jonny.amy

Ken - thanks for kind words, this build has not been as easy to get in to like Convulsion or Sherbourne, so I'm fairly pleased with my progress so far. She is getting big now, but will only get bigger. Her paws are huge, and she has so much energy. We walk her three times a day, resulting in just over an hour of exercise and she's still running around the living room and garden like its her personal race track. I will say in the Admiral's defence that I bought the dinosaur coat purely as a joke present, given to her the morning we picked up Lily. It was a very cheap present that I thought would be shredded to pieces within 5 minutes of the dog coming home. Apparently not, according to the Admiral, Lily loves wearing it, but that photograph says otherwise to me! Thankfully I was able to knock the dog costumes on the head fairly soon after this photo was taken. Cheers

Matrim - I joined that club ages ago when I started Convulsion. Slicing off a finger tip has also been personal milestone I have reached. All part of the fun I guess! I keep the model on the mantelpiece out of dog-reach! Also I think she's well aware that I have the knife and sewing skills, that I could make her in to a pair of slippers, or gloves in next to no time. Haha

Finally, it's here... What you've all been waiting for, the first photo update of the Build Log! It's only taken a few months, and lots of false starts and long gaps in between build times, but I feel like I'm starting to get there. These are photographs of the current state of the model. I have a bit of filling to do where I've had to pin the planks down, but I've got a pot of white PVA glue mixed with sawdust for that. Completed Starboard Side. Completed Starboard Side. Completed Starboard Side. Port Side - First four planks. Port Side - Bow View - First four planks. Port Side - Bow View - First four planks. Port Side - Bow View - First four planks. Port Side - Bow View - First four planks. Completed Starboard Side. Completed Starboard Side - Stern View. Completed Starboard Side - Stern View (Sorry about the Flash). Upside down - Port Side planking. Upside down - Port Side planking. Upside down - Port Side planking. So now I have uploaded a few photo's of my build so far, I'll show you what my main distraction from the model is... This little madam is called Lily, she's a Working English Cocker Spaniel, and in 18 weeks old. A lot of my time has been invested in training, walking, and playing with her. She also loves belly rubs and nibble on my fingers (it's a bad habit, but she's soft when biting, and I'd rather she chew my hands than chew my furniture). Her favourite toy is "Sheepy" (she likes it that much we have 3 of them), which is a stuffed cuddly toy that squeaks as you press down on it, and every time I sit down to work on the Longboat, I'm greeted with Lily and "Sheepy" wanting to play more. In the photo above, she is dressed up as a dinosaur for Halloween. This was the Admiral's doing, as I was busy buying materials to build a piece of furniture. I hope these photo's suffice for now. I'll be in the shipyard tonight after walking Lily and cooking dinner, so will get some more planks on the model. Cheers, Jonny

I'll get around to posting photo's later on Erik! You'll see what my main distraction is when I do post them! I have prepare an acceptance speech: Thank you for this prestigious award, I have worked long and hard to be so busy not to post photos until well in to Second Page of my Build log. I'd like to thank the dog for taking up too much of my time, I'd like to thank the Admiral for pulling me away from the shipyard to do housework, and finally I'd like to thank the good people for MSW for waiting so long for these photographs. I'm touched, I'm humbled, I'm honoured. Hahaha Cheers, Jonny

Chaps, Sorry I've not been able to post any photo's as of yet. With work and home life being very busy recently, I've not managed a decent stretch of time in the Shipyard. I have rehearsals with my band tonight (I play bass guitar), so won't get much time between work and hitting the road for rehearsals. I'll be popping home around midday today for the pooch, so I'll snap a few photo's when she's face down in a bowl of chow! Cheers for now, Jonny

