UpstateNY

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Well, a start has been made on the inner sheathing of the bulwark. The compound curves involved make this an interesting exercise!

Again, thank you for the kind compliments. 'Precision' is merely taking sufficient time and care, plus accurate marking out. These come from experience; you know, the 10,000 hour thing.
 
The aft platform has been made, painted and installed. The next challenge is covering the compound curved surface above this platform up to the height of the topside.

Something like that Greg . It's used where the strains on the planking are greatest, such as the Spirketting and Deck Planking around the Gunports, and the Wales.
 
Thanks to all the others for their comments and Likes .
 
I started the Upper Deck framing the same way as the lower deck by temporarily installing the three Beams. Next I made the Upper Deck Main Mast Partners.
 
You may remember from the full model that these differ significantly from some of the earlier Swan Class ships in that they are angled :
 

 

 
I've also made and (once again temporarily) fitted the Lodging Knees and most of the Carlings, some of which can be seen below marked out for the Ledges. All these pieces will be removed later to cut the various mortices :
 

 

 

 
Last thing for now I've made up the Main Topsail Sheet Bitt Pins :
 

 

 

 

 
This will be the last I can do on my model for a little while as I'm ONCE AGAIN (6th time in 7 years) moving house, having sold my caravan where I've been living for the past couple of years (I just got word that the money has been deposited into my account ) and I'll be moving back into my own house. Ironically, this is where I first built my workshop .
 
See you all in a couple of weeks when I get settled in again.
 
  Danny

David: welcome aboard! I'm really pleased to see your smiling face again.
 
Elijah, those REVENGE builders ahead of me, whom I am attentively following also mention the excellent fits.
 
Doc, in my case the proxy server didn't pass the MSW notifications. I fixed it by putting my real address in MSW.
 
Many thanks to the kind folks adding "Likes".
 
Several small steps over the past few days, each time consuming.
 
Having not a lot of experience with my air brush it took me two days to obtain a finish on the brass hatches and wood frames that I am satisfied with. Setup/knockdown of the tabletop spray booth, cleanup and giving the Iwata airbrush the cleanup it deserves is a long process. But gosh, the Iwata is an object of mechanical art and the paint application leaves nothing to be desired. The shiny spot on the lower left painted grate is a light reflection. Paint coverage is excellent.
 

 
Following the lead of Martin and Denis, I laid out three decks for planking.
 

 
This is a dry fit to lay out one of the planked decks.
 

 
The lower deck is in two pieces. If it was one piece it would still be possible to mount it. I have laid it out on a thick glass plate and joined the two halves with 60 minute epoxy. Here it is seen clamped and weighted for overnight curing. Once the epoxy cures I'll plank the deck while it is on the glass plate then mount it in the hull.
 

 
Respectfully,
John
Total Time 24 hours

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Looks like a fun project...very nice Nigel

She's coming together nicely. Great job on the stern frames.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 151 – Ship’s Boats 7
 
Thank you for the comments and likes since the last post.  I am looking forward to completing the work on these small (3 to 4”) long boats!
 
After the last post I made some modifications to the 25’ clinker built cutter.  I took some advice from my good friend Druxey that the lapstrake planking needed to converge to a carvel form as it approached the stem and stern rabbets.  This is well illustrated in his posting on the Greenwich barge.  I applied a cosmetic fix to the installed planking as shown in the first picture to remove the overlapping at the ends.
 

 
The clinker style overlap at the rabbets would cause a complication in sealing and that is probably the reason for bringing the planks flush at those points.  Anyway, because of this, I decided to lapstrake the 4th boat using the correct process.  I had intended to make this carvel planked, but decided I needed to do one more clinker to fully understand the correct planking process.  The next picture shows another view of the current state of the first three boats.
 

 
You will notice that eyebolts have been installed in the skid beams and the boat sterns have been lettered.  The next picture shows the plug for the 4th boat, a 22’ cutter that will be suspended from the starboard quarter davits.
 

 
I reused the 25’ cutter plug as a starting point for this, hence the pinholes.  The plug has been primed in the picture – not very photogenic I’m afraid.  In the next picture the frames have been bent over the plug.
 

 
They of course need to be aligned.  The first step in securing them is shown in the next picture. 
 

 
A temporary guide and holding strip has been nailed to the plug over the frames at the boats topside height.  A hole for an additional nail is being drilled in the picture.  With the frames secured topside the stem piece is being fitted in the next picture.
 

 
This piece was then pinned to the plug and glued to the first few frames.  The keel was then fitted and glued to the frame floors as shown below.
 

 
The last step before planking was to add the stern deadwood as shown below.
 

 
This is glued to the keel.  The connections are all pretty fragile at this point, but the addition of the garboard strakes will strengthen it significantly. 
 
Ed

After the last bit of tweaking on the hull, I've started planking.  I attached the first layer of the wales on one side.  The run came out pretty well.  Not perfect, but it'll do.  I lightly sanded the wale, but since it will have a second layer over it, I didn't get to crazy with the sanding.  I'm hoping the other side is a match.
 

 

 
Erik

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi All,
 
A small update as I've finished the first part of the stern framing.
 
