San Francisco 2 by DesertWolf - Artesania Latina

[DesertWolf]

Thank you everyone for the comments.  Much appreciated.

 

Themaddchemist, as much as I want to relax while doing this hobby, having a port lid fall through the opening into the hull can raise one's anxiety (and beer consumption!) considerably  .  When do you plan to start your SF 1 kit?  I like the SF 1 kit more and will follow your build with great interest when you start.

[captainkangaroo]

Hello DesertWolf,

 

I'm new here and have just begun planking the hull of my SF II.  You did an AMAZING job planking your hull-it is a thing of beauty!  It's even more amazing that this is your first build.  I am going to follow in your foot steps and I will be happy if mine just comes close to yours.  I'll be following your build closely and look forward to seeing more.

[DesertWolf]

Thanks Jim.  Much appreciated!

 

Good luck with your planking.  I'll be looking out for the first pics of your planking progress.  The only tips I can give you are:

• use filler blocks - it makes life a lot easier (I had to build up blocks from sheets of balsa)
• don't let your garboard plank creep up the bow (else your bow will become crammed too quickly and you may need to use drop planks)
• "spile" as many planks as it takes in the bow area - the extra effort will be worth it

[DesertWolf]

If this hobby does not teach you patience, nothing will.  I took me 6 weekends to make all 22 gun port lids (27 actually – including 5 flops where the planking lines on the gun port lid did not align with the hull planking lines in the end).

 

Moved on to the false keel and rudder now… and immediately pintles & gudgeons became a new swear phrase   

 

 

[DesertWolf]

Starboard gun port lids (dry fitted).  I will glue the gun port lids in place once the hull has been varnished.

 

[lamarvalley]

Absolutely gorgeous Wolf! The time spent is obvious and well worth it.

[sport29652]

Gorgeous, your sf is one of the best I've seen so far.

[DesertWolf]

Thanks Randy and Eric.  I unashamedly steal the customizations on your beautiful models.    I hope mine turn out as good as yours.

[lamarvalley]

Your san fran is so clean and crisp and imo has already surpassed mine.

[hamilton]

Beautiful work - love the contrasting wood!

hamilton

[DesertWolf]

Update of my progress over the weekend...

 

Glued the stem and cutwater to the false keel (I had to sand quite a bit of the parts away to get rid of the charring left by the laser cut.)

 

I measured the required “overhang” of the keel plank at the stern and cut it off at a 30 degree angle as instructed.  I should not have done that.  I should have measured the angle of the rudder’s corner that will be adjacent to the keel’s protruding point once the rudder is mounted. I will now have to file the rudder’s corner a bit so that it fits snugly against the keel when it is mounted. 

 

I knew that clamping the keel plank during the gluing process would be a challenge (the keel plank that came with my kit is as crooked as a banana!)  To solve the problem I drilled three 0.8mm holes in the keel and glued pieces of wire into them.  Once dried, I trimmed the wires leaving about 4mm sticking out. 

 

 

Then I marked and drilled 0.8mm holes in the false keel for the wires to fit into.  This allowed my keel plank to fit snugly into the proper position (I almost couldn’t get the keel plank loose again after I tested the fit… so I naturally drank 3 beers to calm my nerves before I tried again.  Or that’s what I told the Admiral at least...)

 

 

Finally, I glued the keel plank to the false keel.  I used electrical insulation tape to hold the keel plank down while the glue dried.  Unlike masking tape, the insulation tape sticks quite well to wood - but still pulls off very easily without leaving any sticky residue or marks. 

 

 

[DesertWolf]

Still struggling with the rudder pintles and gudgeons... Mark Taylor will forgive me for paraphrasing "the Artesania Latina instruction writer is slow, but the modelshipwright is patient"

[augie]

Just latched on to your log and I must say this is one outstanding build.  Your patience is clearing showing through.  And this is your first build?  I may as well hang it up !!!!

 

I just knew that Egyptian Wolf was calling me

[DesertWolf]

Thanks Augie, much appreciated!  But my skill is not even close to your caliber.  I’m planning on sending my San Fran to you for rigging… I don’t think there is enough beer in Africa to calm my nerves before that step.   

 

I will also have to solve my tread problem in the coming months.  The AL tread in the kit is too fluffy (well, the tread for the stays and shrouds at least.  Tread for the running rigging and rat lines may just be okay)  If I order good quality tread from overseas, I will have to sell a kidney and take a second mortgage on the house just to cover the shipping costs – and then I still have to pray that the package does not get “lost” at customs.  I know in the end I will probably have to make my own tread… or stop complaining at least   

[augie]

Yes, I know how prohibitive international shipping can be having lived in Europe for several years.  Try to get rigging line you're happy with though as it really shows up.  I see Chuck Passaro is putting together his own now and I'm sure it's top notch.  Then there's always Morope.  Neither is cheap.

 

Actually, ME has some reasonable line that isn't bad.....they call it Manila Hemp twist but it's really just a synthetic.

 

Whatever you do, if you order some, order ENOUGH!  You don't want to come up a meter short at the end.

