G.L.

9. Centerboard Case and Centerboard
The centerboard case is built on two beams with a recess for side boards at each side.

When the side boards are glued, it can be fitted in the hull.

Now the case fits, the cover plate can be glued.

At this stage I don't glue the centerboard case into place yet.
The center board is sawn from an 1.5 mm aluminum plate.

 

Fitting the board and checking if it can be lowered and hauled smoothly.

 

The centerboard is painted in black. I use a cardboard box as a spray booth (the centerboard is hanging in it on a metal wire. A bit hard to see on the photo).

 
 

This week, I varnished the hull. It took a week to do so because I had to give five or six layers before I was happy with the result. Between every layer the  hull was sanded with fine sand paper.

Sanded between two varnishes.

A new layer laid.

 

 

 

 

It is always a bit dark in the workshop, therefore some pictures in the living room where the light is better.

 

 
Thank you very much for reading this log and for your likes.
 
Till next week!

8. Floor timbers
The hull is now liberated from the building board, the inside is free accessible to work in it.  This week I am making the floor timbers.
The floor timbers are not only reinforcements for the hull, but most of them are also the base for the bottom boards. That means that their bottom must have as much as possible the shape of the inside of the hull and that the top of those on which will lay the bottom boards must be at equal and correct height to form stabile base for the boards.
To determine the inside shape of the hull where the floor timbers will be placed, I use a piece of thick solder.

That can be pressed in hollow shape of the hull.

I trace the shape onto stiff paper for both sides and cut them out. I glue them together with another piece of stiff paper just on top of the keelson (red marking, I was a bit lazy in making pictures). A vertical lath, attached to a horizontal lath which can be moved along the hull at a constant height helps to determine the height of the floor timber.

The floor timber can now be sawn ...

... fitted and glued.

 
All floor timbers placed.

 
Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for all your kind reactions.
 
Till next week!
 

The hull can now be removed from the building board. Better to say the building board can now be dismantled from below the hull.

It is feather light.

 

 

The hull, sitting in its new chair:



 


 

Welcome on this log, Gary and thank you for your compliments.
 
 Thanks, Vaddoc.

11. Thwart
The outsides of the thwart are laying on a rising. The risings are made of ebony.

More to midship the thwart is supported by support beams.  The two front beams do not run the full width of the hull, but are interrupted in the middle. I leave them whole for the sake of working for now.
With the bottom boards (center board case removed):

Without the bottom boards:

The support beams rest on a strut. Making a template to saw the strut.

The forward struts placed provisionally.

The rear support beam runs from side to side and is supported in the middle by a pillar. Turning the ebony pillar with the lathe.

The three support beams with pillar and struts. I repeat: the two forward beams will be interrupted in the middle.

The thwart will be made of mahogany, I make a template to saw it out. Determining the shape of the hull sides. First at one side:

 

 

then also the other side:

I draw the shape of the thwart on the template with the help of an improvised light box.

Here the thwart is glued and sawn. Fitting it.

I want to finish the curved inside of the thwart with a thin frame. To give the frame its curved shape, I make an improvised bending iron. I secure a can on the workbench and aim the paint burner in the can. The wet frame can now easily be bent round the can into the desired shape in two directions.

 

The frame is now glued in place on the thwart.

The center of the two front support beams is now cut away.

 

Fitting the finished thwart. Nothing (neither bottom boards nor thwart) is glued yet.
 
Thank you very much for reading this log and for for your likes.

Lots accomplished over the last few days...
 
