threebs

Now that I am installing the deck furniture on the spar deck, I have noticed a few things now that I look closer that I did not really notice before. Just forward of the main mast is a section of grating that appear to have 2 bits projecting out of it as they do near the fore mast. As the ladders seem mounted in front of this section of grating am I correct to think that this grating is more or less battened down all the time? And I will need to make a frame work under that section of grating to make it appear as if it is holding that grating in place.
At the bow where the stove pipe pierces the spar deck, the covering appears to be something other than the normal wooden grating. Both the small section and the larger one behind it seem to be a metal mess or something fairly fireproof so the heat in the galley stove does not set it afire? That sound right to you guys? All so, the anchor bits where the wales are pierced for the anchor fluke seem to be more in board than on other large US warships such as the Ohio and the Pennsylvania who's bits are part off the hull and appear where I have marked them with a black "x" I am lead to believe this is just a variation between certain ships.
The framing or the spar deck openings need to be widened as they are too skinny to mount brass posts to for the ladder railings. I will do this as I breathlessly await your sage answers to these questions.

I had all 210 single and double blocks rigged to make carronade tackle out of 4 mm blocks. 

they were just too big.  I started over with 2mm blocks and I will be rigging the carronades in the next day or two, THEN photos will be coming as I put the remaining deck items on and move to the gun port door hinges, another chore I do not like, lol

Thumb has healed better than I expected, just need nerves to heal, be some time yet.  Been able to work despite all that as you can see in photos

Build will slow some, run my left thumb across the top of the blade on my mini table saw.  Yeah, I  know, stupid.  Forgot to lower blade height to just barely clear t he top of the board as I usually do when I change blades or board thickness.  Doc says 2 months complete heal, except 100% feeling will take as long as 6.  Had six stitches, does not hurt very much, just aches a bit. I can still use my thumb, just can not hold small objects tight to file or carve, so, I am moving on to shaping lower mast, chain wales, and install carronades.

yeah, been a while since last post, have done a lot since then, including redoing entire port side that was 1/8 inch to high, don't ask me how it happened, but I somehow got it on the bases crooked.  I am drilling holes in the pin rails now, I will finish the deck furniture deck framing around the masts.  The head rails were a real bitch to fit properly, not the horizontal ones, the vertical timbers.

I have run into something of a conundrum. I Am getting to the point where I will be installing the cannonades on the spar deck. However, the Chapelle plans for the Columbus show a gun port height of 3 feet, whereas all the plans I have seen of 32 pounder cannonade show a height if about 3'8" from the bottom of the casters to the top of the max diameter of the barrel. Chapelle's book also shows a cut away view of the gundecks of the Delaware that give a much higher gun port dimension for it's spar deck cannonades. I have made all of my cannonades as you can see from previous photos, but, Once I cap the spar deck gun whale, the cannonades I made will not fit. I suspect that the plans of the Columbus spar deck gun ports is incorrect, and, I believe I will deepen the gun ports to fit the cannonades I made,

What do You guys think?

since son moved out a few months ago, i have his room to work in when it is hot in the garage.  redoing the windows strern and quarter galleries, was not happy with first attempt.  put main gun deck guns in, made bow sprit and a lashed it down.  made bow decorations and hawse holes.  Made carronade carriages.  I am now making blocks for carronades.  And installing second gun deck.

No photos yet, but I am redoing the windows at the stern and quarter will send pics soon.

I work on her a little everyday.  I will frame, "glass", and curtain the stern and quarter gallery windows next, then finish the white gun port stripes, put in the lower gun deck, mount the cannon, and then lay the middle gun deck.

There are grates that show through the spar deck main cargo hatch opening that I will make and install on the middle gun deck, make the carriages for the cannon on the middle gun deck, mount them, and then install the spar deck.  Once all that is done, I do the bow framing and put in the hauser holes.

Where could I get a set of the plans by Crouther?

I think it is one of the banes of plank on bulkhead building as opposed to plank on frame.  Building frames from as many as six or 8 different pieces glued and sometimes doweled together makes them much less likely to warp.  That is at least my estimation.  I could be wrong, as I have only built two, including this one, plank on bulkhead shps, and no plank on frame ships at all.  Perhaps they have their own idiosyncrasies that I cannot be aware of as a result.

