NMBROOK

Hi Dennis, David, Marty, Pete, Ben, Igor and everyone else for your Likes!
 
Well, Symphony's hull planking has been completed and sanded. I then put a coat of putty on the hull, which will be sanded once again.
 
I also took the hull off the jig, which is sort of a milestone.
 
Here are the photos.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi everyone
 
Many thanks for your comments and Likes!
 
Tonight, I managed to plank one side of the hull. At this early stage, the planks are rough and require filling and sanding, but it's a start.
 
The hull's really starting to take shape now.
 
Please see the photos below.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi everyone
 
Many, many thanks for all of your comments and Likes! Greatly and warmly appreciated.
 
Well, one of the hardest things I've found is how to ensure that the sheer line of the hull is exactly the same on both sides of the hull. It's always bugged me. So, this is what I did. I glued a template of the hull on each side of the building board and then glued horizontal pieces across the templates. Once the horizontal pieces had been glued, I then removed the side templates, leaving the horizontal pieces standing ready to have the sheer strake glued on later. The idea being that these will exactly mark the sheer line and therby ensuring each side is equal.
 
I hope this makes sense! If not, hopefully the photos will explain things better!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi everyone
 
Thanks for all your Likes and comments!! Greatly appreciated.
 
Well, Symphony's progress has been slow, but I have managed to cut the frames out of cardboard and glue them to the baseboard. I then cut the keel and dry-fitted it to the frames just to see how it all went together. Luckily, it all went pretty smoothly and minimal adjustments were required.
 
There's still heaps of work to go, but, hey, that's part of the fun of it, isn't it?
 
Here are the photos so far.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi everyone
 
Many thanks for all your comments and likes!
 
I've made some progress over the weekend. This includes cutting the half hull into sections so that I can get the frame templates. I've also cut the keel as well as a template of the side profile of the whole hull. This week I'll cut out the frames and glue them to the building board.
 
Slow work, but fun!
 
I hope you enjoy the photos.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi everyone
 
Many thanks for all your comments and support!
 
Well, my initial intention of using Ticonderoga's hull and adapting it to 'fit' the original boat just didn't work. So, instead, I decided to bite the bullet and carve a half model of the proper hull. The reason why I did this was so that I can get proper frame templates. The half hull consists of slices of wood, lightly glued together and then sanded to shape. Once I'm happy that I've got a nice and shapely hull, I'll then separate the slices to get the exact frame shapes.
 
After that, I'll use those half frames to make full frames for a plank on frame hull. The photos below show the progress so far.
 
I hope this makes sense!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

HI all
 
I haven't finished my current building of Ingomar (see other scratch build log), but I'm getting a bit itchy about starting my next build.  The next model in my miniature ship yard will be the 112 foot ketch Signe, which was designed by Bruce King.  However, I fear that it won't be an exact replica of the actual ship because I am unable to obtain any detailed lines drawings of her frames, etc.  All I've been able to find are a number of blurry low res profile drawings off the internet.  I've contacted the naval architect who drew the plans to see if he had the frames plan available, but he was unfortunately unable to assist for various reasons; all of which I totally understand.
 
Therefore, I'm left with a dilemma.  Do I design my own hull (which I am capable of doing), or do I use the hull plans of Ticonderoga, (which is eerily very similar in shape and profile), which are also available freely off the internet.  If I do use Ticonderoga's plans, I'll only need to slightly modify the sheer line and the rear underbody shape to make it resemble Signe's hull.
 
Can I please have your thoughts as to what you would think is the better way to go?  Alternatively, if you know where Signe's actual body plans can be obtained from, then I'd appreciate hearing from you!
 
Thoughts, anyone, please????
 
The first drawing is of Signe.  The second is Ticonderoga's.  

Before the bowsprit was fitted the lower head rails were fitted as the gammoning passes over the top one on the stem.
 
I used the supplied brass moulding to make these and let me tell you they were not easy to bend neatly. the brass strip is about 1mm thick by 3mm wide and needs to bent across both planes. The first one I made in two pieces, which made it a bit easier, but the lower one was made in one piece and to get both port and starboard pieces to sit how I wanted them took a bit of effort.
 
