davyboy

Hi ☺️
 
 

Lots of drafting to do....Deck Layouts almost completed.

The bow structure is finally finished. Some details are missing, which I will do later
 

I'm restoring a pirate ship built in the early 1900.  the ship was built by three inmates in a Georga prison.
The ship is 5.6 feet long 14 inch wide and 5 ft high. 
no sail plank on frame construction 
the ship was quite dirty.
I also had a Fiji mermaid to restore.
a small ship that needs work and new sails
and a raft
 
I removed all the cannon and deck furniture. and rigging
wash the ship with soap and water. 
 

Just a quick little update.
 
Needs some clean up and on to tapering.
 

Post One Hundred and Sixty-four.
 
Countdown to completion – still counting
I am still fretting about the inclusion of fittings for an Ensign staff.
 
The kit doesn’t include the fittings and few contemporary models show them.
I don’t have any specific evidence for the type used on ‘Indy’, but she would certainly have had them.
I lean towards a more substantial set-up than a simple block and cap-square fixed to the tafferal, given her origin as a Sixty-four.

2154

2155
This is the set-up on Victory and the double knee fixing between the flag lockers would transfer well to the Indy.
A block sits atop the standards, recessed for the staff and is fitted with a cap-square.
A corresponding fitting (the step) to take the heel of the staff sits between the standards on the deck.
 
Nothing to be lost by having a play around and using bits of Boxwood, I cobbled together an Ensign support for ‘Indy’.

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Fairly straightforward, two standards and a top cut out on the scroll saw, the trickiest part cutting the mortises to fit over the standard tops.

4184
A simple jig aids the assembly.

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The completed item, the Cap-square made from a piece of brass fret will be blackened before fitting.

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Steel conveniently gives the sizes of Ensign staffs by rate.
For a Sixty-four = 38’ x 6¼” ø @ scale 181mm x 2.5mm ø
         50 gun     = 36’ x 6” ø    @ scale 171.5mm x 2.4mm ø
         44 gun     = 35’ x 5⅝” ø  @ scale 166.7mm x 2.2mm ø

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4196
There is very little difference at scale, I used 3mm dowel for the staff and will adjust the length to suit my eye.
The staff will require a degree of taper and the fitting of a truck.
 
A satisfying days’ work - I’m inclined to keep it. ☺️
 
B.E.
02/04/2024

we all want "honesty in advertising"

'It's yellow and color and comes in a box.  Any other questions?'

I contacted Model Expo and asked what kind of wood this is. Caveat emptor       
  I wrote:
 
Is this boxwood buxus sempervirens (English boxwood) or calycophyllum multiflorum (Castello)? If not, can you please let me know what species it is? Thank you kindly for your help.   Their reply is below:   Message It is yellow in color. Other than that, I do not know.

Most of us model buidlers know that the covering boards are the pieces of timber that cover the hull-deck joint structure. Chances are you know that they are very complicated things to build. This step of the build simply confirmed that.
Covering boards usually are solid pieces of wood that are penetrated by holes that accommodate the stanchions that must travel through them. For me to produce them like that would have simply been impossible. These will be complicated enough to build as is. Essentially, I will fabricate the inboard side of the covering boards with “teeth” that project between the stanchions, then the outboard edge will be added in a separate step. The seam between the two pieces should be effectively hidden in the alcove formed by the stanchions and the bulwarks planking.
Here I have covered the deck structure adjacent to the stanchions with tape because I was wishing to protect my paint job of the deck structure that would remain visible in an unplanked area of deck. The protection was needed because I knew I would need to fair down the ledges to the level of the sheer in order for the covering boards to fit, and I didn’t want to harm the paint job.
 

In order to start the process, I needed to obtain the shape of the sheer from the plans. These were transferred using tracing paper to 3/64” stock. These shapes were then cut out excessively wide.
 

This results in six overly-wide and overly-long pieces, with generous areas of overlap.
 

Using double-sided tape, an individual piece was tacked down to the level of the deck structure. The forward and aft edges of each stanchion were marked, keeping track of station locations.
 

Now the really slow part began. Under the microscope, I began cutting out notches to make the “teeth” that will extend between each stanchion. Again, each covering board piece was made so that its inboard edge was continuous. The outboard edge of the covering board will be added as a separate piece later on in the build.
 

This piece shows many of the notches at full width, while others are still being widened. The width of each stanchion was relatively standard, but the gaps between the stanchions varied just enough to require extensive trial and error fittings.

