Beavers Prize 1777 by Mike Y - 1:48 - POF - Hahn style

[dvm27]

That's the launching cradle, Mike. It was affixed to the hull just prior to launching to keep it stable while slipping into the water. It also makes for a nice display!

[Mike Y]

Greg, thanks! I am travelling now, and it is really hard to remember all that without peeking into the TFFM book every time  

 

There is a great shipyard diorama in the same Hamburg museum, which includes various supporting structures used when building the ship. Really worth a visit, if you will ever end up in Hamburg. There are 9 floors in the museum, where few of them are filled with models!

Edited December 18, 2017 by Mike Y

[Kurt Johnson]

Mike, Magnets, cool, I never thought of that! Is that an original idea or have you seen it done before? I know you are quite far from mounting her, but I always thought certain preparations like holes, nuts, bracing AND magnets had to be considered very early on when it’s feasible and easy to do. That’s why I asked. Are rare earth magnets that are small enough, strong enough to secure a model?

 

Also l had never noticed (an awful lot of things) form fitting supports like your example before. I always thought the timbers were straight.

 

Enjoy your travels.

 

Kurt

[Jack H]

Hi Mike

You can always bring us an amazing ship model (maybe that's ship or ship model ? in 1:1 scale last time?)

Edited December 19, 2017 by hjx

[Sailor1234567890]

Those little wooden structures fore and aft are properly called "poppets". I like the idea of displaying her that way. Adds an element of realism to the whole thing.

[Mike Y]

On 19/12/2017 at 4:54 AM, Kurt Johnson said:

Mike, Magnets, cool, I never thought of that! Is that an original idea or have you seen it done before? I know you are quite far from mounting her, but I always thought certain preparations like holes, nuts, bracing AND magnets had to be considered very early on when it’s feasible and easy to do. That’s why I asked. Are rare earth magnets that are small enough, strong enough to secure a model?

Hi Kurt,

 

Yes, magnets are small enough - I ordered a number of them in different sizes, they are quite capable. 

In this case, they do not even need a lot of force - just enough to prevent the model from tipping on a side. 

I apologise for this super ugly touchpad-drawn sketch, but it shows a cross-section of a model, somewhere in the aft section of it.

The false keel rests on a slippers, and magnets (red circles) connect together the launching cradle and the hull. Magnets are glued under the planking, so they will have 1.0-1.5mm of wood between them, but this should be good enough. The model rests in equilibrium position, there is very little force to tip it over. And multiple magnets could be installed, there is enough point of contact between the hull and the launching cradle. It should be also very simple to remove the hull from that cradle, at the same time the cradle is barely visible. I am not a fan of screwing a model to pedestals (semi-permanently).

I haven't seen it anywhere, but probably some modeller somewhere might have done it. Sound pretty straightforward, and if the idea is a failure - I can always switch to a traditional symmetrical cradle, that supports the hull from both sides. The magnet would be still in the hull, hidden inside it, should not cause any problems later on.

 

Thanks all for the nice feedback! Merry Christmas! 

 

Sailor, "poppets" are the vertical timbers, or it is another name for the launching cradle? 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Mike Y

[Mike Y]

Back from the holidays, finishing the case.

The riskiest part - final assembly and glueup. This design is really not good when it comes to assembly and overall stability - each individual part is thin and bends easily, but once all parts are glued together - it should be strong enough for the purpose. I hope  Though three-way miters of this size are not super strong either. I am using a good epoxy (West Systems), pre-soaking endgrain with freshly mixed epoxy, and then using a gel-consistency epoxy 10min later for the final glue joint. It works well on test pieces.

 

Since there is no straight point of reference - straightedge is necessary every time. 

Using A3 drawing paper as a square (checked it for distortion first):

 

Holding parts together is tricky, need to avoid bumping into those chairs

 

Last minute adjustments - forgot to add a hole for the top strip wiring:

 

Phew, now epoxy & silicone gel cures, and I hope there is a beauty under this masked mess:

 

Looking through the eyes of a sailor, who would get locked in here

 

Aaaaand a moment of truth is scheduled for tomorrow evening - all masking tape would be removed (except glass protecting film, I will keep it until the very end), hope it is not a failure. Fingers crossed!

 

[Kurt Johnson]

It still amazes me of woodwork you do in your apartment. You have some understanding wife.