Well my plans were scuppered this weekend when the Admiral asked me use my day off on Friday to tidy the flat (I've learned to just get on with it and not to argue... She can win any argument with a raised eyebrow)! After vacuuming, mopping the floors, 3 sets of laundry, and the weekly food shop, most of Friday was gone. A trip round Costco also blew 2 hours of Saturday, a friends engagement party, and then walking the dog, building a puppy proof Christmas Tree guard (I know it's only the 2nd of November!!!!!), and then more walking the dog, my weekend just vanished But saying that, I did manage to get about an hour on the Longboat last night. I've managed to finish off the planking on the Starboard side of the hull completely, and have started the Port side. I'll hopefully get some more done tonight. Cheers for now, Jonny

Hi All, With the dog being old enough to go for proper walks, the Admiral being signed off sick from work with stress, family visits, and with my workload increasing, I've not had much (if any) time in the shipyard over the last month. Things should return to normal this weekend, and with getting things back on an even keel, I hope I can get back on the Longboat. I'll keep you all updated, and hopefully get some photo's posted in the next few days. Cheers for now, Jonny

Pat - I'm pretty positive it will, but then again it wouldn't surprise me if the funding proved to be too ambitious. Jud - I thought as much when I first read about the project, but I thought I'd give it a go. I have no money involved in the project, and until the keel is laid I won't be putting any money down on the project. As for the performance bond, that is unkown to me, I've just volunteered offering CAD drafting services and collating information. The CS2 will have to be MCA certified as 'either a Cargo Vessel or a private Megayacht' (direct quote), so I guess she will be licensed under MCA regulations accordingly, which will determine her use later on in life. Ownership and control of the ship would be held by "Cutty Sark 2 Sail" charity, but large investors and partners in the project would obviously have some weight in the decisions made for the ships future.

Hi All, I read in the latest issue of Yachting World that a crowd funding project is in place to build a working full size replica of the Cutty Sark. The project is in the early stages at present, but will have built a working Cutty Sark replica by 2019. The launch date is set to be the 22nd November 2019 which will be exactly 150 years to the day from when the CS was launched. Follow the link below for more details: http://cutty-sark.org I hope this interests you, and that you feel like signing up to the project as a volunteer like I have done. There are plenty of opportunities for voluntary work, including hands on construction work starting late 2016, early 2017. Cheers for now, Jonny

Further up the Hamble River, where the wrecks of the Gracedieu and (possible site of) Holigost are, is very sheltered from the weather. The likelihood that the site of the wrecks was a larger staging area for the refitting of warships is great. Although the wind funnels up the river (mostly blowing SSW or WSW), due to the low lying valley sides, the worst of the wind is dispersed even when blowing from NNE or ENE. This would make it an ideal place for a staging area or storage area for older generation ships that required refitting prior to going seaward. This is the closest secluded and shelter location to Portsmouth Naval Dockyard that would have offered such protection from the weather. Although Fareham Creek (about 10km further East) would have been an ideal place for the smaller ships of the time, it dries out completely and still does not offer the protection from the weather that the Hamble River does. Although the first drydock was built at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard in 1495, the likelihood it would have been capable of flooding to allow a ship in for drying out and complete overhaul, (I would think) is very slim. So the Hamble River, alongside the Beauliee River (about 30 to 40km West of the Hamble) were probably the best place, to build, store, restore, and decommission warships at the time. Cheers Jonny

Follow the link below for history of the Gracedieu and the Holigost, including data from 720AD to 2008AD: http://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/hamble/hamble-history.pdf Cheers Jonny

Cheers Tony, My only issue is that I'm terrible at French - my good old friend Google Translate may have to help me on these! Jonny

