machines which I have made, am making, or intend to make, and some other stuff. If you find this site interesting, please leave a comment. I read every comment and respond to most. n.b. There is a list of my first 800 posts in my post of 17 June 2021, titled "800 Posts"
I forgot to add these photos to the previous post.
I had decided that the base of the case needed to look a bit more substantial, and after considering several options chose to add some 25x20mm acrylic strips to the base. I also chose to miter the corners of the plinth rather than square butt them. In order to hide the fact that the added plinth is in fact added, I did not want any fasteners to be visible. So I had an interesting conversation with ChatGPT about gluing the black acrylic strips to the black acrylic base, with the glue not showing through the base.
The final choice narrowed down to an expensive glue or quite inexpensive double sided tape. Apart from the cost, the glue does have some time for massaging the positions, is extremely strong, but once set it is very difficult to separate the pieces. The tape is cheap, and is fairly strong but is separable, and there is really only one shot at getting the position correct with bugger all hope of moving it once it grabs.
From memory the 30m roll cost about $aud20. It was handy to have extra with which to practice. (because errors are problems up with which I will not put!)
The issue of having only one shot at the positioning was eased by using the red clamps bought recently from AliExpress….
Plinth pieces in position on inverted acrylic case.Just a comment about the AliExpress clamps. They are new, and cost about $aud10 each. But one of the threads would not allow the threaded knob to be screwed in place. Turned out that the thread on the bent rod was not properly cut. I ran a die down the thread with some difficulty, and ended up with a “drunken” thread. A bit annoying. I will have to make another one.
So now the USS Constitution sits in its case, not gathering dust, and with care, transportable. Until it goes to its new home it can sit as shown below.
Note the brass thumbscrews which allow the front or rear panels to be easily removed; and the rigging which is highlighted in the early morning sun.
Of course that is a perspex/acrylic case for my 1:93 model.
Constitution lies comfortably on its side. The rigging makes the spars and masts strong enough to take the weight without causing distortion or movement, although a couple of long guns flopped about. (loose cannons). The almost finished case behind.
My requirements for the case were that it should keep out dust, be light enough for one person (me) to carry with the ship inside, should not be too ugly, that the two big panels could be removed and replaced fairly easily,
I also decided to use acrylic rather than polycarbonate because it is said to be more resistant to scratching, is slightly more transparent, and is much less expensive.
When I explained my job to the local supplier he recommended 4.5mm thick sheet, and that it be laser cut so the edges looked polished. He also guaranteed that the panels would be cut very accurately.
So I drew up my plans, and decided to use aluminium 10x10mm square section rod inside the corners and around the top, and 16×16 angle on the outside of the corners to cover the panel edges and the square section. The aluminium was my solution for the requirement to be able to remove the big panels if required. (It was required. I must have removed and replaced panels at least 20 times!)
At the planning stage I had not finally decided how to fix the ship to the base. I was probably going to use forms shaped to the keel and lower hull, and so allowed about 25mm extra height of the case. I did not use the forms. See my final method later in this post.
The model just fits in the case with 2-10mm to spare. Here it is sitting on the forms which I have subsequently changed. The 1812 US flags will be fitted later. The base is glossy black acrylic which gives a nice reflection of the coppered hull and rudder. I will also raise the case about 25mm on a black acrylic semi hidden base. I am not planning to use LED lights, but the final recipient of the model will have that option.Just a bit of reflection from the window behind. It almost gives an impression of the ship afloat?The transparency is quoted as 93%. I don’t particularly like the appearance of the aluminium. One of my friend has suggested having the alu sand blasted. I am considering that option.
Oh yes. Fixing the model to the base. I cut a 7mm deep groove into a piece of 20x25mm rectangular section acrylic bar almost as long as the keel, and the groove was wide enough to accept a brass strip as a gib. Then drilled and tapped x3 3mm grub screws to push against the gib, holding/trapping the keel into the slot. The bar was screwed to the base through the bottom of the slot.
That slotted bar seems to hold the ship quite securely in place. And the tight dimensions of the case interior around the spars would stop it from moving too far even if it did shake loose during transport.
This is a magnified shot of the bow end of the keel sitting in the slot and the brass gib screwed firmly against the keel. Also shows how reflective is the black acrylic. Next time that I have the case open I will polish the ends of the slotted bar.
PART A. The GunPort Covers. See the photos. They were attached yesterday, after the previous post’s pics were taken.
Magnified photos show warts and all. Like crooked gunport covers, gappy bulwark rail, bent channels. and a long gun which is aiming very low.!
The photo setup… black background, natural light, some telephoto. Gunport covers are in place. Looks OK from this distance?The gunport covers supplied by Mamoli are soft metal. The originals were thick painted wood. I imagine that they had separate round covers to block the central hole in rough weather. I quite like the soft grey colour, so will not paint them. But the wooden anchor bar needs some metal bands painted on.The plans for the barge davits had only single ropes, and the ropes for the blocks which attached to the boat were tied to shroud deadeyes. I could find no authoratative reference regarding these details. But I did note that Constitution currently has davits which are hinged, and when the pins are removed the davits are bent, moving the boat away from the hull and towards the water. I thought the boat crew could assist with the lowering using the tackle which is hooked to the boat, so I ended the ropes onto the boat. Rope coils will be added.Rope coils will be added to the belaying pins also. I ran out of the Mamoli supplied belaying pins and purchased 40 new ones which are the same length, but thinner and shinier. The shiny ones will tarnish eventually.
I have mulled regarding the carronade ropes. My intention is to install breech ropes, just winding them around the carronade knobs. The carronades are mounted on carriages with recoil slides built in. So the breech ropes can be fairly short. Installing gun positioning blocks and tackle will be overly fiddly, difficult at the scale, and look too crowded on the model so they will be left out.
PART B. The Case.
I have vacillated about this. Already the model has accumulated more dust than I like, and I know from experience that the longer the dust remains the harder it is to clean off. So a transparent cover is required.
Glass is heavy and dangerous if it breaks. Dangerous to personnel and the model.
Polycarbonate is very strong, but expensive, and apparently scratches easily if incorrectly cleaned.
Acrylic is less expensive (roughly half the cost of polycarbonate), less tough than polycarbonate (not bullet proof, but this is Oz not USA), and slightly less transparent. But on balance seems the best option.
The design has been given considerable thought and research. I drew up plans using acrylic, fluted corner columns, wooden base and framed acrylic. Then the problem was solved from a different source.
SWMBO said…”it needs to be simple, and not compete with the ship. So just a plain glass box.” So that was that. Except that it will be acrylic not glass. My thought is that the walls and roof will be 4.5mm acrylic, glued together, and lifted on and off the base in one piece. The base will be thick black plywood with rubber feet. Sitting on top of the plywood will be some 10mm black gloss acrylic. I have used black acrylic layered with black painted plywood on another model (cannon), and it looks good. If I decide to add some LED’s and batteries, the thick plywood base could house the batteries and wires.
Just to show the black acrylic layered on top of painted plywood. I quite like the appearance but maybe customwood would give a smoother appearance than ply. Or maybe I should use 2 layers of black acrylic and hang the expense. The build of the 1866 Armstrong 80pr rifled muzzle loader was posted 5 years ago on johnsmachines.com.
Next decision, will I make it myself, of get it made professionally? Not yet decided. I like to have control of the process, and supervise the quality control, and it would be less expensive. Also I could buy sheets of acrylic, enough to do the 3 or 4 ship models in my possession and planned. (I have 2 model ships which I bought recently, so I can give one to each daughter eventually. And I intend to assemble the model of Pharaoh Khufu’s ship.
In my last post I stated that I had been rigging the 1:93 model USS Constitution for a month.
On reviewing my posts I see that I have actually been doing the rigging for THREE months. How time flies when you are having fun.
But it (the rigging) is now finished, except for one or two tiny jobs.
I took some photos to mark the stage, and some follow. Since then I have installed the gunport covers. Then I have to make a permanent stand and case. Then it will be finished.
USS Constitution is reported to have had 64km/40miles of hemp rope in its rigging. At 1:93 that equates to 688 meters. Based on the number of times that I made model rope on my rope run, I can believe it.
However, the actual number of meters of model rope would be less than 688m, because I chose to not install sails or the sail ropes. I installed just the standing rigging (black) and running rigging natural hemp colour, to control the spars. But at a guess, those would have been around half or more of the ropes.
My Constitution as it was yesterday. My desk has not been that clean for a year. Gunport covers are now in place.
Foremast top. With a scale model figure (actually 1:87 so it is slightly too big). I chose to not paint the ship model, but just one coat of polyurethrane.
Drone viewThe bow and a figure in the head. He still has his pants on. There are 4 figures but one fell into the hold and cannot be retrieved.Not 688m, but there are a lot of ropes and cables.
More ship’s boats. 5 altogether. And 20 carronades on the spar deck. I might get around to fitting gun breech ropes later. I wont be fitting gun positioning blocks and tackle at this scale.I read that rudders were not fitted to the ship’s boats because of the risk of losing them. They were fitted only when in use. This is a 32′ barge. It would also have carried at least one mast and a sail, and 14 oars.2 spare anchors were lashed amidship, and a 34′ launch, and small dinghy lashed on the spar deck. (The gunports look more complete with covers since this photo was taken.)Yes, it is complex. But there is logic, and repetitive patterns about which I became increasingly aware as the job progressed. I like this shot.The boat hanging off the transom is a 28′ pinnace. A bit leaky at present.
In a battle the boats were cast adrift and retrieved later. That reduced the risk to the crew of splinters, and removed obstructions to some of the guns.
Also in a battle the transom gun ports were opened and guns wheeled into those positions.
I have US flags from the period ~1814. With stripes and 14 stars. Not yet fitted. Feeling a bit ambivalent to be honest. Maybe when the current POTUS departs.
So attaching a block 3mm long to 0.25mm black thread, AND forming a Becket (a Becket, not Thomas), is a challenge.
I won’t say that I have developed the ideal method, but I have a method of sorts.
First, this is a block (a rigging pulley on a ship) with an loop at one end, and the other end is fastened to a mast or spar or standing rigging cable.
A becket. Not Thomas a’Beckett.Step 1. Tie the thread with a square knot (reef knot) to a stick with the diameter of the interior of the becket. In this case, a toothpick. The block is 3mm long. I have lost count of the number of those which have vanished after being dropped.Step 2. Hold the 3mm long block at the points of spring loaded forceps (these have nylon tips, designed for soldering. I find them very useful for holding delicate parts without marking them. And also for CA gluing, which does not stick to the nylon.Feed the thread around the groove in the block and tie it. One throw only! Turn the foreps and blocks over to ensure that the thread is sitting in the block groove on all surfaces.Finish that knot making sure that it sits at the opposite end to the becket. In this case I want the block to sit a few mm away from the mast, so I have twisted the thread tightly, tied another knot at the end of the twisted section, and applied CA glue to the 3 knots and the twisted section. Remove the toothpick before applying glue to the knot at that end.
It is now ready to be installed on the model.
See the blocks, the beckets and the (white untrimmed) halyards?
This post is almost certainly of no interest to anyone, except possibly me, so I can refer to it next time I have to make beckets from thread. An alternative method is to use copper wire and that is much easier, but not appropriate in this position. the black mark on the spar is a penciled guide line which I must remember to rub out.
I have spent the last 2 weeks rigging the foremast of the Constitution. It, the foremast rigging, is close to finished. Then the mainmast and mizzen to go. When I say 2 weeks, I mean 5-6 hours every day, at least 5 days per week. So I will be glad when it is finished. I think that this model is pushing the limits of my patience.
However, I received a mail reminder from my optician for an eyesight check, which I had 2 days ago. It seems that the sight in my left eye has deteriorated significantly in the last 2 years, and that apparently explains my struggling with binocular vision. I am looking forward to some new glasses in the hope that will improve my rigging of the Constitution. I asked why my left eye has deteriorated. “75 years old” was the answer. Amazingly my right eye, which experienced the retinal detachment and cataract 9 years ago, is now 20/20.
Since the previous post I have been tying ratlines to the shrouds. The ratlines were the horizontal ropes which were tied to the shrouds, forming rope ladders.
In the full size Constitution, the ratlines were spaced 13-14″ apart. Each ratline was tied to 7 or 8 shrouds with a clove hitch knot to each shroud. In the 1:93 scale model, I placed the ratlines 5mm apart. Theoretically, in the model, the ratlines should have been spaced 3.8mm apart, but I cheated slightly, placing the ratlines at what would have equated to 18″ in the full size ship. If I had followed the Mamoli plans, the ratlines would have been even further apart.
