attuned to potential problems when I build out the hammock rail boxes. Reminding myself that this is an 'Admiral' level kit.

 

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

George

 

[MrBlueJacket]

Unfortunately, copying is subject to dimensional errors due to paper humidity content, ambient temperature, etc.

 

Nic

[gak1965]

Hello all. I've been running around dealing with a bunch of things (including some work on RRS Discovery and have just recently gotten some time to work on the Kearsarge. I've opened out the gunports as can be seen in the photos below. For the large ones, I used a razor saw to cut the vertical slices and then clamped a metal straight edge to where the bottom cut needed to be, and opened it out with a reinforced cutting blade from my dremel, which worked well. The smaller gunports were done similarly, vertical edges defined by razor saw, and used the cutting wheel to open it out, but more or less treating it like an abrasive. Everything then squared up with sandpaper. I think, on the whole it went well.

 

Ship as a whole (Discovery in the background) awaiting wood for the second planking.

 

 

And two close ups.

 

 

 

However, I could use some assistance from anyone who's built this before (or maybe @MrBlueJacket because I am confused at this point.

 

There are two points of confusion. The simpler one first. The instructions say to put the gunport frames in, making sure that they are flush on the outside of the hull. As you can see from the upper and middle photo where I have one of the frames dry-fitted, the frame is wider than the bullwarks. My natural inclination would be to glue in place, sand the inside so that it is flush with the inner bulwark as well, gap fill with a bit of putty. However, the following sketch is provided for one of the next steps. In it we see the frame jutting into the ship over the bulwarks, trimmed (?) as shown. The instructions don't mention the trim, although they a later photo suggests that they do need to be trimmed down to the edge of the inner bulwarks. Any thoughts welcome.

 

 

The more complicated question relates to this instruction in the booklet:

 

"Remove the pivot gun (LK28C) and sally port (LK28D) hammock net ends from the carrier sheet. Remove 1/32" from the forward end of each pivot gun port cutout and glue a pivot gun hammock net end (LK28C) in place. Using the large gun port lid (LK64) as a guide trim the aft end of the cutout to its length plus 1/32".  DRY FIT a pivot gun hammock net end to the aft end of the cutout and adjust as necessary until the large gun port lid fits tightly between the two ends, then glue them in place. Set the lid aside."

 

"Remove 1/32" from both ends of the sally port openings and glue the sally port hammock net ends (LK28D) in place (PHOTO 10")" 

 

Okay, so here is the problem. There are 8 pieces labelled LK28C that look like the parts in photo 10 below. When I look at the plans, they say to use LK28D (which frankly doesn't make sense). Earlier, the instructions indicated that I needed to cut out the sally port openings in the same way as the gun ports, however, nothing on the plan is labelled as a sally port; the closet thing is the port by the accommodation ladder (PEK11 in the diagram). The entry is defined by two ends of the hammock nets marked with parts LK28E. I have no part LK28E, and the part list doesn't list it either. There are 8 part LKE28D (the sally port hammock net ends) but only 2 sally ports, and bottom of what I think are the sally ports is the top of the bulwark, so no need to cut anything out of the bulwarks.

 

 

 

 

So. My interpretation of what I should do is:

1. Make the small gun port frames flush on both the inside and outside of the bulwarks.
2. Use the 8 LK28C parts to frame up the large, pivot gun ports, and prepare them for the hammock netting.
3. Conclude that the marked LK28D parts on the plan is a misprint and use the LK28C parts as above.
4. Use the LK28D parts for the two sally ports in place of the parts marked LK28E on the plans, and hold off doing anything for now, because they would just wind up sitting there.

Anyways, thanks for looking in and the likes. I'd love folks opinion on the plan above.

 

Regards,

George

 

Edited July 7, 2024 by gak1965

[gak1965]

Well, a bit of an update. If you look carefully at the photos in my previous entry, you will notice that somehow I managed to put the aftmost gunport in the wrong place. It's way too far aft - I apparently misread the marks that I put on the bulwarks that indicated where it was supposed to go. 100% my goof.

 

 

So, repairs commenced. I cut out a bit of wood, fitted it to the gap:

 

 

Sanded to match the curves of the bulwarks:

 

 

Rinse and repeat on the other side:

 

 

Once the paint the hammock nets are in place, you'll never know it was there. Annoying, but completely on me.

