Chuck

Very nice work...its looking great.

George you are kind of correct... The Frisoli's actually own MicroMark. John is the president and owner. So he isnt exactly being fair and truthful....Yes he does own a MicroMark Laser Cutter .....or you might say he owns them all , until they sell one of those inferior machines to someone else. He just left that part out of the post..... Link below. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/john-frisoli/35/a7/8a1 Chuck

That is looking very good. Well done. I am glad you are having fun with it. Chuck

Finished planking the bulwarks on the port side after installing the false deck. The false deck was 1/16" thick. Then I added some filler strips at the bow and stern where I thought I needed it. At the bow to beef up where the hawse holes will be. You can see these strips below which I used 1/16" thick scrap strips for these filler pieces. The first plank (3/16" wide and 3/64" thick) was placed right below the gun ports. The planking below the ports inboard is thick and stands proud of the planking between the ports. This will be accomplished in two layers much like the wales. Placing the plank directly below the ports first allows me to get the run of the planking correct as it must follow the bottom of the ports. Then the remaining planks were added below that and above. Once completed the second layer of thicker planking was added. This is the spirketing. It runs from the deck to the port sills and is thicker....but not by very much. The original planking draft has the spirketing just 1/2" thicker. I used 1/32" thick planks for the second layer and actually thinned them down a bit more. Then I softened the edge where it stands proud along the sills. I try to soften all of the hard edges like this. The thickness of the hull where the caprail will be is 5/32" thick after planking. The cap rail will be 3/16' wide hanging over a bit outboard. Once I get the planking done on the other side I will install the cap rail.

Great start...as always dont hesitate to ask me any questions. Knowing how fast you work you should be catching up to me in no time at all. Chuck

Speakers and Tech Sessions........more to come so check this topic often Friday Morning Steve Wheeler – Modeling Clinker-built Boats Michel Mantin – Modeling 20th Century “Grey (Steel) Navy” Vessels Fuso & Dunkerque Douglas Brooks – Japanese Boat Building & Models Friday Afternoon Roundtables David Antscherl – Rigging Tips & Tricks Kurt Van Dahm – Airbrushing Basics for the Modeler Chuck Passaro – Serving Rope Steve Wheeler – A Jig for Making Oars Nic Damuck – Making Scale Silkspan Sails Saturday Paul O’Pecko – Library Director, Mystic Seaport – Conducting Primary Research Melbourne Smith – Modeling 1:1: Building Seagoing Replicas Grant Program – Short Updates – Future Releases Grant Walker – The Rogers Collection: In Print at Last!

They are thinned down....thats their finished thickness. Check the plans. See this example of a cutter stern from inboard...see how the frames are exposed? The top is the Cheerful from rogers collection and the bottom is Surly from the museum in Ontario. Chuck

Very nice planking Mike....

Some progress was made today. I wanted to get this crappy part of the project over with. The bulwarks inboard were faired and thinned down. I use the sanding drum on my dremel. What a mess. Then I touched it up with some sandpaper after chiseling some areas away where the bulkhead extensions met the deck. The bulkhead extensions were thinned down to about 1/16" thick. I may take them down thinner still. Maybe 3/64" thick. You can see them in the close up image below. Then I took the template for the false deck from the plans. I cut it down the middle so I had two halves port and starboard. You could also make four pieces but I made two and it was fine. The important thing is to use the center line on the template to line it up with the center of the bulkhead former. I wanted to try something new with this project. I intentionally made the template drawing about 1/8" smaller than need on the sides of the hull. Trying to get a perfect match for folks is tough. It all depends on how much someone thins down the bulwarks etc....how they fair the hull inboard and its tough to get a perfect match for everyone's model. So basically I took each half one at a time...lined it up with the center line and the mast hole. I taped it along the bulkhead former. Then I used thin strips of blue painters tape to find the perfect size and shape for my false deck template. I just rand lengths of tape along the bulwarks as shown in the photos. When I peel it up I will have a template that is the perfect match for making my false deck. It will be cut from 1/16" basswood. I will get that done tomorrow and post some new pics. Once the false deck is in position I can plank the inboard bulwarks. Chuck