Even with that cheat, it took me 3 full days to place the ratlines on the lowermost section of the foremast, working at my limits of eyesight, patience and dexterity. And using some of my microsurgical instruments, which I had retained after retirement for just such a use.
It was not an easy task.
I could not do this after sundown. I did try, but the results were so horrible that I restricted this job to daylight hours. And I used magnification, a headlight, and superglue to secure each knot.
It is more than 10 years since I performed my final surgical operation. And it was quite a shock to realise that I had forgotten how to tie surgical knots. It did not take long to reaquire the skill, performing hand ties, instrument ties, left handed, right handed, two handed and single handed ties. Keeping tensions applied during the tying. Routine stuff for an active surgeon. And it felt good to be doing them again, even though the patient was a non complaining model ship.
When I was a surgeon I was proud of my surgical skills, particularly my suturing. I taught many medical students and junior doctors how to suture and how to tie knots. It was not a part of the medical curriculum to learn suturing. Med students are just expected to make the effort to learn how to suture and tie knots from books. With the result that many doctors never learned these skills properly. And even some experienced surgeons never understood the difference between a “granny knot” and a properly performed surgical knot. They got by using multiple throws, rather than properly performed knots with just 3 throws.
Anyway, I reminisce and digress.
Each row of the ratlines involved 7 or 8 knots, and took about 10 minutes. There were 25 ratlines per side, say about 200 knots per side for just the lowermost section of the foremast, per side. Plus the futtock shrouds and their ratlines… another 25 knots per side. Say around 450 knots altogether, for the lowermost section of the foremast. And each knot has to be formed without distorting the shroud, remaining horizontal with the waterline, (not with the keel. Most sailing ships of the period were “stern draggers” where the keel was deeper at the stern than the bow).
And I secured each knot with a drop of CA glue. Just to be sure to be sure.
I was not totally happy with the end result. It was just OK. But it will have to do.
The first 13 rows of ratlines for one side of the foremast, lowermost section. The tracing paper with ruled lines 5mm apart helps to keep the ratlines parallel, and level, reasonably.The small shrouds between the fighting top and the foremast shrouds are called futtock shrouds. They hold the deadeyes above the fighting top. And they have their own ratlines. The loop above the fighting top is about to snare another deadeye,Another ruled piece of tracing paper indicates the position of the futtock shroud ratlines. Far side completed. About to commence the near side. The shrouds are 0.8mm diameter, the futtock shrouds are 0.4mm diameter, and the ratlines are 0.2mm diameter. I just assumed that you would want to know. Later ratlines were positioned using graph paper glued to cardboard, instead of my fairly inaccurate ruled lines.
p.s. about 3 weeks later. I did not post this for some reason. But here it is, a bit late.
Actually, the truth is that the photos reveal a major mistake in the rigging which I probably should not reveal. Experienced ship modelers will see it no doubt. But the recipient of this model will almost certainly not, and is not a reader of johnsmachines.com.
Anyway, the rigging has made further progress since then….
The shrouds and ratlines are finished on the 3 masts. About 2000 knots. All ropes made at home. No more major mistakes but quite a few small ones. Notice the snaking in the fore stays? After I attached the snaking on the foremast forestay I discovered that it is too heavy. The snaking on the mainmast forestay is correct. That is fixable without too much bother, just a couple of hours extra.
Mizzen mast ratlines. Progress shot. I learned that it is best to let the CA glue set totally before trimming the ends.The forestays are the biggest cables in the rigging. This one is for the foremast. It is 1.1mm diameter. The “mouse” was originally a complicated rope structure, but I chose to 3D print it and glue it to the forestay, and paint it black. No one will ever know. Except you and me.The part of the forestays which wrap around the mast were served, so I used my homemade seizing-serving machine to serve about 100mm of each forestay. The photo shows the bare cable (top) and the served cable (bottom). The cable is 1.1mm diameter. The original was almost 100mm diameter! You can tell that it is a cable by the left hand twist.Then the loop which is restrained by the mouse, is SEIZED. It is a VERY strong. I could not budge it using all of my strength. Seizing was also made on my machine.
Just to remind you what my seizing-serving machine looks like…..
CNC controlled machine, designed and made by yours truly.
Ship Modelers of Geelong (SMOGs) shamed me recently into getting on with my USS Constitution model. It has sat untouched for 3 or 4 months while I pursued rope making, and other diversions.
So, I started the serious business of frigging the rigate. Or should that be rigging the frigate?
The books suggest that rigging a model frigate should be done in the same order as rigging a full size ship. There is logic to that approach. It means that old times methods can be read and used, and one thereby learns about the old times methods, which is interesting.
There do have to be some modifications of the method, because model ships are smaller than full size ones, and access to some bits can be tight. Particularly with fat old arthritic fingers. But the principle holds reasonably true.
So, I started with the shrouds. Those are the big black strong ropes which hold the masts to the sides of the ship, and towards the back (the stern.) They are black because they were coated with tar. The tar prolongued their useful life by making them waterproof, , but also made them unpleasant to handle. They were also left handed, S twists which cannot be commercially purchased (as far as I know), so I made my own.
Kit supplied blocks. A bit rough. But this is the first shroud to be positioned. The shroud (the black left handed cable which I made) and the lanyard rope through the pulleys (also left handed. I forgot to reverse the twist). The bent wire through the dead eye to the right is a bent dressmaker’s pin, to get the distance correct, ready for the next light beige lanyard.The next shroud roped up. A pair is completed before doing the same to the other side of the ship.The foremast shrouds for the lowermast completed. About a day to complete this. I did get faster as the day progressed.
The next step is to attach the ratlines. The ratlines are the ropes which the sailors climb to release and furl the sails.
First I cut a piece of tracing paper to fit behind the shrouds.Then, after some reading, I marked the position of the ratlines at the usual separation distance of 13-15″. And inserted a piece of brass plated iron wire for the lowermost step. A piece of wood was specified, but I preferred the iron part because I believe that is what would have been used.And there is the first ratline knotted with clove hitches to each shroud. It is intended to be slightly loose. the iron rod is also tied and glued to the shrouds.
I am bit disgusted with myself for not getting those deadeyes more level. I could cut the shrouds off and start that part again. But will I? No way.
Then I ran out of deadeyes!!
I was short changed deadeyes in the kit!
Last time that I buy a secondhand kit!
More deadeyes ordered. I hope that they come soon.
A few of my first degree relatives have ADD or ADHD. I have never been officially diagnosed as such, but I know that I have similar characteristics. Like jumping from one project to another. Or suddenly shifting topics of conversation, sometimes to the discomfiture of to whomsoever I am talking. (I will not end a sentence with a preposition. It is something up with which I will not put.- apology to Winston Churchill, I think).
The latest examples are the ropewalk, the CNC mill, and the CNC seizing serving machine. My readers must wonder “where to today?”
Well, I decided that I need more deadeyes for my model Constitution.
The little round things with the forlorn faces are deadeyes. I suppose that they are forlorn because they are dead. These deadeyes are walnut and came with the Mamoli kit. They must have been hand drilled, because many of them have lopsided and or asymmetric faces. I find them disturbing, so I purchased another 100 of them, of which about half suffer similar disfigurement. (up with which I will not put!)
So, I have ADDishly shifted my thoughts from seizing serving and ropemaking, to making deadeyes.
I searched YouTube, and the model ship building sites, and my model ship building books for information on the subject. There was much advice on how to make model deadeyes, laboriously, slowly, and not very satisfactorily, IMO.
I want to use my CNC mill and/or CNC lathe to churn out hundreds of them, at least SEMI automatically, if not TOTALLY automatically.
My thoughts to date are that……. 1. A block of wood (walnut or similar) is machined to size to make say 100 deadeyes (or maybe 500.) 2. The holes for all of the deadeyes (that would be 300 holes) are CNC drilled. (I reckon that would take 3-5 seconds per hole, say 5″ altogether, estimated.) 3. The round edge of the deadeyes is cut with an annular cutter (more of that later), say 2-3″ plus time for tool change. 4. Somehow, the circumferential groove is machined. Probably in a lathe, and probably one at a time. Much slower, maybe a minute for each deadeye. Workholding is the main issue, but I have thoughts on that subject. 5. Then the edges are rounded. ahah! I have an easy solution for that. Maybe another 10″. Watch this space. No announcement until the idea is tested.
SO that is the plan. Yes, I should just pay someone else. But, I have set the idea in motion, so I will continue.
For several days I have trawled Ebay, Temu, Banggood, and my local wood workers retailer looking for an annular cutter which will leave a 5mm diameter center. The smallest I could find had a 0.25″/6.35mm center. Too big. Plus, if my idea works, I will want even smaller annular cutters.
So, I made one.
Firstly I found some 8mm diameter hardened steel rod about 100mm long, and I drilled a 5mm hole through it lengthways. It was slow drilling, using a cobalt drill, and plenty of lubricant, but it worked. Maybe it was just case hardened.
The gentle giant German, Stefan Gotteswinter, recently posted a YT video about making a 1.6mm diameter annular cutter so I just followed his suggestions. Incidentally, anyone who is interested in expert precision machining should subscribe to Stefan. His English is better than most native English speakers. And his work is sublime.
Then I hardened and tempered the ends of the tube. Heated cherry red. OK, maybe a bit overheated. Then quenched in water. Then heated to straw colour and allowed to cool slowly. It passed the file test.Then ground the 4 teeth, as described by Stefan Gotteswinter, except that my T&C grinder is a bit more primitive. I deliberately made deep gullets. And touched up the cutting edges with a fine diamond file.
And the result, as you can see, works pretty well. Those deadeye blanks are 4.6mm diameter and 3.5mm deep. The wood is Western Australian Jarrah, which is a nice, tight, dense Australian hardwood. I will try it for the deadeyes.
I used the annular cutter about 100 times, to refine speeds and feeds, and it seemed as sharp at the last one as the first.
While I had the T&C grinder set up, I cut similar teeth at the other end of the annular cutter tube.
So, all excited, I turned on the CNC mill (the big one), but was very disappointed when the computer would not boot up. So, I could not drill the deadeye faces. I think that the computer has died. It is about 20 years old. The LCD screen has been leaking for over a year, and it has been misbehaving for a while… probably hard drive dying, so I am not going to try to fix it.
Another decision. Do I machine the wood blanks to the same thickness as the deadeyes? or thicker, as in the above photo, then saw the off the deadeyes.
Bear in mind that the holes for the face of the deadeye will be the first step, then the annular cutter. At this time I am thinking that I will use the thicker material, as in the above photo.
It is too hot today to go to my workshop, so installing another computer will have to wait for cooler weather.
We are experiencing the hottest summer on record here in southern Oz. Please note, Mr. President Elect.
I had noticed something a bit odd when making ropes on my homemade ropewalk. It appeared that the threads were lengthening at one stage. That should not happen.
So, I examined the Gutermann thread under a microscope… Gutermann is the brand recommended by most model ship authorities, or at least ones to which I subscribe. It has less fluffiness than other brands, and a nicer, smoother, slightly shinier appearance. It is also 4-5 times more expensive than other brands.
A single strand of Gutermann thread. Approx 0.22mm diameter. Polyester. Not totally free of loose fibres, but much better than other brands. Notice that the stand has 2 strands which have a Z or right hand twist.
Z twist is the most common twist of ropes, probably because hemp fibres have a natural right hand twist, and it was noted in sailing ship eras that ropes made with a Z twist were naturally slightly stronger.
When I examined my previous technique for operating the rope walk it was obvious that I was untwisting the Gutermann thread during the initial phase of model rope making.
So today I examined every step of the rope making under a microscope.
My cheap electronic microscope. Not the clearest picture, but the information is useful. The thread is 0.66mm diameter. Quiz. What is the twist of that rope?
That is a completed rope. Now to consider the stages of manufacturing a 3 strand rope, with 2 threads in each strand. ie. a 6 thread rope. We ignore the 2 strands which are now visible in the Gutermann thread, but we will take into account the Z twist which Gutermann puts into their thread strands.
So, I prepared the ropewalk by threading 3 hooks on the looper, with 2 strands on each hook. Pictured is 2 of the 6 threads. At the other end of the walk all 6 threads hooked around the single motorised twister hook. There are reversing switches at each end, which I intended to use for this learning exercise.
Then I turned on the looper, and I made sure that I was following the same Z twist so threads were not untwisted. I was aware that this was NOT what I had done previously. The threads showed no tendency to lengthen, but started to progressively shorten. I continued until they had shortened by 250mm (about 10% of the overall length of the ropewalk.
This is one of the 3 strands, showing the intial “looping” process. Note that this is a Z or right hand twist, the same as the Gutermann thread.
