Cap'n Rat Fink

Great looking pieces of metal-work Popeye!  Isn't metal work fun and easy?  Those metal pieces are much closer to the real thing and in scale then you could ever achieve with wood.  Sometimes we must go to metal to make it look right and you have done so marvelously.  Bravo!!!
 
A few posts back I mentioned that there were a few shrimp and fishing boats at the show in Fayetteville but kinda naked compared to yours.  They are very nice looking models but after seeing what you have been doing on yours I was missing something.  I was expecting more stuff on them.
 
Okay, I have taken a picture of them and thought post it here for all yuns to see and compare.  Now y'all can see what a added detail does to a model.
 

 
Again, I'm not even implying mediocrity or ho hum workmanship, far from that but I expected more detail on working boats.
 
 
Well done Denis!
 
Cheers,

no.....I promised......she won't leave the table,  until she's finished.  although,  there was a time today,  I wanted to remove the cover off the Boulogne {she's on the other table,  along with the Syborn},  and do some work on her too.  but........I was a good boy........I didn't.    .....or maybe finish the funnel work on the Syborn.......NO!   ......got to stay on track!  
 
rest assured Augie.......
 
.......which brings me to what I DID do today.  I did find out that cutting those larger diagonal pieces of round stock,  really wasn't working for me.   I went back to my earlier attempt,  and I made it work.   I managed to come up with two,  of the four that I will need.
 

 
one looks longer......and that will get cut down to match.   once they are sanded to shape,  I'm suing white glue as filler for the tiny cracks and gaps.   since I'm not a big fan of watching glue dry either,  I thought I'd do some checking,  for the diagrams of the parts panels.  since I found that the counter weights were made of wood,  I pulled up the PDF's for both of Billing's instructions,  for the two versions of this vessel.  both were made of wood......but I got to see what the parts look like 
   I made some adjustments on my tin snips......got them working much better....and I cut out the main parts.   there are the two center parts and four wing parts.   shaping them was a bit dangerous.......I cut one of them in half,  so I had to make another.   I had also drilled the ring hole .
 

 
I needed a jig.......cut a slot down the middle for the center piece,  which needed to be set in place at an angle......and sculpt out an angled area to meet it.
 

 
the parts were set in place,  matching them up,  so it all looked even
 

 
it still ended up being a little wobbly.....helped a bit after I anchored the board to the table with a clamp,  but still had to use tweezers to keep the pieces in line.   what came of this was these.
 

 

 
now comes all the filing.......removing the excess solder and round off the sharp edges.......smooth out all the cutter marks, and it was time to balance them.   I had a hunch they would hang weird on the chain.   now,  it's a good thing I drilled those holes,  because the diagrams of the weights show that they have what I would refer to,  as a balance bar running through them.   using one of my picks,  I ran it through the hole and let it hang.......the front dropped down.....not good. 
     drilling another hole 2-3 mm beside the hole,  and adding this bar,  made the difference
 

 
here's a better picture
 

 
I don't know folks can take pictures of their fingers.......the one hand camera thing........is not my thing      here is the other one after I balanced it
 

 
so,  here are the counter weights,  ready for paint.  I did it Piet!   I did it! 
 

 
the two vents got their brass locator tabs fitted and a paint job
 

 
I drilled three of the holes in the fore deck already.........just need to do the one on the port side,  by the pilot house.

Carl.......sorry......I am sooooooooo late with this! 
 
I guess it was my day to break things.   a little while ago,  I broke my favorite pair of nippers!   all I was trying to do was cut a piece of brass         *note to self:......the right hand tool works better,  you know!*
 

 
anyway.......the reel came off......not without some breakage though.   it was an easy fix,  and after re-spooling the reel,  it was back in place.......just like it never left.
 

 
after it was dry,  the reel was re-rigged.   it had to pass through above the bottom bars of the 'X',  but I was very happy to see that the lines do not touch them.  they are close.......but there is a gap.......and that's allI wanted to see!
 

 
I had made some hooks for terminating the lines,  hooked to the eye bolts of the bulwark posts.
 

 
I also tightened up the starboard side cable,  between the two sections......I still have to do the port side cable.  it's not as bad,  but I'll do it anyway.
 

 

 
the two single blocks suspended under the aft bar.
 

 
my focus at this point are the counter weights and those vents.   I'm hoping that I can produce weights that are just heavy enough to keep the rigging assemblies taught.   as for the vents,  I cut some wider stuff,  but the curve is a bit too wide,  so I may have to combine the two different sizes of wedges.   I need four of them.
 

 

 
it's going to be interesting,  I can tell ya that! 

going back to the table....this time I cupped it with two fingers.   it popped off.......with a slightly undesirable effect.
 

