davyboy

Good evening, last week I was busy with the door hinges of the pump house. They're okay for my first hinge.
 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, today I sanded the hull and filed the water channel into the frames.
 

 

 

 

 

The two dales

Each is made of 3 pieces as a base
(bad photo, sorry)

A finished dale

Making the holes in the same place on both sides was a challenge.


While the glue from the dales is drying, work continues on the inside.
The support under each dale is fictional, and later virtually invisible. This gives the dale (as support for the deck) a slight curve

And looking 5 steps further in the future.
Checking the relationship between the sides of the castle, channel, mast and the schrouds of the main mast.

Oops, I'm going to get in trouble if i go further this way...
Noticed it just in time

Baker: thank you, Patrick.
 
I made another part of the decoration. And as I said it goes very slowly... but if I count correctly, there are more than 500 pieces of gilded parts on the ship already... and this is just one quarter....
 
Jan
 
 

I´m continuing with the decoration, it goes very slowly, they are very small. 

Here is the another part of decoration. Another one will follow...and I´m still at the beginning...

Another part of decoration on the balconies added. It is slowly filling up😉
 
Jan

Hi friends,
 
I starded making friezes at the upper gunports and very soon I find out I had a problem. 
Distances between wales are increasing backwards from 7 to 9 - 10 milimeters. Now I don´t know why, I made the hull 12 years ago...but It was not possible to make mold or something like this for serial production ( I needed 100+ pieces), because every piece was original...🙄 .... so I had to draw them and use 3D printing. Then fit each piece to its place...  but I think the result is quite good.
 
Jan
 

All the best in the new year  to you all 
 
I didn´t have a lot of time, but I made some parts. Lanterns on the sides of the aft are made, and I improved the galion. I think now it is better and is more coresponding with the rest of the ship. 
 
Jan

Just another small update...the more I work the less is visible....😄
But I´m trying.
Jan
 
 

Good morning everyone
Main mast Back stays
at last i am starting to get some quality time on the build all the main backstays are fitted

 

, and last night the Main Topsail Yard Tye went in


Apollo Ruth and Dobbie, 3 loves of my life

 

Post One Hundred and Fifty- six
 
Bits and pieces 
From this point on the comforting crutch of the glossy manual has ended.
There are many small fittings to add and in this session I will mainly be referring to Plans 5 and 9.
 
Working from in to out there is brass wire(0.8mmø) to be inserted thro the faces of the skid beams across the waist (plan5)- shown as belay pins on (Plan 9).

3955
The arrangement seems to have been taken from that of the Victory where one rigging source indicates that the triple aft three relate to the belay of the Staysail sheets and those on the second from forward beam for the Main Topmast Stunsail downhauls.
 
Fortunately for me this has no practical application.

3946
The inner guide rope stanchions (PE59) are fitted along the waist gangboards followed by a wooden rail (2X1mm Pear) atop the inner hammock crane arms, the fit into the brass etched crutches is perfect.
 
I have diverted from the plan by adding iron stanchions between the timberheads around the Fo’csle.

3953
Not provided in the kit I used spare items from the Sphinx kit- a slightly shorter stanchion.
It seemed reasonable to me that given the low height of the rails, stanchions would have been fitted.
 
The kit provides etched versions of the belay pins, they are a mere 8mm in length, and barely 0.8mm in width, but still have a visible shape, and I think they look quite good at the scale.

3947

3956
Blackened to give them some tooth and painted a bare wood colour I added a few to the pin rails for effect.

3949
There are quite a few eyebolts to add along the channels together with the iron work for the Main studding booms.
 
I dare say I will find other little additions as I continue to re-check the plans but for now I am moving onto dressing the stump masts.
 
B.E.
10/03/2024

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your appreciation !
 
**********************************************************

Installing the ship’s boats 3
 
The installation was movd further to completion by tidying up the loose ends and producing the bunts for runners of the boat tackles. The runners are about five times the distance between the head of the davits and the waterline long, plus some extra for handling. However, as the rope is slightly overscale the runners were cut a bit on the short side in order to make the bunts not too bulky. The actual runners were cut above the cleats and the bunts were formed over two clothes pins driven into a piece of wood and have a loop pulled out with which they can be hung over their respective cleat. 

Note that the runners for the ‘ready’ boat are not arranged in bunts but in coils, ready to be thrown loose so as to allow the boat being lowered quickly e.g. in a case of man-over-board.

Again, working from the inside out, the next items to go on were the stays for the davits. Luckily, the stays are drawn in the lithographs so that their points of fixation are known. I had to deviate a bit from those drawings, as they pertain to the longer, turning davits for the boats stored on rack, which belong to a slightly later period. The stays are supposed to keep the davits aligned, rather than helping to swing them around.
 
