bdgiantman2

I have been plodding along on the model when I can find time. I cut out the 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) plywood subdeck. It is in two sections. The aft piece has been fitted around the well for the magtail reel. I am using rubber bands to pre-form the plywood pieces to the sheer and camber of the hull. I'm not sure this will help much but it is worth a try.
 

 
The subdeck hasn't been glued to the bulkheads. I will do that after the hull planking is complete. This gives me access to the interior of the hull during planking, and afterwards for coating the interior with clear epoxy to glue everything together. The subdeck pieces are cut wider than the finished size to allow the plywood to be shaped to fit over the top of the hull planking all around. The plank sheer pieces around the deck edges will be shaped to fit to the edges of the sub deck. A guard piece will fit over the edge of the plywood and part of the top planking strake.
 
Next up was cutting the rabbet for the planking at the bow. The 1/32 inch (0.79 mm) thick keel siding creates a rabbet suitable for the garboard strake. But at the bow the rabbet should be 1/16 inch deep for the planking, so I had to carve out a shallow cut behind the edge of the keel siding.
 
Carving the stem will be interesting. In theory (according to the blueprints) the stem will be shaped to continue the angle of the hull planking, creating a relatively sharp prow. Along the front edge of the stem will be a thin brass "stem band" 0.050 inch ((1.27 mm) wide. 
 
I say "in theory" because as I place hull planks on the bow the angle changes constantly from the keel up to the deck level, and I am not sure the resulting width of the forward edge of the stem will be a constant width. To be continued ...
 
Another thing that had to be done before I start planking the hull is to create the fairing around the propeller shaft on the keel/deadwood at the stern.
 

 
 
 
The keel is 0.202 inch (5.1 mm) thick, but there is a swelling or fairing around the propeller shaft that should be 0.302 inches (7.7 mm) wide as shown in the drawing above. The vertical height of this fairing is about 0.54 inches (13.8 mm). I cut two pieces of 1/16 inch basswood to be glued onto the keel/deadwood to fashion the fairing. These were pre-shaped to create the approximate curvature of the fairings.
 

 
The propeller shaft exits the hull with a slight downward angle. After the glue hardens I will finish shaping the pieces with round files and sandpaper. A bit of putty might be needed here. The hull planking will have to be fitted around these fairings and that could be interesting. I will also probably need to carve the rabbet a bit deeper here in front of the keel siding pieces.

Saw this and thought of your blog on here. I hope this is approved 
 
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1062011819046190&set=a.523280112919366

Finished
 
With this my 66th post and three years since I began I have finished my HMS Winchelsea. I’ve included a few final photos, in each I am reminded of the time and effort I put into that section of the model. It was important for me to get it right, I was never reluctant, or better said even if I was reluctant, I’d take it apart, tear it off and do it again, often multiple times. I like to think my hull has three sides worth of planking.
 
Like those before me I commend, thank, and appreciate Chuck for his outstanding design and quality parts from beginning to end. I appreciate his patience in answering my questions and his unfailingly providing replacement parts when I exhausted the included spares. Thanks Chuck for giving me the experience of building this amazing model.
 
While many smaller parts were provided in boxwood, the majority of the model is Alaskan Yellow Cedar. It is beautiful wood, my Cheerful completed 4 years ago continues to age into a pleasant golden tone. The AYC is just right for its color and woodworking properties, it and the boxwood blend well together.
 
In the end I decided not to include the lantern, sorry. I built it and it’s fine, my “candle” even turned out great. However, the stern with all its intricate figures, friezes, and combination of small parts is likely my favorite part of the model. I just couldn’t bring myself to deflect any part of that view, let along drill into the boxwood crest. So historical accuracy is set aside this one time, I built a little stand for it to sit on a shelf and there it will stay.
 
So here are the photos without further commentary:









My thanks and appreciation to those that have followed my log these past three years, I hope it was helpful or at least entertaining. I’m not sure what’s next, I’ll take some time to think about it. If on the other hand you’re wondering what your next project will be, Winchelsea is a great challenge to take on. It sure was for me.
 

