gjdale

Nice to see your fixes working so well Jesse - well done!

Beautiful work Ray. She looks magnificent.

Very nice work on the sail Jerry. I take it that the Admiral has resumed ironing duties?

Thanks very much everyone for all the kind words and "likes". Jeff got back to me and confirmed that my observations about errors in the drawings were correct, and also confirmed that my corrections were….correct. Deck Beams I ummed and ahhed about the best way to prepare the Deck Beams with all of their various notches for receiving carlings, trimmer beams, beam arms etc. I then made the happy discovery that I possessed end mill cutters to exactly match these various sizes, so I decided to do as much of this work as possible on the mill in order to provide the maximum degree of accuracy and consistency. In order to do that, I needed to start with beam blanks that retained a “square” face for use as a reference plane for the milling work. So blanks were prepared to match each beam location, with just the ends angled to match the angle of the hull sides (10 degrees as it happens). Here are the beam blanks cut to size for each location and with a centre line marked for further reference: I forgot to take pictures of the next stage, but this consisted of sticking the beam patterns onto the fore and aft faces of the beam blanks, using the centreline and bottom edge as a common reference. The tops of the beam blanks were then cut down in height, using the mill, to align with the top of the pattern, while maintaining a parallel face with the bottoms. By further happy coincidence, or clever design by Jeff, all of the notches, regardless of depth (top to bottom), were set back a common distance into the beams (fore to aft, or aft to fore). By milling the notches with the blanks lying on their sides, I could then use a common depth of cut for all milling operations, and would therefore only have to be concerned with the “length” of the cut. That depth happened to be 1.5 mm. The length of cut varied with the size of timber to be accommodated, and was measured off the plans in imperial units (eg 7/32”) and then converted to decimal millimetres (eg 5.56mm) for application on the mill. It sounds complex, but was actually pretty easy. Once all of the milling was completed, the beams had their respective curvature applied while the paper patterns were still in place, using a combination of the spindle sander and disc sander to achieve the required curves. Here is what the beams looked like after all of these operations were completed and the residual paper patterns were removed: You can see in these photos, that the milling process leaves a rounded end. These had to be cleaned up and squared off using a chisel, which again seemed more daunting than it was in practice to achieve. The only real difficulty was in achieving the 45 degree angled notches to take the angled carlings that will eventually support the outside of the Mortar Pit. To achieve these, I used the mill to cut the “straight” bit in the middle, to provide a reference plane, and then completed the rest with a chisel. It was the 45 degree undercut that was particularly difficult – I’m sure there is an easier way than the method I used, but we got there in the end, and with no feeding of the scrap bin along the way! Here is a picture of the cleaned up joints: And finally, here is a picture of the completed beams dry-fitted in place. The “Trimmer Beams”, which will surround the Mortar Pit, are sitting loosely on top of the main deck beams. These will be trimmed to final length once the deck beams are permanently affixed. You can see in the photo that the centre lines of the beams seem to line up quite well, so the installation of the various carlings etc, should be relatively easy. Next up, cutting the various Hanging Knees, Lodging Knees, Beam Arms, and Carlings – all of which will also need to be notched. Progress may very well slow down from here as my period of convalescent leave ends this week and its back to work next week.

Nice work on the stanchions Mobbsie, and on the Black Pig. I hope your grand daughter was very pleased with it! Deck beams are looking good too - nice neat carpentry there my friend. Please tell me it's just the camera angle, but I can't see the 45 deg notches in the aft face of beam three...... Edit: On closer inspection, with glasses on, the 45 deg notches look fine! Sorry for the heart attack!

Volume 5 is in two parts (ie 6 books altogether) and deals mainly with rigging and the ship's boats. The ship's history is contained in Vol 1.

A fine looking stove Toni, to complement the rest of your very fine build. Best wishes to Sadie for a speedy recovery.

Nice to see the hammocks finished Harvey - they look great. Re the ship's boats - you could always scratch build them as I did........

.....and with the option of drowning......

That's incredible Daniel. You can almost hear the conversation, it's so life-like!

Neat job on the stack Ken.

Nice work Jerry. Pity about the kit quality disappointment, but you're making a fine job of her regardless.

Nice touch with the square nuts Ken.

Looking good Jerry.

That's quite a milestone Augie! And your model shows the care and effort you put into every single one of those hours. Just beautiful!

Well done with the hammock cranes Boyd. The material you refer to is called Tulle. What you have pictured has a 'honeycomb' pattern - I believe a 'diamond' pattern would be more correct. If you have trouble finding some, I have about 50 lifetime's worth of the stuff (used on my Victory). I'd be happy to send some to you if you wish - just PM me with your postal address if you'd like some.

That looks pretty good to my eye Mark (though I've been known to be wrong before.........)

Great to hear your fix has worked Jesse. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Fantastic job you've done there Mobbsie, she really does look terrific. I hope you gave the Museum a couple of "before" and "after" photos to show the extent of your work! Well done mate - now get cracking and catch up on your cross-section!!!

Thanks again folks for all the kind words and the "likes". Just a small update today. I have completed preparations for the Upper Deck framing. The next step was to make the Upper Deck Clamps. These comprise an Upper and a Lower Clamp and I opted to include “iron bolts” using copper wire blackened in situ using Liver of Sulphur. To make life easier, I prepared a card template for the bolting pattern and inserted the bolts prior to installation on the model. Here are the clamps ready for installation (the bolts to the right appear not to be blackened, but this is just a trick of the light in the photo): Clamping them securely was a little tricky and I was grateful for the mini Spales I had made previously: The final preparations prior to moving on to the Upper Deck construction were the Mortar Pit Support Standards (knees) and the Centreline Stanchions. The knees were easily cut on the scroll saw, ensuring the grain was oriented on the diagonal, and then given their final shape using the spindle sander and disc sander. The Centreline Stanchions introduced another timber – Walnut. These were turned on the lathe. My extremely limited turning abilities managed a reasonable approximation to the stepped shape at either end of these. The Walnut is not a particularly good wood for machining, but it was finished up by a series of increasing grit sand paper, to an almost polished finish prior to being coated with Wipe-On Poly. During the turning process, each end of the columns were drilled to take a 1.5mm brass locating pin. Here are the Stanchions and Standards (Knees) in place, along with a view of the completed Deck Clamps. The Stanchions are only temporarily placed for the photo – they will be permanently fixed once the Deck Beams are ready to be permanently fixed in place. I have now started work on the upper deck beams, but have discovered a possible error in the drawings. I have sent a message to Jeff Staudt for confirmation before proceeding.

Would the Dremel Moto Saw meet your needs as a relatively low cost option - it costs about US$100 here in Australia? As you already have onr Dremel tool, I assume you can source them easily in your country. https://www.masters.com.au/product/100882549/dremel-scroll-saw-moto-saw-ms20ne.jsp

Hey Jack, Good news about the opportortunity for some extra play money! It's a pity that it means a break from the shipyard, but your cross-section will still be there waiting patiently for your return, as will we. In starting work on the upper deck framing, I discovered an error in the plans yesterday (I think), and also in a couple of my spreadsheet dimensions. I'll post a PM to the group later today with the corrections.

Okay Mark, here's my critique: Sweet!

Magnificent Johann!

Lovely looking carriages Mark.