NMBROOK

A very enjoyable read and some fantastic work Grant!
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thank you so much one and all for the very kind comments and all the "likes".  The next job is construction of the Mortar Bed.
 
The Mortar Bed
 
The Mortar Bed is an interesting model in itself, although it is quite straightforward thanks to Jeff’s excellent drawings.  All of the components are made from Swiss Pear of varying thicknesses.
 
The side pieces are each comprised of three ‘strakes’ and after cutting stock to the appropriate sizes, these were made as a pair by spot-gluing the over-length stock together and completing all drilling and milling operations together to ensure symmetry. The groove for the trunnion was cut on the mill, and holes of various diameters for bolts and eyebolts were completed on the mini drill press.
 
Three pieces in the base have a 1/8” hole to take a brass spigot which goes through into the deck below to allow the turntable to turn.  Centring these holes was probably the trickiest part of the operation.
 
Here are all the components overlaid on the drawings (a few of these ended up with a re-do):
 

 
The rear of the mortar bed is rounded and a bevel is added to the top edge just to add a slight degree of difficulty.  The rounding was done on each component piece individually using the Byrnes disc sander, and then the whole piece was touched up once assembled.  The bevel was achieved by first marking the inner edge of the bevel by tracing around the edge of both top and side with a compass point set to the appropriate distance and then carefully filing to shape before finishing with a sanding stick.
 
Eyebolts and Ringbolts were then added according to the drawings.  I will leave the cap squares until the mortar and its trunnions have been fashioned.
 

 
Finally, here’s a few shots of the mortar bed in position:
 

 

 

 

 
 

I have framed the doors in Ebony using a machined angle profile.They have been given a coat of poly.I am varnishing as I go as,if nothing else,it protects the boxwood from Ebony dust which can mark the boxwood and requires sanding to remove.
 
I have fitted four of the gallows?brackets under the balcony.There are two more still to fit at the transom sides.These will be shaped later as it is much easier to make sure the compound shapes line through.
 
The rear of the doors have been shaped where they fit to the existing planking.These have been epoxied into position.The upper section will be faired later before the planking continues upwards.
 
There is a dubious sheen to the matt poly at the moment.A later coat sprayed on will kill this and produce an even finish
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Thanks again everyone for the encouraging comments and the "likes".
 
Sheer Rails (Continued)
 
Here are the Sheer Rails with locating pins ready for installation:
 

 
The Sheer Rails were then dry fitted and cut to final length before being glued in place using 5 minute Epoxy glue.  The scuppers were then added by drilling a 1/8” (3.2mm) diameter hole in the waterway immediately below the second sweep port from forward, with a corresponding exit in the external planking in the Upper Main Wale.  1/8" diameter brass tubing was then cut to length, chemically blackened, and epoxied into place in each of the holes.  All of the new additions were then given a coat of Wipe-On Poly. In the following photos, the scuppers can be seen in both the waterways and the Upper Main Wale.
 

 

 
That completes this section of the build.  Next up will be construction of the Mortar Bed.  And yes, we’re getting close to the “elephant in the room” – turning of the Mortar barrel itself, along with canons and swivel guns………….        

Thank you one and all for your very kind thoughts and words of sympathy and encouragement following the loss of Sam the Shipyard Supervisor.  It's been a rough week, but life is starting to return to normal, including re-opening the Shipyard today. I must admit though, it does seem strange to be in there without him. His constant presence was somehow re-assuring.
 
On with the build.
 
External Planking and Sheer Rail
 
External Planking consists of the Lower Main Wale, the Filling Wale, the Upper Main Wale, the Side Planking (above the Wales), and the Sheer Rail.  The 3 components of the Wales are all of Ebony with variations in thickness. The Lower and Filling Wales are both 3/32” thick, while the Upper Wale is 1/16” thick.  The Side Planking is of Yellow Heart that is 1/32” thick.  This means that the Filling Wale and Upper Main Wale had to be reduced in thickness along their upper edges to blend into the next higher strake.  Once again I used my miniature Japanese plane to achieve this relatively easily.  Despite Ebony’s bad rap as being difficult to work with, I found that the plane took off nice thin curls of wood without too much “black dust”.  I did of course vacuum up all of the shavings and dust immediately afterwards.  The Yellow Heart was fairly easy to fit, although it does have a tendency to split and splinter fairly easily.  I decided not to try and show any joints in the Ebony – figuring it just wouldn’t be seen anyway.  I did however, decide to show some plank joints in the Yellow Heart.  I also used a pencil along one edge of the Yellow Heart planking to define the caulking line. Here is how it looked once planking had been completed, but before treenailing.
 