 

Kurt

[cog]

Best wishes to you, Daria, and your wife, Mike. You certainly have an understanding lady ... actually ladies, Daria can't run from her room with your contraption between the chairs ... I really look forward to the case with the protective foil removed!

[BANYAN]

The case looks good Mike.  One word of caution WRT the masking tape 'until the very end' - I did that and some of it dried out making it very difficult to remove.  i used acrylic (perspex) rather than glass so had a couple of small marks I had to polish out.  You just need to keep an eye on it and replace as necessary.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Kurt Johnson]

Mike, Where did you learn your woodcraft skills? Did you just pick it up or was there some formal training or mentor involved. Personally my father gave me a set of smaller tools when I was about seven. I got in a lot of trouble over the years in his workshop. Especially when I figured how to get into his locked tool cabinet. But he taught me the right way to use and respect tools. When my father ( now passed away) gave up his tools, it was one of the saddest days of my life. Anyway, I’m really impressed with your abilities. Kudos.

 

Kurt

[Mike Y]

Thanks for the nice comments!

 

Kurt, Carl, wife and kid are on vacation, so no problems with that They are coming back tomorrow, I made it before the deadline!

 

Pat,  thanks for the warning! Though I do not have any "painter masking tape" touching the glass, it is a protective film that the glass was shipped with. So I guess it should be ok to keep it on the glass a bit longer. No problems with sticking or breaking when I peeled it from the edges. 

 

Kurt, youtube and MSW are the only sources. Without a possibility to have a real workshop, the only thing I left with is to subscribe for a dozen of good woodworkers on youtube and watch it before going to sleep. And, actually, quite a lot of good advices are here on MSW, even though it is not officially a "woodworking forum"

 

 

[Mike Y]

Hooray, the glue-up is completed, and it ended up ok. Even thought it was a stressful time race against silicone and epoxy, trying to make sure nothing falls apart, avoiding smearing adhesives all over the place, while trying to hold it together with swears and load bearing masking tape

 

Overall the design is really super light, the case weight without the base is just 6kg (2.4kg for the front glass and the rest is 3.6kg). Most of that weight is plexiglass, I would be surprised if all that pear sticks combined weigh more then a 0.7-0.8kg.  

 

The corners have some slight gaps, that should be far less visible once sanded.

 

The pre-finishing was done mostly for the areas that are hard to reach, but all exposed flat surfaces would be sanded/scraped to be perfectly flush, and then re-oiled. Will do it once the case is mounted - without anything in the back, it wiggles without the front glass. When mounted, top corners would be attached to the wall with recessed brackets that were prepared in advance:

 

With the glass attached, a bit of scraping is required to ensure gapless fit:

 

Here is how the glass connects to the case, basically lots of magnets and a boxwood strip that locks the top side with the glass, preventing sagging:

 

LED strips as seen from the inside. Sorry for the photo quality, but the strips are in recesses, should not be visible for the observer.

 

Now the case is in the corner, hiding from the Admiral

 

Just a few things left:

1) Mount the base on the wall, if it is too heavy - remake it from a thinner plywood.

2) A bit of planing to ensure good fit to the wall

3) Plank the case "floor"

4) Glue the case to the base

5) Add a decorative pear skirt to hide the base

6) Sand everything flush, re-oiling

7) Connect the wiring, install the light switch and the dimmer.

[Kurt Johnson]

God bless YouTube 

[Poppa Ace]

13 hours ago, Mike Y said:

The corners have some slight gaps, that should be far less visible once sanded.

First I want to commend on your workmanship and some of your advice .....which I have used extensively, with that of others members to numerous to mention all.  Thank you much for your build logs.    Now about the gaps at corners .......and old cabinetmaker secret is ...... to cut the miters  and  Iota  shy of 45 degrees .  this results in the points of the miters to mesh before the back ...... which removes the gap.      

 

Poppa Ace 

[Mike Y]

Hmm, that is an interesting idea, haven't thought about it. Will definitely use it next time, thanks!

[Mike Y]

Good news: no problem with the base weight, it holds well. Even with 2 bolts instead of 4 (one - the nylon plug is too loose for this kind of concrete, second bolt - the hole is probably not deep/wide enough, can't drive it through in the last 2-3mm). I have a lot to learn when it comes to anchoring / bolting things to concrete wall. To make it funnier, apparently the left two bolts are in some really hard concrete, while the right are in a porous concrete that falls out of the hole.

