lagrayjr

Here is the idea of how frames join to the keel. The kind of filler added under the frame was to save wood.  I tried some to see what it look like. This is the kind of details which disappears when all the frames are assembled. With this  carpentry, a frame holds solidly on the keel.

Thank you guys for all the likes and nice comments.
To Ondras71: You are not right, there are many other builders much better as me on this forum.
Swivel guns and carronades - it remains to make the carriages for carronades, the swivel guns are ready for the mounting (will be done later).

Quarter deck breastwork with hammock cranes and netting. I spend the next few days at the lathe - I have to make swivel guns and carronades.

MORE PROGRESS.....
This is a fairly special morning for me in terms of progress posting.  
I spent the day yesterday working on capping off the rails.  We all know the feeling, right?
I took a couple of early shots before I set about working on the beginning of developing the spar deck.

 

 

BEAMS AND STANCHIONS PROGRESS....
Needing to take a few photo's in order to examine more closely the stanchions being installed to support and level the spar decking.
For obvious reasons, these stanchions actually serve a vital function, as on the real ship, in that the spar deck must be leveled perfectly from port to starboard and fore to aft.  The only reference being the distance from the gun deck planking.
This first shot illustrates the method I have used to determine the precise length of each of the many stanchions.  This spacer block is one of several used as I worked my way down the length of the gun deck.  All have been closely trimmed to the same exact length of 22/16th.

Note, all of the cross beams are cut from hard rock maple for strength.

Most of the stanchions are painted white with a black foundation block, but several are natural wood with a golden oak stain.  The two heavy supports located at the bilge pumps are natural.

 

@cog
Thanks for your nice comment and
@all the others for the LIKES.
 
Here is another update.
The topgallant masts were equipped with the remaining sheaves and the fids.



Similarly, the trestle trees still received sheaves.

The last picture shows the parts of the masts that have been produced so far.

 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 224 – Bowsprit Standing Rigging 3
 
Jib Boom Guys
 
The jibboom and flying jibboom guys provided lateral support for the outer bowsprit.  They are 5 ½" rope at the forward ends and 54 links per fathom (lpf) chain where they pass through the whisker booms and back to where they belay to hearts on the outer rail.  I used the smallest (40 lpi) model chain available for this size chain.  The first picture shows the port jibboom guy secured and the starboard guy draped through its whisker boom cleat. 
 

 
Loose ends of both the line and the seizing yarn may be seen in the picture.  The rope sections are seized at both ends – to eyes on the boom and to the chains.  The next picture shows a seizing being tied at a boom eyebolt.
 
 
 
The rope is held taut with the alligator clip shown in the picture.  After tying each seizing a drop of darkened glue is placed on the knot.  When this has fully dried the excess seizing thread and the excess line are clipped off.  Another drop of diluted glue is applied to further seal the knot and the cut rope end.  At this stage the line is given an initial tension using the heart lanyards.  The next picture shows both jibboom guys essentially installed.
 

 
The next picture shows the 40 lpi chain at the whisker boom. 
 

 
This picture tells me that the whisker boom needs straightening.  These have occasionally run afoul of my hands and arms.  They are very vulnerable to this.  Perhaps the chains will help.
 
Flying Jibboom Guys
 
The flying jibboom guys are lighter, 3¾" rope and 74 lpf chain.  Chain of this size is made by twisting copper wire.  Some of this, with shackles soldered to the ends, is shown below.
 
 
 
 
This picture illustrates some variation in the simulated links per inch – very difficult to discern by the naked eye.  The next picture shows the outer guy on the starboard side and the hearts and lanyards on both guys on that side.
 

 
The eyebolts are anchored in toptimbers, spaced to keep the two sets of hearts from fouling each other.  Again, the lanyards are left unseized until final tensioning later.  The paper toweling in the picture was used to catch drips of the liver of sulfur solution used to touch up the blacking on the chains.  The next picture shows the chain sections of the guys on the port side.
 

 
The next picture is an ultra-close up of the two rope/chain seizings.
 

