SMS WESPE 1876 by wefalck – 1/160 scale - Armored Gunboat of the Imperial German Navy - as first commissioned

[wefalck]

Thanks, gentlemen, for the encouragement - much needed

 

Pat, the gig will be represented cover, so no need to worry about the internal structure. There will be only one small boat shown uncovered and I have to think about that construction. I first have to check, whether for this bent or sawn frames were used.

 

*****************

Planking the Gig

Just a little update on my efforts to plank the gig. The framework was fixed to a piece of wood to keep in shape and for ease of handling.

The ‘planks’ were laser-cut from Canson-paper as indicated earlier. Unfortunately, I do not have a software (yet) to develop a planking layout, so the planks were tapered, but straight and all of the same size. However, when wetted with varnish, the paper, unlike wood, can be relatively easily bent and shaped across the wide side of the plank.

Planking in progress

 

When laser-cutting the planks, I ran into a small glitch, that is the outside of the planks have such a shallow curve, that the ‘stepping’ due to the 0.1 mm resolution of the cutter becomes quite pronounced. I hope I can remove this later by sanding.

When fitting the planks, I found the best way was to fix them in the middle first and then work towards the ends. This is not ideal at the bows, where the plank has to run against the rabbet. Paper as such cannot be sanded for a close fit. I cut them as best as I could with my micro-scissors. When soaked in varnish, the paper can be moulded and squeezed, so that I did not need to thin the overlapping part of the lower plank, which would have been quite impossible in paper.

Planking progresses from the middle to the ends

 

Finally, the hull will probably require some touching up here and there with putty. Let’s see how it looks in the end with some paint on.

 

To be continued ....

[Ras Ambrioso]

Amazing what you can do at that scale. 

[KeithAug]

Eberhard. 

 

Amazing that you can achieve any reasonable representation of clinker planks at this scale. I did notice that the exposed edges of some of the planks have slight steps. Is this down to the resolution of the laser cutter?

[wefalck]

Ketih, I am using a really cheapo laser-cutter. The input are b/w JPEGs, which are converted to pixels and when it finds a black pixel - zap! This conversion and perhaps the mechanical resolution of the stepper-motors limit the efective resolution to 0.1 mm. This means that the 'planks' are only about 7 pixels wide at their widest part, tapering down to about 3 pixels at the ends over a distance of 200 pixels - so steps are programmed in

 

[Keith Black]

7 minutes ago, wefalck said:

This means that the 'planks' are only about 7 pixels wide at their widest part, tapering down to about 3 pixels at the ends over a distance of 200 pixels

 Seven pixels wide and three pixels at the ends, that just blows my mind. My fat fingers would have that hull squashed almost instantly. I take a bow to your ability, Eberhard. 

[mbp521]

I think I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. It’s just amazing at what you are accomplishing at this scale!

 

-Brian

[mtaylor]

Beyond amazing to me. Just trying to wrap my mind around this planking makes my head hurt.

[KeithAug]

4 hours ago, wefalck said:

so steps are programmed in

Yes, a case where the workman can reasonably blame the tools.

[mcb]

This just gets better all the time.   Excellent.

 

Thanks for showing it.

 

mcb

[Dr PR]

One way to hide the jaggies would be to cut one edge straight and put all the steps on the other edge. Then make the edge with the steps the inside edge that will be hidden by the overlapping plank.

 

I need to make a small boat for my current build so I am watching with interest.

[wefalck]

Thanks, gentlemen !

 

Phil, this is exactly what I am going to do for the other boats. The original idea was to curve both sides, because I was not sure how well the 'planks' would bend across the wide side. However, once soaked in varnish, they can coerced into shape quite nicely without buckling.

 

This is a learning process. Some 25 years ago I built a small clinker-dinghy in 1:60 scale like this over a wooden former with thin bent frames and planks from bakelite paper. I had the benefit of a plank layout, as I used the paper-model in Eric McKee's brochure on clinker-building as a basis. The bakelite paper can be sanded over the edges and feathered out for the plank above with a engraving chisel. That worked very well. 

[Gahm]

You are the master of miniatures!🙂

 

Thomas 

[wefalck]

Thank you, I keep trying ...

 

********************************

 

Work on the Gig continued

 

The planking progressed reasonably well, but I actually needed to more strakes per side to be able to go up to the sheer-line. Not good for strake counters … I attribute this to the wider overlap needed than expected. This was particularly the case, where there is a significant angle between planks, e.g. at the turn of the bilge. For the other boats, I will have to cut the planks a bit wider. 

