PeteB

What a marvellous job! Thank you for inspiring me.
 
Remco

Saturday 14 MAY 2016
 
Worked on the aft rising wood , deadwood and knee.
The rising wood is typically 22 inches wide except where the whole assembly tapers as it approaches the stern post.
 
Glued the knee to the deadwood
Glued the aft most rising wood section to the deadwood
Sanded the deadwood assembly to the proper angle to mate with the stern post.
Made the next two pieces of rising wood.
 
Took a couple photos (port and starboard sides) of the pieces dry fitted to the keel.
 

 

 
I have some fine tuning to do with some rising wood joints but thought I'd best walk away right now before I do Too much and regret it.
Once I have these fitting a wee bit better I will taper the deadwood, mark off and cut in the frame heel steps.
Then I think I will finish the shaping of the stern post assembly.

MAY 8 2016 (Mother's Day)
 
Worked on the aft deadwood today and it took a number of tries resulting in numerous pieces added to the scrap bin.
 
As always, after cutting and sanding I checked the fit on my light table (light box).  I found myself chasing my tail a few times where I ended up creating the scrap.
 

 
Eventually I ran out of patterns and had my master from which I traced the pattern onto a piece of translucent graph paper and then transferred the pattern onto the piece of boxwood.  I used a 6H (hard) pencil to get a nice crisp sharp line.
 



 

 
Eventually the pieces fit well enough and were glued together.  I put a few dabs of wood glue onto both pieces, spread it with a small plastic tool I have for the job and then assemble the pieces.  This takes a minute or two so the glue is getting tacky by then.  The two pieces get rubbed together in a rotation to spread the glue between them further, working any excess out the sides and then they are aligned properly and held finger tight until it begins to set.  This usually takes about another 3 minutes.
 


 

 
I ended up with a section of the aft Deadwood done. The Rising Wood section between the main Keel and this assembly is not done, and the Knee piece is not glued on as yet as the top portion of it needs some shaping and fitting.
 
I have purposely not cut the aft vertical end yet.  After I have the Knee and Rising Wood added I will sand the back facing the stern post to the proper angle and add them all to the keel permanently.  But I will need to clean them up and mark the framing heel step notches to both sides first.
 
I find it difficult to not jump ahead and think about the assembly of other parts.  There is so much left to do here at this stage.  I should be concentrating on this stage and what comes next.  Seeing as how I've learnt to slow down and do one piece at a time, I am sure the focusing of my concentration will also come in time.

Magnificent, Druxey.

Well, the sweeps are now fixed in position, after a rare weekend off work. Hopefully I made the right call on displaying them in this way.
 
I still have the two ensigns to complete and fly on their staffs before calling it quits. I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

Small update: I built the cleats in horns, the lower mizzen mast and the first of the quarter-deck railing to the right of the hatch
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you, my friends!
 
Another little progress:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little progress:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, Mark! It was very difficult to build it....
 
This is the other, with the small bell:
 

 

 

 

 

A coat of primer has been sprayed on and the major imperfections filled.
Main coat of nelson's yellow on black awaits.


The masts are presently varnished timber with black. I think I'll leave them like that as a nod to the fact the boat is not plastic.
Mast rings etc to come.

Wellcome to the log B.E.,
 
I´m very pleased you joined in and many thanks for your kind comments.
I love those old plated steamships, even taking in account that the "rivets" may be a tiny bit overscaled sometimes. This build is continuously setting myself before finding solutions how to do a certain details after another, but thats the fun in straining the old brain, it would be boring without....
It`s probably going to get harder when the superstructure details  get started
 
Nils

Thank you very much Patrick,
 
as the two staircasess (forecastle access) were too short , I took some raw etched patterns, clipped them to length, folded the sides and the stairs, and soldered my own side rails on made from 0,5 mm wire. Hight is now 34 mm instead of 27 mm
 
Nils
 

 
 

Just completed the tiller after mounting the rudder.  It was cut from a 1/8" thick sheet of boxwood.  Then it was carefully rounded off and shaped using files and sanding sticks.   I could have left it natural but it just looked to bright and "blah" looking.  So I painted it red and highlighted the parts of the handle on tiller.  I like this much better.   I am sure everyone has their preference but I have also seen the tiller painted black on contemporary models.   I dont think I would have liked it like that.
 