 
 
minor damage........easy to repair!   now to reverse the runout!

thanks Sjors........don't know what the IRL stands for.......but I hope it's good   
 
 
 
here's just a small update from yesterday....I was hoping to post it earlier,  but I got side tracked     I put a couple coats on the control panel,  before I realized that I didn't put an access panel on the back.
 

 
the lines for the fore deck reel was left all night with clothes pins hanging to get the memory out of the thread.  it was cemented in place in the AM.
 

 
I ran into problems with the lines rubbing on the trawl frame......tried different ways to adjust it.  I settled on the lines passing behind the bottom frame,  and then through the top pulleys under the gangway.   moving the other two blocks to the aft top bar was a good idea.
 

 

 

 
to really change this around,  I would have to remove the reel......and to be honest,  I'm not too keen on seeing what the outcome would be.  I made up a couple of hooks to terminate these lines on the eye bolts on the aft sides of the stern bulwarks.  I hope to have more to report tomorrow 

While assembling frames, started the keel assembly (to replace the laser cut keel that I used before).
 
Joint is blackened with a tissue paper.
Castello treenails reinforce the joint, because paper makes it a bit weak. The treenails would be completely hidden by the false keel, so they have a purely functional purpose
 

 

 

 
Hope that the paper line would be more accurate after a final sanding.

Replaced the table of my disk sander - stock one was nice but not flat - slightly rising right near the disk. It was a problem when shaping the keel parts - they are thin, and sanded on a wrong angle due to skewed table.
Did not bothered to contact proxxon for replacement, plus I wanted a smaller gap between the table and the disk.

Looks weird, but works pretty well - it is flat at least!
 
Disk sander made a big difference in the frame blank production speed. It takes like 30sec per blank to to set a straight edge with a proper angle. And allows to cut blanks on a bandsaw, freehand, with less accuracy and precision - it does not matter, sander will make it straight anyway. Amazing!
 
It took me just 4 hours to make the next batch of blanks, which would be used for the next 10 frames.

(Left side - for planked side, right side - for opened side, finely selected wood pieces)
 

The set of instructions for that kit finally arrived!
 

Minor status update. Not so much going on - building frames when I have a time. Just around half of the work is done for a mere 10 frames in that batch



The keel structure is roughly cut and shaped, but waiting for TFFM books to arrive before I will fine-fit and assemble it - want to make sure that it would be done correctly, at least on the parts that would be visible.

Another way to estimate the size - look on their sawdust bag. Or the sawdust shovel!
 

The project is moving really fast - the construction was started just 9 months ago!
All carpenters are professionals, and there are around 100 carpenters working on a project 5 days a week (and today was a small weekend shift).
 
 
 
The hull is huge! Hard to show the scale on a photos, but just look on how small the people are near that hull:
 

 

 

 
 

Stem: 

 

 
Sistered frame construction:

 
Frames are lofted and assembled right on a floor, and later fitted to the hull:

 

 

 
Joinery:

 
 

Pardon, just another offtopic Not so much to tell about the build itself, holidays, no time to build...
 
Spending New Year holidays with my parents in St.Petersburg, Russia, where I visited the construction site of 1712 frigate replica, Poltava.
Some links: 
http://poltava1712.ru/node/73
https://twitter.com/Poltavawarship
https://www.facebook.com/poltavaship
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ-9kJyalp7_pm72J4Yb9_Q
 
The construction is sponsored by the symbol of russian corruption and inefficiency - Gazprom
Project has quite a fat funding, and there are around 100 carpenters working on the hull right now. 
The big hangar here is the place where hull is assembled:
  Wood storage (oak):   Interesting fact that wood is not dried or aged - instead, they make everything just from the "green" wood, but later apply some chemicals to reduce the moisture level and prevent rot. Unfortunately, I could not find out the names of the chemicals.   The engineers of the replica faced the same problem as Peter I, the russian emperor who was managing the construction of the original ship. It is extremely hard to find a big enough oak tree in a good condition, without any major defects or rot. The wood for that ship is purchased from a very wide region, basically all european part of russia. To workaround it, some really heavy parts (like keel structure) are assembled using a laminated, multi-layered slabs of wood. It is close to impossible to find an oak of that size nowadays... You can imagine how hard it was to find and process such a wood in 1712! I was surprised that you can laminate and glue a part that will carry such load and weight.        

Cutting frames... 
Using belt sander to make sure that edges of frame blanks are straight. it is not very suitable for that job, but do not want to buy disk sander just for that..
 

