This Poop deck is taking a bit more work than I expected. There are a lot of details that need to be right.
Making the Gun Ports while making the Bollards and Caprails.
Just discovered that Weldwood Contact Cement works great for this work.
I forgot to mention that when I was closing up these Tanganyika Planks across the Gun Ports, I planked over the holes along the tops resulting in these half Gun Ports which I’ve been cutting out with a Xacto Razor.
I find that using a shaving motion across and with the grain gets the best results.
Up until yesterday, I was doing pretty good with this Ship.
Then I realized that the misalignment that I did with the Gun Port placements has got me into a real bother.
It’s not that it doesn’t look good the way they are, it’s just I get a really bad nagging feeling about it not being as “perfect” as I would have liked it to be.
Anyway, yesterday I went through a whole gamut of emotions trying to figure out what to do about it. Everything from scrapping the Ship all together… to perhaps planking over all the Gun Ports to hide all those Guns and to make this ship into an armed Merchantman or something to that effect.
I suppose I can just leave it alone and just continue on… After all, no 2 ships are exactly the same.
I even went as far as watching Master & Commander to see what that ship looked like… Hmmm…
This 1:1 Ratio Scale Drawing sure comes in handy.
I sanded the braces so that they have the same concave shape as the Bulkheads.
I have to let the glue dry nice and hard because I have to press down into it while I sand it down to get that Camber.
Next time I’m going to work on installing the gun ports that is on the Gun deck.
This necessitates measuring because I need to make some supports that is going to support the Gunports along the decks.
I’ve been thinking about these Gunports a lot lately while I finish up the Cannons. I ended up finding four more Gun carriages to make on another Laser Cut Strip.
Anyway, I’ve been experimenting around with different types of braces and I think that cutting these 5 mm x 5 mm Basswood stock I had l laying around is going to do the trick. I figure if I run out of that stock I have some to 2mm x 5mm I can use as well.
The big problem I’ve been having is cutting this miter cut of 20°. Each brace is about 20 mm long with a 20 degree angle cut. Well, not all that big of a deal it’s just I ended up experimenting around with different pieces but that’s just normal.
I decided to begin at the Stern and work my way forward because the last Gunport sort of leans against one of the last bulkhead frames. So I’ll just use that as a baseline to measure the rest of the Gunports off of.
There’s another dilemma that I’m facing as well. It’s because the upper bulwark where the gun deck is has a bit of a concave curve to it. So now I’m going to have to install these braces without the gun ports and to sand them down to the same concave nature as the rest of the bulkheads.
I’m I’m riding all this right now while I’m out walking my dog so that’s why there’s no pictures. 🤣😲🤭
I’m starting to make the necessary 24 Gun Ports.
I had to write back to Model Expo complaining about not having any of these Gun Ports provided with the kit. It does specifically state that I was supposed to have 24 Gun Ports made out of Metal.
They contacted Mamoli and they replied that they’ve since replaced the Metal Gun Ports with some Laser Cut wood ones which I have to put together. Very annoying, since I had to wait for their reply.
So, right now I’m currently making these Gun Ports.
After trying out Superglue, I decided to go with the Aleene’s The Ultimate Glue. It allows you make adjustments while the glue sets, unlike Superglue.
I made about 4 with the Aleene’s The Ultimate Glue. I then read the instructions and it says to let it dry for around 2 minutes before sticking it together. It was then that I realize that this glue must be Contact Cement?
So, if I’m going to use Contact Cement anyway???… Why don’t I use the Dap Contact Cement? It does require a 15 minute drying time, but it’s way less messy that the Aleene’s. I just use a small brush to apply it.
What you do is to apply it to both sides of where you want glued. Let it sit for 15 minutes and no longer than 2 hours it says on the Instructions. Then you press the 2 pieces together and it sticks hard. It’s nice for these small parts like these pieces for the Gun Ports.
The problem I have with both Aleene’s Rapid Dry and Aleene’s The Ultimate is that the Glue keeps coming out of the Nozzle and makes a mess. Then once it hits the air… Within about 20 seconds, it develops a film. Also another thing annoying is the little Glue strings you get on these 2 glues as well.
Wouldn’t you know it? That this ship requires 26 Gun Ports and they only gave me enough for 20?!?!… I guess I’ll have to scratch make 6 Gun Ports. Very annoying.
I guess this is my main project for the time being… These Gun Ports. Because there’s not much I can do until I get them installed.
Mamoli shorted me 6 Gun Ports so I had to scratch make them from a piece of 1.5mm x 5mm Basswood Plank.
