Roger Pellett

Diagonal planking is much more common than one might think. The Royal Navy used it extensively in building small boats - their steam pinnacles and picket boats were commonly diagonally planked and there is a 42ft launch from a battle cruiser in the small boat shop at their Portsmouth museum that is diagonally planked. In 1960 my father and I built Thistle class sailboat from a moulded hull built from diagonally laminated layers.
 
The diagonal planking should have no effect on fluid flow around the hull, positive or negative. First of all, the hull would have been faired longitudinally and with several coats of paint the effect of the diagonal planking would disappear. Typically, there would be two or more layers of planking laid 90 degrees to each other either glued or with a layer of glued fabric between. This would prevent the seams from opening up as with a longitudinally planked hull. Wooden Thistles with their diagonally planked hulls are fully competitive with their moulded fiberglass sisters.
 
When a boat travels through the water, there is a thin layer of water against the hull moving slowly and parallel to the hull. Outside of this "boundary layer" the water becomes much more disturbed or turbulent. Much of the shear that creates drag is therefore water moving against water. Once the hull is smooth enough that irregularities do not protrude past the thickness of the boundary layer further smoothness is unneccessary. In preparing models for tank testing the University of Michigan hydrodynamics lab painted them with a semi-gloss enamel. The surface of the model was then considered to be hydraulically smooth. The hull of a crack racing yacht would be faired painted and polished to the point that the direction of planking would be immaterial.
 
Roger Pellett

Diagonal planking is much more common than one might think. The Royal Navy used it extensively in building small boats - their steam pinnacles and picket boats were commonly diagonally planked and there is a 42ft launch from a battle cruiser in the small boat shop at their Portsmouth museum that is diagonally planked. In 1960 my father and I built Thistle class sailboat from a moulded hull built from diagonally laminated layers.
 
The diagonal planking should have no effect on fluid flow around the hull, positive or negative. First of all, the hull would have been faired longitudinally and with several coats of paint the effect of the diagonal planking would disappear. Typically, there would be two or more layers of planking laid 90 degrees to each other either glued or with a layer of glued fabric between. This would prevent the seams from opening up as with a longitudinally planked hull. Wooden Thistles with their diagonally planked hulls are fully competitive with their moulded fiberglass sisters.
 
When a boat travels through the water, there is a thin layer of water against the hull moving slowly and parallel to the hull. Outside of this "boundary layer" the water becomes much more disturbed or turbulent. Much of the shear that creates drag is therefore water moving against water. Once the hull is smooth enough that irregularities do not protrude past the thickness of the boundary layer further smoothness is unneccessary. In preparing models for tank testing the University of Michigan hydrodynamics lab painted them with a semi-gloss enamel. The surface of the model was then considered to be hydraulically smooth. The hull of a crack racing yacht would be faired painted and polished to the point that the direction of planking would be immaterial.
 
Roger Pellett

If you are trying to make spars by tapering dowels I believe that you are doing things the hard way. I find it much easier to cut a strip of straight grained stock and to taper this as a square. I use a homemade taper jig but you could also use a disc sander driven by your drill. Assuming that you have a small block plane, plane off the corners to form an octagon- doing this by eye works surprisingly well. Plane off an equal number of strokes on each corner.
 
Now, using sandpaper on a block round the tapered stick. You can then chuck it up in your drill rig and spin it while pinching it between a piece of sandpaper. Don't use the tail stock. Try it. It's surprisingly easy.
 
Roger Pellett

I the shelter deck idea was a successful gimmick to minimize tonnage (a measure of internal volume used as the basis for calculating certain operating costs such as canal tolls, port charges, dry docking charges, etc.) without actually affecting the vessel's cargo carrying capacity.
 
Tonnage is calculated in accordance with internationally accepted rules and these rules exclude areas of the ship "open to the weather." The shelter deck was penetrated by one or more tonnage openings-small hatches that were not sufficiently watertight to meet the definition of a watertight closure for tonnage purposes but sufficiently robust to not affect freeboard calculations. For tonnage purposes the shelter deck was therefore considered to be open to the weather.
 
Roger Pellett

Unfortunately, I just found this build log. Before you get too far down the road, I suggest that you purchase a copy of Warships of the Great Lakes, 1754-1834 by Robert Malcomson, an author who specializes in Great Lakes naval history. Among other things, this book includes a copy of the Admiralty draught from which these plans and Howard Chapelle's plans were drawn. The level (or lack of) detail is interesting. For example, there is no stern elevation and the stern shown on the NRG plans is a complete reconstruction. Instead of windows, there is documentary evidence that the Washington had stern chasers, as well as a heavy gun in the bow. Contemporary sketches reproduced in Malcomson's book show these and a letter written by Washington's commander, David Waterbury states that he was forced to surrender because his stern chasers would not bear.
 
