bdgiantman2

Continuing with the stem/keel assembly....
 
The remaining sections of keel were added working my way aft.  The keel is actually two layers.  I added one layer at a time.  Each segment is numbered.   The numbers face inward so when the two layers are glued up you cant see them.
 

Here is the entire keel all put together.   Each segment remember is in two layers and I added them one layer at a time trying to get real nice and tight scarphs.   Its not difficult when done in layers.
 
I also added the false keel.  This is the thin strip on the bottom.  This was done with 1/8" wide strips the same depth as the keel.   I simulated the seams with a pencil.  There is still no finish on these parts so it will really look great once I add some wipe on poly.
 

On the aft section you will see a small step where the rabbet strip will end.   You will probably need to adjust where this is.  I made the parts so this was a bit forward of where it should be.  Just lay the keel assembly as it stands on top of the plan and mark the exact location for this slanted step.  Then use a sharp chisel or #11 blade to cut this step in the exact location.
 
Also note that the false keel may seem a bit wide top to bottom.  I have done this intentionally.  It is about 1/32" larger than needed.  I have found that the false keel when made of cedar will take a beating throughout the project.  It will get dented etc.   Even if you tape it to protect it.  So I made it slightly taller so I can sand the bottom of the keel down smooth much later in the project.  Just to smooth out any creases and dents.

The Rabbet...
 
The rabbet is done as I typically do on all of my projects.  I realize the rabbet is a complex organism of sorts.  It should have a "V" shape with and ever changing profile depending on how the hull planking enters it.   I usually make a mess of that if carved with a chisel.  Those of you who have the Speedwell books from Seawatch can see how Greg did this.  He is much more handy with a chisel than I am.
 
So this will be simplified and should you choose to add the garboard hull plank will mostly be covered anyway.   Using a simple strip here is neat and clean.
 
The one thing I have done differently this time is I laser cut the curved sections at the bow in two lengths.   See the photo below.  The two lengths are already glued on the stem assembly but I also show some extras on the table for clarity.   They are 1/16" thick.  The longer segment goes on first and is centered port to starboard.   This will leave a nice lip on both sides.  Then the shorter laser cut rabbet strip is added.   No need to sand the laser char off these.
 
The remaining rabbet strip that works itself aft is just made using a 7/32" x 1/16" cedar strip.  It ends at that slanted step you so carefully chiseled just a moment ago.
 

The Upper and Lower Aprons...
 
Now these pieces you have no doubt seen being made on many POF model.   The upper apron is nothing special.   Its a plain segment that is 3/8" thick.   Simple enough.  The LOWER apron is a different story all together.  It is much more complex.  You have probably seen folks hand chiseling tiny steps into both sides of the lower apron...once again take a look at Volume one of the Speedwell books.
 
I wanted to simplify this however.  Not because it could be difficult to do but because I know that most folks dont have vertical mill, or disc sanders or all the gadgets you often see when folks make the lower apron.
 
I have decided to make the lower apron using many separate parts instead.   Looking ahead to adding the forward cant frames, each set of cant frames has a different angle sanded into the heel of it.   This is so it can be "canted" forward.   This is simply not going to work to easily if you dont have a disc sander.  So I created small wedges with the angles already pre-set on them to accept straight right angled heels on the cant frames.
 
I hope that makes sense.
 
See below.  The upper apron is in front...easy peasy.  Set that one aside for now.  The lower apron is laser cut with a series of steps.  On these steps we will glue the pre-angled wedges.  But using this approach leaves the bottom of the lower apron very thin even at this scale.  It can easily break or get misshapen.  So I have laser cut the "stepped" lower apron attached to a sacrificial piece of wood.   You can use it as a handle.  DO NOT remove the lower apron from this "handle" until all of the little angled wedges are glued to it.  Those will give it enough strength...a remarkable amount of strength actually.  In the photo below I have already added two of the laser cut wedges which show the angles for the cant frames.  Check your plans as these are prominently shown.  Work from the aft side forward.
 
Each angled wedge is made on two layers.   They have laser etched numbers on them and correspond to the plan.  Gle the two layers together with the numbers facing each other.  This is important.   Glue the two halves together "number facing number".   The next to be done for me are the parts marked "7 & 6" in that photo.   I will glue them together now.

Once glued together with the numbers facing each other,  you could make life easier for yourself later by cutting them down a bit.  Once the two pieces are glued together they are too tall.  This doesnt matter at all but if you trim them to match the plans it will be so much easier to fair the inside of the hull when the time comes.   The Keelson will fit so much nicer on top of this when the time comes.  Below you can see me doing just that.  With a sharp blade I am trimming the top to match the plans.   Make sure you have the piece facing the correct way.  Place it on the plan and draw a line where the top portion can be shaved away.  Do this for every piece...I know its a pain.  But you will thank me when it comes time to add the cant frames later. 

