Red Dragon by UpstateNY - FINISHED - Artesania Latina - Scale 1:60

[CaptainSteve]

Nigel,

Do you have a scale-sized sailor to compare with the boat ??

Try to find a toy soldier to size-up against your work. It would not matter at all even if he was from a completely different era and/or part of the globe. 

 

Also, is the little boat meant to be a two-man skiff ?? Or a small launch, meant to hold 18 or so men ??

(I'm guessing not the latter.)

 

I hate to be the voice of dissension, but, to my eye, it just looks a little small sitting on your deck.

(Although, it might be perfect if mounted hanging astern.)

Edited September 7, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[UpstateNY]

Hi Captain Steve,

 

Thanks for the inputs and good thought about using a scale figure. 

 

I don't have one unfortunately, but right now at scale the boat would be about 10 feet long with perhaps a 4 ft beam. So it would probably take about 4 or 5 people.

 

A junk would probably have something larger as well, so I think I am going to upsize the design so it can take about 12 men and then hang this little guy off the stern. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[mrangus]

Looks good Nigel, I like the platform fits well with the boat.

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Spent the last few days redoing the ships boat to make it about 50% larger. I used the same method to build it as the first version except I changed up the design a bit to accommodate a larger crew and add some side rails. I also made a larger platform and then took a try at making the mast, yard and oars from some toothpicks. Just have to remove some dust I just noticed in the pictures!

 

Overall I am pretty happy with how this version turned out and thanks to all for helping me   !

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

[augie]

How did we all know this was coming????  Nice work and more size-appropriate.

[mrangus]

looks great Nigel. Definitely an upgrade to the first edition of the boat. Nice work with the oars too - must have used really fine sandpaper to get so smooth.

[UpstateNY]

Hi Robb,

 

I am finding old, worn 320 sandpaper is sometimes very useful!  The oars also have a thin coat of wipe on poly on them as well.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

Edited September 14, 2015 by UpstateNY

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Only a small update this week, but I did finally complete the railings. The turned railings I'd made earlier didn't really look right anymore against the square design of the windows. So I redid the design using 3mm square stock for the major posts. The rails and smaller posts were made from 1mm walnut. The last deck furniture items to finish are the gallery stairs and the support posts used to help raise and lower them. 

 

Pictures below and thanks for the comments, likes and for reading.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cog]

Thank you for the build log ... the reading ... I'm enjoying your build immensly!! So, I'm waiting everytime - impatiently - for an update ..!

[UpstateNY]

Thanks for the kind words Carl and very glad you are enjoying the build!  It has taken longer to get to this point than I expected, but has been a lot of fun!

 

Will keep the updates coming and as the leaves are starting to turn here, the winter build season is on it's way!  Who knows, I may actually finish this little guy before the end of the year! 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[augie]

Nicely done.  The railings do complement the windows.  And look ...  her colors match the Seasons!

[Dimitris71]

Hello Nigel, just catching up... Your work and progress of your build is fantastic ... Congrats!!

 

Kind regards

Dimitris

[UpstateNY]

Welcome back Dimitris!  Looking forward to seeing your updates on your lovely Amerigo Vespucci again!

 

Augie...right now the maples here are only starting to turn...their deep red is a couple of weeks away if we are lucky with the fall colors!  Your leaves up in the Rockies are now doubt a bit ahead of us!

 

As for the Dragon...a little more progress as the gallery ladders and their support posts have been completed. Making the ladders went more smoothly than when I made the ladders to the poop deck which I am rather happy about.  Platforms are just some basswood planks with the edges lined using walnut.

 

Kit ladder support posts were simple curved metal posts and so I made some replacements using 3mm walnut square stock.  I cut out a lap joint to join the sections but decided to only make it 1mm deep to leave an offset as I liked the extra relief between the two sections. I then added some brass rod and the base so the post also formed a bitt and also some of Chuck's cleats.  I'll use the cleats when I rig the lines to the ladders.

 

That completes all the decking work so now time to start on the masts!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CaptainSteve]

Looking good, Nigel !!

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Another small milestone as the masts are now assembled. Tapering of the walnut dowels was done using my small lathe and I found, while rather dusty, simply using coarse 180 sandpaper worked well to quickly taper them to shape followed by smoothing using 220/320 grit paper.  The flagpole on the mainmast was made by tapering a toothpick and the small round balls were kit provided items. Wood finish is a just a couple of coats of wipe on poly and the metal work is simply blackened brass. I also bought a white project board so the masts and rigging to come can be seen better.