I finished the ribs. I found it to be very difficult to bend some of the ribs in the sharper corners near the bow and stern. Since they will be covered by the decks, I gave them less worry below the deck line. Overall, a tedious task working with 1/8 x1/8 wood:
 
The inner wales were next. I let the pieces soak in hot water for about an hour before bending them by hand... no heat. The bend was not sharp and actually shaped easily. I used clamps and made sure the wales were in the right position along the entire length of the hull. Once the inner wales were in place and still wet, I clamped them down ensuring that they touched each rib at the top and bottom. Once dried, I used the the thin CA glue and glued them in place while still clamped, resulting:

 
The cutwater was a bit of a conundrum for me. There are no real instructions that were helpful on this part of the build. Fortunately, I found a couple of pictures and build logs that gave me a good view and idea of what I needed to make. It started with several 1/4 x 1/4 wood pieces glued together:

I laid the bow down and used my pencil to trace the curvature of the bow. The pieces were glued together to match the curve. I used my scroll saw and cut the shape out and then cut the leading edge. Finally, I sanded and glued it onto the bow:

Still need to sand the cutwater at the keel flat to properly receive the false keel but I am really pleased with the outcome! 
Next, deck beams were installed at the bow and stern:
 
And the decking begins... simple but a little work to cut around the ribs:


Finally:

Some sanding on the end to even up the deck ends... I decided that I wanted a more finished look. So, I cut pieces to put between the ribs and then placed a piece of trim around the hull. Also added an end cap to the deck:

A better look to me... what do they call it........ artistic freedoms! Hopefully, not too far off base!
The fore deck, cap rails and the false keel are next!

@GrandpaPhil
@Gahm
@allanyed
Many thanks for the nice comments und all the others for the LIKES.
 
Fore topmast stay - Étai petit mât de hune 
According to my announcement in the last post, I am dealing with the topmast stays. So I prepared the assembly for the fore topmast stay. According to my original assumption that a left-hand rope was used here, this is obviously not the case according to my current research. The stay had a diameter of 41 mm in the original, which corresponds to 0.85 mm in model scale.
The fore topmast stay is attached in the same way as the main stay. This requires an open eye. The two legs are spliced into the stay. Finally, the ends receive spliced-in eyes, which then receive a lashing, as can be seen in the following picture. For comparison, I have laid a rope next to it that corresponds to the mainstay.

          
The fore topmast stay was routed on the starboard side of the bowsprit top via stay sheave to the bow for fastening by means of thimble and eyebolt. The area of the stay that was led around the sheave was served.  
     

Source: Atlas du Génie Maritime
 
 
Source: Original model in the Musée de la Marine Paris
 
The lashings for the fore topmast stay have to be applied directly to the model, as it is then no longer possible to pass the rope through the sheave cleat.


 

The next picture shows the eyebolt with thimble of the stay attachment on the forecastle.
 
Here you can see the guidance of the stage over the side sheaves with the served areas.

  
The last picture shows the fore topmast stay on the topmast crosstrees.

     
To be continued ... 

 
 

While waiting for inspiration, the two mascon decorations remained pending; I decided that it was time to complete them and to make the figurehead as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hand scarfing is pretty easy. The norm for the length of the joint is 8 or 12 to one. This may be difficult with planks this thin so you may need to come up with a smaller ratio that's easier to cut.
 
The process is simple:-
Measure the length of scarf on the first plank and draw a line square to the plank With the next piece, lay it as it will be joined to the first then flip it lengthwise so you get the correct orientation on the cut and mark as per the first Lay the pieces down on a work surface with a hard edge so that the lower piece is exactly on that edge Lay the second piece on top with its edge right on the line on the lower piece and clamp it all down Use a small and very sharp plane to cut the scarf using the table edge and the line on each plank as datum points

Dear friends
 
Due to increasing life commitments it's been almost a month since my last post. Unfortunately, I also did not have any time and more importantly peace of mind to visit the various very interesting logs I 've been following - I will try and catch up. However, I found some scraps of time to visit the shipyard and made a bit of progress.
 
 In the last post, I had divided the hull to three zones. Excluding the very curved bow, this hull seems to be much easier to plan that the Launch. I simply used the planking fan diagram to divide the zones into plank widths at every station. I used a baten to figure out the plan ends at the bow and stern. I have decided to scarf the planks so I do not care how much spilling will be needed and how curved they 'll end up to be. The final fairing of the planks will be done during the actual planking but I hope my lines are not far off.






It is very difficult to capture the run of the planks right side up, due to the size of the boat but they look ok


But now it is clear that this boat will be very difficult to do lapstrake. I am concerned that this curved bow will cost me my sanity. I wonder whether it would be better to do a carvel planking and leave the lapstrake for a future boat with a more friendly bow. Decisions-decisions...
 
For now, I started making the first template, for the garboard plank. Initially I thought to do it in 3 pieces but then realised it makes no sense to have so many scarfs - one is plenty, giving a length of 3 to 3.5 m per plank. The last photo shows the pieces for the aft segment of the garboard-they still need to be connected.



I have the feeling that the garboard should be a bit wider but I am not going back, it will be fine. Also, I need to figure out a way to scarf the planks. It needs to be reproducible and reasonably easy.
Also, for this boat I will sand the planks to shape, and will put more effort to have minimal gaps.
 
Regards
Vaddoc

I started square frames. These constructions take a long time, each one is different from the other, each component has a different thickness, in short, a real challenge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well... I think the Arms of France are about done.   Needs some tweeking on the left side still but for now, I'm putting it away to work on some planking and hope my eyes uncross.  At a "normal" viewing distance it looks pretty good considering it's size.  Still have more carvings but.... need a break.  I may decide to re-do the carvings later on once I've have my mind cleared as there are some things I think I could do better and I need to stop comparing them to the 1:48 scale work I've found on line.

Yes indeed.  It would be pretty close.  like this.   With only one inboard tackle however.  But that is rarely shown as it wouldnt be out at all times.  But keep in mind we only have 4 lids per side.   So not as impressive as a two or three decker, LOL.
 

They look good, Mark.

I think wood carving like Mark does is more authentic and closer to contemporary models.

10. Bottom boards
I start with gluing the stringer at the starboard side. At port side (the open side) the bottom boards will not be placed.

Starting to puzzle the bottom boards. The boards are still all loose, I use a weight to keep them in place during the measurement.

While making the bottom boards I glued the thwart risings already into place at both sides.

The boards are complete. The only have to be glued and the back still has to be cut straight.
 
Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for all your encouraging reactions.
 
Till next week!

9. Centerboard Case and Centerboard
The centerboard case is built on two beams with a recess for side boards at each side.

When the side boards are glued, it can be fitted in the hull.

Now the case fits, the cover plate can be glued.

At this stage I don't glue the centerboard case into place yet.
The center board is sawn from an 1.5 mm aluminum plate.

 

Fitting the board and checking if it can be lowered and hauled smoothly.

 

The centerboard is painted in black. I use a cardboard box as a spray booth (the centerboard is hanging in it on a metal wire. A bit hard to see on the photo).

 
 

Half the ribs done:

 
A month and five days until dad's birthday! Gotta get busy!
Summer makes it harder to work... boating, gardening, etc!
Still think I can make it without having to rush.
 

With the major task of planking behind me the next few posts will jump around a bit as I figure out how to add additional detail to my projects prior to rigging. Today it's belaying pins.
 
I think perhaps due to her size the Dove's pins are smaller than typical but as is often the case I started with Chapelle and his book on  fishing boats. There I found a detail of a typical belaying pin on which I based my work.
 
So far I haven't bought any premade parts. My pins would not be the first. 
 
I had two problems, first with the rails only a foot above the deck - pins of the length shown in Chapelle would have fouled the deck. A standard handle with shorter shaft would have to do.
 
Second, without the tools to turn metal or tiny wood parts I needed an approach within my skill set. I settled for composite pins.
 

 
I started with 1/16" square basswood sticks into which I drilled and epoxied brass rod. Then, chucked the brass into my Dremel and turned it against a profile filed into the edge of a razor blade. The wood is shaved away until the neck just touches the metal. The finished shaft and neck of the handle are pretty close to a scale 1" dia.
 
A little work on the wire end with a file and a bit of paint and I had what I hoped was a presentable shape.
 
