UpstateNY

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.

Thanks for the "likes" and comments.
 
When I laid the keel, I also cut the stem, the stern post, and the rudder from the same chunk of wood.   I've been busy with other things recently, but did spend a lot of time researching the rudder and sorting things out.  I found that many of my assumptions and some of what is on the plans wrong.
 
Here's what I've found (including from those responding to a post on this)...
 
1) As built in 1755, there's minimal vertical taper.  It wasn't common to do this, but not uncommon either.  Which makes me wonder that maybe it was a shipyard decision.   The rudder follows this. 
 
2) There is no fore and aft taper to the rudder.  That one caught me by surprise.
 
3) There is a cavitation/turbulence groove.  This would have been added when the ship was rebuilt/overhauled at some point later in time.  It would have been present in 1778 when captured.
 
4) The fore side of the rudder was beveled at about a 45 degree angle.  The pintle and cudgeon<SP?> straps were recessed only at the fore side of the rudder and at the aft side of the sternpost where the straps bend to the side.  They were recessed as on some other nation's ships.   
 
5) No spectacle plate.  There's an eyebolt with rings on each side just above the strop hole for the emergency steering.  The strop hole is nominally rigged to two eyebolts.
 
So.. I machined the rudder blank as shown in the pictures below.  There's two mortises in the top of the rudder, one for the normal tiller (which on Licorne is in the Great Room) and one for the emergency tiller which is on the quarterdeck.
 


 
I'm off and running with the metalwork.  I've started silver soldering and wondered why I didn't do this years ago.  It's pretty fast and gives a nice result.  
 
 

Thanks for everyone's continued interest.
 
More pattern making is required to define the shape of the aft deck. I've modified the design of Prince Frederick's barge to suit this vessel. On this deck, furthest aft, will be a raised area for the steersman, but that cannot be defined yet. The aft deck with its scuttle needs to be made and installed first, as well as a thin panelled lining on the inner sides of the bulwarks.

Well, I got all my deck beams in and that was easy enough but now it's time to plank the hull. I have read and re-read the instructions, read the Jim Roberts planking book and some on line information as well as some build logs. I'm still not sure I have a firm understanding of it.
 
I have sectioned off the 3 belts per the instructions and ran my battens. It looks to have a good flow and seems to match the plans pretty well. The plans have plank patterns and I may see how those fit but I want try spiling my own planks too. I have a proportional divider so I thought I could use it and tick strips. 
 
Am I going in the right direction? It seems that some of you guys pick this stuff right up and do a great job. I seem to be really planking challenged. Of course if I just did it and quite worrying about it I would be better off.

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

Hi everyone
 
Hope you're all well.  Progress has been slow this week, but I thought I'd show where I'm at with Majellan.
 
The superstructure's painting and puttying continues, whilst I chase the glass smooth finish that I'm after.  I've also started work on the forepeak where the winches and other associated deck furniture will be stored.  The rear garage door and staircases haven't been touched since last week, so there's still lots of work to go before the stern is finished.
 
Please see the photos below.
 
Enjoy your weekends!
 
Cheers
 
Patrick 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 150 – Ship’s Boats 6
 
In addition to the workhorse longboat(s), clippers carried smaller boats for convenience and for the safety of the crews.  Government regulations had begun to exist to aid in crew and passenger safety.  A variety of different types and sizes were used and it is most likely that boats on a given ship varied over time.  With Young America’s long, 30 year career I am sure there were replacements. I am still pondering the fourth boat, but the third is to be a 25 foot clinker built cutter that will rest inverted on the skid beams outside the longboat on the starboard side.  It is likely that the fourth boat – to be suspended from quarter davits - will be a somewhat smaller cutter.  So, on to the first cutter.
 
In the first picture, the sheer line at the top of the side is being scribed into the partially shaped pine plug.
 

 
The boat pattern can be seen pasted to the block.  This initial shape was formed using the disk sander.  In the next picture the plug has been fully shaped and the area below the topside given a coat of white shellac, sanded and well waxed.
 

 
The frames being formed in this picture are slightly smaller than the longboat frames.  They too, are pear and were left in water overnight before being placed as shown above.  They were about as flexible as string.  The process being used is the same as for the longboats, but thanks to the learning curve, it is still evolving and becoming more efficient.  In the next picture planking is well along.
 

 
Planking began after both halves of all the frames shown were fitted over the plug, the keel assembly installed on them and the topside guide strip nailed over the frames as shown above.  Frames at the ends were added later.
 
The clinker planking requires more work and care than the carvel planking used on the longboats.  First, because the planking lines will be very pronounced even after painting.  Also, the upper edges of each plank need to be beveled to bed the next plank, working up from the bottom.  The next picture shows the first step in that beveling using a paring chisel.
 