 
Once again, I used the “drill and fill” method for treenailing, using a 0.5mm drill and filling with my favourite water-based filler straight from the jar.  Again, I opted not to attempt treenails in the Ebony. After a final light sand and clean-up, the whole of the side planking was given a coat of Wipe-On Poly. Under natural lighting, the Yellow heart does look more “yellow”.
 

 
The Sheer Rail is made from 1/8” thick x 1/4” wide Ebony and requires a moulding profile to be cut on both inboard and outboard edges.  I decided to try to do this using a scraper method.  I used my Proxxon drill with a cut-off disc, mounted in a holding clamp, to cut the profile into a single edged razor.
 

 

 
The Sheer Rails were cut slightly longer than required and mounted in a vice to have the mouldings cut using the scraper.  Once again, despite it’s bad reputation, I found the Ebony quite workable.  Even with this rudimentary cutter, the wood came away in nice shavings with just a little dust (again quickly cleaned up on completion). Here’s a picture of the profile being cut – notice the shavings in the background.
 

 
To assist in locating the Sheer Rails correctly, three 1.5 mm diameter brass pins were epoxied into holes drilled in the underside of the Rails. Corresponding holes were drilled vertically into the frames. These will be fitted to the ship tomorrow - more pics on completion.
 

I've been away all week with work, but in my absence the Admiral very kindly cleaned up the hard disk so that I could upload my photos. So here is a slightly overdue update.
 
Upper Deck Planking and Bulwark Lining
 
The upper deck was next to be installed.  Once again 3/16” x 1/16” Holly was used for the deck planks, with one edge darkened with a 2B pencil to simulate the caulking. I prefer the more subtle effect the pencil caulking gives.  Treenails were fitted using the drill and fill method.  The only issue here was that having done lots of testing for treenail filler earlier in the build I was a bit tired and was therefore too lazy to check back through the log to ensure I was using the right one, trusting to memory instead – big mistake! I subsequently used the wrong compound, and then had to re-drill before checking and then using the correct compound.  I gave the deck a coat of Wipe-on-Poly to protect it from the inevitable “pink dust” that was about to be created with the Bulwark liner installation.
 
Redheart was used for the Spirkiting and the Bulwark liner.  The two strakes of spirkiting are 1/16” thick and the lower strake needs to be shaped to fit against the angled waterway.  This was achieved in the same way as the waterway angle, by using a small hand plane. The upper strake was also angled to provide a smooth transition to the 1/32” thick bulwark lining.  This upper strake also had to be cut to fit around the lower edges of gunports and sweep ports.
 
After some consideration and discussion with my build buddy (Mobbsie), I decided to install “iron bolts/nails” in the Spirkiting/Lining using the same method of copper nails, blackened with Liver of Sulphur, as shown previously.
 
Here is a picture showing the completed deck and the spirkiting/lining drilled and ready to accept the iron bolts.
 

 
Once the bolts were installed and blackened, the sprikiting/lining was given two coats of Wipe-on-Poly. The following photos were taken after the first coat had been applied.  The lighting conditions don’t really do it justice – it does look a little more red to the naked eye.
 

 

 

Thanks once again for all the kind words folks and to all those who hit the "like" button.
 
The Main Hatch
 
The main hatch was a fairly simple construction using Redheart for the Coamings and Head Ledges, and Walnut for the Hatch Cover Boards. Templates were made from the drawings to assist with the lap joints and round up. Once the timber components of the hatch had been completed, two coats of Wipe-On Poly were applied to the Hatch, the Mortar Pit Housing and the deck frames on the Starboard side (which will not be planked).
 
Lifting rings for both Mortar Pit Housing and the Main Hatch were made from brass wire formed around a drill bit, cut off with a rotary cutting disc and then soldered closed (I cheated and used a lead/tin soft solder).  These were blackened chemically using a new (for me) product called Jax Pewter Black.  Its claim is that it blackens all sorts of metals, including solder.  After a bit of experimentation, I settled on diluting the solution 50/50 with distilled water, and after the usual cleaning process with vinegar and acetone beforehand, it seems to work fairly well. The same process was used to install lifting rings in the mortar pit housing.
 
