Landlubber Mike

That's really great work Frank. I'd love to weather a fishing or whaling vessel down the line one day. Can I ask how you weathered the hull?

Thank you very much Aldo, that clears things up completely. I probably wasn't very clear in my post, but I had been wondering if the mast wedges extend down to the deck. Since that's the case, I can't just cut a ring that I lay on top of the main mast partners, but have to figure out how to extend the ring down to the deck in the gaps between the corner chocks. Thanks Allan for the diagrams - they are very good illustrations on how the various components are put together.

Hey Collingwood, looking forward to watching you progress on this build. Just out of curiosity, which Lyme are you building? The 1695 version? I'm building the 1748 version by modifying the Corel Unicorn kit according to plans from the NMM. The Unicorn and Lyme were both of the "Lyme class" and very similar, except that the Unicorn wasa beakhead ship and the Lyme a rounded bow ship.

Looking great Bill. You're really moving along.

Beautiful work Bruce. Are you going to add a second layer of planking? I saw in my Morgan instructions that you can add 0.50mm second plaking if you wish. Your planking looks pretty close to perfect though.

Wow Mobbsie, incredible work! Sorry I missed that you had finished the build a week ago. Really gorgeous model! What is also amazing is the quality of work you do at the speed you do it. Congratulations!

Thanks Greg, that's a really good picture to show my issue. I would think that the wedges between the corner chocks would have to extend down to the deck level for a true seal.

Hi everyone, sorry to resurrect this thread. I have a related question as to the wedges and the partners. I've built the partners as Aldo has in this thread, and will represent the wedges as circular, rather than octagonal. If I add the ring of wedges on top of the partners, I'm left with a gap in the area between the corner chocks on either side of the partners - since the carlings lay under the deck planking level. Here is an annotated version of one of Aldo's pictures to show what I mean (hope he doesn't mind): How that gap between the circular wedge piece and the deck filled in that area? I was thinking about adding planking over what would be the carlings, that would extend to cover the side of the octagon between the chocks. But, there still would be a small vertical gap between the wedge ring and the deck. The only thing that I can think to do is to have the wedges in that area extend down to the deck level, as opposed to merely sitting on top of the chocks. Thanks in advance!

Hey Scott, This planking pattern was in TFFM vol. 2 as an example of what a Swan class upper deck could look like. Hatches don't actually sit on the deck planking, but sit on the beams and the deck planks butt against the hatches, So, in this case where the fore hatch is narrower athwartships than the main hatch and other hatches, it seems reasonable that the planking runs would come out this way (rather than have a very skinny plank run alongside the fore hatch). I think kits just simplify things in having uniform, straight deck planks, where the hatches are seated on top of the deck planking. Nothing wrong with that approach of course. I thought I'd challenge myself in being a little more historically accurate and use different sized/shaped planks. We'll see if it works out in the end - these planks have been relatively easy. Eventually I'll have to start cutting tapered planks and anchor stock planks.

You might not need wider stock for the quarterdeck and forecastle planking. I believe the TFFM plans were largely straight/slightly tapered planks, but I forget if they had scarph hooks and the like.

Thanks Martin. I'm using the planking pattern from TFFM vol. 2 - I agree that the taper into the fore hatch is a really nice look. TFFM also has three rows of anchor stock planking up against the margin plank. I'm a bit nervous about how that will come out, but if it works out, I think it's another nice touch. Of course, once I add the cannons, small boats, etc., all this detail will be largely covered up Aside from the planking pattern being interesting from the standpoint of having different shaped planks, another benefit is that the planks are slightly wider, leading to fewer rows than if you go with the kit's deck planking widths (I think the kit assumes a 3mm standard plank width, whereas if I remember correctly, my king plank is 6mm and the other planks I've laid so far are around 5mm or so in width). I'll let you know about using the mill and/or table saw. Other people on here like BE make it look very easy I think the key is in the set up - once you've set things up, the actual milling work is probably fairly easy. I plan on doing a few test runs on plywood, etc. to practice and get used to the mill before attempting to butcher Jeff's nice wood