After defeating Arnold's fleet in the fall of 1776 the Royal Navy was in complete control of the Lake and no longer had any use for heavily armed warships. They did need transports to keep John Burgoyne's army supplied during its summer 1777 offensive. Therefore, during the winter, Washington was converted to a big and would have served as a transport. Malcomson reports that the guns were removed from the vessels of the fleet in 1777. The work performed in the winter of 1776-1777 would have been extensive as the masts would have been shifted to account for the change in rig.
 
It is fairly clear that the Admiralty draught reflects Washington after she had been converted to an armed brig transport as the bowsprit is shown. As a lateen rigged galley, she did not have this spar.
 
Roger Pellett

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that my compressor can provide air at the right pressure. To high a pressure and the metal fitting that is pressed into the airbrush body is blown out. Trust me, it has happened. The pressure tank for my compressor stores air at 125 psi, probably required for various mechanical applications but way too high for an airbrush. The regulator on my compressor lets me turn the air supply down to 25-30psi.
 
Roger Pellett

A somewhat dissenting voice: I have two airbrushed- a Badger 350 and a Badger "Paint Sprayer". The paint sprayer is a very simple inexpensive air aspirated sprayer. Both work fine. Virtually all of my airbrushing involves painting of relatively large surfaces. Where I need to paint small surfaces I mask off rather than trying to turn down the airbrush. For this type of work the point sprayer lays down a nice smooth coat. It is not particularly adjustable for width of spray but for the work that I do this does not matter.
 
For me, more important, is the air source. I started with an aerosol can, then a jury rigged ancient compressor. Recently, our large home improvement retailers have been selling small air compressors with air accumulator for less than $100 US and I recently bought one. This made a huge difference as I can accurately control air pressure. For my level of expertise, having a good air source with controllable pressure is more important than a higher end air brush.
 
Roger Pellett

Roger,
 
Have look here... I also suggest downloading this section or printing it.   Jeff gives some great pointers on blades for the Byrnes saw.  I've used his info for my MM saw and learned a lot from it.  http://www.hobbymillusa.com/byrnes-saw-operation.php
 
I think it was Grant Dale who posted that tool... used a ball bearing to set the thickness and then the fence was moved, it seems.  Ah.. found it:  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/10585-thin-ripping-jig-for-the-byrnes-table-saw/

There’s a ladder that goes from the pilot house down to the main deck.  I know that there are companies that make photo etched ladders but I don’t know which ones make good parts or how to order the one that I want.  Then I would have to wait for it and hope it is the right size when it gets here.  I’m just not up to that kind of stress.  So I made my own.  The photo I am following shows the ladder with ten treads.  Measuring the model makes the treads .090 inch.  So I sanded a 3/32 square strip down to .085 inch on one side.  To make the fixture I used a .005” brass sheet as a spacer and  glued the square strips between two supports.  The treads were cut from the .005” sheet and squeezed into the fixture.  The sides are 1/16” brass angle.  Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the ladder mounted in the fixture.  But here is a picture of the fixture and the a couple of the finished ladder.
 
Bob
 
 

I the shelter deck idea was a successful gimmick to minimize tonnage (a measure of internal volume used as the basis for calculating certain operating costs such as canal tolls, port charges, dry docking charges, etc.) without actually affecting the vessel's cargo carrying capacity.
 
Tonnage is calculated in accordance with internationally accepted rules and these rules exclude areas of the ship "open to the weather." The shelter deck was penetrated by one or more tonnage openings-small hatches that were not sufficiently watertight to meet the definition of a watertight closure for tonnage purposes but sufficiently robust to not affect freeboard calculations. For tonnage purposes the shelter deck was therefore considered to be open to the weather.
 
Roger Pellett

I the shelter deck idea was a successful gimmick to minimize tonnage (a measure of internal volume used as the basis for calculating certain operating costs such as canal tolls, port charges, dry docking charges, etc.) without actually affecting the vessel's cargo carrying capacity.
 
