US Brig Oneida 1809 by rlb - The Lumberyard - 1:48 scale - POF - Lake Ontario Warship

[scrubbyj427]

Beautiful work Ron! Great idea on those cleats! That looks so good all assembled.

 

For softening PVA, I seem to get it free very quickly with denatured alcohol, usually in minutes. 
JJ

[rlb]

Thanks Toni!   Nice to know folks read the text as well as look at the pictures!

 

Aahh, JJ, thanks so much for that info!!  I didn't know there was a difference between isopropyl and denatured alcohol.  Now I do, and I'll get some.

 

Ron

[scrubbyj427]

2 hours ago, rlb said:

Thanks Toni!   Nice to know folks read the text as well as look at the pictures!

 

Aahh, JJ, thanks so much for that info!!  I didn't know there was a difference between isopropyl and denatured alcohol.  Now I do, and I'll get some.

 

Ron

Ron, I’m not entirely sure on the difference but I think isopropyl is used in small quantities to “denature” pure ethanol.

all I know is that it doesn’t take hours to soften titebond. Hope it helps.

JJ

[rlb]

I determined that I needed to redo eight of the cleats.   If I were a perfectionist, I would have had to do more (strike that, if I were a perfectionist, I would have to redo them all--for reasons to be noted later).  There were a few that were barely passable, to my standards.  So eight is enough--

 

The eight were made with an extended 'big' end.  After gluing these in place, work was begun infilling the rim with chocks.  Time consuming little pieces--a different angle at each end, and the front ones had to be filed with a curve on the inside, with the outside to be sanded down after all the chocks are glued in.

The top on the right has had all chocks installed, the one on the left is in progress.  And here are the tools used for them (actually there were a couple additional files, and a disc sander used to fine tune the angles)--

 

After gluing in all the chocks, the sides and back were sanded to even out the projecting cleats, and the front sanded to finalize the curve.  Then the top was sanded flat to even out and reduce the height of the rim.   Something to note: the three chocks on each side of the top are wider, to accommodate the shroud futtock plates that will be mortised through them.  They actually overhang a tiny bit on the inside of the rim beneath (which is how Petrejus shows it)--

 

And now the reason all the cleats should be redone:  the break from the flat top of the cleat (embedded in the chocks) to the slope should start where it leaves the chock.  Only a few here and there actually ended up breaking at the right spot.  AND the break should have led to a more gradual reduction in thickness.  I will do some cutting and filing to address the break points, but the slope still won't be quite right. Oh well, I'm pleased with the outcome (though they're not finished yet!)--

 

Seventy some pieces of wood in each of these.

 

Ron

 

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by rlb

[shipmodel]

Ron - 

 

Really nicely done and fitted.

I applaud your striving for perfection, even where no one but you will ever notice.

 

Be well

 

Dan

[rlb]

Thanks Dan, and thanks for looking in.

 

With the tops basically formed, I set about making the cross trees and trestle trees.  After the complexity of the tops, they were pretty straightforward.  The main and fore set do need to be slightly different, as the dimensions of the fore mast are very slightly less than the main mast.  Here the main mast trestle and cross trees are temporarily assembled.  There will need to be some adjustments to the length of the pieces--

 

The main top assembly was then checked on the main mast to make sure the trestle tree spacing fit the mast.  The mast top was measured before the notches were cut into the cross trees--

 

The foretop assembly will be checked as well.  You may notice that I worked on the top cleats.  The break of the slope is better when the cleats leave the rim.

 

I am working backwards from the tops, to the trestle/cross trees, to the mast.  The bibs will be made and shaped soon.  All is still in progress.  The shroud futtock plate holes need to be mortised into the tops, as well as some other rigging preparations.  Bolsters need to be added to the trestle trees, and refinements need to be made to the masthead above the top.  

 

On most ships there is a railing on the aft end of the top.  I am omitting it, based on the US Brig Jefferson model by Glenn Greico, which is a similar Great Lakes ship from the same time period.  

 

Ron

Edited April 1, 2023 by rlb

[Thistle17]

Always marvel at your craftmanship with hand tools Ron.

Joe

[rlb]

Thanks Joe!

 

More unanticipated issues!  I had to redo the trestle trees.  If you look at this photo from my previous post, notice the location of the aft cross tree.