Below are the pins set into the Dove's rail. Fortunately this small vessel didn't call for too many pins.
 

 
The pins end about three inches short of the deck.
 
Next up will be a way to steer the Dove.
 
Thanks for looking,
Jim
 

10. Bottom boards
I start with gluing the stringer at the starboard side. At port side (the open side) the bottom boards will not be placed.

Starting to puzzle the bottom boards. The boards are still all loose, I use a weight to keep them in place during the measurement.

While making the bottom boards I glued the thwart risings already into place at both sides.

The boards are complete. The only have to be glued and the back still has to be cut straight.
 
Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for all your encouraging reactions.
 
Till next week!

9. Centerboard Case and Centerboard
The centerboard case is built on two beams with a recess for side boards at each side.

When the side boards are glued, it can be fitted in the hull.

Now the case fits, the cover plate can be glued.

At this stage I don't glue the centerboard case into place yet.
The center board is sawn from an 1.5 mm aluminum plate.

 

Fitting the board and checking if it can be lowered and hauled smoothly.

 

The centerboard is painted in black. I use a cardboard box as a spray booth (the centerboard is hanging in it on a metal wire. A bit hard to see on the photo).

 
 

The bollard timber heads have been remade.  As I was making version one, I knew there was something wrong but could not figure it out.  As druxey stated, the inner and outer (athwartship) faces of the bollard head runs parallel to the keel. I have made an opening in the sheer rail for the timber rather than gluing it on top, as I did in version one.  A thin piece of boxwood was bent around a dowel and used to fill simulate the bollard timbers alongside and below the bowsprit.



Treenails in the grating were simulated with a punch.  A pencil was twisted in the depression to represent the treenail.  Bolts made of blackened brass wire have been added to the bowsprit step, bitts and anchor lining.  Mast wedges for the fore and main masts were made up from four smaller pieces of castelo, glued together.  These were turned on the lathe.  The opening was made using a mill with a rotary table since I did not have bits the correct diameter.  The multiple wedges were simulated with an 11 blade.  The skylight was glazed with sheet mica.



Most of the external details (other than the channels and deadeyes) have been finished.  While it was still safe to hold the hull upside down, I installed the horse shoes, ribbons and gudgeons.  The horse shoes and ribbons are left over from the photoetch sheet once sold by Admiralty Models.  Recesses were carved in the stem, sternpost and keel for them.  The pintles and gudgeons were made from brass square stock, strips and wire.  They were silver soldered and blackened.  I used the method shown in TFFM.  The sequence is shown in the diagram.  First the brass rod and strips are cut to length.  Next, slots are filed into the brass rod to accept the strips.  They are soldered and the face of the rod is shaped.  A hole is drilled near the front.  For the pintles, wire is inserted into the hole and soldered in place.  Once I was sure that the rudder could be unshipped, I removed it for safe storage.   Question: would a ship of this size have a spectacle plate or would some other way to secure the rudder been used?  There is no spectacle plate shown on the plan or the model.

10. Bottom boards
I start with gluing the stringer at the starboard side. At port side (the open side) the bottom boards will not be placed.

Starting to puzzle the bottom boards. The boards are still all loose, I use a weight to keep them in place during the measurement.

While making the bottom boards I glued the thwart risings already into place at both sides.

The boards are complete. The only have to be glued and the back still has to be cut straight.
 
Thank you very much for reading this log, for your likes and for all your encouraging reactions.
 
Till next week!

9. Centerboard Case and Centerboard
The centerboard case is built on two beams with a recess for side boards at each side.

When the side boards are glued, it can be fitted in the hull.

Now the case fits, the cover plate can be glued.

At this stage I don't glue the centerboard case into place yet.
The center board is sawn from an 1.5 mm aluminum plate.

 

Fitting the board and checking if it can be lowered and hauled smoothly.

 

The centerboard is painted in black. I use a cardboard box as a spray booth (the centerboard is hanging in it on a metal wire. A bit hard to see on the photo).