But wait, that’s not all. Once all of the notches are wide enough, now they each need to be made deep enough. And none were of exactly of the same depth, due to individual differences in the shapes and angles of the stanchions. This again required many trial and error fittings with the goal of leaving minimal gap between the covering board’s notch and the inboard surface of each stanchion.
 

In the real ship, there is only about a 2 inch gap between the inboard surface of the stanchions and the margin plank of the deck. This is 1/32” in model scale. You can see the anticipated final inner edge of the covering board marked with a continuous pencil line here.
 

Perhaps it is a little more clear in this image. At this point there is a lot of excess wood on the inboard edge of the covering board. Removal of this excess will have to wait until later, as trimming it all off at this time would leave a piece of wood that is impossibly fragile.
 

The process of cutting the notches was accelerated when I realized I could use my table saw and miter to at least start the notches in a more efficient manner.
 

After having cut the notches to proper spacing, width, and depth, it was time to prep and paint the stanchions. Paint would add just enough thickness to each surface of the stanchions to require further tuning of the notches.
 

For primer, I used some old Badger Model-Flex gray, which had thickened considerably. It was diluted with water to a usable thickness, but it still maintained enough body to serve as an effective filler.

Overall this achieved a pretty smooth surface, but some defects were hard to fill completely, even after using primer and model filler.

I can’t remember how long it took to make all of these very bespoke pieces, but keep in mind that my last proper post was back in July…

There is lots of overlap, way more than I really needed, which also slowed the process.

The stanchions and the inboard surfaces of the bulwarks planking are a burgundy color. I slowly added drops of blue Tamiya paint into a small jar of Tamiya red to achieve the desired shade of burgundy. The one small jar may in the end not be enough, because I will also use it to paint the inboard surfaces of the bulwarks planking. It took 3-4 coats to get a good smooth surface.

And as already mentioned, the notches had to be tuned again after painting the stanchions was finished.

So despite my efforts to protect them, I had to scrape and sand away portions of the previously painted deck structure. In fact, re-shaping of the deck beams and ledges was necessary in order to get the covering boards to sit flush with the sheer.

This ledge shows considerable downsloping toward the sheerline to accommodate the shape of the covering board.

So there will need to be repainting of the deck structure that will remain visible, after all.

The deck beams and ledges also required re-fairing of their curve once I had removed enough material to accommodate the covering board.

The covering boards were painted with a medium gray. Excess paint that ended up in the notches had to be sanded away after this was done.

At this point, I used the X-acto blade to begin removing some of the excess wood from the inboard edge of the covering boards. This helped make it easier to tune the pieces to sit against their underlying deck beams and ledges. It was also necessary to shape the undersurface of the covering boards to accommodate the camber of the deck structure. I carefully sanded the undersurface to change the cross section from rectangular to an angular undersurface.

In addition to trimming away wood from the inboard edge, I also carved down the thickness of the remaining excess wood in a way that left an edge that corresponded to the final inboard edge of the covering board. This involved scoring the surface of the piece with the X-Acto, then coming along with a fine chisel and planing away the surface of the piece along the inboard edge. The edge is visible as the bright line in this photo. This will make it much easier to identify the final edge when the last bits of excess are trimmed away, and to create a smooth and fair surface against which the margin plank will rest.
 

Next problem: now that I have this piece that sits fair when I press it down against the deck beams and ledges, how do I do the glue-up in a way that makes sure that I am not left with the kinds of gaps I can see in this picture? I don’t have that many fingers.

I used a 1/16” thick piece of scrap wood to create a curved piece that roughly followed the curve of the rail, then glued it to the tops of the stanchions.

This is a sacrificial piece that will hopefully come off easily when I am done with the next step.
 

Some of the stanchions were a tiny bit shorter than their neighbors. These differences will be hidden by the rail and its supports that will be added later.
 

Using scrap wood, wedges of wood thin enough to fit between the stanchions were created.
 

In preparation for glue-up, the areas of the undersurface of the covering board that will need to be wetted with glue were marked with pencil.
Then the mating surfaces of the deck structure were wetted as well. I put small amounts of glue into the notches of the covering board as well. The board was put in place, and the wedges were used to press them to the surface of the deck structure. Care was taken to make sure that the covering board was pressed in fully against the deck, as well as against the bases of the stanchions, without leaving any gaps.

After suitable drying time, the wedges were removed and the sacrificial piece was easily separated from the tops of the stanchions with the X-Acto.