Then when the threads showed approximately a 45degree twist, the looper was turned off and the other end motor was turned on to combine the 3 looped threads. Note that this is an S or left hand twist.
An early stage in finishing the final twist.Close to finished. I aim for 45 degrees.
The ends of the rope had a drop of CA glue to prevent unravelling. If the two twist directions are approximately balanced , when released the rope will not try to unravel. The grid marks in the photo are 0.5mm apart. The rope is 0.66mm diameter. The S (left hand) twist will not be visible at the scale. But it will be correct for the standing rigging on Constitution. If I continue to use only Gutermann thread however, ALL rigging, standing and running, will be left hand.
As mentioned in the previous post, Constitution and most sailing warships had netting racks on the bulwark where the crew could store their rolled up hammocks when not in use. That permitted the hammocks to air during the day, get some sun and probably reduce the bed bug population in the hammocks. The racks were sited above the spar deck guns, and provided the gun crews with a degree of protection from snipers and cannon strike splinters.
Yesterday I inserted the rope rails into the metal U supports. Initially I used the ropes provided by Mamoli, but they looked too thready thin to me, and the wrong colour (fawn) so I changed them for some of my own slightly thicker and black home made ropes. I threaded the “rope” on a needle and slowly and laboriously passed it through the stanchions. Then I had a small brainwave, and applied some CA glue to the end of the “rope”, formed it into a point, and when it dried a minute or so later, the point had hardened and passed easily and quickly through the stanchions.
I had prepared the cheese cloth netting as suggested by Mamoli, by painting it with diluted PVC glue, which when dried made the cheese cloth stiff and flat. In order that it was indeed flat, I pinned the stretched out cheese cloth to a cork board and waited for it to dry.
Then I installed it, after folding over a 1mm wide seam at the top so the rough cheese cloth edge did not show and appear unsightly.
The metal stanchions glued into the bulwark railsThe homemade rope added. ).6mm diaFolding the edge tuckHeld into position, and glued to the stanchionsAnd trimmed.
No, I have not made mini hammocks to put in place. Not yet anyway. I am not that obsessive. I think.
Until Constitutions et al,. frigates were fast, moderately well armed, and could sail away from better armed but slower, ships of “the line”.
USS Constitution redefined the concept of a frigate. It was not quite as fast, but was more heavily armed and armoured (with thick living oak), and had a lot of guns, and personnel. The guns were bigger, and more of them, than previously seen. And that blew the Brits away in almost every frigate action in the 1812 war. Of course they never faced ships of the line, like Victory. That would have been like a WW2 destroyer facing an Iowa class battleship. No contest.
Today was hot again in southern Oz. 37 Celsius 98 Fahrenheit, so I had another day with my Mamoli Constitution. I finished the channel deadeyes on the mizzen mast, Then glued the spar deck carronades in place, all 20 of them. The wheels of the carronade carriages did not rotate, so I gave them a flat bottom with a few sanding strokes, and glued them to the top (spar) deck. I had previously painted them and they look really cool IMO. The short carronade barrels barely protrude beyond the Constitution bulwarks, as in the original. It was not uncommon for the carronade gunports to catch fire during a battle due to the carronade fire, but I guess that the gun crew were prepared to douse that.
Then I installed the 24 pr long guns on the gun deck, below. Mamoli, like most kit manufacturers, provides only a half barrel, not providing the breech or the carriage since they will not be visible. So I glued the half barrels into their positions, using CA glue. The barrels seemed to protrude further outside the hull than I was expecting, so I did a scale drawing of the 24pr gun, and the 23″ thick gun deck walls, and measured the amount of barrel protrusion. Sure enough, the Mamoli guys had their model almost exactly correct! Unfortunately, I did not save that drawing to show you.
Since most ship battles of the era were fought at less than 500m, I gave the guns only 0-1 degree elevation.
USS Constitution defeating HMS Guerriere. Not an evenly matched fight. The better ship won.
Then I installed the model hammock rail stanchions. These sit above the bulwarks, and consist of metal frames and netting. If a battle was imminent, the crew would roll up their hammocks and stuff them into the hammock rails. This provided the spar deck gun crews with a degree of protection against sharp shooters and splinters.
SWMBO commented that the model Constitution was looking a lot more interesting!
The gun deck long guns as supplied by MamoliThe half barrels do look OK when installedThe carronades and long guns installed. Oh, and the channel deadeyes. And the hammock stanchions and ropes. Netting yet to come.
It was a hot day in southern Oz today. Almost cracked the Fahrenheit century. So I stayed indoors and spent the day doing something which i had been avoiding on the USS Constitution model… yep. Installing the channel deadeyes.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, check the picture below…
These are the lateral supports of the masts, and are therefore, very important.
The shrouds are the lateral supports of the masts. They are attached to the hull by pairs of deadeyes (blocks-pulleys), which are held away from the hull by large planks called channels. The blocks allow tensioning of the shrouds. The actual attachments to the hull are metal plates named “preventer links” which in the model are nailed to the hull, but in the original ship would have been bolted.
So today I attached the preventer links, the nails, and the lowermost deadeyes. There are 62 of them. I spent about 6 hours on the job, then started making errors so I stopped at 52.
As you can see in the above drawing the links and deadeyes are at different angles, depending on the position of the mast and the particular deadeye.
Every modeler has their own method of doing this job, I gather.
I had used very thin copper wire to fix the masts at the correct angle fore and aft, and centrally. I also held a length of copper wire from where the shroud is attached to the mast, and at the bottom, where the shroud ends in the deadeye.
This was the first block, with me holding the bottom end of the copper wire to establish where the metal fitting should be nailed to the hull. Note that carronades above are not fixed in correct position.
Then I used a 0.5mm drill to predrill the nail hole into the hull. Then nailed it, twice. And added CA glue so it does not loosen.
Some of the attachments are at more acute angles. When the shrouds are attached above, the metal fittings will be straightened.
The main thing is to not cover the gunports, or block the scupper drains. I imagine that the gunners would not be popular if they shot away their own shrouds bringing down a mast!
The foremast and mainmast are done. Mizzen next session.
Then for some light relief I glued the 20 carronades to the spar deck, using CA glue, after sanding flat spots on the carronade “wheels”, to glue them to the deck.
Note in the photos the dust and swarf sticking to the Constitution. I am planning to make a case for the model, and will probably take another diversion from the modeling to do so, to avoid more crap sticking to the model while I am working on it.
Discussing the case plans with SWMBO, but at this stage it will be 3mm Lexan on 4 sides and the roof, with a wood frame and fluting. And LED lights! Watch this space.
Now that the CNC seizing serving machine is functioning properly I have turned my attention back to the CNC Mini Mill and USS Constitution model.
The masts and bowsprit are sitting in place, but not fastened, except with temporary, fine, copper wire stays so I can measure the length of shrouds and stays for the permanent standing rigging. They need to be removed again so I can apply iron hoops or facsimilies to the lower sections. Even then the masts will be removeable, in case future repairs are required.
But in a couple of sessions I used the CNC mini mill to make the spars. There are 24 of them varying in length from 60mm to 310mm, and diameters from 2mm to 7mm. They are all tapered, and 3 of them have central octagonal or hexagonal sections, so making them on the CNC mini mill seemed like the ideal tool for the job.
The home-made CNC Mini Mill.
There was some testing of the depth of cuts with a 3mm end mill in the Proxxon spindle at 16-20,000 rpm. The limiting factor was the power of the Nema 17 stepper motor rotating the headstock at about 100rpm. The steppers moving the X,Y and Z axes had no issues. The other limiting factor was the small diameter of some spars. At 1 to 2 mm diameter they sometimes flexed and started whipping, and in one case broke completely. I had to steady the workpiece sometimes using my finger as a steady, to absorb the vibrations and stop the whipping. I counted my fingers after each run, but none seemed to be missing.
Another factor to consider was the mill maximum distance between centers of 150mm. The bigger spars had to be done in 3 sections, repositioning the spar position each time. Not difficult, but increased the time taken for the job.
I was pleased with the surface finish after milling. A quick light hand sand, taking under a minute for each spar was all that was required.
The plans for the spars. Each one ticked off when made. All of the spars. The one which I am holding is the largest, and it has a hexagonal center section. (probably should have been octagonal. Will I remake it?). Not enough dowel was supplied in the Mamoli kit, so I bought some from Bunnings. lack of 2mm dowel was a problem because the wood merchants do not carry such tiny stock. So I used some bamboo food skewers. Still had to reduce the diameter from 2.5mm, but the end result was acceptable. There might be some colour difference from the other spars, but hey, in the day I bet that frigate captains would have used whatever they could obtain when on a voyage to distant lands.
The mill worked very well. Return to dimensions was accurate, and the finish was good. It took a while to get a production run going, re- learning the commands and G codes, and the first spar took a couple of hours, but after a while I was producing one every 5-10 minutes.
Next step for the spars is to attach the footropes, blocks, and other fittings. I will lacquer them. No paint.
I have finished the Mini CNC Mill. It is working, and I am satisfied that it will do the jobs of making small 3D pieces accurately.
Had to sort a few problems. First there was excessive play between the hardened steel 8mm rods and the linear bearings. I had measured the rods at 7.97mm diameter, so placed another order, and eventually received some slightly better rods, at 7.985, but no improvement in the play, so placed yet another order, (different supplier each time), and the final ones were 7.99, and still the play was excessive. Then the penny dropped, and I got some new linear bearings, which solved the play problem.
Next issue was excessive backlash in the acme screw nuts, but that was solved by installing them correctly, after some advice from my engineer friend Stuart. But it did involve a complete tear down of the machine several times before I did it properly.
Finally, I installed all of the boards, switches, power supply, fuse, in the electronics control box. That was fairly straight forward, but I knew that I was not capable of doing the wiring and booked my expert friend Stuart to do the job for me. Despite the fact that he has done the same installation on many occasions, it took him about 4 hours. I was taking frequent photos and making copious notes, so I could post that information here, but frankly, despite having a reasonable understanding of the principles of the workings, when issues arose on first testing, I had no idea how to do the trouble shooting, or how to fix the diagnosed problems. Stuart however sorted the issues quickly and efficiently. ( I imagine that if I was teaching Stuart how to do a Caesarean Section or a hysterectomy, the roles would be reversed.)
So, I am not going post the details of the electronics wiring. But I will post photos of the completed job. (see below).
If anyone does decide to go down a similar path, and is not an electronics expert, my strong advice is to have an expert do that part of the job. It is not for amateurs. The making of the mill, and installation of the electronics components was simple compared to the wiring.
The mill is accurate and adequately rigid for 3d machining of plastic, wood, aluminium and brass parts, using cutters up tp to 3mm diameter.
The final cost of the mill and the electronics control box and manual handpiece, excluding repeat purchases due to quality of some components, was approx $AUD1000. That does not include Mach3 and Vectric V Carve Pro which I had purchased several years ago.
When I make some model ship building components I will post some videos and pics.
The most expensive component was the electronics box of controls (ESS board, breakout board, stepper motor control modules, switches etc) which was about 2/3 of the total. But with all of those red and green LED’s it is quite a nice display!
Although “finished”, I am planning to add a sacrificial wooden work surface, and a tailstock for the 4th axis rotary table. I think the tailstock will be useful for example for making spars.
And, I will be able to use the electronics box to run the CNC serving machine which is well underway. Again, waiting for components, this time from China.
The mini 4 axis CNC mill, electronics control box, and computer running Mach3 and V Carve Pro, sitting on my desk in our TV room at home. The plastic tube is connected to a small aquarium pump which provides suction to the aluminium plate on the mill table and is used to hold down small plastic objects for machining. In this case making name badges. The rotary table will be removed for most CNC machining functions, but I can envisage that it will be used in conjunction with the vertical spindle to make pieces like spars for the Constitution.The electronics box has a lot of appealing flashing lights, indicating various functions. The transparent lid was a must, just for the entertainment.
And some progress on the Constitution. I have made the masts and bowsprit, and they are now siting in position, ready for the standing rigging.
Since this photo was taken I have used fine copper wire to temporarily hold the masts in position.Carefully lining up the masts and getting the rakes correct. Sailing ships captains could vary the fore and aft masts angles varied to improve the ship’s steering and handling. I have chosen 2deg rake for the foremast, 3 for the main and 4 for the mizzen.
And here is the first standing rigging. On the bowsprit, showing the initial blocks and stays. Also showing the temporary copper wiring. I do wonder about the size of the blocks as supplied in the Mamoli kit. Maybe a bit too big? My seizing has improved a little with experience, but still not good enough, Now waiting until the CNC seizing-serving machine is finished.
A temporary diversion from finishing the mini mill, and the Constitution model. Just experimenting with 3d printing of cannon barrels.