 
All the line used so far on the model is linen dyed with India Ink, except for some of the lashings that are cotton.  The seizing thread is black quilting cotton.
 
The foot ropes and lifelines that will complete this phase of the bowsprit rigging will be covered in the next part.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 223 – Bowsprit Standing Rigging 2
 
Martingale Backstays
 
The first picture shows the two prefabricated martingale backstays with hearts attached, secured to eyebolts on the lower end of the martingale.
 

 
These are of 40 lpi copper chain, simulating smaller 74 lpf chain as mentioned earlier and as used on the inner martingale stay in the last part.  They were pre-measured before attaching the eyebolts and heart shackles at the ends.  The temporary "backstay" tensioning thread is still in place.  The backstays will be secured to hearts anchored to eyebolts on the catheads.  The heart on the starboard cathead is shown below.
 

 
The next picture shows the lanyard on the port backstay threaded up and the stay being tensioned. 
 

 
The starboard stay has been installed and the two are being adjusted to provide tension on the inner and outer forward stays and to pull the martingale into a side-to-side vertical position.  The next picture shows the installed backstays with the temporary tensioning thread removed.
 
 
 
The next picture shows the hearts on the starboard side. 
 
 
 
The lanyards on both sides remain unsecured so that final tension adjustments may be made later when foremast stays are installed.  After those final adjustments, both the loose lanyard ends will be seized to their mates and clipped off.  The last picture shows a pair of these seizings on one of the bowsprit backstays before clipping off the excess seizing thread.
 

 
 
 
Ed
 

Thank you - my palm is probably not a very good indicator of scale. I have seen many posts which use a Dime as an indicator of scale. I don't have one but its almost exactly the same size as a UK 5 pence so here is a picture of all 8 blocks made yesterday against my "UK Dime".
 

 
Mark / John thank you for your comments and your continuing visits. Also thank you to all of you who have mastered the new like button.
 
I continue to plod through the remaining deck fittings - not many left now. Today I spent a couple of hours making the staysail boom crutch.
 

So here goes with another update - predominantly related to making blocks.
 
I sarted however by making 2 further davits for the gangways - the same as the boat davits but slightly smaller.
 

 
The boat davits each have a pair of double blocks while the gangway davits have singles. 8 blocks in total. I had previously had a go at block making reported in an earlier post. These blocks however are a lot smaller .200" high by .120" wide and required a different technique. I was also minded to consider how the design could accommodate a "production run" approach.
 

 
I decided on a fabricated approach, made from mahogany and with the wood grain arranged for strength. 
 

 
I cut the top and bottom planks and then glued onto one plank the blocks which would form the webs. The webs were then created using a slitting saw blade - the webs and the gaps between them were 1/32" wide.


 
Once the webs were cut the closing plank was glued in place. The sandwich was then slit down to the finished width of the blocks.
 

 

 
I then drill axially along the strips to take the pulley shaft. I also drilled the holes for the eyelet attachments.
 

 
The strip was then sanded to the oval shape and blocks of the required type were sliced off.
 

 

 
The pulley shaft was inserted and various attachment pieces were made from wire.
 

Druxey - Thank you.
 
The wedding is over but the garden needs a lot of work, fortunately today was very wet and so I managed to escape to the workshop to make the boat davits.
 
The davits were made from 3/16" rod. I started by drilling 2 cross holes to attach the cleats (wire). I then made a bending jig so that I could get the curve consistent. I annealed the rod before bending.
 

 
The end brackets (for attaching the blocks) were made from brass sheet - cut into a strip, folded tightly round the end of the rod and soldered in place. The solder was in the form of paste which made the job less messy. The bracket was held in place for soldering using a medical clamp. The clamp was left to hang vertically under its own weight (which made vertical alignment very easy).
 

 
The davit mountings were turned on the lathe. I found a bit of profiled tube from which to make the web supports which attach to the bulwark frames. After turning the tube was soldered in place and then the end was cut off with a piercing saw to make make the webs.
 

