Licorne by mtaylor - 3/16" scale - POF - TERMINATED LOG

[ChrisLBren]

Looks great Mark - I'd follow up the 320 with 400 then 600 for sure!  

[BANYAN]

Mark, that planking is very neat!  With that quality of joinery she would not need any caulking of the seams; the old shipwrights (original builders) would be proud of your efforts.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mtaylor]

Thanks for looking in, everyone.  I'm really loving this swiss pear for the planking.  It's a dream to work with. 

[popeye the sailor]

nice planking Mark..........your in the makings of a sweet looking hull! 

[Cap'n Rat Fink]

Hi mark,

   Long time no see. Nice work on your planking. swiss pear is real easy to w/w. Like the color too. Now as for 65 yrs of age. Hmmm..............man your old!!! LOL!.

   Sorry for not looking in very often, just too many 65 to 75 hr work weeks. I am living a slow death here. Visiting the 2 forums less and less because of work. I just hope I can start another project if not. Well there is always an hour of tv and then to bed. Looking real bad to do models right now. I'm at w*$& right now, as usual..............

 

later my friend I hope to stop by more often but just not sure anymore....

Edited August 1, 2013 by Cap'n Rat Fink

[mtaylor]

Thanks Popeye and Mario.

 

Mario,

I finally had it with all that... I'm counting down the days. If all goes according to plan (and we all know about the best laid plans of mice and men, right?), I'm sitting at 153 days and a wake-up.  

 

Anyway, back to the sweatshop and hopefully, tonite I can get a few more gunports finished.

[NAZGÛL]

Love the planking!

 

 

/Matti

[src]

Mark, just getting caught up with your log. I am really liking the look of that Swiss Pear! The planking looks pretty awesome also.

Right now I can only dream of retirement at 49. I am envious!

Sam

[mtaylor]

Thanks guys... ok... the short-timer's calendar is running.  Day's like the last two make me realize that I'm getting too old for this work stuff.  We have heavy forest fires going on down here in Southern Oregon.  About 40,000 acres burned since the 26th of July and valley that Medford is in is filling with smoke.  Which causes problems on the air conditioning at work.  Which, even though I'm in IT, I have to monitor the switch rooms and temperatures, etc.  Long story short, one  of the units had some..er... issues.  Filled one switch room and my "lab" with heavy smoke.   Which has created other problems.  Hopefully, everything has been fixed and I can go back to being a run of the mill cubicle convict tomorrow. 

 

Hmm... I'm babbling aren't I, when I could be trimming gunports. 

[captainbob]

I can remember those days, but it's getting harder.  I had a count down program running as a scream saver on my computer at work.

 

But back to the boat.  The planking is beautiful.

 

Bob

[riverboat]

Hi Mark.... your build is looking great!... love the planking, this will be a real winner...  I know what you mean about the fires and smoke' they are nasty.... take care short timer 

Frank

[Adrieke]

looking good Mark

[Jim Lad]

Just catching up after my holiday, Mark.  Keep that good work going, mate!

 

John

[augie]

What he said!

[mtaylor]

Looks like update time... 

 

The port side (or as it's called around the shipyard:  The Wall Side, has it's first area planked.. namely the area between the main wales and the chain or sheer wale.  Not sure what to call it really... since only the main mast channel sits on it.   Planked, and then final shaped the gunports.  A bit (for me) of weirdness as I was doing this and sent me scrambling back to the research department.  Seems the gunports are NOT square.  The sides are straight with respect to the frames but the sills follow the deck.  So.. some look really "extreme" to my eye but they match the Hahn plans, the NMM plans, a couple of shots I received via PM of the original French plans from when the ship was first built in 1755.  Footnote... I'm building her as she was in 1778 after a major rebuild/repair but not "as captured".  I don't like the roundhouses on the poop/quarterdeck as Hahn built her.

 

I've also started adding the wales.  Notably the chain/sheer wale first.  This took a bit of figuring out due to the nature of the mailns.  I was going to use the walnut that came with the timbering set but didn't like the look against the swiss pear planking. I wanted the look of ebony for contrast.   Tried staining the walnut and then sanding it.... which created a different set of issues since the wales are blended into the lower hull planking..  sanding killed the stain and after testing, I realized I couldn't restain without ruining any planking and the stem.       So....back to the drawing board.  Finally concluded... it has to be ebony.  

 

I've played with my homemade bender and think I can overcome the biggest problem and that's bending the stuff using the thickness of the wales I need.  We'll see... I may be laminating.   On the plus side, I've got enough ebony lying around to do this but not enough to finish the build (rails, trim, etc.) so I found a supplier who's shipping me some at a reasonable price.

 

Anyway.. here's photos... still needs to be hit with the 600 grit and then finished but I'll hold on that for awhile.

 

 

I know, I have talked people out of using ebony because it's just nasty stuff.  I really am not fond of it.  But if someone knows of a different solution (no paint--please) let me know.

[hamilton]

Looks great Mark! As for the Ebony - I seem to recall seeing something on rlb's Oneida build log - a tea-based stain, maybe? I tried poking around on his log to find the exact place, but the admiral is calling me away from my computer...sorry! Hopefully this helps!

hamilton

[mtaylor]

Thanks Hamilton and Janos.  