Tonnage is calculated in accordance with internationally accepted rules and these rules exclude areas of the ship "open to the weather." The shelter deck was penetrated by one or more tonnage openings-small hatches that were not sufficiently watertight to meet the definition of a watertight closure for tonnage purposes but sufficiently robust to not affect freeboard calculations. For tonnage purposes the shelter deck was therefore considered to be open to the weather.
 
Roger Pellett

Harold Hahn built his spectacular models using an 8in table saw and years ago I scratch built a plank on frame model using similar equipment, so a special purpose miniature saw is not absolutely necessary. Zero gap inserts are not hard to make, and I have had to make them for my Byrnes saw.
 
My Byrnes saw frankly scares me.as I have not found the right blade(s) to saw wood smoothly. The very thin fine toothed blades tend to burn, pinch and bind and a regular 4in circular saw blade often kicks the pieces back. I know that many builders do excellent work with this saw, but I have not figured out how to make it reach its potential.
 
The preferred way to cut thin strips with a table saw is to "cut off " the pieces by running the block between the blade and the fence. This way the thin strips are not pinched between the fence and the blade. This means that the fence has to be indexed for each cut. Rockler makes a jig for ripping thin strips that fits into the groove of a full sized table saw. There is no reason why using a properly set up table saw and this gadget strips thinner than 1/16 in could not be ripped with a high degree of repeatability. There is used to be a post on this forum from a guy who built one of these jigs for his Byrnes saw.
 
Roger Pellett

Harold Hahn built his spectacular models using an 8in table saw and years ago I scratch built a plank on frame model using similar equipment, so a special purpose miniature saw is not absolutely necessary. Zero gap inserts are not hard to make, and I have had to make them for my Byrnes saw.
 
My Byrnes saw frankly scares me.as I have not found the right blade(s) to saw wood smoothly. The very thin fine toothed blades tend to burn, pinch and bind and a regular 4in circular saw blade often kicks the pieces back. I know that many builders do excellent work with this saw, but I have not figured out how to make it reach its potential.
 
The preferred way to cut thin strips with a table saw is to "cut off " the pieces by running the block between the blade and the fence. This way the thin strips are not pinched between the fence and the blade. This means that the fence has to be indexed for each cut. Rockler makes a jig for ripping thin strips that fits into the groove of a full sized table saw. There is no reason why using a properly set up table saw and this gadget strips thinner than 1/16 in could not be ripped with a high degree of repeatability. There is used to be a post on this forum from a guy who built one of these jigs for his Byrnes saw.
 
Roger Pellett

Bob,
 
The kinked rudder is an example of what naval architects call a contraguide propeller, more specifically a contraguide rudder. The swirling wash coming from a rotating propeller contains kinetic energy. With the propeller operating in open water such as with a twin screw ship this kinetic energy is lost as eventually the water slows down to match that of its surroundings. This energy is then lost.
 
When this propeller wash is interrupted by an appendage such as the rudder of a single screw ship the flow is affected and some of this kinetic energy is transferred to the ship. In the case is of a single screw ship the rudder captures some of this energy by straightening this flow.
 
It therefore stands to reason that if the rudder is twisted in a direction opposite to the rotation of the propeller it will be even more effective at straightening this flow and will recapture even more of this lost energy. This "twisted" rudder is therefore an energy saving device.
 
Given the fact that Liberty ships were supposed to be simple easily built and expendable, it is surprising that they built with this feature. I wonder if the contraguide rudder on the Jeramiah O'brian was added later in her life. Since you are meticulously building a model of a very early Liberty, you might want to see hi she was built with one of these rudders. Your book with all of the design memos might tell you this.
 
Roger Pellett

I have a mini torch that hooks up to a propane cylinder via a braided hose. It has screw on tips of different sizes and a screw on nozzle so it can be used as a soldering iron or a torch. I got it several years ago from Micro Mark. I have used the larger tip to solder some pretty big joints. It works great and propane cylinders are easy to find.
 
Roger Pellett

If you have a full sized thickness sander you can adapt it to sanding very thin sections. Get a piece of MDF to use as a carrier. Affix the piece that you want to sand to it and run it through. I have a thickness sander that I built and I use this technique to sand small pieces. To attach the piece to the carrier I use several spots of glue at the leading edge of the piece to be sanded. You can debond after sanding with alcohol, or you can sacrifice this small area of the piece. Not elegant but it works.
 
Roger Pellett

If you have a full sized thickness sander you can adapt it to sanding very thin sections. Get a piece of MDF to use as a carrier. Affix the piece that you want to sand to it and run it through. I have a thickness sander that I built and I use this technique to sand small pieces. To attach the piece to the carrier I use several spots of glue at the leading edge of the piece to be sanded. You can debond after sanding with alcohol, or you can sacrifice this small area of the piece. Not elegant but it works.
 