I am not sure what I could have used to substitute these pieces as they are mouldings and contain complex curves I did consider using strips of 1mm square timber but in the end went with what was supplied. I don't think they turned out to badly 

Hi All,
 
The bowsprit has been painted as there are no other parts to be glued to it, the only things left to add to it are the bobstay and shroud collars plus a few blocks and eye pins for the yard lifts.
.
 
 

Hi Nigel and Kester,
 
Thank you both for your kind words .
 
Nigel, I have looked at a lot of images but none that I seen so far show the view I'm after.  but I will keep searching
 
Kester, that might be the answer if anyone would know they would  never thought of that

Excellent work Jeff I would imagine many of the details you are adding are not illustrated on the Panart plans.Unfortunately my reference material is the same as yours,however the plethora of images of her on google may answer your question
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

I carefully reduced the thickness of the complete grating to just over 1mm using a mini sanding disc in my Proxxon IB/e.The grating was then wetted and clamped to a plywood former with slightly more than the required radius.The Ebony frame was then assembled around the grating using 30min epoxy.
After leaving overnight to dry,everything was sanded back to the required shape and size.The final two pics show the grating slotted in place on the deck.Final gluing will not happened until all 'treenailing' and sanding has been carried out.
A change of direction now as work is going to concentrate on Royal Caroline's guns.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

As I am not working this weekend for a change,I have decided to concentrate on big structural stuff and leave the gratings for the limited time I have on weeknights.
After a thorough rub down of the poly on deck spirketing and gunports I have made a start on the deck beams.Incidentally,the varnished areas have now had nine coats of poly,'knocked back' every three coats.There will be another coat applied before using whichever treenailing method I employ,if any,flatted again and then the final coat.
For the deck beams,I have borrowed a method from Russian master Dimitry Shevelev.The beams slot through the sides of the hull.This allows the beams to be adjusted by shimming to ensure perfect deck alignment in relation to the gunports.Any adjustments become invisible when the final covering is applied inside and out.In addition to this,the deck structure can be built inside the hull and fine adjustment can be carried out to the hull sides before the beams are glued to the hull sides.
The plan is that all the plain beams are dry fitted,then removed to allow the deck clamps to be fitted inside the hull.The beam slots are then extended through the deck clamps to allow refitting of the beams.I know this joint will be historically incorrect,but would look identical from the outside although this area will be nigh on invisible on the assembled model.
I do anticipate that these beams will be fitted dry and removed several times,to allow the joints to be cut in them and to allow varnishing of the undersides before finally gluing in place.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

After a little absence,I have something of an update.Aside from very little time,my broadband connection is giving me grief   Either lightning fast or more commonly working at a snails past.I shall contact my provider and give them what for when in the right frame of mind.
Anyway,half the deck planked,given a scrape and light sand and then a couple of coats of poly to prevent glue marks whilst working on the other side.I have moved away from shellac as firstly,I like the variation of tones and secondly it means I can use my acrylic ageing techniques should I choose.I am ,due to the pleasing appearance,considering NOT treenailing and risk spoiling the effect.
The other side of the hull is now built and shaped so my next job is to sort the upper gunport frames on this side.
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

