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

[SGraham]

Thanks John. I just read through your Mary Rose log. Wow, just wow! You scratch builders amaze me.

 

Steve

[SGraham]

News flash: Shenandoah is armed...with four popguns. I think they look a little silly. Maybe they used them for duck hunting.

 

Working with metal is much harder than working with wood, and I'm glad they're done. Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

 

 

[captainbob]

Working with metal is much harder than working with wood,

 

Steve

You're right, but the results are worth it.  Those guns look great.

 

Bob

[SGraham]

Thanks Bob! You've got the metalworking thing down to a science.

 

Well, I got a very little bit more done. I went ahead and started thinking about how to make a display case. I decided to go with a maple base. It's plain old vanilla, slab sawn, but it will look nice underneath the boat. I built a mitered framework around it out of mahogany. I wrapped the maple base in cellophane so the miter joints wouldn't stick to it when they were glued up. I slotted the mahogany pieces to take the glass panes. It will basically be a mahogany and glass box, with glass on five sides, that will slip down over the maple base. I'll hold the box and base together with removable pins. It's all bare wood right now.

 

I also took a semi-circular cut out of the bottoms of the feet the boat sits on. They were looking too bulky. Next comes a water scuttle, a gaff and boom, and the running rigging.

 

Thanks for looking.

[dgbot]

Your model came out great good job.

David B

[jct]

Nice work on your case Steve, do you work in glass as well?

[tarbrush]

looks great Steve!

[SGraham]

Thanks David, J and John. I appreciate it.

 

J, I recall reading on your Half Moon log that you cut your own glass. I wish I knew how; I bet it would save me some money. I have a little glass cutter tool--you know, the pencil-sized thing, but I don't know how to use it. Where did you learn to cut glass?

[jct]

Hi Steve...a good friend had a antique business and he showed me the basics and I took an adult education class to fill in the blanks.   I've been doing art glass ever since, as a hobby mostly, gifts and a few commission pieces, nothing huge but enough to keep the skills honed.   The true teacher is practice.

 

That little tool you have will work just fine if the scoring wheel is sharp and not rusty, that's the first thing...glass does not cut, you score to create a controlled break...the stuff you see in the movies where they "cut" the perfect circle in the middle of a pane and it just pops out is a lot of BS.  The wheel should be lubricated as well, any light weight oil works...I've talked to folks that have used kerosene, though I wouldn't recommend it! 

 

  If your interested check to see if any community colleges classes are offered in your area, you might also check for stained glass shops, most I've dealt with offer classes as well, and if not the proprietor may well be willing to share info.

J

[SGraham]

Thanks again, J, for the advice on glass cutting. I'll let you know how it goes--and how many stitches it took!

 

Here's a tiny bit more progress. I've started to work on the boom and gaff. I used a scrap of desert ironwood to make a pair of jaws for the boom. It's strange wood--sinks in water, miserable to work with an edge tool, but it files like a dream. Because of its density and tight grain, I thought it wood be a good material to make a small, thin, curved piece out of. Oh yes, and the sawdust and oil is toxic. I'll have to wait a week or so before I make the gaff jaws, or I'll break out in welts on my hands. Other than that, it's lovely stuff.

 

Steve

[jct]

OK so lets see...you can't cut it...can't touch it, breath fumes or dust from it...sounds nice? :huh:  Seriously  the boom jaws look great, have you calculated how many different species you used?

J

[tarbrush]

the boom jaws look great,   sounds like awful stuff to work with though.

[SGraham]

Thanks, J and John. I'm just using whatever is in my scrap box because I'm cheap. Like I said, I'm a compulsive wood hoarder. But just for fun...let's see, there's lots of maple, some walnut, a little ebony, a little boxwood, some mahogany, the desert ironwood, and the mysterywood planking that came with the kit. Actually, the ironwood cuts nicely with a spiral coping saw blade. Planes work on it too, if you like to sharpen blades. The stuff files like metal and can be sanded to a high polish, like ebony. It's pretty cool stuff, but I think I'm allergic to the oil in it. I learned that when I made some fretboards out of it. Nice fretboards, but big fat welts on the palms of my hands. Anyways, no welts yet after one set of jaws.

 

And, speaking of different woods, I'm thinking of trying a scratch build after this kit is done. There's a cool little skiff with a leg-o'-mutton rig from the "Perfect Skiff" competition that Wooden Boat magazine held many years ago. They included the lines of the skiff in that issue, and I'm thinking that might be a good way to get a taste of scratchbuilding. I've got a plank of sycamore out in the garage that has a beautiful silking pattern in the grain. I'm thinking it would make beautiful hull planking...