As someone who grew up on the Hamble River, exploring the wrecks, the coves, inlets and the marshes of the river. As a kid, what's more exciting than that?!? I knew of the wreck of Gracedieu from an early age. I remember hearing stories of the wreck being "a Spanish Galleon seeking shelter from raging storms" and "an almighty French naval ship preparing to disembark it's troops to run amuck in the English countryside en route to London". In 2000 (ish) a TV Archaeology team (Time Team) came and surveyed the wreck and they confirmed the wreck was in fact the 60+ metre Gracedieu. As far as I am aware they had a limited time to excavate and investigate the wreck (about 6 hours dive time a day for 1 week). The Hamble is probably the best place for a ship wreck, as the tidal range within the river is very low (Neap Tides - 2.6m to 4.8m / Spring Tides - 2.6m to 5.6m), but is very strong, often on the flood and ebb tidal periods. The chalky-clay silt is disrupted during each flood and ebb tidal period (lasting about 6 hours), and the silt ends up covering wrecks and obstructions of the flow of water/silt. Eventually the silt builds up over a wreck or obstruction and preserves almost all natural elements that can be found in that area (wood/iron/bone/leather). The discovery of the Holigost is certainly ground breaking. The river spans a maximum of 300 m at the point where both wrecks are, so I'm generally impressed that both ships were able to get that far up river (about 16 to 18 Km from Southampton Water). The river certainly is deep enough for a large ship of up to 1200 Tonnes to transit as far Bursledon, but the river shallows out fairly sharply after that point. HMS Elephant (1786) was built by George Parsons on the bank of the Hamble, on the meander of the river near Bursledon. The yard is now called the Elephant Boatyard, and I believe has been owned by the Parson family (in one guise or another) since then. In 1905 (ish), a Celtic or Viking Longboat was discovered about 1 Km up river from the present location of the Gracedieu. The Longboat was found in what was known as Cathead Bay opposite Smugglers Creek. The wreck was discovered during dredging of the river to allow the owner of the adjoining land to move his livestock by river to Southampton. The longboat measured 20 m in length and was almost intact. I believe the wreck was excavated and removed during the 1950's. My Grandparents have lived on the bank of the Hamble for nearly 50 years, and from their garden, there are wrecks of many vessels. Immediately on their part of the river bank is a wreck of a 19th Century Coal Trader. This was 90' in length and apparently was scuttled there after a fire on board, circa 1875. The Norseman is another wreck on the Hamble (around Swanwick) that is of some importance. It was a regular trading Schooner, registered in Brooklyn, NY, to Southampton and the surrounding rivers and estuaries. The Norseman was built in 1886, and was wrecked by fire in 1949, some 63 years after being built. In 1926 (ish) the Schooner was sold to a private trader, and registered with Lloyds of London, with a home port of Southampton. The Norseman changed hands a few time between 1936 and 1949, and the reason for the fire that gutted her, is still unknown. The two images below are wrecks of vessels abandoned either during or post WW2. The Hamble river was pivotal for the success of the D-Day Landings in 1944, where the whole river, the surrounding boatyards, and many of the vessels on the river were requisitioned by the War Effort to store and embark the troops and supplies on to Landing Craft, barges and Supply Ships. My Grandfather (aged 9) can remember being chased by two American Soldiers as he and some friends ran across the river from Swanwick to Bursledon via landing craft. They were then caught by three Canadian Soldiers and handed back to their mothers, and got a whip round the ear for being naughty. The hulk of the J Class yacht Velsheda was also kept in a mud berth on the Hamble, and had been left to rot there for some 40 or 50 years before being bought and restored by Terry Brabant in 1984. Sorry for prattling on about all the wrecks and interesting facts about the Hamble River, but it's been my home for all my life, and it's such an interesting area to explore. Cheers Jonny

Hello Chaps, Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to impart their knowledge in this area of Model Ship building. I've taken all comments in to consideration, and have splashed out on the "La Jacinthe" Monograph (English version) from Amazon. I was hoping to make this a complete scratch build, starting from drafting plans from a source (such as the National Maritime Museum Collections), but running through a quick cost analysis, I found that buying 2 sets of plans from the NMM and then drafting them in a CAD package was too time consuming and costly. As Tony pointed out, "La Jacinthe" is built on a mould like the method I described, and the Monograph is almost a full practicum of how the writer built up the model. The Monograph describes the build method as "an easy introduction to Plank on Frame model ship construction", which is ideally suited to my level of building (which is mainly kit based/kit bashing). When the Monograph arrives some time this week, I can carefully assess the method of the build and develop a build plan for the model. Cheers for now, Jonny

Druxey, Thanks for bringing that point up. That could be a very challenging aspect of the build. I may have to reconsider the mould idea?

