MEDDO

Looks Good Michael, Fantastic work
 
Best Regards,
Pete

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Three stairs installed and four to go. I've been working on these stairs for over a week now and what amazes me is. when my ship is finished, with full rigging and sails, I doubt anyone will be able to look down those hatches. Oh well! I'll know.

More pictures of clothes pin clamps doing their thing.
 
As I was planking the starboard outer bulwarks, I also started making and installing the inner plank sheer pieces, first on the port side, then on the starboard side. The starboard bulwark planking was done exactly like the port side and the two sides are coming out pretty similar, especially around the fixtures like the through hull sieves. I'll have pictures of the finished bulwarks later.
 
I soaked and heat bent two pieces of square basswood for the inner plank sheer across the bow. Here I am gluing in the port side piece and the starboard side piece is clamped in place wet to dry. You can see a piece of wood I clamped at the very bow so the ends of the two pieces made that last bit of curve. Before gluing these in place, I sanded the inside edge to match the angle of the bulwarks in the bow.
 

 
Here is the port stern plank sheer piece glued in place. I placed scarf joints at the ends of all the inner plank sheer pieces, except right at the bow. These pieces will either be cut away at the bow or covered by the bow sprit.
 

 
The clamps at the stern are holding the last layer of planks on the starboard bulwarks.
 

 
After I installed the plank sheer pieces across the bow, I thought the waterways underneath them were too wide. I made the water way pieces from sheet stock and was not sure how much the plank sheer would cover them once installed at the angle of the bulwarks at the bow. I summoned up the courage to take a sanding disk on a Dremel extension to the sides of the water ways while in place to make them narrower. I first sanded them down, then cleaned up the sides with an X-Acto knife, riffler files, and a sanding stick. When I was happy with the width and sides, I filed the bevel back into the top and side using a riffler file. Here is how they came out, which you can compare to the first photo in this post.
 

 
As I was checking the sides using some deck planks, I saw that the forward ends of the planks would be unsupported behind the first bulkhead. There are pieces between the first bulkhead and the bow that the ends of the planks can rest on, but not along the sides behind it. I didn't see anything in the instructions to add supports for the plank ends, but I think I better add some. What have other builders of this kit done in this area of the deck?
 
Here is the plank sheer across the open waist on the port side. I had to make a decision here how to cover the top of the hull planking in this area. I had a couple of options that came to mind. One was to make the plank sheer wider in this area to cover the opening with one piece. I was going to go this way, but then thought about the color scheme in this area, The plank sheer will be the green color like the rest of the inner bulwarks, but the outer section i thought would look funny if it was green too. I think the outer section will be better black, as the rest of the hull, with a groove cut into the outer edge. So, I decided to make these as two pieces so I can paint them separately. I won't be adding the outer piece until after the outer hull is planked and faired, as it will be proud of the hull by a bit. If anyone has an idea of how this area might have looked in the 1812 era, please let me know. The only other reference I have is the AOS book on one of the cross sections in the waist area, but that looks more like a trim piece than a waterway and plank sheer.
 

 
In between this planking and other work on the hull I have been making gun carriages for the gun deck cannons. I have all but one of them made to a point that they are roughly in shape, but need some clean up and painting. Here is the jig I use to assemble them, which basically holds the sides in place on the rectangular axles. I add the end and inner pieces while the glue is still wet on the sides, then remove it from the jig before the glue totally dries so I don't glue it into the jig. When the glue is completely dry, I file the ends of the axles that stick out from the frame round for the wheels. The wheels are just pushed on for now and not glued on yet, and the axles still need to be trimmed once the wheels are in place.
 

 
Here are the carriages made so far.
 

 
I am finished with the bulwarks planking and will now start planking down to and around the gun deck gun ports.
 
 

Nautical Research Guild Summer Issue is in the mail.

Become a member and get it delivered to your front door every 3 months.

 

Here are some highlights including the table of contents.

 



 

 
3D Printing and Model Ship Building
by Patrick Matthews
 
USS Arizona
by Oren Long, Jr
 
The East Indiaman Edwin Fox of 1853
by Ian Poole
 
A French War Brig
by Richard Simon
 
Coppering the Fleet and an American Entrepreneur
by Louis Arthur Norton
 
Building HMS Isis of 1776: Highlights of a Multi-Year Project
by Byron Gore
 
Modelers’ Gallery
 
Shipbuilding Literature in the Netherlands (1671-1838), Part 4
by Ab Hoving
 
 
SHOP NOTES
Making Dowels
by William E. Sproul 
 
MODELERS’ REVIEWS
An 8-inch Shear from Harbor Freight Tools
by Steve Wheeler
 
The 3D Elbow Bender from UMM-USA
 
Click here to read one of the articles....
A French War Brig
by Richard Simon
 
And here is a look at at one of the models featured in this issue.
Click on that photo to enlarge it and see what a great model Byron put together.  Its stunning.
HMS ISIS
by  Byron Gore
 

 
For more info on the Journal and the NRG please visit the website.