I came across a site which offered free stl files for different size Armstrong cannon barrels and I decided to test print some. The site is https://thenrg.org/page-1075420
The designs include muzzle loaders from different countries and eras and they seem quite accurate. I could not find any carriage files on that site.
These barrels were printed on the same printer (Qidi X-Max3), same filament (Qidi Rapido PLA), and the same printer default settings. The differences were that the left one was printed horizontally and the right was printed vertically, as per the next photo.. And supports were used for the horizontal version, and some fine sanding was used to clean up the rough bits. Despite appearances, the dimensions are identical. The barrels are 60mm long. Clearly the finish on the vertical print was superior. On the horizontal print supports were used, and the finish of the underneath supported surface is worse than the top surface which is shown in the photo. Since the weakest dimension of a 3d print is the layers, the horizontal version would be more robust, but I could not break the vertical version with a reasonable amount of force, so that should not be an issue.
I anticipate that 3d printer users might question how the vertical printed version with its small footprint, remained attached to the build plate as the print became taller…
Well, the build plate has a textured surface, which increases the area of contact between the plate and print. I used a 5mm brim. I try to NEVER touch the build plate with fingers, and if it cannot be avoided I always wipe the build plate with acetone to remove any trace of skin oils. And finally, the X and Y axes of the Qidi move the print head only, and not the build plate, so there is very little shaking of the build plate with its precarious looking top heavy cannon.
Cannot rotate the image. 200mm version of the gun. (scale 1:15). This print is close to perfect IMO. Look at the detail of the George3 cypher. The only faults are the line running the length on top, which is where the Z shift occurred, and the small deficiency on the trunnions which occurred because I chose to not use supports at all.
And an update on the USS Constitution model. It now has masts and a bowsprit, not totally finished, but close to getting some stays (fore and aft supports) and shrouds (side supports). So the masts and bowsprit are just sitting there, and probably not quite in line yet.
And notice that I found a use for two of the 200mm printed cannons. Wedged underneath to stop any wobbling. Hmm. Maybe I can attach the nameplate to one of them…. p.s. the 80pr Armstrong RML in the background is not going onto the Constitution.
A few subjects to update, including the mini mill build, the USS Constitution, the 110pr Armstrong gun model, and plans for another ship modelling machine.
The CNC Mini Mill. The mill itself is finished. I had to replace all of the linear bearings and 8mm hardened steel rods because the play was excessive. I knew that the first shipment of 8mm rods from AliExpress were undersized (7.97mm) and all had a detectable bend. AliE offered to refund if I returned them, but I decided to just try a different AliE supplier. The next lot of 6 x400 x8mm were again a bit undersized at 7.98mm, and were not bent, but still the play was excessive. Slow learner, I tried again with another order and called it quits when they came in at 7.99mm (new Mitutoyo micrometer). But there was still excessive play, so I wondered about the linear bearings. Stuart T came to the rescue with some leftovers from his build of the mini mill, and they solved the problem. No detectable play at all. So it was both the steel rods AND the bearings at fault. Anyway, all fixed. And now I have 20 dodgy spare linear bearings, and 12 dodgy steel rods. Stuart said to bin the lot. But I can’t quite do that, so into the workshop supplies for the time being.
Also, I have now copied Stuart’s design for the electronic controls, and set them up in a nice plastic box with a transparent lid. SO many exciting coloured lights that I want to be able to see them at a glance.
There is a power transformer under the alu shelf, and on top are 4 stepper motor modules (foreground), the CNC controller and breakout board, rear. Also a computer fan, power switch and fuse, E stop panic button, 25db connector for the pendant control, and Ethernet port to connect to the computer.
The only things missing are the bits to transport the electrons around the place. Will happen soon! Then have to decide just what this machine is going to be used for. Yeah yeah. Another tool looking for something to do.
Constitution has had a rest while I have working on the mini mill. But in the past week I have been busy making masts and fighting tops, and trying to decide on the order of glueing bits together. Bowsprit and 3 more vertical masts almost finished. But no stays yet in place. The instructions say to totally finish the hull and fittings before commencing the rigging. Oh, have I mentioned that I made a ropewalk for making the models fixed and running rigging, as well as the cables? I forget. Well, the fixed rigging gets installed first, and some of those big ropes are totally served (are totally covered with thin rope to increase their resistance to water ingress, and rotting, and increase longevity. Did you know that a ship of Constitution’s size had approx 50km of rope, and the average life of a rope of the era was only 5 years!
As well as serving the ship’s ropes, there is a process called seizing. Best to look at a picture…
Securing a rope end by doubling it back on itself, and binding the 2 parts together with smaller rope is called seizing.
I tried my hand at seizing, but was totally dissatisfied with the result.
Seizing on the 3 bowsprit stays. Pretty lumpy and crappy. Got to be a better method. Also my effort at micro painting. That stars and stripes is about 10x7mm. A bit sad considering that these hands used to do microsurgery.
So, a machine to do seizing and serving (and worming or snaking and parcelling, but more about those later), is in my plans. Another machine is being planned. CNC again. And the control box listed above will control the seizing/ serving machine. More about that in a future post.
Finally, and incredibly exciting, is that my post about modelling the sights on my 110pr Armstrong cannon in 2022 https://johnsmachines.com/2022/10/25/model-armstrong-110pr-sights/ has prompted a response from a UK reader who has recently purchased a tangent sight from an online auction, and he has identified it as coming from an 1867 Armstrong 110pr cannon. In researching the sight Daryl came across my modelling posts, and he has contacted me, forwarding some photographs. Just to remind you, this is what I modelled, from line drawings published in the 19th century…
Yes, the left hand tangent sight does cant slightly more than the right. As intended.
And here are some photographs taken by and reproduced here with permission by Daryl Pendlebury-Jones of his purchase…..
The rear tangent sight, approx 500mm long. Gunmetal. Daryl notes that the notched top (top left) slides nicely and freely. And the markings are still clear.Lateral view, notched top at bottom right.
I might have to remake the sights on my model now that I have seen these pics.
The 3D printer has produced 2 batches of components using Stuart’s stl files. I did consider using green filament, but in the end I was too impatient to get started, so I used what I had on hand, which is BLACK! Not so good for photographs, but should look OK as a tool.
The first batch of components printed. Note USS Constitution’s life boat. (authenticity suffering) and the second batch currently being printed. 8 hours so far, and another 8 hrs to finish this lot. The QIDI X-Max3 is rated as a fast printer, but I have slowed it by specifying 6 perimeter tracks, and supports.
I have not used my 3d printers for more than a year. I have a Creality Ender 10s filament printer, which must be at least 6 years old, and an Anycubic Photon Mono X 4k resin printer which I would guess is about 3 years old. (checked. 2y7m old). Recently I wanted to make some sanding sticks for my model ship building, using a design from Thingiverse, but sadly to report, neither printer was functioning.
The screen on the Anycubic was dead. Anycubic listed a replacement screen at $AUD400, which is a higher price than I paid originally for the entire printer and also a higher price than newer printer versions. Cheaper screens were listed from other vendors selling Anycubic parts, but none of them have stock. It appears that Anycubic do not make parts for these older printers. Further reading reveals that Anycubic have a reputation about lack of support for their older machines. OK. Give that brand a big miss.
The Creality Ender 10s was never a great printer. I did use it to make PLA parts for casting aluminium and bronze components, but I was never really happy with the quality. Plus, it is in bits from over a year ago when I decided to add a bed levelling device, but never completed. Now I think that it is not worth the time and effort.
So, after reading multiple reviews, checking current prices etc etc I decided to purchase a new filament printer, the QIDI X-Max3, released a bit over a year ago, now superseded by a newer version, and old stock being substantially discounted. It ticks most of the boxes for me. It is fast, big model size (325x325x320mm), and reportedly good quality prints. It is a big, ugly brute, but I must say that I am VERY happy with the print quality. And, having an enclosed, heated chamber, it is said to be capable of printing nylon, glass fibre, and carbon fibre reinforced filaments. I do not know if I will be using those more industrial filaments, but at least I will have the machine to give them a try.
The delivery man kindly helped me to carry the carton into the house. As you can see, the carton was about the same size as a washing machine, and weighed 60lb.
Using the handles I managed to lift it up onto our table. It is still there, one week later, but will be moved to a more convenient location ASAP. Yes, it is ugly.
Sanding blocks from Thingiverse. The quality of the QIDI prints is very good.
A lifeboat for USS Constitution. (the first and only time I have ever printed a Benchy).
Why did I not buy the latest version XIDI?
Well, cost was a factor. But more to the point, I am not a “bleeding, leading edge” person. And in the past year there have been refinements to the X-Max3 design, as result of user feedback. So far, no buyers remorse on this one.
There might be another temporary diversion from the Constitution build. I am so excited with my new FDM printer that I am considering using it to build a very small CNC milling machine. Watch this space.
“Whipping” is winding a string or thin rope around a rope end to stop it from fraying. Not a nautical term as far as I know, except as a disciplinary measure, hopefully now not often used.
“Seizing” is securing a rope end which has been doubled back on itself often around a block, using string or thin rope.
“Serving” is covering a rope or shroud with string or thin rope to prevent chafing or rubbing wear, or preventing water entry into the rope. Sometimes over the entire length of the rope.
The model ropes attached to the prow have been seized to secure them, not particularly neatly.From Lennarth Petersson’s excellent book “Rigging Period Ship Models”. Showing seizing.Also from Petersson’s book, showing several methods of waterproofing a stay by “serving”, “parcelling”, and “worming”. The average life of hemp ropes was only about 5 years, so waterproofing was cost effective. Standing rigging was also usually painted with tar for the same reason. Waterproofing was particularly necessary on the anchor cables, which were made by twisting multiple ropes to make a cable on Constitution over 7″ diameter.
I am planning to make a machine to do the serving and seizing more neatly. The ropes to be seized or served on my 1:93 scale Constitution are mostly under 1mm diameter, so the thread used for seizing will be only 0.23mm diameter, or even thinner.
There are several machines available commercially, but, 1. I like to make my own machines and 2. I think that I can make a better machine.
I am considering 2 possibilities. Both involve holding lengths of rope (model rope), up to 400-500mm long, using ER collets. The rope is rotated at both ends, using a small electric motor. The serving thread (0.23mm dia) is moved along the rope, delivering one turn of serving per 0.25mm movement, of the main rope. It is a bit like making a thread in metal, which uses either gearing or CNC control. And that is the question which I am pondering. To use gears or CNC. Gears would be simpler, and fairly cheap. CNC would require input from my expert friend Stuart T, but would also be relatively inexpensive if I connect to the CNC output from my CNC lathe. CNC would also give me much finer control of the pitch of the serving/seizing. The gears method would be easier for other modelers/friends to use. I might end up by trying both methods.
The biggest ropes* on USS Constitution were 3″/75mm circumference equals 1″ /24mm diameter (approximately). So 3″ ropes, at 1:93 scale, are 0.8mm diameter. The anchor cables were 7″ / 178mm diameter, and made by twisting smaller ropes together. (*p.s. further information from “The Frigate Constitution” by F A Magoun states that some ropes on Constitution were 4.75″ and 5″ circumference, = 40mm diameter, but most were 3″ or under.)
Standing rigging was black, the result of painting them with tar. And they were left handed. Running rigging was hemp colour, and was right handed.
The ropes supplied in the Mamoli kit were OK, but were only a light brown/fawn colour. And they were all right handed. And the more that I read about ropes, the more interesting they became.
So, I decided to make a rope run. It actually sits on a table, so it is more of a rope sit.
These are the main components. On the left, clamped to the table, is the “looper” . On the right with the bearing wheels, is the rope twister. So it is a two motor machine. Both components have On-off-on switches which are wired to rotate clockwise and anticlockwise. And a voltage variable 240v AC to 3-24 volt DC transformer with LED display. Incidentally, I made the 3m long table about 48 years ago, from Honduras mahogany. On this table the machine will make ropes about 2.6-2.7m long. Each rope takes a few minutes to set up the yarn and another few minutes of operating the motors.The looper.
The looper is configured to make up to 6 strands. Here it has 4 looping hooks to make 2, 3 or 4 strands, and a central non twisting attachment point if a central strand is added eg. to an anchor cable. As set up, there is a central motor driven 64 tooth spur gear, and 4 surrounding looping gears. The gears were bought inexpensively on AliExpress, and were advertised for model car enthusiasts. The gear shafts are mounted in ball bearings. I might get around to painting it one day, but probably not.