 
Next up I will be making the bowsprit.  Here are some overall shots with the deck almost completed except for the bowsprit bits and bow chasers.
 

 

 
Chuck

Hi Chuck,
 
love this pic, it presents the precision of a clean build, wonderful planking, sternpost and rudder in complete harmonie, and I feel the triangle framing timber on lower transom and side planking tops the sight, just lovely
 
Nils

Finally got the time to do some modelling:
 

 
Model is still very rough around the edges (literally), but it should give a first impression of the hull shape. Which is, needless to say, very elegant
 
 
John, any big chance for the plan upcoming or can I continue with the set you gave me?

Ok, finished up the first pass at tweaking. Was reminded of what I have to do by something I saw on SawdustDave’s SoS thread quoting modelshipwright Bill. “Mediocrity will never do. You are capable of something better” – Gordon Hinckley. Darn good advice. I’ve been on Hinckleys.
 
There may be a few other tweaks, depending on what people find and how the buttock line sets project in 3D, but I’m comfy with this as a basic set of lines. Basic plans are 1:48, English/US measure; have gotten pretty good with scaling algorithms, so can also do Pieds du Roi, Pies de Burgos, or metric.
 
Now the fun/hard part begins.
 

Thanks, Mark. I'll adjust the waterline to represent the full-up LWL. That is probably the most useful and will help in coppering. The others will get into the principal dimensions document so people can fiddle with things a bit. They all have values for draft forward, draft aft, and draft in the middle (which is given in the records as simply half the sum of the other two).
 
Interesting to see how the trim changes as all the different components are added. At launch she floats 10po, 7pi, 9li, midships, and draws 3pi, 11po, 6li more aft than forward. 'Ayant des bas mats', she floats 11pi, 10po, midships, and draws 3pi, 9po more aft than forward. Loaded 'moins de biscuit' she floats 16pi, 3po, 10li, midships, and only draws 1pi, 10po, 4li more aft than forward. Fully loaded she floats 16pi, 7po, midships,and only draws 1pi, 10po more aft than forward. Wow, about 50% greater draft midships and differential draft reduced by half.
 
By 'moins de biscuit' time, her trim is pretty stable, only 1/3 of an inch of difference to make up forward, and only about 3 inches of draft left for the final 'stuff'. 'Moins de biscuit' battery height is 6pi, 5po, 6li. Cool beans.
 
J

Thanks for participating in the straw poll! I'm still dithering, but tending toward vertical orientation.
 
Meanwhile, work on the ensigns continues. The first sides are painted. As these will be hanging naturally in folds, the coat of arms is more impressionistic than realistic. The 'white' is actually more a cream color.

A difficult choice with the sweeps, Druxey, but I think showing them 'at rest' with the blades parallel to the water would show them to best advantage.
 
The hospital coat of arms flag looks like it will be fun!
 
John

Well, a dozen dolphins done! I've secured the model permanently on the base and pedestals and set up a trial placement for the sweeps on one side. Comments, anyone?

Okey dokey, then. The pretty profile plans are finished and scales added. Top is French pieds du Roi, bottom is English feet. Fairly sure I got the scaling right so that pouces and inches scale as well.
 
I still have marking, labeling, and annotations, to do on the "techie" version, with all the reference lines, buttock detail, and bears, oh my, but that's fiddly bits. Then I have to figure out how to save it in a properly scaled pdf file so people can use it.
 

 
I wouldn't mind some input, though. I'm looking at 1:48 scale. My drawing space is 1:12, so I have lots of room to maneuver. Final, published, scale recommendations will be heartily appreciated. Also, suggestions as to additions to the basic lines plans are welcome. I'm used to doing 30-60 foot offshore racing sailboats. This is my first attempt at something of this scale and genre and need all the help I can get.
 
Thanks. John

Hello everyone!
 