The Waterways were next to be tackled.  These are made from boxwood and have two angled faces on the top side, which are not even.  I thought about how to mill these for quite some time. After a tip from Danny, I tried to follow his technique of making a scraper from an old exacto chisel blade. Although I managed to make a reasonable shape for one angle, I couldn’t get an edge on it sufficient to scrape the timber.  After some more thought, I marked out the profile along the length of the timber, and then used a couple of very small planes – one Veritas squirrel tail palm plane, and one even smaller Japanese finger plane. These worked a treat and the job turned out to be much easier than I had expected.
 
Here’s a couple of pictures showing the current state of play.
 

 

 
 
 

Thanks everyone for the kind words and also to all of the likes.  Progress continues at a glacial pace, but I'm slowly catching up to Mobbsie (albeit that will only be a temporary state of affairs!).
 
Mortar Pit Housing
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit Housing is relatively straight forward, once you get your head around the angles involved.  Although the corner diagonal walls have two 45-degree faces, the faces need to be of different widths in order to align properly with the side/end walls.  It only took me three attempts to work this out……
 
The other thing that became immediately obvious once I started to fit the Mortar Pit walls, was that the pre-cut notches in the surrounding beams (for the angled carlings), were very poorly cut and positioned.
 

 

 
I decided to glue the Mortar Pit Housing in place and then adjust the notches to allow a proper fit of the carlings. This left some unsightly gaps, which I have filled with a mixture of sawdust and diluted PVA glue. 
 

 
The end result looks okay, but the lesson learned is that it would have been better to NOT pre-cut the notches for the angled carlings.  It was not as difficult as might be imagined to cut them in-situ (with a sharp chisel) once the mortar pit housing was in place.

It seems to have been a long time since my last post, so just to show proof of life here is a quick update.
 
Upper Deck Framing
 
These last few weeks have been a very busy time since returning to work, and so visits to the shipyard have been few and far between.  As the opportunity has arisen, I have kept plugging away at making the various knees, Carlings and Ledges.  Preparation of the Carlings was very similar to that for the Deck Beams, with notches cut on the mill and finished by hand with a chisel. Knees and Beam Arms were all cut on the scroll saw and finished on the Spindle and Disc Sanders.
 
Unfortunately, despite the care that I took in aligning the Deck Beams, Beam No.2 is slightly out, meaning that the Carlings between Beams 1 and 2, and between Beams 2 and 3, are also slightly out of alignment.
 
Here is an overall shot to show progress to date – of course the angle was carefully selected to hide as many imperfections as possible!  This shot was taken immediately after sanding, so some clean-up is still required. The side that will not be planked will also receive a coat or two of Wipe-on Poly in due course.
 

Thanks very much everyone for all the kind words and "likes".
 
Jeff got back to me and confirmed that my observations about errors in the drawings were correct, and also confirmed that my corrections were….correct.
 
Deck Beams
 
I ummed and ahhed about the best way to prepare the Deck Beams with all of their various notches for receiving carlings, trimmer beams, beam arms etc. I then made the happy discovery that I possessed end mill cutters to exactly match these various sizes, so I decided to do as much of this work as possible on the mill in order to provide the maximum degree of accuracy and consistency.  In order to do that, I needed to start with beam blanks that retained a “square” face for use as a reference plane for the milling work. So blanks were prepared to match each beam location, with just the ends angled to match the angle of the hull sides (10 degrees as it happens).  Here are the beam blanks cut to size for each location and with a centre line marked for further reference:
 

 
I forgot to take pictures of the next stage, but this consisted of sticking the beam patterns onto the fore and aft faces of the beam blanks, using the centreline and bottom edge as a common reference.  The tops of the beam blanks were then cut down in height, using the mill, to align with the top of the pattern, while maintaining a parallel face with the bottoms.
 
By further happy coincidence, or clever design by Jeff, all of the notches, regardless of depth (top to bottom), were set back a common distance into the beams (fore to aft, or aft to fore). By milling the notches with the blanks lying on their sides, I could then use a common depth of cut for all milling operations, and would therefore only have to be concerned with the “length” of the cut.  That depth happened to be 1.5 mm. The length of cut varied with the size of timber to be accommodated, and was measured off the plans in imperial units (eg 7/32”) and then converted to decimal millimetres (eg 5.56mm) for application on the mill.  It sounds complex, but was actually pretty easy.
 
