sonicmcdude

I’ve completed the second layer of decking for the mortar pit. I assembled it off the model again
gluing black construction paper between the planks to simulate the caulking. The planks are a
different width and did end up over lapping the lower decking most of the time. One seam lined
up on each side so there shouldn’t be a concern with strength is it was that way in full scale.
 
 
After I did the initial assembly I then marked the circle for the mortar and cut close to the
line with the scroll saw.
 

 
I then used the dremel with a sanding drum to finish it.
 

 
I then glued the second decking to the first. I also have drilled it for the treenails
 

 
 
After looking at the plans I noticed that between the top beams for the shot room, the
deck beam, and the two layers of decking it would have been 3’ 4” thick on the actual ship!
That’s a lot of support for what I assume to be a very heavy gun. 

Attached the mizzen sail and belayed its rigging.
 
For large and more detail photos see also: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets/72157626433922489 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets/72157626433922489/page16

Flu weaks, and bulwarks with white panels are done and mounted. Much better than last time. Next is top rail
 

Topic intended for fun, similar as "ugly ship" etc
 
For start, here is real modeler tools, only beer is missing ...
 
 

Thanks Michael and welcome aboard.
 
I’ve cut and fit the mortar pit boundary timbers. Between these two timbers will be a first
row of decking. It is cut from boxwood and the calking is simulated using black construction
paper. Doing the pencil on the edges just looked too thin at this scale.
 
 

 

 
 
Here I’ve cut out the plans showing the second layer of planking that will go right over the
top of the first. You will notice that a nice circle is formed in the middle for the mortar.
Seeing I don’t have a drill bit that big it should be interesting getting the hole round.
 

 
Well this will be the last post for awhile. We are off to the land of oranges, alligators and a
talking mouse with the grand kids. Should be interesting to see how steady my hand is
when we get back.  
 
You all be good now while I’m away! No slacking off or rum rations will be cut!  
 
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 21 – Keelson/Forward Deadwood continued
 
 
American Clipper Note:  When Young America was launched in the spring of 1853, her builder, William Webb, incensed by some critical press, issued a challenge to the owners of the fast McKay clipper Sovereign of the Seas to a two-ship, head-to-head race from New York to San Francisco.  Excitement and bookmaking activity ran high.  Unfortunately Sovereign sailed for China.  Major disappointment all around.
 
Work on the forward sections of the keelson and the deadwood continues.  The first picture shows the second section of the lower tier of the deadwood being glued to the frames – held in place by pins with wood chocks buffers.
 

 
Below is a lower view of this from aft.
 

 
This view shows the pronounced v-shape of the most forward frames and illustrates the issue of securing timber to make the floor members of these.
 
Before these keelson sections could be installed, the insides of the floor and lower futtock timbers had to be faired – at least up the the floor heads.  The next picture shows this finish-work more clearly.
 

 
Apart from the issue of flatness across the centers of the frames, it is difficult to do this work with the keelson in place.
 
The next picture shows anoth piece of the deadwood being fitted over the forward end of the lower keelson.
 

 
This picture also shows the mounting nut that is about to be covered forever by the upper tier of the keelson.
 
In the next picture the forward section of the upper keelson tier is installed and anoth piece of the deadwood jigsaw puzzle being fitted.
 

 
In the next picture that piece is being glued in place.
 

 
Again, the dark discoloration on the wood is from washing off the excess glue.
 
Finally, as shown below, the last piece of the deadwood has been installed.  The sun has shown through the window and lightened this picture to help me celebrate the event.
 

 
In the next part, I will cover the risky task of cutting large scores in both sides of the deadwood to seat the cant frames.
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 19 – Framing Continued
 
 
American Clipper Note:  On her fourth voyage, still under Cressy, Flying Cloud left New York for San Francisco in January 1854 and set a new record of 89 days, 8 hours, just under her 1851 performance.  This record would eventually fall to Andrew Jackson in 1859 with a passage of 89 days, 4 hours.  This new record would be in dispute for years.  These matters were taken quite seriously.  Given the vagaries of wind, weather and seasonal variations, one wonders what all this recordkeeping really means.  Between 1851 and her last Cape Horn voyage in 1856 Flying Cloud's record to San Francisco included passages of 89, 113, 106, 89, 112 and 185 days.
 
I am getting close to wrapping up the forward square frames.  The remainder of these frames – P through U are shown below after beveling as described earlier.  The narrowing of the lower hull forward can clearly be seen.
 

 
The next picture shows the frames with cross-spales being fitted to U and P.
 

 
The next step was to reduce the sidings of the upper futtocks and toptimbers.  This was described earlier.  The last step before erection is to install the framebolts.  These were 1” iron, unheaded, cut off flush.  They are simulated with 30 lb. test black monofilament.
 