 
On the carvel hulls the planks were tapered at the ends to provide fair lines and to conform to the contraction of the planked area at the ends.  The same was done here before beveling the planks as shown above.  After the paring step, a flat file was used to smooth out the bevels along the plank.  The next planks were then overlapped and glued to both the plank above and the frames.  The next picture shows the topside plank above the wale being installed against the guide strip.
 

 
The next picture shows the planking nearing completion.
 

 
In the next picture, the boat has been removed from the plug and some internal members have been added.
 

 
As with the longboats, except for the unplanked boat, the internals are simplified on these upside-down boats.  The last picture shows the cutter in its position on the skid beams.
 

 
In this picture the boat has been given a first coat of white shellac primer, to be followed by the white acrylic.  The wales on this boat – and the one at the top – will then be installed.  The two longboats can then be secured, but this cutter will be left loose to provide access for rigging on the rail below, if needed.
 
Ed

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

Time for a small update. The cabin floor was made in the same way as that for the forward section of the footwaling. In this case the wood was left 'bright' and the joints slightly enhanced using pencil lead. The finish was dilute sanding sealer. The footwaling aft of the cabin will be installed at a higher level, with a small scuttle for access. Some pattern-making will first be required, though.

Thanks for the nice compliments Carl, Elijah and John and to all for the likes! 
 
Stern framing has begun, but I will be taking this slow so I get all the angles and curves correct!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hello everyone,
Falkusa of island of Vis... it is upgraded project now ... I am glad to announce a new series on the stock in a few days...
 
Best regards...
Zoran

Hi Frank, George, Mark.... good to be back in the shop this evening for sure.
 
Tried that one Piet.... began growing long whiskers and licking my paws.  Pretty sure it had something to do with the cat gut plug.  Also tried to plug it with a dowel....didn't work either, just made the hole bigger.  Guess I'll have to go with my hero Dr. P on this one.

Thanks guys 
 
Greg,  that is a great place to start.  First the guns were airbrushed black using Badger Airbrush paint.   But just going with straight black is not good enough.  The guns and other metalwork needs to be different in appearance / texture than the wood elements painted black.  If for nothing else but to add some more interest.  Straight black is to harsh and leaves a lot to be desired.
 
You can go with a warm hue or a cool hue.  I decided on the warmer.  I then brushed on very sparingly some weathering powder.  The goal here isnt to make it look like a rusty heap.  Its just to change the surface appearance.  As quickly as it was applied with a soft brush it was buffed off almost entirely with the same soft brush.  It changes the color only slightly BUT it does also change the surface texture making it noticeably different than other black painted parts.  I use this technique on all of the "metal" parts on the model even if they arent made from metal.  It works quite well.  For the guns it really makes the reinforcing rings stand out as well as the other details.   But remember you have to buff it off.
 
Now I am not using these weathering powders for anything else....I have no intention of making the model look weathered.  In most cases where I see folks weathering .....it is over done and everything looks like a junk ship rusting out.  Its just too much.  But if used sparingly it can be very effective.  Just my opinion of course.
 
I use the MicraMark weathering powders and the set contains a small jar of Rusty brown and if you are going cooler you could use Grimy Gray or even a dark  blue.  All of the guns are completed with this technique below and waiting to be mounted on their carriages.   I store them like this until needed.   Now to build those carriages!!!
 

 

 
The same technique was used on the chainplates.  You can see how the powder makes the Black noticeably different than the painted wales.   Before the application it looked exactly the same.    Now its different but very subtle.  The key is NOT to over do it and get carried away.  
 

Update
 
Prototyp winch is now complete (requires a few paint touch ups)
 
Two of these winches go on the forecastle deck and one on the forward waist deck, behind the foremast
 
Two reciprocating steam drives mounted, also outer winding drums and brake. The framework was chemically blackend.
 
2 of these winches go on the forecastle deck and one on the forward waist deck, behind the foremast
 
Nils
 

 
 

Goal:
 

 
And result
 

 
 
Not exactly in scale, obviously little oversizeing was necessary.
 
It is just amazing: in scale 1:100 spokes which in nature has 3-5cm dia, , on model will have 0'3-0,5mm dia. Just impossible
 
I was thinking about inner brass ring you can see on upper photo, to simulate with gold color, but think there is no point. Hairline circle can not be seen, and everything thicker than hairline would be too shiney.
 
Who knows, now is 23:00h and morning is always smarter than evening

Love the bow Dave and I especially like the last shot showing the full hull.  Just amazing to see all these carvings in place!
 
Good luck at the Doc's today!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Love the bow Dave and I especially like the last shot showing the full hull.  Just amazing to see all these carvings in place!
 
Good luck at the Doc's today!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Hi All,
 
Welcome Kevin and I really think you'll be very happy with this kit...she's a beauty! My thanks to all as well for the kind comments and the likes!
 