 

I tried staining.  Problem is (see picture) that the main wales only stand proud of the hull planking at the top.  The lower end is blended into the hull planking below them.  There will be sanding involved and then, if needed, the stain would have to be re-applied as it doesn't go very deep into the wood.  If the stood proud at the lower end, I wouldn't have a problem with re-applying the stain. 

 

I can get pretty good bend on a piece of 1/8" (3 mm) thick ebony by soaking, heat bending.  Cool and allow to completely dry. More soaking, more heat bending. Keep repeating as needed.  Even faster if I use 1/16" (1.5 mm) and laminate them together.

 

The dust is an ongoing issue.  I'm constantly vacuuming the stuff up and I do wear a mask, which I absolutely hate since it causes my glasses to fog.

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Mark,

 

Wear the mask and put up with the fogging - that ebony dust is nasty stuff!

 

John

[Blue Ensign]

Hi Mark. I find it easier to appreciate your work by downloading the pics, rotating them to the right way up, and enlarging;

 

I have to say she looks impressive, well done.

 

I wish you success in your ebony trials, having the natural contrasts of different timbers is one of the beauties of such models.

 

Regards,

 

B.E.

[Ferit]

I m p e c c a b l e ! . . .

 

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/african-blackwood/

 

and there are several ebony varities...

 

http://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/

[Ferit]

Another links:

 

http://www.tree-nation.com/forests/discussions/2163/highlight-a-fact-about-african-blackwood

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grenadil-African_Blackwood.jpg

Edited August 14, 2013 by ashiponthehorizon

[lamarvalley]

I've used ebony, several varieties and all sand great but are nasal and respiratory nightmares. Masking and vacuums were my salvation but I still only liked it when I was done. I found rosewoods, bubinga, cocbola and snakewood to be nice dark subs ... although all have dense thick dust so I still masked and used suction. IMO, there really is no substitute for the real thing. Stain gets close but no cigar.

 

Having said all this... very impressive build... great work!

[popeye the sailor]

I've never used Ebony before........I'm big on the use of flat black paint,  so I wouldn't be much help.   super job on your progress Mark!

 

    seeing her out of the jig like that........BOY!!!    she's a big girl!  I'm awestruck thinking about the amount of detail your going to be putting into her! 

[ChrisLBren]

Hi Mark,

 

The planking is looking really good.  As far as Ebony - I attempted using it on my Confederacy's wales using laminations.  I had no success with it.  You may want to ask Rusty how he did it.

 

I used Fiebings Leather Dye on the swiss pear and it worked really well.  I think i applied 3 or 4 coats to the finished wales (i made sure to apply Tamiya tape and not flood the tape edges with dye) buffing between coats.  And then top coated it with Watcos Danish Oil.  

 

You need to be extremely careful dying on the model - this stuff does bleed easily - but with some advance planning you should be OK.

Chris

Edited August 14, 2013 by ChrisLBren

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Mark, really incredible work - thanks for sharing.

 

On the issue of ebony versus other means of blackening wood, has anyone used any of the ebony stains that are out there?  I purchased a small can on Varathane ebony stain (which I believe is pre-mixed with pre-stain conditioner), but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.  I believe Minwax offers ebony stain as well.  I've been thinking about avoiding the use of black paint on my future builds as well.  

 

Can't argue with Chris' results using leather dye on pear though - wow!

[mtaylor]

Thank you all for the comments and the likes. 

 

I'm on a "practice retirement" week this week (or vacation/holiday, as you will) and getting quite a bit done.  Mostly though, what's getting done is work around the house.   But that'll change. 

 

On the mask.. I do use it, even thought I hate it.  I use it when cutting and sanding any wood, not just ebony.  Ok... admission time.. except when I'm working outside.    For now, I think I'm sticking with the ebony.   I'm using up my stock of Madagascar and have ordered a "small" stash of gaboon from Woodworker's Source.  Couldn't resist, they had a great price.

 

Ferit,

Thanks for the suggestions on woods.  I've used the wood-database site a lot as well as certain suppliers sites.  Blackwood is a tougher wood than ebony.  I fiddled with a sample and found it eats saw blades like popcorn.

 

Chris & Mike,

Yeah.. laminating is an issue.  I'm headed to Lowe's later this week.  Might try some TiteBond as I've not located a local source for slow-cure epoxy.  I have some Fieblings and some MinWax Ebony Stain, but I know from experience that I'm better off doing this stuff 'off-ship".  Both look equally well, in my opinion.

 

Back to the shipyard...

[ndeconte]

Lookin GREAT Mark!

[NAZGÛL]

That is looking sooo nice Mark! Excellent look!

 

My mum and my wifes parents seem busier than ever after they got retired. Always something going on. The difference seems to be that everything they do is FUN!

 

 

/Matti

[Paddy]

Outstanding work Mark. Beautiful!

[mtaylor]

Thanks for all comments.. yeah... it looks like retirement will be a rough life...

 

Thanks Arthur... I'm trying.  

 

I'm fiddling with lamination as it seems to be the way to go with ebony.  Once my new stock arrives, I'll try cutting out the fore end of the wale to get the curve set.  Still climbing the learning curve and having fun.