JSGerson
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Initial Quarterdeck Planking If the Quarterdeck were to be fully planked, there would have been no reason to do a lot of the previous work because no one would have been able to see it. Therefore the Quarter and Fore Decks are partial planked. The planking starts in the center and works its way out as well as fore to stern. The planking is the same as the lower deck with charcoal to simulate caulking and bamboo for tree nails.
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After the frame work for the tiller post was done, the interior of the transom was planked with swiss pear. If you remember in Chapter 1 I discussed the transom cap that the Practicum initially instructed the builder to put on, but I found that it got in the way. When it got knocked off, I left it off. Here at this stage is where it needs to be installed. However, instead of using the 7/16” x 1/32” swiss pear, I elected to use the swiss pear planking. It just looked more realistic to me.
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The Transom and Rudder Tiller Lining The area of the transom required compromises as well. See all these little mistakes a novice like myself made comes back to haunt you and make what is complicated, more difficult. The good news is that hopefully I have learned from my mistakes. For some reason, the stern on my model does not quite match up with the plans. This was mentioned back in Chapter 1. Now it was time to pay the Piper. The rudder tiller lining opening is not where it is supposed to be, but further back against the transom. I had to frame the opening as best I could. The lining ends up flush with the deck planking as it was supposed to. These pictures were taken before I realized that the right side of the opening was a bit off. This was corrected but I did not take another photo.
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Because I didn’t think that back in the late 1700’s they would have used a slab of wood that large, I scribed the pieces with an X-acto blade and a pencil to make it look like planking. The each piece had a large half circle cut out of it the same diameter as the capstan with whelps instead of the capstan post. The two pieces then were wrapped around the capstan and glued into place.
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Capstan Deck As I mentioned above, because the deck clamps were a tad too high, that meant the capstan did not protrude through the deck enough to clear the top whelps. The decking is supposed to slide under them and just about touch the center capstan post. Because that could not happen in my model, I had to deviate from the reality of an actual ship a bit. The deck will stop at the whelps. The Practicum directs the builder to use two pieces of 1/16” boxwood 3/8” x 5/8”
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Hatch Combings Frames There are two hatches and a tiller box on the quarterdeck that had to be framed before planking the quarterdeck. There was also a combing around the capstan. The framework was made from 1/16" square boxwood stock. The locations were marked by taking measurements from Hahn’s quarterdeck plan. The tiller box had to be modified which I will get to in a moment. Because these hatchways are being built directly onto the 1/16” quarterdeck beams, the framework is a bit delicate. The end of the pieces have 45 degree bevel to fit into the 45 degree notches that must be cut into the beams as shown in this image from the Practicum.
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The installation of the beams revealed another couple of flaws as a result of the faulty deck clamps. Not only are they are a tad too high, they are completely out of alignment. Although the deck clamp notches are spaced properly relative to each other, the deck clamps are not properly lined up fore and aft. I ended up filling in about 50% of the notches and cutting new ones. I was not happy. I could fix the fore and aft notch position but I couldn’t adjust the height. Because of the height problem, the notch in the capstan does not allow the beam to pass by cleanly. Since I could not remove the capstan or the deck clamps, my only alternative was to fudge it. With some fancy file work on the two effected beams (fore and aft of the capstan) I was able to squeeze them in. That however had repercussions of its own, which I was not surprised when it came to planking the quarterdeck. The quarterdeck beams were installed. You may notice in the subsequent photos the filler material used to repair the deck clamps. Although quite noticeable in many pictures, after some Wipe-on Poly, decking and just the way the shadows fall, it is not too noticeable.
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To complicate the matters a bit, as I mentioned a few times earlier, I messed up when constructing the deck clamps. Instead of the beam notches being flush with the bulwarks, mine ended up outside the bulwarks and at this stage not certain whether they were installed at the proper height. The last beam against the transom must also conform to the slanted vertical posts as well. These images are my results.
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CHAPTER 8 - QUARTERDECK & FORECASTLE Quarterdeck – Problems, Problems, Problems The quarterdeck is constructed using 15 unique and custom made deck beams. That is, each and every one has a different length and camber from the previous one. Each one must be custom fit by trial and error as direct measurements are all but impossible. The basic stock is 1/16” x 5/32” boxwood. The end thickness of the beam is 1/16” and the center of the beam it thickens to 5/64”. Mr. Hunt stated that he freehanded the line for the camber. He may have calibrated eyeballs, but I used a French curve. The following images from the Practicum show the process.
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The Practicum then directs the builder to install the seat using short forward pointing slats. I thought that would be very uncomfortable to sit on so elected to use side to side planks like Mr. Hahn’s model. I also added a molding where the base meets the parquet floor. It was here that I noticed that Mr. Hunt either missed it or chose not to install the scupper in the Captains quarters. I added that as well. End Chapter 7
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The Practicum wanted the vertical pieces to end 1/16” below the side window. Mine ended at the window in order for the bench seat to be horizontal and not pitch. Here is how it looked installed. Sorry for the blurry image.
