GuntherMT

Do yourself a huge favor and read through all of the rigging parts of the practicum entirely, at least a couple of times and then try to picture in your head how it will all go together, because I remember that he got sloppy (for lack of a better term) after the rigging started and some things were in an order that wouldn't work at all in practice, or would certainly make things a lot harder.

Couple things I remember specifically is the mast construction where the metal bit that holds the topmast on gets placed too early and you are then unable to actually put the topmast in from the top - I had to get mine in from the bottom which wouldn't have worked if I had done it as late in the steps as I think he says.
 
Also go through and look for all the little rigging bits that are anchored into the mast - especially things like eyebolts, and do those early, instead of when you discover you need to add one very late in the rigging process when there is a bunch of stuff in the way.  Don't ask me how I know this... lol.. 
 
There is a lot of good practical advice in the rigging part of the practicum, but my memory says that you need to re-order a fair number of steps to actually get it done without a lot of pain.  My guess is that he did all the rigging and then went back and wrote it down, but not in the proper order, but that's just my guess.  He admitted openly on his old forums years ago that he hates rigging so rushes through it and I think that's reflected in his writing of this part.

Thank you VTHokiEE, that worked. I just got an email back from Midwest with a PDF of the manual. 👍

With the Brig Fair American hull painting complete, construction continued with installation of lower hull outfit:
Rudder was painted and installed Rudder gudgeons were fabricated and installed (strips of painted Bristol board) Keel and horseshoe plates were installed (from Syren Ship Model Company)  Next steps will continue installation of exterior hull outfit with completion of the head structure.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith

Milestone Achieved.  With the Brig Fair American hull outfit well along, a major milestone was reached with completion of exterior hull painting.  The following notes apply:
Head rails, figurehead, catheads, gangway steps, chain plates & channel caps, gunport hinges, quarter badges, and rudder were left loose to facilitate masking and painting Paint was Model Expo Marine Acrylics (Hull Tallow, Hull Yellow Occre & Hull Spar Black) and Floquil Polly Scale (AT&SF Red) Masking was done with Tamiya masking tape Gold trim was done with Deco Color Prime-Premio gold metallic paint pens  With a search on eBay I was able to purchase some Floquil Polly Scale AT&SF Red to match the previously painted inner bulwarks.  While some paint touchup was required, I am pleased with the end result.
 
Next steps will continue installation of exterior hull outfit starting with the rudder, rudder gudgeons, keel trim, and completion of the head structure.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete Jaquith

I'm officially starting the rigging steps 😁

I need to learn some skills first.

Robert Hunt's practicum is very helpful in my learning.




I'll start with the boom first and move on to the bowsprit.
 

It's been a really long time.
Having worked on the Queen barge and on the Medway longboat, I had put aside my work on the AVS. In fact I was waiting to be able to build the support.
Having been able to acquire a Byrnes table saw, I therefore tackled the construction of the support.

As during the construction of the support for the barge, I was greatly helped by these dear legos ...

For the precision of the cuts, the Byrnes table saw is a formidable efficiency !




The support is ready to receive his ship.
 

I have their Indian Girl canoe kit, but have no idea how close that manual would be to the Peterboro canoe.  I could scan and email that manual to you if you strike out with Midwest or any of the guys who built the actual correct kit.

Thanks Gunther, I just might take you up on that. It is probably close enough for the direction, I have the correct drawing for the detail. I can also look at all of the great direction I get from the build logs here. I’ll let you know if I don’t find the actual Peterboro manual, before you go to the trouble. Thanks

I have their Indian Girl canoe kit, but have no idea how close that manual would be to the Peterboro canoe.  I could scan and email that manual to you if you strike out with Midwest or any of the guys who built the actual correct kit.

I thought it best to do another update on this one. 
 
Amati sent a lot of the wooden sheets made from the wrong material for the job, and the laser company is going to replace them all. As Italy is in holiday mode for August, I anticipate these will arrive in September. It didn't stop me working on and completing the orlop deck, and making a start on the lower gun deck too. Plus, I've just got back from a week away in Devon, otherwise this update would have been a little earlier. 
 
Orlop deck
After fitting the 6mm MDF orlop floor sections, you will have an option to plank a section of it. You may not consider it worthwhile, and to be honest, you'd need an endoscope to see it when done, but for the purpose of the instructions, I've decided to do it. 