I never would have been able to hand-paint such a clean appearance if I had simply glued up unpainted pieces of wood.
Now I only have to do this five more times, with the remaining covering board pieces! The joints between the pieces in real life would have had an angled appearance resembling a scarf joint, but I won’t be able to duplicate that here.
Once all the covering boards are installed, the next 2 jobs that would make sense are the beginning of the deck planking and also the bulwarks planking. I don’t know yet which I will do next, because it will probably take me awhile to get the rest of the covering boards in place.

Hi All
It's with a little trepidation that I start this build log and as such a word of caution is required..... If you are of a nervous disposition and easily offended by poor quality workmanship, find a complete disregard of historical accuracy extremely upsetting and deem lowering  the quality of this forum as morally outrageous then then I beg you to avert your eyes and leave now as the following content is probably not for you.
 
Ok, for those of you that are still with me and made of stronger stuff there are some points that I need to make you aware of before I start
 
a) I am not at one with wood
b) tools are not a natural extension of my hands
c) I do not see a plan on paper and turn it into a 3D matrix in my mind and compute complex curves and angles instantly
d) If there are two ways to do something, I'll choose the wrong one
e) If there is an easy way and a hard way, I'll inadvertently do it the hard way
e) I was not blessed with any real woodworking skills and I have to make do with my God given abilities
f)  I enjoy making ship models and I struggle daily to overcome the points above.
 
Let's begin
This is my fourth model ship (see signature for details) and my first attempt at a scratch build.  I'll be using the paper model by Shipways as the basis of the build and will be using as much as what is contained in the paper parts as templates to assist as I attempt to  covert it into a wooden model.  I've also downloaded the plans of Syren from wiki commons as an aid as the paper "plans" do not contain plans as such...what is provided is along the lines of
 

 
Syren download
 
The content of the paper model is really good and has excellent rigging, belaying, mast and yard info and in my opinion is as good as Caldercraft rigging plans...small example of rigging info
 
 

 
Masts
 

 
The paper model is at a scale of 1:96 so the first order of the day was to scan the sheets and print out at a scale of 1:64 and to try and identify what parts are printed on the 30+ A3 sheets and compile into a spreadsheet for ease of location.
 
Bulk heads were cut out of 6mm plywood....this is just normal ply from the local hardware store (Bunnings), I know there is discussion in another topic on the merits of using something better but I've got to work with what I can get easily  in my little corner of Queensland.... but first a little manipulation of the templates was required.
 
As below the bulkhead templates only go to the main deck level and make no provision for the bulwarks
 

 
The way the paper model caters for these is to add internal supports to the deck as shown in the photo below which has been copied from the paper build log of Mercury by  @catopower
 

 
These supports are few and far between and made from the templates
 
 
 
 
 
I've used these templates to form an extension of the bulkheads
 
I know I could have used the Syren plans to form the bulkheads but I want to use as much as what is provided as part of this build
 
"Keel" piece is made from 3mm plywood....I can hear the gasps now "that won't be strong enough to support 6mm bulkheads....far too flimsy"....I originally considered the 6mm ply but this would result in a loss of definition of the bulkheads once a 6mm slot was cut into them.  I've repositioned the bulkheads slightly to centre them over where the thin card bulkheads would have gone.  The bulkheads at stem and stern have been positioned so that the face is identical to where the card bulkhead would be as I need to use these as refernece points for the bow and stern works.  I've also omitted 3 bulkheads (no's 4, 13 and 17) as I deemed them not necessary with the 6mm ply and closeness to the others
 

 
A strip of 1.5mm has been glued to the "keel" piece to form a rabbet for the planking.
 

 
I'm further on than this but will call it a day for this initial post.
 
Thanks for looking in
 
Mark
 
Thanks for looking in

Main elements of the head completed. Does anyone know of a good resource for relief carving? 

I've temporarily placed the two steersmen in their positions on the poop deck, to work out where exactly the tillers should come to.
  

And I've been working on providing floors for the tops - up till now I'd left them open at the bottom except for a couple of beams each to support the framework of the top. The thing is, the halyards pass diagonally through the tops, so they can't have a full floor. But the poor lookouts need somewhere to stand. So after a bit of thought, I've come up with a solution - plank the floors, but with a gap for the halyard.
 
But first I had to work out exactly where they pass through, lining them up with the sheaves of the calcets and the knights on the deck.
 
 





Planking begun

And complete
 

 

Very fiddly, but finally got it done. Pretty happy with this solution. It may be nothing like what was really done back in the day, but it is workable.
 