When all of the segments are glued onto each step of the lower apron base,  you can finally cut away the bottom handle.  It was held on by just a few connectors which are easily cut with a sharp blade.  Hopefully you glued those wedges onto each step securely and didnt skimp on the glue.  Glue each onto its step and also to the wedge proceeding it.  Nice and secure.  Center them down the top of each step.   Dont mix up the numbers either.  That would be bad because the angles match each individual cant frame.  I also sanded the top of all those wedges so it looks nice and neat.  It also matched the shape for the lower apron shown on the plans.
 

Note that you should not remove any of the laser char on the angled sides of these wedges.  Not only would that screw up the angles laser cut into each of them, but it would also reduce their size.   That should be avoided.
 
A dry test fit of the upper and lower aprons on the keel assembly below.  trying my best to match the curve.   Use the plan to find the exact location for the aft edge of the lower apron along the keel.  You dont want it too forward or even too aft.   Place the keel assembly on the plan and mark where the exact locations are for the upper and lower aprons.  Note how the upper apron extends above the rabbet strip.
 
Note how the aprons are wider than the keel.   The aprons should be centered on the rabbet strip leaving a nice over hang on both sides.
 


 
Still no finish applied to these parts yet.  I will do that once the entire keel/stem assembly is completed.  Thats it for today!!!
 

 
Any questions?
 
 

We shall see when production starts.   The biggest issue is getting enough sheets of milled Yellow Cedar and being able to laser cut so many parts with only one machine.  I really dont want to buy more machines.  Dont have the room.  I cant possibly store or even expect Joe to mill the hundreds and thousands of sheets needed to meet demand.  
 
Like the Longboat kit and Barge kit,  its tough for me to meet demand.   I wont discontinue any kits but think of them like the McRib sandwich.  It may be months if not a year before I find the time to make more of them and have enough wood to do so.
 
But eventually the McRib sandwich will be back for everyone to enjoy...personally I think the sandwiches are disgusting but you get what I mean.
 
Chuck

Hey Brian, amazing progress with this ship of yours! She looks very authentic and should get many prizes. Just as a FYI, with my current model ship (Brig Eagle of Lake Champlain in 1814), I also bought an American flag with the 13 stars in the circular pattern. Of all the places, to get the flag in the size suggest getting (the size of an index card), I ended up buying from a company in England! Will need to see if able to find the name of the company to send to you over private messaging. I tried companies in the United States like Blue Jacket, but the biggest options they had available was 1:96 scale or else it was too modern.
 
I look forward to additional progress on this amazing model as well as whatever your next project will be on here.
 
Brian D

I am envious of how clean and precise your work always is, especially your keels and the deadwood. You, sir, are worthy of the title Maestro  🙇‍♂️

Hey Brian, amazing progress with this ship of yours! She looks very authentic and should get many prizes. Just as a FYI, with my current model ship (Brig Eagle of Lake Champlain in 1814), I also bought an American flag with the 13 stars in the circular pattern. Of all the places, to get the flag in the size suggest getting (the size of an index card), I ended up buying from a company in England! Will need to see if able to find the name of the company to send to you over private messaging. I tried companies in the United States like Blue Jacket, but the biggest options they had available was 1:96 scale or else it was too modern.
 
I look forward to additional progress on this amazing model as well as whatever your next project will be on here.
 
Brian D

Hey Brian, amazing progress with this ship of yours! She looks very authentic and should get many prizes. Just as a FYI, with my current model ship (Brig Eagle of Lake Champlain in 1814), I also bought an American flag with the 13 stars in the circular pattern. Of all the places, to get the flag in the size suggest getting (the size of an index card), I ended up buying from a company in England! Will need to see if able to find the name of the company to send to you over private messaging. I tried companies in the United States like Blue Jacket, but the biggest options they had available was 1:96 scale or else it was too modern.
 
I look forward to additional progress on this amazing model as well as whatever your next project will be on here.
 
Brian D

After completing the inner planking I can now move on to the next step which is removing the jig that has supported the ship during construction of the frames and the inner planking. Instead of the whole jig from now on the ship is supposed to sit on two plywood panels that are just put into pre-cut slots of the building board.
 

 
I initially fixed the side doors with wood-screws so they could easily be removed when necessary for example to check the fit of the frames during installation. Just some unscrewing needed ..
 

 
.. as well as on the other side.
 

 
The center section is glued together using one small plywood part on each side. Unfortunately it cannot be removed easily as it holds the construction tight inside the jig. So I had to lift the whole assembly up and cut twice into the plywood center section - and even then I had to use slight force to remove it completely. The last step was to put the new plywood support panels inside the building board and the ship onto it.
 