I have started a job on the side that will run in conjunction with the main construction work.This is that of the figurehead.There are differences between museum model and the kit.The main one being there are two 'characters' behind the lion.I say characters because I am still uncertain as to what they are They remind me very much of the 'purple' thingy on Matti's Vasa build .However these affect the shape of the prow considerably and I will need to produce this trio of carvings to be able to determine the prow shape.
Some good news is that the museum model's Lion is tailless unlike the one on the kit plans and it is not clutching an emblem also shown on the plans.It is a nice change that research actually simplifies a design .Anyway I chose to take a copy of the Lion shown on the plans and use this,just omit tail and emblem,as it will be far more convincing than my freehand drawing attempts.The copy was glued onto a piece of European box of suitable thickness.
I first milled the slot for the prow,but leaving a small section at the feet.This will be removed later when the bulk of the shaping is done,it simply serves to keep a little strength for now while the rough work is done.The profile was cut using a combination of the miller,large scalpel and burrs.The result in the pics is from about 8 hours work!!.
The very thin wafer at the mouth will hopefully be the tongue when finished
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Work is slowly progressing on the port side.As I have proved everything on the starboard side,this acts as a template for the port side.This has enabled me to fit the gunport frames earlier in the process to make it easier to shape the internal profile.The handy thing with the gunport design is that tweaks are easy.Some of the holes for the linings have been adjusted and boxwood veneer shims used to ensure perfect alignment when sighting down the side of the hull.I have also been able to fit the lower counter side timber earlier than before.The rather random looking pear blocks at the bow are for shaping to match the other side.The are placed to ensure adequate material to carve the shape out of.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Just a small but nevertheless important update.I am currently working on the other side but doing a little multitasking   In my last timber delivery,I had ordered some 6x4mm pear strip to see how successful it would be to bend the deck beams as apposed to cutting them.As a mentioned before these will penetrate the sides of the inner hull 'shell' and in effect be solidly anchored at the ends.I made a simple jig up to clamp the thoroughly soaked Pear strip in(tip here,soak until the pear no longer wants to float).I deliberately made the jig for double the camber to allow for some springback.Not only this but it is better to overbend and straighten rather than underbend.The radius was calculated using the formula shown in the pic.I thought i would include this as to my knowledge it hasn't been posted before.I clamped two strips in the jig at the same time on top of one another,Any more and it would start to make too big a difference to the radius.The question of whether these beams would be scarphed in the middle is in abeyance and I have posted another thread regarding this.Even if these will be scarphed,I thought it necessary to put the radius in before tapering as the bending properties would not be consistent with a tampered section. 
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thank you very much indeed Grant And thank you for another alternative,we will be heading for a new thread in shore leave at this rate  
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

I have now fitted all the upper gunport cills.These have been faired off flush inside and out.The counter side timber has also been fitted,but the lower hull is still to shape at a later date.There is quite a bit of difference between kit and builders model in this area.Franklin states in his book that the stern balcony actually has a grated deck.The carvings below the balcony act as knees to support this deck and to a lesser extent the stern structure.This is not easily visible in pictures but after enlarging the NMM pics as much as possible it became clear how this construction worked.
This is a far as I am taking this side for now,work will commence on the port side.There a still some small round gunports to create for the poopdeck,but I am not confident to the actual finished level of this deck at the moment so they will be added a little later.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thank you very much indeed Patrick,Geoff and Matti for your kind words   On to the next,smaller update.I decided to carry on with this side as I still hadn't got my timber.I moved on to the gunports on the next deck.These are different in that many fall in the unplanked,exposed frame area.There is no option but to do them properly.An interesting point is that I am following the information in John Franklin's book as to the gunport sizes taken from the builders model,the main gun deck ones work out at 13mm W x 12mm H,the upper ones are 8mm square!!.I made a simple strip to slot between each side to ensure the cills ran true to the waterline athwartships and cut the rebates out with a burr and scalpel.I also made some simple sanding sticks up to ease the process,notably one wide enough to span between both frames to keep each side level.The excess will be sanded off after the top and bottom cills have been glued in place.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

I have completed the basic 'inner' hull structure to the starboard side.As I am waiting for a timber delivery I thought I may as weel sort out the lower gunport linings.After studying Euromodels drawings and also pics of the builders model,it became apparent there were differences not just in the position of gunports but also the height  and shape of the top of the hull sides.Because I want to reflect the design of the NMM model I would have to address these areas.The most notable fact is there is a gunport right forward on the museum model that is missing on Euromodels representation.Looking at the design you would probably only get a musket in there,but it is there nevertheless.Also the stern galleries are very different and you will notice the gunports are close up to this.This basically meant starting from scratch and the bulk of the ports were moved aft slightly.An additional port would then fit in at the beakhead,but also the first and last port on the main gun deck are spaced differently.My revised design reflects this. 
There is a three page article in John Franklin's book covering the builder's model which gives the exact gunport sizes and wale scantlings and spacings.The Euromodel kit design shows upper wales that are too small in comparison.In order to get things to work the top edge of the hull has been increased in height to compensate for this.You will notice the additional pear laminations on the top edge,the bulkheads are too short to run to the top.The lower of the pear strips has been 'dowelled' with 0.7mm copper wire into every pear upright.This has resulted in an incredibly strong hull wall even before planking.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

