Krelis

All my hopes for a good outcome Nenad!  We all do what we have to for family, and the CS will be there when you're ready.
 
Cheers

Another.

Some closeup of the gunnel and deadeyes...

And my carved figure.

Speaking of windlasses, I found a black Lego cog which I was able to cut in half to make excellent gears for the scratch built windlass on my HM Supply
 

Gears from cable ties. Any diameter-width-color...
Thx

even here in the states,  with the system we have..........some still have to wait.   it's a sad state of affairs     I wish you luck,  and hope that it's not serious.

Best wishes to you my friend through your "nervous time" waiting for the results of your tests.
Dave

Working on some of the interior features. Box for the whale gun and the compass

Hi everyone,
Next small update -
 

 
Best Regards!
Igor.

Hi Igor
 
Wow, that looks great! Heaps of character. Loads of charm. Beautifully executed with loads of atmosphere.
 
The stands is also a really nice complement to the overall effect of the model.
 
Really nice! What's next (ie after the Atlantic)?
 
Cheers
 
Patrick

Hi everyone.
Yesterday I finished working inside the bottle. Now I need only to make the stopper and to insert it into the neck of the bottle.
 

 

 
Best Regards!
Igor.

sorry, yes, I would not want to derail the tread, I was a reflex to those outer ribs and the sense of immense drag, I mean, after a centuries of boat evolution it looks like an immense hydrodynamical set back and makes me wonder - with all due respect for your excellent woodwork, craftsmanship and unique research :-) - if you have not overdone them a bit, I mean, looking at the historical pictures it appears they end quite narrow and well above the waterline ?  

interesting research and glad I live in the age of foiling cats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rit72ePAus#t=54

The quarterdeck beams also project through the side planking
 

 
Progress on the poop and quarterdeck


note the characteristic vertical timbers on the ships hull to give extra rigidity and protection to the hull

tail frames are positioned at each end of the keel
 
Calculation of the narrowing of the frames between the master frame and the tail frames used the geometric "mezza lune" technique. rising of floors can also be calculated by a geometric technique
 

using these techniques, a half hull block model of the central hull was made and  faired
 

As was done by the original shipwrights of the venetian Arsenale, ribbands were then used to make the bow and stern frames.

]
 
lines were taken off at each station

goodness how time flies...
 
Well I have done some more this week: final fairing of the keelson & inner stem; making the outer stem & the strip below the keelson. I have separated the stem & keel into parts at the planking rebate line, & I'm now making the outer pieces.
 
The keel piece will be screwed & glued to the keelson, & I put some of the screw holes right on top of previous brass pins, so I had to do some new ones - but I'll justify the extra holes by using them to pin down into the keel. I will need to pin the outer stem, for the same reason, that I'm always concerned that the pieces stay exactly where they are supposed to be during glueing. Also, these pieces have some twists etc that need to be taken out & the screws & pins help to remove the twist.
 
The keel piece is Queensland Maple, really nice quality timber from bunk support pieces from our boat. The timber is nice, fairly light but still quite resistant to dents. It curved quite well too, I used a heat gun to put some curve into it, so that I doesn't want to pull the existing structure up & out of shape.
 
I have shaped the underside edges of these strips to be perpendicular to the planking.
 

 

 

 
The scarfed joints between the pieces are not sound in themselves, but are more or less the correct joint scaled up - the actual stem forefoot piece would have been a grown Tea Tree (Melaleuca) knee piece, but there is no issue with strength here & it will be painted so I'm not going to try & replicate the curved knee in this case.
 

 

 

 
thanks, more soon I hope, MP

I've done a bit more: the solid lower bulkheads aft have been cut & glued in, & the inner part of the keel has been faired. I'm satisfied that these solid pieces will help, perhaps if I'd planked a model boat before I would know if this shape would work without them or not, but for a small amount of work I'm making it a bit easier to get that important part right. To me, the most important part of the hull shape in these boats is the water exit lines. It's not an accurate scale version of the way the hull would be constructed, but the main objective is to end up with the right hull shape externally. Internally, if I'm happy with the logic, that's enough.
 
The solid bulkheads still need to be stabilised so that they stay in the same plane as their plywood bulkheads during the fairing process, & yet are able to be separated - for when I remove the ply later.
 
Next steps are:
 
- checking the temporary transom, & fitting pieces to stabilise it also for the fairing process.
 
- glue in more bamboo skewers generally, the brace the moulds & hold them rigidly in place
 
- temporary pin for the inner stem, same reason
 
Then I can fair the hull. I might also do a profile of the outer face of the stem & inner keel, I could do a fairly accurate template now while it's still removable. This would give the inner shape of the keel & outer stem for later.
 

 
In the photos, the inner keel is sitting up a bit - it does actually sit down flush on to the tops of the stations.
 