It was a bit of a trial-and-error procedure, before I came up with a protocol for making miniature fake chains of exactly the right length and with loops at both ends. The chains would have been shackled into ring-bolts at the head of the davit. No way of making shackles in this scale, so I just tied the fake chains to ring-bolts with fly-tying thread.

Some people may think now that’s it, but in fact there still is quite a long to-do list for little details:
 
- davit for the stern-anchor
- flag-poles and flags
- for the gun: tampon, wiper, rammer, and two gun-sights
- and the … crew!
 
To be continued ....
 

The oil has dried out. Color in natural light.

Thank you so much for saying.   Today I decided to just have a little fun.  I designed and laser cut the parts to make a simple table and chairs for the great cabin.   I also made some cushions which are also laser cut.  Made some for the bench lockers too.  The great cabin is not so large.  Even though this looks like a huge model the cabin is actually very small.  A tiny space with not too much room.  I pondered making a table to show the scale and how little room there would actually be in there.  The table is just 2' x 4' in size.   Also consider that I havent made the closets and cupboards yet which go on the forward side of the cabin.  I will begin work on those now and see how it all looks when completed.  I decided not to even paint the cushions...why not!!
 
It was a really fun project at any rate.  If I decide to use them I may include the parts in the kit.  I also have some 1:32 figures on the way from Chris at Vanguard. 
 


 

Hi
 
With the bulkhead closing the chamber, the "fine" carpentry is for later, now and before installing more equipment on the deck I will make the lining of the submerged part of the frigate’s hull since for this operation I have to put the keel up.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Adrián Sorolla

Hi
 
Continuing with the embellishment of the stern, this time the installation of the decorations in the stern, it is only a top decoration glued to the corning and a tiny cutlet with the name of the boat.
These decorations are drawn by Fermin Urtizberea Oronoz, in 3D and relined in CNC by Migue, Miquel Rodríguez García
 

 

 

 

 
Adrián Sorolla

I have never been happy with the figurehead which appeared cartoonish. So I have gone back the original potterry images and found this excellent image of the tragana ship
The figurehead I couldnt recognise until I suddenly realised that it was in fact a stylised crocodile head with projecting teeth.. I also have done some nose art using an image of a minoan octopus which was much copied by the mycenaeans

The octopus would be an appropriate animal for a ship of Poseidon

So the latest figurhead is much more threatening. The crocodile would be familiar to mycenaeans who regularly traded with Egypt.

Cheeers
Dick

Hoo boy. This aft-facing tiller business is a pain in the neck to get my head around. I can understand how you hold a tiller crosswise or forward-facing, but aft-facing has me bamboozled. I finally made a full-size test-piece and got my lovely wife to take photos of me holding it in what I think is the most likely grip and stance for the helmsman - but who knows? 





Note - we're having our summer (all four days of it) in autumn. A series of 34 degree (93 F) days. Ballarat's like that. (we sometimes get snow in November, too).
 
And I changed the tiller sockets to be slightly angled inboard from the rudder blades - otherwise the tiller would be fouled by the railing when turning it outboard (if you get what I mean). So I had to close up the existing holes with wooden plugs, and also change the shape of the rudder shafts to allow for the rudders being somewhat higher up than I'd originally thought.

I hope this works!
 
Steven

Lovely result with your hand carving Kortes. More satisfying for you than having a computer driven machine making them for you then just glueing the bits on   I wish I had your skill,I am struggling a bit attempting to do the carvings on my Speedwell build.
 
Dave 

Hello everyone,
I've been back on my little harbor yacht for almost 14 days. The plan is to work on Le Rochefort until August. I have completed all of the deck beams and will now install and adjust them piece by piece. At the moment I'm busy with the metal work on the pump house and the pumps themselves and will show another update soon.
 

 

 

 

Hull planking
Fairing the outer hull was fairly straight forward. There is plenty of extra meat on the frames which gave me lots of wiggle room. The fairing cap edge should remain untouched, if at all possible. Easier said than done! Final sanding was done with 400 grit. Btw; I totally forgot to take some photos of the outer hull after the fairing was completed. Sorry!
 
Once everything looked good I added the first strake (the upper wale). This was done with three planks. I did my best to eyeball the run as I added each plank and not to strictly rely on the drawn line which I made from Chuck's hull template.

From there on it was just a matter of adding the two remaining wale strakes and a few more strakes above the upper wale. I also added the small filler piece which goes between the lower wale and the square tuck.