 

There is a slight gap between it and the aft opening of the floor, whereas the forward cross tree is just about even with the forward opening of the floor.  Look also at this photo of my previous post--

 

This is exactly how Petrejus shows it.  However as I began test fitting the bolsters on the trestle trees, and blanks for the topmasts, I began to realize that it wasn't going to work.  There simply wasn't enough room between the cross trees for the mast and topmast to fit correctly, and the bolster to be in the right position on the mainmast.  I thought at first this might be due to the substantial rake of the mast.  But Petrejus' Irene is raked also.  Ahhh, I realized my error.  I had scaled the top down, based on Chapelle's drawing, and the photos of the Jefferson model, whose tops, though I don't have measurements, looked by eye to be slightly on the smaller side.  My mistake was in also scaling down the cross tree spacing.  I had previously been puzzled that the Petrejus' trestle trees seemed too close together for the mast to fit through, and I had adjusted them for my masts.  This should have tipped me off, but I didn't change the cross tree spacing at that time.  Fortunately, the trestle trees were easy to remake, and I could reuse the cross trees.  Here is the new arrangement--

 

 

Testing this with the mast, bolsters and topmasts, I think this will work.   I could now move on to the hounds/bibs.  Blanks are cut and the joints cut.  These need to be thinner than the trestle trees, but I used the same stock, as I don't have any thinner at the moment.   Rather than sand it thinner now (actually it also needs a slight taper), I'm going to assemble them, and then do the final sanding to thickness--

 

Petrejus says that all tops should be parallel with the load water line, though, curiously, Chapelle's drawing shows the tops not at all parallel to the waterline, and not quite perpendicular to the mast--somewhere oddly in between.  I cut the hounds parallel to the waterline and did some rough shaping, testing it against the mast.  Here it is clothes pinned to the mast, and supporting the trestle trees and top, with my template for the rake--

 

The top looks very slightly pitched back, but I think it's actually due to my camera not being exactly level.  That also makes the rake look just a bit more than it really is-

 

Satisfied, I now have a pattern to roughly shape the other pieces.  The rake of the fore mast is less, so that top angle on the hounds will be different--

 

The others will be roughly shaped, tested, and then the contours finalized, along with sanding them to the correct thickness.

 

Ron 

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by rlb

[rlb]

In over 15 years, I may never have made a post with only one photo.  Here it is, the current state of the mast work--

 

The hounds/bibs have been shaped and glued onto the masts.  The trestle/cross trees are not glued.  Chamfers and tenons have been cut into the mast tops.  The small loose pieces are the bolsters which will be glued to the trestle trees, and the two pieces at the top are the topmast blanks.

 

I have neglected the carronade tackle blocks, and will have to buckle down and put some time in to get caught up to my one set a day goal.

Edited April 5, 2023 by rlb

[scrubbyj427]

Looking really good Ron! Are they boxwood? 
 

 

[rlb]

JJ, the mast work is all Swiss Pear.  Parts of it will be stained black.   Most of the model is Swiss Pear.  The Carronade carriages are Castello Boxwood.  The decking is Maple.  The few carvings and and the head rails are Castello.  I have been applying a Tung Oil finish, which seems to take some of the pink out of the Pear.  All the wood looks almost the same color in the photos.  In person the difference is more discernable, but it is not pronounced.  Over the years the Castello and Maple have oxidized, and with the Tung Oil finish, they're not far off from the Pear.

Edited April 6, 2023 by rlb

[scrubbyj427]

Your choices of wood look great Ron, I’m really enjoying how it all looks together and I’m sure it’s even better in person. It’s amazing how things can look different in person as opposed to a photo, I’ve certainly noticed it with my model as well. 

[rlb]

Thanks, JJ.

 

After a couple of tests with different numbers of threads, I was able to make a cable of the right size for Oneida's larger anchors--

 

 

 

 

The anchors won't be attached until near the end, but I wanted to get the cable on board before getting heavy into the rigging, and access to the deck becomes more difficult.

 

Ron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by rlb

[usedtosail]

Really nice looking cable Ron.

[rlb]

Back to the masts:

 

The fore topmast is shaped--  

 

The main topmast will be identical--

 

I have made a few more pairs of carronade tackle blocks.  I'm more than half done now, and getting a little better/faster at it, but I still don't enjoy it!

 

Ron

[rlb]

Here we are with 2023 almost done, and I have finally felt like working on Oneida again.

 

Continuing with the main topmast (which is identical to the fore topmast), I roughly marked the various transition locations, and began roughing out the shape with a file--

 

With the top reduced to the correct dimensions (minus some chamfering which will come at the end) I began filing the taper into the main part of the topmast--

 

Once the taper along the topmast was correct, I then filed the corners, turning this section into an octagon--

 

At this point I filed the eight edges of the octagon on the center section of the topmast, masked off the upper and lower areas for protection, and began sanding that central part round--

 

Hopefully more updates soon!

