Chuck

Thanks guys…not much progress on her lately because I got crushed with sales on Monday. I will be making blocks and rope for the next two weeks at least. Completely sold out of blocks…not one package remaining. I hope to at least get more drafting work done on the project in the evenings.

Perfect!!!

Happy to see the model back on the workbench.

She looks really good. Wonderful work. You are doing some meticulous pristine craftsmanship on this.

Good Morning folks... I had previously made a bunch of frames as a test that can now be placed on the keel. But before I do that, let me show you the plan for two "Tall" full height frames. I just want to show you guys the differences you will encounter between some of these. Primarily the fact that some of the frames will have a full floor section across the keel with futtocks on either side. like the one below... Others will will have a FLOOR Chock that sits on the keel with the futtocks following on either side up to the sheer. This is typical so when you are searching for the parts on the frames you are building, beware of the two variations. This type of square frame construction will alternate every other frame on the keel. With this in mind, it is time to place the very first "TALL" frame on your model. I strongly urge you to start with frame "Aa". This frame is shown on the build board template so you will be able to ensure that it is centered and perfectly vertical. This is so crucial. This first frame you place on the keel is crucial that you glue it on perfect vertical and centered port and starboard. The reason is that all subsequent frames will "Lock" into each other across the the jig cross bar. Before you begin...Make sure the three center keel notches line up with those shown on the build board template. Adjust your keel on the build board before gluing in the first frame. So a few notes: You will absolutely need many good quality metal squares. I have about 7 of these in various sizes. They are heavy steel squares. I used four of them to align this first frame "Aa" on the keel. Remember to have it facing the right direction. The arrow on the jig cross piece always faces forward. In the photo above you can see a square placed against the outside of the frame on both sides. It is basically at the frames widest part or maximum unfaired width. This should line up with the outside hull line on the build board template. This marks the Maximum breadth or width of the hull. Now it may not fall exactly on the line because you havent faired the hull frames yet, but it will be very close. I left a lot of meat on those frames for fairing. The important thing to remember is to make sure that it is equal distance from the "maximum breadth line". In addition you can see one more square on each side of the frame. These are used to ensure that the frame is perfectly vertical. They sit against the fore side of the frame. The metal squares are quite heavy with a flat block on the bottom. So they stay where you place them. I applied some yellow glue to the notch and seated it on the keel. Moving the heavy squares before the glue set, the frame was adjusted so it was in the correct position. I left the squares where they were until the glue fully dried. From this point on you can start adding the remaining "Tall" full height frames next to it. They should fit perfectly needing only minor adjustment as the cross bar jig on each frame act like puzzle pieces. Concentrate on building and installing several tall full height frames first. See below. I have installed 5 of them. They are glued directly to the keel...BUT, I have yet to glue the cross jig bars together. I am not really sure you need to do so. I have simply used a length of tape to secure them to one another. This will be advantageous when we cut them free after planking. We will be able to remove one jig cross bar at a time rather than the whole top which would be more cumbersome to do. See the tops all fit together like a puzzle piece below. The tape holds them tightly together and it is quite sturdy. ALSO...note the spaces left between these full height frames. These spaces are for the "Short" frames I mentioned. With the spaces fore them now defined, we can start adding those. The "short" frames fall where there are gunports and sweep ports. They have a port sill or sweep port designed into the tops of the frames. We will cover there construction and mounting next. Any questions...there is a lot to cover but since this will be a kit and possible group build I want to make sure my descriptions are thorough and understandable. DRAT...notice that one frame where I forgot to sand the laser char from the inside edge....That will leave a dirty mess of dust when I fair the interior. I will try and clean that up ahead of time. Its important to try and get the majority of laser char off of the inside and outside edges before you make up each frame. That dirt char dust will get everywhere and make your frames look dirty later when you fair the hull. If you examine the framing plan you will notice that above the wales...the framing get interesting and unique. Since this will be covered with planking it does NOT follow actual framing practices. It was designed with ease of construction in mind. Here is an early draft of the framing...showing the first few frames I have drafted and built in this post. It will help put into perspective what I am describing. WHAT A TREAT!!! No big box of scaffolding all around your frames and hull so you cant see what you are building. Its a very different concept than all of those POF kits folks are buying on EBAY and ALI EXPRESS.