Tony, That's great. I look forward to reading through the La Jacinthe pages later on. I haven't read Frolich's Art of Ship Model, but I'm sure I can find a copy online for future reference. I also looked in to the bulkhead method, it would probably involve less sanding and filling, and probably cost less.... Thanks for that top tip! Jan, I've looked at GK Modelbau and their "Duke William", and I was less than impressed with it (hence why I've considered making my own mould/plug and working from that). Their model, although looking very nice, is not correct in regards to the drawings, and the use of a plaster cast mould does not fill me with the greatest of confidence. If you look at the Lauck Street Practicum for "Duke William", one of the first things they mention is the broken plaster mould. Thanks for your responses, Jonny

Hi Everyone, I've been lurking around the Plank on Frame builds on here for ages now, dreaming of the day when I have the space, time and money to build a true Plank on Frame model, when I had a bit of a brain wave: Firstly, my woodworking skills wouldn't be up to scratch to build a true Contemporary Style PoF ship, and the lack of space in my one bedroom flat (shared with the Lady Admiral and our Cocker Spaniel Puppy) would not permit the build of such an advanced model. Now you're probably reading this and saying "well, just buy a Lumberyard kit with all the parts laser cut, and find a bigger house, or make more room". This was my first thought process, but then brainwave number two happened (whilst in the shower), and I thought about making a wooden plug, like has been used for a number of builds here on MSW. Having trawled through numerous build logs, I realised these are mostly for models with very thin frames, such as Longboats, and Gunboats. So why can't it be done for a ship that is smaller in size, but bigger than a Gunboat? I then started digging around online, and found very few companies offer models built in this fashion. In theory, this would be a similar way of building a modern wooden boat, build a plug based on bulkheads turned upside-down, with battens screwed to the bulkhead to make the moulded shape (a lot of the early Quarter Tonner racing boats were built this way). So for example, I decided to build a 14 Gun Cutter, like below, I could measure from the plans how thick the frames were (say 5mm @ 1:48 Scale), and using AutoCAD produce a copy of the sheer lines from the plan and offset those by the thickness of the proposed frame. Does anyone think this would work? So below, I have attached a screen dump from a quick 3D model of the proposed plug (although I have not rounded the plug off yet). If I were to use this method, I would have to temporarily fix the Keelson in the slot cut in to the mould and build from there. I assume with the correct level of steaming and soaking, I could bend the wood (assume 5mm x 6mm Basswood strip) around the plug and pin/screw/nail/clamp the half frame in place. Then bend the Futtock on the mould, and glue/pin in place next to the half frames. Again, does anyone think this would work? After all the full frames and cant frames (at the bow) are in place, the keel in glued in to position to fix the frames together. The stern cant frames are glued in place to the deadwood, and temporary stringers are added to the outside of the frames (where planks will be laid). The model will then be lifted off the mould with all frames, keelson, and keel ready for continuation of the build (building the decks and fittings). Once again, does anyone think this will work? Lastly, I am only at the concept phase of this potential build idea. I'm only thinking about this as an easy way to build (relatively cheaply) a PoF model without thousands of hours, and pounds on materials and tools, and without using up too much of the living room or dining room space. Thanks for taking the time to read through my ramblings, and all comments, positive and negative towards the idea are welcome. Cheers, Jonny

