Roger Pellett

Unless you live on the East Coast or highly populated areas of the West Coast everything that Ian posted about totally Electric vehicles also applies to the USA.  I don’t foresee that these cars will ever be practical for the long distance driving and weather that we encounter in the Northern Midwest.
 
Roger
 
 

Basswood strips are often stocked by craft stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc.  Basswood lumber is carried by some Big Box Home Improvement stores.
 
Roger

Bob,  I don’t have one, so can’t comment on its performance but the late Jim Byrnes used to offer a draw plate specifically for wood.  Hopefully his company will get back on its feet
 
Roger

Unless you live on the East Coast or highly populated areas of the West Coast everything that Ian posted about totally Electric vehicles also applies to the USA.  I don’t foresee that these cars will ever be practical for the long distance driving and weather that we encounter in the Northern Midwest.
 
Roger
 
 

This is supposed to be an activity that’s enjoyable so if planking is a problem, choose a project that doesn’t involve it.  If you are limited to kits check out solid hulls.  Bluejacket offers some, as does A.J. Fisher.  A well made solid hull model is no less authentic than a planked POB one.  The important thing is correctly reproducing the hull shape.  OR. Find a POB model that is easy to plank.  How about a Skipjack?  There is at least one Skipjack kit on the market and their relatively small size allows modeling at a scale that allows detailing.
 
Roger

Square brass and copper wire is used by the jewelry people.  It is available in different sizes on Amazon.  1/32” is the smallest that I have found.  
 
Roger

A very strong El Niño has given us a record winter; much above average temperatures and almost no snow. As a result, the SOO locks intend to open several days earlier than planned. Noteworthy this past month was the recent announcement of the discovery of the SS Arlington sunk in 600ft of water off Lake Superior’s  Kweanee Penninsula.  Arlington, sunk in 1940 shares several similarities with Benjamin Noble.  Both were close to the same size and were designed for the pulp wood trade.  Both were built by the same yard (five years apart). Arlington was loaded down with a late season grain cargo.  Heavy seas washed off hatch bars, tarpaulins, and la least one hatch failed entirely flooding her hold.
 
Work since my last post involved assembling the hatch covers on a backing piece of 1/64” plywood and fabrication of the hatch bars.  Wooden hatches float, so hatch bars were fastened atop to restrain them.  These were pieces of 3” steel angle bolted at the ends to padeyes attached to the deck.  For the model I used 1/32” square brass wire.  At each tip, I soldered a short piece of I/16” brass tubing.  A #75 hole through the top of the tube will accept the simulated hold down bolt.  A fussy detail requiring a frustrating amount of time.
 
Roger
 

A very strong El Niño has given us a record winter; much above average temperatures and almost no snow. As a result, the SOO locks intend to open several days earlier than planned. Noteworthy this past month was the recent announcement of the discovery of the SS Arlington sunk in 600ft of water off Lake Superior’s  Kweanee Penninsula.  Arlington, sunk in 1940 shares several similarities with Benjamin Noble.  Both were close to the same size and were designed for the pulp wood trade.  Both were built by the same yard (five years apart). Arlington was loaded down with a late season grain cargo.  Heavy seas washed off hatch bars, tarpaulins, and la least one hatch failed entirely flooding her hold.
 
Work since my last post involved assembling the hatch covers on a backing piece of 1/64” plywood and fabrication of the hatch bars.  Wooden hatches float, so hatch bars were fastened atop to restrain them.  These were pieces of 3” steel angle bolted at the ends to padeyes attached to the deck.  For the model I used 1/32” square brass wire.  At each tip, I soldered a short piece of I/16” brass tubing.  A #75 hole through the top of the tube will accept the simulated hold down bolt.  A fussy detail requiring a frustrating amount of time.
 
Roger
 

Underhill appears to be doing it the hard way!  Of course he was writing many years ago and new tools and materials have become available since.
 
Unless oyou are planning to put your chain under considerable tension, high temperature silver solder is not necessary.  Lead free solders are now available in a wide range of diameters. I have recently been using .010” diameter solder with good results.  Like Underhill, I like the liquid fluxes applied with a small brush.  They do a good job of drawing solder into the joint.  Finally, I prefer a fine tipped electric soldering iron to a torch.  With the very small sizes involved here an electric soldering iron will fuse the joint instaneously.
 
Roger

Rigging continues with upper signal lights. I didnt think about those when building the mast, so they too have no upper attachment points (cheat with knot and spare stirrup) , something to remember for the next model 🤪. 
 

