toms10

All channels and stools for main and mizzen masts now fitted . . . and hammock cranes & netting for Q/deck rail and port side of poop deck also fitted.  Just port side of waist and forecastle await their hammock cranes . . . then it will soon be time to be thinking about the scary rigging for real.
 

Started cutting out gun ports for the lower gun deck.  Only a couple more to go for the lower gun deck.  Then I will start building the upper gun deck beams and dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure the cannon ports and deck all line up.  Finally cut the upper gun deck ports.  I should then be able to finish the planking get it all sanded and start placing the lower cannons.  So there are my next couple of months all planned out.  Of course very few things go according to plan.  But then again if everything did it would probably get boring.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.
Tom

 
 

Started cutting out gun ports for the lower gun deck.  Only a couple more to go for the lower gun deck.  Then I will start building the upper gun deck beams and dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure the cannon ports and deck all line up.  Finally cut the upper gun deck ports.  I should then be able to finish the planking get it all sanded and start placing the lower cannons.  So there are my next couple of months all planned out.  Of course very few things go according to plan.  But then again if everything did it would probably get boring.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.
Tom

 
 

Started cutting out gun ports for the lower gun deck.  Only a couple more to go for the lower gun deck.  Then I will start building the upper gun deck beams and dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure the cannon ports and deck all line up.  Finally cut the upper gun deck ports.  I should then be able to finish the planking get it all sanded and start placing the lower cannons.  So there are my next couple of months all planned out.  Of course very few things go according to plan.  But then again if everything did it would probably get boring.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.
Tom

 
 

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

Started cutting out gun ports for the lower gun deck.  Only a couple more to go for the lower gun deck.  Then I will start building the upper gun deck beams and dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure the cannon ports and deck all line up.  Finally cut the upper gun deck ports.  I should then be able to finish the planking get it all sanded and start placing the lower cannons.  So there are my next couple of months all planned out.  Of course very few things go according to plan.  But then again if everything did it would probably get boring.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.
Tom

 
 

BE, Pat, Joe, Michael, Nils, Wayne, JPAM  and the likes - thanks so much.
 
Ron - I'm hoping to make it, would love to see your fantastic Diana in person, my challenge is always football/soccer as I coach my sons team and that takes a big bite out of weekends at this time of year.  If I could just arrange a game in New London then I'd be set!
 
Small update, I've been missing making posts but I have a little to share and hope pictures make up for it.  Continuing to work on the more foundational aspects as I can.  Paint has been applied to the upper hull - I used Tamiya matt XF-18 medium blue.  I applied many layers of watered down paint and corrected larger imperfections, but left the slight imperfections from planking visible.  I'm no painter and have limited experience with modern acrylics!  Watering down the paint gives a nice smooth finish, but at the expense of surface uniformity - this should disappear completely once a clear sealer is applied so not concerned.  I found that using a brush the undiluted paint dries so quickly that brush mark are inevitable.  Lots of touchup to do which should be pretty easy, but I want to get a protective coat of poly onto the boxwood to reduce the risk of mishaps.
 
The waist rail has been applied on one side and the side steps added.  I left gaps for the fenders, after having already cut these roughly to shape - using boxwood of course adds the number of pieces that need to be fabricated to keep consistent.  I wont attach these until later.  Steps were made using 2x2mm boxwood strip and a different profile scraper to the side molding and then cut length and shaping the ends.  These hopefully give more of an impression of the fine molding as keeping that to scale was just too much for me.  The upper and lower 2 steps are not glued yet.  I think they pass the scale test with the assistance of Able Seaman Lewis.


I've also made up the anchor lining bolsters, not identified in the kit plans but approximated from AOTS and TFFM.


And the usual 'all over' shot of where things stand..

 
 
 

Because Anja has an update yesterday I will also update mine......
 
I finished the running rigging.
Still one drawing to go .
Then the anchors and lights and of course the netting .
But it goes fast enough....
The ship is to big to get it in one shot so a few.....
 
Sjors
 

Thanks, EDT!! This one's for you. 

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

Thanks for the commets, the likes, and the ideas. 
After some thought, it's now deconstruction and construction time.  I figure if I'm not going to do it right, then don't do it at all.  In the first picture, you can see where I'm ripping up the deck back aways.  There's also the most inboard strake laying on the beams forward.   I'll redraw, re-cut, and install one strake at a time on each side and follow Gerard's drawing and attempt the "random" bits as to plank length.  I think this will be the best way and definitely interesting from my point of view. 
 

Just for kicks and grins, here's the laser cutting those first planks. 