Ares is ready! Actually she is ready for quite some time, I participated to our local modeling exhibition here in Chania last week. Unfortunatelly I had to work on her with a tight schedule to have her completed in time, and therefore took almost next to no photos of the rest of the rigging process. Needless to say it drove me mad, but I learned quite a lot, to say the least. 
 

Cold weather has come around in my part of the world,so time to pull the dust cover off the Mahonesa's and resume working her,not much has been done,still working on the gundeck beams and building the gratings,need to build a different stand so I can mount the rudder and began working on the tiller and sweep.

Thank you Glenn and Al for your kind remarks and thank you to all the 'Likes'.
 
The tiller
Not being confident in my ability to make the end of the tiller with a perfect sphere, I decided to compose my tiller by assembling several elements. It consists of three distinct parts, each made from a different material: the main body of the tiller will be carved from a 1/8” thick piece of cherry wood, the sphere at the end of the tiller comes from a glass-headed pin and the fine connections (mouldings) between the various elements are sculpted using two-component resin.
So I start by cutting the main body from a 1/8” cherry board.

I sculpt it to its proper shape using files and a #11 blade

After piercing the end of the piece, I insert the pin shaft of the glass-headed pin (cut to a length of a few millimeters).

I then mask the wooden body of the tiller and spray the pinhead with primer (Revell basic spray) to facilitate final coloring.
I could have used brass wire to make the connectors (mouldings), but I preferred to use two-component putty because it's so much simpler: there's no need to glue, as the putty sticks to the wood and pinhead all by itself, and it's also very easy to make a thin 'wire' of the right cross-section by simply rolling a small ball of putty with a finger. What's more, once the putty 'wire' has been wrapped around the tiller, the joint is smoothed with a moistened brush and is perfectly invisible...

The tiller is then painted red using my airbrush.


A final check on the plan and the tiller is ready to be installed.

I can move on to building the pumps.
 

Hi
 
What's the issue you are having as I think the pictures of your frames look very good?  They follow the plans nicely and the final finished shape is not needed at this stage as that will be sanded once they are all in.
 
I think that translating the plans that you have into an Underhill system may prove difficult.  I know of another builder who has tried this on this model and ran into some difficult problems.
 
Your skills are more than enough so maybe just keep at the frames as they are?  If you don't have a copy - Adrian Sorrolla's book gives a step by step tutorial on how to assemble the frames on this ship.  I followed his instruction pretty much to the letter and it helped me complete them
 
Mark

Thanks Mark... thanks for your comment, really appreciated...yes, I am following his tutorial and it helps a lot..
 
Some of my frames are not lining up correctly so the end result after glueing them (like frame #12) is not lining up with plan;
Also, need to sand every frame individually since I forgot to run wood board thru planer ending up with frame parts that are thicker than needed... which is not that big of a deal, as I already sanded down half of them...
Want to try some other approach of frame building but definitely will not use all my current frames in long winter nights, helping warming up the house 🙂
I am more familiar with making frames as I started and planning to continue building ribs with existing frames, not giving up (too much time and funds will be wasted if I start freshly new) but some of them that are not good, will try replacing with Underhill' method with spare wood from pile... Will try.. and if not working fine will just redo the missing pieces..
 
Since I really like this ship, somehow is a simple but yet very powerful model, I made an investment and got a larger scale of the same model, so thinking of this build like a learning curve..
 



And, your build absolutely helping me a lot throughout my adventure..
 
 
 

Hi
 
Ah I see your problem now but I think it's easily sorted.  You have the basis of a frame but it's the building of the parts that seem the issue.  I too had this issue and threw all of my first frames away  - so I get it.
 
So - The joints and their angles are very important and it took me a while to work this out.  Once I started assembling my frames over a frame drawing my efforts became far better.  You are so close so don't be put off just keep going.  If you do decide to change tack and use Underhill's methods then good luck my friend.  I do think that it can be done but Gerard's plans are so precise that I stayed the course.  
 
My build is 1/24th which actually shows any defects in accuracy as much greater.   If I can help in anyway just let me know  
 
Mark

Thank you Mark, I will keep using existing frames and making sure they line up properly following plan... just a bit of practice... 
Will also try the other method but already have some questions in my head for that method build... but it might be worth spending hour or two for testing..
Yeah, larger scale = more visible mistakes...
 
