Trussben

Thanks, Chuck, Augie and Sjors. I'm hoping that you are all right about the outcome. At the moment I'm feeling like the guy who jumped from the 20th floor window and shouts as he passes the 15th floor, "so far, so good".
 
Sam, I had to adjust the bow bulkheads as I did with the aft ones.  I beveled them using battens, but as I've said, it remains to be seen how it will work out. The quarter deck may need to be adjusted, but I've already used more isopropyl than I've ever used before, so a little more will be no big deal.
 
Bob

Some additional progress on the stern.
 
Rather then fiddle with a paper template, I made a balsa spacer to set the height of the sills.  This will determine the height of the windows:
 

 
The sills were then installed.  Once again the pencil sander was used to fair them to the transom .... inside and out.  It has now been determined this tool IS the best thing since sliced bread:
 

 
As a final check, another paper template was used to see if we're in the ballpark:
 

 
Finally, here's an overall shot as it's been a while:

Looks like you are doing well with the Stern framing Augie, Well Done.
 
ben

That will make a big contrast if you leave the basswood planking natural, I like it!
 
Ben

The construction of the shadow box, and addition of the 'frames',  has been completed:
 

 
You'll note they are quite dark (60% Lt. Oak stain) as I want that contrast after planking.  The color is a very even although the photo doesn't show that. 
 
I think this is a very cool feature on the model.  However, if it's not your cup of tea you can either leave it out or plank over it.
 
The only thing of special note here is that the sheet containing the identical laser cut 'frames' is labeled 'Top' so you know how to orient them.  I'd advise you place a small mark on the unexposed (inside) surface so you don't loose track.  There's not much difference.
 
Will now move on to framing the stern.
 
 

Hey John, 
 
Thanks for stopping in and having a look. I've been admiring some of the pictures you have taken on your museum trips. So let me thank you as well for the pictures. Unfortunately, this build is going to be moving in a backwards direction as I think that I will be rerigging almost all of it. I've made up my mind that I'd like to include the shot racks and I'd like to rework almost every rope on her. Talk about your major learning experiences... screwing up on rigging really makes you remember mistakes! As soon as the weather turns too cold to be out in the garage playing with my big wood-working tools I'll be inside starting the tear down. 

Thanks John and Ben, but "you ain't seen nuthin' yet " .
 
Cowl Baffle
 
There is a wire reinforcing ring around the rim of the cowl. This was silver soldered on and cleaned up.
 
A baffle is attached to the opening of the cowl to regulate air flow to the stove's firebox.
 
I cut a disc of 0.3mm sheet, drilled two 0.7mm holes through it and silver soldered the two sliding pins. I filed the protruding ends down to simulate a peened over end.
 

 
Next I fabricated two sleeves for the slides to travel in from 0.75mm ID tubing and a 0.5mm pin to locate them correctly. These were CA glued into the cowl - too much heat would have been needed to solder them in and I risked destroying my previous work.
 

 

 
Finally two wire handles were drilled into the cowl and CA'd in. The whole assembly was blackened in stages and polished.
 

 

 
  Danny

Fairing of the hull bulkheads has been completed.  I am happy to report that the safety timbers installed on the bulkhead 'horns' served me well and no pieces were broken during the sawdust festival.
 
The safety timbers have been removed and reserved for possible future use.
 
 

 
I will now begin to construct the 'shadow box' on the starboard side which will serve to show the exposed 'frames'.  This next photos shows the laser cut shadow box pieces and 20 identical 'frames', 10 of which have been doubled up.  The interior of the box will be painted black.
 

 
The laser burn on the side of the frames to be exposed shall be removed in a mini-fairing operation after they are installed (they are cut over sized).
 

Well hi again, back from Vacation in England and now ready to get back to finishing the framing of the Echo, just the gun and sweep ports sills and lintels to be installed, fair everything and install keelson, week or two I'm guessing.
I have also started my initial research on my next scratch build.
 
Ben

Oh no mark! Augie has the joy of all the stern framing and gunport sills and lintels as well as sweep port backing, Ah I remember it so well!
 
Ben

Not to forget fairing that big beastie!
 
Ben

Not to forget fairing that big beastie!
 
Ben

Oh no mark! Augie has the joy of all the stern framing and gunport sills and lintels as well as sweep port backing, Ah I remember it so well!
 
Ben

The remaining two lower deck platforms have been installed and finished.  Here's the largest:
 

 
As per Chuck's suggestion, I've also painted the areas on the bulkheads immediately surrounding the platforms black.
I have also installed the safety timbers across the bulkhead uprights (whoops.....almost said 'horns).  These supports are 1/4" birch, which I have a ton of for aircraft use.  It's a snug fit and, hopefully, will support these fragile pieces until I get the hull faired:
 

 
With those supports she almost looks like a candidate for an additional deck.  I could make her a 54!!!!!!!  
 
No, 36 is more than enough.  Next step is fairing the hull so Colorado is now on 'Sawdust Alert'.
 

Chuck ain't Admiral of the fleet for nothing!

Chuck ain't Admiral of the fleet for nothing!

Chuck ain't Admiral of the fleet for nothing!

Chuck ain't Admiral of the fleet for nothing!

Great that you are starting another project ED, I shall watch with great interest.
 
ben

Glad to hear your home and cutting wood, look forward to seeing more rigging.
 
Ben

Looks exactly how it should be at this point.
 
Ben

Augie - add as many coats of paint or not as you wish, it's your build and I'm certain it will look awesome.
 