 

 

I have just finished the planking job. The port side has a mirrored starboard planking layout, turned out not bad - but after this build I won‘t use cherry wood again for ship-modeling. Here are some pictures ..
 

 

 

 

 

 
I still need more planking experience but every step I pass makes it a little easier. Just a little sanding where needed and then the Coureur is ready to be released from the jig to start the outside planking job. 
 
Stay tuned and a nice weekend ..
 

Hey Brian, amazing progress with this ship of yours! She looks very authentic and should get many prizes. Just as a FYI, with my current model ship (Brig Eagle of Lake Champlain in 1814), I also bought an American flag with the 13 stars in the circular pattern. Of all the places, to get the flag in the size suggest getting (the size of an index card), I ended up buying from a company in England! Will need to see if able to find the name of the company to send to you over private messaging. I tried companies in the United States like Blue Jacket, but the biggest options they had available was 1:96 scale or else it was too modern.
 
I look forward to additional progress on this amazing model as well as whatever your next project will be on here.
 
Brian D

Hey Brian, amazing progress with this ship of yours! She looks very authentic and should get many prizes. Just as a FYI, with my current model ship (Brig Eagle of Lake Champlain in 1814), I also bought an American flag with the 13 stars in the circular pattern. Of all the places, to get the flag in the size suggest getting (the size of an index card), I ended up buying from a company in England! Will need to see if able to find the name of the company to send to you over private messaging. I tried companies in the United States like Blue Jacket, but the biggest options they had available was 1:96 scale or else it was too modern.
 
I look forward to additional progress on this amazing model as well as whatever your next project will be on here.
 
Brian D

Hey Brian, amazing progress with this ship of yours! She looks very authentic and should get many prizes. Just as a FYI, with my current model ship (Brig Eagle of Lake Champlain in 1814), I also bought an American flag with the 13 stars in the circular pattern. Of all the places, to get the flag in the size suggest getting (the size of an index card), I ended up buying from a company in England! Will need to see if able to find the name of the company to send to you over private messaging. I tried companies in the United States like Blue Jacket, but the biggest options they had available was 1:96 scale or else it was too modern.
 
I look forward to additional progress on this amazing model as well as whatever your next project will be on here.
 
Brian D

That pill container you are asking about is a travelers pill container. I see these a lot as I am working at an airport.  You have a canister for each day of the week and put the appropriate pills into each day. You can find these easily at most drug stores. 

Nice information about constructing your cannons and carriages, the final results are looking great. And I can tell a few old wire coat-hangers got recycled to good use, lol. Keep up the great building process, Glenn!
 
Brian

That pill container you are asking about is a travelers pill container. I see these a lot as I am working at an airport.  You have a canister for each day of the week and put the appropriate pills into each day. You can find these easily at most drug stores. 

Nice information about constructing your cannons and carriages, the final results are looking great. And I can tell a few old wire coat-hangers got recycled to good use, lol. Keep up the great building process, Glenn!
 
Brian

I keep thinking about how long it is taking me to do 8, knowing there are 24 more to go. I’d have to return to sender😁😂

Nice information about constructing your cannons and carriages, the final results are looking great. And I can tell a few old wire coat-hangers got recycled to good use, lol. Keep up the great building process, Glenn!
 
Brian

Cannon - It’s a Process
 
I managed to break a couple of parts preventing me from completing Chapter 3, of course Chuck has since kindly provided replacements. In the interim I elected to start production on the 32 cannon I’ll ultimately need for my war ship by building the first eight.
 
This many of anything for me requires a repeatable process, doing these eight helped work out that process. Upfront I acknowledge some of what I describe below comes from Chuck’s excellent instruction, some of it is my own, some from other builders like @Rustyj, @DelF, @James H, and @Stuntflyer, some of that I modified, some I probably absorbed from others and think its my own. That’s the wonder of this forum, many of us have built many cannon in many different ways, we all learn from each other and in doing so make it our own. I’m just out to efficiently make the many cannon needed for Winchelsea - So with that disclaimer and for your reading entertainment, here’s how I'm doing them.

Like others I’ve opted for red carriages with natural wheels and axels. All edges and backside of all parts have a lot of char to remove. It’s a slow tedious process that can only be done one part at a time. There are no shortcuts. The red paint I’m using, Winsor & Newton Crimson, won’t cover char so it all has to come off. This photo is at the end of a lot of sanding with 320 and 400 grit paper (with 8 axels still to go).

With all the char removed, first up was the combination of the carriage bed and quoin. I drilled a hole for the handle, I’m using 8mm belaying pins from Crafty Sailor, they look great and for me are the right scale. On a side note, this little bottle, learned from @DelF or more specifically his wife I recall, is a great applicator for PVA. I have a large bottle of quality white wood glue I transfer to this little bottle found on Amazon under Fine Line Applicator, standard tip.