Thanks BE and Boyd Boyd, I'm using pencil on one plank of the two for the caulking. I used the same approach on my Badger to pretty good effect (at least I thought so), and it's fairly easy to do with no issues of bleeding colors, etc. I think it looks even better on the maple given that it is lighter and not splintery like the tanganyika in the Badger kit. Others use permanent magic markers or archival ink, and some even use tissue paper for a very nice result. I just like the more subdued, lighter tones of using pencil - plus, it's very easy to touch up if necessary once the planks have been laid. Last night I managed to resolve the issue of the second planks on opposite sides of the king plank being of different widths. I used a sanding block and slowly sanded the planks on either side a bit, and now the widths are equal - it ended up being much easier than I thought it would. It was one of those things that I knew would annoy me down the road, so I'm glad I took the chance on resolving the issue. I also started working on the riding bitts. Out of redheart, I cut square stock for the bitts, opened up the holes in the upper deck to accommodate the bitts, and cut out and shaped the standards. I need to figure out how to best cut out the notch for the cross piece and shape the tops of the bitts. I think I might try using the Byrnes table saw (or better yet, maybe my mill, which I have yet to try out) to make an even notch cut across both bitts - usually I do things like this by hand, but I think I can get cleaner lines using power tools. I also need to think about what details to add - for example, for the cross piece, do I want to use different woods for the main timber and elm face piece? Also, there is a variety of hardware like eyebolts and hooks, etc. that were found on the riding bitts but not typically shown in the simplified kit versions.

Thanks very much guys. Alistair, you're right that it does have more pronounced grain compared to Jeff's holly (I have some sheets of holly as well). Since I'm not going for a painted look but rather a natural wood look using oil finishes and stains in some cases, I thought maple would work out better than holly. After seeing Toni's Atalanta build, I might use holly to represent the white stuff for the lower hull planking on my Lyme.

Hi folks, I've made a little progress over the past few days. I feel like I spend 90% of my time researching, double checking accuracy of the kit parts against TFFM and the NMM plans, figuring out methods, etc., and only 10% building. I'm getting more comfortable using my table saw and other tools though, so I should be able to move a little faster. I finished the coamings for the hatches (still need to thin them down, round the corners, add camber and sand them down and fill in gaps), and also roughed out the main mast partners and capstan step. I don't think I'm going to add the fore mast and mizzen mast partners, as both won't be seen. Some of the other Swan class builders are putting in some real nice details under the forecastle and quarterdeck, but i think I'm going to focus on the visible details. I've added more planks around the fore hatch, including the first row of binding strakes. Jeff's maple has been really nice to work with. I'm glad I decided to go with upgraded wood over the kit's tanganyika. So far the planking is turning out well. I have a slight issue in that in front of the fore hatch, the space for the second plank from the king plank on the port side is slightly narrower than that on the starboard side. It's probably not even a difference of 0.5mm, though the macro pictures seem to suggest it's considerably bigger. I might try filing back the first plank off the king plank so that the widths are more comparable, but it's a long plank and I worry about maintaining a straight line. So, I'm going to think about it a little more. Here is a close-up of the main mast area: I put together the main mast partners - the aft side needs to be shortened a bit, as I plan on moving the after hatch slightly forward so that the main jeer bit pins are located in the fore corners of the hatch (roughly in the position shown in the picture above). They, as well as the capstan step, needed to be thinned down so that they are shorter in height than the hatch coamings. From a technical standpoint, the head ledges of the hatches should have cut outs to fit around the partners. I decided to just butt them against the hatches, as I'm not sure that detail will be easily seen once the pumps, main mast, etc. are installed. Overall, I'm wondering if the main mast partners were worth the effort, as I believe they end up getting covered up by the wedges securing the main mast. But, they were fun to make. I've also been doing a little research on the fore jeer bitts. The kit has the pins extend through the forecastle and into the upper deck. According to the TFFM (and I believe the NMM plans), the pins were bolted to the forecastle deck beams instead. B.E. picked up on this on his Pegasus build, and I might take a similar approach. Back to the shipyard I go

Great work Joe. That's the technique I was thinking of using for my stern decorations, figurehead, etc. - glad to see that it can work to good effect. You executed it brilliantly.

This will be a fun build to watch. I think it's really cool to watch people add historical accuracy to builds. As for your Model Expo order, you might want to call them and say you had trouble with using the code. Maybe they will extend you the sale price. Good luck, and post a build log!

This is going to be awesome - looking forward to following your build Mobbsie!

