Shazmira

Minor update for the ship... a big one for me.
 
Planking continues.  No pics yet.  But while waiting for glue to try, etc. I've been busy working on carvings... or trying to anyway.  Also made minor progress on the longboat and a few drawings for parts needing to be cut out.
 
So.. the carvings.  The picture shows the first one I've attempted..  well actually it was the 4th attempt and hopefully, I can live with it.  The first two carvings I'll need are the name cartouche on the stern and Arms of France above the stern windows.  Mulling it over, I went for the "easy one".    I soaked them in isopropyl for about 12 hours and that removed most of the char.
 
I ended up doing bas-relief style on it after several failures of trying to carve the letters such that they stand proud.  Not going to happen in my lifetime. So I ended up removing the char as I carved out about 1/2mm deep leaving the lip and lettering (as one area not the individual letters) standing proud.  A touch of well-thinned brown paint (used a needle for this) and what I wanted highlighted is now about as good as it will get.  It actually looks better in real-life as most of us don't have eyes with macro mode.  
 
Onwards...... 

 

Thanks for the likes and comments.   Short update time.
 
I've laid 12 stakes of the 8" wide planks...  15 to go.   Looks rough but I'm seeing light so what appears to be gaps is just mismatch in thickness and shadows... I hope.
 
From the re-lining off I just finished a strake ago, I won't need a stealer at the stern.  Looking at the French ship monographs I have, a short, wide plank can be added such that the strake is continuous.  I've added one and probably won't need any more. From the dead flat, the strakes run from 8" to almost 4" and then back to 8" at the sternpost. 
 
On the bow side, the planks run from 8" at the dead flat and then eventually taper to 4".  However, at least one drop plank is needed which will be put in in my next two strakes.  I'm trying hard to keep scale on this even though it looks strange due to the scale (to my eye at least). 
 
First two pics show her in all her unsanded, rough looking planking.
 
The third pic is my side project, the longboat.  I needed a way to do this so thought, fiddled, thought, and then came up with a plan I think will work.  I'm using a variation of Chuck's method.  I did have to re-do this once already as for scale, the frames should be 2" (1/32") wide, but I kept breaking them and then realized there wasn't enough meat to hold the planks securely. So, I doubled the width of the frame.  We'll see where this leads.... hopefully not the scrap bin.
 
All in all, I'm pretty pleased.  There's some things I need to think about for the next ship, like is scale planking better or worse than eye-appeal cause these planks are relatively tiny compared to the planks I've used in the past.
 
Enough over-thinking for now... pressing on.
 

A minor milepost in the overall build but a major one for me...
 
Six strakes have been added and to check how the tuck planking went, I taped the sternpost into position and took a few extra shots.   Roughly sanded (sorry about the sawdust) and there's some gaps need filling.  Overall, I'm feeling pretty good at this point.  At the stern area, I'm off by about 3" (scale) which could be tolerance buildup or one side was of the transoms was off by that much.  I'm thinking it has more to do with some tolerance buildup and the angle the planks came into tuck.  The bow is about 2" (scale) off.   
 
I do like the way the lines are shaping up with planking.
 
I need to re-mark off the hull and re-check the measurements and then do a few more strakes before putting the garboard back on.  And sand, sand, sand.... <cough><cough>:  Luckily the air filter system I've added to the workshop is doing it's job.
 



 
Comments, questions, abuse is always allowed.  Ok.. maybe not the abuse part... 

Still hammering away...    Thanks for the likes and comments.
 
Here's the latest pics.  Starboard side wide wale planking is complete.  Needs final sanding and bit more caulking (  ) of some planks that I didn't quite get fitted right.  Relatively minor fix, in my opinion.  the splotchiness is from wiping it down with water to raise the grain for the final sanding.  An interesting effect is that not all Swiss Pear is the same color.. some is darker than the others.   Interesting.
 
Next comes the narrow planks.  per measurements, I need 28 strakes.  Seven strakes at the stern to the deadwood so I need to take those into account as they are 9" planks on the counter to the deadwood. After that, they can be wider as they run to the garboard.  The bow will need serious tapering and I'm starting to mark everything out.
 
Any tips, oops, or advice appreciated.
 




 

Here's the close up pic I promised....  I'm not done sanding or "caulking"/crack filling yet and there's sawdust all over...   but you should be able to see how the ebony flows and fills the area between fore end of the channel (the open spot) and the main wale and how the main wale planking is all blended together. The wide planks (wale planks) are all about 1 foot wide, actually a bit more since the French foot was bigger than the English foot.  The rest of the planking is approximately 9 inches wide, and again, it's slightly larger than the comparible English planking.
 