 
After dipping in CA the filament is slipped through the pin holes used for assembly.  There were 3 to 4 of these bolts per timber.  There are two through the rail stanchions as shown above.
 
After gluing in, the excess ends are easily sliced off with a razor blade as shown below.
 

 
The next picture shows the remaining forward square frames installed.
 

 
Starting with frame R going forward the sidings are reduced and the frame spacing increased.  For example the floors go from 14” to 12” and the frame spacing from 32” to 34”.  Webb used this method to reduce hogging by lightening the forward structure where the hull buoyancy was less due to the fine entry.  This design feature was able to reduce the weight of the forward structure by as much as 25 tons in Webb's ships.
 
On the model the spacers have suddenly gotten larger due to the increased separation.  The last two are being fitted above.
 
Next, another picture of the framing at this stage.
 

 
The next picture shows the connection of the last frame, Q, at the keel.
 

 
There are two points of interest here.  First, there is the filler on the keel forward of the last full frame.  Frames forward of this one will bolt to the sides of this filler and the keelson/deadwood – soon to be added.  Second, notches in the tops of the frames at the keel can be seen.  This is to provide additional bolting height for the next few frames which would otherwise have to be bolted only at the lower 17” of their feet – not enough – in my opinion.  Additional bolting space can only be added by raising the cutting down line aft of this first half frame.  If this were done suddenly at frame V there would be a step up in the inboard planking, so to provide a fair bed for the planks, I started raising the cutting down line four frames aft, adding additional bolting height of about 7" for the first half-frame.
 
The last picture - showing some strips representing the two tiers of the keelson - will help illustrate the above issue and also show the huge size of the keelson.
 

 
These two 16”w x 24”h tiers ran in a straight line from stem to sternpost, bolted heavily through the frame floors to the keel.  I have placed a pencil mark on the lower keelson to show the raised cutting down height.  This additional height will allow one of the horizontal bolts for the first half frame to be driven through the lower keelson. 
 
The model mounting bolt and nut is about to be set into the actual lower keelson once the forward end of that that is fitted to the apron and marked for length.
 
 
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 18 – Framing Continued
 
 
American Clipper Note:  Flying Cloud was launched from Donald McKay’s yard at East Boston a month before Challenge.  She was of comparable size, and like Challenge, bound for California from New York on her maiden voyage.  Inevitably she was drawn into the great “challenge” surrounding the ship Challenge.  She left New York in early June 1851 under command of Josiah Cressy. Three days later she lost her main and mizzen topgallant masts, but reached the line (equator) in 21 days.  She arrived in San Francisco in 89 days 21 hours, beating the previous record of 97 days, set by Sea Witch the year before – and 18 days under the Challenge’s ill-fated maiden voyage performance.
 
After the last post, there was a question about the dark glue that I use to highlight structural joint lines.  The 8 oz. bottle I mixed up for Naiad was just about empty, so when replacing it I took some pictures to help answer the question.
 
The first picture shows the starting point, plus two bottles of ready made dark Titebond glue.  The new bottle to the right is the currently available dark Titebond II.  I find it a bit light for pear.  The old – quite old actually – bottle in the center is the old Titebond dark glue – just about the right shade but no longer available.  T the left is an 8 oz. bottle of the standard yellow.  (The first thing I do with a new bottle of Titebond is pull off and toss the sliding top, cut off the closing nib and insert a length of plastic rod that is easy to remove and replace and does not clog up.)
 

 
At the front right is a jar of raw umber artist grade pigment that will be used to darken the glue.  This bottle is several lifetimes’ supply.
 
 
In the next picture, about a teaspoon of dry pigment was added to about a tablespoon of water and is being thoroughly mixed with the pestle-like Teflon rod until there is no sign of powder or lumps.
 

 
The entire 8 oz. of glue is then added a bit at a time and mixed in.  The next picture showsthe final appearance.
 

 
In the next picture the empty bottle has been thoroughly washed out with hot water and is being refilled with the darkened glue.
 

 
I expect this will be enough to finish the model.
 
The next picture shows the last of the full forward square frames.  The rail stanchios are about to be installed.
 

 
The frame is now ready for beveling.  In the next picture the forward face of the pair is being trimmed back to the forward profile line on the disk sander.
 
 

 
The aft outer profile was previously trimmed back.  The disk is kept away from that line in this step.  This leaves a hump or ridge between the two profiles.  The next picture shows this being removed by hand with a flat Rasp.
 

 
The last picture shows the resulting bevel.
 

 
The insides are only roughly beveled – mostly using a spindle sander.  They could be hand finished as well, but I intend to do that after the hull is assembled.
 
The final bevel will be refined when the hull is finished sanded.  Beveling these pairs before assembly saves tedious sanding work later, makes frame erection easier and yields a more accurate hull profile.
 