Ben

A bit of progress has taken place.  Frames are made and partially faired.  Couple strakes have gone on which has beefed up the rigidity of the framing a lot.  I did not do much fairing inboard down low as the lower hold is filled with cement for a good portion of the hull.   Still debating about putting in the lower deck and cabin details.  If I decide to cut out sections of the framing to expose areas inboard, at least the area where the frames are removed will get some finishing work.   With Effie having gone through several transitions, her inboard layout also change a lot.  I am probably staying with how she orginally came off the ways, so her layout inboard was simpler and certainly more austere than in later modifications.  Keel, stem, deadwood, keelson are Castello box, the frames are poplar.  Poplar is normally a bit soft for my own taste, but as all the frames are doubled, and the grain is running opposite on each pair, I had no breakage and the fairing has shown them to be pretty nice to work with, so far. 
Allan
 
 

I have not personally built nor have I seen a fully framed model of a Grand Banks fishing schooner so I thought it would a fun project to try.   There is a lot of information available on the Effie M. Morrissey, including a reasonable set of plans that are available from the Library of Congress, she is available to visit in her modern configuration, and there are folks in Massachusetts that have been more than willing to answer questions,  so she seemed to me to be a good choice.   
 The following is a compilation of her history from the internet, “so it must be true!” 
She was designed by George McClain and was the last fishing schooner built for the Wonson Fish Company.  She was built with white oak and yellow pine and took four months to complete.  She was launched February 1, 1894.  Her hull was painted black and her first skipper was William Edward Morrissey, who named her after his daughter Effie Maude Morrissey.  She fished out of Gloucester for eleven years then began fishing out of Nova Scotia.
 In  1914, ownership moved to Brigus, Newfoundland where Harold Bartlett used her as a fishing and coasting vessel along the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.
In 1925 Harold Bartlett sold her to his cousin, Captain Bob Bartlett, an Arctic explorer.  Bob Bartlett had an auxiliary engine installed and reinforced the hull for use in the Arctic. In 1926 with  financial help from publisher George Putnam , Bartlett began 20 years of exploration using the Effie.
When Captain Bartlett passed away in 1946, Effie was sold to the Jackson brothers to carry mail and passengers in an inter-island trade in the South Pacific.   On their voyage to the Pacific she developed problems at sea, forcing the crew to return to New York.  On  December 2, 1947, the boat caught fire  while docked at the boat basin in Flushing, New York.
The schooner was repaired and sold to Louisa Mendes in Massachusetts at which time she entered the packet trade  in a trans-Atlantic crossing to Cape Verde. Upon reaching the islands, Captain  Mendes  re-registered the schooner under the name Ernestina, after his own daughter, and used her in inter-island trade. Ernestina made a number of transatlantic voyages and fell into disrepair at Cape Verde, where she remained until the late sixties when there was interest  in the U.S. to save her. In 1977 the people of Cape Verde made a gift of Ernestina to the U. S.
In August 1982 her hull was completely rebuilt and she sailed to the United States. 
In August 1988 the schooner made a return trip to Brigus, Newfoundland, on the 113th anniversary of  Capt. Bob Bartlett’s  birth.
Ernestina was designated as a National Historic Landmark i with restoration being completed in 1994, and in 1996 became a part of the  New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.  She is currently owned   by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
 Effie  is the oldest surviving  Banks fishing schooner; the only surviving 19th century Gloucester-built fishing schooner; one of two remaining examples of the Fredonia-style schooners (the other being the Lettie G. Howard,) the only offshore example of that type; and one of two sailing Arctic exploration vessels left afloat in the United States.
 
This is the fourth model going onto the building board in the attached photos.  The model will be based on how she looked in 1894.  In the photos you can see that the  keel has a piece temporarily attached so it will sit at about a 2 degree angle to match the "drag" and make it easier to check that the frames are 90 degrees to the water lines (building board plane.)  I am using Castello box for the keel and  deadwood.  The plans do not show a shelf along the bearding line of the fore or aft frames.  Looking at photos of a rebuild of the schooner Virginia, there are no steps nor shelf.  I have no idea if there was one on the original build.  More to come, I hope.
 
Allan
 
 
 

For those wondering if I was ever going to get started -- I finally have gotten underway. Part of the problem was spending some time over a few days on the computer going over some issues with the kit with Sam Cassano, the kit designer. To make a long story shorter, Sam designed an alternate in the kit to allow opening up the gun deck and building up portions of the deck below. There were problems with the plans and the bulkhead former in doing this.  Sam will comment here on how he and Model Expo will address these issues.
 
I have now cut the former to do the deck drop downs, cut the bulkheads from their sheets and done some cleaning up on them, attached the rabbet strip, chiseled and sanded to the bearding line at the stern and attached the stem, keel and stern post. Since I am sort of the guinea pig on this kit, I have some comments for those following. The plywood for the former and bulkheads was difficult to work with: one of the sheets was not cut through by the laser and I have requested a replacement because the parts could not be released; even on the sheets that were fully cut, the tabs holding the parts to the sheets were large and hard to cut through -- I gave up on a knife and ended up using chisels; the slots on the former and bulkheads required considerable filing to open them sufficiently to fit; cutting the deck drop downs and the new slots for the affected bulkheads, after I figured out what to do, was hard work with saws and chisels ( hopefully this will now be resolved for the future).
 
Having said all of this, I'm still eager to go forward. Sam is intent on solving any problems and I believe that he will. Next up will be attaching the bulkheads.
 
Bob