One of the really nice design features of this kit is that it can be built showing some exposed hull framing. First step is to build a shadow box from the laser cut pieces. Two of these have very fine spacers to set the framing separation.  A heads up to anyone with this kit is many of the spacers were not cut all the way through especially at the corners in my kit. It took quite some time to safely release them using my finest Xacto knife as the spacers are quite fragile. After sanding and gluing in place, the shadow box was  painted matt black.
 
The double frames were glued up making sure the tops matched up and then all the frames were glued into place. I used wood glue as this gave me time to try make sure the spaces were even and the frames vertical using my small square to guide my eye. Fairing to the bulkheads was done using my sanding sticks and 220 grit paper. I thought about staining the frames to match the keel, but there was quite a lot of grain visible so I decided against it. I am really glad I left well alone as the frames still took on a really nice, deeper color after a protective coat of poly. Seems when I select planks for hull and deck planking, I will need to really watch how the grain is running and perhaps pre-stain or add a light coat of poly to help match the finish.
 
One last thing is I decided to copy Ed Tosti's board design (link below to his fabulous Young America log)  and added T track's to my board. I can now hold the hull firmly using the simple clamps you can see in some pictures and they also let me square the hull to the board which should be helpful given next up is Chapter 3 and the stern framing!
 
Thanks for reading!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.
 
Link to Ed Tosti's Young America log.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/3453-young-america-by-edt-extreme-clipper-1853/page-1
 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the bow Dave and I especially like the last shot showing the full hull.  Just amazing to see all these carvings in place!
 
Good luck at the Doc's today!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

Love the bow Dave and I especially like the last shot showing the full hull.  Just amazing to see all these carvings in place!
 
Good luck at the Doc's today!
 
Cheers,
 
Nigel.

small update for the week s evening work
the carlings under the fire place and between the bitts are cut up under the beams and mortised around the fore bitts
 


 
the standards for the bitts are also mortised for the beams below, I believe the gap between the two had filling pieces to stop any movement
 

 

 
the fore bitt standards are also mortised into the beams and around the mast partner, both also have a mortise in the front end to receive the smaller bitts that pass through to the forecastle deck as does the y bitts
 

 

 

 
and a final view with it all dry fitted nothing glued or bolted yet
 

About to leave Dr. Pillsbury's office.... All good news. Now talking about repairing the hole in my ear drum in a couple of months.
Thanks for dropping in guys, and for all the personal good wishes from my MSW family of friends.
Three hours (drive time plus lunch stop) from now, I can be back in the ship yard.

A realy big big big thanks to everybody who push me on to make this:
 

 

 
Thinning, fine tunning and painting - next time

thanks Lawrence      this was the easiest of my other two thoughts.....an escalator and  an elevator    thanks for the good word.
 
 
I wish I had taken a few more pictures........but I was fumbling around at the table.......and I came up with this.  I gave it an upper and lower landing.  I really should have painted it before I assembled it,  but as I mentioned,  it went together very quickly.
 

 
the two pieces of wood at the tops are just there to keep it square until it dries totally.   I did this Tuesday evening.    I did frame out the bottom of the upper and lower landings,  seeing that the grain of the wood goes side to side  {very easy to crush it....I already broke one of them earlier on}.  I didn't bother to put the 'kicks' in....just the treads.  a couple of the treads are slightly off.......to mess with it will mean making another one.  so I won't bother.  once completely done,  it will never be noticed.
 

 
the dry fit showed that I need to make a small adjustment to the opening,  and I may need to add a threshold to the opening at the upper deck.   I'm leaning toward making this a separate piece.......once the lights are put on and the deck is put back on,  it will be made so it can be slid into place.  now that it's fleshed out,  I have a few ideas for it's enhancement.
 

 
I also have an update on the Tree Boat.   I've done a good portion of the planking.   I had to redo one side of the bow though........I forgot that the keel needs to be sanded down a bit.   I had it riding all the way up the keel,  instead of tapering it at the bulkhead line.   the keel is uneven and has a few chiggers in it.  I'll set up the belt sander and work the keel so the bow end has a nicer curve to it,  and keel line is evened out..
 

 
don't ask me what's up with the planking.......I dunno.  it's Obechi,  I can tell ya that much.   I got it in a bundle of wood,  in a kit I received,  from a friend that could no longer continue his build.   I got new wood for it,  and hatched out a twisted idea for it,  in waiting for it to arrive.   but.......this is another story    anyway........after fixing the bow,  I can now plank the rest of the hull,  without fear of any more trouble.
 

 
I know it odd that it sits on my trash can like that..........I figure that if it gets too messed up,  it doesn't have far to go            bad joke...........right!  gotcha~!       nawwwwww......little chance of that.......I haven't tossed one yet  
 
 

The footwaling is now complete, after making a false start. I initially tried cutting and bevelling each board to length in situ. The result, as you can see, was not pretty. Having thought things through, I then made a card template which was used to actually attach the boards to. When complete, I channelled out the card so that the boards would sit at the correct height on the keelson, then glued the assembly in. This gave a much improved result.