Thank you and will certainly use your help offering if needed..
 
Cheers
 

More the one long piece, but either way is doable.

If I understand you correctly, I would think it would be a lot easier fitting a block of wood at the base between each of your bulkheads  as your garboard, starting at bulkhead 1 and continuing to bulkhead 15 as you are showing us with the red highlighted areas and having it run slightly beneath each bulkhead as well then sand to the desired shape underneath. The middle six or seven bulkheads show the same shape of the garboard to my eyes so that ought to make shaping a bit easier.
 
Brian D

If I understand you correctly, I would think it would be a lot easier fitting a block of wood at the base between each of your bulkheads  as your garboard, starting at bulkhead 1 and continuing to bulkhead 15 as you are showing us with the red highlighted areas and having it run slightly beneath each bulkhead as well then sand to the desired shape underneath. The middle six or seven bulkheads show the same shape of the garboard to my eyes so that ought to make shaping a bit easier.
 
Brian D

Quarterdeck beams
I finished the quarterdeck beams using the ones from Chuck. Other than having to enlarge a few bulwark cutouts, it went smoothly. I scratched the transom beam which is made in two layers. It was adjusted in thickness in order to get a smooth run of planks. To do that I made the top 1/32" thick rather than 1/16". None of the beams are glued in except for the transom beam. The deck has a curved sweep. When I push down on the plank it sits flush with all the beams.


Mike

Your stern-wheeler looks about 50ft to 60ft length.  I tried to include a picture from another site of a slightly longer boat with bridge in front but wouldn't let me include the link.  The side view provided gives good details for the main deck. Can still have car riding in middle of boat. Also I was just noticing that the paddle in first picture is a chain drive and not steam powered although there probably was some kind of a small boiler under bridge. Interesting projects that you are working on, keep it up. 
 
 
Found these as other ideas for you: 
https://cmdboats.com/plan/River Belle 40
https://www.oldoregonphotos.com/small-sternwheeler-restless-near-gardiner-c-1895.html
 
Brian D

Your stern-wheeler looks about 50ft to 60ft length.  I tried to include a picture from another site of a slightly longer boat with bridge in front but wouldn't let me include the link.  The side view provided gives good details for the main deck. Can still have car riding in middle of boat. Also I was just noticing that the paddle in first picture is a chain drive and not steam powered although there probably was some kind of a small boiler under bridge. Interesting projects that you are working on, keep it up. 
 
 
Found these as other ideas for you: 
https://cmdboats.com/plan/River Belle 40
https://www.oldoregonphotos.com/small-sternwheeler-restless-near-gardiner-c-1895.html
 
Brian D

Your stern-wheeler looks about 50ft to 60ft length.  I tried to include a picture from another site of a slightly longer boat with bridge in front but wouldn't let me include the link.  The side view provided gives good details for the main deck. Can still have car riding in middle of boat. Also I was just noticing that the paddle in first picture is a chain drive and not steam powered although there probably was some kind of a small boiler under bridge. Interesting projects that you are working on, keep it up. 
 
 
Found these as other ideas for you: 
https://cmdboats.com/plan/River Belle 40
https://www.oldoregonphotos.com/small-sternwheeler-restless-near-gardiner-c-1895.html
 
Brian D

That will be an impressive fleet!

Hi Johann your work is number one

There he goes!! Off making saw dust

Hi dear friends and colleaugues, this is the current state of my laboratory with several models underconstruction, both french and english.

Just for fun I tried dry fitting the deck framing assembly on the cross-section - I think it looks good - the gap for the pump shafts is still a little narrow for my liking, but we'll cross that bridge when it comes....
hamilton

There he goes!! Off making saw dust

Hi Ben, 
the gun deck will be complete with all the 24 pdrs as well as cabins, chain pumps and fittings. It will be fully viewable through the framed upper deck with minimal planks.
As soon as the hull is planked I will begin working on the gun deck. 

Im looking forward to making some progress on my Winnie as well, it’s been way too long and I’m so close to the end! 

I think I finally get this little bugger #4 done; it took me several attempts and I think I have it correct but we will see down the build...
So far if I put together all bad parts I made, I might ended up with one good pear wood board .

Anyhow, next is work on #1 timber...







Happy modelling..