Sunday, December 13, 2009

Restoring Bluenose 21

Well here I am again, its been a long time since I last got into my blog spot, I forgot how to do it, but a little persistence and here I am.
I am going to talk about what I have been doing lately,that's why I haven't said much on my blog space. So here's what I've been doing. I did a model of Bluenose 1921 version some years back, but I did not do it right, I made allot of mistakes,because I didn't have experience or detail that could tell me the difference. Thus I was in possession of model I did not like. So It was either do it over or burn it. I did not want to burn it, so I deceided to rip it down and do it over. I took off everything,( the rigging and all), even the deck and all its fittings, and started over. I made all new masts, the booms, the gaffs, (saved the blocks,but did away with the tackle.)
I made a new deck,but I put in the pieces above the deck to demonstrate where all the ribs were, ( did not do that before ), I made everything out of oak, and made new shackles (straps) to fix all blocks to masts, booms, etc., and of course new paint. I am getting there, and will soon be ready to put on the sails etc..
But one thing I found out about model ship building, you can become addicted doing this, and a person can become sort of a hermit down there in your basement all the time. This is not good. Better to do just a little bit at a time, then take a break often if you have too. If you dont you loose reality sort of.
Anyway thats how I see it.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

How about this !

Last week I went and saw the tall ships courtesy of my son and daughter in-law. Needless to say,I was quite impressed with what I saw,especially the wooden ships. As you might know, I am a wood man,(no I don’t have a wooden leg,or am I a block head) I just like wood. Wood to me represents life until it is cut down,then it becomes dead,such as man which is alive until he gets old, then he dies. This I believe could be one reason why it is said “  that some men see people as trees”(enough on that point).

This is what I saw in the wooden ships, all the planking, all the decking, all the ribs and blocking, the masts etc., trees that were once alive, now made alive again by being shaped in such a way as to serve a meaningful purpose to please the human eye and desires. This I call amazing.

Steel on the other hand is all man made, as it comes from the earth and man puts it together to form any shape that he desires. Now I’m not against steel as I use allot of it myself in one form or another, but what I am saying that there is a difference in a  wooden ship , and one made of steel, I don’t sense the same character as I do in wooden ships.

Anyway that's how I see ships. How do you see ships?

Monday, June 22, 2009

Back Again

Havent been on my blog for quite awhile as I have been busy with equipping the motor launch with radio controlled servos for steering, and motor control. Also had to install the the motor in such a way that it would line up with the angle of the drive line,so as to eliminate vibration which I don't want .

Also had to consider waterproofing where the cabin fitted on to the deck. Needless to say that the cabin I had did not work,so had to rebuild a new one directly to the deck where I was able to waterproof the joint so water wont get in. Everyone knows what could happen when water and electricity come together don’t they. Also developed a steering mechanism for dual rudders from one servo, and am happy to say it really works.

Its no easy job building a boat that wont sink,incidentally I tried my boat out in a little pond in my back yard, and it doesn't leak. I’m one happy camper. 

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Revisiting my Ship

wooden ships 002

This is a model of a ship that I built, but its  not the first one that I built.  The first one that I built was made of layers of wood,( a solid block of wood that formed the hull). I was not happy with it so I was going to rebuild it, and to put more detail into it, and make it more presentable. I did not succeed, and it ended up in the wood pile.

Needless to say I have since learned that the proper way to build a model, is to have a good plan with lots of details and a list of materials. You have to visualize scale, what would the real thing look like, compared to what you could make say from scratch. It has to look  real only small scale,( say 1/4”= 1’-0” ) You have to think of your self as being only one  and a half inches tall, that is if you are six feet tall in reality. This takes some doing, but it can be done.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Planking my Ship

wooden ships 014

Thought today that I would tell you about planking a ship. After the ribs or bulkheads are all set in order, draw lines on bulkheads and or ribs so that you will have ready reference as to where you are going. ( after all this is my opinion only ) Some my not agree, but that is alright . I like to turn the hull upside down and work from the keel down. But first of all make sure that ribs and legs,( I call them legs), are a little longer then need be, so that you can trim them off when you come to fit the gun-wale of the ship.  Then I would fit planking to line up with the deck line which should be a little lower then the gun-wale. This should be done with just strait pins temporally, in case adjustment is required.

Then get started with the planking of the ship. Like I said start at the keel, fit each plank carefully,(now take your time, ) and see that your joints fall on a bulkhead or rib for solid fastening . Like I said before, if your boat is going into the water, you have to use waterproof glue on your boat, or else you will just have a pile of wood floating around on top of the water, and that is just about it.

After you have finished one side of your keel, then do the other side of the keel, and so alternating side by side as you go. As you go along, measure the distance from planking to reference lines, so that you will know that planking is coming out equal on both sides, and will look right at the bow and the stern. This is important, as looks means a lot.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Motor Launch

MVC-003F

What you see above is a model of a French motor Launch that I have just put together,all from scratch. This I had some trouble with, because the plan that I took it from,did not match up in the bow and the keel. Let me explain , the frame has a keel and bulkheads which are supposed to be notched together , and all line up from bow to stern. Everything was fine until I got to where the cabin  is situated , then the bulkheads started to go down instead of up to the end of the bow. I got it all planked in,( the hull and the deck) when I noticed “hey this does not look right”, It does not line up according to the side elevation of the boat. Something was dreadfully wrong, and I had to take the deck all off, build it up, and then put it back the way it was supposed to be.

What I should have done was draw my own plan using the sections that they gave me, and seen it for myself first hand, and gone from there. But I learned the hard way, (never do that again)  . I now have the boat complete except for fibreglass coating inside and out, and then painting, setting the radio controls, battery storage, etc. in place, and she is ready to go, I hope.

By the way, I had to use waterproof glue for this one, as you can guess what would happen to my boat in the water, if I did not.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Makin my Boat

wooden ships 001

Well , I am back with my blog. Got help from Shawn as to what to do with my pictures, now I am well established.

As you might have guessed, my hobby is to build model ships of days gone past, and the present. I suspect that this interest stems from the fact my ancestor Jeremiah Simms was him self a ship builder in Yarmouth Co. many years ago, and my middle initial happens to be Simms.

As you can see by the picture, this model is close too, but not as exact as it could be to the real thing. But whose going to know for sure, as the real ship is now at bottom of the Atlantic, off Hattie ( I am told, ) and my model is still in my recreation room.

But one thing I am told, that It is important to have a plan to build a ship or boat, and it is important to follow the plan as best as one can, ( trust me saves a whole lot of grief in the long run.) One thing I found out though, that all the details needed were not shown, and I was left to guess at what was needed to be done in this or any particular case. So the bottom line is, its my boat , and I will do what I want, ( and suffer any consequences that may arise from my decision .)

This is all for now, see you next time with more to come.