Once all of the milling was completed, the beams had their respective curvature applied while the paper patterns were still in place, using a combination of the spindle sander and disc sander to achieve the required curves.  Here is what the beams looked like after all of these operations were completed and the residual paper patterns were removed:
 

 

 
You can see in these photos, that the milling process leaves a rounded end.  These had to be cleaned up and squared off using a chisel, which again seemed more daunting than it was in practice to achieve.  The only real difficulty was in achieving the 45 degree angled notches to take the angled carlings that will eventually support the outside of the Mortar Pit.  To achieve these, I used the mill to cut the “straight” bit in the middle, to provide a reference plane, and then completed the rest with a chisel.  It was the 45 degree undercut that was particularly difficult – I’m sure there is an easier way than the method I used, but we got there in the end, and with no feeding of the scrap bin along the way! Here is a picture of the cleaned up joints:
 

 
And finally, here is a picture of the completed beams dry-fitted in place.  The “Trimmer Beams”, which will surround the Mortar Pit, are sitting loosely on top of the main deck beams.  These will be trimmed to final length once the deck beams are permanently affixed.  You can see in the photo that the centre lines of the beams seem to line up quite well, so the installation of the various carlings etc, should be relatively easy.
 

 
Next up, cutting the various Hanging Knees, Lodging Knees, Beam Arms, and Carlings – all of which will also need to be notched.  Progress may very well slow down from here as my period of convalescent leave ends this week and its back to work next week.

Thanks again folks for all the kind words and the "likes".  
 
Just a small update today.  I have completed preparations for the Upper Deck framing.
 
The next step was to make the Upper Deck Clamps.  These comprise an Upper and a Lower Clamp and I opted to include “iron bolts” using copper wire blackened in situ using Liver of Sulphur.  To make life easier, I prepared a card template for the bolting pattern and inserted the bolts prior to installation on the model.  Here are the clamps ready for installation (the bolts to the right appear not to be blackened, but this is just a trick of the light in the photo):
 

 
Clamping them securely was a little tricky and I was grateful for the mini Spales I had made previously:
 

 
The final preparations prior to moving on to the Upper Deck construction were the Mortar Pit Support Standards (knees) and the Centreline Stanchions. The knees were easily cut on the scroll saw, ensuring the grain was oriented on the diagonal, and then given their final shape using the spindle sander and disc sander.  The Centreline Stanchions introduced another timber – Walnut.  These were turned on the lathe.  My extremely limited turning abilities managed a reasonable approximation to the stepped shape at either end of these.  The Walnut is not a particularly good wood for machining, but it was finished up by a series of increasing grit sand paper, to an almost polished finish prior to being coated with Wipe-On Poly.  During the turning process, each end of the columns were drilled to take a 1.5mm brass locating pin.
 
Here are the Stanchions and Standards (Knees) in place, along with a view of the completed Deck Clamps.  The Stanchions are only temporarily placed for the photo – they will be permanently fixed once the Deck Beams are ready to be permanently fixed in place.
 

 
I have now started work on the upper deck beams, but have discovered a possible error in the drawings.  I have sent a message to Jeff Staudt for confirmation before proceeding.
 

It's been a while since the last update. Recovery from my hip surgery has certainly slowed things down a little, but I have managed to make some progress.  The next stage was construction of the Mortar Pit.
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit
 
Construction of the Mortar Pit commences with the six Mortar Pit Deck Beams that sit atop the Shell Room.   These were cut from 1/4" Pear stock.  Six rectangular blanks of identical size were cut and then spot glued together. A single paper pattern for the beams was then glued on to the gang of blanks and the notches for the Shell Room headers (5/16”) and the Mortar Pit Boundary Timbers (1/4”) were cut on the mill to take advantage of the still square faces. The round-up of the beams was then shaped using the spindle sander for the inside curve and the disc sander for the outside curve.  After test fitting, the Deck Beams were used as additional support to ensure the Shell Room was squared up for final fixing. Once the Shell Room was securely fastened, the Beams were given a coat of Wipe-On Poly and glued in place.
 

 
The Mortar Pit itself is fairly straightforward construction, consisting of two Boundary Timbers of 1/4” x 5/16” Pear, a Primary Layer of planking (3/16” Holly) and a Secondary Layer of planking (1/8” Holly).  I decided to use pencil along the plank edges to simulate the caulking with these decks, rather than the black paper used on the deck of the Shell Room, partly because I was concerned about glue adhesion, and partly because I wanted to see what it looked like.  Once again, the “drill and fill” method was used for simulating treenails. In retrospect, I should have sealed the Holly before applying the filler for the treenails as some of the filler has gotten into the grain of the deck and slightly discoloured it.  Here are the component parts prior to receiving a couple of coats of Wipe-On Poly.
 