Hoo boy. This aft-facing tiller business is a pain in the neck to get my head around. I can understand how you hold a tiller crosswise or forward-facing, but aft-facing has me bamboozled. I finally made a full-size test-piece and got my lovely wife to take photos of me holding it in what I think is the most likely grip and stance for the helmsman - but who knows? 





Note - we're having our summer (all four days of it) in autumn. A series of 34 degree (93 F) days. Ballarat's like that. (we sometimes get snow in November, too).
 
And I changed the tiller sockets to be slightly angled inboard from the rudder blades - otherwise the tiller would be fouled by the railing when turning it outboard (if you get what I mean). So I had to close up the existing holes with wooden plugs, and also change the shape of the rudder shafts to allow for the rudders being somewhat higher up than I'd originally thought.

I hope this works!
 
Steven

Still a fair few things to do - she needs a railing and a red and white striped awning for the roof.



As I mentioned before, this is a prototype for a "good" model double the size, to see what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately one of the things that doesn't work is the uprights that support the awning/roof - they're made of bamboo toothpicks - in this version they were cut to exact length and went into "stopped" holes in the deck and roof, but due to inherent lack of precision this meant several posts didn't reach all the way from floor to roof, but hung supported at only one end.
 
So I've removed the roof again and drilled holes that go all the way through both deck and roof, and I'll use the toothpicks full-length so they stick out the holes, and cut the ends off when the glue is dry.
 
Steven

Definitely not splitting hairs, apples and oranges!  Allan refers to sailing warships of the 17th and 18th Centuries.  These vessels had large permanent lanterns affixed to the transom; one to three depending on the status of the ship.  Samual Pepys bragged that one on the Royal Sovereign was large enough that he kissed a woman while standing inside of it!  The main purpose of these lanterns was to allow formation station keeping at night.
 
Much later in the Nineteenth Century, maritime nations developed “Rules of the Road” in an attempt to eliminate collisions at sea.  These would not work at night if the vessel’s could not see each other.  This lead to the legal requirement for vessels to carry navigation lights, specifically red (port) and green (starboard).  These would have been attached to the lower mast shrouds on sailing ships.  Exactly when did this happen?  I don’t know.
 
Roger

Zamuel,
 
Keep in mind that you are building a model representing a vessel built in 1578, not 1788 when rules were better established. As you probably know, two ships bracketing your time period have been salvaged and excavated- Mary Rose, sunk in 1545 and your Vasa in 1628. The deck planking on these early vessels looks very haphazard by later standards with very short planks, varying widths and the presence of "drop strakes" (a wide piece of planking abutting two narrow ones).
 
Today, Naval Atchitects treat deck plating as a major strength element to resist longitudinal bending of the hull girder, but this was not the case in the 1600's and before. The many elevation changes caused by the many short decks fore and aft would have limited the deck's effectiveness as a strength member had builders at the time even understood the concept. The need for some sort on planking rules in the late 1500's were, therefore, not necessary, and probably not understood.
 
As your Revenge kit is undoubtedly a reconstruction of a historic vessel for which no plans exist use the kit materials to develop a pattern that looks convincing. No one can say that you're wrong.
 
 
 
Roger

Jewellers' draw-plates technically are a different animal from those draw-plates for wood: they don't cut the wire, but flow-form it - that's why you have problems with materials that don't 'flow', such as wood, you just squash it.
 
I am wondering how long the draw-plates for wood will last, when using them on bamboo. I gather it depends on which part of the bamboo-stalk they are used, because one reason why bamboo is so hard and stiff is, that the cells contain silicium dioxide (meaning quartz or glass), a mineral harder than many steels. Depending on the hardness of the plate, it may wear considerably.  

Of course, Constitution has had a very long life during which she has been rebuilt and repaired several times.  For a considerable part of this time she sailed as an active unit of the US Navy so until recent times, her refits did not necessarily involve ensuring historical accuracy.  Even today, she is a hodgepodge of different periods.
 
Constitution underwent a major repair in the 1920’s.  There are photos of her during this repair in drydock with all exterior planking removed.  Apparently, during this repair a series of as built drawings were prepared.  In the 1990’s these drawings, on a DVD disc, were offered to the public.  I believe that the drawing that you have posted is one from the 1920’s.  To be useful to the level that you want you would have to be able to determine when different structural elements were added during which historic period.   
 