There will be for lack of better terminology, two styles of frames. There will be "TALL", full height frames, and "Short" frames. The taller frames extend up to the sheer line and beyond, terminating at the top with the cross jig piece. The cross jig piece is crucial to the entire build concept. It assures the frame is the correct width and shape when you build it. There is no need to build these on top of a plan of the frame. They will all come out the same size when finished, if you don't over sand any scarf joints. The joints between the frame sections are precision laser cut. BUT I left them slightly longer. Most of the frames we will be building are of the tall variety and all need to made first and placed onto the keel. They need to be on the keel so the "short" frames can be added in the remaining open spots for them. More on those later. But lets build our first TALL full length square frame. We will be building them in groups. The first group of square frames will contain about 12 or 14 frames. Here is a look at the first full length frame unbuilt. I highly recommend that you remove the laser char from the outside edges and inside edges before assembling each frame. In this case it is frame "Ba". But dont tough or remove the chare from any of the scarf joints that connect each section. They are precision cut and wont be the correct shape if you monkey around with the char on those. The will almost glue up perfectly as is. But I show circled in red the two sides on each scarf joint you will need to sand. These were intentionally left a bit longer. You need to test fit each segment together first and then sand a bit from one end of the scarf joint. Test it again. If needed tweak the circled ends only to close up the scarf joint so it fits tightly. A few NOTES... The floors and futtocks are different thicknesses. See the books for details. This creates a stepped edge on the frames. MAKE SURE...you check the framing plan to see which side of the frame should have that stepped edge. It could be on the fore or on the aft side. In some cases where you have three thicknesses you might actually have to steps. Each frame is different and some frames could even show this stepped joint on both sides of the frames. So carefully examine the framing plan. On all the square frames the floors and floor chocks are always 5/16" thick. The square frames will always alternate with one solid floor that spans across the keel in one piece, followed by the next frame which will have the 5/16" thick floor built up with a "floor chock" in the center. You will see this detail in the Seawatch books clearly and this proper framing structure is followed for the kit. The futtocks and top timbers are 1/4" thick in most cases. But in order to simplify the building process it was sometimes necessary to use a third thickness for the top timbers that fall next to a gun port or sweep port. In some cases these were made using 3/16" and 5/32" thick Cedar. Whenever this happens I have made note of it on the framing plan so you can better find those parts on the appropriate laser cut sheet. Remember that no drawings of each frame are provided as built or as individual parts because we must do our very best to prevent unscrupulous Chinese manufacturers among others from copying the kit illegally. So check the framing plan for the number of parts for each frame and their thicknesses. You should only work on one frame at a time and only remove those parts from the sheets for that frame to avoid mixing them up. They are all labelled. So working one frame at a time, first check the plans for the number of parts in that frame. Then look for them on the laser cut sheets. Finished frame assembled... Note the top cross piece which acts as a jig. Each frame added to the keel extends the jig and keeps the whole hull its proper shape and perfectly aligned. Make sure you have the cross piece facing the correct direction. There is a laser etched arrow down the center of the cross piece which always points forward. Double and triple check that your frame and cross piece are facing the right way before you glue this cross piece in position. The cross piece should always be the very last segment you glue in position. Dont sand any char from this cross piece at all. Measurements are precise and very important. None of it will show anyway and these jig tops will be cut free once we plank the hull. They are basically going to end up in the trash. so no need to clean up the cross pieces. When sanding the char off the other frame pieces inboard and out you will notice that I left the char above the tiny notches on each frame. Those notches indicate the sheer of the hull. Any surface above the notches and sheer line do not have to have any char removed at all. More finished tall frames with the cross jig piece. The Frame Chocks... These are just simulated. We dont have to mess around with actual tiny chocks. The joints between frame segments are actually simple scarf joints. There is a laser etched line to help simulate the full chock on one side of the frame. You can if you like, scribe the same on the other side or even just use a pencil. But truthfully these frames are so close together you wont actually see the lines anyway. I am not going to simulate the chock lines on the unetched side. BUT...you will notice after you glue up your frame that the chocks look off.... The step in the frame should actually be straight across the center of the chock. I have strategically made the chock full thickness. This needs to be addressed on all frames. It will initially look like this. It has a full thickness chock and half of it needs to be thinned down to complete the step. Use a sharp #11 blade to place a stop cut down the center of the chock as if it extends across the entire frame. Then slowly and carefully shave that thicker half of the chock down flush with the next segment (the futtock) of the frame. See below. Until it looks like this....nice and cleaned up. Then the char can be removed from the inside and outside edges of the frame. Or better yet clean those before you even glue up all the frame segments. This needs to be done to every joint and really does look like it should with proper chocks. Nobody will ever know. You might have also noticed that each joint is treenailed at the chocks. This is optional. You can follow the framing plan for the placement of those. This is finicky to say the least. If they arent all uniform in distance within a group from frame to frame it wont look good at all. I have seen wooden treenails used here. I decided to show them but I am not using wooden treenails. If not done properly and all of the same size, again they would look really bad. Better to leave these off the model than risk that. So I am just using more black fishing line. They are always the same size. I am using 25 pound line for these. Wooden treenails turn black anyway because of the end grain. We shall see later after the hull is all framed up if this was a mistake. You will have to make a decision about this for your model. Tomorrow I start gluing frames onto the keel....

