tkay11

With the oft-repeated discussions about which power tools to use, and the oft-repeated replies referring to the fact that they didn't have power tools in the 18th Century, I was wondering where to look for articles about the tools and techniques used at that time by ship modellers. I'd really like to know more about which tools were used, how they were made and the various little techniques that were used to achieve their perfect results -- especially in making Admiralty models. I suppose it's strongly linked to fine cabinet making, especially in miniature-- and there's probably lots of info on that. Obviously knives, blades, saws and chisels don't need much discussion, and I'm clear about the types of lathe used. But I'd be quite interested in accurate drilling, for example, or sanding techniques or the kinds of jig that may have been used. I'm sure lots of you have already considerable knowledge about this, so I thought I'd ask to see where I might start. Thanks for any replies or interest! Tony

Great to see another Jacinthe started. I too have the plans but won't be building until I've completed my Triton cross-section. I really look forward to your progress and will follow it closely. Tony

Ha ha! Mine will definitely not be a model I'll be keeping for display in our place or any other. Tony

Thanks, Mark. That's very useful. I'm now definitely leaning that way too. In fact writing out in the log made the decision much easier. That's another value of composing a log -- it composes the thoughts too! It seems like I'm following your footsteps even more closely than I had envisaged! Tony

Now that the frames were seen to align, I started the process of putting them all together. First was to glue the false keel to the keel. Rather than try putting a strip of cartridge paper between the keel and false keel, I used the old trick of running a pencil at an angle to the the joining edges of both parts. That gave the satisfactory impression of a filler. I then made sure the keel would stay in place by gluing two ply offcuts on the base board to either side. I could then fix the frames to the keel with epoxy adhesive and clamp them firmly using an old oak floor tile. FILLER/SPACER BLOCKS Then came the filling blocks to keep the frame spacing constant and to add rigidity. I made two sets – a set for the narrow spaces, and another for the wider ones – then sanded each one carefully to the exact width of each space, labelling them in the process. LINTELS I added the gunport lintels as follows: A HEIGHT JIG I tested the overall heights of the frames by making an extremely simple jig cut to the correct heights. A steel ruler (on its edge) was then placed across the frames on the height jig to test the frame heights. Needless to say there was some variation -- about half were the correct height and half were 0.5mm too low. I had a choice of either sanding down and then adding a strip of wood to achieve the correct height, or simply sanding down by 0.5mm to achieve the correct height throughout. I took the easy course and lopped 0.5mm from the frames that had the correct height – in the supposition that it won’t make much difference to this learning exercise. LIMBER STRAKES I cut the first limber strakes using the table saw for the indentation. I finished the edging off with a scalpel and file. The angled cover I then thought for a while about how to make the angled cover that lies between the keel and the first limber strake. I made the necessary measurements with TurboCAD. I settled on trying to angle the cover with the disc sander, as by chance the length of the strakes is almost exactly the width of the sander. I cut a carboard template to the correct angle and used that to set the angle on the disc sander. Then, extremely gently, I angled each side of the cover strake. DECISION TIME Before I get on with laying the limber strakes and continuing with the build, I have a serious decision to take. I’m still thinking about this, but while I was sanding the frames down I found that not only were the frames quite uneven (so that it would take a lot of sanding to achieve a really smooth and even surface from fore to aft) but that in my vain attempt at narrowing the frames towards the top I had not noticed that I had sanded the top half of a lot of frame 5 far too much on each side, and some of frame C on the port side. I was on the point of abandoning the work so far and shared my thoughts with my wife. I think she was horrified at having to endure the noise of all that sawing, scroll sawing and sanding again, and she suggested I should continue even if it meant some imperfection – especially as I was supposed to be doing this as a simple learning exercise. I’m still not really decided about this. Argument for starting again: Polish the skill by making the frames again. Arguments for just continuing with the existing frames: (1) it means ordering more wood. (2) it might end up with another set of mistakes. (3) in reality a little bit of unevenness will be masked considerably by the planking. (4) I could lop off the tops of the end of frame 5 and after planking fill in any gaps with filler. (5) I have in reality learned a lot about making frames in the process, and am likely to be more careful when it comes to my next build. (6) The greater part of the build is yet to come, with more skills to be learnt about placing beams and other structures, let alone planking and finishing. On the whole I’m leaning towards just continuing, and cutting off the tops of the rear parts of the 4th futtocks of frame 5 -- leaving a flat rail without the higher curled rail. I have noticed that some builds have done this anyway. By the time of my next log (and leaving time for comments on how to proceed from any interested parties) I’ll be sure to let you know. Tony