 

I've since cut the correct gunports, and mounted the 10 gunport frames. Thank goodness for having 10 to fill 8 slots, as two of them were destroyed sanding them down to the thickness of the bulwarks. The trick is to leave cut the center piece, but leave it in the frame as you sand. Put the pressure on the frame as much as possible so you don't have to sand down a solid piece of wood, but it keeps the pressure off the relatively delicate piece of wood that is the frame. As you might have guessed, the answer to my question above was to sand the frames to the thickness of the bulwarks, and I've pretty much concluded that the parts are just mislabelled as I mentioned. So, next step will be to add the frames for the large pivot guns, and then I think it's time to start cutting the slots for the channels and building gunport nettings. 

 

 

Thanks for looking in everyone!

 

Regards,

George

 

Edited July 16, 2024 by gak1965

[Rick310]

Looking good George!

Rick

[gak1965]

A bit of an update. The next steps were to cut the slots for the channels/pinrails and to install the sheaves aft of the final gunport, both of which are completed.

 

 

 

In theory, the next step would be to put the deck down, and then installing the waterways. Unfortunately, if you do that, you wind up having to mask the entire deck during the painting process, which strikes me as odd. As a result, I decided that I would build the hammock nets and finish the basic hull and get all of the hull painting done before installing the main deck. Step 1 is to build the hammock netting, starting with the stern and moving forward.

 

Based on the instructions and photos of the ship, the netting should be flush with the outer hull and extend slightly over the bulwarks on the inner side. The nominal interior width is 3/16 inches with 2 1/64 inch sidewalls for a total width of 7/32. In practice, the spacers/end pieces are slightly less than 3/16 so in every case I've needed to narrow the 3/16 wide bottom pieces to some degree or another. The instructions are clear that the rear nets in particular are vertical, and do not follow the flow of the bulwark outward. Progress so far as in the pictures below:

 

 

In the picture below, you can see the sheave on the port side, and the slot on the starboard side for the aft channel/pinrail under the hammock netting between the gunports.

 

 

I have to say that the ship (not the model, but the actual ship) seems strangely designed to me. The nominal height from the deck to the top of the hammock netting is about 6 feet, with the bottom opening of the gunport about 2 feet off the deck. That means that the bulwark height is only about 4 feet, with another 2 feet (1/4 inch at scale) of hammock netting. The bulwarks would have extensions of the ship's frames and two layers of planking to protect the crew, the hammock netting only has some thin planks and the bundled hammocks, which means that no one is particularly well protected. I would also note that the gunport frames extend above the bulwarks, without anything akin to a covering board or equivalent to provide additional strength. Perhaps the conclusion was that the guns of the day were so powerful there really wasn't meaningful protection to be offered (indeed using chain armor was key to the Kearsarge's success), but still, it feels kinda odd to me.

 

Anyway, I'll be making these things for a little while, and will also put in the sally port ends before turning to the rest of the hull.

 

Regards,

George

 

[dcicero]

Can't speak authoritatively on the reason for the bulwark height, but there's probably a good bit of psychological value in being able to get down behind something, regardless of its actual ability to provide protection.

 

 

As you say, it was the chain armor that made the difference when Kearsarge battled Alabama.

 

 

Dan

 

[Barbara]

George are you  going to continue your log, I. Will. Follow your lead as I did on the. Flying fish

thanks , BarbRa

[PCH]

Speaking of bulwark height, could you please advise if the Bluejacket plans show whatever is attached to the inner bulwarks?  The few photos I’ve seen suggest there is very little, which I would think would have attach points for rope, gun gear, racks for belaying pins, etc.  When you have a moment, tks. 

[gak1965]

So, it's been a while since I have done much to the Kearsarge, I've been focused on the Discovery for a while. However, time to restart this log as well. I was putting in the hammock netting when I was last working on this, but I realized that I made a mistake, somewhat early in the proceedings. You may recall from an earlier post that I didn't understand this:

 

 

Well, looking at the model as it was coming along, as well as photos of the real ship made me realize that this was not the way that the interior of the ship should look (you want to look at the gunport on the bottom of the picture.

 

 

The gunport is the thickness of the hull, but you want it to be the thickness of the hull below the hammock nets and the thickness of the hammock nets in the area where the hammock nets are. That is what that picture in the instructions was trying to show. It just wasn't clear why, or, for that matter where the change should occur. This requires fixing, so this is what I am doing.

 

Step 1: Again look at lower gunport. I thinned 1/16 square stock to about 1/16 by 1/32 so that it was the thickness of the gunport, and then glued two sections the height of the hammock netting to either side of the gunport. It sticks into the hull, but that's okay, I'm going to sand it later.