Several people have stepped up to beta test...we shall see how far I can get before I start spreading parts around. I added the keel bolts. These were 30 pound black fishing line. I drilled with a 71 drill bit and inserted the line. Then I cut it flush with a sharp razor blade. Bolts were added in the same way at the boxing joint. I also finally got around to making the buildboard. I bought a 48 x 12 flat bard that didnt have any cupping or warps. I picked the flattest board available. At 48" it was a bit to long so I cut to 42" long. I cut the plan sheet which had lines for the frames and build board. I used spray mount to glue it on top of the board. I centered it and kept it straight. No wrinkles. I realize that a lot of folks screw their keel into the build board. I dont like to do that at all. I prefer to make a jig on top of the build board that holds everything straight and vertical. Its a nice snug fit. There are two assemblies that need to be built. On on each end. There are registration lines on the plan thats glued on the board for these. Here is a close up of the stern... And a close up of the bow jig that holds the keel assembly very snug. Yet there is enough flexibility to slide the keel fore and aft so you can line up the notches on the keel with the template on the build board. The important thing it to line up the center three frames on the template with those that correspond to the actual keel. Its nice and tight. I used some painters tape on the inside and top of these jig pieces to make it a perfect fit. The slot is initially laser cut wider than needed. The tape not only protects the wood of the keel but it creates a nice snug fit. The same thing was done with the two forks that engage the stern post and stem. I also prefer a lower profile to these forks that hold the stem and stern post vertical. Otherwise it keeps getting in my way. But you guys can easily create your own if you prefer to go the "screwed in keel" route. Same is true if you rather prefer taller forked pieces for the stem and stern post. Time to start making frames.

Straight to begin with is fine …but after your frames are all in position and you fair the hull, the deadwood should be faired into the general shape of the hull that you are familiar with. It should have a curved shape following the contours of the hull. Picture a curved “V” shape when viewing the stern dead on. Not very drastic at all but its there. You dont want to guess initially at this stage. At least I prefer not to. So while fairing the frames and hull, care will be taken to achieve the proper curved shape. its easier for me to visualize the shape at this time.