 
The Primary planking has a 1/8” brass spigot inserted – this will locate the base of the turntable in a later stage of construction.  The Secondary planking has a circular cut out for the turntable. This was formed by cutting roughly to shape on the Scroll saw, and then finishing on the spindle sander. 
 

 
Once both decks had been completed, it was a fairly simple case of finessing them to size to fit the space defined by the Boundary timbers.  Here are a few pics of the completed Mortar Pit in place:
 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up, fitting of the Upper Deck Clamps and preparation for construction of the Upper Deck.  Stay tuned.....
 
 

I have framed the doors in Ebony using a machined angle profile.They have been given a coat of poly.I am varnishing as I go as,if nothing else,it protects the boxwood from Ebony dust which can mark the boxwood and requires sanding to remove.
 
I have fitted four of the gallows?brackets under the balcony.There are two more still to fit at the transom sides.These will be shaped later as it is much easier to make sure the compound shapes line through.
 
The rear of the doors have been shaped where they fit to the existing planking.These have been epoxied into position.The upper section will be faired later before the planking continues upwards.
 
There is a dubious sheen to the matt poly at the moment.A later coat sprayed on will kill this and produce an even finish
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

(Continued from last post)
 
The completed Shell Room was then placed on the model, but has not been permanently fixed as yet - just in case it needs to come out again during construction of the next phase of building.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for all the good wishes folks.  After a week or so of complete rest following the operation, I was permitted to return to the shipyard in a very limited capacity, which has been enough to enable me to complete the assembly of the Shell Room.
 
Before commencing assembly, I thought ahead one more step and realised that the upper support beams will be let into the deck beams above them. To ensure a proper fit, I cut a 5/16" slot in a piece of scrap using a 5/16" end cutter in the Sherline Mill.  I then passed each of the three upper support beams through the Byrnes Thickness sander a couple of times so that they made an easy slide fit in the test notch.  This should mean that the Deck Beams will be easy to fit, allowing a little room for glue.
 
Here are a few shots of the third (and final) set of components dry-fitted as a final check for accuracy:
 

 

 

 
In order to provide easy access for both application of Wipe-On Poly and installation of the Bombs, final assembly was done in stages.  The first stage was installation of the centre-line racks.  In the next photo, you can see the centreline racks installed, with WOP applied and Bombs temporarily installed.  You can also see the brass pins used to aid alignment during installation.
 

 
After that the Bombs were epoxied in place in all racks, the port and starboard racks were installed and finally the header cross beams were added.  Here are a few shots of the finished product:
 

 

 

 

 
In the next post I'll add some of the completed Shell Room in place on the model.
 

I've been away for the last couple of weeks, but did finally manage to get some shipyard time in this weekend.  When last we  met, I had decided to go ahead with the Deck Clamp Bolts.  Here are a few pics of the final product – the pics appear somewhat streaky as the Wipe-on Poly was still wet when the pics were taken.
 

 

 

 

 
With this job out of the way, it was time to make a start on construction of the Shell Room.........
 
Shell Room Construction
 
Construction of the Shell Room begins with the fitting of the lower support beams, made from 5/16” square Pear, across the Floor Riders, with cross beams added in situ to ensure a proper fit.
 

 
Once the glue had dried, the frame assembly was removed from the model for further construction and fit-out.  The next step was to install the deck planks.  These are made from Holly, 1/16” x 1/8”.  I opted to simulate caulking using black paper as I wanted to see how this would look, knowing that once the assembly was completed, this deck would hardly be visible.  I also added treenails, using the drill and fill method as described previously.
 

 
In the above photo, you may notice three filled holes towards the left hand end (one in each beam).  This was where I incorrectly transferred one measurement before drilling.  I have filled the incorrect holes with a mixture of Pear sawdust and diluted PVA.  Once the assembly is complete, these will be barely visible, so I’m going to live with it. I've also just noticed that a couple of "treenails" in the Holly decking have come adrift and need replacing......
 
The pillars to support the shell racks were the next to be made.  No particular rocket science here, but a great job for the Sherline Mill after cutting the blanks on the Byrnes saw.  I constructed a small jig to hold all 18 pieces, then cut the dados (which are 2mm deep) in two passes of 1 mm each, using a 5/64” end mill cutter.  The only issue I had in this job was caused by operator error when I failed to ensure that the cutter was securely held in the mill.  The net result was that I destroyed half of my blanks in one pass.  No biggie – just whipped up some more blanks on the Byrnes saw and replaced the duds. (Did I mention I love my Byrnes saw?.........and my Sherline Mill?)
 