 

Pictures below and it is now time to face the rigging! Thanks for the likes and of course for visiting!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

[augie]

The addition of the 3rd dimension!  Enjoy the rigging  and move very carefully now.

[UpstateNY]

Thanks Augie...and will do!

 

Should have said the masts and deck furniture are actually still just pinned in place. I figured I would need some extra space to rig the cannon's, anchor and other items that are self contained.

 

Once I start on the standing and running rigging, everything will then have to the be glued in place. I will certainly have to watch I don't break things loose.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

[Jparsley]

Nigel She's turned into a lovely ship

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

From my first attempt at rigging my tiller a few posts back, one problem I had was neatly seizing the blocks. Things just got worse as to help with the scale, I've reduced the my block size to 3mm from 4mm and I am also using much thinner seizing thread as Brian recommended. Now I bought Chuck's Serv-o-matic during his recent sale and thought of a way this past weekend to use it to help me seize my blocks. Perhaps this is old stuff to many, but figured I'd share in case it helps someone.

 

Pictures tell the story, but I clamped some 3/16in brass tubing to the gears using some 3/16in drill stops. I then glued some connector clips to the 3/16in brass tubing.  These fixtures, that are quickly removable, allowed me to hold the small hook and block firmly and use the Serv-o-matic to seize the block. I still need a lot more practice, but you can see in the final picture there is some neater seizing starting to emerge. The looser part you can see was because I removed the block from the machine before the 50/50 glue mix had dried fully and the rope loosened slightly. Fewer turns may help things look neater as well.

 

Anyway, I think I now have a way to seize these small blocks neatly and also much faster.  Acid test will be when I try to use the 2mm blocks I bought to do my cannons!

 

Hope you found this of some interest...now it's back to my rigging which is proving pretty fun!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2015 by UpstateNY

[Jparsley]

For the size I think it looks great

[CaptainSteve]

That's a nice modification, Nigel !!

I've just finished putting together my own Serv-o-matic. Reckon I'll be adding a couple of extra bits now.

 

By the way, I'm lovin' what you are doing with your Junk.

Edited October 8, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for the more kind comments and of course for the likes.  Support is really appreciated.

 

So, a little more progress as the tiller rigging has been redone using the 3mm Syren blocks.  Glad I did this as I think the 3mm blocks work better than the 4 mm blocks I used before.

 

I also glued down the gallery stairs and support posts. Stair rigging was completed in the same way as the tiller except the lines were tied off to one of Chuck's cleats.  Overall I am pretty happy with these first tries given I am starting on the rigging learning curve.   Next up are the cannons!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Omega1234]

Very nice Nigel, very nice, indeed!

 

Well done and I'm looking forward to seeing the cannons coming together.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[augie]

Nice touch on those details.

[Mirabell61]

Beautiful build NIgel,

 

I like very much that you avoided painting the Wood, it Looks so good with the natural Wood...

 

Nils

[UpstateNY]

Thank you so much for the kind comments  and the likes guys! Really encouraging.

 

Cannons are in progress, but jeez these 2mm blocks hard to hold on to! First line took me an hour, but progress is slowly being made. 

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

Edited October 10, 2015 by UpstateNY

[xken]

Everything looking nice and clean! Keep up the great job you are doing with the rigging.

[yancovitch]

ha...just caught this log....what an intriguing ship...and what a neat clean job!....

[UpstateNY]

Hi All,

 

Thanks again for all the kind comments and of course for the likes.

 

Well, I finally managed to complete the cannons. Tackles used Syren 2mm blocks, 4mm hooks and 0.008in rope; breaching lines were 0.025in rope, combined some 4mm hooks and rings. An anchor bend was used to attach the breaching ropes to the rings and the tackles were tied off to Syren boxwood cleats. Overall, I am pretty happy with how the cannons turned out and I'm glad I managed to use the 2mm blocks. You can see how large a 4mm block looks in the first image. 

 

I also attached and rigged the anchor I made a few posts back.  An anchor bend was again used to tie the 0.025in rope to the ring and I made up a walnut support so I could tie down the anchor.

 

I need to do some touch up here and there on the metal work which has lost some finish and then it is time to start the standing rigging!

 

Thanks for reading and images below.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lionfish]

looks great, makes me want to do a junk now, seriously awesome work. send it for a sail on lake Champlain and send champ swimming