Steven

Post One Hundred and Sixty-three.
 
Countdown to completion - the final stages. 
This is the stage where I attend to all those little outstanding things, look through all the laser sheets and ask myself what the hell is that for, should I have fitted it?
 
It is surprising how long it takes to rig the stanchion and Hammock crane lines.

4164

4162

4163

4166
I use Syren 0.45mm ø natural line. I seem to recall from somewhere that tarred line was dispensed with as it tended to mark the hammocks.

4165

4167
I decided to fit the Fo’csle with stanchions; I think they may well have been fitted, and it balances well with the rest of the model. 
I used additional eyebolts to secure the ends of the lines.
 
I had modified the gunport lanyards for the lower ports to a double arrangement on the Port side, but the starboard side remained to be done.

4152

4168
Even tho’ it is a bit of a pain to do, I couldn’t leave odd sides.
 
Boomkins.
These less than attractive booms used to spread the Fore tack invariably cause me trouble. In my build they didn’t easily meet the angle of the cap square that secures them as they cross the Main Rail of the head, and the line was also inhibited by the position of the seats of ease which required a little adjustment.

4159

4160

4174
I also added the capsquares, represented by black card strips.
 
B.E.
01/04/2024

You are making good progress Glenn, great job.
 
I suspect that with regard to the fiddle block it is just a compromise on the part of the kit. For alert the fiddle blocks for the running backstays are also represented in the vanguard kit as two blocks on top of each other. This is one of those things that is not super noticeable unless you are looking for it and so I suspect Chris decided it was an acceptable compromise. This will always be the case with a kit and those of us who care about such details can easily fashion a fiddle block ourselves.

Just wondering...
I wonder why a set of blocks nested end to end was used as opposed to a fiddle block?
...not expecting an answer, unless someone knows!

Mast steps are not complicated, but struggling with pattern transfer. 
Feeling like I miss some obvious tricks? Even thought about making a miniature duplicator tool with toothpicks instead of metal pins
Would appreciate your advice!
 
First I tried to make patterns like on a full scale - by gluing small rectangles on a piece of card. That way works great for real boats, but is very awkward and potentially messy on a small scale.
But I like that tiny plastic vernier gauge! Got a few of those to measure spacing inside the hull without scratching it.

 
Then I just traced a frame pattern on a piece of card and eyeballed the other side. That is less complicated than I thought, but takes a lot of fine tuning (counter light helps too). But feels like an art rather than a reliable and repeatable method.
Though should admit - trimming and cutting card is quite satisfying!
Is that how everyone is doing it or is there is an easy way?   

Practicing the quiet modelling (in preparation for the evening sessions) - tried a coping saw instead of a bandsaw. The dust extraction problem solved itself, vacuum hose fits perfectly between the clamps:

Finally - the rough pear blanks are cut and I hope to shape them into beautiful parts in the upcoming days! 
I really aint much, but a little symbolic step towards the healthy hobby routine

As it is a holiday weekend I was able to spend a little more time on the model. I did cut out the boxing joint on the forward section of the keel with my small chisels but I wasn't happy with the result as I shaved a little too much off the 'tooth' (it probably has a proper name but I'm not sure what it is!) at the end. The temptation just to tidy things up a little is very strong - until you go too far! Consequently I remade that part of the keel again and redid the joint, this time taking much more care with the chisels and only working on specific sections of the joint at a time. The second iteration of the joint was much better that the first attempt and so I'll see how I go when I cut out the lower part of the stem joint before deciding whether this is a keeper. I used my mini mill as a spindle sander to help shape the curved sweep of the top of the piece.

Here is the second version of the forward section of the keel with the boxing joint.

I also cut out the lower and upper stem pieces and the outer keel post from the 12" stock. I experimented with tracing out the shapes on the wood and also gluing templates on the stock before cutting them out on the scroll saw. I'm not sure which is the most accurate way to use going forward but the cut out templates certainly seem to be easier to see, for me at least. I'm also finding difficult to judge how much excess to leave on the piece with the scroll saw - I realise you need to be close enough so you don't have to do too much sanding to shape but at the same time you need to have enough excess to make sure you are not going to end up with an undersized piece. No doubt I will get better at this when I start cutting out the dozens of pieces that make up the frames!

I also used some 6mm acrylic to make the support mounts for the stem and the stern. They may not be the prettiest supports ever but they are square and after lining the cutout with sticky backed felt a 12" timber fits in there nice and securely.

