Bomb Vessel Granado 1742 by Jack Panzeca - 1:48 Scale - Cross-Section

[Jack Panzeca]

Here comes the fun.  I have been laying low for a couple of months due to some health problems.  Yesterday was my first day back in the shipyard and today was the first with actual sawdust production.  It is nice to be back.

 

This build will be part of the group build of the Bomb Vessel Granado, 1742, Cross Sectional Model drawn by Jeff Staudt.  The plans at 1:48 scale fit on 8.5x11 or A4 which is very convenient.  

 

I bound a couple of sets of drawings so that can spread them out wherever needed.  I also scanned them so that I can print whatever I need on adhesive paper to stick to the wood for cutting.

 

 

I had been looking for a project to cross over to the dark side and when gjdale and mobbsie announced their group build I invited myself in and they graciously allowed me a space.  Asat has joined in as well at 1:38 scale.  The benefit of the group build is the multiple member PM system and the readily available logs.  I scratched most of the Oseberg and by the time that I finished I wished that I had done it all.

 

The wood was purchased from Jeff Hayes from Grant's brilliant take off and material list.  Jeff had stopped supplying ebony by the time I placed my order but I found some locally (Dallas/Fort Worth).  If it is too difficult to work I can always use Swiss Pear and color it black.

 

This is a part of the wood supplied by Jeff, it is beautiful, we will miss him.

 

 

The layout for the building jig is part of the plans and and I built mine as Grant and mobbsie built theirs.

 

 

I am happy to be building again.  I will finish up the jig and start the keel.

 

 

[Canute]

Jack,

Glad you're back in action. Great start with the documentation. Nice palette of wood colors.

[gjdale]

Hey Jack,

 

Delighted to see you up and running. Good news that your health has improved enough to make a start. I'm not too far ahead of you now, and as I've made all the mistakes so far, you should be good to go! (Okay, not ALL the mistakes...........Mobbsie made a few too! )

[mobbsie]

Hi Jack,

 

Good to have with us at last mate, you've made a good start on the jig. Just take it easy and ease yourself back into it.

 

I've not made any mistakes at all mate ( don't listen to Grant ), all my extra's are test pieces and I decided early on that I was going to put some wood into my scrap box, (eerrr test box).  

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[scratch]

I have the plans sitting here ready so i will be watching you 3 lads with interest.

 

 

 

Dave

[DocBlake]

I've got the plans in 1:24 scale, and will also be watching with interest.

 

Dave

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Ken, Grant, mobbsie, Dave and Dave,

 

Thanks for the welcome.  It really feels great to be back working on wood again.  I am working slowly but getting more comfortable every day.  I have been working on the keel and hog and will have an update soon.

 

Thanks again and thanks to the "likes", always appreciated.

[Jack Panzeca]

I have been working on the keel.  The lower false keel is ebony and the upper false keel, keel and hog are swiss pear.

 

 

The ebony piece was cut from a roughly 1" x 1" x 1' piece I found in a local Woodcraft store.  Ebony sure makes a mess.  I used an extractor on the saw and I am still cleaning up fine black dust a week later.  It should be a real mess turning the mortar.

 

 

I used the Grant method of cutting the hog.  ¼" end mill to cut the notches and level the tops.  I used a ¼' x 1" piece of pear to give me something to grip with the vice and than cut it to size when it was finished.  I started out to use this keel as a test but it turned out so well that decided to keep it.  

 

 

I have been really worried about cutting the rabbet and once again went for the Grant method.  It is essentially a 90 degree V groove placed in a mill.  The rabbet runs straight about ⅔ of the way and turns up slightly.  I can't imagine cutting this by hand.  Great job on your end mobbsie.

 

 

 

After the rabbet the ends were cut to the proper length and a pass or 2 through the thickness sander and here we are.

 

 

Test frames coming up.  Starting late on this group build has the advantage of me being able to have the benefit of all that previous experience.  It sure does help.  Thanks Grant, mobbsie and Lou.

[gjdale]

Great start Jack. Your keel looks excellent.

[mobbsie]

Nicely done Jack that's a great start.

 

I must say your shipyard looks to be very impressive mate.

 

Be good

 

mobbsie

[ASAT]

Looking great Jack, gotta love a well stocked workshop... Now the real fun starts.....

[jeff1395]

Nice work Jack. I like the look of the using ebony for the false keel.

 

Jeff

[scratch]

A great start to the project Jack .

 

 

David

[Vivian Galad]

Rlly glad to see u back, Jack!!! Nice choice and start. Wood seems top quality from here.

[Jack Panzeca]

Hey Grant, mobbsie and Lou,

 

Thanks for looking in and the kind wishes.  Mobbsie and Lou: I posted a little more detail of the shipyard here: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3869-so-where-do-you-do-yours-then-model-making-that-is/?p=278203

 

Hello Jeff, David John and Vivian,

 

Thanks for dropping by.  I am happy to be back at full speed (more or less).  The wood is my favorite part of this hobby which is why I choose projects without paint or rigging.  The Bluenose II has minimal rigging and I still hated it.  I finished the hull 10 years before I got around to rigging it.

 

Thanks as well to the "Likes" it means a lot.

[Jack Panzeca]

Time for a small update.  I have been working on a couple of sets of double frames as my initial frame tests.  Both sets were D1 and D2 which are 2 of the outside frames.