The other component is a trolley on ball bearing wheels, with another motor, which also can be switched clockwise, counter clockwise, and off. Also visible are some of the very early ropes which I made. about to be made is a 3 strand rope, with 2 yarns (threads) per strand. The cardboard disk is to prevent the strands from tangling while the yarns are being twisted with the looper at the other end. When the looping has been completed (judged by measuring the distance the rope has shortened, or by measuring the angle of the twist), the looping motor is turned off, the cardboard disk removed, and the second motor is turned on to twist the strands together. Again, the further shortening of the rope, or the angle of the twist is assessed to decide when the rope is completed. I do not use a “topper” because I think that it is unnecessary with such short ropes. Various ropes made. 2.5-2.8m lengths. I record the yarn brand and type (Gutermann polyester “Sew All” preferred), the number of yarns per strand, and the number of strands per rope, and the final rope diameter.The rope diameter is measured by winding it 10 times around a cylinder, and measuring the width. This rope is 9.13/10 = approx 0.9mm diameter.
And here is the first home-made rope applied to my USS Constitution….
Gammoning on the bowsprit with 0.9mm rope.….and some bowsprit stays attached to the prow.
I have some ideas to improve my rope run, and I have also designed a machine to apply serving/seizing threads to the rope which is permanently fixed, as in the picture above. That serving was applied by hand, and is not as neat as I would like.
There are a few instructive videos on YouTube about model rope making. One of the most impressive is by a Ukranian lady, Ohla Blatchvarov, who is an expert model ship builder. https://youtu.be/qPCD2wQvc8k?si=NRothhRSQiTs0Xke
I have now assembled 3 of the 4 “small” boats (1:96) for my USS Constitution model(1:93).
Not perfect, but useable. 34ft launch, 32ft barge, 28ft pinnace.
This post is mostly about the instructions provided with the kits. Overall, I am fairly happy with the end results. They are not totally finished… one to go, and none yet painted/varnished, but 3 are glued up.
I write this assessment of the kits as a beginner ship modeler. My experience with wooden ship kits is one USS Constitution hull, and the three Shicheng Model small boats.
As noted in my previous post, these are the instructions which came with one of the boats…the 34 foot launch.
I made several mistakes with this model. Those mistakes probably would not have been made by a more experienced modeler, or by an inexperienced modeler with decent instructions. After I had finished the launch I discovered Google Translate, which worked simply and brilliantly, and would have saved me a lot of time and angst if I had known about it earlier. But even with the Google translation, the instructions are woefully inadequate.
I must add that the laser cut parts are very accurately made, and rarely required alteration. The wooden sheets were well packaged, and the tabs were easily cut with a razor blade. My only complaint is that the instructions need to be more detailed.
The first page, with the layout of the 9 laser cut sheets, and the 3 ship views is good and useful. My only criticism is that the font for numbering the components is too big on some pieces, and unclear which pieces the number is referring to. (referring to the 28 ft pinnace in particular).
The second page is more problematic, particularly for less experienced modelers.
It is in Chinese only. The diagrams are in sequence down the columns.
Suggested additional written instructions. These refer to the 34ft launch, but can be applied to all 4 kits.
Some numbering of the diagrams would help.
The hull support cradle (parts 21-25) should be the first item assembled. The joins should be glued. Use CA or white glue. [Assemble first because it is useful for positioning the keel]
The second item to assemble is gluing the rib forms to the base. These must be pushed firmly into the base, and be exactly perpendicular to the base. Rapid setting CA preferred. There are lines on one face of the forms which are used to assist chamfering. Face the 10 or so bow end forms to the bow, and the 10 or so stern end bulkheads to the stern. [yes, obviously, but it needs to be stated.]
Pin or screw the base/forms assembly to a block of softwood, approximately 90x45x150mm. [it prevents the thin plywood base from distorting during the gluing up. Yes, that occurred before I used a softwood block, and improves visualisation and handling of the evolving assembly].
The forms need to be chamfered by carving and/or sanding. Use the guidelines on the form face. Hopefully you have installed the forms with the guidelines facing appropriately as in 2 above.
Apply a thin layer of car or furniture wax to the edges of the forms. [this step will prevent inadvertent gluing of the ribs to the forms].
Glue the slotted side supports (27) to the forms after test fitting. Avoid glue entering the square holes in the supports. Avoid covering the square holes with the supports. The side supports need to be curved slightly to fit into the slots on the forms.
Bending the ribs. Soak the rib strip in water for a few minutes prior to bending it over the form. [minimizes the risk of breakage]. Suggest starting with number 10 rib, and working towards the bow and stern. Cut 42 wedges plus some spares before starting. Make the wedges from rib material, about 10mm long. [** wrong!! Use the plywood specified in the Shicheng plans. It is slightly thicker than the rib material and less inclined to fall out.] Then insert a rib strip approx 5mm through the square hole. Bend the strip over the form, following the contour. Note that the rib is positioned near one edge of the form. Cut to length, allowing approx 5mm beyond the side strips. Using fine tweezers, bend and insert the other end into its square hole. It helps to hold the first end while inserting the second end. Massage the rib to shape against the form. Insert the wedges. Ensure that the rib lines up with the form. As the rib dries, it shrinks, and often wedges will fall out. So I, very carefully, apply a minute drop of CA with a needle point, to glue the outside of the wedge to the slotted strip. When dry, trim the wedges flush with the top of the slotted side strip. Do NOT cut the ribs while trimming the wedges.
Attach the keel. Glue the transom to the keel. Then position the keel then place the hull support cradle upside down, as in the photo below. Note or mark the position of the keel on the forms. Do not rely, as I did, on the marks left by the tabs, to be in the center. Many are not.
I discovered that, as a glasses wearer, my lining up ability is different for my left versus my right eye. Using the hull support as a jig for the third model, gave me the best result. If your eyesight is good this might be unnecessary.
8. (cont). Use white glue for the keel joins. You might need to make adjustments. Try to avoid glue spreading from the ribs to the forms. The previously applied wax should help avoiding adhesion between the ribs and the forms. If you do get unwanted adhesion, use water to loosen white glue joins, heat from a soldering iron for CA.
9. Applying the planks. Soak the planks which adjoin the slotted slide strips (no 56 on the barge). Use your fingers to form the bow bends. Heat is not necessary. Use CA to glue the plank to the cutwater and the first rib. Then use white glue for the remaining ribs. But I suggest using CA to join the plank to the transom, and holding it until set. Similarly glue the plank on the other side.
This is the second row of planks. I glued both sides at the bow before working back towards the transom. That allowed me to achieve port/starboard symmetry.
The planks as supplied are remarkably accurately shaped, and if the rib forms and keel have been accurately assembled the planks can be glued on without any further shaping.
Do not repeat my mistake made on the 32ft barge (front). The planks should continue onto the keel, as on the pinnace (rear).
10. Separating the hull from the base and forms. This is an anxious process. Hopefully there will be no glue between the ribs and the forms, but this is when you find out. Start by using pliers to break the base from the forms, in small pieces. Some of the forms will come free, which is anxiolytic. Any forms which remain stuck in place can be twisted free, one at a time. If there are any unbreakable glue joins to the forms it will be time for the water or heat treatment to attempt to separate the offending parts. Good luck with that. Best to avoid the problem. Use wax as described in 5, above.
Progressively breaking the forms free. The slotted side strips are broken away also.
11. Finishing. The rest is comparatively straightforward. The gunwales, side strips, flooring, seats are glued in place, carefully keeping the central parts central, and the side components level with each other. Sanding the planking, then painting or varnishing, which I have yet to do. Rudders, oars, etc. were never left on the small boats when the ship was at sea to avoid loss in rough weather.
Now, just the 18ft dinghy to go. The first one of these kits took almost 3 days to assemble. The third took just one day. Not counting finishing of course.
The small boats carried on USS Constitution (a) are not well documented and (b) certainly varied with different captains, missions and periods.
Most frigates carried up to 6 small boats. The Mamoli 1:93 model provides stock for carving 4 small boats.
Two of the wooden blocks provided by Mamoli for the modeller to finish.
I have examined many photographs of Constitution models to see how the issue of the small boats is handled. Where the blocks are carved and painted, the small boats invariably look crude and rough and of a poor standard in comparison with the Constitution model itself. So it was with some excitement that I found an Ebay Chinese supplier of 1:96 kits of 4 small boat models, which look compatible with the Constitution era.
The 4 kits make quite nice, detailed boats 65-110mm long. $US 110 for the 4 kits.
So, my 4 kits arrived about a week ago, and I spent 2-3 days making the 34 foot launch, the largest of the 4 models.
Let me state that these kits are not easy builds. The instructions are a series of drawings, and the only text is in Chinese. I made several mistakes as a result of my inexperience and the suboptimal instructions.
One A4 sheet, printed on both sides.
So, off I go. Now, do I go across the pictures, or down the columns?
The parts appear to be neatly laser cut. The tabs are tiny and easily cut with a razor blade. They click into place in the supplied base. So far so good.The rubber bands add a bit of security to the setup. Then the ribs are bent around the forms, and secured with the tapered wedges as per the drawing. I broke the first two ribs, so soaked the next ones for 5 minutes in water…. no further breakages. Hmm. Image will not rotate. Sorry. Ribs completed. Some are a bit crooked. I wonder if that matters. (spoiler. yes it does matter). Some slots will not accept wedges. I wonder if that matters. (yes it does matter.)The keel is glued to the ribs. I used CA glue. The CA glue set very quickly against the damp ribs. CA glue is activated by moisture. Too late I realised that the keel was not quite in the correct position. I should have measured and marked the central position. Oh well, press on. See if it matters later. It does matter! The drawings seem to indicate that the slotted plank goes on at this stage, so it is glued in place. Later I realise that it should have been added later. And the bow looks crooked! Oh shit. Do I throw the whole model on the fire, or just continue. I continued. (Maybe that was what the Chinese instructions were about).
To cut this saga short, I applied the planks and finished the model. SWMBO thought that it is quite pretty. I thought “it was a learning exercise”. I ordered another kit from the supplier. An expensive lesson.
It looks OK from some angles.As I said, from some angles.And from a distance, in its position, looks good. But I have to admit that from other angles it is a rubbish job. I wont labour the point with photos of those angles. I will rebuild this one.
Oh OK. Here is a view from above.
That crooked keel has caused the asymmetric bow curve. I will see that every time that I look at it. I cannot see any way of fixing it, except to build another one, and do the job properly next time.
So, to summarise these models….
They are not for beginners.
The instructions are inadequate. The text is in Chinese only. There are no instructions about where the glue should be applied. The drawings are OK, but did not answer all of my uncertainties and questions.
The model is small and fiddly, and too small to use clamps while the glue sets. The parts have to be finger held while the glue sets, and that means using CA glue. Very little time for adjustments.
However, if properly assembled, the models will be attractive and enhance the full ship build. I look forward to making one properly. I have started the 32 foot barge.
And the rope maker is almost finished. I hope to have a video of making rope in the next post.
Despite the paucity of posts lately, I have not been inactive. Just not totally happy with the new colours (British-Australian spelling).
So here is the transom bling.
I might have mentioned previously that I was not using the traditional black and white painting of USS Constitution, but using the natural wood colours, and gold and brass of the Mamoli castings. I am not very happy with the gold name plate, and might yet black the recessed parts, leaving the letters gold. The stars are not the Mamoli parts, because there were only 4 in the kit, and I dropped and lost one of them. These are gold stars from a Temu supplier. Intended as decoration on little(?) girls fingernails. And I painted them gold to reduce the glitter.
And then there was the prow decoration. Again a decision. To use the Mamoli casting or replace it with the original black and white wooden strips. I realise that USS Constitution aficionados will hate what I have done, but I must announce that I quite like the result.These are the castings, painted gold, with the tricolour shield hand painted by me. I am not proud of the red white and blue stars and stripes, but they are the best which my shaking hands and deteriorating eyes could manage.
From a distance they are not too bad…. but might have looked better with black and white stripes. Note that I have made a start with the masts and bowsprit. …. just sitting in place.And made a start with standing rigging deadeyes, and the gun deck long guns. The deadeyes are a bit too big for the scale to my eyes, and I am considering buying some smaller aftermarket ones. The gun deck guns are barrels only, no carriage etc because they cannot be seen. These are the 24 pr long gun barrels after I cleaned them up in the lathe, and bored out the barrels . I prefer the bronze appearance to the black. Black is more authentic, but this model will be a home decoration, and SWMBO rules! If Mamoli intended them to be black, why did they plate the metal in copper? Not quite ready to glue them into permanent position.These are the blocks supplied by Mamoli for the running rigging. I did not like the original white appearance, and applied a walnut stain to darken them. I think that these are original belaying pins. GSMEE (the Geelong Society of Model and Experimental Engineering) of which I am a member, has relocated to the stables of Osborne House, which used to house the Geelong Naval Museum, and long before that the Australian Submarine Headquarters in WW1. I found this rack and belaying pins outside. No idea of how old they are, or their origin. But they are interesting, no? The stables of Osborne House, GeelongAnd our new meeting room inside the stable. Now a “Listed Building”.
