HMS Enterprize 1/96 by Modelship Dockyard

So I'm going to be using bloodwood to replace some of the fixtures and add some color. I've never actually worked with it before and it's proving to be difficult. It's a very dense wood that keeps turning a brownish red color. I've tried low and high grit sanding. Slow sanding and water sanding. It's a learning process.

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But I think it's going to look great.
 
I have used Bloodwood (and other variations) extensively in woodturnings. Just to warn you, it will eventually oxidize to a slightly reddish, mostly brown color.
 
RussF said:
I have used Bloodwood
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I love the look of bloodwood and massaranduba but both are very oily and caused issues for me with gluing. I had to rely on treenails and bolts to make sure parts stayed together. Have you found a glue that has not been a problem? (I avoid CA as much as possible due to its toxicity and presence of allergens but am happy to use epoxy if that would work well)
Thanks
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
I love the look of bloodwood and massaranduba but both are very oily and caused issues for me with gluing. I had to rely on treenails and bolts to make sure parts stayed together. Have you found a glue that has not been a problem? (I avoid CA as much as possible due to its toxicity and presence of allergens but am happy to use epoxy if that would work well)
Thanks
Allan
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Wiping the part(s) with acetone immediately before gluing will help considerably. Where I work, we once built a line of teak furniture. Teak is also VERY oily, and that's the method we used with PVA. Epoxy will work, but is not necessary. don't wait too long between cleaning and gluing else the oils will seep back to the surface.

If you don't have acetone, lacquer thinner will work also. I prefer acetone. Many years ago, a good friend of mine who is a retired chemistry professor from Cornell University told me that acetone, while still hazardous, is safer to handle than lacquer thinner because the molecules of acetone are physically too big to permeate the skin and blood vessel walls, whereas the components of lacquer thinner, and there are some nasty ones, will soak right in. Acetone will dry out your skin, but that's about as far as it will go. Besides, the Admiral will not complain as much about the smell of acetone because it will just smell like you are removing your nail polish. ROTF
 
Going to the trouble of adding the cabins is well worth it, they look very good. Are your plans like the original ones below? There are differences in the two drawings from RMG as the first has 11 cabins as a fighting ship and second layout is with the cabins as a receiving hulk in her later life with only four cabins.
Thanks
Allan

Fighting ship layout (drawing covered the class from 1771-1778)
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Receiving ship layout
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AllanKP69 said:
Going to the trouble of adding the cabins is well worth it, they look very good. Are your plans like the original ones below? There are differences in the two drawings from RMG as the first has 11 cabins as a fighting ship and second layout is with the cabins as a receiving hulk in her later life with only four cabins.
Thanks
Allan

Fighting ship layout (drawing covered the class from 1771-1778)
View attachment 510913


Receiving ship layout
View attachment 510915
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It's in the fighting ship layout. It'll have the two sets of cabins on both sides.

Took a small break to work on the ships boats. Designed and laser cut a proof of concept.

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All done with 1/32 balsa. It's out of scale slightly, looks like it's just a bit too large so it'll get shrunk down. It's designed be built with 1 mm pearwood, so it's the balsa is a little thing and not everything fits perfectly but looks like it'll fit just right with the pearwood.
 
So obviously I had drawn out the ships boats above but they weren't going to look accurate....

So I used the plates to make jigs so I could make them properly. They are so small, these are just for proof of concept, they aren't perfectly accurate because I just used 1/4" poplar.

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Just for scale. I'll think out some boards so that the jigs are the correct size and maybe I'll finish building this deck finally
 
Using the laser instead of a scroll saw is novel. Nicely done! I have no experience with laser cutting but have a question. Even though you are using balsa, would it be easier to sand the final shape if you cut a plug piece for each station line rather than the thicker ones you have? Maybe the only advantage of having a plug piece for each station line is giving an exact location of every frame but probably not a big deal to mark the location on the ones you have. Just wonder what your thoughts are as you have obvious skills with the laser.
Allan
 
AllanKP69 said:
Using the laser instead of a scroll saw is novel. Nicely done! I have no experience with laser cutting but have a question. Even though you are using balsa, would it be easier to sand the final shape if you cut a plug piece for each station line rather than the thicker ones you have? Maybe the only advantage of having a plug piece for each station line is giving an exact location of every frame but probably not a big deal to mark the location on the ones you have. Just wonder what your thoughts are as you have obvious skills with the laser.
Allan
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I considered that, but I think at this scale it'll be easier to transfer the locations of each frame. I used this method even with my 1/48 scale longboat that I've yet to finish as well

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Finished thinning the poplar to the correct width for each of the boat jigs, now to cut them all out again.

In the meantime though I'd actually do some work on the Enterprise.

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So either the shape/width of my bow is off, or the second deck is at the wrong height. I think my second deck may be a little too low. Or may it's all fine. The only issue is the first couple beams seem a little bit short.
 
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