I think the next job will be to trim the keel sections to length and cut the scarph joint for the forward section of the keel.

Glued up the keel and false keel.  I used black tissue paper between the joints after testing it for color fastness when applying finish to a scrap piece.  The black tissue paper comes with a level of frustration that I was not prepared for, but it does end up in a crisp black line between the parts.  I am finding tiny pieces of black tissue paper all over the house, as it static clings to everything.  Hard to believe it has already taken 11 pieces to get to this point.  I am following the steps in The Fully Framed Model, so next up is the lower stem.
 
Adam

Hello everyone, completion of the stern timbers.
 

 

 

 

These are unfolded frames from the middle to the bow of the ship.

I’m having a few days off work at the moment, we are staying in a little East Coast town called Filey in North Yorkshire.  
There is a plaque on the cliff top in the town, hope you can read the text, also a couple of pictures of the bay for those interested taken this morning, the last picture are the cliffs of Flamborough Head where the battle took place. 

Work continues on the forecastle area.   With those first two beams in position I can now start working on the bulkhead that sits against them.
 
In this first picture,  I am just test fitting the three sections of laser cut bulkhead.   These (like all others)  are laser cut slightly wider and taller than needed.  
 
First...work on getting a nice fit on the center section between the riding bits.  Only worry about the width on both sides...dont worry about the height of these yet.  The two pieces on either side are next...sand the outboard side ONLY to reduce the width and get a tight fit against the riding bitts.  There will be a space between the frames and the bulkhead where the inboard planking would have been.  Try and make it a consistent width.  Again dont worry about the height.
 
Only after you get the widths taken care of should you then sand the top of each bulkhead section down so the height is flush with the top of the lower beam.  The photo shows the three sections with a proper fit all around...now its time to detail them.

Remove the three sections so you can add the uprights and simulated deck beam.  First up...sand the char from the laser cut beam pieces.   These are glued to the top edge of each bulkhead flush.  They are laser cut longer than needed so you can sand the sides flush as well.
 
Then the uprights go in position.  These are the uprights for the cabins on the lower platform.  We will be adding them a little later.  But it is easier to add these now.  They are just 1/8" x 1/8" strips cut to length and glued in place.  There are laser etched lines that show you exactly where they should go.   

 
Then glue the three sections in position permanently on the model.  Note the riding bitts will not be glued on permanently yet.  They will just get in the way when we are doing so many other things in this chapter.  So make sure you can remove it after the three sections are glued in place.
 

Riding bitts removed.

 
Now for the next layer above that.   this is handled in the exact same way.   I could have just included these on the first three section only a bit taller, but I wanted to be able to paint them cleanly and get a crisp edge.  But the same principle applies here.  Sand the widths of each first....then get the heights done.  These are flush with the top of the fcastle deck beam.   Then remove them.....
 
Paint them red.   Then add the laser cut and etched molding along the top edge.   The molding was rounded off on top and bottom.  You could also scrape your own if you want to.  
 

Then sit this on top of the lower sections of bulkhead as shown below.  The riding bitts are still removable but you must use them to get a good fit.  Glue these bulkhead sections in position now as well.
 

 
Top this off with the margin plank along the beam.  Cut a 1/4" x 3/64" strip for this.  Basically, just like you added for the quarter deck margin plank.  It hangs over the bulkhead a little bit.   The aft edge hanging over is rounded off a bit to your liking.   The forward side will leave a nice ledge or rabbet for the fcastle deck planking.
 
The only difference here is that you must notch out this plank for the riding bitts.
 
see below.   Also the riding bitts are not yet glued in position...I will let you know when its best to glue that in position.  BUT I did finally glue the fire hearth in place permanently.   Just remember to do so without its stack.  That will just break off later without a doubt.  And if you want to add anything else to the galley...do it now.   We are about to close her up for good with deck beams and knees, etc.


The three fcastle deck beams were cut to length and are just resting on the deck clamps.  I must locate their exact positions using the plans.
 

 
Thats it for now...BUT I did get a chance to cut the plan sheet up to see how my planking design will look.  Its always tricky deciding how much planking to add or leave off the model.  I think I am liking this particular cut-away with some planking removed.  You can still see quite a bit of stuff down there...
 
The hearth stack was just placed on top for giggles and a test.
 

 
I also did the same for the quarter deck...once again plenty of detail is still viewable down there.   I will live with these templates for a while and mull over some other possible planking schemes.  But so far I think these will do just nicely.  What do you think?