 

The frame drawings were printed on letter size self adhesive labels and cut the futtocks out and stuck to the swiss pear.  First I followed Grant's example and used 3M painter's masking tape which makes everything easier to remove from the wood.  In this hemisphere it is blue rather than yellow.     I have to mention how much nicer swiss pear is to work with than oak.  Oseberg is almost completely oak and really hard to work in small scale.  Swiss pear is much softer but still holds an edge.  Sweet!

 

 

They were cut out loosely with a scroll saw and fine-tuned on a spindle sander and a disk sander.  These where my first frames and they were a long way from satisfactory.

 

 

The joints were not precise and the chocks were still a mystery.  I used only the 2 bolts shown on the drawings.  They were made from .81mm copper wire.

 

 

The second set was a lot better, I guess that is the point of practice.  I used mobbsie's flat vice method to file the scarph joints which helped a great deal.  I also replaced my decades old, not intended for prime time, Delta disk sander with another dream machine Byrne's model and that worked wonders for making the ends square.  (It is balanced so precisely that when I shut it off it continues to rotate for 30 seconds.)

 

 

Grant helped me with the layout of the additional bolts shown in AOTS.  I laid them out on a drawing copy and than transferred them to a sticky label and added them to the glued up frames.  I drilled them using a Vanda-Lay drill press with a Proxxon x-y table.

 

 

Here they are sort of finished but not glued together or faired.

 

 

They are much better but still not perfect.  Third time is a charm (I hope).   See you soon. 

 

 

 

[Mike Y]

Looks seriously good! If only I can make a frames like yours...

[gjdale]

Seriously good looking frames there Jack! Did you use Mobbsie's filing method for the keel notch as well? I found doing this gave me a much neater joint here as well.

[Canute]

Nice joinery, Jack. I'm following along and taking copious notes. Thanks for sharing.

[scratch]

Sweet workmanship Jack 

 

 

David

[mobbsie]

Nicely done Jack, looking really good.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Mike, Grant, Ken, David and mobbsie,

 

Thanks for the comments and encouragement.  Thanks to the "Likes" as well.

 

Grant and mobbsie:  Where can I find mobbsie's keel notch technique?  I have looked everywhere I can think of (Grant's log, mobbsie's log and the PM chain) and I still can't find it.  I know that it is probably staring me in the face but as usual I am overlooking it.  I could use a more precise method than "cut close with the scroll saw and file to fit".

 

Mike: your frames are lovely! 

[gjdale]

Jack,

 

Sorry if I confused you, but I was referring to using the same method of filing with the vice as you've used for the scarph joints. Hope that clarifies what I meant.

 

Just sent you a PM re gunports as well.

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Grant,

 

Thanks, I got it.  The confusion is all mine.  

[Jack Panzeca]

Well, my first keeper frame turned out to be another practice version.  I have not mastered the fit of the chocks. Starting on the most visible frame is probably a tactical error.

 

Just so you know that I am not napping, the latest try has produced some advancement.  I originally planed to use copper wire darkened with Liver of Sulphur for the double frame bolts (Grant's method).  I did not have much luck with it, staining the wood as well as the copper.  Grant graciously tried to coach me through it but I did not do so well.  I started to wonder how hard it would be to make the bolts from ebony.  I had a block of ebony in the shipyard so I started to play.

 

I cut the planks to 1/32 square dowels and with the help of the Byrne's thickness sander and finally the Byrne's draw plate they turned into .032 inch round dowels.  Not too hard, it was fun.  The first picture shows the frame and the ebony.  I really like the way they look and i only have 200 or so to make. 

 

 

 

I think that I will start on the interior doubles and see how I do with those.

[gjdale]

Nicely done with the ebony Jack, though it does sound like a lot of extra work. It will certainly give your model a unique aspect.

 

I certainly agree that starting with some of the interior frames is a smarter way to do it - save the two end frames until you've had plenty of practice.

 

That said, your chock joints look pretty good from this distance!

[Greg the peg leg sailor]

G'day Jack

I've started to read your log.

I'm glad you are feeling better now, but don't push yourself.

If you ask me, you don't need any more practice, they are first grade, and you should be proud of them. I've marked your log, so I can follow it. Please keep them coming.

[scratch]

Lovely work Jack . Your practice  frame looks great . 

 

 

David

[mobbsie]

I'll tell you now mate, those practice frames of yours would be keepers in this shipyard. To this old pair of eyes they look very good.

 

The Ebony pegs/bolts are certainly different and will give that unique stamp on your build, but as Grant has said it is a lot of extra work.

 

My shipyard has suspended operations for the time being, I'm getting way to far ahead, I still haven't learned how to slow up.

 

Good luck with the remainder of your frames mate and rest assured those wedges don't get any easier, just when you think you've mastered them, they bite.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Grant, Greg David and mobbsie,

 

Thanks for the encouragement.  Thanks to the "Likes" as well, it always means a lot. 

 

The chocks are close but little things keep them from being perfect.  Just as an example the chock on the lower left of the picture has an uneven glue line and the one on the upper right is slightly off center.  (I enhanced the contrast so that the flaws would stand out in the picture.)  Don't get me wrong some are just fine, but the two end frames have to be absolutely perfect since I will have to look at them everyday for the rest of my life.  I am going to start with the double frames in the center and by the time I get to the 2 outside frames the chocks and the treenails should be perfect.

 

 

Thanks again to all who look in.  Also, thanks to mobbsie for the tip on filing the scarph joints and the keel notches using a vice.  It has really helped.  Actually I borrowed the idea from Grant after he borrowed it from mobbsie.

 

Time to make more sawdust.