Thanks, Mark. Just following your footsteps! Tony

Thanks a lot, Carl. You're absolutely right. I enjoy each stage in its own right and am constantly fascinated by the learning and understanding each stage brings. It also continues to add greater appreciation of the difficulties others have overcome in their own builds as I go through those stages. The other saying common on this site is that we are all our own worst critics. I have that syndrome recurring frequently, so it's always nice to hear encouragement from others with lots of experience such as yourself. One of the functions and joys of the forum! Tony

Thanks for all the likes! Mike: Thanks also for your comments. I have admired the way you have approached the Oliver Cromwell with such very careful preparation. At the moment wish I had been a bit more painstaking in preparation of the frames. I'm waiting to see whether I need to re-do some of them once I have done a bit more work on them. The trouble is I've been treating this cross-section merely as a learning exercise, and it would probably be better that I treat it with the care and attention due to a model that I would look at with pleasure! I surprised myself with the Sherbourne, which I also treated as a learning exercise, but once I'd finished it I found myself looking at it today with a certain amount of satisfaction -- even knowing all the faults! Despite this worry, even if I continue it as a learning exercise this build is wonderful, and I'm enormously grateful to all those who've put the time and effort into designing it as such. It really does prepare me for a future build, and I love the new intricacy and precision demanded in the frame-making process. Tony

That's nice of you, fellow Czech! (I was born in Prague, but now live in the UK). I've enjoyed your log too -- except you're doing better than I am in paying attention to the treenails! I'm still debating whether I will add any treenails, but I can see it's good practice. Tony (who unfortunately speaks no Czech at all as my father refused to let me speak it. We were political refugees and he thought we'd never be able to return).

Once the wood arrived, I could set about making the frames. I laid the plan on 19mm MDF and proceeded as follows I decided I'd also cut the gun port sill placements at this stage, and hope to make sure they're all aligned later. The following shows my rough alignment of the frames in the jig. By the way, I used lock nuts to support the ply cut-out. This made sure that there would be no slipping of the cut-out and maintained the height accurately. So now I can see that at least the frames fit and are roughly aligned. Phew! That means I can now get on with truing up the frames, gluing the keel bits together and the frames to the keel, and making sure the gun port sills are ready. A SILENT DRUM SANDER! As a slight aside, my mini-drill made such a noise with sanding the frames that I had to develop a silent sanding drum for night-time work as follows. I used an old broom handle (just under an inch diameter) for the drum, and a one inch spade bit together with a 6mm roofing bolt. Peace at last! (but sore fingers, too!) Tony

The story so far: Studied the plans, lots of the cross-section build logs, David Antscherl’s Fully Framed model books. Ordered most of the wood from Arkowood, using the suggested timber list on the forum as well as some chunks of pear I already had. Most of the model will be in pear, but I’ll use maple for the deck planking, and I’ll stain or paint the pear for the wales. I copied the plans in TurboCAD. This was quite important because the wood thickness for the frames turned out to be 5.1mm, and as I don’t have a thicknesser it was useful to ensure correct spacing of the frames along the keel. It was also useful to have the CAD programme to develop a jig. I had a little debate with myself about a scroll saw. Up to now I’ve been happy using a coping saw and a jeweller’s saw for various intricate cuts. However, I also found that for thick pieces it was tiring when there were several to do. Luckily an excellent reconditioned Proxxon DSH came up from Axminster on eBay and I was lucky to get it at a knock-down price. Decision made! I quickly modified it by making a zero-clearance top from a sheet of Perspex I found in the road outside my house. The first practical step, then, was to make the jig. I went with the type that puts the spacing in between the frames. The base was made of 19mm MDF, the top from 4mm ply (again found in the streets around my house). You can see the steps in the following photos. Having set up my jig, I was still waiting for the wood from Arkowood, so I thought I’d make the grating. I used the traditional method shown by Frolich in his book ‘Art of Ship Modelling’. The slats were made after I had made a very simple stop from a piece of plywood, a 6mm bolt with its head filed down to fit the slot (and thereby stopping it rotating) and a strip of brass shim shaped round the edge of the ply to stop wear on the point. Next up: making the frames Tony