[NAZGÛL]

Ah, very nice! Well done.

 

 

/Matti

[lamarvalley]

You're pretty creative and handy so maybe you should make your own rope walk. I've seen plan on the web that show various styles. Then you could buy decent thread and make your own.... pretty much an unlimited supply then eh?

[DesertWolf]

Cheers Matti!  And thanks for the good advice Augie.

 

Randy, I will first have to find some decent thread to make my own rope with.  I'm not sure if that will be a problem or not.  I don't want to go through a whole dye exercise, so the colour must be right from the start.  (And don't forget that I will need to prepare a 100 slide powerpoint presentation to explain to the Admiral why I'm building another contraption that will take up some of her shoe space on the top shelve...   )

[DesertWolf]

I finally made progress with my rudder pintles and gudgeons.  I struggled to crimp the brass strip provided with the kit tightly enough around the brass wire to form the pintle.  When I did crimp it tightly, the pintle did not fit in the notch provided in the rudder.  Instead, it protruded a mile behind the rudder, resulting in a huge gap between the rudder and the transom.

 

I asked for help over in the Tips & Techniques section and Jack Tar shared his fantastic technique to fasten rudders.  It results in natural looking pintles & gudgeons without the crimping pains.  (Thanks again Jack!)

 

I was going down that route when the Admiral’s father suggested a simple jig to solve my problems.  I filed a 5mm slot in a piece of aluminium.  At the bottom of the slot I filed another narrow slot (2mm) – just wide enough for the wire forming the bolt of the pintle plus twice the thickness of the brass strip. 

 

 

From a piece of brass rod I filled a “negative” template that fits into the slots I made in the aluminium.

 

 

From here the process was easy.  I placed the brass strip in the aluminium slot, placed the brass rod in and tapped the whole contraption with a hammer.  Voila.  For final adjustments, and to get the edges nice and square, I placed the brass strip over the brass rod and tapped it lightly with a hammer on all sides.

 

 

The result is a tightly formed partial pintle that holds the wire forming the bolt tightly, even before any glue is applied.   The pintle also fits neatly into the notch provided for it in the rudder.

 

 

The next step is to blacken the brass parts before attaching it to the rudder. 

[hamilton]

Ingenious! Produces excellent results - can I commission one?

hamilton

[DesertWolf]

I blackened the hinges (2 rounds of about 60 seconds each in Birchwood Casey Brass black, diluted 50% with water)

 

 

I first glued the hinges to the rudder.  Once the glued dried, I drilled 0.8mm holes halfway into the rudder through the holes in the brass strips.  I snipped off some pins that came with the kit, blackened them and hammered them into the holes.  In hindsight, I should have filed the heads of the pins a bit thinner I think - they do stick out a tad bit more that what I would have thought is optimum, but I'm pleased with the result.

 

 

Hammering in the pins removed some blackening from their heads, so I touched it up by applying blackening agent with an ear bud.  Below is a picture of the rudder after a coat of varnish to seal everything nicely.

 

[lamarvalley]

Very nice Wolf! Precise and crisp. You're very good at this stuff you know.

[DesertWolf]

Very nice Wolf! Precise and crisp. You're very good at this stuff you know.

... says master model shipwright Randy.  May I remind you that I steal all the good ideas from your superb work?  Your build really is an inspiration for me.

[hamilton]

That rudder looks magnificent - a beautiful tone and finish all around - that jig works wonders on the pintles/gudgeons!

hamilton

[DesertWolf]

Thanks Randy, Hamilton and Lawrence. Much appreciated!

[NAZGÛL]

The rudder looks great, well done on the metal parts!

 

 

/Matti

[DesertWolf]

Thanks Matti, encouraging comments from a true master such as you is always inspiring!

 

Since I replaced the metal gun port lids that came with the kit, I decided to replace the metal doors as well.

 

To make a door, I stuck pieces of left over deck planking on electrical insulation tape to form a base and give the door some depth.  I cut left over mahogany veneer in 1mm strips to simulate door planks and glued it on the deck planking base (Luckily I kept every bit of scrap veneer when I lined the bulkheads that the doors are positioned in – I do not have a lot of spare pieces).  After cutting out the door, I placed a metal door from the kit on the cut-out and filed the whole door flush with the metal piece.  (The electrical tape is flexible and keeps the whole assembly nicely together during the shaping process – I only pull it off right at the end when a door is finished.)  The final step is to make hinges and a door handle from copper wire, then blacken it and sticking it on the door.

 

 

Homemade vs kit-supplied

 

 

The doors are located on bulkheads that are planked clinker style.  Due to the overlapping planks, it looks odd if you follow the kit instructions and merely stick the door onto the bulkhead, since you can see in behind the door when looking at the door from the side.  To get a more realistic look, I rather made a hole for each door in the bulkhead.

 

 

Bowsprit door

 

 

 

[DesertWolf]

Dry fitting and installing more doors...

 

 

 

[sport29652]

Those doors are top notch. Great build !

[lamarvalley]

No contest! Homemade wins easily