My current project is making a machine which will make scale size ropes. More of that in the next post.
A frigate (/ˈfrɪɡət/) is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and manoeuvrability, intended to be used in scouting, escort and patrol roles. The term was applied loosely to ships varying greatly in design. In the second quarter of the 18th century, the ‘true frigate’ was developed in France. This type of vessel was characterised by possessing only one armed deck, with an unarmed deck below it used for berthing the crew.
Late in the 19th century (British and French prototypes were constructed in 1858), armoured frigates were developed as powerful ironclad warships, the term frigate was used because of their single gun deck. Later developments in ironclad ships rendered the frigate designation obsolete and the term fell out of favour. During the Second World War the name ‘frigate’ was reintroduced to describe a seagoing escort ship intermediate in size between a corvette and a destroyer. After World War II, a wide variety of ships have been classified as frigates. Often there has been little consistency in usage. While some navies have regarded frigates as principally large ocean-going anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants, others have used the term to describe ships that are otherwise recognisable as corvettes, destroyers, and even nuclear-powered guided-missile cruisers. Some European navies use the term “frigate” for both their destroyers and frigates.[1] The rank “frigate captain” derives from the name of this type of ship.
USS Constitution, 1797, was classed as a “heavy frigate”. HMS Warrior, 1851, was twice as long and 5-6 times heavier than Constitution, was also technically a frigate.
Speed, manoeuverability, and a single gun deck seem to be the defining characteristics in the early 19th century, so that is what I am going with.
The Mamoli Constitution has a gun deck with 30 long guns. 24 pounders (24lb being the weight of the round shot). But it also has a spar deck above, with 22 carronades and 2 long guns. So how many gun decks does that add up to? Just wondering.
Anyway, I am now commencing the masts and rigging.
This is the barrel of one of the 24pr long guns. To the right are some of the deadeyes to which are attached fixed rigging to support a mast. (just sitting there at this time). Bear with me… I will get to the point of this post eventually. The muzzle of that barrel protrudes 10-11mm (depending on the barrel elevation.)
This is a 1:10 model of a 24pr long gun which I made years ago. In the full size 24pr’s about 1/3 of the 10′ length would protrude beyond the carriage. The sides of Constitution were said to be 21″ thick. So, if my arithmetic is correct, 1/3 of 120″, (40″) minus 21″ equals 19″ of barrel protruding beyond the hull sides. At 1:93 scale that equals less than 1/4″ or more precisely 5.2mm. These are the 24pr long guns supplied by Mamoli. I have cut off casting sprue, and then sanded them in the lathe. I also drilled the bore to a more visually appealing length. They were black in the packet, (intentional or just aged?) and sanding revealed the copper or brass plating over the soft base casting metal. Since the gun deck is not visible, there are no carriages for the gun deck guns.
But, from the pictures and calculations above, they protrude too far outside the hull!
So, I intend to shorten them, probably by about 4-5mm.
I have not yet decided whether to leave them with the brass colour or paint them black. Decorative vs. authenticity again.
And on the decorative vs. authenticity again, here is the model’s transom, with the bling added….
Hmm. Not sure about this. The photo flash makes the transom planks appear lighter than they really are, but even so, black and white would probably have looked better here than the gold and natural wood.
The kit came with only 4 stars, and I dropped one. Despite exhaustive searches, I never found it. So I searched the net and found a supplier with stars the correct size and number of points, and I purchased a packet. They are intended to be stuck to small girls’ fingernails, and were very glittery, so I applied some ordinary gold paint to get a more sedate appearance. I will straighten the name plate later. Annoying me.
And another thing. those gun port hatches with covers open into the captain’s quarters. Not sure about Constitution, but many captain’s rooms were cleared of furniture and partition walls when preparing for a battle, to extend the gun deck, but would the windows have been permanently covered with gun port lids? Maybe I should have ignored the Mamoli plans in this regard and glued the gun port lids to the upper 3 openings on the spar deck, and made windows for the lower ones. Anyone have information about this?
Finally, in preparing to commence the rigging I have checked the Mamoli supplied ropes. They are OK, but I am intending to make my own with a rope making machine. There are plenty of rope machine designs available, and I do have the equipment and expertise to make one. There should be something to post soon. Meanwhile SWMBO directed me to a shop which I have never before entered. It is as big as a large supermarket, and full of goods and materials for users of fabrics, embroidery, knitting. Even ship modellers. I think that I was the only XY human in the entire shop. “Spotlight”. I was directed to the “yarns” section. No long stories. Just a lot of spools of threads of different materials, colours, weights. I purchased some cotton in 800m lengths, black and brown. Then spent time examining various tools for embroidery and crocheting which should be useful in manipulating the “ropes” around the Constitution rigging. More on that later.
USS Constitution and the American heavy frigates outclassed British frigates in the 1812-1814 war between USA and Britain.
The British were in a very long and costly war with Napoleon’s France, had won every significant naval battle to date, and were probably feeling a little bit complacent about their naval superiority.
The British were therefore rather shocked out of their complacency when their ships lost almost every encounter with the American frigates in the 1812 -1814 war. There were several reasons for the losses.
American frigates (including USS Constitution) were newer, heavier, had thicker wooden sides made of “live” American oak, had larger crews, who were all volunteers, and they had more powerful guns, and more of them on each ship. To mention a few of the reasons.
In my model of the USS Constitution there are 54 guns. 32 long guns and 22 carronades. In older posts I have detailed making models of a 24 pounder long gun and a 32 pounder carronade. Photo below.
1:10 scale models of a 24 pounder long gun, and 32 pounder carronade . The long gun was more accurate, had longer range, and required more gunners to operate. The carronade was cheaper, smaller, lighter, and quicker to reload. The carronade was devastating at the close range of most naval battles of the era.
So last week I assembled the top deck (the “spar” deck), long guns (2 of them) and carronades (22 of them).
First the long guns on the spar deck…then the carronades.
In 1797 all of the guns would have been mounted on wooden carriages. The guns in the Mamoli kit were cast metal, including the carriages. So I painted the carriages dark red, to look a bit more like wood, and because they were probably painted red in 1797.
The carronade components were quite nice castings and required no finishing except for the carriage and slide painting. The assembled carronade is seen. The rectangular slide pivots at the front, and there are small wheels at the back for traversing. Ropes for traversing attach to the rear loops. Elevation was adjusted with the wooden quoin. Trunnion caps are glued in place .And this is my little Emco lathe which is a perfect size to drill the long gun bores. In this pic I am tapering the bowsprit. (ps. sorry, not an Emco. It is a Hobbymat MD65. Same design as a Proxxon. I do also have a tiny Emco. Just confused.)2mm bore. 1:93 scale.
There are another 30 long guns on the gun deck below, but I have yet to deal with them.
Oh, and BTW, the guns in the above photo are not yet attached. Just sitting there for the shot.
I have reached the point in constructing USS Constitution that the hull needs to be painted or varnished, particularly the exposed deck. When the masts and rigging are installed any painting of deck features will be almost impossible.
The original ship was mainly painted black, with white highlights, and some red-brown items. I have decided, with encouragement from SWMBO, to mainly use the natural wood colours for the hull and deck, but maybe using red-brown for the gun carriages, and white and gold and black for some small features.
The Mamoli model is not an exact scale model of the original. And I did not aim to make a model to “exact” scale, or to exactly the original colours. In fact, my aim is to make a model reasonably based on the Constitution, which will be an interesting and attractive display in our home.
The hull has had wood grain filler applied, and 2 coats of satin polyurethrane to all surfaces except the copper sheathing. Still contemplating whether to coat the copper.
Here are some shots of the current stage.
The stand is temporary. The rudder is fitted, but with a long rod which will eventually be replaced with small pins. The satin walnut external planking polyurethrane will probably be rubbed back with steel wool and oil after it is well hardened. That is a method which SWMBO has often used on furniture which I have made.I rather like the pale colour of the decking. I have seen the bulwarks painted red brown in other Constitution models, and if I should decide to follow that tradition, the polyurethrane can be top coated with a water based paint. But that is unlikely. Now I can start gluing on parts such as the name plate, stars, stern eagle, and prow.
This model has 50 guns! There are 30 on the gun deck, 18 carronades on the top deck, and 2 long guns on the top deck. The long gun barrels are quite nicely cast metal with a bronze finish. But the bore was only a few mm deep. So I did a boring job….
Despite the bronze appearance, the long gun barrels are made of a softish metal, and were quite gummy to drill. I used plenty of oil, and frequent withdrawals to stop the swarf from clogging up the 2mm drill bit. Using my little Emco lathe. Not so soft that the 3 jaw chuck left any marks.
Sorry, people. No posts for 3 weeks. I have actually been putting a lot of time into the hull of the constitution model, and this post will fill in some of the gaps. I must say that the lack of reader feedback about the previous posts has been a disincentive for me to spending time on further posts, but I have been told that it is now more difficult for my readers to post comments. I am unsure what has changed with WordPress, but it is frustrating for me. Feedback/communication with my readers is what drives me to write and post about what I am doing. I think that you have to register your email with WordPress to post comments. Free, but annoying. But please do it if you want these posts to continue.
Breaking off the above deck protrusions using Knipex parallel jaw pliers. Worked like a charm!I cannot remember if I had posted about cutting and gluing the top deck planks. But here is the start of the process. The pale wood is Tanganyika. The process is fairly easy. But I should have RTFM. (Read The Manual). I did read that the edge of the planks should be blacked with lead pencil, and be 180mm long. But that was as much as I could take in. I chose to lay the strips as long as possible, cutting fake joins with a partial thickness cut using a knife, and accentuating the cut with a black lead pencil. I did not make marks for fake fasteners, deciding that they would not be visible at a scale of 1:93.The next step was to make the gratings. Very sensibly, IMO, for once, I made a square jig and assembled the bits so they remained squared. Mamoli suggested that the assembly was soaked in diluted white glue, which I did. But it did not work and under stress the glued assembly fell apart. So I painted the grates with Super glue and that worked well.The shape is glued into position. Some awkward corners required filler later. Oh. The 6 little round holes are crewmen’s “comfort seats”. Go figure.These rather nice windows enclose the “comfort seats” for the officers, at the stern. Metal castings in the model, glued together and filed to fit the hull with great difficulty…. and reinforced with JB Weld then painted gold, and glued to the hull.Various little deck structures assembled and glued to the deck… Note the closeup of the deck plank fake joins. As I said, several days ago….Including future bits to hold the rigging in place…. The deck planking joins are scored with a knife, and pencilled with lead. Not bothering with fake nail heads.And handrails on the bulwarks. I found the limit of bending 5mm x 1.5mm handrails. Superglue fixed it!Which were a bit difficult to hold in place while the glue set.Just a nice shot.Then I applied some wood grain filler to the walnut planks. Looks good hey? Some of the filler spread onto the copper sheathing, but it just wiped off. And left the copper gleaming. And darkened the bits of pale planking underneath which I had failed to conceal. A bit of serendipity there.
So, the hull is almost finished. 90% of the original ship cost. I still have to coat the deck planking, assemble the 50 odd cannons and carronades, and do the rigging. But I reckon about 50% of the build done?
After the coppering, I installed the second layer of hull planks. Holding the walnut strips was more difficult with the bulkheads now inaccessible but the method pictured worked ok. The copper became a bit scratched and marked with all of the handling. I should have done the coppering last. (Next time.)After installing the second layer of hull planks, the gun-ports above the top deck were drilled and then finished with an Exacto knife.The walnut hull planks contrast nicely with the lime next to the gun ports. On the original the planks were painted black and white.Reminds me of my working days.Gluing some curved planks on the deck surrounds. Another use for my homemade mini Kant Twists.Installing the deck planks. The white timber is Tanganyika. The edges of the model planks are greyed with a lead pencil, and the planks are incised and pencilled at 80mm intervals to mimic full size planks. On the original Constitution the deck planks were necessary to the structural integrity of the hull, assisting the keel to prevent bending of the hull. The deck planks were 4″ thick, with some up to 6-8″ thick. The total thickness of the timbers on the sides of the hull was an incredible 21″ mostly live American Oak, a very hard, durable, strong, timber. In battle, it was noted that British cannon balls could not penetrate the sides, giving rise to the nickname “Old Ironsides”.Some gratings are needed. The little strips are pushed together, and the assembled square shapes are soaked in water with a few drops of PVA glue, according to the kit instructions. After drying, the squares hold together, to an extent, but did not stay together when cut to shape. So I tried an experiment, and painted one surface of the square with CA glue. The glue soaked into the joins, and really held the assembly firmly. The gratings were 3.2mm thick and needed to be sanded to 2.5mm.