 

 
After polishing the bases were glued in place with 2 part epoxy. the davits were also polished and the job was done.
 

 
I also found a bit of time to finish the guard rail by making the detachable rail across the step. A very frustrating job given the size of the pieces.
 
 

Anchor chain "thingies" installed....
Decided to put this topic of chain stoppers/compressors in the rear view mirror early this morning before the bowsprit is installed, thus blocking the open view of the inboard hawse pipes.


 
Note the transition from chain to steel cable has been properly served and then both rope and cable taken to the aft chain bitts.
Stanchions have been added on each side of the stove along with a few small details added to the chain bitts.

 
Also note the progress on installing the spar deck cross beams from port to starboard.  I will continue adding these beams back to the captains great room and then begin the additional spar deck planking except for the cutaway areas that will be left for viewing the gun deck details.

First of all, I would like to thank you for your supportive comments and for the LIKES.
Let us remember
LINK
Meanwhile, I got the etched parts for the weather vanes delivered.
I immediately went to work,
and built the weather vane with lightning conductor for the mainmast top of the La Creole.




 
 
In this context, I would like to mention this report on the lightning control of sailing ships. There are many parallels to the lightning conduction of the La Creole.
 

 
I have also worked on the topgallant masts. Here are the results.




 
 

Hey Group,
 
Bit of an update - Ive been plugging away on the head for the past month - this by far is the most challenging part of this build.  Im very happy with my new Dewalt Scroll Saw, Spindle Sander and Byrnes Sander - it made reproducing these parts a snap and believe me I went thru a lot of scraps to get here.  
 
I could tinker with this area forever - but I really want to finish up the other side (the head timbers are installed and notched for the middle rail) and proceed with wrapping up this build.
 
Chris

Thanks guys - here's the other side - adding the last aft timber on each side tomorrow

Thanks for the compliments and likes everyone.  Update - the head gratings are completed - they took me longer than I expected to get all of the spacing accurate. I should have the seats of ease and the false rails mounted soon.  

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 222 – Bowsprit Standing Rigging 1
 
Much of the bowsprit standing rigging is/was chain.  In the mid-19th century chain was used not so much for sheer strength but primarily for its durability in situations where physical abuse could be expected.  Later, iron or steel wire would displace chain and rope.  The bow of the ship was exposed to buffeting by the sea and objects that might be floating in it, as well potential damage in collisions with docks, etc., however slight, hence the amount of chain in its structural rigging.  Chain sheets and halyards that also suffered considerable wear will be discussed later.
 
Chain specifications have been hard to uncover in primary sources, so where Bill Crothers specified sizes on his drawings I have used those.  His sources for these (and other questions) were on my list to discuss with him but that last meeting never occurred.  However, knowing the intensity of his research, I am confident in his sizing.  For lines he omitted from his drawings, I plan to calculate  rope/chain equivalents from contemporary data in Luce, Seamanship, 1868.  Chain has been a puzzle
 
Bobstays continued
 
In the last part, fabrication of one of the chain bobstays was described.  In the first picture the two bobstays have been rigged.
 

 
The forward ends are secured to eyebolts in the bowsprit using wood hearts with lanyards.  These allowed tensioning of the stays.  The fine thread seen in the picture are ends of the seizings that secure the lanyards to their adjacent parts and will be clipped off.  A simpler, but less authentic, method of securing the ends was adopted later to eliminate the visible ends that are difficult to completely remove at this scale.
 
Bowsprit Shrouds
 
The next picture shows one of the bowsprit shroud fabrications before installation. 
 

 
The shrouds and bobstays are all chain of ~30 links per fathom (lpf), i.e. 30 links per inch at 1:72.  The connection to the heart is similar to that shown above and in the last part.  At the other end, an iron plate with an eyebolt is used.  This will bolt to the outer hull above the hawse holes as shown in the next picture.
 

 
This picture also shows one of the martingale backstays rigged to the cathead that will be discussed later.  The next picture shows the forward fastenings of the bobstays and shrouds.
 