 
The pillars were also drilled in each end to take one end of a 1.5mm diameter brass locating pin (to match the holes drilled in the support beams).
 
Finally, here is an overall shot of all the components of the shell room.  The Shells themselves are ¼” diameter beads – they  may be just a tad undersize, so I’m holding off on drilling out the shell racks until I find out whether I can source some slightly larger beads of the same type.
 

 
 

Mark's post suggests to me that perhaps there is plenty of room for "interpretation" here.
 
So, I've gone ahead and prepared a test piece using a "spare" Mortar Pit Deck Clamp.  This has used 0.5mm Copper Wire, using the template I showed earlier, then sanded back, blackened with LoS, and then one coat of Wipe-on Poly applied.  I've just placed it on the model to get an idea of what it will look like in situ.  In the picture, you can see the treenails in the planking below as a comparison. Pay no attention to the light coloured "dots" on the right hand end of the test piece - they were from earlier treenail tests.
 

 
I think this is looking okay - not overdone.  Grateful for any and all opinions/comments.
 
 

Well, laziness got the better of me and I paid the price!       
 
I had decided that the next step was to permanently install the Mortar Pit Deck Clamps.  To do this, I needed to clamp the Clamps properly to the frames.  However, as “regular” clamps could not fit around the frames/jig, I decided to use a push method to hold them in place. This is where I got lazy.  I thought I would just use some scrap timber cut slightly over length and then wedge this between the opposing sides to give a pushing force on the clamps. Unfortunately, all I succeeded in doing was marking the face of the Clamps to the extent that they needed to be totally re-made.                  
 
Time to re-think clamping.  I decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and make up some spales.  These are really simple to make and require only some brass or aluminium tube, some threaded rod, nuts to suit, some scrap wood and some felt.  A quick trip to the hardware store got me all the supplies I needed and in next to no time I had some spales ready to use:
 

 

 
I made these to a size to suit this specific job.  While I was at it, I made up some smaller ones that I figured would come in handy when fixing the riders in place.
 

 
Just for comparison, here’s the two sizes side by side:
 

 
With these made up, and it was a simple job to re-cut the Mortar Pit Deck Clamps and then glue them in place using the spales to hold them tightly:
 

 
Once the Clamps were in place, I could then install the Riders.  The mini-spales came in real handy for this job:
 

 
Here is a couple of pics of the Riders in place. The joinery is not as tight as I would have liked, but I’m hoping that most of the flaws won’t be terribly visible later on.
 

 

 
Limber Boards and Footwaling
 
With the Riders in place, it was time to install the Limber boards and Footwaling.  This was a fairly straight forward job – and it was the first introduction of a different “colour” of timber - Boxwood.       
 
The “L”-shaped rabbet in the Limber Strake was cut using the Byrnes saw, and the angle faces on the Limber board were achieved using the Byrnes disc sander.  Temporary spacers were cut to aid in placing everything at the right distances.  Here’s the result:
 

 
 

 
Still tossing up whether to add tree-nails to the planking here.  The correct scale size would be a #78 drill  bit.  If I do these, I may use the drill and fill method, rather than trying to draw proper treenails to that size.  Will give this some further consideration during the week. Observations / suggestions welcome.  
 

Mortar Pit Deck Clamps
 
The next task was the construction of the Mortar Pit Deck Clamps (upper strake).  This is a relatively straight forward job and the Sherline mill made short work of cutting out the required notches. A bevel was required on the lower inboard edge, where this clamp butts up against the lower strake, which is a thinner dimension timber. This was marked out using a compass, and then a miniature plane was used to cut the bevel.  I picked this tool up at a woodwork show a year or two ago, and it is just wonderful to use. 
 

 
The outboard faces of the clamps also needed to be shaped to allow for the curve of the frames.  For this I used one of my foam sanding blocks (the red one on the left of the picture).
 

 
These come in a pack of six different shapes and use a self adhesive sandpaper (samples included in the pack).  I picked up the tip on these from somebody’s log here at MSW a long time ago, but I can’t actually remember whose log it was.  Anyway, they are terrific - I used these for fairing the inside of the frames as well.
 

 
Keelson
 
The Keelson was also fairly straight forward.  It was simply planed and sanded to impart the necessary bevels, and then drilled for copper bolts at each frame.  Locator holes for the pillars to be installed at a later stage were also drilled before fitting.  After glueing in place, the copper bolts were added, being glued in place with epoxy, and then blackened.  I hope I don’t have to remove it now! It was then marked out for the locations of the Floor Riders. 
 