Kester, I saw the Prince Fredrick's Barge last time I went up there with the Admiral. Very impressive indeed. The guilding along the hull is immaculate! Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the RMG yesterday. I finished my professional review with the Institution of Civil Engineers, and got a phone call asking me to head back to work So before heading back, I sunk a pint or two in the nearest pub, grabbed a late breakfast and was back in the office by 12:30! Cheers, Jonny

Ken, I'm seriously considering it, but I'll be on the wrong side of London for the RMG. So I may have to hop on the water taxi and head down in style Druxey, puppy training is a lot of hard work, but is paying off nicely. The little tyke is almost house-trained, and runs to the front door when she needs to go! Apart from that, she's still unruly and boisterous, but I can't complain. Thanks, I'll do my best tomorrow, put in lots of practice tonight, and break it up with a bit of the Longboat. Ohhh yes, the last time we went to RMG we "popped in to the Plume for one" before heading home, and 5 pints later staggered our way back to the DLR Station! Haha Cheers

Hi All, Sorry for the lack of updates recently, it's been a busy couple of weeks. I'm sitting a Professional Review with the Institution of Civil Engineers in London tomorrow, and it's been all go in preparing for this. Hopefully I can get on with the longboat tomorrow after the review. I've been given the afternoon off afterwards, so I might be back in time to make some serious headway on the kit? Or should take the opportunity to have a bit of Model Boat time, and head off to the National Maritime Museum before heading home? Cheers for now, Jonny

Hi Chaps, The last few days have been fairly busy, I've had to wash all the walls down with Mould Repellent (unfortunately we have a damp issue in our bedroom that the previous landlord didn't resolve), and I've also had puppy training classes to attend with the dog. If that's not bad enough, it's off to the in-laws tonight to wish them well on their Wedding Anniversary and then it's Great British Bake Off on TV tonight, so I'll not be allowed by the Admiral to start working on the kit during that. Hopefully I'll get some time on the Longboat this weekend. Cheers for now, Jonny

Hello Everyone, After completing my long "to-do" list of chores on Friday, I finally managed to start on the 18th Century Longboat. On Thursday night I popped all the frames and the false keel out of the surrounding materials and checked the alignment and fit of all the frames. I then proceeded to sand the laser burn marks from the inside faces of the frames. I've managed to get all the frames straight and true and glued in place, and faired to accept the planking. Deviating from the plans to start off with when planking, I've started on the Garboard plank and the three planks above and worked my way up on the Starboard side. I decided to start here because I felt most comfortable doing this. Using the 1/32 x 1/8 planks makes it fairly straight forward with bending and shaping the planks, but I'm taking my time, measuring twice and cutting once. I'll take some photo's tonight after getting the Port side planks on. Cheers for now, Jonny

Sneak peek at the work on the back drop so far.... Cheers, Jonny

So I've come back from the model show with a few bargains.... First thing I snaffled from a stall was a 1:200 Heller 'La Belle Poule' - circa 1823 - RRP £39.99, paid £10.00 (I intend to build this as a waterline model and then sell it on eBay). I won a Revell Viking Longboat in a charity raffle, I paid £1.00 for a ticket. Scale 1:50, probably sell this on eBay for a few pounds. The real bargain of the day (which has already been sold) is a Mantua Cannon Lavelette - scale 1:17 - paid £5.00 - RRP £39.95, sold for £34.00 to a local hobby shop! All in all, not a bad morning! I managed to persuade the owner of the model shop to give me a model railway backdrop (worth £10.00) in exchange for the Cannon kit and the remaining value in cash! So, having spent £16, I've made £24 already with the possibility to make a lot more!!!! :D As for Sherbourne, I'm just waiting on finding or building a suitable case! Cheers for now, Jonny

Tony, I'm not sure how big it will be, but I've been told there's plenty of kits available for sale from traders and a charity raffle where it's pot luck on the kit you win (provided you have a winning number)! I think we'll be going for a few hours, and then back home to work on the kit(s) I may have come home with... Cheers, Jonny