 

 
As an aside: I asked a boatbuilding friend about the piece I'd been calling a stern knee - he says this is the correct term. But he also said that my use of keelson isn't correct, there is such a thing, but apparently it sits above the ribs. So I'll call it "inner keel" for the same reason I call the stem piece the "inner stem", for practical model making reasons I've separated the stem & keel into pieces, divided along the rabbet line.
 
thanks, until next time

Nenad, next has been some "outside in" engineering by hollowing out the insides and then squaring out some holes for the side windows (still have to design those)

and opening the cabin to the front and placing a door frame..

Reason for enlarging the cabin to the front is to allow the steering wheel to be placed on top, the Corel drawings place the steering wheel in front of the quarter deck, behind the mizzen mast, making it impossible for tiller and wheel to be connected, unless with a tiller that sweeps at belly level through the cabin, and with some intricate wiring underneath the deck.
 
Next will be finalization of cabin, maybe even doing some interior work, and making of rudder for which I have to learn how to solder hinges, the kit's hinges are way to coarse

Update on my progress, which has been excruciatingly slow..
Dolphyns new nose, made  from oak, as every handbook and blog advices the grain is indeed too coarse, had to knock my own head into that wall to learn that lesson, and well, did not have alternative woods available..

 
And the stern..

 
to be continued..

Well folks, here she is warts and all !! I can't say I am sorry that she is finished but I do think she looks better than I expected her to. I am very glad I put on the extra railings as I think they make a big difference. The rigging such as it is, is rather minimal but there has been a lot about this kit which has been like that from the start.
 
Despite my best efforts the decks have continued to warp even after gluing and even managed to break some of the glue joints. Without doing a complete rebuild there is absolutely nothing I could do about it so I just have to live with it.
 
I really love the wood finish because of the colours and it does make it very different from the other Robert E Lee builds I have seen. Apart from the lovely pre warped decks etc the biggest challenge of this build for me has been the really tight bending of various kinds of wood and I have learnt a few lessons from it. The only painted bits on her are the windows, doors, railings and funnels,  otherwise it is all varnish.
 
It will not surprise any of you to know that I couldn't recommend Constructo kits to anyone. Having done two now I share others opinions about the poor quality of supplied wood. I had to raid my 'stores' on several occasions. I know Constructo kits are at the cheaper end of the market and now I know why. I shall not be doing another kit from that stable !!
 
My next effort will be another kit from my tried and tested OcCre manufacturer.
 
 

I thought it was about time I did an update !
 
Columns and railings are now done, the instructions said 111 columns and 113 spacers !!!! That took a while and I know they are not all straight. The railings were pressed brass strip which had to be bent and painted and then 1mm square hand and foot rails put on each length. A fair test of wood bending I can assure you !
 
Just to make life harder for myself I have also put railings on the third deck which the Constructo model doesn't have but the real R.E.L did. I managed to get some extra strip from Constructo which is about the only good thing I have to say about them !!
 
There is some more varnishing to be done before the funnels and smoke stacks and rigging get done along with the gangplanks and a few more bits and pieces.
 
But, here she is to date.
 
 

Here goes then, next update.
 
The ventilation deck is now on and in the right place !! I had a senior moment when I first glued it on and managed to get it off centre. So, more soaking to get it off before replacing it correctly.
 
I have also included a photo using a 5p piece to show the 'right angle' bends that this kit requires I can tell you my wood bending skills have been tested with these. I have tried several methods but the way it has worked out has been to soak the wood in really hot water but only for about 15 minutes then bend really carefully using a hand held mechanical plank bender - the one with the blade - very, very carefully. If the wood isn't soaked enough it just snaps, if left too long it gets too soft and the 'blade' goes straight through it. I am very glad to say that with this particular wood I only have four more bends like those to do.
 
Plenty more bending to come for hand rails though with 1mm square bass wood and if I can't do it I will have to resort to styrene. Anyway that is in the future.
 
I have also put in one photo of the 'invisible' paddle wheels !! Someone else said it was an awful lot of effort for things that don't show and I am very inclined to agree with them !!
 
 

The rest of the photos for now

Well folks,
 
A fair bit of progress since last I updated this.
 
The basics of the second deck are now done and fitted. Those pesky little columns took ages !!! There are supposed to be 20 identical columns (!!!!) but,
 
I am simply not that clever. I did the best I could ! My first efforts after gluing them on the underside of the second deck proved to be 1mm too wide on each side which meant the deck wouldn't sit down properly !!!
 
So, I took them all off again after much soaking. About half of them broke so had to be remade. My second attempt just fitted width wise but some were then 1mm too short. Well, sorry to all you perfectionists out there but 1mm too short they are going to be !! I don't think it shows too much.
 
The stairs were good fun too as they had to be built up with individual wood pieces. Nothing like the Amati kit where they are pretty much pre made. Effectively they were scratch built off the plans and to my amazement, they fitted !!
 
The observant amongst you will notice that I am having to varnish as I go along as there is simply no way this could be done with all the twiddly bits that have to be done later.
 
I also thought for anyone wanting to try a Constructo kit that I would include a couple of pictures of the lovely pre warp problems that I have had with every flat piece so far. It makes planking them are real pleasure (!!!!) and they still don't want to lay flat after that.
 
Anyway - judge for yourselves !