There is still some work to do on these frames before erection.
 
Ed
 
 
 

Thanks Piet.
Jan what can I say, the MSW Oracle didn't answer and I went forward taking a 50% bet I got it right 
 
Meanwhile, more knee's opposing knee's gratings and so on. Everything is loosely fitted  before marking the mortices for the ledges. Doing tasks in batches certainly speeds things up.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Remco

Hello Shipmates.
 
Another update.
 
Have removed the Ship from the Build Jig temporary to Fit the Rear shot locker.
 
Been working on the Hold racks and fitting the Shot lockers to the pump house.
 
 
 
First a few pics of the Racks.
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
The covers are now complete.
 

 
 
 
The Hold.
 

 
 
 
Rear view of the Hold.
 

 
 
 
And the other side.
 


 
Will post another update over the weekend when Pump house with Shot lockers are fitted.
 
Regards Antony.
 

Hi everyone,
 
After building the cisterns, I discovered how difficult it was to locate them square to the mast partners, and the right distance from the mortises for the jeer bitts. So I built a little spacing jig, slotted into the mortises in the partners and with a spacer the right distance to the cistern. Once the cisterns were clamped in place against the jig, I was then able to drill down with a Foredom through the stub pump tube tops, for location pins. I also used this jig to align the hoods so that the future pump handles running through the hoods will line up with the inner face of the bitts where the rhodings will be attached. I made a little sliding joint on the bottom of the hoods so that they could move a little on the cistern athwartships, to allow precise alignment.
 
And finally, in keeping with the color scheme of the dockyard models that so I admire, I stained the cisterns red, to match the riding bitts. In the closeup, you can see the stump tube tops, and a simplified drain plug. The bearings are still to come. The long shots show how nicely the red accents are showing up along the length of the hull. I know color is not to the taste of everyone, but I like the overall effect of colored accents against the natural wood.
 
I am being pulled back to work issues, so I may not be able to work and then post for a while. It was a nice run while it lasted....
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Pinrails--
 
 
Here are the pieces, roughly cut--
 

 
 
The pencil mark is scribed from the overhang of the rail, you can see that they are not all equal (especially the lower right piece--which is the forward most starboard piece). 
 
I scribed a line from the inboard face (unfortunately this doesn't show well in the photos), and marked the holes to be drilled with a pencil then a pin.  The scribed line will get sanded away as the piece is thinned to the right thickness-
 

 
 
After drilling all the holes, I finished one piece down to the correct thickness and shape, to make sure it would look right--
 

 
 
Here's a comparison between the rough pieces and the finished one--
 

 
 
When I was satisfied with this, I sanded the rest down, and epoxied brass wire anchors into each--
 

 
 
Here they are laid on the deck--
 

 
 
Next will be gluing them into the bulwarks.
 
 
Ron

Thanks Chris, It's great to hear from you.
 
The cutting out of the parts and the assembling of the shell room is progressing.
The shelves are made from cherry and the posts from poplar. Each shelf will
have a depression sanded into it for the mortar shell to set in.
 

 
Here you can see one row set in place for a test fit.
 

Thanks for that link to the LoS Grant, I'll get some from them.
 
Forecastle and Quarterdeck Planking
 
The Forecastle and Quarterdeck have been planked. Both decks have tapered planks as well as a couple of Dropped planks each. Here are some progress pics :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
At this stage none of the planks have been sanded - these pics were taken just after the last two were glued in. The "caulking" smudges will all sand out evenly. There are one or two very small gaps which will be filled with a sawdust/glue mixture.
 
Treenailing is next.
 
  Danny

No progress, Only some photos of the general appearance.
 
For large and more detail photos see also: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets/72157626433922489 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilhan_gokcay/sets/72157626433922489/page16

Sinan, but first check the caliper is accurate first   Mine were out and I have just invested in a "Certifed" digital readout Caliper.
 
Per, the other trick is to check them for straightness.  I believe the check is done by using one edge to draw a line then flip the ule vertically (same edge but running the other way) and draw another line over that and see if they are coincident - repeat for the other edge.  I use a square or solid base to rest the ruler on but you need to be sure the bases (short edges) of the ruler are square also.  There used to be a good write-up on MSW 1 ... another lost  ....
 
cheers
 
Pat

Ahoy Mates
 
Augie: I am still throwing around ideas. I have not been able to come up with something that will play nice with what I have. Call it a lack of foresight on my part. The way I did the hull is something I would rather not repeat.
 
Patrick: What happened was I tried to create a step inside the ports. This meant I had to cut the planks to the correct length. I could not just file the openings, although I ended up doing just that in this post.
 
Martin: I just try my best and if I am not happy I redo it. Some may feel redo's are "unproductive"  :P but I think they are very helpful for the newbie shipwright.
 
