GLakie

Thanks George, you too. We're homebodies, went out this afternoon and stocked up. Home in front of the tube for NY. The cops have gotten so bad here it is totally stupid to go out without a cab or driver....not worth it.
Happy New Years to you and whoever should read this also.
Take Care my friend,
John

Ah!  Welcome to the club! 

Have a safe and Happy New Year John!! 

You too mate - 2016 will have to be better - now retired
 
cheers
 
Pat

So what was this about blemish lines - can't see them standing up this way   Looks great Mark!
 
cheers
 
Pat

Thanks Popeye, ditto. I also hope you and your family had a great festive season and have much to look forward to in 2016.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Hi Lester, yeah, I think I have an area I could cut off for you. I'll be working on the base next week weather permitting. I can't work on it inside...too big. I'll get the pictures for you just as soon as we get a decent blue sky for the photos. It's been cloudy and rainy looking every day since I got finished. This morning was clear but real windy, and when the wind died back it was threatening rain and cloudy again, so it didn't look good outside. I'm anxious for Dick to see them and see what he thinks. Maybe the flag will do the trick....lol

All deck guns fitted....
 
Six days of creating and rigging cannons finally on board.  Still much to do but, for now, I'm ready to try to knock out a few new carvings.
I'll come back to the cannons and add some of the gun crew tools (rams, mops, buckets, cannon shot, etc)
Question.... Were "brass monkeys" used during this time period?
Full view of all deck guns....

Qtr Deck....

Half Deck....

Waist Deck....

Forcastle ....
dd
Dummy guns below the forcastle....
Note the newest carving now fitted....

 
This last photo reminds me, I still have a major task of tree nailing the bamboo hull looming out there eventually.
One project at a time huh.
 
Happy New Year Mates!

hi all, back for an update.  First, I hope all had a Merry Christmas and here's wishing all of you a happy new year!
 
Here's where I'm at currently.  I'm shaping the cant frames and working on the hawse timbers.   I made a test run of the hawse timbers out of pine to get a feel for making them.  It's become apparent I need 2 more cant frames.  Without them there's too much space that needs to be filled with hawse timbers.  I used Portia T's plan as a guide for laying out the cants, but I see now I need to add 2 more.  Once I do that then 4 hawse timbers will work- instead of the 5 I have now.  That also lets the hawse holes line up in the correct place.
 
Also, I will go back and mill out the air space between the hawse timbers once I get them shaped.  The pine is a good test sample for practicing doing that on the mill.  That and drilling the hawse holes,
 
Still a lot more shaping to do, but it's getting there.
 
Pics

Call to General Quarters.  Clear the decks for action !!!!!
 
What a pleasant surprise.  You've decided to model my favorite ship in my favorite scale.  And from scratch.  FANTASTIC.
 
I wish you every success.  You've developed the skills you need to pull this off and I'll be following at every step along the way.
 
Good sailing, Wes.  And .........  THANKS!

Here is the center bulkhead.  It's made from 1/2" Baltic Birch.  I've cut dadoes at each frame location for the ply bulkheads to slip into.

 
I took a pic showing the bulkhead drawing but it's pretty hard to see....

 
Here's another (the little rectangles are just reference marks for me, not used for the build)

 
I built a jig to cut the dadoes at exact spacing.  The ply alignment strip in set in a dado, then the jig is adjusted to give the needed spacing from the blade.  I used a dado blade to cut the slots.  Using this method is an easy way to cut exactly spaced slots (dadoes), once you get the spacing set of course...  If you're still a little confused on how this jig works, just google "box joint jig" for lots of explanations....
 
(I just noticed the dado blade wasn't in the saw when I took the pic, woops!)


 
Here is the ctr bulkhead after I've cut down the center section to a point below the where the gun deck will be.  I've also slid in a few of the bulkhead blanks.  The bulkheads are 1/4" Baltic Birch.  They are very over sized, so don't try to get a sense of final size from this pic...  (The tape measure is set at 2 feet for size reference)

 
Here is the false deck, which is nothing more than a stiffener for the bulkheads.  It's dadoed just as the ctr bulkhead for alignment.  (each bulkhead slips into it's dado to give positive alignment).  The bulkheads will be cut down of course, this is just to show the concept.
 
I will cut more dados on top of the false deck to accept rails which will provide the actual curve and crown for the gundeck.  Hard to explain, when you see it, it should make sense.


 
The rabbet at the bottom of the ctr bulkhead is for the keel.  Instead of making and attaching a separate keel, I'm going to glue thin pieces of pear into the rabbet on each side of the bulkhead which will serve as the finished keel.  The false keel will attach to the bottom of the bulkhead.
 
The ctr bulkhead is not cut to shape, as I'm keeping everything square (right angles, no curves) until as many framing pieces as possible are cut.  This makes accurate cuts SO much easier...
 
More to come!

Well, little did I think a year ago when I started my first wooden ship build that I'd ever be posting in the scratchbuild forum, but here I am.  I've been contemplating a scratch build since mid-summer 2013, from looking at all the wonderful scratch builds on MSW and from the amount of scratching I've been doing on my Conny build.  I wanted to try a scratch build. I think I have the woodworking skill as I've been building in wood my entire life.  The thing I still lack is detailed shipwright knowledge, but I'm learning...  The one thing I know for a fact though is a fully detailed POF build is not for me, I don't have the knowledge or time to do so.
 