 

Thanks for the "like", the comments and looking....
 
Here's the current state...  
 
The wale (wide) planking is complete on the port side.  Work is continuing on the starboard side.  I've temporarily tacked in place the garboard strakes in order to measure the remaining area for the "normal" planking strips.  I'm also sorting out how many battens I'll need...  I'm thinking probably 3 of about 8-10 planks between battens..
 
At this point, I know I'm going to need drop planks and stealers since various monographs show them...  I'm assuming this was the normal method for the French ships and not the monograph author's but haven't been able to verify it.
 
Click on the image to enlarge and as always ideas for improvement are welcomed.
 

 
 

Been a bit since that last update... I stripped off 5 strakes of planking at the stern and reworked it with some help in the form of advice and mentoring from Dan and Druxey.  They set me straight and on the right path.   I'll do a bit more sanding (still rough only for now) and then turn the hull around and to the other side.  I did some templates and the shapes look pretty close so I think that side will go a bit quicker.  I shouldn't have to plank, rip off the planks, sand and then replank several times... 
 
I have a dummy fashion piece held in with the blue pin to get the plank ends correct and I'll be fitting the real thing later. I'm not too worried about the plank ends being 100% squared up as there's a reasonably wide covering trim plank that will go over them.  Besides, isn't it supposed to be deal with one headache at a time.
 
I just noticed....my work area is beyond messy... sorry.
 
Thanks for the comments, the help, and the support.  Back to motoring on and making sawdust.
 

I'm hoping for opinions..  and fear not, I can take critique... 
 
I've sanded and shaped quite a bit on the last cant frame and the transoms.   Is this better?  Does it need more work?
I removed 5 planks, the 3 now installed are only tacked into place and will need beveling, etc.   But I wanted to get an opinion.  I'm thinking they look 100% better, but not sure how "accurate" it is.  Do I need more work on this area?
 
I managed to sort out what my references show (unfortunately, no planking expansion but that's to be expected) for plank that's now wrapped around a bit.  Which what the references seem to show.
 
Thanks in advance.  
 

Being the conservative builder that I am especially when it comes to major changes, I've done some serious reshaping of the transoms.  I think I'm close but I'd like some other opinions.  I've blue taped down some thin battens.  If it looks good, I'll start bending the real wood and planking.  The ends of the existing planking are not a problem.  I have some fashtion pieces that cover the counter timber ends and the hull planking timber ends.
 



 

Some proof of life and work in progress....
 
I think I'm getting the hang of this.... I've planked both sides with required wide wale planks.  The port side has been sanded but not finish sanded.. pretty rough sanded if you ask me, but it's ready for the narrow hull planks to be laid down.  I need to sand the starboard side which should commence this afternoon... I hope.
 
The stern/transom area I think I have sorted out.  There's a covering piece needed and the fashion piece along the counter to the transom as well as the covering board where the transom meets the counter.  These will be finished once the planking is complete but before final sanding....
 
The planks look a bit damp as I've wiped them down with some water to clear off most of the sanding dust and also to help raise the grain a tad.  I've got a couple of pesky dings that need to be addressed and this is the logical (to my mind) starting point for that process. 
 



 
As always, clicking on the photos will enlarge them and comments and advice are welcome.
 
On a side-note, I'm also developing drawings for the laser cutter to produce all the carving blanks, windows, gun carriages, carved railings, and assorted fiddly bits like the ship's boats.   Some of this stuff is just too darn tiny to cut on a scroll saw.. or I need new eyes. 

Port side aft bulwark planked...   I'm cleaning up the shop a bit and I'll start on the hull planking.
 
Critiques, laughing out loud, pretty much anything you want to say about it is allowed, as always.   
 
I do notice that there's a couple of place that need a touch more sanding, but those places are on hold until after the rest of the hull is planked.  Might as well get everything at once....
 

Update time.    Starboard side aft outer bulwark is done..  sanded and has one coat of Wipe-On poly drying.    I'll rotate the hul around and turn to on the port side aft.  I'm debating over when this part is done whether to finish the hull planking or turn my attention to the stern planking.  I guess I'll just wait and see what mood I'm in.
 

One small step for Licorne, one big step for me.    I got the forward outer bulwark planked to my satisfaction.   Happy Dance!!!! 
 