 

 

Step 2: I put another piece of the about 1/16 by 1/32 wood as a cross piece. 

 

 

Step 3: Add a piece of 1/4 by about 1/16 wood to cover the whole thing:

 

 

Step 4: Sand until even with the top of the hammock netting and the inside of the hull/hammock netting:

 

 

Much better.

 

Hopefully, this will keep someone from making my mistake. Six more to go as the hammock netting gets put into place.

 

Regards,

George

 

 

[gak1965]

Another update with some real progress, I think.

 

First, I completed the hammock netting around the ship and fixed the frames for the gunports. I also mounted the laser cut pieces that provide the support for the forecastle deck. The top of those pieces need to be level with the top of the gunport frame, and as built, that was not the case, so I put the bow down on a piece of paper, traced the exterior from the forward gunports to the prow, and cut out four thin pieces of wood that I could use to build up the area under the deck. They were mounted and then sanded until they were (a) consistent with the outside curvature of the hull (b) properly level against the gunport, and (c) even at the prow. Took some time but it worked. Here are a couple of photos after an initial sanding and some primer.

 

 

 

 

After this, I painted the interior bulwarks white (took 3 coats), and then installed the portholes (there are 20 of them):

 

 

I've started painting the hull. This is the port side, painted black on the outside. and a view of port side from the bow. The starboard side isn't done yet, I wanted it to dry a bit before I turned it on its side. I am going to apply copper tape sheathing as I did with the Flying Fish, but I like to apply the copper to a black rather than primer, gray or unfinished bottom - I think that any gaps look better. As you can see between this ship and the Discovery in the background I've been going through a lot of flat black and flat white paint lately!

 

 

 

As @MrBlueJacket says, "putty and paint makes it look what it ain't".

 

I do have one question to those looking in. This is first time I've used a scribed deck, and I'm concerned that the line where the two halves join is going to be obvious. Here is a photo from while I was fitting the deck halves:

 

 

As you can see, it looks good forward (where it will mostly be hidden alas, and is more obvious aft. I sanded off the char (holding the halves together so they would be uniform) and that helped, but... I haven't put any kind of stain on it yet, does that help? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

George

 

[schooner]

Hey George,

 

I've used those scribed decks several times and you can get a pretty invisible seam between them.

 

Now that you have the char off push them together and using a pencil carefully mark the areas where the halves touch and sand a little in those areas, recheck - remark - sand a little more. Eventually you will have the halves making contact along their entire length. 

Don't get carried away with the sanding and stay away for power tools.

 

If you look carefully at the edges of both halves before you start you may well be able to plan your sanding such that the halves meet either right on a prescribed plank seam or at least with a seam that looks like the  prescribed seams. Don't sand away an entire plank width chasing a seam though or your deck may end up too narrow.

 

After you are happy with their fit and are ready to glue them to the sub deck I suggest you use epoxy to do it. CA sets up too fast and you may not get everything aligned before it does. Wood glue (PVA) has a lot of water in it and speaking from personal experience with these scribed decks the moisture can cause them to swell and buckle. 

 

If you end up with a spot or two that you are not happy with that would be a great place to put some rope coils to cover them up.

Edited January 26 by schooner

[Keith Black]

5 hours ago, schooner said:

Now that you have the char off push them together and using a pencil carefully mark the areas where the halves touch and sand a little in those areas, recheck - remark - sand a little more. Eventually you will have the halves making contact along their entire length. 

Don't get carried away with the sanding and stay away for power tools.

 Great suggestion, Tim. 

[MrBlueJacket]

17 hours ago, Keith Black said:

 Great suggestion, Tim. 

I agree

 

Nic

[Rick310]

Model is really looking great , George!.  
Great suggestions by Tim.  By the time you have finished, I doubt the seam will be very noticeable.

Rick

[gak1965]

A bit of an update. Outer hull is painted black, ready for the coppering. Inner bulwarks are painted white. I realized I hadn't cut out the sally ports, so I did that. I stuck a piece of 3/16 wood in the hammock netting to stabilize it while I made the cut, and the put brown painted hammock net ends in place.

 

 

 

I spent some time finishing the deck and trimming it to size. Here are some photos (not tacked down). The combination of the stain and the suggestions from Tim and Nic removed most of the apparent gap. Once it's tacked down it will be even less obvious.

 

 

 

 

 

No more for at least a week as I am I. The UK for a job interview in Manchester, Oxford, and London and won't return until next Tuesday.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Regards,

George

[Rick310]

Looking really good George!

Good luck with the interviews!

Rick