Roger Pellett

If you have a full sized thickness sander you can adapt it to sanding very thin sections. Get a piece of MDF to use as a carrier. Affix the piece that you want to sand to it and run it through. I have a thickness sander that I built and I use this technique to sand small pieces. To attach the piece to the carrier I use several spots of glue at the leading edge of the piece to be sanded. You can debond after sanding with alcohol, or you can sacrifice this small area of the piece. Not elegant but it works.
 
Roger Pellett

I have a mini torch that hooks up to a propane cylinder via a braided hose. It has screw on tips of different sizes and a screw on nozzle so it can be used as a soldering iron or a torch. I got it several years ago from Micro Mark. I have used the larger tip to solder some pretty big joints. It works great and propane cylinders are easy to find.
 
Roger Pellett

I have a mini torch that hooks up to a propane cylinder via a braided hose. It has screw on tips of different sizes and a screw on nozzle so it can be used as a soldering iron or a torch. I got it several years ago from Micro Mark. I have used the larger tip to solder some pretty big joints. It works great and propane cylinders are easy to find.
 
Roger Pellett

Unfortunattly the cog as shown is all wrong! The first four strakes  port and starboad are carvell constructed. The decking is located between four rabbited beams which run fore and aft, thus the deck is athwart the vessel. The strakes are not the same width nor number port and  starboard. The scarfs of the strakes stand proud on the exterior and interior of the vessel for 1/3 of the strakes total thickness and are nail joined.There are five thru beams located just above the water line that project beyond the strakes  and carry huge knees. At the bow and stern are brest hooks which show above the decking! There are ceiling planks that carry all the way up to the rail. The clinker strakes  pass over the stem and then are capped with a massive false stem. The capstan is a cone shaped device located at the stern castle, not like an 18th century capstan at all. There is shielding over the channels to protect the deadeyes and prevent boarding by pirates. The kit manufacturer did not research or produce an accurate  product  in spite of the information and an actual 14th century cog available. John R.McGann
 
 
 
 
 
there is a

Installation contractors are able to cement corean panels together so well that you cannot find the seam. I saw them do it when they installed our bathroom countertops. Unfortunately, I don' know what they used.
 
As far as suitability for "Wooden ship models". That bridge has already been crossed. MDF and plywood are hardly traditional materials and what about miniraturists who use brass rod for spars and wire for running rigging? Assuming that the stuff can be worked and glued I don't see that it is any different from the casting resins.
 
Roger Pellett

Like many other things in ship modeling, much of this is a matter of opinion, and it depends on what you are modeling and what you are trying to accomplish.
 
Some modelers and even some museums prefer a natural wood finish. An expert in this type of modeling was Harold Hahn. See examples of his models elsewhere on this forum. He, however, was modeling ships a certain period (2nd half of 18th Century) and he used first class woods- boxwood, pear, holly and sometimes ebony. With these high quality woods, he did not have to stain, the woods could be left in their natural colors. He was also trying to achieve an artistic representation of these vessels, not their exact appearance. Also, These dense, tight grained woods can be very difficult to stain.
 
In my opinion, many of the models built from kits that furnish species of wood with oversized grain appearance would be better off painted. Also as you move from the 18th to the 19th century, I think that models of this period look much better painted in realistic colors. American working craft in particular look better to me painted.
 
Roger Pellett

Like many other things in ship modeling, much of this is a matter of opinion, and it depends on what you are modeling and what you are trying to accomplish.
 
Some modelers and even some museums prefer a natural wood finish. An expert in this type of modeling was Harold Hahn. See examples of his models elsewhere on this forum. He, however, was modeling ships a certain period (2nd half of 18th Century) and he used first class woods- boxwood, pear, holly and sometimes ebony. With these high quality woods, he did not have to stain, the woods could be left in their natural colors. He was also trying to achieve an artistic representation of these vessels, not their exact appearance. Also, These dense, tight grained woods can be very difficult to stain.
 
In my opinion, many of the models built from kits that furnish species of wood with oversized grain appearance would be better off painted. Also as you move from the 18th to the 19th century, I think that models of this period look much better painted in realistic colors. American working craft in particular look better to me painted.
 
Roger Pellett

hello
I have made the anchor and it's chain, also some wrapped cargo is added.