I enjoyed the sub-title translation at the end of their video. "I'll bananas conecto pieces..." instead of 'Albion Connecto pieces'. Tony

Glad you're posting the log. I look forward to following the rest of the build. Tony

Looking forward to the build! Tony

Olson recommends grinding off the back corners of their blades for a smoother cut and tighter curves. They sell a 'blade finishing stone' together with instructions. I just downloaded the instructions. The way to do it is by grinding when the blade is moving. For very thin blades they recommend doing it while the blade is cutting wood. Tony

Delighted you're in on this, Mike. I've come as far as making the first frame and the jig, but not yet posted progress as I decided I'd use the first frame as a learning exercise and might well make the same frame again as I have some burn marks on it after drum sanding. I also bought M6 bolts that were 10mm too short for the jig as I hadn't taken into account the width of the base plate! So I look forward to your build with great pleasure as I'm sure you'll have plenty of good ideas. Tony

I have the Proxxon FET saw and have no problem milling wood to 0.1mm consistency for the thicknesses I use. If there's a trick it's getting to know the right sequence in tightening the fence, using a variable stop (there are several types shown on this site), and a featherboard -- as well, of course, as a zero insert which is easy to make for each blade that you use. You also have to ensure the saw blade and fence are correctly angled, though you'd be doing that during set up. Most European modellers seem to use this saw with superb results, although there are also a few specialist saw makers around as well. Frolich used a saw attachment on his old Unimat lathe with wonderful results. I understand the Byrnes saw may obtain great results more easily, but as usual it's a question of how much you want to pay for ease of use. Tony

Thanks for such a nice note, Gregor. It was really great how you, Dirk and Kester shepherded and guided me through the various stages. I learnt a lot also from the various discussions you had between yourselves about the finer points of historical interest. I had no idea at all that I had been a motivator for you to build the Sherbourne! Tony

Apparently the bulk of those who buy wood model kits give up once they find how much time it takes to get their heads around the various challenges they come across once they start. This is the reason why the advice often given is to start with a small kit that has lots of builds on this or any of the other various ship building fora -- that way it's very hard to go wrong, and there's lots of support from others to help you over the difficulties. So the advice given here to buy both kits sounds pretty good to me as well. You may well find that once you get your teeth into the smaller build you'll enjoy it far more than you might have thought. A great deal of the fun is just figuring out how to do the next step. I've only just completed my first build and it's been a joy from start to finish even though I had initially wanted to make a different model when I started. I did set out, though, with the idea that the first model was principally to develop a range of skills and to see whether I would like the hobby. It also very much depends on your personality. If you are determined to see it through, no matter what difficulties spring up, I would think you'd be able to tackle any model -- especially if you have lots of others building the same model so you can share solutions and advice. I wouldn't worry about achieving 'perfection' -- there's not really any such thing -- as long as you've enjoyed doing it. It's just that sometimes you have to stick at it through some frustrations until you find that overcoming the frustrations is part of the fun! Good luck! Tony

Thanks a lot, everyone, for the likes and comments. I can now feel I've made a contribution on the forum after the learning I've had from you all. Peter: Next is the Triton cross-section which I'm planning, having started the keel parts and obtained the plans. Glad you like the stand! Dirk: You've been a huge inspiration to me with your own Sherbourne and other builds, so your kind words are very much appreciated. Tony