 
Before planking, I decided to assemble the hatch coamings. Three of these are required, build up from two parts. Always a good idea to clamp. You can never have enough clamps, especially with a model this size!



 
The orlop also has a small superstructure within. As well as being sort of authentic, it also goes some way to supporting the centre of the lower gun deck. 

 
This structure is built over the slots in the orlop floor sections, and then dry fitted into place whilst I planked the orlop deck.

 
A cut-off from the coamings was used to add a small floor to the central hatch area. This was also planked as per the deck.

 
4mm x 1mm tanganyika strip was now added to the section of the orlop deck which I thought was at least worthwhile planking. This could be seen if you left off all the gratings from the upper deck, right down to the orlop....but still only if you had specialist camera equipment! A 2B pencil was used to edge the planks for caulk, and CA gel was used to fasten them down. The coamings were then glued in place and the superstructure painted in a grey that looked close to the ones on the real ship. This structure was now glued into position.

 
The grates are made from two layers of photo-etch. These are CA'd together and then painted in Tamiya Desert Yellow, before being glued in position on the orlop. A numbest of supplied barrels are also fitted into the hold area and alongside the structure.

 

 
Some beams are now fitted across various bulkheads, but not all. This is so there is no fouling the open hatch areas.

 

 
 
 
Bow/Stern parts
Before the lower gun deck can be fitted, the bow and stern bulkheads need to be fitted, along with the various shape parts that will need to be sanded. No sanding will occur until the lower gun deck is due to be fitted out.

 

 
 
 
 
Lower gun deck
The L A R G E deck comes in four sections, primarily due to the size of the thing. These sections are fitted into the slots in the bulkhead ears, but upside down. Once they are in place and positioned correctly, tape is used to temporarily secure the port and starboard halves, before the sections are carefully removed from the hull. The sections are then slightly bent and white glue applied to the seam between them, and the upper side of the deck sections are planked in 4mm x 1mm x 1000mm tanganyika strip. After a sanding, the various slots, notches etc. are cut out from the halves. Note also that the deck planking doesn't quite run up to the edges of the slots for the bulkheads. This is because the deck slots into those bulkhead ears along the edges, and holds the deck edges down, in place, so no need to pin the edges of the decks. Those familiar with Chris Watton's work will be used to that concept.


 

 

 

 
 
As the deck still needs to be held down along the centreline, some 6mm MDF props were temporarily pushed under the centre of the deck beams. To be honest, I don't think it needs this, but better being safe than sorry. Each bulkhead with a beam was also marked with and 'X' to help me identify them when it came to pinning down the decks at those points. 

 
The deck halves are now finally glued into place and pinned down along the centreline region. Once dry, the temporary MDF props were pushed away. 

 

 
Various grades of sandpaper were now used to give the deck it's final finish. For the finest grit, I used 320.

 
 
Amati's Victory will not need any guesswork when it comes to the position of any of those gun ports. This is because they are designed into the frames of the ship.....no plywood sections to second-guess here! The thickness of Victory's bulwarks also allows this to be done. First of all, a 3mm strip is run along the bottom notches of the bulkheads, in two sections per side. Another set of strips is then run above these. 




 
 
Note how those strips have more slots. These are for the cannon port frames. Here you see them. Each port is numbered and I've added an arrow to them to show which way up them will point when fitted. These need to be pushed fully into those slots when you glue. The ports start at #2, thru to #16. 

 
I cut away a small section of the tanganyika deck where each gun port frame will fit.

 
All gun port frames are now glued into position. This creates a surprisingly strong structure until which the mid and upper gun decks will eventually fit. The small slots in front of each gun port are where the cannon carriages will securely plug into. Remember, these are full carriages and guns. No dummy barrels here, and this whole deck will be fitted out with capstans, pumps, bitts, coamings etc.

 

 

 
 
Ok, for the time being, that's it. Until I get the stuff from Amati, I will be working on another quick project for Vanguard Models.
 
Victory is one very heavy model, even at this very early stage!