     My sincerest apologies for the complete lack of updates and information.  My business travel schedule as of late is pretty brutal. I have two more trips this month (one tomorrow), and then three more in June.  Oy.  Top that off with organizing a giant party for my lovely wife's 40th Birthday last month and it's been a hectic 2016 thus far to say the least!
 
    At any rate, excuses aside - I have done a bit of work on the Confederacy in short spurts and starts when I've had a little availability.  Here's what I've been up to:
 
First - I finished up the ship's wheels and remounted them on the deck along with all the fixtures I removed to resurface and smooth out the deck.  That also meant re-mounting all the cannon.
 

 
To that end - even though the plans call for just four six pounders, I wanted to fill out the upper deck a bit more - so I ordered a few more cannon from Chuck and set to work added some guns and putting together some carriages.  Of course I referenced Augie's hard work so I could replicate as closely as possible.  Obviously I didn't want the additional guns to look any different from what he had on deck already.
 

 
Now, one part that threw me, and I couldn't find reference to in Augie's log - was how he created the knob/handle on the stool bed.  So I took a nail, added a glob of super glue, then painted it.  I don't think it's noticeably different from Augie's work, so I'm pleased with that.
 

 

 
Along with the 6 pounders, I also wanted to add a couple longer guns to the foremost cannon ports, even though those gun ports are closed. The open deck (starboard) side wasn't too difficult.
 

 
But on the Port side, that meant I'd have to tuck the cannons below decks, then attach the rigging to the sides of the ship below the deck.  It's was a little hairy in there... but I managed to pull it off after bouts of occasional profanity. 
 

 
All cleaned up, I think she looks pretty good.  Hopefully Mr. Augie's watching over and is pleased.  :-)  
 

Sunday 01 May 2016
 
Made the Main Stern Post and Inner Stern Post today.
Cut out the two patterns.
Cut a strip of Castello Boxwood to 1/2" thick, Milled to 0.365" (23.36" at 1:64)
 
Per the build contract the stem post is 23" square at the head and begins to taper from the underside of the deck transom to be 12-1/2" at the main keel.
 
You can see I incorrectly identified the deck transom, highlighted them all in yellow and re-identified them correctly.
 

 
Applied rubber cement to the wood and then to the back side of the templates.  Let it dry to "tacky" and then applied the template to the wood.  pressed them down and let them dry.
 
Cut out the two pieces on the scroll saw about 1/16" outside of the line then sand down flush to the line on the table top disc sander portion of my combination belt/disc sander.  I double checked the table was square to the disc first!
 
Glued the two pieces together with yellow wood glue, pressed together and let it dry.
 
Marked off the transom positions from the templates to the end faces.
Marked of the centre lines on the end faces
Marked off the taper on the end faces
Marked off the rabbet line at the head and foot
Marked off the tenon, cut and filed down to a snug dry fit into the main keel mortise.
​There should be multiple tenons but I simplified it to be a single tenon into the single mortise made earlier in the keel.
 

 
Peeled off the templates
Checked it to the plan.... perfect angle.
 

 

 
Still needs to be tapered and recessed steps cut for the Transoms, but I think I will do the Deadwood first as it tapers with the stern post assembly plus it needs to be cut for the rabbet.
 
The contract also calls for a "a square plate of iron of the knee kind" meaning a L shape, 5/8" thick x 4-3/4" wide with the vertical leg 3'-6" (and 3 x 7/8 bolts) and the horizontal  5'-6" long (with 4 x 7/8" bolts).
 
I find it odd that they call up an iron plate below the waterline... Unless it is the newer mixed alloy... this makes sense.
Then again it is recessed into the wood so it would be coated with tar before the copper sheathing was applied.
Would anyone know for sure?
 
That is enough for today.
Thank you for following.

mast really looks good rigged ........love the way you have it set up!   
 
your desk is too neat.........I need two tables to strew my stuff over        

Update
 
Foremast finished and ready for mounting to ship later on....
The blocks are all left-overs from my HMS Pegasus build
The buff color is silk-finish, resin based, called "Desert Sand" (Wüstensand)
 
Nils