As I am waiting both for glue to dry and a timber delivery to arrive,I thought now may be a good time to make some linings up for the ports of the main gun deck.I had come up with a simple design that through its shape would ensure consistency of size.This profile was machined on the MF70 out of 3mm Pearwood.The thickness will be hidden under the planking so I could afford to make something substantial.The idea being to machine the profiles,glue together and slice the box up into lengths sufficient to allow for the tumblehome.These will be glued in place and the inside and outside face shaped flush with the hull structure.the sequence of pics explain it better than anything.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Not a very exciting update today,however my experiment has been a success.I have been debating about caulking techniques and despite using a pencil for longer than I care to mention,it never looks as good as the black paper route.However after watching Dr Mike's dvd explaining that black paper prevents proper glue bond strength,himself using cheap white paper and dying it black,I wanted to find an alternative with a bit less faff Having to visit town today for other reasons  I did stumble upon black tissue paper.I thought this would still allow proper penetration of the glue,but would it be easy to work with?I adopted worse case scenario for the test and cut some planks roughly(not even changing to a fine blade )on the table saw.Smearing one edge of these with alaphatic and placing them on the tissue edge on.Having left to dry for a hour(would really leave overnight in practice) and then cutting the tissue with a new scalpel blade close on the underside and a little above the face side,separated the planks.These were then glued to a sheet of ply.Two hours later this was scraped and sanded back.Again I would leave overnight but I was being deliberately rough for the trial.Anyway complete success.No issue with the tissue paper wanting to drag out of the joints as it was fully impregnated with glue and razor sharp black(not greyish you get with the pencil) lines.The only imperfections are from the rough edges of the planks.In reality these would be smooth .I wanted to crack this dilemma as this technique will be used on the whole build which includes the scarph joints in the keel and the hull planking so strength is important.A couple of pics but the difference between this and pencil isn't truly conveyed with my iphone camera.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Work continues moving forward with the framing.When it came to sanding back the inside,unfortunately the 'binding' stringer that will be fitted at the top falls below the level of the temporary stringer on the outside.I measured the overall thickness including the outside temporary stringer on the thinned section on the stern using the verniers and used this dimension as my point of reference to sand down and profile the central section.Work now concentrates on completing the obechi infill.I have already started at the bow,this will need increasing in height at the sides as the hull edge flows down in an arc to meet the stem.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

I have started to fit the upper hull starting from the stern forwards.By notching back the temporary stringers,I am able to use plain pear strip overwidth,rather than trying to develop individual shapes for each of the frame sections.There is a not very clear photo showing this.Each piece was fitted with an obechi infill individually.By using the digital vernier to check running dimensions as I went along,this avoided any accumulative build up of error.The obechi was thickness sanded(using a sanding block   )to suit each location.There is variation in frame spacing due to working with the constraints of bulkhead positions,but it is so small,it unnoticable to the eye.I have set the obechi 2mm above the base of the upper trim(bottom of the ebony planking).This is to allow fine adjustment of the ends and then capping with 3mm boxwood.Doing it this way means no tool marks will be visible on the frames from shaping the ends of the obechi.This complete section has been trimmed 3mm below the cap rail so I can fit a square pear 'binding' stringer to tie everything together.I got this idea from Dr Mike and makes alot of sense to tie all these laminations together.It also provides a sanding guide for upper frame thickness.This will be pinned later into the top of some of the frames for additional strength.The length of this upper edge is overlong at present and steps down to a lower level,which will be cut back when the next section is complete.My technique just leaves a section to sand back when the temporary stringers are removed.I am considering replacing these afterwards,but bolting to the hull with M2 bolts as this area will be planked over.I am also considering using threaded rods as well to keep the upper hull the right distance apart as work progresses.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel