jbshan

Good light is vital. If you can't see it you can't possibly work on it. I got a couple of drafting lights with pantograph arms that work quite well, and only use regular bulbs. No magnifying glass to create a hot spot in the sun , but you can't have everything.

Capt. Arthur Sinclair, who commanded the next fighting season, said the brigs hadn't a knee in them. The knees were replaced by large deck clamps, etc. to give better purchase for the deck beams on the Champlain vessels the next year, possibility the same was done on Lake Erie. Not to start another battle, but the vessel they raised in 1913 and presumed to be Niagara has a multitude of knees, just check the pics taken at the time.

The tyes are halliards for the t'gallant and t'gallant royal yards, a simpler version than found lower down the mast, just a single sheave needed which can be simulated by a hole. The stays at this level would go over with a simple eye around the mast that would 'cinch up' against the swelling between t'gallant and royal pole mast. The lower end would have any adjustment devices needed. In this case, the fore royal stay goes around the dumb sheave at the tip of the flying jibboom, through the dolphin striker, to a thimble, where it becomes two, port side belays to an eyebolt, strbd goes through hull, belays to cleat on bowsprit. This is all on the same plans sheet, just above the scale drawing. You have to trace lines here and there about the plans on occasion, maybe using a straightedge to see where the line you're following goes when they cross and become confusing. The royals here are accurately t'gallant royals, not on a royal mast, but on a long pole t'gallant mast, and are 'set flying', no lifts or braces.

Yes, Elijah, that's the basic RN type. I found examples of t-shaped ones also, with verticals off the ends of the T, though that was a bit later. A stove pipe type almost needs a stove, to make the flue work. An open hearth would need a larger base for the flue, like a fireplace chimney.

Wrap paper around a small dowel and make a cone of paper for the top? That way you could have some overlap of the hood to keep the rain out. RN stoves had a hood on one side and the whole stack rotated for the wind. We have the replica for the kit, other versions are allowed.

We have here, as carpenters' tool, a 'contour gauge'. It is a long row of metal fingers lightly clamped between two flat metal plates. You push it against a shape and the fingers slide between the two plates to reproduce and record the contour. You can then transfer the shape by drawing the shape with a pencil onto a board or something. You could maybe use one of these to make profiles along the mast fish, like the frame sections of ships' plans. Here is a pic of one in use:

I promised something about my boats for Lawrence. I got all the sections out of the sheets and glued the rough forms together. Eventually I decided it might be easier to do a boat using a plug form and to frame and plank on top of that. I didn't like the carving thing at all. The frames would be in the 1 1/4" square range and the plank in the 3/4 to 1 inch thick range. I was having trouble getting that small and keeping the carved hulls intact and correct to shape. (There are lines plans on one of the sheets. If you want to trace and cut those out you can make templates from those to guide your carving.) I was told the product should be thin enough to see a light through evenly all over the hull, and then frames could be added. I was able to achieve this with my (eventual) plank over frame boat but never with any of the carved versions. Looking at your pics of boats, I think you have a way to go yet on the carving and shaping, so can yet achieve the eggshell thinness required. I'm a little curious why you want to plank over the carved hull. In practice, specialist boat builders usually made the boats, even in Navy Yards. For practical purposes of repair in distant waters, by ship's carpenters, they were done carvel rather than clinker construction, though later on, in Victorian, Pax Britannica times, clinker or lapstrake seems to have prevailed. Perhaps the ships never spent enough time on long distant deployments so they could bring a boat back to port for repair. Navy boats were almost always painted, so seeing the plank with a clear finish would not be normal. A nice neat carving job, painted, would be sufficient for these brigs.

I stole some swatches, just as a rough guide. On my monitor, Red Ochre looks about like bottom row, 4th from left. Red Lead looks like top row, far right, perhaps 2nd right. It is a definite but subtle difference. Cadmium Red Light may be in the ball park, especially if you don't freak out over mixing colors.

Quarter davits and stern davits were established by 1813 so either or both would be appropriate. Quarter davits, instead of the permanently mounted curved version of the replica, would have been straight, square-sectioned spars mounted on pivots about in line with the mast, outboard of the shrouds. In use, the davits would be swung outboard on tackles rigged to the lower mast head or top to clear the side. The boat would be cast off from its lashings and lowered using the tackles in their end, much as a cat hook is suspended and worked. A couple of boat's crew would ride it down to keep the tackles running clear and to breast the boat clear of the side. The rest of the crew would board once the boat was int he water. All this would take place with the ship hove-to. Victory has this sort of davit today. If you have it, Lavery, 'Arming and Fitting...' has the stuff about davits. Harland, 'Seamanship in the Age of Sail' has the operational info.

