Brig Eagle by robnbill - 1:48

[Guest Tim I.]

I really like the cabins. Will the gun deck cover most of the detail, or will you provide for cutaway detailing?

 

- Tim

[robnbill]

Thanks Tim. The deck above it will certainly obstruct some. I have to work out how much I cover and how much is left open. I am hoping that once I start working on the main deck beams I will be able to figure out how much will be obstructed. I will not be fully planking the main deck, so I do have some control. If I fully plank beneath the cannons it would cover up nearly all of the cabins so I will need to be creative in how I approach the planking on the main deck.

[robnbill]

I worked on the Brodie Stove and Charlie Noble today. I made it out of maple and brass. It was a fun project. I know the details of this will not be seen once it is installed in the ship, but I know they will be there. I will install the Charlie Noble once the main deck is in.

Edited June 16, 2015 by robnbill

[Guest Tim I.]

I worked on the Brodie Stove and Charlie Noble today. I made it out of maple and brass. It was a fun project. I know the details of this will not be seen once it is installed in the ship, but I know they will be there. I will install the Charlie Noble once the main deck is in.

 

Some details are like that I think for a builder. I for one like to do the same. It is that feeling / thought in the back of the mind that everything is done as it should be. 

 

Your attention to detail on this ship is remarkable. The stove looks fantastic!

 

- Tim

[DocBlake]

Great job on the Brodie stove, Bill.  Your model is beautiful.  Keep up the good work!

 

Dave

[robnbill]

I thought I would give an update on the Eagle since it has been awhile since I did. I have pretty much completed the berth deck. There is still some additional furniture to add to the officers cabins, but other than that it is done. The 

three photos below show the sail bin. 









Next are the table and benches for the ward room. The map is a preproduction of a 1776 survey map done of the lake.











The captain's cabin shown here. Later I removed the writing table for a simpler one and bench. The furnishings are the bed, chest of drawers and water basin stand, sea chest, and writing table and bench. The beds are all carved from maple and painted to look like straw mattresses.






After these were done I started working on the barrels. I made two sizes, a few puncheons and a dozen hogsheads. These were based on the standard barrel measurements. I made these by turning a length of maple into the shapes. After cutting these apart I used the easychuck to hold them while a flattened and cut the inner top recesses. I cut the stave marks by holding these up to the scroll saw blade and the micro chisels to cut the tops. I painted these black then wiped and buffed them dry. Then a quick staining. After these dried I used the pin striping material and made the hoops. 

I placed these temporarily around the ship to see how they worked. I will glue these in just before I plank the main deck.



The letter on the captain's writing desk is a reproduction of a letter from Captain MacDonough from the Navy Archives.







I then turned my attention to the rudder. Dr. Crisman states that much care was taken in shaping the deadwood. I used the profiles from his book to shape the rudder. The pintle and gudgeons were made with brass.








I planked the stern inside and out. I have cut the holes for the spikes. These will be the equivalent of ¾" spike heads. I completed installing the spikes in the upper outside of the stern. The holes are all drilled and the pins cut. Tomorrow I should complete these installation of these. Then I plan on working on the main deck beams and waterway.









So that is where she stands tonight. I am pleased with how she is coming along. I still need to decide how much of the main deck I want to plank. I would like to have cannon on both sides, but that means more deck covered. I will decide this after the beams are installed.

Edited June 30, 2015 by robnbill

[jwvolz]

I love all the details Bill, fantastic! And considering all you are doing you are flying right along. 

[Canute]

Bill, your detailing is outstanding. Really enjoy following your build!

[Jack12477]

Bill, I have to echo the remarks above. Your detailed furniture, sails, bin, barrels, etc are amazing. Great looking model.

[usedtosail]

She is looking absolutely great, Bill. I love those details too.

[CaptainSteve]

The map and letter are really extra, special touches.

Nice work, Bill !!

[Jason]

Great Details!  It is really amazing to see the details of human interaction on models.  The map and the letter are the two items that really bring the subject to life.

 

I am looking forward to seeing more!

[DocBlake]

Fantastic work!  The detail is awesome.

[DocBlake]

Bill:  Did you have plans for the Brodie stove or did you draw up your own?  I'm going to want to build one myself!

[Jack12477]

Looking at photos #7 & 8 above of the cabins (overhead views) reminds me of the cabins my wife and I stayed in some many years ago when we cruised on the Nathanial Bowditch out of Rockland ME.  Bunks were attached directly to the side of the hull.  Great time tho.

[mtaylor]

Dave,

Here's a set from the database:  http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/furniture/stove.PDF

[robnbill]

Dave, the link from Mark is one of the sets I used. I also used information from the NRG paper by Allan Yedlinsky as well as an excellent article on the HMSFly.com site. The later had historical information including the scaling that the British Navy used on the stoves. I ended up using all this information and then made my own version.

 

Bill

[mtaylor]

Allen's paper is in the database also... under the Furniture section.  http://modelshipworldforum.com/ship-modeling-articles-and-downloads.php

 

I guess I should have mentioned it....

[DocBlake]

I'm currently starting a Lauck Street true POF kit build of an Armed Virginia Sloop of 1768,  I'd like to include the stove, but the Brodie stove didn't begin to be used until about 1781.  Does anyone have a link to photos or plans of ship's stoves predating the Brodie?  If not, I'll go with the Brodie, accuracy be damned!  Thanks for the links, BTW.

[robnbill]

You

re welcome. I know I have seen a number of pre Brodie stoves in the build logs. Not sure which ones off the top of my head, but there are some great examples that I have seen. 

[GuntherMT]

Been a while since I've stopped in Bill.  Your progress is amazing as is your workmanship and detail.  I love the small touches you are adding like the map and the captain's letter!