Planking completed

 

A few conclusions from this exercise for the other boats:

 

-       Cut the planks tapered only on one side, as they can edge-bend, when soaked in varnish

-       Cut the planks for 30 to 40% overlap not 20% as done in this example; this gives more flexibility to adjust the planks

-       Do not try to imitate full-scale practice by running the planks into a rabbet on the stem, rather attach the outer stem and keel-piece after the planking is complete and has been trimmed down to the rabbet line.

Planking completed

 

The planking now was cleaned up and the excess at the transom trimmed back. I tried to sand the jaggy edges a bit, but that did not work very well on the paper. However, in the varnished state it is not very visible. One has to see, when it is painted.

The hull was lightly rubbed down with fine steel wool to smooth the surface. Then some spots, where touched up with some putty.

 

Rubbing strake from 0.2 mm copper-wire installed

 

According to the prototype cross-section, there was a rubbing strake added to the top-strake. It was ‘faked’ by attaching a 0.2. copper-wire below the last strake.

 

Now the boat was ready to be cut from the base. The bulkheads were cut down and the keel-piece trimmed to a line that would be followed by the tarpaulin cover.

 

There is a hoisting chain fore and aft to which the falls of the boat-davits will be hooked, As only the rop ring will be protruding from the boat-cover, this chain was simulated by a drilled together piece of tinned 0.2 mm coper-wire. It was hooked into a bulkhead and glued down with varnish.

 

Boat cut free from the building base

 

 

Most modellers seem to show the boats open, but most historical photographs show them covered. The design of the cover seems to vary a bit and I could not find information about this. Some photographs show the cover going down over half of the sides of the boat, with ropes apparently zig-zagging down to the keel and back up on the other side. Others seem to show a line going through a hollow seam to pull it tight around the boat. I opted for the latter to show more of the planking and the (later) paintwork.

Gig with simulated cover

I was debating with myself, whether I should first paint the hull and then add the cover, or the other way around. I opted for the second, as messing around with varnish, could damage the paintwork, even though it made it more difficult to hold the boat during (spray-)painting.

Basis for the cover was a piece of ironed-flat toilet-paper that was draped over the hull and then soaked in varnish resp. sanding filler. It was smoothed down over the edges and down to the rubbing strake. Once dry the paper was cut back to the rubbing-strake with a new scalpel-blade.

 Underside of the gig showing planking

 

I almost forgot the rudder, that seems to have been kept shipped, when the boats were suspended in the davits. It was drawn on the basis of BRIX (1883) and laser-cut to be laminated from two layers. The pintels turned out to be far too small to reproduced, but the respective bands were simulated by flattened, tinned copper-wire.

 

Gig with rudder shipped

 

The gig is now ready to be painted.

 

 

To be continued ....

Edited June 13, 2022 by wefalck

[Mirabell61]

Ver nice basic work with the gig Eberhard,

it looks great, and that in a so small scale !!

 

Nils

[KeithAug]

4 hours ago, wefalck said:

I was debating with myself,

 

I think it is a common symptom of exposure to this forum and is more severe among micro

modellers. I prescribe a good bottle of wine and a night off.

 

4 hours ago, wefalck said:

the cover was a piece of ironed-flat toilet-paper

Was it quilted or just the standard stuff 😀.

 

Nice little boat. What is its actual length and beam?

[Ras Ambrioso]

Again an excellent performance at micro scale. I will follow your conclusions when I get to build the boats for Amapa. Originally I planned to use some scale plastic boat hulls and build the interior structure on one of them. now I am going

to do two of them covered like yours and for the small one I will try to plank against a mold and detail the interior. Fingers crossed!

 

[BANYAN]

Nice work on this boat Eberhard; and, I found your conclusions very enlightening.  Looking forward to the painted object.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[wefalck]

Thanks, gentlemen!

 

Keith, the boat is 52 mm (2") long with an 11 mm (just under 1/2") beam.

 

************************************************************************

Painting the Gig

 

The boat was given a few thin coats of white acrylics (Vallejo) all over with the airbrush - the results of which was quite sobering: all the imperfections that were not quite visible in the ‘raw’ state now began to stick out. The jagged edges from the laser cutting that seemed to disappear under the varnish are no rather visible.

 

Also, using toilet-paper as the basis for the boat-cover was not a good choice. I used it in military-modelling in my youth to simulate tarpaulins, but perhaps then my standards were lower. I choose it, because I wanted something that looks limp and more casually draped, as can be seen on many photographs of the time. However, it turned out to be fuzzy on the surface and the edges in spite of being soaked in sanding filler. On the next boats I will try some Japanese silk-paper that I bought some time ago. I hope when it is wetted it will drape well.

 

The completed gig on an ordinary port-wine cork

 

I then brush-painted the boat-cover in thick white acrylic with tiny drop of Vallejo 71.288 (Portland Stone) mixed to it. This gives a very light off-white colour. I don’t actually know, whether these boat covers were oiled or painted canvass.