Roger

This is supposed to be an activity that’s enjoyable so if planking is a problem, choose a project that doesn’t involve it.  If you are limited to kits check out solid hulls.  Bluejacket offers some, as does A.J. Fisher.  A well made solid hull model is no less authentic than a planked POB one.  The important thing is correctly reproducing the hull shape.  OR. Find a POB model that is easy to plank.  How about a Skipjack?  There is at least one Skipjack kit on the market and their relatively small size allows modeling at a scale that allows detailing.
 
Roger

0.8 mm square copper wire indeed seems to be the smallest square wire commercially available.
 
A short while ago I was able to buy a miniature jewellery rolling mill. It is actually meant for enlarging wedding rings and such, but I will convert it for rolling (soft) round wire into tiny square, rectangular or half-round wire.
 
CuNi-wire is available in a wide variety of dimensions as flat wire - it is being used in heating elements. A while ago I got a good selection of old stock from ebay.

I see the original volume is available on the second hand market
 
Half of it covers masting and rigging
 
I have the US reprint by Sweetman :
CUTTY SARK, THE  1933                                            
LONGRIDGE,C N                                                    
EDWARD W SWEETMAN                            
NEW YORK                 
1959
 
Make sure the loose plans are in the pocket.

A very strong El Niño has given us a record winter; much above average temperatures and almost no snow. As a result, the SOO locks intend to open several days earlier than planned. Noteworthy this past month was the recent announcement of the discovery of the SS Arlington sunk in 600ft of water off Lake Superior’s  Kweanee Penninsula.  Arlington, sunk in 1940 shares several similarities with Benjamin Noble.  Both were close to the same size and were designed for the pulp wood trade.  Both were built by the same yard (five years apart). Arlington was loaded down with a late season grain cargo.  Heavy seas washed off hatch bars, tarpaulins, and la least one hatch failed entirely flooding her hold.
 
Work since my last post involved assembling the hatch covers on a backing piece of 1/64” plywood and fabrication of the hatch bars.  Wooden hatches float, so hatch bars were fastened atop to restrain them.  These were pieces of 3” steel angle bolted at the ends to padeyes attached to the deck.  For the model I used 1/32” square brass wire.  At each tip, I soldered a short piece of I/16” brass tubing.  A #75 hole through the top of the tube will accept the simulated hold down bolt.  A fussy detail requiring a frustrating amount of time.
 
Roger
 

Soldering is a skill that must be practiced in order to master. I prefer a soldering iron that I can adjust the temperature on for all my soldering, some like resistance soldering others use a torch still others a gun. For ship modeling and at the scales we work at, a fine tipped iron with adjustable heat is all you really need. Most common solder used in electronics is a lead/tin mixture which works fine for affixing components that are never subject to much stress from coming lose. For items under stress all we really need go to is silver bearing solder not true silver solder to hold the joint together. The parts to be joined should be clean of contaminants, this is best done by abrading with fine steel wool and acetone. When you solder, your finished joint should be bright silver with no pin holes or remnants of flux which usually shows itself as black spots in the solder. The finished joint should be cleaned after soldering again using acetone. Not enough heat will give you a cold solder joint which is usually a dull silver in color, to much heat will usually destroy or mis-shape the part or parts being joined. 
To stop heat from soldering from traveling to places that you don't want it use hemostats or similar devices as a heat sink to bleed off the heat. keep the tip of your soldering iron clean and well tinned. If you can no longer keep the tip clean or tinned replace it. Keep combustibles away from the soldering area.
Like everything else in model ship building, the skill must be learned and practiced in order to master, you also should not rush the job.
 
Jim
 

Thank you all for your input. After some thinking, I decided to go with a silver-enriched solder wire I obtained long time ago from Home Depot. I don't think it is called Stay Brite, but I forgot its exact name.
I remember that it can be applied either with a soldering gun or with a torch and it is significantly stronger than regular 50-50 or 60-40 wire. I have a tiny soldering pen that gives me a lot more control than a mini torch, so I've been able to resolder those broken joints with this wire and give it a bit thicker joint (previously I was filing off extra thickness of solder to make it as thin as the brass rings. That turned out to be too thin and week). 
The joints will be covered with a rubbing pounch anyway, so they will be invisible.
The solder joints don't get as black as the brass with Birchwood Casey, so I use just for these spots a different blackener - used for stained glass work, which seems to work there somewhat better.
Thanks again Everybody!!!    🙂

This is supposed to be an activity that’s enjoyable so if planking is a problem, choose a project that doesn’t involve it.  If you are limited to kits check out solid hulls.  Bluejacket offers some, as does A.J. Fisher.  A well made solid hull model is no less authentic than a planked POB one.  The important thing is correctly reproducing the hull shape.  OR. Find a POB model that is easy to plank.  How about a Skipjack?  There is at least one Skipjack kit on the market and their relatively small size allows modeling at a scale that allows detailing.
 
Roger

You are absolutly right, Roger. And that´s part of the fun for me here. Its a bit like a "murder mistery" .. Cluedo in history. "who´s done it?" .. "who´s done what!?"
 
I am copying your remark to this thread - since I here think about the topic for my actual build.
 
 
We can only "guesstimate" about detail questions based on availble sources. The Lord drawings done in 1925-1930 are a reference for what they thought is right in that times. The section cut I showed here was prepared to show what his research result is indicating. But of course - it is also a lot of interpretation in that already. And as a matter of fact: he did his restoration based on modfied designs by the way - for which we also have section cuts.
 
 
I am about to re-think that thick stuff / king plank concept for my build. Until yesterday I intended to represent that step. But ..
 
There may be 2 reasons why Humphreys may not mention that "thick stuff":
 
1. he did not talk about it, since anyone would have known: this is how it had to be. That´s the tricky part with original sources: they often describe the "not-expected", the "unusal", the things worth to describe. Very often they don´t talk about things which are "common sense" / "common practice" for those in the time the paper was written. So "thick stuff" or "king planks" could have been a feature which every shipyard whould know how to do! Not worth talking about. As for example also the length or width of most of the deck planks.
 
2. he did not talk about it, since in his design it was not intended to be there.
That possiblity leaves us with two new options.
2a. there was no thick stuff in the early frigate
2b. there was thick stuff in the real ship: the shipyard did add in the best practical way - which is in a way the same as option 1. "common sense" / "common practice" - at least for them in Boston. .. Is there evidence for this? At least: I don´t have any.
Does anyone of you have evidence for the practice of "thick strakes" in Boston / Charlestown in that time period?
 
What do we have to consider than to find the best assumption here?
 
1. Humphreys degree of details in his specifications
Humphreys mentions the detail of width of his "thick strakes", the "sheer strake" beside the hatches - and also that there should be an additional one "half way" between this "classical" sheer strake and the sides.
He specified the type of wood (stronger white oak for areas with high stress and "cheaper" yellow pine everywhere else) he wants to have in different area of the deck.
He did NOT mention any "thick stuff" or "king plank" in between the hatches.
 
2. common practice?
It seems to me that the practice of thicker kingplank - or "thick stuff" as Lord is calling this - was not used in ALL ships ALL the time. Yes, it seems to be a practice in ship building before Old Ironsides was launched - and it seems to be practice up to today.
But there are ships and models (weaker arguement !!) without them.

In Chapmans "Architectural Navals" he shows ships WITH and WITHOUT a that step. If he does show in one drawing - why would he miss it in drawings of other ships? My conclusion: it must have been in some - and wasn´t in others.
 
3. need to strengthen the ship
The argument it would strengthen the ship in longitundinal direction is not fully true - since the hatches interrupt that strengthening "stripe".
I would understand if that thick stuff is used in area the decks are under higher load during working on the hatches, storing stuff below the decks, You may have to put there a barrel or a box .. Those area around the hatches may even experience falling stuff.. So yes, in that sense thick planks would strengthen the deck.
 
4. personal bias
I loved that idea of having a deck planking which "differs" from what one ususally sees in forums like here. Of course I would love to show you all something new, never seen before but having good arguments to convince you all. I guess everyone posting information here does it, because it pleases to show to a community something entertaining or educational. It was a thrilling idea having here a detail, which wasn´t well understood before. But.. 
 
 
Thinking about all that without emotion and just rationally I would judge like
Pro:
thicker king plank was a well known and appearing feature in some ships and models before and after thick stuff would improve the robustness of the "logistical" area around the hatches thick stuff is shown in John Lords "investigation"-section cut. Seems he saw some evidence for it. Contra:
Humphreys tried to describe the important features he wanted to have  he described the material to be used - and where. he described the thickness and in one occation (for deckplanking) the width of the material he wants to be used. he did no where describe "thick stuff" / king planks There is no evidence for "thick stuff" before the 1926 section cut drawing of John Lord. king plank as a feature is sometimes visible - but wasn´t exisiting in all vessels of that type Summary
I guess I will not show white oak nor a step in between the hatches.. and deviate from John Lords 1926 interpretation.
Of course there may have been a step and white oak planks in the real ship from the beginning - but .. for today I guess I stick with what I read from Humphreys.

Square brass and copper wire is used by the jewelry people.  It is available in different sizes on Amazon.  1/32” is the smallest that I have found.  
 
Roger