 
 
Martingale Stays
 
The next picture shows the inner and outer martingale stays. 
 

 
The inner, unblackened, stay was chain of 54 llpf and is modeled using the smallest chain I could find.  At 40 links per inch it is somewhat heavier than specified, but representative.  The outer stay was lighter at 74 lpf.  This fine chain was simulated by twisting up two strands of 28 gauge copper wire under fairly low tension.  This method produces a very reasonable small-sized chain substitute.  Unfortunately, small chain is not very photogenic.  These two stays were sized with the martingale held vertical by the temporary thread "backstay" in the picture.  The next picture shows these two forward chain stays after blackening.
 

 
The martingale will be held vertical by two backstays that run back to hearts and lanyards on the cathead.  When added, these attachments will allow fine adjustments to the position of the martingale.  Next time.
 
Ed

Current look - after painting and weathering:
 

During the weekend I made wooden finish of the hull using foil stripes. Later, it will be modificated with darker colours and of course I will create treenails and pins in wooden planks as well.
 

Hi everyone and many thanks for all of your comments and Likes!
 
Lately, I've been working on Shadow's galley.  After a quick Google search of galleys on similar sized mega-yachts, I used as my inspiration a modern, minimalist galley with stainless steel surfaces/grey cabinetry.  Hence, for Shadow, her galley has been modelled out of a burnished Aluminium silver type card, which is a close approximation to the colour that I was after.
 
The only problem with this galley colour is that it is hard to photograph effectively, therefore, you may have some difficulty making out the cabinets and other details, but they're there...
 
I hope you're enjoying Shadow's progress so far.
 
Cheers
 
Patrick
 
EDIT:  Damn this close-up photography!  Please forgive all the dust and rough edges/finishes!  There's a bucket load of finishing off to do, especially to the major structures, such as the hull and superstructure. A lot of varnishing and sealing still needs to be done to the internal accommodation fixtures, as well...she's still 'under construction' of course😉, after all. 

I finished the brass sheets with the right side of the ship

Having come home last night I wasnt much feeling like making blocks or rope.  So instead I am spending the day in the workshop.   To go along with the anchors I am making the nun buoys...or anchor buoys.  These are an optional detail and are not always presented on contemporary models.   But I thought it would make a detail.   
 
I sourced some special beads the appropriate size and shape.  The buoys should be about 1/4 to 1/3 of the length of the anchor, original sources are sketchy.   These buoys are 15mm long.   The beads have a hole through them already but it was too large.  So I filled it and then re-drilled for the eyebolts.  This is not how a real anchor buoy is fashioned but I have simulated the details for years and think it does a nice job of it with the eyebolts.   It makes rigging the buoys easier.  The eyebolts are not glued in all the way.  They are left about 1/32" from the buoy end so I can seize the loose ends of the rigging around them.
 
First the eye bolts are added and the buoy is touched up and painted.   Then I prepare two rope assemblies for each buoy.  Each assembly contains two lengths of .025 brown rope with an eye formed on one end.   Then they are slid onto another length of rope to complete the rope assembly.  Two are needed for each buoy.  One on each end.  Normally the rope is served for these but I just wasnt feeling it so I used the rope as is.
 
This rope is spliced around the buoy and the two loose ends brought down to the eyebolt.  Here is where I seize them around the bases of the eyebolt and snipped off the loose ends.  see the photo which shows the second buoy in this stage but I havent snipped off the excess rope yet after seizing the two loose ends.   I repeat this process on the other side but note how the two loose ends will now be run under the first assembly first as they work their way towards the eyebolt on the other side.    Its difficult to explain in writing but hopefully the photo does the trick.   
 
Then I touch up the black paint and apply some weathering powder.  I dont want them to be solid black.   Tomorrow I will rig them along with the anchors.  You can see the completed buoy in front (right).
 
The anchor mini-kits are now in stock and they do include the two buoys.  So you get the parts for the anchors and the buoy material.   
 

Like this...does this help.