Happy Thanksgiving guys. The deadwood is laser cut in two pieces. These two pieces need to be tapered to 7/32" thick along the edges that sit against the keel and sternpost. To make this easier, I cut some masking tape to a 7/32" wide strip. In this case it was red tape. I then centered it down the edges that needed to be tapered. Then I proceeded to taper them gradually from the other side to the edges of the tape. One that was finished I glued the larger, lower deadwood piece into position first. This was followed by the stern post which had its laser char removed. You must be careful when gluing both of these. They must be centered on the keel to leave a consistent ledge all around and the sternpost needs to be perfectly vertical. You want it vertical and in line with the stem at the forward end. This only left the smaller section to be added which was then glued into position. The aft end of the keel was intentionally left a bit longer and this was sanded flush with the aft edge of the sternpost. The only parts still remaining were the many wedges for the aft cant frames. These are done exactly like those on the lower apron. They are laser cut from thicker pieces of cedar so check that they were cut all the way through the sheet before removing them. They were also cut slightly longer than needed. Because they are so thick, you will notice the irregular cut on the forward and aft edges of each wedge after you glue the two layers together. You must sand them flat and straight evenly on the forward and aft edges before fitting them on top of the deadwood steps. Dont sand too much...only a bit of cleaning on both sides is needed. Dont sand the char off of the angled sides to preserve the correct angles. Center them atop the deadwood slots so you have a consistent notch on both sides of the deadwood for the aft cant frames. That finished up the keel/stem assembly. I only need to add the bolts along the keel scarf joints. Then it will be time to construct the build board and start making frames. Again ...Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thank you for saying! Just finishing up the stem/keel assembly as we speak. Chuck

Lovely work

So nice to see an update. It looks great.

Yes..to help with locking them in position and keeping all the frames aligned. It takes the guesswork out of it. But I could have easily gone with every other frame. Less room for error. Since none of that will be seen anyway I figured why not give folks a little more assurance. There is no mistaking where each frame goes this way. The frames will also be locked in position along the tops as well. So its pretty much “build a frame and put in place..”. It all worked out nicely on the test cross section.

I would love to see some pictures.

The Rising wood.... This is the long notched piece that sits on top of the rabbet strip. This was added next. It has notches cut out of it to accept the floors of each square frame. This is cut in two lengths. Put the shorter forward length in place first. I would not sand anything off as far as laser char. Only sand the small connector that held it into the sheet. This is a thick piece. It is 3/8" thick. The laser may not have cut through in some places like the corners. So before you try and just push this piece out of the sheet, look at both sides to see if you need to use a sharp blade to cut some corners all thru etc. If you want to sand anything you might want to touch up the end that will be the seam between both lengths. Try and squared it up a little. But dont sand too much. You dont want to make it any shorter than it should be. They were left a bit longer at this joint so you can clean it up and get a tight fit. Make sure you dry fit both pieces on top of the actual plan sheet. You want the length overall to match pretty darn close. After you get the forward section on first...dry fit the last aft length while its on top of the plan. This way you can see if you must shorten the forward end a bit at the joint between the two pieces. It should match the plans very closely. As you can see I didnt touch the inside of the notches. But I did sand the char off the top and the sides once it was on the keel assembly. The rising wood, like the aprons are wider than the keel. So make sure you center these on both sides when you glue them in position. You want an equal over-hang of the keel on both sides. Next up is the stern deadwood...still no finish applied to these pieces.

Just a heads up folks, There are a limited supply of chapter 12 parts in cedar available. I must reiterate this. For the tenth time. Once again I ask all of you to refrain from buying it unless you are close to needing it. I know I have asked before but that hasnt stopped folks. Its a shame really. I have limited capacity as a one man shop. I really want to make sure that folks who are waiting on these parts get first pick from this batch. If you are not yet at least building chapter 10 or 11, please dont buy from this batch. Wait at least one month to order this last chapter. I have cancelled at least 8 orders for chapter 12 parts so far. All from folks who do this every time I launch a new chapter of parts and I have had this conversation with them before. Please wait a month for the next batch please as a friendly gesture to your fellow builders. Most of you guys havent even started chapter 3 yet! Very selfish of some folks. After countless conversations...ughhh!!!

