dgbot

A detailed practicum would be a best seller.  Your work is that good.  I know I would add it to my library.  Flawless craftsmanship and skill.  Simply outstanding.
David B

A detailed practicum would be a best seller.  Your work is that good.  I know I would add it to my library.  Flawless craftsmanship and skill.  Simply outstanding.
David B

My jaw is dropping to the floor. Every time you post I see a new level of workmanship.
David B

A detailed practicum would be a best seller.  Your work is that good.  I know I would add it to my library.  Flawless craftsmanship and skill.  Simply outstanding.
David B

Hi Chris, I do not think skill is involve, cherry, fruit tree is involve and also the scale. Another reason I tried the cherry version is that I found expensive the price of exotic woods in the previous build, especially ebony.
Except for the top, the rest is now complete.

another  dolphin  in the family, 2 more to go

Thanks for looking in again David, George, Kees and Nils, and also to all those who hit the "like" button .
 
Spritsail Running Rigging
 
I've completed all the rigging on the Spritsail. This pic shows the Jib Guy Falls (dark inner lines) and the Yard Lifts (light outer lines). I'd rigged the forward parts of the Falls earlier, now they pass through the thimbles about 3/4 of the way in from the ends of the yard and end with a single block which has an eye stropped into it's ****. The tackle for the falls has a block and hook attached to the Cathead, and the fall passes through the block in the fall and ends at a timberhead.
 
The Lifts start at the yard cleats, pass through the thimbles at the end of the jibboom and tie off to a cleat on each side of the bow :
 

 
The Halyard has two single blocks, one with an eye and both with hooks. One hook is attached to the thimble in the centre of the yard, the other hooks to the eyebolt under the cap. The fall runs to a timberhead on the starboard side of the bow :
 

 
The previously attached Standing Lifts lash to another hook and thimble which go into the eyebolts either side of the cap :

 
The light colored lines in the shape of a "W" are the Braces. The standing parts of these are very long, as they start on the Forestay where the attach via a clove hitch in it's centre, through the blocks on each end of the brace pendants on the yard, up to the blocks under the mast top, down through the sheaves in the inner ends of the Bitts, and tie around the timberheads above them :
 

 

 

 

 
At this stage I haven't done any "faking down" (coiling the lines around the belaying points) of any of the lines. That will come when I've finished all the rigging.
 
 Danny

Captain your sails look great as for your sack and bread problem have you thought about using Play doh modeling clay? It might be the right thing for the job.
David B

Back to work....
Starboard side.... Gun ports cut in, framed, and painted red....

 
Bamboo skin planks added up to top wale, and planking above the wale painted black.
Still must complete the second planking below the main wale. Since those planks will be painted white, I will not be using bamboo for that area.

 
Sideboards have been added above the decks to form the bulwarks....will be planked and painted red.
The rough framing for the starboard galleries is temporarily tacked on, but will be removed to add the arched windows and extremely heavy ornamentation.

Build Log 35 - t'gallant sails, boat, swivel guns
 
Hi again, and welcome to spring - 
 
Back from vacation and back in harness.  This installment finishes the square sails, the two topgallant sails; fits out the ship's boat and installs the swivel guns. 
 
The t'gallant sails were made using the same techniques as those for the larger sails.  The sail was measured to fit the spar and reach the sheet blocks on the topsail spars.  This was laid out on stiffened fabric.
 
1
 
The edges were glued, including the overlaps for the tabling.  The openings for the cringles were cut out and the sail was cut along the outer edges of the tabling.
 
2
 
The bolt rope was installed and the tabling ironed down over it to secure it.
 
3
 
And here is the finished sail with reinforcements added to each corner.
 
4
 
The sails were laced to their spars and mounted to the model with ties and halyards, parrells, lifts, braces, and sheets, all according to Anderson.  Clew blocks and lines were rigged and run, although these sails did not have buntlines or leach lines.  Finally the bowlines and their bridles were rigged and run. 
 
4a
 
These last lines were pretty hard to run.  Not only is it getting pretty crowded at the bases of the masts, but it usually took several attempts before I could make the lines run without fouling any previous lines.  Here is what the foot of the foremast looks like at this stage.
 
4b
 
And here is the model with all square sails set.
 
5
 
6
 
Next the ship's boat was fitted out.  First came the oars.  I made 12 of them to match the number of oarlocks on the sheer. In the photo you can see the four steps in their construction.  The first three on the left are cut out roughly on the table saw.  The next three have been roughly shaped using a sanding drum in the Dremel.  The next three have been smoothed and refined, with a groove which sets off the handle.  The final three have been final sanded, finished, and have had a rope sleeve added which would protect the oar from chafing on the rowlock.  
 
7
 
Once the photo was taken the full set of oars was finished, then tied into bundles of six and lashed to a thwart.
 
8
 
A simple mast was made up to fit in the mast step.  A spar was estimated and a sail made up to fit, then laced to the spar.  The mast and spar were lashed together and to a thwart.  Several belaying points were set into the sheer for stays and sail handling lines.  Here is the finished boat on its cradles, although not permanently secured yet.
 
9
 
The final fittings in this segment are the swivel guns.  It is known that Blackbeard added a number of these useful weapons to the armament of the QAR, and one has been recovered in the excavation of the site.  Taking its measurements, a set of bronze colored barrels were located in the aftermarket that closely matched the size and shape of the artifact.
 