 
Feel free, as always, to jump in and point out errors or misconceptions.  This is a journey...
 

"Well... this is a fine mess I've gotten myself into, Ollie.....  " -Stan Laurel
 
I finally got the pictures off the camera, sized.  These are as she sits right now and for the last 2 days.   The information from Gerard gives me pause and some deep thought.   Right now, I'm wondering if I can "fix" this such that the planking butts are random without causing undo harm to the beams, my sanity, etc.
 
 
The catch is the quarterdeck ends just after the main mast.   I could random butt joint from here forward as the butt joints where the cannon and mastershipwright are would not be seen from above but the ones at the main mast area will be visible.  Forward, the butt joints show up well before the forecastle so they'd be out in the open also.   There are ladders, ship's boats, and cannon in the open area between quarter and foredeck but not enough "things" to hide the joints.
 
I'm going to think this through and fiddle with the drawings and if I think I can pull this off (maybe strip back some of the planks) and make it "random" I will.   i'll try to salvage as much of the planks as I can since I already have the rest of the gundeck planks cut and hate the idea of tossing them all out.  If I can't.... I'll just have to go with what I have.
 
Any thoughts, advice, etc. will be considered and appreciated.
 
Anyway... pictures.    The dummy cannon is being used to see if there's any problem with gunports and decking.  So far, so good, or so I thought.  
 



 
 
 
 
 

Thank you to all.
I started with rigging for guns. First part - breeching is ready.

Thank EdT, Tom.   I stole that from him.  

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

I haven't posted in a bit but I have been picking away at her as well as playing around with a homemade ropewalk with some success but that is a story for another time.  I put in the Orlop decking.  The rooms are just placed (dry fit) for now.  I need to start working on the columns and maybe a bit of furniture for the rooms that you can see directly into near the cut out.  I also need to locate at least the lower gun ports to make sure the lower deck goes in at the right height so the cannon will stick out of the gun port.. I will probably also build a test cannon carriage and use that for a location gage.  With this being my first scratch build I can really see how important it is to think several steps ahead of what you are actually working on.  That is the part that really slows visual progress... but what's the hurry!?


 
Thanks to all for the likes and support!
Tom

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

I finished the planking above the wales... finally.  Still need to do some final sanding but the hard work is done at least for the top half.  I think I will start back on the decks and work to dry fit the upper gun deck to make sure all my cannon ports will line up correctly.  It will also break up the time spent planking and allow me to continue to use my current jig to hold the hull upright and square for as long as possible while working on other things.  I picked up a nice little tip from our own mtaylor if I remember correctly about using painters tape to cover up all the grates and other holes on deck to help keep the sanding dust from going to the below decks.  Thank MSW and mtaylor!!
Enjoy the pics,
Tom



Tom

Little more work done over the holiday.  Finished the lower gun deck beams and timbers for the opened area of the deck. Next step is to cut and plank the deck itself.


 
Here are a couple of items for this deck I built as well; the two pumps, grates and one of a few ladders.  Still have a couple of capstans, the cannonsand a few rooms.

 
Tom

So I started plotting and planning the lower gun deck and put in the beams.  I am laying out the deck on a piece of cardboard to see where the timbers will be seen and what will be planked.  I plan on planking the entire port side and center and leaving the starboard side open similar to the orlop deck.  I would like to put the cannons in place on both sides (plank just enough underneath them on the starboard side).  My thoughts are that this would allow enough light through the top to better illuminate the orlop and hold.  The plan is to also eliminate the frames from the side hole in the hull once this deck is in place.  The upper gun deck will be above the cutout.  It is also planned to have some planking removed similar to the other decks... at least that is the plan right now.


 
Thanks for all the support I am getting from MSW.
 
Tom

I haven't posted in a bit but I have been picking away at her as well as playing around with a homemade ropewalk with some success but that is a story for another time.  I put in the Orlop decking.  The rooms are just placed (dry fit) for now.  I need to start working on the columns and maybe a bit of furniture for the rooms that you can see directly into near the cut out.  I also need to locate at least the lower gun ports to make sure the lower deck goes in at the right height so the cannon will stick out of the gun port.. I will probably also build a test cannon carriage and use that for a location gage.  With this being my first scratch build I can really see how important it is to think several steps ahead of what you are actually working on.  That is the part that really slows visual progress... but what's the hurry!?


 
Thanks to all for the likes and support!
Tom

Test your concoction on a test panel before you rely on it.  Staining over glued/filled surfaces and natural surfaces can give irregular results.  If you're painting over, the glue-filled will work much better.