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The Bench in the Captains Quarters The Practicum now directs us to the Captains Quarters to create the bench on top of the lower counter surrounding the rudder shaft hole. The vertical base section is made from two horizontal pieces of 1/16” x 3/16” boxwood which must be custom fit through trial and error. Due to the error I talked about that I made at the very beginning in Chapter 1, the dimensions in this area did not match what was shown on the plans. So I had to wing it. The bottom piece had to account for the camber in the deck, the waterways, and the inward slanting bulwarks.
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Riding Bits The riding bits are three pieces of boxwood, cut to size, notched and assembled.
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The hardware that goes on the pumps is made from very thin styrene plastic painted black. Normally I would have chosen black paper for scale, but because the vertical post that holds the pump rocker arm is a real supporting member, paper wouldn’t work. The band that goes around top is .10” x .04” styrene. The post is made of .015” x .06” styrene and it has a U-shape notch at the top to support the rocker arm. The pump shaft is wire which fits into a hole in the rocker arm. Because the pump cylinder was completely hollowed out, a plug was fashion out of some scrap wood and hole was drilled into it for the pump shaft to fit. This was fitted into the bottom of the octagon cylinder. The spouts are made 3/64” rod styrene plastic. The last item was the rocker arm handles. The Practicum called for this to be fabricated out of wire painted black. I choose to make it look like wood and used bamboo again made using a draw plate. Once everything was painted and assembled, it was installed on the model.
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The Elm Tree Pumps Here is another little fun project, the two elm tree pumps. Two pieces of Boxwood 5/32” x 5/32” are cut to 7/16” lengths. Then instead of making a round cylinder out of them, they are carved into octagonal cylinders. The next step was the hollow out just the top part but I found it easier to hollow out the whole thing. I started by drilling a small hole and enlarging it with bigger and bigger bits, then with a round needle file.
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Once the paint dried, it was installed onto the model. This how the model looks with the gallows bits and galley stack installed.
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At this point the Practicum instructs the builder to use Magic Marker to color the stack black and install it onto the model. Having looked at other models, I chose to add a baseplate figuring that the actual ship would have some sort of shield to protect the deck from the hot stack. I used three pieces of walnut planking from the kit and glued it to a base plate. The stack was glued to the baseplate and everything was painted black. Then I assumed that on the actual ship they would have used iron plate to make the stack and because iron and sea water don’t like each other, I added some rust stains.
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Galley Stack The galley stack is fairly simple. The main piece is a vertical 5/32” x 5/32” boxwood 1¼” long that was carved into a cylinder ¼” from the square bottom and angled at the top. A second piece cut 5/32” long also carved into a cylinder, angled at one end, and hollowed out. The two angled ends were glued together to form an elbow.
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The final touch was to add cleats to the posts. Mr. Hunt spent half a page discussing where they should be placed. The kit showed they were fore and aft on the posts while Mr. Hahn’s showed them inside and outside for the first gallows bit and just the outside for the second. Mr. Hunt finally concluded to follow Mr. Hahn’s approach after checking numerous references. Let me tell you, those cleats are tough to carve due to their shape and size.
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Before the posts were finally glued to the top two hole were drilled for wire studs to secure the top on and to secure it to the deck. In addition two holes were also drilled into the side of the posts to represent sheaves in the first gallows bit and one hole per post for the second one. At this point I hope
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Cutting an image of the profile of the top to the horizontal piece and rubber cementing it on provided the template from which to shape it.
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Gallows Bits With the cannon installation behind me, the two gallows bits were a pleasant change - simple. It amounted to cutting two 1/8” x 1/8” pieces for the posts and one 1/8” x ¼” for the top horizontal piece.
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After an ungodly amount of time, all twenty cannons were on board.
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The recoil rope was made from kite string I had in the house. The eyebolt that went into the deck was a bit larger with a ring. The recoil rope went through the ring and was seized with black thread. The rope was made to look like it draped over the back of the cannon by applying some glue. I originally wanted to loop the rope around the back, but had too much difficulty due to the stiffness of the string. . The rope coils were made after the end of the tackle was glue to the deck. They were wrapped around a thin dowel, slipped off with a touch of glued and then eventually glued on top of rope ends on the deck. In subsequent gun installations, I moved the coils closer to the guns. One down, 19 more to go!
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The block with hooks, which the Practicum (at least at this stage did not address) first had a hole drilled on the opposite end where the tackle rope headed. A small eyebolt was opened up enough to create a hook and then cut off at the stem. It was then inserted into the drill hole in the block with a touch of super glue. This time thread was twisted around the protruding stem of the hook and wrapped around the block, and twisted once again with a touch of glue. The excess stub of short thread was cut off leaving the remaining long end of the thread as the rope.
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