Thanks, Nils. It's really great when experienced modellers as yourself who produce beautiful and finely crafted work give me such comments. Tony

Thanks a lot, B.E.! My wife hasn't anything to compare it to, but definitely the small size is a plus since it's going into a bookcase. Tony

MODEL COMPLETED! OK, there’s lots I haven’t added. Such as: the full and correct rigging for the 3-pounders, perhaps the lids for the gunports, rigging the catheads, deck furniture, flags, horsehoes on the stem, waterline marks, clew lines, leech lines, bunt lines and a whole lot more that all you experienced builders will note immediately. There’s also a whole lot that is messy, imprecise or badly finished (I still groan over the blocks). BUT … I’ve achieved what I set out to do: to dip my hand into the waters of wooden model boat building, obtain a grasp of the various dimensions of the hobby, and pick up some of the various skills needed to continue with the hobby. These have been done with enormous pleasure at every step of the way. In particular I have loved the variety of challenges that had me puzzling for days until I was able to find some way of dealing with them. In fact, and perhaps oddly, I have slightly less pleasure in having arrived at the end than in the enormous pleasure I have had in dealing with particular parts. Something that really did please me, for example, was finding out how to make and use gravers to turn the brass swivel guns. All the same, my wife likes it! I wanted to give the model away to a local library or shop, but she’s demanding we keep it – at least until my next build is over. WHAT I HAVE LEARNT Now that I have finished the Sherbourne, I thought it a good point at which to summarise for the benefit of other newcomers what I have been learning as a result of starting this hobby. Keep A Build Log! Most important, perhaps, is the enormous value of keeping a build log. Doing so forces you to review your progress methodically and at the same time helps you to learn from others as they comment on your progress and guide you where necessary. I also wanted to use my log to help other beginners who may be puzzling over how to manage various stages: my steps may provide a few more options for them to consider. Start with a simple kit of a small ship! The Sherbourne kit really is an excellent kit for a first-time builder such as myself. Should I have wanted to, I could have just proceeded with the kit parts and plans as supplied and finished the whole thing in about three months. However, as it is based on plans in the UK’s National Maritime Museum it tempts those who want to go further and make it more like it might have looked in the 18th Century. Don’t be scared: take the plunge and build your own parts! A review of all the other far more expert builders who were and are tackling the Sherbourne showed lots of different possibilities, and I quickly realised that every modeller was making a unique creation of their own. I was gradually drawn in to making modifications of my own as I realised that I might be able to make various parts myself when I observed others doing so. It started with the rudder, pintles and gudgeons. Then deck fittings – the hatches, companionway and pumps. Then I realised I might have a bash at making the gratings a bit better. Then I took on the cannon, belaying pins, rope, masts, bowsprit, yards, jeers, windlass, blocks, anchors, swivel guns, boom crutch, hooks, sails, rudder coat, yard horses, foresail horse and, to my great surprise, a Perspex sheet for the waterline stand. All of this came about as a result of the wonderful support from other modellers on the forum, as well as lots of reading, research and visits to museums to inspect contemporary models. Skills that come your way when you try Of the many skills I have been picking up, those that pleased me most have included: * Accurate sawing with a table saw * Using a Proxxon mini-drill and converting it to use as a wood mill * Turning with a wood lathe (masts, spars, ebony cannon) * Using a metal lathe to turn brass swivel guns (a Taig/Peatol) and making gravers to do so * The value of a disc sander * Silver soldering with a really basic butane torch * Blackening brass * Understanding ship plans * The value of a software CAD programme (TurboCAD) to trace plans and draw up my own to make particular parts (e.g. cannon) * Making my own stains for rigging and wood * Sharpening and honing * Cutting and welding Perspex sheet and rod. Don’t be worried that at the end of it all your skills are not as good as others! Of course my ability with these skills is nowhere near as good as very many other modellers on this and other fora, but the point of my drawing up this list is to point out to those who are starting a wooden ship kit for the very first time that you may well be surprised at how rapidly you can take on skills which at first seem impossible. Even more: by taking on some or all of the new challenges you discover how deeply and broadly rewarding this hobby is in maintaining and generating learning, and in figuring out how to overcome new challenges. It’s far better than computer gaming (in my opinion)! Better still: the process of learning continues endlessly, no matter how high your skill set is! So it’s with the wonderful understanding that I’ll be learning a great deal more, and encountering a whole new range of challenges, that I’m now organising myself to start on a new level – how to make frames with the Triton cross-section that is so generously supported in this forum. Tony