 

According to the painting regulations for boats, the top two strakes where to be painted black. Due to the cover not much of them is visible, but I managed to tatter on a bit of black here in there.

 

The completed gig on an ordinary port-wine cork

 

I will now turn my attention to the other boats, considering the experience with this one. If they turn out better, I might try a gig 2.0. 

 

To be continued ....

[FriedClams]

Considering its small size, I think your boat looks quite good.

 

I’ve had decent results using emptied out tea bags for fine canvas-like material in small scale.  They drape nicely when wet, hold together and don’t shred.  And there is always one in the cupboard.

 

3 hours ago, wefalck said:

few thin coats of white acrylics (Vallejo) all over with the airbrush - the results of which was quite sobering: all the imperfections that were not quite visible in the ‘raw’ state now began to stick out

Paint is brutal and I feel the most difficult finish to get right.  Some folks seem to think that paint covers inconsistencies, but oh contraire.  I have always found paint to exaggerate anything that isn’t just so.

 

Nice progress.

 

Gary

[mcb]

I think the cover and boat look very good as well.   You really were able to get a nice on the edge.  I have used tissue paper like that, but I don't think I could get a clean-cut edge in place like that.   I usually just cut out squares as tarps and drenched them in thin paint.

The gig looks quite delicate.

Excellent,

mcb

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Before embarking on Gig 2.0 is there a way that you can temporarily hang the gig from its Davits? As part of the overall picture it might look better than as a stand alone model.

 

Roger

[wefalck]

... that is my hope, but I started today the cutters, let's see how that goes.

[druxey]

Quite the mini-model! Sorry that the wine was 'ordinary'. though.

[KeithAug]

22 hours ago, wefalck said:

Keith, the boat is 52 mm (2") long with an 11 mm (just under 1/2") beam.

Thank you - I assumed it would be about that length. I was a bit surprised about the length to beam ratio because visually it looks very slender.  The hull doesn't look at all bad to me although I can see your perfecionistic tendency getting the better of you.

[BANYAN]

Nice work Eberhard, especially at that scale.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[wefalck]

Thanks, Pat!

 

On with

 

The Cutters

As noted above, I will be following a somewhat different construction for the cutters. I will not create a rabbet by gluing doublings onto the keel-piece, but will attach the outer stem and keel, once the planking is complete. Hopefully, this will allow a cleaner run of the planks into the stem. Also, all the planks will be cut with a straight line on one edge.

Template for laser-cutting the keel-pieces and the stem-keel-combinations

 

I also decided to fill in the space between the bulkheads to avoid the (minor) cave-in that occurred in some places of the gig. The material should be softer than the bulkheads and I choose a hard foam going by the name Rohacell, which is essentially foamed-up Plexiglas and of which I have still many off-cuts from a project some 35 years ago. 

Three strakes on

 

However, nearly half-way now through the planking I have my doubts, whether there were any advantages in doing that. It turned out to be difficult to sand down the foam (which in itself sands very well with diamond abrasives or just sanding paper) to the bulkheads without damaging them and therefore alter the shape. If the infill actually is low, it become actually counterproductive, as the planks will follow this shape, rather than +/- the tangent between the bulkheads.

Three strakes on

 

The bow-section is not so easy to get right, as it is quite full and there is a tendency for the planking to rise too high, when it comes off the bottom with little dead-rise.

Again, I did not mark out the division of the strakes, but eye-balled it. It would be quite difficult to do with sufficient precision at this size. Not sure how it will turn out.

Planking half-way up

 

 

To be continued ....

[Ras Ambrioso]

Amazing as always.

[BANYAN]

looking good so far.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[KeithAug]

On 6/20/2022 at 10:48 PM, wefalck said:

Not sure how it will turn out.

 

 

Eberhard - To my eye it seems to be turning out much more uniform, but i accept you have the advantage of seeing it in the flesh. I'm not sure I would have chosen the foam stuff, wouldn't a soft balsa have worked well?

[wefalck]

To be honest, I don't like balsa too much, because it has a very directional grain and does not cut as well in small pieces. I have done some 30+ years ago a POB hull with bulheads in 0.25 mm brass, filled in with that stuff, which worked very well, because obviously the brass is so much more resistant to sanding than the Rohacell foam. The hull was some 35 cm long, so much easier to work with than a hull that is only just under 5 cm long. I did this at the time, because I wanted to have bulwark stanchion of the right thickness at the right position, which always a bit of a challenge on a flush-decked ship. The bulwark and other plating was made from 0.1 mm copper sheet to be able to simulate the rivetting.

 

Yes, using slightly wider planks gave me more leeway to arrange the planking more uniformly. I see gig 2.0 coming up ...

Edited June 23, 2022 by wefalck