With the added support given by these strakes, I decided to fair the inner hull. This ended up being more time consuming than I thought it would be. It took me several days to complete the work. Working the bow timbers, even with a Dremel or 80 grit, was slow. Once I was close I switched to a miniature curved scraper to smooth out the work.
 
You can see just how thick the wood was in places.

When fairing the area around the lower gun port sills, I found that a simple depth gauge came in handy. Including the 3/64" outer hull planking, the width of the sill should be 3/16” or maybe a hair less. I made this simple “T” shaped jig that I could place against the frames and then mark the width of the sill from inside the hull.

Ready for the keelson

Mike

Thank you Bug, glad to see work has restarted on your Pegasus.👍
 
Post One Hundred and Fifty- five
 
I continued to fit the Port side billboards and linings.

3939

3936

3937
I think I have made a better job of the Port side, so off came the starboard side for a re-fit.

3941
Starboard side re-done, happier now.

3942
I have also taken the opportunity to replace the bow port lid and add double lifting lanyards.

3852
Small sections of telephone wire sleeving are used to represent  the port lanyard tubes, but they did need drilling through to take the 0.30mm line which was stiffened with ca for the purpose.

3932
Another small job is to add the rudder chains. I used some Caldercraft Brass chain, 18 links /per inch.
I will get around to trimming them at some point.
 
B.E.
08/03/2024
 
 

Good Evening Markus;
 
Your question touches on several separate topics; not being knowledgeable concerning American ships I cannot perhaps answer with full authority, but I can tell you the equivalent English practice.
 
Firstly, all timber used in ship-building was classified in various categories, according to its size and intended use. For planking, this comprised 'board', 'plank' & 'thick stuff'. Board was around 1" thick, and was used for bulkheads and partitions. Plank was up to 4 or 5" thick, and was used for most of the hull covering, in and out. Thick stuff was used where extra strength was needed, and was up to around 9" thick. Generally, anything over this thickness was only used (in larger ships) for the keel and related pieces, along with deck beams. 
 
Compass timber was anything curved, the main use of which was for forming the curves of the frames.
 
The thicker strakes of deck planking, which are flush with the main deck coverings, but are let down into the top of the deck beams, are known as 'binding strakes', and their purpose was to stiffen the ship's structure. They were also often used to fix the ring-bolts for the train-tackles for the ordnance. 
 
Lord's survey is obviously a very thorough one, and much attention has been paid to detail. I would be very dubious that he shows anything that was not there when he carried out his work. 
 
In the 17th century, the central portion of the deck was normally raised above the planking outside this strip, and was delineated by timbers known as 'long carlings'. See photograph below from a model of the 'Boyne'. 
 

 
This practice continued in the 18th century; see photograph of a model in the National Maritime Museum, dating from the early 1760s.
 

Thanks for posting an interesting drawing. 
 
All the best,
 
Mark P
 

I removed and redid the two lower cheeks: a friend and great modeller pointed out to me their incorrect positioning, which diverged too much from the upper cheek!
Sometimes the most obvious mistakes are right under your nose but you can't see them!
 





 

An update is long overdue, not that there is that much to report. Rigging proceeds, all too slowly. The bowsprit presents interesting problems. A few more thoughts on the question of a dolphin striker, for I still don’t understand why this did not make it impossible to set the spritsail.  Longridge has a possible solution in his fold-out rigging plan of Victory, by bringing the martingale backstay close up to the striker. This would surely have made it much less likely that the striker could hold down the jibboom effectively, though making it possible to set the spritsail. In contrast, the NMM model of HMS Mars has such a complexity of ropes from the striker that it would surely have been impossible to set the sail (https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66538). As for a spritsail topsail, none of the  drawings of Agamemnon by Pocock in the National Maritime Museum show one on Agamemnon, and I’ll not fit one.
The main and foretops are just about ready to fit. I’ll need to fit the blocks that go under them, which means deciding just how much running rigging to include. I’ll go for overkill at this stage, as it’s easier to fit the blocks and remove them later if they are not all needed, than to struggle to add them after the tops are in place. One point about stays. I’ve noticed that a number of models on this website have euphroes and crowsfeet. Steel, however, says that these were not fitted to large ships of this period, and I’m not planning to fit them. I found it impossible, incidentally, to lace the stays to the preventer stays by knotting, so as you can see, I have glued the connecting lanyard. It’s a bit of cheat, but alternative methods just did not work at this scale.
Oh - in the photo you can just see the bow of one of the ship’s boats, and a bit of the hull of another. I’ll be reporting on them later, but it’s been interesting to experiment with possible ways of making them.