Go to an artists' store. They should have swatch sheets, the best fo those would be made on paper with the actual paint, bits of which are glued on to the sheet. Light Red is made from calcined yellow ochre. This may be the red ochre pigment. Red lead is a tiny bit brighter. A good substitute for this might be Cadmium Red Light, a modern pigment. All are red-orange colors. If you can find the color in your favorite paint, you may be in business. Yes, red lead is only a pigment, as is red ochre. Either would be put with perhaps fish (whale, cod liver) oil and varnish. There may have been some protection from the lead, but you'll need to find a modern substitute to keep the EPA happy.

Eyebolts in deck, eyebolts on cabinet, lashing holding them together. A few turns between pairs of eyebolts, frapping to expend the remainder, your favorite technique. Please excuse the dust.

Dratted plans, anyway. Just when you got things looking nice you check the plans or get a new book or something...

Yes, Julie, there is a tiller. Relieving tackle on it, but hand-steered. It's only a hundred feet. A properly balanced rig will stay on course almost on its own, and tacking is done mostly with the sails. Yes, Mike, boats were universal, ship to ship, ship to shore, ship to tavern, all important transportation. I chose to leave off the quarter davits, hang the smaller boat from the stern davits and have one on chocks on deck. Plenty of crew to hoist that one overboard if needed, and the stern boat would be available quickly if needed.

You can just lift the nice tightly-fitted rudder off and put it in a safe place while you handle the hull. I'll see what I can find about my boats to post. I didn't like the carving thingy and did a yawl for the stern davits.

I should've added that the contracts are often handwritten and the cursive of the day turns the whole search into virtually a palimpsest of information.

Yes, lashing with rope, and the eyebolts are brass as well perhaps as any deck fastenings in the area might be trunnels. The object is to have no iron nearby. Yes, thicker plank for strength, and there are partners underneath, such as are found at the masts, inserted in the deck beam structure. There can be a lot of force on a capstan. Yes, kind of cut and try for the gudgeon placement. Hold the rudder in place and fit the gudgeons so the rudder can lift up off them and be removed. There would be a wooden lock in the top space, a keeper if you will. The plank between hatches would resume the deck shift afore and abaft, just don't make any too short. You could skip a butt if the resulting plank was very short and use one a bit longer to reach the next beam in the pattern. None of that is carved in stone, plank length is a guide only.

Ed, they don't have to be full sides, just a couple of inches to mask the corner. If you can make the box big enough to have the back fully cover your field of view, you won't need sides, of course, or have a way to crop close either in the camera or with some photo manipulating software.

Yes, Mark. While we have period contracts specifying every aspect of a particular ship, and authors speaking in as much detail in a general fashion, it is extremely difficult to resolve that period information into an actual hull. There is currently on this forum an attempt to put the data together into a CAD format, and the individual is constantly bumping up against discrepancies and obscurities in the 'instructions'. That is why I usually recommend using one or more of the modern authors who has already done the winnowing into an understandable form. The best of those rely on the period information available, in fact are experts not only in building models but also in interpreting the archaic wording, spelling and phrasing of the day.

Binnacle: Just a couple of eyebolts on deck and cabinet, lashings holding it to the deck. I like that you have chosen to have some gratings and some boards on your hatchways. I wound up with all but one as gratings (long story). For future reference only. I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't want you to angst over it, and now there's no way you'll try to change things. Between the hatches, if the distance is less than or even a bit over your average length of deck plank, they would just use a full length; there wouldn't be butts. Doing the deck plank off the model, or not accounting for this in your planning has had this result. You could also have used thicker plank under the capstan as called for, instead of two layers, making it perhaps a bit neater when it came time to drill the hole for the axle. Your rudder looks as if it will work quite well for you. Pay attention to how the gudgeons are fitted and you will be able to ship and unship the rudder. If you can, it will not only work right, it will look right. Many short cuts do not look right as they cannot work right. She's lookin' good, doncha' think?

When you build your photo box, if you make the back and sides of interior lining in one piece, the corners can be curved which will help make the background disappear and provide even lighting.

Your question requires a book or two to answer. It's not something that can be answered in a couple of minutes on a Q & A forum. It looks as if you already have some titles in mind, TFFM and Goodwin are modern, but securely based on period sources. Steele can be a bit obscure as it is a period text.

What do you have for the underwater hull? In the 1780s copper was coming in, and an expedition like this one would be expected to spend years in tropical waters far from a base. Otherwise, you would probably be looking for a white underwater hull.

Thank you, thank you. I read this a while ago and took notes, but it wasn't at that time online.

Wayne, the link couldn't be found.

Just as a concept, and maybe to send your thoughts in a new direction, what if at the rudder post you bring it down to 1/16" and then apply an actual post there for the rudder. This will give the proper width for the rudder and give you a big notch to put any planking into. If you are intended to use the solid hull as the final surface this won't work of course. Read all the way through the instructions, at least for the hull for the moment to make sure you understand all the steps required. I'm not Obi Wan, I got my bathrobe from LL Bean.