Glenn,
Here are two pics of my "planing jig." One shows a piece of pear square stock(8mm and long), the other, a shorter piece of Boxwood (10mm). Both photos show the grooved stock holding blocks and the end stop on the jig. The jig can securely hold square sections about 18" long and about 12-14mm (max) thick. As you can see, much smaller square sections can be accommodated easily (5 different sized holding grooves); I haven't run into a mast or spar yet when I couldn't use this simple jig. Yes - one does need to create the holding blocks and secure them to the baseboard (I have 4 total on the full jig length). I used a precision tablesaw (with a tilting table) to cut these grooves in a block of wood (maple, I think) and then "sliced off" the four pieces I needed. I chose to have three of the blocks fairly close together so I could plain-down short wood sections. Even hardwoods will bend slightly under planing pressure you'll apply: the close spacing fully supports the stock, end-to-end.
 
It is also good to invest in high-quality "finger" plains. The ones shown here are used for precision musical instrument woodworking; I got them both from violin maker tool vendors (one here in the U.S.-Ibex, and the other in the U.K. - Sheffield). Google 'em if you're interested. Not inexpensive, but superbly crafted tools with high-quality steel blades.
 
Note that once one has reduced the square section pieces to fully round cross sections, you'll still need to use sandpaper by hand - or employ a small lathe/drillmotor, etc. to finish. I do all of these sanding steps typically. Note that when making yards that there is an octagonal center section which will be easy to mark off when the eight sections are equal. One then carefully continues shaping to a round section with the plains on either side of the octagon. This part, going the eight flats to the fully round section takes some practice to get right.
 
Hopefully, my description and photos gives you a good idea on how I start my masts and spars for my models.
 
Cheers! - Ron
 
PS Thanks for your kind comment. I'm now working on my 4th diorama and I keep learning how to do water a little better each time. I love to present my models as living, "dynamic" artifacts, albeit from another era. On my latest model, I learned how to use new materials to simulate splashing water. Who knew?! It's a whole new thing (pour moi!)... on my current build I'm trying to figure out how a small river flows into the seashore- fresh water meeting salt water. It's a "thing" - trust me!!!

Glenn,
I use square stock mostly for all masts and spars. To form the rounded sections I use a simple planing jig. A lot more work, clearly. ...BUT- This allows me to precisely taper and shape the center octagonal sections on yards extant on all 17/18th- C period ships. On masts, there are also square sections where tops must rest; this is considerably easier (and much more precise) when one starts with square section stock. In some instances I've stained final wood pieces, but boxwood doesn't take stain very well if one desires a darker appearance to their masts. To overcome this problem with boxwood, I have used Fiebing's leather dye (alcohol-based) successfully; it comes in several beautiful brown shades.
 
In the attached photo you can see that I used Swiss Pear for the model's two masts; all spars were made from boxwood, painted flat black.
 
Ron
 
 

I have a Model Shipways kit for the US Brig Niagara that I don't think I'm ever going to build.   I'm offering it for free except for postage to anywhere in the US (if you're near Lexington, MA you can just come by and pick it up).
 
The kit was new when I got it 2-3 years ago but my interests have wandered from the era.   The box has been opened but all the  parts packages are still sealed.     I believe it is 100% complete.
 
PM me if you are interested.

Fantastic looking, and great details!

Since we opened up the website for 120V machines we have been swamped with orders.  Today I put together 24 saws and that's not all we are shipping this coming week. So...please be patient.  We'll get them out as soon as possible
 
thanks
Jim   

Display pic

Thanks for the comments and likes everyone, and welcome aboard.  As promised, progress is very slow!
 
A card-stock sheet is provided with a pattern for the cutwater, as well as a pair of patterns that match the keel in order to mark the first filler blocks for the planking pattern.  Interestingly, these patterns for the planking also have a lighter mark which is the same pattern as the cutwater.  Instead of cutting the cutwater pattern out of the card stock, and using the other patterns to mark the first filler blocks, I made paper copies of the card-stock sheet and cut out those patterns and used a glue-stick to paste them to the keel, and used that for my cutwater pattern.
 
Here are the patterns glued to the keel.
 

 
Here we have the cutwater rough-cut on both sides ready for final sanding to exact shape/depth.
 

 
And finally, I have the forward and aft bulkheads cut out and did a test dry-fit.  They all fit perfectly, and will need no shimming of any kind, which is pretty nice.  I haven't removed the laser char or beveled them yet.
 

 

"Fair American" is in the paint shed.  Many coats/colors so it will be a few more days.  Then many bits and pieces to be added.  Pictures to follow.
 