 

Steve

[jct]

The skiff sounds like it will a fun build to follow, I'm reserving my seat now!

[dgbot]

Your boom jaws look great however I am wondering why you use that wood instead of the boxwood or maple. Both of those would have fit the bill just right and reactions.

David B

[SGraham]

Thanks J.  David, I'd love to get ahold of some boxwood one of these days. The only boxwood I've ever worked with was in the form of a couple of strips I cannibalized from another kit that's waiting to be built. I agree, the maple would have been nice, but I wanted a color contrast. I made the tiller from the ironwood and really liked how it looked.

 

Steve

[JesseLee]

Looking great Steve!

[src]

Steve, its been a long time since I could stop in for a proper visit. She is coming along great. I am a little late on the glass cutting topic but if your really interested in learning to do more than straight cuts on glass Glendale Community College has a stained glass/mosaic course. Claremont College may have something also and they are a bit closer to you. As another mentioned straight cuts are pretty easy with just a bit of practice. Just don't try to score your cut more than once.

Sam

[SGraham]

Thanks Jesse! Good to hear from you. I hope you're doing all right.

 

Hey Sam! Great to hear from you too. Thanks for the tips about glass cutting. Yes, those classes do interest me. Hopefully I'll find time soon to check it out. My work is ramping up now too, but not to 18 hour days!

 

Steve

[src]

Steve, PCC might have something also. Don't work too hard. I don't know about you but I don't mind a couple of long days here and there. When it turns into week after week it gets old. Reality becomes, interesting when you're sleep deprived......

Sam

[SGraham]

Thanks for the leads, Sam.

 

Here's a water cask that I made today. The one that came with the kit was huge and odd looking. I did a search on mid 19th-century water casks and found some casks that ambulances carried during the Civil War, the right time period. I also found some supposed naval water casks that looked identical to the ambulance casks. The thing I immediately noticed was how slim the casks were compared with the big rotund barrels that came with the kit. So, I tried my hand at making a slim cask. Also, the plans call for three huge barrels to be lashed to the bulwark right where I assume sailors would need to be working. I also found some sketches of fishing schooners with their water casks stowed just forward of the deck house. That made sense, since they would be out of everybody's way. I think I'm going to mount mine in front of the deck house as well. The feet on the cask are too big right now I'll cut them down. Neither the cask nor the pumps are glued on the boat yet.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Steve

[SGraham]

Here's a shot of the cask with its feet on. I'm going to cut them down. I'm also including the sketches I found. It's from Leavitt's "In the Wake of the Coasters." The cask in the sketch with the man looking over the deck house is quite large. This was on a large schooner that would be out at sea for quite a long time. My cutter was much smaller than this and would be making much shorter runs.

 

Steve

[jct]

Hi Steve,

Your cask looks good, did the hardware come with the kit, or did you make that as well?  Really like the stave look, much better then the turning! How did you figure the angle?  Looks great on the deck

J

[src]

Steve, looks great as always. You just proved a method I have been bouncing around in my head for replacing the casks that came with my kit. Thanks!!

Sam

[tarbrush]

the cask came out great Steve!

[SGraham]

Thanks, J, Sam, and John. I appreciate it.

 

J, the hardware is from some brass stanchions off that disastrous Dikar kit I built back in the '80s. I think I'm going to reduce them a little in size; they look like oversized doorbells. The bands are card stock pinned down with rounded steel pins. I left off one set of bands, laziness wins out over accuracy again! As far as angles go, it's all just eyeballed. I was going for a uniform thickness of the staves at the ends of the barrels.

 

Sam, I thought if I put thick enough staves around the dowel, I'd be able to file them down around the ends and get somewhat of a barrel look to it.

 

I'm attaching some pics of the non-fat water casks I found.

Edited April 7, 2015 by SGraham

[SGraham]

I finished the boom today. Sorry for the blurry pics; my photography skills leave much to be desired. The tiny cleats, ironically, took me the longest to make. I haven't hung any rope coils on cleats, pinrails, or bitts yet.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Steve

Edited April 12, 2015 by SGraham

[JesseLee]

Looking good. What an amazing job on those barrels- they look like the real thing!

[src]

Great job Steve!! I agree with Jess, the barrels look great.

Isn't that the way of it? The littlest things turn out to be the biggest consumers of time. They were worth it though, nice and crisp.

Sam

[Mirabell61]

good work Steve,

 

fine looking Details....

 

Nils