I put my Proxxon DB250 lathe and these home-made sanding sticks to work, turning the trucks to remove the char. 32 trucks later …

I put the lathe to work again rounding the axels, a brass tube (which I later cut to a shorter length) helped with the rounding and confirming a consistent size to match the wheels. 16 axels later…

I had this little jig from Cheerful (I keep all my old jigs) I put it to work on the mill drilling the required holes in the carriage sides. I set the right location for one then rotated all the carriages through drilling the one, set it for the next hole and did all again. There are 4 holes on each carriage side. 64 holes later …

I made a new jig to hold eight carriage sides, again marking first location on a row, moving the mill back to front to drill the same hole 8 times, marked the next row, then the next. Once all three rows done, loaded the other 8 and did it again. 48 holes later …

On to the barrels. The resin barrels are excellent for the detail they show. So much better than applying the tiny King’s crest to a brass barrel as I did for Cheerful, but he sprue has to be gently removed without breaking off the cascabel, ask me how I know this. I chose the same method I’ve done in the past by next painting the barrels with Admiralty Ironworks Black. Its nice matte finish is fine on it’s own.

Instead I added Doc O’Brien’s Rusty Brown by cycling through this brush set left to right, each to its purpose from application to buff out. I don’t know why Rusty Brown produces such a nice gun metal gray on top of the Ironworks Black, but it does.

It doesn’t show up very well in this photo but here are the three stages, starting resin, painted black, weathering powder applied. 8 barrels later …


After assembly of the char-free parts, using the perfect jig provided by Chuck shown in the first photo, it’s off to the paint shop for the carriages.
 
I’m not super confident with an airbrush, specifically getting the paint from the tube to the right consistency. I seemed to have gotten it right this time using Liquitex Airbrush Medium and remembering the mantra ‘milk not milkshake.” Good that I remembered to tape the axels since I want them natural. 8 painted carriages later …

Next up, a coat of WOP to the axels and the trucks, threaded through a line and left overnight to dry. 32 wheels and 16 axels later …

Not done yet, time to do the metal work - lots of eyebolts and split rings to make from 24 gauge wire. I’m using a #41 bit to form the split rings and a # 61 bit for the eyebolts. It took me a few times to remember how I did them for Cheerful, I got the hang of it again and methodically wrapped, twisted, cut repeat.   For me the smooth surface (so not to scratch the wire) needle nose pliers and quality flush cutters are essential.  I’ve found jewelry makers supply stores have the best tools for this type of metal work. 56 eyebolts and 16 split rings later …. (I was on a roll and made more, I'll need lots more later)
 
The eyebolts take up seven holes on the carriage, the remaining eight are bolts simulated with 25lb black monofilament fishing line. Just glue, insert and snip a little proud of the carriage. 64 cut lines later …

I’m using black card cut in 2mm strips for the cap squares and following Chuck’s look with a “hinge” and the front and hook bolt on the backside. Simulated with 25lb  black fishing line (so I don’t have to paint cut wire) and 24 gauge wire for the hook. I re-imaged a jig I used for Cheerful to pre-shape the card so it will lay easily and consistently on the carriage for gluing. I found it easier to add the front hinge on the jig. 16 cap squares and 32 hinge sets later …

I finally have one completed cannon, here being inspected by mini-me, I still have seven more to mount barrels and add the cap square and hinges. Once the eight are complete I’m going back to finish Chapter 3 - knowing I still have 24 more to do, part of my reason for this post is a reference for me to look back to when I start the next set. They do look pretty cool once complete.
 
It is though, a process.
 
Thank you for stopping by, hope this was helpful or at least mildly entertaining. As always thank you for the likes and the comments.
 

This is maybe best build I ever saw, including beautiful photography , light & background, premium ropes and tratment. thank you fro treat, inspiration  and happy continuation. V. 

While you are in San Diego make some visits to the the Maritime Museum and the the Midway Carrier Museum. I used to live in San Diego. Have a great vacation with your family.

After a long time, I have finally reached the end of building the galley stove:









 

Thanks Matt and Glenn!
Thanks bdgiantman2 we are on our way there today! 

While you are in San Diego make some visits to the the Maritime Museum and the the Midway Carrier Museum. I used to live in San Diego. Have a great vacation with your family.

Yellow Alaska Cedar definitely looks great as planking.  I just was trying to follow the advice of Mr. Passaro for whatever it's worth of having as few as possible varieties of wood on my model.  I will admit that right now I am looking at three different types of wood being used on this model when the finished version finally comes out.
 
I'm not trying to pick on anyone at all in any form, but I am feeling better about my progress after reading a re-shared blog of a very experienced model builder on here talking about how took 30 years to build one of his models. Hopefully my build wouldn't be quite that long, but it will be a while with the pace I am going around working. 

Ah the one good thing about winter. More modeling time!