Thanks B.E., that's very helpful! I looked through all my books as well and couldn't find anything on ladder orientation either. I'll flip a coin

Thanks very much guys. Lou, thanks for the suggestion on bubinga - it looks like a very nice wood. I'll have to add it to the wood stock pile on future builds. For this build, I think I'll stick with pear and stain it a bit darker. Your Harvey looks fantastic by the way - perfect representation of painting with wood, I love it! Alistair - that's very helpful, thank you. I think the NMM plans for the Pegasus at least had a slightly wider (fore to aft) fore hatch, which is why a bit of the plywood will end up showing through the hatch. So, at a minimum, I might need to open up the fore hatch hole in the plywood template. I'll work on getting better resolution pictures. i was using my iPhone, but I have a point and shoot camera with macro capabilities that might do a better job. B.E. - gorgeous hatch and railings. Thanks for posting the picture - did you add the ledging on the side where the top of the ladder ends up? I was wondering if there would have been ledging on that side as it might have made going down the ladder a little tricky. Here's another question - do the ladders run down from port to starboard, or from starboard to port, in the companionways? Does it matter? I would think that all the ladders in companionways have the same orientation, but I haven't been able to find a definitive source that specifies the orientation. Thank you all again!

Thanks Alistair. Did you shave back the plywood template at all under the coamings? My plywood might be a little more exposed as I've modified the hatches a bit to conform to the NMM plans. So maybe fore and aft I sand back the plywood, but athwartships, use the small piece of framing like you did to cover those sides up. From a structural integrity standpoint, you probably only need two sides of the hatch to sit on the plywood - so, as long as I have enough plywood for the port and starboard sides, the fore and aft sides could freely float.

It's been a while since I last posted any progress - I had family staying with me the past couple of weeks, and unfortunately the guest room is in the basement next to my workshop. So, I couldn't play with my power tools much during that time unfortunately. I did manage to hang a fluorescent fixture over my workbench (what a difference good lighting makes!) and hung an air filter unit from my ceiling joists in my workroom. On top of that, I also did sneak in some progress on my build: The hatches for the upper deck have been cut and assembled, and now I just need to round the corners, add camber, and sand them back slightly to fit the eventual deck planking. On the planking, I've added a few more planks. If I went with straight planks, I'd be a lot further along. But, I'm going to attempt to plank the upper deck as per the TFFM sample deck plan, so I'm trying to gear myself up for the challenge of cutting and fitting curved planks. I made the capstan step, which will be sanded down a bit to fit within the planking. i plan on also adding the main mast partners, but probably won't do the fore mast and mizzen mast partners, since these won't be seen once the quarterdeck and forecastle are up. Question for my fellow Swan class builders - aside from doing the hatch coamings for the fore hatch/stairway, did you add framing or other covering so that the plywood deck under the coamings was not visible? I believe that when I did the companionway for my Badger, I added small strips of wood on three of the sides of the companionway (each side except for the side that the ladder touched the companionway). I'm more interested in covering up the plywood than historical accuracy, but is it correct to add some framing on some or all of the sides? Thanks in advance!

I'm speechless after seeing the precision of your rigging. Incredible!

Hi Toni, using holly for the lower planking is a really nice touch. I was planning on planking my Lyme fully in pear, but I might switch to holly under the wales. Hmm….

I use two of the Harbor Freight benches, put back to back to form a workplace island. For lightweight work like modeling, I don't think you can find a cheaper bench of that relative quality (you can find them at HF for about $125-130 on sale). Those benches in the original post looks really nice though

I have my workshop in my basement utility room. I have a shop vac attached to my Byrnes power tools, and recently bought this Rikon air filter which was on a big sale recently at Woodcraft: http://www.woodcraft.com/product/857601/RIKON%203Speed%20Air%20Cleaner%20with%20Remote%20Control%20Model%2062100.aspx I know that you are in the UK, but maybe they have a comparable product. This unit is made to sit on your workbench or suspended from the ceiling. I have limited bench space, so this weekend I hung it from hooks screwed into the joists in my utility room's ceiling. The shop vac does a good job of pulling out most of the wood dust, but I feel better knowing that the filter should hopefully take out the very small dust particles that the shop vac didn't get. As Jud said, you can make your own as well.