gjdale

Your treenails look great David!

Great to see you "underway" in the shipyard again John.

Thanks Brian, The red timber is RedHeart. It will be used for the inner bulwarks.

This will be my first full scratch build. I have chosen the Bomb Vessel Granado Cross Section as an introduction to scratch building as it has all of the components of a scratch build while offering something a little bit ‘unusual’ at the same time. This build is also a ‘group’ build as my very good friend Mobbsie in the UK has agreed to do this in tandem with me, and to make it a truly international build, we are also joined by Jack Panzeca from Texas. While we will all maintain individual build logs, we will progress at a common (slow) pace and will therefore be able to help each other through any tricky bits. Plans are by Jeff Staudt, based on the drawings by Peter Goodwin in the Anatomy of the Ship series, and also original drawings by Thomas Slade. The plans are available through the Model Ship Builder (MSB) forum. Although this is my first scratch build, I have to say that the plans/drawings by Jeff look to be first class. We will also be guided by the build logs of several skilled modellers who have trodden this path before us. I would like to pay tribute here to the excellent logs of Rusty, whose log of his 1:24 scale build is available here at MSW, and also of Mike41, who built the prototype model over on MSB. We will be using timber from Jeff Hayes at Hobbymill, and have chosen a selection of timbers that will allow us to “paint with wood”. My thanks to Jeff for his patience and guidance in helping me to put together the final timbering package. Of course, as you would expect, the timber from Jeff is just gorgeous. Here’s a picture of the overall wood package: And here is one showing more clearly some of the colours that we have available through these timbers: On with the show: Framing Jig We decided to start by constructing the Framing Jig - mainly because Mobbsie “cheated” by making his up earlier while testing out his new toys. It is fairly straight forward to make - the base is 12mm ply that I had lying around, while the top is 3mm “aircraft grade” birch plywood (also spare stock I had lying around). The two pieces were cut to size and then clamped together while 10mm holes were drilled to take the adjusting bolts. The pattern for the jig was then printed on sticky label paper and applied to the top, and the inside cut out on the scroll saw. After cutting on the scroll saw, the frame notches were finessed to size with a file, using a piece of 1/4” stock (framing stock) to test for a comfortable fit. The top and bottom were then temporarily joined with the bolts and the centreline transferred from the top piece to the base. The centreline was scribed into the base and then drawn over with a pencil. Additional lines were drawn parallel to this 1/8” either side to aid in locating the keel/keel supports. Lines were also drawn across the base board to denote the ends of the frames. In the following pictures, you may notice a partially completed Stephenson’s Rocket lurking in the background ……… Two battens were glued to the underside of the base board to allow for the height of the bolt heads and make the base a little more stable. A block of MDF was cut to size from the plans to make adjusting the height of the top easier, and the top was then positioned and the bolts all secured. So far, so good. Tomorrow will be the first attempt at making the keel components and cutting the rabbet.

Wow, those last few photos are excellent Ed and really show off the detail of your superb craftsmanship.

I only "discovered" Gesso fairly recently and am absolutely sold on it! It's really easy to use, and clean up (bonus!), and gives great results. What more could you ask for?

Mark, I think you're little sojourn into Classical architecture and geometric construction was a fascinating trip for all of us. Thank you for sharing this.

You're going to love that Byrnes machine Kevin. In six months you won't remember the price, but you'll still be in love with the machine!

Kevin, On the pattern gluing question, one trick I picked up reading a scroll saw forum was to apply blue Painters tape to the wood first, then stick the pattern on top of that. The painters tape is low tack, so removal after cutting is easy and virtually no residue to clean up. You can buy the Painters tape in a variety of widths in you local hardware store. The glue you use for the pattern then doesn't matter. I prefer to print on sticky label paper, but some prefer a spray adhesive. Hope this helps.

Congratulations Mobbise - what a wonderful achievement. She looks absolutely fantastic and those shots alongside Badger are amazing! I can't believe it only took you 19 months to build - that's 12 times as fast as my Victory! I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to our "group" build, though you'll have put get used to a much more sedate and stately pace! I'll see you on the dark side this weekend.

Fabulous detail, as always, Gil

Thank you very much Lawrence, Daniel, Ben, John and Gil. Gil - a special thanks is due to you. Your log in itself has been an inspiration for many other Victory builders here and there were many times I found myself thinking, "now how did Gil handle that?". Thank you also for the many exchanges of personal correspondence as we compared notes on various issues. I look forward to seeing the final stages of completion of your own masterpiece.

'Bout bloody time too Mate! And a lovely set of photos to celebrate your return too.

Those draught marks are a lovely touch Remco, and so exquisitely precise!

Great to see you back in the shipyard Alan. And yep, like Wacko says, re-dos are just par for the course. The important thing is that YOU are satisfied with the results.

Mark, It's clear that the Macro Gods are smiling on you today. Some very fiddly work, very neatly done.

Cool! .... or should that be Hot!

Thank you Marc for your very kind words.

Having watched the demo videos (of the Microjig Grr-Ripper), my opinion is that this will get a lot of use in my workshop. True, for widths smaller than 1/8" a different method will be needed, but there's still an awful lot of cutting to do at wider widths. The fact that it can be used equally on the Byrnes saw or a full sized table saw (not to mention band saw, router table, etc) is a huge bonus. I think this will be money well-invested, and being a safety item, there was no problem in gaining funds approval from the Admiral

Thanks for showing us this Mike. I've just ordered one!

Nicely done Nigel and kudos for your perseverance!

Looking good Derek - nice to see you back at it. Not far to go now!

Congratulations on reaching a significant milestone there Nick - looking very nice indeed.

Nice work on the davits Gil.

Okay Augie, your week is up, and then some! Let's see some progress!!!