 
Floor and Futtock Riders
 
The Floor and Futtock Riders were a real bear to make.  At first, I thought I would be clever and cut all the Floor Riders together. Good in theory, but they all need to be finessed for their particular position to account for the inevitable small errors in previous steps.  Similarly, the Futtock Riders were cut from the template and of course did not fit the curvature of my frames - accumulation of errors again.  Net result was that I had to remake all components, ensuring that each individual piece was carefully adjusted to fit in its designated location.  It took me the entire weekend to remake these parts, but they are now ready for fitting.
 

 

Repairs Complete!
 
Fillets were fitted to all of the gunport and sweep ports previously opened up and cleaned up.  To make the task a little easier, a standard size of fillet was used, and the opening adjusted accordingly.  To ensure that the ports remained centred in the openings, two simple sizing jigs were made (one each for gun ports and sweep ports).  These were simply a block of stock sized to the internal dimensions of the ports.
 
The triangular shaped filling lintels above the sweep ports look tricky, but were surprisingly easy to make.  I simply placed a piece of sticky label paper behind the opening and traced around the outside of the opening onto the paper.  This was transferred to a piece of 3/16” Pear stock, ensuring the grain was running vertically, rough cut and then sanded to the left and right side lines on the Byrnes disc sander.  The length was left slightly long and then gradually reduced on the sander until a snug fit was obtained.
 
Once all filling lintels had been installed and given overnight for the glue to fully cure, it was time to start sanding……..and sanding……..and sanding………and yet more sanding.
 
The outside of the hull was faired above the waterline using 80 grit sandpaper.  As this whole section above the waterline will be completely planked, I decided not to go any finer with the sandpaper (at least for now) as this will give a good “tooth” for the subsequent glue. I also found that some of the spacers were starting to come loose, so didn’t want to push my luck with these, at least not until there is something more substantial holding the frames together!
 
The inside above the waterline was sanded in similar fashion, while below the waterline was further sanded with 120, and then 180 grit.  There will be sections below the waterline that will remain unplanked, so I wanted to get that down to a smoother surface.  I’m still contemplating whether to go further with the finish sanding here.
 
I have deliberately not cut the height down to final size at this stage.
 
Any way, here’s a few photos of progress to date:
 

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, when fitting the lower sills, it became apparent that there was a problem with the pre-cut gun ports and sweep ports.  On one side the lower sill had to be lowered a couple of mm, while on the other side it had to be raised.  Here is a close up of the lowered sills, illustrating the  resultant problem (ie gap in the inside face of the port). 
 

 
Having thought about this for a couple of days, decided that the solution was to file out the ports to the edge of the lower sill, and then install fillers/shims on each side.  Tools used for this job included the Proxxon Pen Sander, a file, and the good old sanding stick.  The latter proved to be the most useful for the larger gunport, while the file was the "weapon of choice" for the sweep ports. 
 

 
Here is how it looked after the first two frames were adjusted: 
 

 
 
Frame Four was problematic in that the fix was going to leave a particularly narrow piece of the original frame - just asking to be snapped off.  So before filing this frame out, I added a separate filler piece between the frames to give more “meat” to support the vulnerable area. The filler is on the right hand side of the frame in the centre of this picture. 
 

 
All frames have now been opened up.  Next task will be to add the fillets to the sides of the ports, and then install the top sills / filling lintels.  It looks like this fix will work.
 

 
 
 
 

Thanks Augie, Jack, Mobbsie, David (Scratch) and Mike, and all of the "likes".
 
Well, the frames are finally complete.  Here they are prior to having the WOP finish applied:
 

 
All of the gunport and sweep port sills have been pre-cut, again thanks to Mobbsie for showing me the method for this:
 

 
And here are all the frames test-fit in the jig:
 

 

 
All appears to be in order.  I marked all the reference lines from the frame drawings on the individual frames, and they seem to be fairly well aligned and in roughly the right place, so I think I'm good to glue up.  If anyone spots any glaring errors, please let me know before I break out the glue!!!
 

I thought it was about time I posted an update, just to show "proof of life" in the shipyard............
 
I thought it timely to do some testing of finishes to make sure I was happy with the result, as I will need to finish the fore and aft faces of the frames before permanently installing them.  I plan on using Minwax Wipe-On Poly (WOP), in a satin finish, following the lead of some more experienced scratch builders here. I was very satisfied with the result (and ease of use).  For the Australians on the forum, I did find Minwax in Bunnings here but they carry only a very limited range of products.  I visited the new Masters home improvement centre recently and was delighted to see that they carry an extensive range of Minwax products.
 