The planking goes from one plank to three.  I got the middle one cut in as a proper stealer topmost goes under the ebony strip per the planking diagram (a different French frigate, but it showed me how it was done).
 
Here's the pic of the starboard side, and onto the aft ones.... The pic is super macro from about 4" out.  Looks better at galloping on horse back scale.
 

 

Small update...
After doing the forward outer bulwarks several times, this is best I have at the moment.  I'm going to revisit these again after the rear outer bulwards are done and if I have to, again after the planking.  I find my skills just aren't quite where I want them in going from 1 plank width to 3 with some compound curves tossed in for good measure.
 
On the plus side, they look a darn sight better than they did the first couple of  times I did them. Also, they will end up with carvings, a channel, and deadeyes, maybe an anchor in front of them.  They feel smooth to the touch but to my eye, they look funky.  Hahn just used a single plank which at full size would have been 8" at the aft end and about 24" at the other.
 
I'm thinking I'll learn a little something doing the stern ones at this point as they go from 8" to 16" without the compound curves so I'll be able to practice some more on doing stealers.  Not there yet.. but working on it.
 

Ah.. update sooner than I thought.  Got the anchor planking done on the starboard side.  I've ripped off the wales and redid them.  Have one small area I'm not thrilled with in the pearwood part.  But I think I can fix that with some more sanding.  I'll sort it out when I go to plank that area.   Next in line is to continue up the rail (cutline).  I won't be cutting her free though for quite a while as like the security of the jig. 
 

I've planked the starboard side gun port strip and on both sides added the ebony chain wale and the ebony bow area planking.  There's two areas that are unplanked in the chain wale where the channels will fit.  Things look wet because of the first coat of wipe-on poly.
 
Footnote.. I'm more than a bit chuffed as the chain wales (port and starboard) are within 2 scale inches of each other.
 
I'll now go around to the other side, and sand the ebony bow planking.  It's there but really rough before the next update.
 

I guess it's about time I did something....
 
Gunport stripe (for lack of a better nomenclature) has been sanded, re-sanded, ports cut, re-sanded some more, gaps filled and sanded again...  I've applied one coat of wipe on poly to the stripe and to the counter to protect it.
 
Anyway... onward to the port side.
 
Once the port side is finished, I'll add the ebony chain wales and the French version of the billboard which runs from the stem, past the first port to the start of the second port.
 


 
As always, feel free to enlarge the photos by clicking on them.  Any advice, etc. is always appreciated.

Proof of life... it ain't dead yet...
 
The main wale needs sanding as does the next stake down (up in the photo) but I'll hold off until I get more strakes done towards the keel.
 
Planking on the "gun port stripe" (such that it is) is done.   I'm still sanding and need to finish opening all the ports and get them shaped.
 
The bottom photo shows in blue what will be ebony..
 

Thanks for looking in, everyone.
 
Port side, first three strakes.  Not too bad to my eye and I'm happy.  The pics, though tell me that I'll have to do some sanding and shaping still around the joints and also to fair and smooth things out a bit.  The big challenge here is the where the plank thickness changed and also where the hull shape changed due to the tumblehome.  I'll fix things with some sanding and then finally scraping to get the ebony dust out of the Swiss pear grain.
 
Onto the starboard side....

 

Update.. we ain't dead in the water yet..!!!
 
After milling my wood, I spent a fair amount of time sorting out how to put this together.. the wales.  There's 12 strakes that start off a 3/32" thick and as they go down to the main hull planking, they thin to 1/16" which is the "normal" planking thickness.  Above the main wales, the upper works planking is 1/32" thick. 
 
After much experimentation and sorting things out, my approach is below. 
 
First two pics are how I clamp things down...

 
This one shows the actual planking...  hang with me, there's issues that I know have to be resolved due to some gaps.
 
1) is the second strake of wales. Solid swiss pear.
2) is the underlayment of 1/32" thick Swiss Pear. This is for the top strake of wales.
3) is the first of the planking for the upper works.  Forward of the first port will be heavier planking going from the wales upward
(last photo which is from Karl's build of Bohomme Richard.)
4) Ebony for the top wale.  It's 1/16" thick to make it easier to bend than the full thickness of the strake. 
 