To mount them, a set of simple forked stanchions were made up from brass.  Here are the various pieces and how they go together.  
 
10
 
Once the prototype was acceptable, the pieces were soldered together, the brass blackened, and the barrels mounted.  
 
11
 
There are four on each side on the caprails, and one each in the main and fore tops.
 
12
 
So here is the current status.  
 
13
 
Next, the staysails and maybe the anchors.
 
Be well
 
Dan 

The lower part of the 2nd planking is done. I’m not yet sure how the final colour scheme will look but the whole hull painted black seems a bit gloomy. For now just the wale has been painted as a trial.
 

Side view with painted wale
 

The bow looks a bit more elegant than the kits version
 

The stern starts looking good

My jaw is dropping to the floor. Every time you post I see a new level of workmanship.
David B

My jaw is dropping to the floor. Every time you post I see a new level of workmanship.
David B

I haven't got much work done on the Byzantium the past couple of weeks due to working on the sloop Mediator. After planking half of the Mediator I am getting kinda tired of planking so I decided to switch back to the Byzantium and start coppering, well sorta. I made a plate press and started work making the plates last night, sofar I have made and installed over 200 plates completing the starboard side of the hull.
The progress as of this morning.








I also have painted the binnacle.

 
Lextin.

I don't have a Byrnes table saw, but I do have a nice milling machine. I use it to rip boards and can get to within pom 0.001 inch in thickness.
Here are some pictures of my set-up. The mandrel was given to me by a shop that did a lot of machining of aluminum honeycomb. It uses a 1.5 inch diameter saw blade (available from Thurston) and has a very thin washer on the base. I can go down to 0.020 inch and up to about 3/8 inch in width.
Notice that the aluminum table I made becomes the 'fence' and the two heavy angle pieces are now the 'table'. Raising the mill (z axis) changes the thickness and the y axis controls the depth of cut. Once I have the correct settings, I lock the three axes in place and every thing is very rigid. The variable speed of the mill is also a benefit.
   
 
I have another table saw with a three inch Thurston blade that I use for miter cuts and other flat cutting. That one was adapted to an old Shopsmith. Hence I can go back and forth without having to set-up every time I need to rip another piece.

You're kidding me right?......anyone who can do the amazingly tiny work that you do cannot possibly claim to have such fingers.
 
Michael

Once the glue had dried, the bottom planking was faired back level with the chine strip and the transom.
 

 
The next step is to release the hull from the build board by removing the previously applied staples in the sheer plank.  It looks kinda boat-like now!
 

 

 
The Sheer plank now needs to be faired to the frames before applying the side planking.  Just debating whether to install some running gear and cabling before installing the side planks.  My order from MACK products arrived during the week, and I’m very pleased with the looks of the various goodies (which will be revealed in due course).
 
In the meantime, picking up on an idea from the RC Groups forum, I contacted a rubber stamp making company here in Australia and had them make up some Chris-Craft logo rubber pads for the step pads.  The company were excellent to deal with and produced proofs from a photo I sent them.  Once I gave them the go ahead, the finished product was waiting for me when I got home from work the next day.  Can’t beat that for service!  The stamps are only available in grey rubber, but I think they should paint up okay with black paint.  I’m very pleased with the way they have come out.  They look better than the photo suggests – I couldn’t get the camera to focus on the pads instead of the five-cent piece!
 

 
 
 
 

Construction: Planking

Didn’t have much time for this build this weekend as the other build (Bomb Vessel Cross Section) took up most of the available time, but did manage to fit the bottom planks.

Planking begins with the bottom planking. This is achieved with two large “plastic” sheets. The material is an expanded core PVC called “Sintra”. On the bottom of the hull, there will be no over planking as this gets painted. On the rest of the boat, the Sintra forms an “underplanking”, over which the Mahogany planks are laid. Use of the Sintra simplifies and speeds up the build, and makes the whole vessel lighter (a consideration for later on with the RC version of the build).

I have heard of a number of people having water ingress issues due to the Sintra and the fact that the bottom is also not fibreglassed like the remainder of the boat. I will either seal the hull with a waterproof car body filler, or fiberglass the bottom as well as the rest of the boat – I haven’t yet decided on this aspect.

Two more upper deck beams and main transverse bulkhead with door and stanchion
 
Cheers, Lee

I've put a hold on the clamps for now. The nails didn't thread deep enough to hold the strain on the clamps so they stripped out. Ill have to redesign them.
 
 Im still working on the sail design but was told to get out of the dinning room for Easter (Admiral's orders). I was losing my patients with them any way. Lots of test pieces and no clear answer yet.
 
The planking is continuing on the Flying Fish slowly but i think it looks good.
 
Boy i leave the room to work on the ship and Misty takes control of my chair.
 
The snow is starting to melt in the north east. Good thing to I was getting cabin fever. With the sun staying up longer it will be harder not to go out side . This may slow down the build a little.

Nils were you a weaver in a previo us life or an artist?
David

Nils were you a weaver in a previo us life or an artist?
David

Captain your sails look great as for your sack and bread problem have you thought about using Play doh modeling clay? It might be the right thing for the job.
David B

John your hull is beautiful.
David B

Lee, after seeing your work I feel like taking my model of the Benjamin W. Latham and putting it in the trash can. Outstanding work.
David B