 
In a meanwhile, looked critically on a laser cut keel. It has some grey spots (that are not dirt, but wood defects)

 
And some funny shaped "stain" inside the wood right on the stem:

 
And more important - it looks too simplistic / unrealistic for my taste. You really can't build a ship with a stern made of two giant pieces of wood. I miss a complex joints, tar simulation using black paper, etc.. Stem would be very visible, and it should be done right.
So decided to re-do it using new pear (to match the colour of the frames)
 
Since I had no drawings of keel structure for exactly that ship - I made a mix based on some photos from other build logs, AOTS book about Pandora, etc.
 

 
Loooots of sanding ahead! Maybe I really need a proper disk sander

Hooray! Received my new wood for frames. 
The colour variation is much smaller. Arkowood one is creamy and pink. Same colour as on Lumberyard laser cut parts, where the "prime grade" pear is used. Maximum thickness deviation is around 0.05mm (0.002 inches). My micrometer have a 0.05mm precision, so it is basically as correct as I can measure.. Number of planks with defects (grey spots, etc) - 5 planks out of 60 (just 8%), which is quite ok Wood is already sanded with a fine grit Small wood deviation together with fine finish means a lot of time saved on sanding the frame to the uniform thickness and smooth surface. Planks are perfectly straight and not curved - saves some efforts when trying to cut the frame blanks on a proper angles. But better look on pictures. Both woods are called the same, it is swiss pear aka steamed pear.
 
Box on top - Lumberyard, box in the bottom - Arkowood.

 
Left - Arkowood, right - Lumberyard. Notice the finish difference, Lumberyard wood is very rough, looks like sanded with 60 or 80 grit. Arkowood looks like sanded with 300-400 grit, or maybe even higher. It is very smooth!

 
Also ordered some sheets, just to try.
Left - pear, center - Castello boxwood, right - ebony

 
Ok, now I am finally happy with the wood I have, time to redo 9 frames that I already assembled  

Looks like I am becoming a hand tools fetishist.. There is something nice about working with a high quality chisels and knifes - no noise, no sawdust, and you feel like making a pinocchio
 
 
 
Especially surprised with the knife - it is the sharpest knife I ever held, it make a clean cut without any pressure, and it is heavy and sharp enough to ignore the grain direction!
But it reminds that as with any hand tool - you need to practice and learn a lot to use it nicely...

 
 
The shape of a rabbet was asymmetrical to meet the planks on a proper angle:

 
Result is not perfect, there are a few ooopsies, luckily most of them are on the inner side, which would be invisible.

 

 
I will not cut a rabbet on a side that would be fully opened. Not able to cut it smooth enough to make it fully exposed.

Finally got in the right mood to make a rabbet. Was pretty scared, one mistake - and need to replace a section of a keel (which would be a good reason to add some joints though
 
However, so far it works out pretty well.
 
Started with a slow and gentle cutting of a straight line, using inner line of a keel as a base:

 
That give a straight and parallel lines. Another proof that good jig means a lot.

 
Then cutting away a strip in between, and smoothening it with a triangle-shaped file:

 
Decided not to make a big fat rabbet, will either widen it later, or shape the edge of a gardboard plank, so it will tightly fit into the rabbet. It is anyway better than an ugly gap between gardboard and keel, if rabbet is too wide.
 
Position against the frames is ok, just a minor adjustments required for some frames:

 
But that was all games, now need to continue the rabbet on the stem:

 
How to make a nice curve - no idea. Can't come up with any jig idea, because there is no base line to attach to. 
There is no chisel to make such curve. Trying to scratch it by hand will fail due to a wood grain.
Thinking of making an acrylic template, and scratching the line using that template. 
Or there are some better tricks? Would appreciate your advices!

Installed 7 frames around midship to see how the all look together.
 

 

 
Now it is starting to look ship-alike!
 
Very curious how the edge of a frame will look like when faired and sanded...
A shot inside the hull promises that there would be a lot of fairing to make it smooth
 

Making around 5 frames in two weeks, can't spend more then 20-30min every evening But it is a pretty good relaxation.
However, the result is frustrating. Yep, the wood colour difference again.

It looks like a frame built with three different kinds of wood, where only one of them is pear, and others are only technically pear, not something you consider as pear for a modelling.
 
Got really tired of that. But then I found a promising build log - La Belle by Hans Christian, where pear looks like pear! And colour is not varying, and finish is already nice. Thanks Hans for providing a better photos
His wood is from ArkoWood - www.arkowood-shop.de
Ordered new frame blanks there, all 60 meters of a cute pear. They do custom milling, and the order processing time is just 1-2 weeks.
The price is ok, just 150 EUR / 190 USD, plus cheap shipping, plus no import taxes or customs (because it is inside EU).
 