Either my phone or my old Canon digital camera.

Its hard to say Greg. I often think about that myself. Its similar to another thought I always ponder. Is it that much more difficult to produce say the lower apron traditionally with a vertical mill or by hand with a chisel? The laser cutter is basically just another tool in the workshop. Like a shereline mill. Having none of those, how would that change the difficulty level or possible design concepts. I imagine if you had none of these tools and had to make the lower apron entirely by hand, then either design concept would be a challenge indeed. Now using a 3d 5 axis cnc machine to make the lower apron would certainly change it up even further. With that tool I could make the entire lower apron in one piece with the steps and angles. But then it would be more like a plastic kit and merely an assembly of parts at that point. Not much of a challenge or rewarding. So my hats are off to the folks who do this stuff entirely with a chisel in hand, like the original builders of contemporary models. Chuck

Thanks, yes this is something new. This lower apron will be mostly covered up in its entirety so I thought to try something new. It looks like it will work out nicely and make placing those cant frames in position so much easier with out needing a disc sander. There will be a corresponding jig for the top of the cant frames as well. Stay tuned. fingers crossed

Sure…I do that all the time. chuck

Continuing with the stem/keel assembly.... The remaining sections of keel were added working my way aft. The keel is actually two layers. I added one layer at a time. Each segment is numbered. The numbers face inward so when the two layers are glued up you cant see them. Here is the entire keel all put together. Each segment remember is in two layers and I added them one layer at a time trying to get real nice and tight scarphs. Its not difficult when done in layers. I also added the false keel. This is the thin strip on the bottom. This was done with 1/8" wide strips the same depth as the keel. I simulated the seams with a pencil. There is still no finish on these parts so it will really look great once I add some wipe on poly. On the aft section you will see a small step where the rabbet strip will end. You will probably need to adjust where this is. I made the parts so this was a bit forward of where it should be. Just lay the keel assembly as it stands on top of the plan and mark the exact location for this slanted step. Then use a sharp chisel or #11 blade to cut this step in the exact location. Also note that the false keel may seem a bit wide top to bottom. I have done this intentionally. It is about 1/32" larger than needed. I have found that the false keel when made of cedar will take a beating throughout the project. It will get dented etc. Even if you tape it to protect it. So I made it slightly taller so I can sand the bottom of the keel down smooth much later in the project. Just to smooth out any creases and dents. The Rabbet... The rabbet is done as I typically do on all of my projects. I realize the rabbet is a complex organism of sorts. It should have a "V" shape with and ever changing profile depending on how the hull planking enters it. I usually make a mess of that if carved with a chisel. Those of you who have the Speedwell books from Seawatch can see how Greg did this. He is much more handy with a chisel than I am. So this will be simplified and should you choose to add the garboard hull plank will mostly be covered anyway. Using a simple strip here is neat and clean. The one thing I have done differently this time is I laser cut the curved sections at the bow in two lengths. See the photo below. The two lengths are already glued on the stem assembly but I also show some extras on the table for clarity. They are 1/16" thick. The longer segment goes on first and is centered port to starboard. This will leave a nice lip on both sides. Then the shorter laser cut rabbet strip is added. No need to sand the laser char off these. The remaining rabbet strip that works itself aft is just made using a 7/32" x 1/16" cedar strip. It ends at that slanted step you so carefully chiseled just a moment ago. The Upper and Lower Aprons... Now these pieces you have no doubt seen being made on many POF model. The upper apron is nothing special. Its a plain segment that is 3/8" thick. Simple enough. The LOWER apron is a different story all together. It is much more complex. You have probably seen folks hand chiseling tiny steps into both sides of the lower apron...once again take a look at Volume one of the Speedwell books. I wanted to simplify this however. Not because it could be difficult to do but because I know that most folks dont have vertical mill, or disc sanders or all the gadgets you often see when folks make the lower apron. I have decided