Regards from the shipyard,
Pete

I decided to take a short break from the transom details in order to complete the framing for the deck coamings. The photos below show the completed work. The first photo is the aft framing followed by the forward framing.
 
My frames are made from boxwood. During frame assembly I tried to keep things squared up and centered on the deck by removing material from both sides of the beam. A number of dry fits with the carlings were needed. Notice how the laser cut mortises are etched on both sides of the beam in order to line up the ledges. I would imagine that this would be a two step process and time consuming to do with the laser cutter.
 

 

 
The beam supports can be placed slightly below the bulkheads. I recessed them less than 1/64" which saves having to fair them later. They are only needed to hold the beams and will be completely covered up, #1. When adding the beams I set them flush with the bulkheads, #2. As you can see, the beam support is below all of the pieces that need to be at deck level.
 

 
Not having to chisel out the mortises was huge time saver. Another well thought out kit which leaves just enough wiggle room to achieve a proper fit. Thanks to Chuck for making this possible!
 
Mike

Here they are: specially designed gun barrels, anchors, top of belfry, windlass , complete bow decoration, transom and side badges... Here is new technique applied, a MarisStella innovation: Transom and side badges are to be planked with thin wooden strips so they look wooden in the end ... When talking about innovations, MarisStella has 8 innovations connected to the techniques of constructing the models and all of them are very well accepted (received). They are applied at MarisStella Model Ship Kit product line ...
 
Hope this was helpful...
 

I spent a lot of time cleaning up the frames in preparation for glue up.  But I also wanted to fit the keelson while I could still remove any frame I needed to for tweaking.
 
The keelson comes in 4 parts: two long ones, joined by a scarf, and 2 "extensions" that transition the keelson onto the dead wood both fore and aft.  As I mentioned earlier, the keelson need to rise along the last 5 full frames, but the keelson in the plans is straight as an arrow, with no rise.  After much thought I decided to redesign the keelson.  My first step was to identify where the rise begins.  It turns out that point is between full frames #18 and #19.  So I remade the aft-most piece of the keelson in two parts:  the straight part and the upward sloping part.  After a lot of trial and error, and using a couple of mockup parts, I got it right.  The rising portion of the keelson joins the straight piece at a 3 degree angle!  Now I can go ahead and glue the frames in place.  The keelson is installed after the hull interior is faired. I'll probably simulate a butt joint on the forward long keelson piece, making it look like the long keelson was built up of 4 timbers, not 3.

I've been very neglectful of this build, but for good reason. In looking to tasks ahead, I discovered that the plans call for the keelson, which comes in two parts, joined by a scarf to be completely straight and parallel with the false keel. In reality, the keelson has to rise over the last 7 frames or so moving aft. I've been trying to avoid thinking about a resolution, but I think I have one.
All the full frames are cleaned up and ready to glue to the keel/rising wood. More stuff coming!
One thing I love about summer is that I can move the shipyard out on our deck and enjoy the great weather. Here are a couple shots of my summer work environment!

I've been busy prepping the frames, filing the seating surfaces for the keel and keelson flat.  I also remade the first three cant frames, which are no longer too short!  I also placed the treenails.  Not counting the nails that will go into the fore and aft cant frames, there are 800 treenails in the full frames alone!

As you can see from the photos, the frame lofting was pretty well done on the plans, so fairing will be easier.Before I glue the frames in place I will give them all a couple of coats of poly on the for and aft surfaces, which will be hard to reach once they're glued in place.

I did make one unfortunate discovery.  The keelson plans show the entire keelson to be dead horizontal, but the model tells me that the keelson begins to rise at full frame #18 and continues rising until the cant frame begin at frame #24.  I'm going to have to design a custom keelson for the model.  This will slow things down a bit!
 

Thanks, everyone!
 
This model is based on Hahn's plans, but uses an upright jig, unlike Hahn's method.  As drawn, the plans leave little extra length in the top timbers to ensure that they can be trimmed to the right height.  After fitting the feet of the cant frames to the deadwood, the first three frames came out dangerously close to too short.  I weighed my options and decided to remake frames #32, #33, and #34, leaving the top timbers 1/4" longer than the plans.

Still at it!  Working on frames.  I've beveled the cant frames and i'm fitting them to the fore deadwood.  Only rough sanded.  No bolts or poly.  In fact, the futtock template drawings with  the bevel lines are still cemented to the frames!