Jack12477

Frames faired, transom and bow filler pieces installed.  Ready to plank.
 
 Bob R.

Thanks druxey, albert, Cathead and Michael,
 
 
 
Yes Michael, I am simplifying the doors a little.  In the beginning, I had high hopes to make hinged doors with a working latch and one door was going to be open showing the fire grates inside the firebox.  I wish I had more to go on but on these early boilers the doors would have been fairly simple.  Either plate with a riveted hinge or cast with integral hinge.  I went with a representation of the second.  On later boilers you see more substantial doors with draft holes and internal baffles but they too late for Heroine.   Other than these considerations,  It is pretty much as you said, a representative element.  I'm hoping that once they are blackened and partially obscured by the boiler breechings and other structures, the lack of details will be forgiven and they will provide a believable appearance.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 146 – Ship’s Boats 2
 
In the last part I had just begun bending frames over the longboat plug for the first of the two longboats, so I will continue from that point, but picking up with longboat 2 from that same point.  Longboat 1 is proceeding merrily along its way and I will catch up with that work later.  In the first picture all the square frames on the port side have been soaked in water, bent over the plug and clamped down with the pin clamps.
 

 
I found that soaking the .03” strips in water overnight was more than sufficient to make them flexible enough for this work.  They were just left soaking until needed.  Although pinned roughly in position these will be more accurately spaced at both the keel and the gunwale in later steps.  This is the same plug used on Longboat 1, as evidenced by the pinholes.
 
In the next picture the inside stem shape is being fitted to the bow of the plug.
 

 
This was a case of matching up and sanding until a good fit was obtained.  You may recall that the plug is shaped to the inside of the frames.  In the next picture the outer curve of the stem has been cut after fitting the inner edge and the stem is being glued to the keel.
 

 
This assembly was then glued to the frames as shown in the next picture.
 

 
As this was clamped down with pins through drilled holes, the frames were spaced at the keel by eye.  The upper ends are still doing their own thing.  In the next picture a deadwood is being glued to the keel under the aft end of the plug.
 

 
The next step was to bring the upper ends of the frames into line.  This was done by nailing a strip over them at the gunwale as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The lower edge of this strip (upper in the photo) corresponds to the top of the side.  This strip put enough pressure on the frames allow them to be aligned and spaced at the top.  Once this was done the uppermost hull plank could be glued to the frames.  This is shown in the last picture.
 

 
I used holly to plank the side.  The planks are about 1” thick and 4 or five inches wide.  The two longboats are carvel planked and will be painted.  Note that none of the starboard frames have been installed at this stage.  These will be slipped between the plug and the keel and glued to their partners along the frame floors.  Thus each frame will extend from the top of the side, over the keel and to the turn of the bilge on the opposite side.  This construction will be clearer in the next part.
 
Ed

I cleaned up the stern frames and glued the outermost frames onto the ship.  The inner 4 are just temporarily taped on so I could get a sense of how this will look.  The next step involves breaking out the Dremel with a sanding drum to remove the bulk of the material on the outer stern frames, before I do the rest of the fairing by hand.
 

 

 

 
Erik

Ken. I think you will find that the decision whether or not to include the red-stripe basically comes down to dating your build to a specific time-frame.
 
It would appear that, at various stages of her illustrious career, there has been a white gun-port stripe, a yellow gun-port stripe, as well as the red dressing belt stripe. Most likely, other variations and combinations were used at different times and by different commanders. After all, she was a war-ship, and subterfuge is all a part of the Art of War.
 
See USS Constitution Yellow Hull Stripe here for the discussion on this matter.
 
Incidentally, that is a brilliant practicum on copper-plating and I am certain it will prove very, very useful to many Connie builders in the future.

Tought they used smaller hats in Indonesia, Piet ... More cylindrical  These look like the hats used in the rice paddies, etc.all over Asia. Fortunately you know best as beeing born and bred!!! Still, 'chapeau' for the carving ... they do give a nice touch to it
Cheers

Wonderful knightheads, Piet.  

First of all my thanks to all for visiting and your likes.
 
@ George:  Thank you for the kind word.  Yes, they are fiddly parts but it's rather relaxing and making sure I don't slip with the #11 blade    So far I have lucked out.
 
@ Carl:  Thanks for the good words, appreciate it.  Hey, this IS the original so I'll have to wing it, no examples then on paintings and models    This ship is of my own design (before I knew better )  I may just stain then, the Javanese people are a light brown anyway and the hats are from woven palm fond leave centers.  
 
@ Dave:  Thank you Dave for dropping by and checking up on me.  Good to see you in the shipyard.  Gun port hinges are indeed crazy, 1/2 mm brass tubing.  Yup, carving is fun and relaxing but slow going.
 
@ Frank:   Thank you also for the good words.  Yes, a good med report is always welcome and a stress relief.  Thanks for the good word on my humble carving efforts.
 