So I made a simple holding jig…Placing the grating in the jig allowed me to sand 0.7mm off the surface without damaging it.For the floor of the “head”, I made a cardboard pattern, then cut the gratings to shape. Some of my old microsurgery instruments have found a new use. The gratings fitted to the floor of the head, and six “comfort seats” roughed out of small blocks. The crew numbered about 400, plus about 50 officers. The frigate Constitution did not have a poop deck, but even if it did, it would have been inadvisable to poop on the poop deck. Lavatories for the officers were located in the little windowed extensions at the stern. Each one was a glued assembly of 3 metal parts which required bending, fitting and filing, then joined with CA glue reinforced with JB Weld, and painted. Then the celluloid windows were very carefully cut to shape and CA glued into position. They fit the hull fairly well, and will be permanently glued into position later. The captain had a private lavatory in his cabin.
Now I am slowly making various deck fittings..
The little belfry is about as big as my thumb nail. Hopefully it will look less rough when painted. Note the deck planking up close. Not yet decided whether to fake some deck fasteners.
The Mamoli plans and instructions call for applying wooden rectangles dyed green to substitute for copper metal plates on the hull. On the original ship the plates were 48″ x 14″ x 1/4″ each. And there were 1700 of them, each one fastened with ~100 copper nails.
The wooden blocks in the kit were basic, a bit rough and way too thick for the scale. The scale is 1:93. Let’s say 1:100 approximately.
1/4″ = 6.35mm. At 1:100 the copper plates would be 0.0635mm thick. About 2.5 thou”.
I wondered if I could find some narrow thin copper strip with adhesive backing on Ebay. And sure enough I found multiple suppliers on Ebay and Temu. The thickness was always the same, about 0.05mm, close enough. And pretty close to the scale thickness of 1/100th of 6.35mm/1/4″.. And various widths 3-6mm were available. And 20 meters was only $AUD15 inc postage. So I purchased 2 rolls. About double what I required, I calculated. I figured that if the copper strip was unsuitable I could revert to the wooden blocks supplied.
After finishing the first layer of hull planking, I spent some time sanding the hull reasonably smooth, then used a wood filler to fill some concavities and cracks. I was happy with the curves and contours of the hull. I retrospect I should have been more particular.
When the filler hardened I used a sealer to paint the planks and filler in preparation for the next phase, which was applying copper strips and the second layer of planks.
The Constitution hull with the first layer of planks, cracks and divots filled with “Multifill”, and painted with “Peel Stop” sealer. The sealer just vanished into the wood as it dried.Marked the border of the copper plates, slightly above the water line. A good use of my mini Kant Twist clamps and Mitutoyo height gauge.
Next I started applying the adhesive backed thin copper strips. Each strip was 4mm wide, and 0.05mm thick. It did take quite a lot of effort and time to learn how to handle the copper strip. Think of the worst properties of fly paper, fine clock spring steel, and tissue paper. The adhesive backed copper strip has all of them! I had to throw way early efforts. I did gradually improve.
The hull with a dozen or so strips applied. Each strip had to have a dent made at 15mm spacings to simulate the copper plates. I found that clipping the length to the cutting board made the job easier. The photo shows the starboard side which I applied from the keel upwards, with a marker strip at the finish line.To simulate the plates, after clipping the strip to the cutting board, I pushed the end of a steel ruler into the copper strip, making a permanent mark. Too much pressure and the strip was transected. Too little pressure and the mark was too faint. Quite tricky.I marked the application line prior to handling the adhesive backed strip. The peeled off about half of the backing, and gradually applied the strip. Not easy. It took 2 days, of about 10 hours/day, to apply all of the strips. Then a few hours more to fix the mistakes.
And then end result was not too bad for a first effort!
I have not yet decided whether to fully cover the false keel with copper, or just paint it black. I suspect that the false keel was regarded as a wear item to be replaced from time to time, and not covered with (expensive) copper plate. Do any of my readers know?
Next step is to add the second layer of planking to the bulwarks and hull above the water line.
It took me 2 weeks to decide how to start applying the first layer of hull planking. I had read 3 books on the subject, and eventually just decided to take the plunge with my best guess as to the starting curve of application.
Here are some photos of the process.
The strips are 5mm wide and about 1.4mm thick, and 600mm long.
I soaked the wood strips for 30 minutes where the curves were severe at the stern, and used dividers to calculate the tapers. Even so, some sharp pointed tapers were required to fill triangular gaps.
This shot shows several aspects of applying the hull planks. At the transom the planks were presoaked for 30″ then glued with CA glue, and clamped with home made Kant Twist clamps where access permitted, and with narrow jaw Vice Grips (shown) where the gap narrowed. CA glue sets in the presence of moisture, so I was content to glue the soaked wood strips, and it worked well every time. Then I worked forward edge gluing the strips to the adjacent strip, and to the bulkheads, with Gorilla glue or PVA glue. The modified bulldog clips held the strips to the bulk heads until I ran out of space. At the bow I had to taper the planks using the scale dividers to measure the degree of taper.When the gap was too small for bulldog clips, I used alligator clips and toothpicks to hold the planks in place while the glue set.
When the first planking layer was fully glued, I attended to the mal-positioning of the end gunports (bow and stern) on ech side, which had occurred due to my misreading of the incredibly small font instructions.
It involved cutting the gunports free from the glued joints. And involved considerable cutting force and levering to get them free.
Cutting a gunport from its glued attachments. To prevent the freed gunport from falling into the now closed hull, I super glued a strip of wood across the front.
The 4 gunports at the stern and bow have been repositioned, and filler strips used.
The planking of a model sailing ship is arguably the single most important feature of the finished model.
The planking of the hull on the Mamoli model is in 2 layers. The first layer, which I am currently installing, is not visible when the model is completed. The first layer forms the base on which the second layer is glued. So its appearance is not important, but it is a good practice run for the second layer. If the first layer has small gaps or bumps or depressions it can be filled or patched or sanded. But, since I am intending to make a model ship from scratch one day, I will try to make this first planking layer as accurately as I can manage, to improve my planking skills.
I have several books on the subject of model ship planking, but this small, inexpensive book from Amazon is the most informative about planking precut bulkhead models. For “Admiralty” style models, like those made in the 18th century, and usually in museums, the Underhill books are excellent.The books by Harold Underhill are excellent if you are making an “Admiralty” style model, but IMO are rather overkill for a bulkhead kit type wooden model. And very interesting! Note the usual method of holding the model while working on it.The current progress. First layer in progress. The gunports have been sanded flush with the first layer of planks, and the bulwarks and fill-in under the prow, are ready for the second layer.
And I have bent a 1.5 x 5mm strip around wide part of the hull, on both sides, where it sits naturally without too much force or twisting or heat-steam bending. Sighted the two strips from all angles to make sure that they appear well positioned. Then marked the strip positions on the bulkheads. Those marks will be used when the strips are glued permanently in place.
Fore-aft view to check the strip curves and contact with the bulkheads. Also showing my method using bulldog clips and bamboo cocktail sticks for holding the strips in position. As the planking progresses, the bulldog clips will not fit into the gaps, and other methods of holding the strips will be required.
You might be wondering why I have not yet glued the 2 strips yet. Well, in order that most strips will extend from prow to stern, each strip will need to be wider in the middle of the model, than at the ends. i.e. both ends will need to be tapered. And the tapers should not have pointy ends. Preferably the ends should not be narrower than 50% of the strip maximum width. Sounds a bit complicated, and it is. Details in the next post.
So, having worked out how to bend the planks, using the plastic pipe welding machine, I have been busy applying the top 7-8 rows.
Here are some progress photos..
The gunports were glued into place as per the instructions. Then I started with the first layer of planks at deck level, on both sides, to avoid any distortion of the hull. Although, having pre-bent the sharp curve at the bow, there was very little side pressure from the planks on the hull. Just a little because I had noticed that the curve was nicer if the planks were not totally pre-formed. First the ends of the plank were glued into place with cyano-acrylate, held in place for a minute or so with finger pressure, then the other parts were glued with white glue. And all the joins were “clamped” with multiple rubber bands. That is when I discovered that the gunports were a bit wonky. Some were so out of position, despite being placed according to the instructions, that I had to remove them, enlarge the positioning slots, and reglue them. The CA glue was too hard to cut the joins, but after a soaking with acetone, and a fair amount of force, then some more acetone, they did eventually let go. Still not perfectly positioned, but just acceptable. For some reason which might become clearer later, there are two shapes of gunports. Mostly they have a sloped outer face to fit with the inward slope of the hull at the top (the “tumblehome”), but the 2 ports at each end have square faces. One of those was missing, but I managed to fabricate one from some square tube of approximately the correct size, and glued it into place. … And this is the current state of the planking. I realised that I had used some walnut in places, rather than the intended white wood. Fortunately, the hull will be painted so it should not matter. The wood has all faded with age and it was hard to distinguish the 2 woods from each other, and when I was aware what I had done, I moistened the unused planks, which made identifying them easier. But I was concerned that I might run short of the walnut later, so I looked up local suppliers to order some more. The white posts are extensions of the bulkheads. They are all sawn off at deck level later, so the planks which form the bulwarks are not glued to them. Just edge glued, with the glue applied with a tooth pick.
I found only one supplier in Australia who had stock of walnut in the size needed. 5mm x 1.5mm x 600mm. Maybe there are other suppliers, but I ended up at “Float a Boat” in Ringwood, Melbourne. Their stocks were low, and I had other reasons to visit Melbourne, so I drove to Ringwood to pick up the strips. Another customer was talking to the proprietor, Adrian, so I had an interesting look around while waiting.
Float a Boat is a small, set back shop, crammed with model boat kits, parts, materials, books, magazines, so I happily spent time looking around. Adrian gave me permission to take some photos, and here he is packing my strips of walnut. He used to be an expert modeler, making exhibits on commission for museums and collectors. The gaff rigged yacht in the foreground is one of his. Some of the ships on display are for display only, but others are for sale at prices which were incredibly low, IMO. So, if you want a model ship or yacht, or a kit, or a propellor, or a scale cannon, or an RC system, I suggest that you check the “Float a Boat” website or email them at info@floataboat.com.au. They also have a good selection of modelers tools, and I took the opportunity to stock up.
(Upside down photo which will not rotate, of my purchases). Float a Boat’s stocks of small dimension wood is running low, despite orders to the suppliers. I have a fairly well tooled wood workshop from my days of making furniture, guitars, a staircase, etc. but not the equipment for machining tiny dimensioned long strips. Apparently, the stocks come from the United Kingdom!
So far the planking has been relatively straight forward, using regular straight sided strips. As I progress down towards the keel, many of the planks will need to be tapered. That will be challenging.
A week of almost no progress due to other stuff taking up much time, I got back to the Mamoli Constitution.
And realised that I should have checked the accuracy of the provided bulk-heads more carefully. Now I realise that they were cut by hand, and the depth of some of the slots which fit into the keel slots was up to 1mm inaccurate. Prior to gluing the bulkheads to the keel I could see no method of checking the accuracy, except by line of sight guesstimating. Now I realise that I should have been doing something that has been forbidden in my metalworking modelling, namely measuring off the plans.
The inaccuracy was apparent when I started gluing the metal gunports into their slots in the bulkheads. Instead of a nice gentle curve of gunports there was a fait bit of wavering.
The instructions recommend using CA glue, which I did, but of course it sets within seconds, and it is difficult to line up the gunports while holding the position by hand, so I was l was not happy with the result. I used acetone to remove the worst gunport, enlarged its bulkhead slot, and re-glued it. Tried to remove a few others, but by this time the CA glue would not dissolve. Bugger bugger. Not happy! Contemplated throwing the model on the fire, or rebuilding the hull using new parts which I would make from scratch. Then did the most sensible thing and slept on it overnight.
This morning I took a fresh look, and decided to press on. And forgiving myself because this is my first wooden kit model. I will do the planking, and see how it looks then. BTW, when I first opened the kit, the box had been opened, but the plastic bags were still sealed. I did not check every part, because there must be over a thousand, and the kit is so old (?1980’s) I did not expect to be able to obtain replacements. I did count the castings, guns etc, and noted that there were 7 square gun ports. An odd number! Discovered when gluing them in position that there should have been 8. So I will have to fabricate one. Should be in position before the planking, but maybe yes, maybe no. Might be another decision to be regretted.