Will report when I will receive it, looking forward. It would be great to have a high quality supplier nearby, at least 4 out of 5 stars on a HobbyMill grade Truly hope it is my last whining about the wood quality.

However, I decided to make rabbet much later, when all main frames would be cut.
Before it, would be hard to determine the proper angle of the rabbet, how planks will go. I am not going to glue the frames before they are all cut anyway
 
Assembled all parts on a framing jig:

 
It nicely decorates the modeling area

 
Now I know how to make a nice frames, keel is ready, so let's make some sawdust and produce all remaining frames!
Luckily that model will have just 40 frames, due to a bigger (non-correct) spacing between them, so hope to make it in 3-4 months. Winter is coming!

Thanks everybody for the advices, it is really much easier than I thought
After a lot of experimenting with scrap wood, it turned out that scrapers will not give a straight enough line. There should be something that ignores the grains and goes straight.
So I ended up with a following process, not saying it is the only correct one.
 
Use flat chisel to set the straight line for the rabbet, making two cutoff lines.

 
Cut away the wood between those lines with a blade:

 
Use triangular file to shape the rabbet. Do straight passes:

 
That triangular file was the key part, it keeps the straight line, not going sideways due to a wood grain.
Also if you need to add an angle to the rabbet - just change the angle of the file:

 

 
 
 

End result:
 

 

 

 
Now the fun part - cutting the rabbet. I do not have any power tools to do it, so will make some hand jig and will slooooowly cut it with chisel and knife. Now when the keel is assembled, it would be a pity to ruin it by making a bad rabbet.

Removed the nasty laser char. In hindsight, it is good that I selected a timbering set without laser cut frames, the char removal process is messy and definitely not pleasant. In his youtube videos, Dave recommends to remove the char using the shaving blade. It works only to small extent, because char is pretty deep in the wood.
 
Here are the laser cut pieces on a different phased of cleaning:

 
Another issue is a bad precision of a laser at some lines, they are cut with "steps", so lots of wood should be filed away to make that surface smooth:

 
Some joints are too wide - they fit tightly with char, but if you start to remove the char (and the "steps") - then the joint is too weak: 

 
So I cut away that joint and scratched a new one
 
Another improvement was a deadwood - supplied laser cut deadwood was made of a single piece, which is too far from desired level of correctness. So I made a better one. 
But it was a hell of a job to nicely fit all the curved timbers together! It is easy to make a tight fit when parts are straight, but when they are curved - it really needs a skill. Here is how ugly it looks when just cut:
 

 
Next time will try to cut smoother... It took around 4 hours of sanding and filing and sending and filing to make them fit. 
Resulting fitting is not great, but next time will do better:
 

Yep, saw in the Swan or Echo build logs, that Jeff's pear is quite different indeed. Darker, more cherry-ish
Next frame, this time I am an idiot. Missed a tiny crack on a frame blank, after sanding it is becoming very clear: 


 
The colour variation of a brighter/darker pear might be actually good. Hard to say, need to make at least 10-15 frames and dry-fit them, to see how it really looks together.
 
Now the plan is simple - assemble the keel, install 4 "key" frames (I selected frames 4, 10, 16, 23), make sure that everything is measured correctly - and then start a frame mass-production!

Ok, I probably was too emotional while writing previous post. Reviewed all planks today, separating them into "normal" and "trash it" piles.
31% of planks are defected (big grey areas, etc). Luckily, on most of them defect takes around half of the plank, so in total I am going to trash around 15-20% of planks. That would be probably ok, because I am hoping that there was a reserve for oopsies.
Close-up of defected wood:


 
Normal wood:

 
Even without grey spots, note the colour deviation on a "normal" pile.
it is clear that Lumberyard have a "prime" wood, that is used for laser cut parts. They are really good - quite consistent dark colour, amazing:

For some reason, for frame blanks Lumberyard use second sort pear. That is fully understandable, with Hahn method most of the wood package is a wood for frame blanks, and using cheaper wood probably makes a big different cost-wise. 
But I would appreciate if they just offer a prime wood for frame blanks, for extra cost..
 
Will continue with that wood for a while. If after 10 frames it would be obvious that this wood is too bad - will recycle all frames and make a new ones with a wood from Hobbymill. I saw their swiss pear in a various build logs, and it is very consistent in colour. And I have boxwood from Hobbymill, which is the best would I ever saw. No problem with it, happy customer.
 
P.S.: I have no intention on blaming Lumberyard, but it would be fair to post a photos of a wood that you get in a package. Sorry for rant, but it is quite disappointing to feel the second rate customer, who got the second rate wood.