I would agree with you on most of those points... But yes they were brought down to a small cone shape but as you can see by these photos it wouldnt stay in place unless there was a peg or iron pin as an axis. The sides were made into a cone I suspect because the sides of the hull inboard curve drastically below the windlass and unless they thinned it down it wouldnt turn unless it was much shorter. But I suppose they could have worked without a pin.....but wouldnt it be too lo ose? They dont look very secure this way for and aft. I wonder how much of it is a model convention rather than an actual representation. I do know that I simplified this for my kit design.... one could follow these images if they wanted to.

It doent look that bad at all. I would take a bit more off so the bend isnt as sharp where the plank tuck up into the lower counter.. See these pics if it helps. Couldnt find any of the stern unpainted. Chuck

Those are the speakers on Saturday,,,,,,Friday we have worktable tech sessions. Speakers for symposium are Melbourne Smith – Naval Architect Paul O’Pecko – Mystic Seaport Archivist Douglas Brooks – Shipwright & Expert on Japanese Small Boats Grant Walker - Curator of Rogers collection Annapolis

The registration form is now online. Sign up soon and I look forward to seeing all of you there... CLICK HERE!!!

Nicely done so far.

Thats what I use...I use Crimson right from the tube usually but sometimes I will add some raw sienna to tone it down on the brown side a bit. Chuck

Looking good Maury

Even though I am painting the inboard of the stern. They will show. So you might want to use another material other than ply....BUT as I said, they will painted red. Chuck

That looks very good..... The square tuck planks are 100% vertical. See how they follow the stern post.

Most Chinese machines may of course say that they are 40 watt machines. In reality they cut with much less power (folks say around 25 - 30 watt who have tested them). You might be able to cut basswood up to 3/16" thick. But 1/4" will be a real stretch and tax the machine. Forget about hardwoods. The lenses they use are also sub par and dont focus the laser enough. The beam will not be using the power to its fullest. The lens on a good machine will cost you $80 plus dollars alone. It can focus the cone of the laser so its a thin pinpoint. The chinese machines use cheap lenses from cheap material and they pit and warp. This means a huge and wide kerf for the cut even on thin pieces of wood with a very angular cut. Enough about the laser power....what about mechanics. The laser travels on tracks in the x and y axis. These are belt driven/ I have seen some poorly made Chinese unites that dont travel with a smooth motion. They jerk around and therefore dont produce smooth cut lines. So also think about the mechanics. On almost every laser cutting forum like Sawmillcreek...people who buy these machines regret they ever did. They are not very good at all. And you cant return them.... Check out the forums for laser cutters and do searches for entry level machines...just read the comments. Its very telling. Best to buy an American machine made from the bones of a Chinese unit where everything has been upgraded. These are good places and companies to research. All have their pros and cons...stay away from fullspectrum lasers just as I would recommend stayng away from the MM laser. Boss Laser Rabbit Laser USA Lightobject Automation Technology Inc. ​If you have money to burn...Epilog is the absolute best and three times as costly.

It might be harder to line it up properly with the bulkheads on. The keel has to be centered with equal space on both sides to form the rabbet. But other than that it doesnt really matter.

Looks good. At this stage a lot of builders glued little pieces across the top of the bulheads to make the whole thing more rigid for planking. Little pieces of 1/8" 1 1/32" strips would do the trick spanning across from one bulkhead to another. Take a look at some of the other buuild logs to see how they did that. Chuck

Thats looking very good. And yes. I made all of the needed adjustments so the bulkheads would fit together nicely. Its looking just as it should at this stage. Chuck

Thats the right attitude....just remember to have fun!!!

I just laser cut some for a customer..... I can make as small as 3mm. Let me know if you need them. These are 4mm. They will be kits in three layers and you will need to assemble them and sand them. Chuck

That looks quite good I would keep some blue painters tape on the bottom of the keel to protect it from getting nicked and scratched once the bulkheads are in position.