First step as usual was the clean off the laser char and here I went very light given the stern timbers have complex curves I didn't want to alter by mistake. The stern timbers were then glued in place, making sure they were firmly seated against bulkhead 8 and that their angles matched the template.  I copied the paper templates onto clear transparency film so I could see the timbers completely and so line them up easily. I did double check there was no scale offset when I copied them as Chuck warns in his instructions. The film is also much stronger than paper so I could use clips to hold the template against the frames without risk of tearing.
 
The upper side pieces were then chamfered so they fit snugly against the stern timbers and, together with the hull frames, were glued in place following the laser etched reference lines. I used my steel rule to make sure the upper pieces were not tilted in or outboard, again as warned in the instructions as these pieces form the bottom sills for the aft cannon ports. Once the glue set, my final check was to overlay the window template to double check the spacings.  Seems to be OK, but please sing out if you see anything amiss so I can correct it! 
 
Next up is some careful fairing of the upper pieces and then adding the sills and lintels to complete the window framing.
 
Thanks for reading and again for all the kind comments and "likes".  
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Moved on to the portlights and they required drilling holes in the hull; measuring locations was critical. also it turned out that one of the castings did not fill when cast; so I had to turn one on my lathe.
 
I used 1/8" masking tape aligned with the top edge of the wale to use for marking the locations for the scuppers first and then the port lights. 

 

 

 
Here is the incomplete cast port light; should not have been included and is just a piece of scrap.

 

 
Just a tip for holding the lights to clean the parting lines and true up roundness. The back edge of a Xacto blade tip was used to scrap the face smooth.

 
It is hard to photograph black on black but here they are in place.

 
Moved on to the stern molding and discovered a major dependency with the gallery locations that will require major surgery and rework since they did not line up with the white gun strip. Once I sort things out I will post the rework and what I think caused the problem. In checking other builds I see the same problem that I have which I think stems from the issue with the transom framing. It will be a major rework.
 
 

Thanks for showing how you use these patterns Druxey...really helping me learn.
 
Your build is just staggering....I love that last shot showing all the framing against the planking patterns.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi Alde,
 
I am no planking expert, but your runs look pretty good to me.  I'd just make sure the battens are symmetrical on each side and then see how things look once you done your tick strips! 
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Dear Nenad,
 
My deepest sympathies to you and your family at this time.
 
My thoughts are with you all.
 
Nigel.

thanks very much Piet,
 
once the prototype is made, the learning curve sets in and the remaining 5 winches ca`nt go wrong any more. One needs to be mirrored.
 
Nils
 

 
The horizontal holes for the 3 axis are drilled by means of a template, taken from the prototype
The upper side contours still to be filed into shape. For the large gear wheel it requires a little freecut in the front side. I`m so happy that it worked out like it was intended

The "likes", comments, and questions/challenges appreciated..... 
 
So... pushing the envelope...
 
I've reworked the rudder and added some metalwork.  It looks a lot better.    The metal banding will have the appropriate amount of nails in it before this piece is ready to mount.
 
Edit:  I forgot to add... I cut it apart using a thin jeweler's saw and then glued it back together using some colored glue.
 

 
And a couple of quick shots of the rudder irons/straps in work.  I started by annealing the straps.  I silver solder the tube, cut-off the excess, and clean it up with a file.  For the pintle, a 1/16" brass rod will be epoxied into the tube.  The cudgeon will not have the shaft, naturally.  
 

I should note that these are not cleaned up yet.  

 
So far, so good.  I've got a pile of brass pieces now pickling in some vinegar.   I'll rinse well and let dry overnight.  I'm thinking of using paint on these or hitting the local gunshop tomorrow for some Birchwood Casey's.  In testing, Blacken-It did nothing for the silver solder.  I've got some discards painted and drying and I'll how they look.  

Hi all
 
I have dry fitted the windows into the stern frame.
The  frame has only got one coat of sanding sealer on it.
I will have to put 3 coats of satin varnish on.
The right side window don't fit that well, I  hope that when the three coats of varnish goes on, as I will varnish the inside of the window frame it will build the inside up so the window will fit a bit better.
 
Denis
 

I drew the run of the wales using the tick marks on the laser cut bulkheads as a guide to pin down a batten strip.  Once I was satisfied that the plank run was smooth, I drew my line.  I also noticed at this point that I had made an error in over-fairing the underside of the center 4 stern frames, where the bottom of the counter meets the square tuck.  So . . . I added 1/32" wood on one of the frames, 3/64" wood on the other three, and then a further .020" on the center two.  Yeah, I had accidentally taken off a lot of material.  I feel like I'm taking one step back with every couple steps forward sometimes.  You can see the beefed up frames in the first two photos.  I made sure my shims were sanded smooth and filled as necessary since these parts of the frames will be exposed on the interior.  When painted they should look as if they are a single piece.
 
Knowing modelers are fond of jury rigging.  I threw in a photo of my work area showing my jig for holding the ship upside down (while addressing the stern frame issue), with a ceramic tile holding it down so it won't move . . . and the scrap wood extension I made for my lamp.  This is easily the largest model I've ever worked on, so my space felt a little cramped. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
Erik

Dear Nenad,
 
My deepest sympathies to you and your family at this time.
 
My thoughts are with you all.
 
Nigel.

Thanks for showing how you use these patterns Druxey...really helping me learn.
 
Your build is just staggering....I love that last shot showing all the framing against the planking patterns.
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Congrats Jack on a great build....love those final outside shots! 
 
Very much enjoyed following along and looking forward to your next build!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.