Shenandoah 1864 by SGraham - FINISHED - Corel - Scale 1:50 - American Civil War-era Cutter

[lb0190]

I'm impressed with the results and the process! Thanks for sharing!

[SGraham]

Thanks Sam, Jesse and Larry. I got the idea from "Watercraft Modeler's Handbook" by Benjamin Lankford, Jr. (Nautical Research Guild, Inc., 1988). He has a lot of helpful tips that are diagramed clearly enough for folks like me to follow.

 

Steve

[jct]

Nice...really great idea, the rings look fantastic, this is going in the file

[SGraham]

I started work on the spars today. It's raining (hooray) and working in the boatyard while listening to the rain come down is a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

 

Here is the top of the lower mast. I made the ring below the mast cheeks with card stock. I love paper! It's great for folks who don't know how to solder yet. The cheeks and little cleats are walnut. I had to inlet the cleats into the mast because they were having a hard time staying attached. Inletted and pinned, they seem to be staying put. We'll see when I add more rigging. The block is from Chuck's store, Syren. He sells some really nice fittings.

 

The round-headed pins are steel pins that I turned in my dremel tool while holding them against a file. I chose to use steel pins instead of brass because you can blacken them with gun blueing. It goes right on without fastidious degreasing and it stays on real well.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

And check out J's Half Moon. He's all done!

 

Steve

[jct]

Nice work as always...and thx

[JesseLee]

I like paper too. I have no tools or material for metal working & using card stock has always worked well for me. I wish I had thought of using steel instead of brass. I found out the hard way that the gun bluing does not work well with brass. 

[SGraham]

Thanks J and Jesse. What does gun blueing do to brass?

[JesseLee]

Not much at all. It might slightly darken in a spot or two but mostly nothing.

[shoule]

 Beautiful work, as always.

 If I may add, though, in regards to Jesse's comment on bluing, that I've been using bluing on brass (only because I already have it at hand) and had reasonable success. It's an immediate reaction, after being wiped on, and once dipped in a base solution for a few seconds it's been ready to work with, uniform and black.

 I don't want to appear contradictory, perhaps there are variables that I've been fortunate enough to miss, but it's done the job.

 Anyway, the mast hoops are great!

 

 Steve

[dgbot]

Casey's Brass Black works wonders.  And brass is easier to work with than steel.  

David B

[JesseLee]

I've heard others say it worked for them but mine didn't at all. I wonder if my solution is too old. It does still work on steel.

[SGraham]

Thanks for the replies, Jesse, David, and Steve. I've heard others, like David, report great success with Brass Black. I'm still having a hard time getting it to work well. It takes a lot of prep and then needs a couple of treatments. And then the coating is very fragile. For simulating round-headed bolts, it's really fast to use a steel pin, turn it against a file and hit it with gun blueing. Like Steve, I find the metal turns immediately dark black with a durable finish. I don't even degrease the pins first. I guess I need to practice more with the Brass Black. But when I need round-headed bolts now, the steel is an easy solution.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

I think you call these the cross trees. They are about halfway done. I used some ebony scrap from a piece of leftover guitar binding to make them. The ends of the spreaders are grooved to take the deadeyes and futtocks for the topmast. This was the fiddliest work yet for my stubby fingers.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Steve

[jct]

nice!

[chevygrunt]

Hi,

I have just spent the night reading your build log. Some very nice work you have done! It's high quality work like this that makes beginners like me feel slightly intimidated to post their own work. I can only hope, in time, I may gain the skills and patience needed to do such fine work. Keep it up and I look forward to following your build. I have learnt lots from it already.

Cheers, Scott.

P.s I have now lost another nights work on my build! Too busy reading about yours!! 

[Mirabell61]

lovely masting work Steve,

 

Nils

[src]

Steve,

That mast assembly looks great. Well done.

Sam

[JesseLee]

Looks great!

[SGraham]

Thanks Jesse, Sam, Nils, and J. I appreciate the kind words. I'm finding the mast to be more challenging to build than the hull. I'm glad this little ship only has one mast.

 

Welcome aboard, Scott. Thanks for the nice comments. This is my first build log, and I've found folks to be very encouraging and helpful. What are you building right now?

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Here's a tiny bit more progress. I made and attached the spreaders for the backstays. I think they are yellow boxwood. The yellow doesn't look so garish in real life. The ebony is going to be left unfinished. The boxwood has a little tung oil rubbed into it. It's funny that such a seemingly simple part could take so long to make and attach. Like the crosstrees, these are notched on the ends to take the stays.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

Edited January 14, 2015 by SGraham

[jct]

Hi Steve,  The mast is a work of art, how are you notching the ends, files?

[SGraham]

Thanks J. I'll be getting to ratlines soon. Be still my heart!

 

A while ago I picked up a used foredom tool with a bunch of used burrs from a retired jeweler. I used a tiny cylindrical burr on the ends of the spreaders. It's quick and accurate. With the dremel tool I had been using, with its on/off only capabilities, tool points were scooting all over the place. The foredom with its rheostat pedal makes it a lot easier to keep the tool point where I want it.

 

Steve

[jct]

Good deal... that's got to be much better mine, is variable speed but that doesn't help with the start-up serge...I been thinking about about modifying mine with a sewing machine pedal...would be a diy  Frankenstein...got to noodle on it for a while...any why nice work my man  looking really fine

J

[SGraham]

I think a sewing machine pedal would work fine on a variable speed rotary tool. The foredom's pedal looks suspiciously singer-esque.

 

Steve

[JesseLee]

Those foredooms are great. I used one when I was a bench jeweler. Used to take my model ship parts to work to dill/grind/sand them then take them home to add to the build. The only mistake I ever made was not to buy one for myself back then. What was I thinking?!?!

[SGraham]

Got a little more done today. I added one more cross piece to the cross trees. I also made a support for the boom. Then I attempted a mast boot. I learned that at least some were made of canvas with metal bands above and below to fasten them to the mast and deck. For the canvas I used a piece of paper towel covered in shellac. The metal bands were made of card stock and pinned to the mast and deck with blackened steel pins. The paint on the boot is pretty garish looking, especially in the flash of the camera. I may change the color. Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[jct]

Hey Steve the boot looks good...are the deck rings card stock as well?

[SGraham]

Thanks J. The ring around the base of the mast is card stock. The ports where the chains enter are the brass ones that came with the kit.

 

Steve

[chevygrunt]

G'day Steve,

You are still producing some fine work there!

Currently I have two kits on the go. I started with "Hellen", a fishing boat from A.L and it has moved over for "Sanson", a tug also from A.L.

They both have logs going, but poor "Hellen" has nearly stopped for the moment.

Keep the good stuff coming.

Cheers, Scott.

[SGraham]

Good to hear from you, Scott. I'll enjoy checking out your building logs.

 

I started rigging the bowsprit. I was looking in Murphy and Jeffers Spars and Rigging, from Nautical Routine, 1849 and found a plate of a royal bowlines grommet. It's the first photo--the one that looks like a pleasantly surprised frog. I don't have the foggiest notion of what a royal bowlines Grommet is, other than a guess that it lives with a royal bowlines Wallace. Anyways, I thought it might work on the end of a bowsprit, and it looked fun to try. Ha! This rigging stuff is way harder than the building. I came up with something that sort of resembles said grommet, and it provides 3 nice purchase points for the standing rigging of the sprit. It's a little bulky, but oh well... The lanyards that attach to the catheads are seriously lopsided too. One side is half again as long as the other. Still, it goes right along with the lopsided scuppers.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Good night.

 

Steve