The Ship Model Forum

Thanks, Marijn, I am aware of this, but they are like ploughing furrows actually. I only need a very narrow incision to hold some pigmented ink. The lines will be narrower than what can be drawn reasonably with an old-fashioned drafting pen or led alone a marker pen.

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Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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Cabin companionway and binnacle

The layout of the access to the stern cabin is somewhat puzzling, even taking into consideration that accommodation in this kind of vessel was spartanic and cramped. There seems to be a skylight over the cabin that was most probably protected by a grille. However, it is just in the area over which the business end of tiller sweeps. The helmsman would have to pay attention, where he puts his feet. Rather close in front of it seems to be the companionway that leads down into the cabin. Unlike for the other deck openings no coamings are drawn. Normally, there would have been a movable binnacle behind the companionway, so that the helmsman has a good view. The binnacle at that time was constructed like a cabinet and would be lashed down to the deck. However, the space between the skylight and the companionway seems to be too narrow to accommodate this kind of cabinet.


Details of the stern arrangements, original drawing by Möller (1846)

By looking through contemporary paintings and drawings of similar vessels, I chanced upon a somewhat naïve watercolour of a local painter from Trondheim, that shows a combination of binnacle and companionway. It also opens in a somewhat unusual fashion, where a segment of the roof is hinged to flip backward – rather than the usual sliding cover. Not sure how this would behave in any kind of stronger wind. Not all the details and the perspective in the watercolour seem to be right, but overall, it looks credible.

The whole arrangement is actually quite similar to that of the original drawing, also with the skylight right under the tiller, which actually is worked quite casually with ropes by the gentleman with straw(?)-hat sitting on the port stern rail.

Anyway, I opted for this solution as it is unusual and solves the space problem. As a bonus I don’t need to worry about rendering the lashings of the binnacle.


The Norwegian jægt HAABET (1849). Source: Town archives of Trondheim - https://www.flickr.com/photos/trondheim_byarkiv/3539132719.

The companionway-binnacle combination was again built from laminations of laser-cut pieces. The main objective was to show the panelling. So, each side was built up from three layers, the outer ones simulating the frames with the cut-outs for the panels. The profiled coamings were simulated by adding two further layers.










The collection of parts for laser-cutting

Assembly of all those parts was a bit of fiddling and I prefer my usual method of assembling companionways etc. around a solid core milled from a piece of acrylic glass, but this obviously only works, when they are shown closed.

To be continued …

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Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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Hello,

I just viewed this post. Wonderful ! An advanced research of documents and an excellent start of work.
Best wishes

Thank you very much for your kind comments!

In between business-related absences from home, I managed to progress here a bit ...

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Cabin Skylight

As noted previously, the cabin skylight is a somewhat perilous position, but nevertheless contemporary drawings and some old models indicated, that they were of relatively lightweight construction. The actual construction is somewhat conjectural, but it seems that the hatch was covered by frame into which glass-panes were insert. Over this, there is a shallow roof-like structure with protective iron bars. In this arrangement, the glass-panes are not actually insert into the roof-like structure, but are at some distance below. The effect is, that even in the event that the iron bars are bent, the glass would not be touched. It also conceivable, that in the Baltic not real glass was used, but rather muscovite, which would be obtained by trade from Russia. In the event of very bad weather, the roof-like grille presumably could be replaced by a plain hatch cover.


Milling to shape of the acrylic glass core for the cabin skylight

This structure was built up in my preferred way, that is around a core of acrylic glass. It was milled to size from scrap piece of acrylic glass. For the ‘glass’ surface, I was able to use one of the original - as manufactured - surfaces, so no polishing was required. The high-speed milling with a fly-cutter a low feed-rate left almost transparent surfaces.


Milling to shape of the acrylic glass core for the cabin skylight


Milling of the recesses for the laser-cut frame parts

The parts for the roof-like structure were produced again with the laser-cutter from Canson paper. The structure was to be designed in two parts, namely the frame attached to acrylic core and the two roof halves with the grilles, to allow painting. During painting the horizontal pane will be masked off and the roof halves painted separately.

In order to ensure equal spacing of the ‘bars’, the roof was built up from three layers with the middle layers having notches. This layer was lacquered onto one of the outer layers and the ‘bars’ attached with drops of varnish – quite a fiddly bit of work and I am not entirely satisfied with the result. In the past, I made such parts from surface-etched brass and this seems to have worked better, but I didn’t want to set up everything for etching just a couple of small parts.


Basic structure of the skylight, waiting to be painted and finally assembled

I prefer to defer painting to the late stages of the building process in order to avoid handling the painted parts as much as possible, so construction of the skylight stops here for the moment.

To be continued …

_________________
Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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Beautiful precise scratchbuilding!

And with very interesting techniques too!
That milling machine looks beautiful. Is it some kind of vintage watchmakers machine?

Thanks, Marijn!

Well, it's a vintage milling machine that never was: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/micromill.html. The key mechanical parts came from antique watchmaking lathes.



https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/micromill/MF-V1.mp4

The miniature vice is shop-made: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/tools/attachments/attachments.html#Micro_vice

_________________
Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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Wow, that really is another hobby in its own right! Fantastic!

In spite of a week's absence due to some business travel I managed to do something:

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The Main Hatch

The main hatch will be shown closed, so I could revert to my usual technique of milling it from a solid piece of acrylic glass. In fact, the piece forms a core and as sharp corners for the recess into which the hatch covers fit is needed, around it strips of 1 mm acrylic glass were cemented. This arrangement was milled to size and shape as shown previously. To make it visually more interesting a quarter-round cove was milled into the outer edge with a 0.5 mm ball-burr. In real life, this would also prevent the wood from splintering, when hit by something during loading.


Milling a quarter-round cove into the coaming of the main-hatch

The cover was assumed to be in three parts, each planked with short lengths of plank. The cover is made from a tight-fitting piece of bakelite paper into which the planks were engraved, as was done for the deck-planks. Making hatch and cover in separate pieces allows to paint it with sharp edges. The cover will be simulated to be natural wood.


The main-hatch with the cover inserted

Eventually, the hatch will be fitted with clamps for the battens to tie-down the canvas cover. That will be done at a later stage to avoid damage during fitting the part into the deck.

To be continued …

_________________
Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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I managed to eek out a bit of time for the workshop between travels and addressed myself to the

Parcel Hatch

The ’parcel hatch’ is a common feature of such trading-smack type vessels and proved access to the cargo hold before the mast. As the name indicates, this space was typically used to store general cargo, while the main hold was used for bulk loads, such as bricks or coal, or grain in sacks.


The laser-cutting template for the parcel hatch lid

This hatch will be shown closed and therefore a ‘core’ (the actual hatch including the coamings) was milled from a piece of acrylic, while the lid was built up from laser-cut parts. I could have milled the two parts in one piece, but milling the camber of the lid would have required a more complex set-up. On the real thing lid was made to fit over hatch like the lid on a box.





These hatch lid was tied down with two iron straps, the ends of which slipped over eye-bolts in the deck, to be secured to them with cotter-pins presumably. As these parts will be painted in a different colour from that of the hatch and have to fit tightly, they will be made and fitted later, once the hatch is installed.


The parcel hatch and crew companionway provisionally deployed

To be continued …

_________________
Eberhard

Former chairman Arbeitskreis historischer Schiffbau e.V. (German Association for Shipbuilding History)

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