JSG: Thanks for stopping by. I frequent your log and find much inspiration there. Thanks for posting. For this "my first real build" my goal is to just learn as much as possible and hopefully end up with something I am happy with.
 
Kenneth: I just keep going
 
Popeye: "To do or not to do" I think I saw that play
 
Back to the Build
 
Well It doesn't look like much but as we all know that does not mean many hours were not spent in the shipyard
 
I had to step up and be the Captain. Decisions had to be made.
 
I was just not happy with the gunports. After all the time I spent to frame them I was not going to settle. Originally I tried to do a step inside the gunports which can be seen in the 'before" insert in the pic.  This meant that the planks had to be cut precisely before installation. In all honesty my skills just were not up to this task and this resulted in the gunports following the sweep of the planks and not the line I wanted. It was a lot of work but also not correct for the ports not having a lid. Once I filed the "non Lid" ports and saw how nice they came out I made the call to do the remaining ports which I am now much happier with.
 
There was also another casualty. After all my work to save the step in the wales I ended up sanding it entirely out. As much as I tried the end result was in a word 'unattractive". Trying to work the harder boxwood next to the softer basswood resulted in a rather unflattering line. This was further exacerbated by the lack of any step in the stern.  Not sure how that happened. I also found that my wale is about 2mm low in the stern. I confirmed this on the plans. This has affected the window height which has created an issue with the trim which I am currently working to resolve.
 
In the plus column; I am very happy with the window and the sheave. Actually the entire project right now. I made the parts with my Vanda lay set up. The sheave I saw in Chuck' s Winchelsea log  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/99-hms-winchelsea-by-chuck-1764-english-32-gun-frigate-pob-164/?p=1340 I also did the scuppers, slightly adjusting their positions to add a little more symmetry to the gunports and finished the port side of the lower transom. You can see my jig on the starboard side. That is used to get the correct angle for the planks when they butt up to the stern.
 
Comments "as always" are welcome

Hello all,
 
After many months, I have finally done some more work on my Oneida!  Hopefully this will be a more sustained period of work than the last one.
 
And it's not all that exciting to show--I've continued exactly where I left off--making deadeyes.
 
Here's a picture of the materials and tools I've used in making them: a 5mm dowel of Cherry, a small brass drilling jig, pin-vise and bit (#71 0.65mm), a sandpaper block and assorted files-- 
 

 
 
 
Here's a closer shot of 20 deadeyes (half the required amount of this size).  On the left are "blanks" with the holes drilled and a score line around the circumference.  On the right are the "finished" deadeyes, which will eventually be stained black.   It's very hard to see, but the finished one leaning upright toward the bottom is showing its backside, with the one hole that is not "eased" for the lanyard rope, as that is where the stopper knot will be, for the upper deadeye in each pair--
 

 
 
The pin was in the last shot for scale, but this picture gives a better idea of how small these are.  And these are the largest on the model.  Others will be 4mm and 3.5mm--
 

 
 
That's all for now,
Ron

Hello:
 
  Had to start over with the quarter galleys put my finger through the light right off the get go. So I came up with a different way that worked for me.
 
Starter by making a jig that fit where the galley fit. Then glued stops top and bottom to hold the same beams 3mm above the jig, glued the print on in place then put a thin coat of petroleum jelly on the print so the glued parts wouldn't stick.  Rubber cemented the galley beams to the jig and assembled the rest.  The jig held the part so well it could be sanded shaped, a little clean up in the window sections and only had a little final fitting to the hull.  Hopefully I can move on now been hear too long.
 
TJ

Hmm,
 
I was cleaning my work table and placing items in their proper areas.
I have four metallic rulers, both showing the metric and imperial units.
By pure curiosity I placed the shortest one,  15.24cm  - 6" next to my 30.48cm  - 12" and my two 45.72cm  -18" and found differences.
None measured as the other.
The difference is so slight, but could probably cause error when mixed.
Now I marked the 15.24cm and 45.72cm that are almost identical.
The other two to be donated to friends 3rd grader school kids.
 
A high quality digital caliper needs to be purchased. 

I've also discovered this book, which has clear instructions on making many types of clamps including the Jorgensen type. Lots of other useful stuff in the book as well.
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Resourceful-Woodworker-Techniques-Tricks/dp/0713464852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382864241&sr=8-1&keywords=The+resourceful+woodworker
 
I bought a very good used copy for 1p, plus postage of course!

Today I got a little distracted and decided the San Felipe needed a captain! I carved him from a tiny bit of basswood... and he is 1:96 scale to match the ship. He's standing on a practice run of planking.
 
First picture shows the unpainted and the second shows the painted.
 

 

 
For reference, I've placed him on a Canadian dime, which is our smallest coin in physical size - 11/16" or 17mm (approximately)
 

 

more
 

New forex templating method precise and symmetrical frame construction technique