I bought several books that everyone seems to quote as bibles for wooden shipbuilding, including Goodwin’s "Constructing an English Man of War".  Next was selecting a subject to model.  I first thought of the HMS Surprise, and bought “The Frigate Surprise” book to do some research.  I also thought of buying the Latina 1/48 Surprise kit and scratch-bashing that.  I then thought about the Essex.  I had been in contact with Sam Cassano about his MSW kit earlier and decided to ask his advice.  Not only did he offer any help he could, but also sent me a set of his drawings which I could use as a basis for my build drawings.  Sam’s kit is of Essex in her 1799 launch configuration, my attempt at Essex will be as close as I can come to her 1814 configuration at Valparaiso.  I bought Portia's AOTS Essex book and "The Frigate Essex Papers" which contain William Baker's wonderful drawings and Josiah Fox's detailed measurements of her from her 1807-09 rebuild.  I'd like to thank Sam Cassano and Steve, (Frolick on MSW) for giving me invaluable help on acquiring info and dwgs.
 
My build will be a POB, but with a different twist.  One side will be fully planked, but the other side will show her frames from somewhere near the bow to near the stern, and from a point several strakes above the garboard (I haven't determined where yet).  The reason I chose this method was to show her frames, but to not have to build all the intricate framing of the keel, floor timbers, deadwood, all cant frames (both bow and stern) etc.  There also won’t be any internal details below the gundeck.  This may seem to be cheating, or an "easy way out" solution, and I guess it is but for me it's the way to go.  I'm achieving this by placing plywood bulkheads at each frame location, but on the frame side I will cut off the ply and glue on hardwood frames, probably Pear.  This should give the look of individual frames and their futtocks from the outside, which is what I'm going for.  I chose 1/48 as the scale as I wanted to build in a larger scale.  It will be a big one, maybe bigger than I want, but 1/48 is what I’m going with.  I hope to fully mast and rig her, if I have the years and patience to do so….
 
I'm drawing my own build drawings, still a lot of work to do, and will post some images when they are far enough along.  I am cutting the center bulkhead and bulkhead blanks right now and will post pics when they're done.  It’s as much a proof of concept as it is a chance to get started!  Some may wonder how I can start building without completed drawings, but I pretty much have the design finished in my mind, I just have to create the dwgs so I can build her.
 
This may be a bumpy ride but we'll see where this goes!
 
Here is William Baker's dwg from 1808 or 9.  This is the overall configuration I'm going for.

 
Here is Baker's redrawn lines based on William Hackett's original draughts.  This is the dwg I used as the basis of my layout, along with Sam Casanno's dwgs.  I used Portia's framing dwg as a guide only.

 
(These are a gif and jpg, resized down from original size so I don't think I'm violating any copyrights by posting them)
 
Edit 4/15.
I decided to add a pic here at the very beginning of this log so future readers will know what the heck I'm doing.  Here are Essex's frames before I cut them down and sanded them.  I now call this method either the "alligator skin" or "Godzilla" method.  Looking at the frames before they're trimmed will show you why.


 
Reading through the beginning of the log where I'm just making frames and bulkheads I'm sure had a lot of you stumped as the what the heck I was making.  Hopefully this :before and after (frames) will give an idea.
Here's the hull after initial fairing.  Better, huh?


 
Edit 12/31/15
Here's after cant frames have been added and more fairing done.

 

Congrats on getting her "right-side-up" Mark. Certainly a mile-stone. Very nice!   

Things always look better right side up.    As you said, it has to feel pretty darn good to make something so nice.  You are on the verge of making it too perfect.  If you cross the line then it won't look authentic and hand made!!!    
 
Incredible job, keep it going.... it motivates us.
Tom

She really looks great. Your effort is worth.

Happy New Year Ed! 

oh well.....thought i'd show improved wooldings with railwood added....rewound with black rope....used wire instead of middle links on the chainplates, as the sizes provided wouldn't fit...........yards basically finished and painted.....next the dread threads ............will still have a lot of fine finishing to do of course.sanding painting...cleaning up the moldings etc.......i'll know when it's the right time and i'll really enjoy it...............got the confed...glued to the stern...yuk....quite frustrating....three efforts......

Hello Ed,
very good work.
Karl

really nice progress Sjors.........good to see your finally finding time for the table      Have a great new years you two!  

Hi Mark,her hull looks beautiful a fitting tribute to your dedication. Looking forward to the continuation of your build,happy sanding  
 
Kind regards and a Happy New Year,
 
Dave

Hi Mark
 
You must be so pleased to see her from a different perspective. The colour of the hull is beautiful mate.
 
Here's hoping that both Janet and you enjoy the NY celebrations and my very best wishes to you both.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie

ratlines look great Pat........nice view of the ship       stay safe and have a great new year........trust you had equally a good Christmas  

Thanks for the input Elijah but it's not so much the shine on the bands as it's the way the bands that are suppose to be beneath the cheeks look.  The bands were installed all around the mast on top of the cheeks and then the portion that was suppose to be under the cheeks was removed.  It was suppose to look like the band went under the cheek but it doesn't really.  From about ten feet away they look fine though so I guess I'll leave them.

.......big tease!    looks sharp.........love the shots of her interior.  you should be proud of what you've accomplished.  very nicely done indeed!
 
have a happy new year Mark......and your admiral as well  

Looking great Mark - congrats on a well built hull !!!