The base is bolted like so:

 

Bad news: it does look too bulky, I should have made it thinner, so it does not stick so far from the wall  Maybe I will get used to it, maybe it will look better once planked, but it is out or proportions in this place. My wife laughs and says "ha ha, ok, I am ok with it", but I am not happy myself. It looks like a clunky aquarium. 

 

Will finish it and see how it looks. Next time - such things definitely need some fullsize cardboard mockup, it is really hard to visualise and imagine it even after laying out all dimensions on the wall.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Mike Y

[Landlocked123]

On 4/2/2017 at 12:01 PM, Mike Y said:

 

Mike, 

 

I think it looks great!

 

Best, John

[druxey]

It doesn't look too heavy visually to me, Mike.

[cog]

What looks to bulky? If it's the shelf, considering the thickness of the planks, you could make it thinner, but it will probably look very fragile. I would advise you to add some masts to the model, which will change the overall look of the "scenery". You'll want to stain(?) the shelf I presume ... don't give it a dark colour, which will certainly make it stand out. Start with a light and go to medium darkness from there if you do not like the light colour. Use test material before you stain definitively ...

 

I like the way it looks. I might go for the colour of the parket (floor) ... lovely job

[michael mott]

Mike I think you are being a bit to hard on yourself. The case looks like the right proportion to the hull width to my eye.

 

Michael

[AON]

Me likey Mikey!  

 

I think you did a fantastic job.

[Kurt Johnson]

Mike, Pick up your toys! Don’t just push them against the wall! 

 

The case looks fine. The case won’t really be seen, only the model will be anyways. 

 

Kurt

 

 

 

[tlevine]

Mike, I thing the case looks phenomenal.  It is not out of proportion to the hull.  What makes it look "heavy" is the skinny TV next to it.  The black color of the TV recedes into the wall visually, making the case more prominent.  I think your only solution is to get a bigger TV!

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

The model ship not being over yet, it means that you still have plenty of time to modify things on the wall.

You are in advance having a case already at this stage of building. Bravo!

[MEDDO]

 I degree with Toni here, you definitely need a bigger TV. Oh yeah the case looks great too😁

[Mike Y]

Thanks everybody for the support! That really helped  

It is proportional to the hull, but the biggest element on the entire wall, look out of scale comparing to shelves, TV, etc. So the conclusion is simple - I need to upgrade to a bigger wall (in a bigger apartment), this one is getting too small for the model. Bigger TV is also an option, but we are watching it so rarely (like 10 hours per year) that spending lots of money on a big screen does not sound exciting..

Also, I booked a part of the case into the "kid" account - Daria's model will be in the same case, thus saving space by avoiding a second case. 

 

Carl, all the bright parts of the case will disappear - instead of staining, it would be planked with our self-milled willow and I will add a pear "skirt" around it below the glass. That is coming relatively soon, but with all upcoming business trips - probably will take a month.

[Mike Y]

Started turning rough "resawed" willow planks into thin straight planks suitable for the display case floor.

That worked fairly well with a straight thick pine plank as a planing sled, and a double sided sticky tape to hold them.

Some planks had some holes, look like insect holes:

Then this piece cracked around those holes, exposing some disgusting internals:

 

I do not want this organic stuff anywhere close the model, so cut this off quickly

 

Overall it was a lot of sawdust and chips

 

The target plank thickness is 2mm, so I guess more than a half of the log was turned into sawdust and cutoffs. Still not very bad

[Kurt Johnson]

Somebody must be home alone for awhile! Maybe I missed it, but are you planning any special pattern when you use them?

 

Kurt

Edited January 21, 2018 by Kurt Johnson

[Mike Y]

Kurt, I only had 3-4 hours alone, not enough to plane all planks. So need to wait until next Sunday

 

It would be a classic "fishbone parquet" pattern, same as on the floor in this room (you see the floor in the other photos). Like this, but nicer:

 

Wider 40mm planks along the edges, with sapwood remaining on a plank. Narrower 30mm planks for the pattern itself.

 

I have just enough planks, so might need to improvise

Edited January 21, 2018 by Mike Y