ANCHORS As usual, I had thought I might be able to make the anchors from the kit parts, but the moment I tried to fit the wooden stock I found (as have so many before me) that the channels cut in the stocks are too wide for the shanks. So I had to make my own stocks. I used a pear offcut I had and dimensioned it using the dimensions given by zu Mondfeld in his book Historic Ship Models. I drilled 0.5mm holes for the bolts, used 0.5mm brass rod to fill them, and touched the ends with undiluted brass blackener to blacken them. As is the norm, I used 1mm black cartridge paper to mimic the iron rings round the stocks. For the puddening of the ring I used black polyester thread, using CA glue to hold the first part in place on the ring. STOWING THE ANCHOR After a short discussion elsewhere on the forum, I decided I’d stow the anchors as for sailing (since the sails are up and the model is on a sea of Perspex). I followed Harland’s diagram (Seamanship in the Age of Sail) and used a simple stop in the catheads to hold the rope for the stock end. Interestingly I had been puzzling about the use of two eyebolts shown on the plans for the kit placed in the deck just aft of the windlass. I decided that one of them would be perfect to hold one end of the rope for the crown end of the anchor. The following pictures show how the anchors are stowed. That's it. Next up: reflections on completed model. Tony

SWIVEL GUNS I really didn’t like the swivel guns supplied with the kit. At first I thought I’d just keep the kit barrels and make my own swivel mounts (which I did, earlier on in the build – see within entry #100 at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/335-hmc-sherbourne-1763-by-tkay11-–-caldercraft-–-scale-164-a-novice’s-caldercraft-sherbourne/?p=117947). I thought I wouldn’t have the skill to turn my own barrels on brass, but in the end, seeing as I bought a really cheap Taig lathe on eBay, I reckoned it would be a good opportunity to learn a new set of skills. The first step, of course, was to make the right tools for the job – notably gravers. There are some excellent tutorials on the web on how to make gravers, so I bought some 3mm square HSS lathe bars, some wooden dowel and set up a sharp pointed graver for the square cuts and a rounded graver for the smooth barrelling. I was surprised to find that with really sharp gravers, cutting into the brass was almost exactly similar to cutting into wood on a wood lathe. As a result, I was able to cut 8 barrels in a couple of days using the plans for the swivel guns from the AOTS book on the Cutter Alert. Luckily the swivel mounts I had made were exactly the right size. Something that struck me was that it would be easier to cut the handle of the swivel gun at the same time – rather than soldering on a rod at a later stage. This way I’d be able to bend the handle after heating it with a butane gas burner. It took me a little while to figure out how to cut the holes for the trunnions in such small barrels (roughly 1.5mm diameter), but I hit on the plan of making a jig from an epoxy putty (Milliput) and leaving a 0.4mm thick piece of wood on which to lay the end of the barrel so that the trunnion hole would run vertically across the barrel. Unfortunately my attempts at blackening were not great – it may be that my blackening agent is now too old), so I ended up painting them (much to the dismay of my wife who thought the brass finish was beautiful). Much as I would have liked to keep the brass finish, it wouldn’t have been in keeping with the rest of the model and the ebony barrels of the 3-pounder guns. The sad thing is that the black paint on the barrels adds a layer which blurs the sharp edges of the rings and the detail. Still, it’s probably a bit better than the kit barrels and I did learn a whole lot about turning brass with gravers! Next up: Anchors Tony