 
The issues are the end of the ebony needs adjusting. For some reason it drooped while getting it into place.  And there's piece near the stem on the second wale where pear split.   I'm not overly concerned about it as the bolster for the hawse pipes goes over that.  The whole thing will need sanding and smoothing but for now, I'm going to continue on and finish running these to the stern and then get the other side done.  I'm also still sorting out clamps. Seems I broke two frames in the process of getting things glue up.  I have to not put so much force on those clamps.
 
As always, feel free to click on the pics to enlarge and criticism, different ideas, etc. are always welcome.  I'm still learning this stuff.

First bit of planking is done with Swiss Pear.   Just the counter so far.  I've hung the stern post and rudder blank for position and to make sure I made the hole right.
 
There will be a bit of ebony trim over the exposed yellowheart after the rest of the planking goes one.  And "above" the counter and below the lights I'll be putting in the shaped trim strip after the rest of the stern has been planked.
 
All in all, I'm pretty pleased.

Hit a big milestone...  framing is complete and ready for planking.  Well, one minor tweak to the transoms to get smooth run to the counter but that's not going to be a stopper.
 
Right now, I'm having second thoughts about the bulk of the planking in Swiss Pear and am considering cherry.   I'll ponder a bit more.....
 

Deadlights.
 
After staring and thinking... I decided deadlights next.  Not the frames yet but the black background part.   Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to use ebony since I love the look of this wood.  Which begat more contemplation because that stuff is a bit hard to work with.  I think I found an adequate solution.
 
Being fond of quick prototyping in many areas, I made up some deadlights from basswood.  Gave it some thought and decided to make some ebony veneer.  I tried to rip some down to 1/64" (.35mm)....by 1" (25mm) with the thin side coming off the 1" thick billet.  Don't try it.   I got it down to 1/32" (.7mm) before things starting exploding across the shop.  Might have something to do with the blade but I wasn't going to kill a new Thurston blade on an experiment.    Anyway... now I have to clean up fragments everywhere.    I was using the table saw for this.
 
I took the 1/32" inch thick piece that survived and ran it through the thickness sander to get it where I wanted it, glued the prototype deadlights to it and cut them out with the scroll saw.  A bit of sanding and they fit about right.  The pics show a gap but that will be covered by the window framing.  Did I mention I hate macros...   To the naked eye (or even with glasses on) it looks pretty good. I don't feel anything out of place running my fingers around everything, so that's good also.  
 
I'll re-fillet the glue joints on the framing and cut them down to shape.  Also need to get the middle area of the counter fixed up with some wood for the landing of the counter plank ends at the rudder and stern post.  
 
First pic of the basswood and veneer laminated together for the deadlights.  Second one is the installation and..hmm... wet glue.      What the hey.. I'm having fun it's turning out well in my opinion.  I past the point where Version 1.0 met it's end (the stern area) so I'll be carrying on.

I think I bagged it....   Fiddly work at best.  I made some templates, changed them, cut some wood, fed the scrap box  Then I got what I wanted.   Since this is hidden by quarter galleries, I'll fair it in and tweak as needed before planking. The interior will need minimal as some is hidden by the clamps, deck beams and deck.   The interior will get planked and probably some trim around the doorways with some nice doors. 
 
It would appear that the French played the "misdirection" game as well as the Brits.  On the Brits Roebuck class, there's two rows of stern windows so that when seen by ship coming from astern it would appear bigger than it is.   On Licorne,  the top of the stern windows are also the beam for the quarterdeck.  From inside, the bottom of the lights are about chest high.  It gives the appearance when coming astern that the ship is taller than she really is and from a distance it could be mistaken for an 18 pdr frigate (my conjuncture).  I think the galleries were designed with the same "look" in mind.
 
Here's some more pics of her rear, and I'm off to the next bit which will either be setting up the deadlights or shaping the taffrail.. 
 

I've often heard that that it's not about the destination but the journey that's important.  I agree but this journey is currently being measured in inches and not miles. 
 
I added the timbers the taffrail will sit on and worked up and installed the two outer timbers for the counter. The whole stern area was then rough faired.  Final fairing will be just before planking. 
 
The taffrail timber needs to be shaped after cutting loose the stern (the red curved line).  I still have a lot of shaping to that curve and most can be done while it's in frame and on the build board but I need to set up the rest of the stern framing.   This will be filling in the area between the final cant frame and the stern frames with framing for mounting the quarter galleries and the hatchway from the Great Cabin.   I'm have some ideas on how to do this as this another area that Hahn is a little vague on how to do.
 
Anyway enough out of me, here's the photos.   Feel free to click on and enlarge them to see everything in horrible detail.