HMS Granado 1/48, POF, CAF models

Well - I've just gone back to my construction posts and found the last one was in early June!

Unfortunately, SWMBO has not been well over the last few months and I've found myself going from 'assistance' to a 24/7 full-time carer.
Those of you in a similar situation will know what that entails, and how it cuts down on your modelling time.

Never mind, I have managed some work, so will bring you up to date.

Since I last posted, I have completed the sanding/fairing of the inside of the frames.
You will no doubt be horrified to learn I used a small flap wheel in the Dremel.
IMG_0760.JPGIt's not a technique I would advise for a beginner, but if you know what you are doing it saves a lot of time! The flap wheel was about 40mm, and was first run against a stone wall to round the front edge.
The secret of using a flap wheel is to never stop moving it around - never stop moving for a moment, or you will get hollows forming.

After roughly taking the surface down by eye, I then use a 5 x 1.0 x 200mm strip of wood laid fore and aft in the hull to detect high spots. Your fingers are very touch sensitive, and when run lightly over the length of the strip will detect any undulations from one rib to the next. The strip needs to be fairly robust - I use a boxwood strip, which is flexible enough to deflect and detect level changes, but not to dip into the gaps between the ribs. You will feel which ribs are still slightly high and can use a soft pencil to mark them. You will also be able to 'rock' the strip over high points. Then use the flapwheel to bring down your marked high spots, and repeat the process again. I usually find about four repititions will bring everything down to a level surface.
Where the angle of the ribs at the stem and stern are too tight to let the flapwheel enter, I use a Proxxon sanding pen.
I probably spent about four to five hours sanding in total.

More to follow shortly

Ted
 
Hi Ted! Good to see you back, but I’m sorry to hear about your wife. I know she is receiving impeccable care.

I typically use a Dremel sanding drum for rough sanding frames, and a Proxxon pen for fine smoothing. As you mention, keeping the drum moving is critical in avoiding dips. Using a variable speed Dremel tool on low RPM makes the drum much more controllable, even for a novice!
 
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I should have mentioned in my last post that I had installed the hawse timbers in the bow before the internal sanding. You may remember I said I intended to chop off the front of the jig to enable me to get the best possible fit of the timbers to the rabbet line, my eyesight is not what it was, and I wasn't happy about installing the timbers when I couldn't readily see into the jig through the sides. As it happened, I found I could just cut away some of the jig sides, and I could see much better and ensure I had a good line.


IMG_0729.JPG
The bit of metal you can see behind cant frame seven is the end of a clamp (See later)


Having finished the internal hull sanding it was time to install the keelson. No problems here, it all fitted well.

IMG_0712.JPG

A word on the clamps may be of use to those of you who may not have much experience, or are approaching a POF for the first time. It can be quite awkward to get clamps in to tight corners, and I found that this type of clamp works well for me. I made up a dozen using the lathe and some silver steel rods I had in the 'might come in useful' box. I believe you can buy them commercially as well; but I needed them urgently for a previous boat.

Construction of the clamps was easy as I had the necessary taps and dies, but it strikes me that you could use bicycle spokes and nipples if you don't have the facilities. Construction should be self-evident.

IMG_0757.JPG



All for now - more to follow.
As I said at the start of this thread, this not intended to be a blow by blow account of the building, but more of a construction 'ideas and problems' .
I don't claim any unique ideas or ways of going about things, and to any experienced modeller a lot of this will be 'old hat' , but hopefully newer modellers may find something of interest in these ramblings.

Ted
 
Hallo Ted - Looking very good
Very good idea with removing parts of the jig - I will think about to make the same
and the clamps are great - you will need them also in your next working steps mainly for the clamps of 2mm and 3mm thickness
Good luck my friend
 
Uwek said:
Hallo Ted - Looking very good
Very good idea with removing parts of the jig - I will think about to make the same
and the clamps are great - you will need them also in your next working steps mainly for the clamps of 2mm and 3mm thickness
Good luck my friend
Click to expand...
Hi Uwe,
I'm on with the beam clamps at the moment and the home-made clamps are invaluable!

Ted
 
Working on the beam clamps, which are the heavy timbers running from stem to stern on the inside of the ship, on which sit the deck beams. These are quite heavy timbers even at model size, being about 7x3mm. They come in three sections, fore, amidships and aft. The midships timbers will just clamp up using my 'special' clamps as shown in my last post.

IMG_0733.JPG


A word of warning - I installed the gunport cills some time ago, when the instructions' pictures seemed to say they went in first and the profile template extension arms sat on top of them. This (to my mind) seemed wrong, as the arms would be raised a couple of millimetres above the level cut-outs in the jig. I accordingly cut the ribs down in the gunport area by two millimetres and installed the cills. All was level, all seemed well!
Some time later someone mentioned the instructions were wrong, and I realised the cills were too low - B****r. :mad:Thumbsdown
Easy enough to correct - I'll just add another timber on top of the cills.
Fortunately, my error was not fatal, but if I had used the cill heights as points of measurement to install the top beam clamp, instead of the jig cut-outs, then the clamp would have been too low by 2mm, and that would have caused severe problems.
Moral: - Measure twice, cut once. Always measure everything multiple times, using profile drawings, section jigs, other builders notes, anything you can, before cutting.

Anyway, we now come on to the clamp timbers in the bow and stern. As noted, these timbers are quite large, and the bow timbers have to be bent through nearly 80 degrees on quite a small radius.
Again, my trusty bending jig came in to service, made from a piece of scrap MDF, a pair of folding wedges and some duct tape. I boil the timber in an old steam wallpaper stripper boiler for about twenty minutes, then take the timber out and install it in the jig while steaming hot and wet, using the folding wedges then bend the timber over the jig and secure with the duct tape.
The next two photos should make it clear.

IMG_0745.JPG
Jig in use, with a completed bend

IMG_0750.JPG
Component parts, with completed bends

There are plenty of ways of accomplishing bends, such as using a Kammerlander bender, or a Luthier's bender, but for the moment i'll stick with my bits of scrap! (Although I keep casually mentioning the Luthier's bender to SWMBO - not much visible reaction at present, but I know she will have taken it on board for Christmas).

Incidentally, you don't have to have the steam boiler - you can just boil up the timbers in a saucepan, but make sure you clean the pan and any incriminating evidence before she returns!

Ted
 
Hallo my friend, Hallo @tedboat
we wish you all the BESt and a HAPPY 75th BIRTHDAY
Birthday-Cake
Enjoy your special day
BTW: How is your work on the Granado going? Any progress....
 
Hi All, and thank you for all your Birthday wishes!

Granado is in the doldrums at present, with more pressing problems having raised their ugly heads, but I shall return!

Ted
 
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