[robnbill]

It has been a few weeks since I updated the log. The ship continues to take shape. I have completed the deck beams and added the waterways. I used a modified installation slightly different from Gene's practicum. I decided to notch the bottoms of the beams, but notch the waterway for the tops. I bent the wood for most of the waterway, but shaped the bow by cutting the shape out on the bandsaw. Once the waterway was fitted and notched, I shaped the sides to match the ships sides.

I also tested cutting the cannonball cuts using small ball shaped diamond bits in the rotary tool. These seemed to work well. I will plan on adding the pins to the waterway once the cups are all cut. I still have some details on the berth deck that I need to clean up including the sail bin was a bit tall so it has been cut down. I need to redo the sails in the tops of the bin and finish up the cabins. I have been waiting to complete these until I decided how much decking to install. While I would like to leave half the ship open, I also would like to have cannon on each side. Decisions decisions...

[mtaylor]

Wow!  She's looking great, Bill.

[DocBlake]

Very, Very nice! 

Edited July 26, 2015 by DocBlake

[robnbill]

It has been several weeks so I wanted to give an update. After the last post I started working on the hatch coamings. I made these out of walnut. I also decided to make a modified hatch over the stove. Instead of building it into a solid cover, I made the coming then added the small plate that would be just around the Charlie Noble. I made this out of Walnut. The hole in it will be where the stack itself will be seated. This accomplishes a number of goals. It hides the connection for the stack to stove, and it still allows the stove to be seen below decks.

 

 

After these were in place I tried to make the gratings. I wanted to have grating holes of 2 ½" ish. At scale this would be around 1.3mm. I tried to make these on my Proxxon (the entry level Proxxon) micro table saw. I was able to make gratings but totally unable to make consistent gratings. So I bit the bullet and ordered a Byrnes TS. So while waiting on that to come in, I proceeded to work on the planking. I started working on the inner bulwark planking. I did this in maple. Once all were done, I drilled and set all the brass pins to mimic the spikes. The wire size reflects a spike head of about ¾".

 

After the inner bulwarks were completed I started working the outer planking. Other than the wales being thicker there is nothing regarding whether the wales were painted black or not. I decided to add wales using walnut. Above and below this I will us maple. Once the wales were in, I added the cannon port sills. These sit directly on top of the waterways. For those with the 32 pound carronades, there are plates inset in the sills with a hole the carronade carriage sits in to allow it to pivot. I made these out of brass and decided to leave them bright. 

 

Above the wales and sills, the outer planking is going to the maple. the top rails will be walnut. I have completed the port outer planking above the wales. As a break from planking, I tried some tests on the cannon barrels. I thought about turning them in Ebony, but almost assuredly, there would be some brown incursions in the wood unless I planned on wasting a great deal of wood to get the right black blanks, or I ebonized the wood. I decided if I used wood, I would ebonize using India Ink. This seems to be the thinnest finish that would produce a deep black that was still light safe so it would not fade over time. The alternative to that would be paint and I really did not want to paint the cannon. I did a test carronade out of walnut. I did not like the way it turned on that scale. It was just too course. While this could be overcome with the proper finishing (sanding and finish) I would rather use something like boxwood.

 

The other alternative would be making them out of brass. There are a few sites (and one Youtube video) that show turning brass on a wood lathe. So nothing lost to try. I ordered some ⅜" brass stock and today tried to turn a barrel. This was just a test to see if I could turn a barrel with my tools. SO for this I did not use a pattern but turned a barrel similar to that of the long guns. It is about the correct size, but the goal here was just to see if I could do it. Then I would see if I could turn the correct pattern and replicate it.

 

I am happy with the test turning. It was successful enough to go to the next step. Here are some photos of how she sits tonight. I spent the afternoon doing a bit of much needed shop cleanup. Next I will focus on completing the planking. The Byrnes saw came in and I can't wait to start using it!

 

Here is the Wood Cannon followed by the Brass barrel.

 

[Canute]

Like that brass barrel, Bill. The carronade looks good, too. Eagle is looking good.

[rtropp]

very nice,

what tools did you use to turn the brass cannon on the wood lathe... I would like to give that try myself.

 

Richard

[Guest Tim I.]

Bill,

 

I commend you on turning the carronades. That is one thing I have struggled with in scratch building, is coming up with believable guns (cannons and carronades). It may be a bit of a departure from true scratch building, but I prefer to purchase them as I do not think I could do the great job you have done on yours.

 

- Tim

[robnbill]

Thanks.

 

Richard, as far as tools, when I tried turning the small walnut carronade I realized my full size turning tools were way too large. I splurged on Easy Wood Mini turning tools. There are three, a roughing (square head), a smoothing (round head), and a detailed (diamond head). They are still a bit large but between them and some small metal files it seems to be a good combination. I chose the Easy Wood tools because they use replaceable carbide blades. This was my first time using these tools but they seems to work well. There is a real sweet spot that you have to find in placing the tool against the brass. Once I finished with the turning tools, I sharpened the detail edges with the small rifflers and metal files. Then used progressive sand paper to bring it down to almost smooth.

 

Lastly, I have some finishing buffers I use on fine finishes like guitar backs. I could have buffed an even shinier appearance on the brass , but this was just a test. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get back to the cannon. I need to come up with a draping method around my lathe. The large dust collection vent I use to catch wood shavings s I turn does not come close to catching the brass. The turning results in very fine brass needles flying off the tool. Nothing that can't be vacuumed up.

Edited August 14, 2015 by robnbill

[usedtosail]

Nice work on the Eagle, Bill. I know you will love that new saw.