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

[SGraham]

Wow, Sam. I bet you're getting weary! Are you making Christmas presents?

 

Steve

[mtaylor]

Steve,

 

The English used leather around the bowspit to pad the opening and waterproof it.  Not sure what the Americans used in this particular time frame but possibly the same method.

[src]

Steve,

Not exactly. Something big going in one of the very local theme parks near you.

 

For the leather around the bowsprit, it sounds like it was a relatively close fit on the real item?

 

Sam

[SGraham]

Thanks Mark and Sam. I'm just wondering how it connected. I guess it could have been laced around the bowsprit and bolted onto the bulark face around the hole?...

 

Steve

[mtaylor]

Look to the rudder cover for ideas.  On the bowspit, they lined the opening (see Danny's Vulture log for this). You might do a search for pictures of Civil War ships but be choosey as some of the techniques for various things varied wildly between the North and the South. 

[SGraham]

Thanks for the tip, Mark. I'll take a look at Danny's log. Meanwhile, here's a stem cap made of card stock and bolted in place.

 

 

Steve

[jct]

sweet

[captainbob]

Such beautiful detail.

 

Bob

[SGraham]

Thanks, J and Bob.

[SGraham]

Well, I started working on the windlass. It's a pump handle type, and once again, I wasn't thrilled with the parts included in the kit. The cheeks and standards (the main pieces of the framework that hold the barrel) were all one piece. The more I thought about it, the less likely that sounded in real life. I looked around online and found a nice diagram of a mid-19th-century pump-style windlass. Sure enough, it showed the cheeks in two pieces with the hole for the barrel axle coming right at the seam between the two cheek pieces. They bolt and strap together. This would make a lot of sense when it came time for repairs. I decided to make my windlass a hybrid between the one in the diagram and the one detailed on the kit plans.

 

After the diagrams, the first photo shows the original shape of the cheeks and standards. I had made this piece out of maple since I didn't like the wood supplied with the kit. Next are the cheeks with the simulated seam down the middle and the curved standards, all made of maple.

 

The barrel I ended up keeping. I glued some boards across the barrel between the cheeks and the pawls for the chain to have something to grab onto. I noticed a lot of 19th century windlasses have these boards. Some are straight, some are tapered, and some are scooped out in the middle. I tapered mine.

 

Now I'm making up some more round-headed pins. After that, there's a lot of detail to go onto this basic assembly before I begin the pump handle assembly.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[jct]

nice really nice...really like the contrast, you've a knack for the scratch build my friend. well done

[SGraham]

Thanks J. Here is the windlass sitting in the bow. It's still far from done but I couldn't resist posting a couple more ...

 

Steve

[jct]

Looks really good in place...Hey Happy Holidays to you and yours

[JesseLee]

Wow! It looks great!

[SGraham]

Thanks J and Jesse. Merry to Christmas to you and yours.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Still creeping along in the old GP Boatworks. I decided to start on the deadeyes before I made the pump handle assembly for the windlass. The chain plates that come with the kit consist of a long piece of brass wire bent double with a loop for the deadeye. The opposite end from the loop has a blob of solder to hold it all together. I filled the rest of the space between the wires with JB Weld. This seems to have worked all right. I filed it all flat and gave it a coat of paint. I'll touch up the paint after they are all installed. On the hull I had to cut beveled slots in the black waling to take the chainplates. The dogleg chisels are great for this job. I also made channels and pinrails from walnut. The last photo is of the long skinny burr that I used to bevel the holes in the deadeyes. It worked well. Thanks for reading!

 

And a happy new year to everyone!

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Lower deadeyes done.

[jct]

Beautiful my friend, are your deadeyes fixed in the chain plates as yet??

[SGraham]

Thanks J. Not fixed yet.

[dgbot]

Looking good. I think using JR Weld is a smart move and might useful for other metal parts as well

[JesseLee]

It is a good Idea. Wish I had thought of that before!

[SGraham]

Thanks for the kind words, David and Jesse. I used the J B Weld because I don't know how to solder yet. That's waiting in my to-learn list...which is steadily growing.

 

Here's the pump handle assembly that powers the windlass. I'm not good at metal work. I really need to stop and learn how to solder. There's a tension, though, between wanting to build and having to stop and learn/research something in order to be able to build it with at least a tip of the hat towards accuracy. Having said all that, this pump assembly is wildly inaccurate--unless they made a special anti-gravity pump handle windlass where the pawls fall upwards to engage the ratchet gears. Maybe they did for use in the Bermuda Triangle.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[jct]

Lookin' really fine Steve, the combination of wood you've used is striking....very nice

J

[SGraham]

Thanks J! Finished one of the anchors this morning. Happy New Year, Model Ship World friends!

Edited January 1, 2015 by SGraham

[src]

Thats some great looking work Steve!

Happy New Year to you!

Sam

[captainbob]

Beautiful detail work.

 

Bob

[SGraham]

Thanks so much, Sam and Bob. I'm going to try to start on the mast today.

[SGraham]

Before starting the mast, I decided to try my hand at making some mast hoops out of wood shavings. I hope I'm not stating the obvious, but here is the process I followed in case any other newbies like me care to give it a try.

 

1) I cut the shavings with a plane.

2) The wood I started with was some generic "white wood" they sell at the big box stores. It had weak spots in the grain streaks that tore open as soon as they were touched.

3) I switched to a piece of clear maple and got much better results. The piece I used was about 8" long and 3/4" wide.

4) I used short wooden dowels as plugs and covered them with cellophane.

5) I rolled the shavings out and sprayed one side with contact adhesive. Next, I rolled them tightly onto the plugs. The roll with the blue tape was glued with wood glue. I got the same results with the wood glue as the spray adhesive but had to wait longer for it to dry. The spray adhesive was easier and faster to use.

6) After a few minutes of drying time, I sanded flat the ends of the rough rolls.

7) I cut the hoops with an X-acto knife. By the way, sanding and cutting was done with the hoops back on the dowels.

8) I finished the hoops with amber shellac and buffed them out with #0000 steel wool.

9) I made way too many rolls of shavings. The Shenandoah calls for 14 mast hoops. It only took one and a half shavings to get that many. So, I have enough glued up rolls for all the models on my shelf.

 

One last thing: I had to flow a little thin super glue onto the cut edges of the hoops to stiffen them up before sanding them.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

 

[JesseLee]

 Wow! they look great! I've got to get me a plane.

[src]

Brilliant! I would have spent days (weeks) trying to figure out how to do that on a lathe.

Sam