to make the lower apron using many separate parts instead. Looking ahead to adding the forward cant frames, each set of cant frames has a different angle sanded into the heel of it. This is so it can be "canted" forward. This is simply not going to work to easily if you dont have a disc sander. So I created small wedges with the angles already pre-set on them to accept straight right angled heels on the cant frames. I hope that makes sense. See below. The upper apron is in front...easy peasy. Set that one aside for now. The lower apron is laser cut with a series of steps. On these steps we will glue the pre-angled wedges. But using this approach leaves the bottom of the lower apron very thin even at this scale. It can easily break or get misshapen. So I have laser cut the "stepped" lower apron attached to a sacrificial piece of wood. You can use it as a handle. DO NOT remove the lower apron from this "handle" until all of the little angled wedges are glued to it. Those will give it enough strength...a remarkable amount of strength actually. In the photo below I have already added two of the laser cut wedges which show the angles for the cant frames. Check your plans as these are prominently shown. Work from the aft side forward. Each angled wedge is made on two layers. They have laser etched numbers on them and correspond to the plan. Gle the two layers together with the numbers facing each other. This is important. Glue the two halves together "number facing number". The next to be done for me are the parts marked "7 & 6" in that photo. I will glue them together now. Once glued together with the numbers facing each other, you could make life easier for yourself later by cutting them down a bit. Once the two pieces are glued together they are too tall. This doesnt matter at all but if you trim them to match the plans it will be so much easier to fair the inside of the hull when the time comes. The Keelson will fit so much nicer on top of this when the time comes. Below you can see me doing just that. With a sharp blade I am trimming the top to match the plans. Make sure you have the piece facing the correct way. Place it on the plan and draw a line where the top portion can be shaved away. Do this for every piece...I know its a pain. But you will thank me when it comes time to add the cant frames later. When all of the segments are glued onto each step of the lower apron base, you can finally cut away the bottom handle. It was held on by just a few connectors which are easily cut with a sharp blade. Hopefully you glued those wedges onto each step securely and didnt skimp on the glue. Glue each onto its step and also to the wedge proceeding it. Nice and secure. Center them down the top of each step. Dont mix up the numbers either. That would be bad because the angles match each individual cant frame. I also sanded the top of all those wedges so it looks nice and neat. It also matched the shape for the lower apron shown on the plans. Note that you should not remove any of the laser char on the angled sides of these wedges. Not only would that screw up the angles laser cut into each of them, but it would also reduce their size. That should be avoided. A dry test fit of the upper and lower aprons on the keel assembly below. trying my best to match the curve. Use the plan to find the exact location for the aft edge of the lower apron along the keel. You dont want it too forward or even too aft. Place the keel assembly on the plan and mark where the exact locations are for the upper and lower aprons. Note how the upper apron extends above the rabbet strip. Note how the aprons are wider than the keel. The aprons should be centered on the rabbet strip leaving a nice over hang on both sides. Still no finish applied to these parts yet. I will do that once the entire keel/stem assembly is completed. Thats it for today!!! Any questions?

Im looking forward to seeing more photos of your progress.

Just a heads up folks, There are a limited supply of chapter 12 parts in cedar available. Once again I ask all of you to refrain from buying it unless you are close to needing it. I know I have asked before but that hasnt stopped folks. Its a shame really. I have limited capacity as a one man shop. I really want to make sure that folks who are waiting on these parts get first pick from this batch. If you are not yet at least building chapter 10 or 11, please dont buy from this batch. Wait at least one month to order this last chapter. I hate to do it but if past chapter releases are any indication, I may have to cancel all orders that I know the builder is years away from needing this chapter. Its just not fair to the folks who are really in need right at this moment. Thank you so much for understanding. Chuck

Chapter 12...Chaptertwelve.pdf

That looks pretty good. You are doing a fine job. Keep going. Chuck