@ Dirk:  Thank you for dropping in and your kind words.  Now you tell me that I don't have to carve every detail in those tiny knechten hoofdjes    I thought they had to look something like people    No problem though, I do like to work small.
 
@ Lawrence:  Yes indeed it was good news and a load off my poor mind.  The carvings are evolving and hopefully someday they'll look like halfway decent.  Thanks for the undeserved compliment, I'm still learning and trying.  You can do it too my friend, just follow the advice my friend Michael Angelo, carve everything away that doesn't look like Humphrey and you are there, simple
 
Yesterday I made the hats for the two heads.  Carved them from a solid square piece of wood, now that was really fiddly work.  Had to be very diligent and careful because of the grain.  It's so easy to use too much force but here too I lucked out. 
I hollowed the hats out a little to make them appear lower on the heads like they should.  I then cemented them on with a dab of CA.  They still need some extra trimming and now I need to add some hair to the heads.  Or maybe just some flat black paint.
These seemingly small jobs just take so much time but what else is there to do - - - oh yeah, spring yard work and there's a lot.  Have neglected it some so I have to get going before Gwen hires a yardman for mucho dinarie
 
Okay, here is a picture of the two knechten still loosely placed on the pulley beam gizmos.
 

 
Cheers,
 
 

I’ve added the planking between the gun ports. Pretty straight forward.
 
Still a lot of sanding to do.
 

 

 
Here you can see the stern framing with the reference line it will need to be
sanded down to prior to planking the Transom.
 

I have that exact set - the hook and angled/bent point are useful for getting line under and around a belaying pin.  I also find the bent point useful for holding a line down while I wrapped it around something and also till the glue sets up a bit. They are long enough to reach into the deck area thru the rigging and getting into tight spots.
 
You can also use ordinary crochet hooks for a lot of rigging - get the smaller size ones, example US #5 or #7. I use the ones show above a lot as well as the crochet hooks. Or as others say - make your own.

Congratulations, Grand-dad!
 
John

Congratulations Håkan on the grandchild.   I like your steamer. and like Carl says, there might be other uses.. I'm thinking keeping warm in winter and keeping lunch hot.  

Thanks Michael and Carl for the salute.
 
Yes, they tell me that being a grand-parent is like picking the fruit out of the cake ;-)
Needless to say, the little one is adorable. 

Before I called it a day, I decided that cleaning was a good idea.
 
This is how it stands now. Two more strakes to go and after that it is time for some frames. Well...actually more like 'L'-shaped supports than frames. (note to self - dig out that compass timber you have out in the garage...)
 

Michael,
 
Again a very lovely build, looks even better than your previous ... if at all possible ... especially when one considers the scale you are building at ...
 
Cheers
 
P.s. Don't forget to buy the alcohol to disolve the shellac ...

A week ...!!! That will be hard on my patience ... this build takes away the dread for the day ...have been looking forward to it's development ... such a stunning execution of technique ... marvelous result ...

Beautiful work as usual Druxey, a pleasure to watch a master at work.
 
Ben

It looks great Druxey. When I think that I would build something similar next winter, I start shivering. 
 
Regards,
Siggi

This will be the last update for a few days: the frames have now all been bent in. I'll be back in a week or so. Thank you all for following and liking this log.

Sorry I'm very late to the party.
 
Wonderful work and excellent explanations - thanks for sharing this!

Whatever league you and Remco are in, the rest of us are huge fans. You guys hit it out of the park every time (sorry...baseball season is upon us again).

Looks fantastic, Micheal, in keeping with all of your work.  Thanks for the additional data on the clamps.  I will surely be trying these out - probablt smaller versions.  Thanks.
 
Ed

build part 36
 
I have begun working on the aft deck substucture, I will build this deck as a sheet that can be finished off the boat then glued in. I have also lowered the aft end of the floorboards.
 

 
I am thinking of having some gentlemanly fun with the small lazarette
 
For now I am going to leave the deck with a couple of coats of Tung oil.
 

 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Thanks everybody for the comments and likes they are appreciated.
 
Ed thanks for the tip regarding the shellac I shall see if I can locate some the next time I am in the city.
 
I am pleased that you like the clamps. here is a drawing of the ones I have made they can obviously be fabricated to a lot of sizes.
 

 
small hook clamps.pdf
 

 
The smaller ones in the top left will be followed up with some more using 2x56 threaded steel rod or even 1x72.
 
The spring version which I made first is not as useful, and more difficult to place I found. I am converting them all to the spacer type. I had thought about using some square rod in order to keep the rod aligned with the wood block, however in some cases it would be difficult to get them into tight spots. the ability to rotate the block adds a lot of flexibility.
 

 
and with some different spacers, The hex brass stock is rounded on the ends to be easier on the fingers.
 

 
Michael

Very well done!!!!!