When contemplating this build, the planking was the stage about which I was most apprehensive. I read several books about planking, watched some YouTube videos, and it seems do-able. The stips of wood provided in the kit are 5mmx1.5mmx600mm. The very first plank to be attached has a sharp bend at the bow, where it is fixed to the keel. The instructions suggested soaking the strips for 30′ prior to bending, which I did. Despite the soaking I could feel the wood starting to break.
Several decades ago I had made guitars, the sides of which required the rosewood sides to be bent fairly aggressively after steaming. So I searched the Internet for commercial heating- steaming options. I was not overly impressed with the relatively cheap options, and not prepared to spend a lot of money.
Then a light globe in my brain switched on.
Check the post on this site “Google Lens”. 18 April 2024. That machine was made to join plastic pipes. I returned it to my neighbour after its function was identified, but he said. “you keep it. You are more likely than me to use it.” So I did, not expecting to find a use so soon, or at all.
I wondered if it could be modified to bend the wooden planks.
Short answer….it worked like a charm!
The distance between the bolt on cylinders was too large for my 1.5mm thick strips of wood, so I drilled some holes in 4mm thick aluminium bar, bolted on, and adjusted the gap to 1.5mm. Switched it on and within a very few minutes it was too hot to touch. I had soaked the first strip for 30 minutes, bent the wood around the cylinder, against the aluminium bolt on strip. Steam emitted. Gradually made the bend, checking frequently against the hull.
….and this is the result. The bend is perfect, and it does not try to spring back even after cooling.
Not yet glued into position. I prefer it to dry totally.
Made me feel much happier after my earlier mistakes. I can hardly believe the serendipity.
Before I could glue on the first layer of the deck, I needed to glue in some longitudinal beams, and the provided walnut strips were 0.3mm oversize.
One of the longitudinal beams sitting in place after using the sanding thicknesser to remove 0.3mm from one side. Not yet glued. These beams will not be visible in the completed model, and were not of this scale in the original ship, but are essential in the model to stiffen the hull. The stiffness will be required when the bulkheads are shaped to accept the planking.This is my el-cheapo oscillating drum sander. Not often used by me but I predict that it will be used a lot in constructing Constitution. The Customwood fence is cramped in position. The workpiece is steadily pushed against the rotation of the spindle, using a push stick. Takes off 0.05mm – 1mm per pass. And after some practice, is surprisingly accurate. I experimented with different spindle/sanding sleeve diameters, and this one, 2″ / 50mm seemed to give the best results.
At some stage I will make a steel fence with a micro adjusting positioning screw, but for the moment this setup will suffice.
So, to return to the model build….
After gluing in the 2 beams, I glued the deck base to the bulkheads.
A dry run without glue, then spread the white glue to the bulkheads, and held down the subdeck with rubber bands. All had positioned perfectly in the dry run, but for some unknown reason there was a small malposition in the final glued run. I don’t think that it will be fatal, or even noticeable, but it WAS frustrating. There is a small bend/concavity fore and aft, and the deck has a fall towards the scuppers. Thankfully, those curves have worked out nicely.Gluing the subdeck. And continuing the hull. Those square cutouts are as supplied in the 1.5mm thick plywood. I have started to tidy them up, but unfortunately they are so grossly inaccurately cut that some wood filler will be needed. The worker must have had a liquid lunch. I am revising my opinion that the old Mamoli kit was CNC cut. It is looking more like it was cut by hand.
Now that the hull structural pieces are glued together I can start to consider how to shape the bulkheads in preparation for the planking.
And I have ordered some copper foil for the hull copper sheathing. The original copper rectangles were 48″ x 14″ x 1/4″. At 1:93 scale that equates to 15.8mm x 4mm x 0.07mm. 1700 of them. Or if you are reading this from USA and want it in cubits or barley seeds I am afraid that you can do the conversion yourself. They were nailed to the hull planks (copper nails I presume). The foil has an adhesive backing which I hope will stick to the model hull wooden planks.. And I am thinking of producing some fake nail dents with one of those spikey wheels which my mum used for sewing. If they are still able to be purchased. I will enquire at a local haberdashery shop.
Next day…
This is the rear transom with the dodgy square holes. And not visible in the photo is its floor which will be glued to to the hull later, after finish shaping the bulkheads. But the transom slopes towards the top, has a curved shape (visible), and the floor and top deck have curves. Plus there are some supporting blocks underneath with similar complex curves. All very tricky to get right. SO, I decided to glue the floor to the transom, holding the assembly in its final position using an assortment of paper clips, rubber bands and small binder clips, but not yet gluing any other joins so the assembly could be temporarily removed.The transom was super glued to its floor, while held in position on the hull. Thereby getting the angle correct.And here it is, sitting in position, removeable to facilitate shaping the bulkheads.
I wanted to be able to remove the transom assembly while I was finish shaping the bulkheads, ready for applying the hull planking.
The bulkheads were a bit high in some places, and low in others. I will pack the low spots when I apply the planking, but the high spots needed to be sanded down. I used medium grit foam sanding blocks, and 80grit sandpaper wrapped over a 38mm dowel. Also, particularly near the bow and the stern, the bulkheads need to be substantially chamfered, so the planks will have some surface to glue to.
This process is not finished. Spent about an hour so far, but some tight corners at the bow will need a different approach, probably using a Dremel.
Construction starts with the hull, specifically the keel. The model keel comes in 3 pieces of 4mm plywood which are glued together. The instructions specify that the slots for the bulkheads should be positioned on top of the plans. Since the provided cut pieces are not absolutely accurate, some trimming with a sharp knife was required. I used to own some scalpels, and boxes of spare blades, but unable to locate them so I purchased an “Exacto” knife and a packet of spare No 11 (pointy, straight blade) blades. To avoid getting glue on the laminated plan I covered the plan with GladWrap.
The 3 numbered pieces of pre-cut plywood, trimmed by me to size, ready for glue. I used PVA white glue which did not adhere to the GladWrap. The keel will not be visible in the finished model, but it is the backbone of the ship, so needs to be strongly joined.The instructions say that the pieces should be nailed to the baseboard, but I decided that was not necessary, and just weighed them down with a board and books, and left the glue to cure overnight.The instructions suggest gluing some strips of paper over the joins, and since the glued keel was a bit bendy laterally I complied, and to my surprise the paper reinforcement did indeed stiffen the keel considerably. Live and learn. The strips holding the keel vertically were stapled to the baseboard. I numbered the slots to match the bulkheads. The original Constitution did not have bulkheads like the model, of course, just heavy frames and about 4 times as many. But the bulkheads will not be visible in the model, so I proceeded to use them. If I do one day make another wooden ship model, I will use frames, not bulkheads.
The next step specified gluing the bulkheads to the keel, but reading ahead I noted that the top deck was in 2 layers, and held to the bulkheads in neatly fitting slots. Also, the depth of the slots in both the keel and the bulkheads was quite variable and not in a straight line. And the bulkheads needed to be at 90 degrees to the keel, and vertical to the baseboard. And the plans were not dimensioned.
So I used a different order of assembly. I do hope that this variation does not return to bite me on the bum. I glued the 3 deck panels together, after doing a dry run assembly of the keel, bulkheads and deck pieces, and reinforced the joins with paper strips….
The deck panels glued together, again after measuring and trimming, making sure that the overall shape was symmetrical, and fitted the keel with bulkheads not glued yet. Then glued on paper. Some penetrations were covered with the paper strips, and cut out after the glue dried.Then made sure that the glued up deck panel fitted the bulkheads. Some enlargement of the undersized deck panel slots was required, but it is starting to take shape, No? The deck panel will not be visible after it is covered with planks later.
So that is where we are up to, after 2 days of about 6 hours/day. So far it has been very enjoyable.
I have been waiting for an inspiring next modelling project, preferably one that I can mainly manage at home, rather than my workshop which is about a 20″ drive away.
In the past month I have committed to two projects. One for the workshop (9pr field cannon of Napoleonic vintage), and the other I spotted on Ebay, placed a bid, and won it.
It is a wooden kit for a 1:93 scale model of USS Constitution. A Mamoli kit, about 30-35 years old. Sold by a QLD vendor (austin31614) with a starting price less than half new price. Constitution was an American heavy frigate, with a spectacular history, launched 1797, for the purpose of tackling Corsair pirates in the Mediterranean. And later heavily involved in the British-US war of 1812. More about the history in later posts.
I was a bit concerned about the kit because of its age, but the intact plastic packages within the carton was somewhat reassuring. I was very impressed by the seller (austin31614) who fully answered my questions and provided extra photographs.
To my delight, my opening bid won the auction. The vendor, was probably the best Ebay seller I have ever dealt with. They responded quickly to my request for more information with many photographs and descriptions. There was further amiable correspondence after the win, and an invitation to notify them if there were problems with the kit. This was reassuring because of the age of the kit.
The kit arrived about 5 days ago. 2 packages, weighing about 5kg. They looked undamaged. Our modelling engineering club president suggested a video of the unboxing, and we decided to do the unboxing at the next GSMEE meeting. I know that kids love unboxing videos, and I admit to watching them myself occasionally. But would our GSMEE membership be at all interested? After all, most of us are grandfathers, and possibly a few great grandfathers. But as model engineers I suspect that we just love toys, so we decided to give the unboxing a go.
We have a prospective new member. He gave the first talk. Retired now, but a long working career as a pathologist, with special expertise in gynaecological pathology, and forensic pathology. He talked about shotgun cartridges, with a display from a local industry, Winchester, now closed I think. And a very interesting case involving a shotgun murder suicide.
Then my turn. What an act to follow. So I just did a brief introduction, and opened the cylinder with the plans. They were yellow with age, laminated, and in good condition. I noted that there were 2 large sheets which had been sticky taped together to make an A1 size, along with a number of A2 sheets. The sticky taping had not been done very neatly, but more about that later. Handed the sheets around the table for the perusal by the 16 members present.
Then I attacked the rectangular box. The superb, multilayered packaging took a while to remove. The box was also a bit discoloured with age, but not as bad as I expected.
Found a ship modelling book. Nice. A good read for later. A long intact package of strips of wood for planking, mast components and spars.
Several intact packages of bulkheads, decks, the keel. All looked intact and good.
Packages of twine in different thicknesses, blocks of different sizes, wooden tiles to substitute for copper sheathing (I expect to replace those with copper foil), quite nice castings for anchors, name plate, and other fittings. Castings of carronades which I will probably use, and of long gun barrel mouths which I will probably replace with long guns of my own manufacture. Brass Pins. Chain links. And lots of other small parts.
All in all, the components were better than I expected.
Near the end of the meeting, with a few members remaining.Winchester shotgun display at rear. Me, Rudi and Brendan discussing the plans. Brendan has been over the original Constitution in Boston USA. Rudi has some experience in model ship building, and is a qualified boat surveyor and sailboat owner. Me, I have not tackled a wooden model of this complexity before.
There was quite a lot of conversation about the kit, the project, and the plans. An offer to lend me some modelling tools, and another to top up the brass pins.
A successful trial of an unboxing, I think. Despite the average age probably north of 70.
Since this is my first wooden model ship since a was a teenager, I will probably make it as intended, rather than introducing suggested modifications, but I am already considering a future project of scratch model ship build along traditional lines, with built up frames, layered planking etc.
This evening, after the unboxing, I could not wait any longer. I had read several books about model shipbuilding, and watched numerous YouTube videos, and read the fairly detailed instructions accompanying the Mamoli USS Constitution kit.
I found the keel components and glued them together, with PVA glue. Actually, I set up a flat baseboard on the dining room table, placed the full size keel plan on the baseboard, and tried to fit the 4 plywood components together. And realised that the 30-35 year old kit was not accurately cut out. It was clear that the bulkheads needed to be positioned on the keel at precise positions. Not only did the keel components not fit together, but the bulkhead slots were up to 1mm out of position. This was not a laser cut kit. Silly me. It was probably CNC cut, with relatively primitive cutting tools by todays modern CNC standards. So I spent some time with an Exacto knife adjusting the keel components. Not difficult. Mainly concerned to not cut my fingers. And ended up with a straight keel, and slots very close to their intended positions.
The glue can set overnight. The plan was protected with Glad Wrap, which was also placed against the keel pieces, preventing them from being glued to the base or compression piece, weighed down with some heavy books from my library.
The keel pieces positioned over the GladWrap protected plan, ready for gluing. I had removed the old sticky tape joining the plan halves, and carefully retaped the join. The plywood and solid wood parts needed trimming up to 0.5-1mm to match the drawings. Glued and weighted.The castings appear to be quite good quality.
I intend to continue with further posts about progress on this model.
johnsmachines 