Anyway, here's a shot of the test frame with two coats of WOP.  An untreated test frame is in the top of the picture. Unfortunately, the photograph doesn't really do it justice, but to the naked eye, it is a very pleasing colour.
 

 
i have also rough cut all of the remaining single frames.  I managed to cut all of these - 12 frames (60 component pieces) from a single 24" x 3" billet of Swiss Pear.  That provided me with lots of tricky scroll saw practice but I managed it without any boo-boos along the way.  In fact, I think it took me longer to lay out the pattern pieces to make them fit on the board, than it did to cut them out!  Here they all are:
 

 
And I have managed to custom fit the chocks to the first three of these frames.  Having finally settled on a reliable method for making these, they are really not difficult and don't take much time at all.  Again, I have to pay tribute to my mate Mobbsie for putting me onto a great method for making the scarph joints - this is half the battle for getting a good mating joint with the chocks.
 
Oh, you may notice something in the background of this shot that might help to explain the apparent lack of progress lately!
 

Thanks very much Bob, Mark, Sjors, Dave, Jeff and Aldo, and also to all of the "likes".  It's been a while since my last post, but only because I was doing more testing, thinking, testing, thinking............
 
Completing the Double Frames
 
Okay, so I decided that I wasn’t entirely happy with my scarph joints, and also that I was over-thinking the Chocks.  Time to revisit methodologies (again).
 
I decided to try Mobbsie’s method of creating the scarph joints, by using a file and the top edge of a vice as a reference plane/stop.  Only problem was, I first had to go out and buy a new vice with a flat top surface on the jaws. The method is really simple.  Having cut roughly to shape on the scroll saw, simply line up the template pattern line with the top of the vice jaws and and file until you feel metal instead of wood.
 

 
Some of the frames require cutouts for gunports/sweeps etc, and these are cut into the frames prior to assembly.  To achieve this, I used a neat razor saw to make some initial cuts before removing the waste with a chisel, and then finishing using the file/vice method.
 

 

 
Time to re-think the Chocks, again……..
 
Here’s the latest method, and this really seems to work well.  First up, getting a good, neat butt join between adjacent futtocks is essential, along with scarph joints that meet evenly at the butt join.  This is achieved using the file/vice method and test fitting, filing, test fitting until satisfied. Once happy with the butt/scarph joints, I used double sided tape to hold the lower central futtock in place over the pattern, placed more double sided tape over the locations for the remaining futtocks, and then placed some glue on the mating face of the next futtock before placing it in position hard up against the first futtock, where it is held in place by the double sided tape until the glue dries.  This process is repeated with the remaining futtocks until the frame (minus chocks) is complete.
 

 
The chocks were then made by cutting a piece of stock to roughly the width of the chock space and then finessing with the Disc Sander until a neat fit in to the chock opening was achieved.  Note the “handles” on the inboard side of the chocks.
 

 
The chock ends were then shaped on the Disc Sander until a neat fit was obtained, at which point the chocks were glued in place.  Because of the neat fit, and the frames being held in place on the tape, no clamps were required. This had been problematic previously as clamps tended to throw everything out of alignment as they were tightened.  Once the glue had dried, the frames were removed from the templates, the chock “handles” trimmed close on the scroll saw, and then finished off on the spindle sander.  Here’s what a completed frame looks like, with almost invisible joints….
 

 
Once the method was worked out, completing the remaining double frames went very smoothly.  All five double frame pairs have now been completed.  Here are a few progress shots:
 

 

 

 
That's it for now.  Off to Sydney to visit family for a couple of days and then it's on with the single frames, which should be relatively easy (famous last words)......

Revised Chock Making Method

 

I wasn’t entirely happy with the chocks in my test frame and decided to try a couple of different methods.  In the end, this is what I did.  I first marked up some “construction lines” on the frame template, and then cut a cardboard template strip (from a manila folder) to suit the width of each of the chock sizes:

 



 

Then I held the frame sections in place over the template and traced around the inside of the scarf joint to mark the chock shape onto the template. The shape was then transferred to the chock “stock” and finessed to shape on the Byrnes Disc Sander:

 



 

This worked reasonably successfully, so will continue with this method for the remaining frames.  Here’s a shot of the finally finished frame D1/D2, complete with blackened bolts, in position in the jig. Now to make a few more……..