Jerry:  thanks for the kind words.  Yes, I plan on a frigate after this ship.  When I was researching my first build, (USS Pennsylvania) I saw she had been destroyed to keep the Confederate Army from capturing her.  In addition the Columbus and United States were also destroyed.  I thought it might be a nice tribute to those ships to build a model of each of them.  So, The build after the Columbus will be the United States.  Although 44 gun frigates did not have the sleeker lines of the 32 and 36 gunners, I still thought the American 44's had their own sort of panache if you will.

TBlack:  The bulk heads on the spardeck always seem to be miss aligned.  No matter how careful i am making sure the bulkheads are square to the keel, after a time the slim "beams" warp out of shape.  Even if it is only a millimeter or so, it is enough to put them in the path of a gun port.  So, sometimes I have to cut them off at the deck line and re-lay the "beams" This is true at the hull as well, and the result is a wavy hull.  So, I have to replace some that have warped either out away from the hull or inward toward the center line.  I use birch furniture grade plywood for the bulkheads for the strength. but, the "skinny" tips of each bulkhead always seem to waver.  Even as dry as it is here in Tucson, AZ it always happens.  In all the builds I have ever seen, the hull is planked first.  However. I do not see why the decks cannot be done first. I do not plank the lower gun deck, it is never seen, and I only plank the sections of the middle gun deck that can be seen through the openings in the spar deck.  I use "beams" only where I need them to support the deck.  I under lay my deck planking with 1/16 inch model aircraft plywood and use thinner planks to cover it.  It keeps the deck from having a wavy look from the bulkheads being so far apart.  Hope this answers your questions.

I have Finished one side of the hull.  I will pick away at it and complete the entire hull in a couple weeks at most.   :woo_hoo:

The latest issue of Ships in Scale published a photo of my Pennsylvania on the inside cover.  Pretty cool that they considered it good enough.

no lathe, I have a small proxxon mini lathe for turning yards. I think I could do it with jewelers files by hand.  Thanks for the photo of the various cannon.  I have a drawing of a shell gun in Chappelle's book I can go by for the carriage.

I searched for shell guns in 1/72 scale when I did my Pennsylvania.  Could not find any.  I do not want to start casting my own barrels, but, since there are only six of them maybe I can carve them from boxwood.  they are below decks and you will only see abour 3/4 inch of the barrel sticking out of the gun port.  would anyone really notice anyway?

This is my second scratch build.  The USS Pennsylvania being my first.  I thought I had started a build log on this site of this ship, but, I could not find one (it).  So here are SEVERAL photos of it's progress.  There are subtle differences in some of the photos as I changed things to accommodate future building.  Like where I removed a bow support because the bow sprit would pass right through it.  I took out the deck supports in the bulkheads because I decided I wanted to put the decks in individually.  It would be easier to work on the lower deck without all of the deck ribs in the way.  I did not cutout a door in the quarter galleries as the windows would have curtains on them and hide it anyway.  The original framing of the quarter galleries was removed and I redid them when the side hulls were planked.  It was more accurate and easier to put the windows and stern gun ports in.  In the unpainted stern gallery photos, planks cover some of the window openings.  In the primed photos you can see where I started the quarter gallery floor and ceiling.   The cannon are left over from my Pennsylvania build.  This model will have all of the cannon run out.  The Pennsylvania only had a few on each side.  The armament on the ships was almost identical.  Pennsylvania had 18 pounder long guns on the spar deck, the Columbus had 42 pound carronades.  The lower deck guns on both ships were mostly 32 pound long guns with 8 6 inch shell guns in the mix.  I do not know where the shell guns were mounted, but, I am not putting them on anyway.  Instead the lower deck gus will all be 32 pounders.

Now that my Pennsylvania is all but done, I will be working on this ship more and more.  Have one side about 2/3rds done now.  It is actually going pretty fast.  If nothing interferes, I think I could have the entire hull planked by Christmas.

Did anyone notice I had the gudgeons and pintles reversed on my second launch?  I just finished fixing it.  Started planking the lifeboat. 

Here are a few photos of the two boats I have done, and two forms for a second cutter and a second launch.  I am going to make a small gig/life boat and a barge yet.  That should be enough.  I may build a case for it, will see.  Only have some misc. repairs to chains, copper plates, and make safety railing/netting on the mast platforms.  Then it will be done!!

Are the boats oars and other paraphernalia stored in them or below decks until needed?

As for clinker built boats, I am going to attempt one with one of the gigs or cutters.  This ship only had one voyage, and it was across a bay to it's berth.  I would imagine it did not carry more than 4 to six boats.  So, I do not think so for this ship.  However I will be doing one or two for the USS Columbus which I am currently planking.