 

Ron

 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by rlb

[scrubbyj427]

Looking good Ron, glad to see you back at it!

[Dowmer]

Looking great Ron.  Just curious, what type of wood you are using for the spars. It seems to hold edges very nicely and color is good too.

[rlb]

Thanks JJ and Dowmer.  The wood is Swiss Pear.

 

Filing the tricky tapered octagon at the top of the topmasts-

 

All that's left at this point is making the hole for a sheave near the base--

 

And, pretty much done on the two topmasts--

 

Next will be the mast caps, and then I'll be able to set the masts, tops, and topmasts up (temporarily) on the model!

 

Ron

[hamilton]

Great work on the topmasts!

hamilton

[rlb]

Thanks Hamilton and all who hit the like button.

 

Two blanks for the mast caps--

 

A few tries later, I got two good ones.  The problems were various--inaccurate spacing of the holes, holes being filed out too big, or out of round--

 

Here are the masts and topmasts temporarily on the ship--

 

And disassembled again.  I have temporary fids made from a toothpick, I'll make a couple from brass.  To the right are two blanks for the topgallant masts--

  

 

All for now.

Ron

[CiscoH]

super clean work as always Ron

[jereremy]

Such a beautiful build. Love the elegant simplicity of the warm wood tone contrasted with the inky black.

[rlb]

Happy New Year!  Thanks CiscoH and jereramy, and those liking and looking in.

 

To replace my toothpick topmast fids, I filed a pair from brass--

 

 

Next these were blackened, along with some eyebolts, ringbolts, and four hooks that I need to finish the carronade tackle blocks--

 

Next task is the topmast crosstrees, following the illustration in Petrejus' book "Irene"--

 

I glued six blanks together so I could do the rough shaping for all of them at once--

 

When I was satisfied that the rough shape was close, the block was given an isopropyl alcohol soak to separate the pieces--

 

I notice some irregularities, mostly the right side end is a little "bulbous", and they look just a bit chunky to me, but there is still a lot of work to do on these: drilling holes in the ends, notching for the trestle pieces, tapering the underside, and refining the overall thickness and curves--

 

All for now,

Ron

Edited January 8 by rlb

[bigcreekdad]

Fantastic build!

[Wintergreen]

On 1/8/2024 at 5:36 PM, rlb said:

When I was satisfied that the rough shape was close, the block was given an isopropyl alcohol soak to separate the pieces

That's just so clever in all it's simplicity. I really need to buy me a bottle of iso to have when I run in to similar issues/challenges.

 

Keep it up!

[rlb]

Thanks bigcreekdad and Håkan.

 

I have used that technique often, anytime I need a number of identical parts that have some kind of non-square shape, such as cleats, or even the anchor stock planking of the wales.  They are glued together with a bare minimum dab of white (PVA) glue, as the iso alcohol does take time to do soften the glue.   In fact, hot water works better for that.   A few posts back, JJ (scrubbyj427) suggested that denatured alcohol works much faster than iso, and I will be trying that soon, since I need to redo the crosstrees!   

 

Ron

Edited January 12 by rlb

[Wintergreen]

17 hours ago, rlb said:

I need to redo the crosstrees!

Ouch. Another one of those "practise makes perfect" situations Ron?

[rlb]

Yes, Håkan, more practice!!

 

I had cut out the trestle trees, and glued the crosstrees down to a piece of paper, to "hold' them while I filed the tapered undersides.   But a nagging feeling that they were too big wouldn't go away.  After holding the topmast close to them, I was pretty sure of it.   I looked at some photos of other models and then got out Lee's "Masting and Rigging", and calculated the length of the crosstrees according to that source.   Sure enough, it appeared that I had made them about 50% too long.   While I love Petrejus' book, this is the second time I've gotten burned using his illustrations without checking the scale accuracy.   Although the caption for the crosstree illustration read "full size" (meaning full scale size), it was actually quite a bit larger.

 

Here are the new crosstrees, roughly shaped, compared to the previous ones--

 

I glued them down and tapered the undersides--

 

I cut out new trestle trees, and here they are along with the crosstrees, and a wrong sized trestle tree and crosstree--

 

The crosstrees need some more work, generally narrowing the depth and breadth a bit, and cutting notches for the trestle trees.  The trestle trees need deeper notches, and some further shaping, then I'll try assembling them and see how they look on the topmasts.

 

Ron  

 

 

Edited January 13 by rlb

[Wintergreen]

Off by 50%?! 

That IS a bit steep, even for my liking.

Guess it is always good practise to cross-reference cross trees 😉 and other parts also of course.

 

Keep it up!