KeithAug

Just to be clear Wat the Tyler actually was a roof tiler by trade. As I said Andy - 1280 just doesn't compute!😬

Andy - I don't think our American friends will be able to compute this information. The west coast cotingent think anything before 1900 is ancient. The roof can't be that bad, it has lasted reasonably well. Perhaps it is still under guarantee try checking with "Wat the Tyler".

So we are nearly at the end of the piping marathon. Good job really as I have nearly run out of superlatives. Fandabadosey is my last.

The deck is looking very authentic. Good progress.

Eberhard / Keith - I guess you would be a little twisted if you were that old. The spire The most recognisable part of the Parish Church, its adopted name, is of course the Crooked Spire, constructed in 1362. However, the spire certainly is not crooked. It is twisted and leaning, but not crooked. Historians have suggested a number of factors for this - the use of unseasoned wood, a lack of skilled labour, the later use of heavy lead sheeting in the 17th century. Many have tried to explain what makes the spire twist and many have disagreed as to the real reason. Perhaps we shall never know for sure. But the myth I like the best is - A virgin once went to the church to get married and the spire was so amazed it turned round to have a look. It’s going to turn back when it sees the next one.

Amazing Roel - someone has to volunteer to model it.

Too simple. I liked the rats nest of wires. I don't understand any of it but it is mightily impressive.

You had a successful career then Phil. We are all indebted to you!

For the confused:-

Andy - Is your spire still bent?😁 Bravery and foolishness are opposite sides of the same coin.

What about handbags, dresses and shoes. She has her priorities wrong.

Hard to know which of the four sides are the bow. First ship I have seen with two starboards and 2 ports. Yes I was just contemplating how excited we are all getting about this lovely little build. An external observer might think we ought to get a life.

Keith - I like it when people laugh, it insulates me from world events.

Phil - I need one of those for personal use. When I get out of bed in the morning and hobble across the bedroom floor I often contemplate my final journey to the scrapyard in the sky. Were they the ones trained as swimmers and armed with a big hammer? I do like Churchills quotes, my favourites are:- 1 “I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.” 2 Lady Astor to Churchill: “If I were married to you, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Reply: “If I were married to you, I’d drink it.”

Gary - it had just been washed and was drying on the counter top so I didn't have to go looking. In actual fact the full story is that in theory it is mine. My wife bought it for me as a Christmas Present one year because she needed it. She is very good to me. Rick - the advantage comes at the plank ends which press down hard. If you have under bent planks then pulling the ends down can be a bit problematic if the hull geometry makes clamping tricky. Paul - I am basically lazy so I spend a lot of time thinking about the easiest way. I always feel uplifted when someone on the forum inspires me with a new trick that makes things easier.

This looks very interesting Phil. Your comment reminds me of a Churchill quote. “He is a very modest man, with much to be modest about”.

Druxey, yes Sussex is beautifully rural and green. You don’t get the glow of blast furnaces in Yorkshire any more. Just the lights from the shopping centres that now occupy their former sites. Tom, I find over bending and then allowing the hull to straighten the plank a little makes the plank nest better while glueing. Phil - Fortunately my wife is Welsh. The Welsh are not really noted for their tolerance but fortunately they do spend a lot of time out shopping. Keith, John , Pat - thank you as ever for your continuing support. Keith,

It gets my vote.

Wonderful subject. I do like paddle driven riverboats. I will follow with interest.

Thank you Andrew, Ian and Druxey. Andrew - I come from Thurnscoe, Near Barnsley. I grew up climbing and sledging down the slag heaps but that was in the good old days before the mines closed. It went rapidly downhill after that which is quite a trick noting its lowly starting point. We always thought Knaresborough was very posh, only visited on rare charabanc trips that always seemed manage a return route via Harry Ramsdens. I escaped aged 16 when I left home and haven't lived in Yorkshire since. My ambition was to retire to Harrogate, sadly not to be.

They breed us thick skinned, tough (and stupid) in Yorkshire.

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!😬