KeithAug

Almost another week gone and here is another update. Firstly a couple of pictures of the hull with the compensation plates in position. And a picture of the plywood wrapped around the stern. The next job was drilling out the portholes. These are positioned mid way between the frames and as the frames are to scale the lontitudinal positioning of the holes should have been easy. The problem occurred because one of the holes on the plan view was in a different position to the hole on the side elevation. There followed a long process of investigating photos to try and decide which was right. I think I got it right but then again who knows. The next photo is my list of the porthole positions measured in "frames". Port and starboard are different so this introduced a further degree of uncertainty, prompting checking and re-checking and re-checking. I hate the anxiety accompanying drilling holes in hulls. Fortunately (as near as makes no difference) all the portholes are equidistant from the bulwark edge of the compensation plate. I made my self a little marking out jig (arrow A) to get the positioning consistent. The half frame positions were transferred from the hull up-stands using the laser level. Arrows B are the centre lines for drilling. I took the drilling steadily, fearful of splintering the plywood. The next photo is my drilling equipment consisting of an alarmingly powerful drill plus a 6mm brad point wood drill, a 7mm reamer, a 8m reamer and a set of 9mm sanding drums glued to a pencil. The reamers occasionally went into threepenny bit mode but the sanding drums always brought the holes back to round. Some time later all 28 holes were drilled. I then transferred my attention to planking the stern. You can see from previous posts that the stern is the only part of the hull with a mahogany finish. The stern has vertical edge planks with horizontal planking between. The edge planks were cut as matched pair and glued in place with PVA. I decided it would be easier to pre-bend the horizontal planks. Fortunately my wife was out and I discovered that one of her baking tins was just what I needed for the former. With the plank attached to the former I dunked the whole thing in boiling water (utilising a Lecruset pan that just happened to be lying about). I really have been living on the edge this week. Then the last bit of the hull planking was done. That's all for now folks.

I thought Whitby class frigates had twin shafts. I guess it's simpler to give her a single shaft. Presumably the printer programme was already adapted for the building of a single shaft model?

Now you mention it I remember reading that post. Maybe dementia is catching.

Praise the lord for trousers. It could have been much worse!😬

I see she has a feathering prop Mark - that should be a test. Beautiful shaping around the stern, prop cut out and rudder.

You must have Yorkshire ancestry. When words were used differently my Grandfathers favourite saying was, "everybody's queer excep me an thee, an am not sure about thee". His other favourite saying was "thas nowt meks wimin sa mad as havin a sicret nobdy wants to ere". He wasn't very PC.

Isn't the internet clever:- Toughened glass was invented in 1874 by Francois Barthelemy Alfred Royer de la Bastie. Wire mesh glass was invented in 1892 by Frank Shuman

Yes that's it Gary. The further picture highlights it perfectly. Someone is bound to follow up with a method of removing unwanted CA. Sadly I don't have a clue but if anyone does it will save me endless hours of chewing it off my fingers.😬

Excellent reasoning Paul. It now all makes complete sense. I don't know if they had toughened glass readily available in North Carolina in that era but if they didn't that would also support a wood solution.

Mollusc - it would be good to know the diameter of the wire. The above video might not be all that helpful as the process is for bending bar at high temperature. It should be possible to bend brass cold for smaller brass diameters. If brass is hard it can be softened by heating it to cherry red and then allowing it to cool. It will then be soft but will harden as you work it. Repeat the process to soften it again. Be careful not to melt the brass. This is very easily done with small diameters.

It looks nice Paul but did you have a reason why (apart from the cash strapped fisherman tall story).

Nicely done Keith. After I have finished a part I sometimes amuse myself by counting up the number of parts that have gone into it. Often it reminds me why it took so long to make. Most normal people would look at MSW and ask why we bother.

The grey looks a deal better than the lurid blue. Remarkable what a bit of paint will do. I think I can even see the positions of the portholes or is that where the printing supports attached - or is it both?

Yes that would work Phil. I am using clear polyurethane for the lower hull but I don't think that would affect the suggestion. In some ways I think your method is better than mine.

Gary, the last couple of shots show her off to perfection, beautifully done. Being super critical just to bring you back to earth, are 2 of the planks at the port bow a little recessed or am I looking at a bit of filler?

All looking very neat Jon. Yes it is a pity that most of us are unwilling to lower our standards to match reality.

Interesting project but I guess it will be a quick build.

That sounds a bit annoying. Maybe I'll stick to the traditional method for a bit longer.

Glen - it only works with CA glue if you plan to leave a varnished wood finish. If you try to use PVA it leaves a blemish. PVA is ok if you are going to paint.

Keith - I just took it as an innocent and sensible question. No need for any apology my friend.

Keith - Ann is fairly ok with Cangarda. We have a large playroom that was vacated by the children many years ago and finished models generally go in there. It's when we inevitably downsize that the problem is going to occur and some difficult choices will have to be made.

Thank you Andy - i wasn't aware of such devices. I do a bit of internet searching.

Keith - I can't remember if anyone has asked. I am building at a scale of 1:24 so from the above:- LOA = 5'9" LOD = 5'3" LWL = 4'3" Beam = 9" Draft = 3.8" I hope you are both keeping well. Best wishes.

Printing seems to be a quick process these days. I last had a look at printing 7 or 8 years ago when most people seemed to have to try, try and try again before the printer produced something usable. I assume printing is a much more user friendly process these days?

Well that turned into a bit of a non event. A typical case of overthinking the problem on my part. The curve that I was worried about is a bit over emphasised in the next photo. I had tried bending the 1/32 ply around a dowel of slightly tighter radius than I needed (allowing for a bit of spring back). Bending the ply dry wasn't working so I boiled up some water, lashed the ply to the dowel with rubber bands and dunked it in the water. Almost instantly the ply became compliant and pulled tightly against the dowel. I then left it overnight to dry out. To get rid of the sharp discontinuity between the small and large radius ends of the plywood strip I repeated the process for the large end using a much larger radius former. It is easier to sand the hull without the compensation plates in place so I had another go over the entire hull with 180 grit paper. The individual planks have now blended together pretty seamlessly. The next step was gluing the compensation plates in place using PVA glue. It was pretty easy to get clamps on the edge nearest the bulwark but I had to revert to the use of pins on the opposite edge. The holes will have to be filled but this isn't a problem because they will be painted over. The not so tricky curved piece was then glued to the aft part of the hull. It was tricker to use clamps here because of the presence of the building board, so I just used pins. Because I didn't wreck the aft piece I didn't use the scarf joint as recommended. Maybe i will remember earlier next time. The starboard side went on equally easily. As I work on the hull I find blemishes and defects which need to be fixed. I keep a pot of sanding dust handy to address these. I dribble a few spots of CA glue on the defects and dust it over with the sanding dust. Once dry a bit more sanding usually cures the problem. That's all for now folks.