I've now made and installed the first part of the waist deck framing. As with the quarterdeck and forecastle deck framing, the beams, carlings, ledges and hanging knees are boxwood and the lodging knees are cherry. In addition, this portion of the decking required support stanchions. These were made from square boxwood strip with the round portions done with files and sandpaper. As always, the wood was finished with Wipe-on Poly. I am now working on the remaining waist deck framing.
 
Bob

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Baby steps.  A few more of the deck beams in.  This is the complete main deck.
 

 
Now I just need to clean up the surface a bit and move onto the Quarterdeck.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 67 – Lower deck framing continued
 
I had my small camera in the shop so I took this first picture with it.  It shows one of my more important tools.  No one would design this contraption this way from scratch.  It was first just a simple fixture to allow me to take overhead sequential shots during Naiad’s magazine construction.  It has since evolved into the adjustable mount shown below.  You can get seasick looking at some of the pictures taken with this but they can easily be rotated in post processing.  I take very many pictures including lots of in-hull close-ups and could not do without this thing. 
 

 
I take all the photos in available light using aperture priority so the camera is stopped down to increase depth of field.  Thus, the shutter speeds are quite slow requiring a mount.  Most of the pictures are still taken using an almost-normal tripod.
 
Pardon the digression, but I thought it might be of interest, since we cannot build ships any more without photography.
 
Back to the work.  In the next picture the beams are progressing forward.
 

 
The large opening is for the larger of the two rectangular, vertical fresh water tanks.  The half-beams and headers are pinned in place at this point.  The next picture shows a hanging knee glued to one of the half-beams. 
 

 
This knee was fit before the knee on the beam forward was in the way, but it will be glued in after that beam is installed.  The difficulty in holding these knees under the beams for fitting dictates some preplanning.
 
In the next picture all is installed on the starboard side and a pillar assembly is being marked for sizing under the beam.
 

 
In the next picture both pillars with their knees have been installed on the starboard side.
 

 
Next is a picture of the same area from further back.
 

 
In the next picture the beam forward of the smaller water tank has been glued in and the headers on either side are being installed with the help of a clamp.. 
 

 
The pillars on the port side have also been installed in this picture.  These last three beams all require lodging knees and ledges.  The last picture shows the current status of the framing.
 

 
Two full beams and two pair of half-beams remain to be installed to fill the void.
 
 
 Ed

Hi Michael,
 
That's the first time I seen a design with the keelson like that, interesting.
 
Thanks for taking my comments the way they were intended.
 
Nice work of the deck beams so far!
 
Ben

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.
 

O yeah, Thanks Ben!   I definitely like the constructive criticism, and new ideas for the next build.

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.
 

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.
 

Just a quick update.  I was able to sand down the gun ports and I think everything is good to go there.  I put in the keelson tonight.  I thought it looked a bit funny as the keelson doesn't sit onto of the keel in between the frames.  I double checked the plans, image files, instructions and it seems like it is supposed to be like that.  I was also able to find a picture in my copy of  THE COLONIAL SCHOONER 1763-1775 by Harold Hahn that also appeared like it was intended... O well.  One of the nice things being a beginner is that you don't know what you don't know.  It may or may not be historically correct but it looks good to me.
 

 

 
 

The upper deck planking has been installed and the first bit of sanding is complete.  It still needs more scraping and find sanding.  I used 3" holly for the planking throughout.  The binding strake would have been inset into the deck beams but since that detail is not visible I do not model it.  After looking at a lot of models, I decided to only plank the port side and the midline plank.  I wanted to be able to look into the lower deck cabins and so I only installed decking between the binding strake and the midline and the four outside strakes.  The central planks are fairly straightforward.  The open area in front of the foremast step for the bowsprit step.  The plank located by the well has not been glued in so that can be removed during installation of the bitts.  The plank edges were "caulked" with a pencil.  The treenails are bamboo, drawn down to a #77 drill and inserted into a #76 hole.  I prefer to pressure fit these rather than use glue.  The finish will bind them all together.  The blotchy color on the pictures is not real.  I had just washed the deck off for the pictures and did not give the wood sufficient time to dry.  Compare the color contrast between the inner and outer planking.  This all came from the same billet of holly.
 

 

 

 

 

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.
 

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.
 

After going throughout he image files associated with the build I found the following picture.  This from LSS/Bob Hunt
 

 
 
So I guess the kit is definitely designed to be like this.
 
 This is a picture from The Colonial Schooner by Harold Hahn.  You can also see the "gap" is built into this.  
 

 
You can see the space between the frames f-b as well as the large air space between b and a.
 
 
 
 
Yup I see that now.  Seems a bit too "high" as it were.  I am sure it is contributing to the problem.  Not much I can do about that now I guess.  Will definitely be more aware of this when doing the next build.

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.
 

Starting to get the deck in.  As always with the supplied wood it is very rough when removed.  It seems to be even worse on these smaller pieces.
 

 
After a bunch of sanding and fitting starting to get the deck in.