gjdale

Hi Ed,
 
thanks for looking in and for your nice compliment. I was stuck a bit in the winch fabrication, lifeboats and vents, and sorting out the related design, so there is not much progress on the basic model, but following your wish, I`m happy to show the present state (pics taken  this afternoon )
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Well, you'll all have to wait a bit yet. 
 
The forward deck/platforms are made and fitted. The same card template strategy was used as for the footwaling and aft platforms. There are a few more details on the thwarts to take care of: iron strap standards that attach them to the side. Then there are small corner benches to make and fit just forward of the coach (cabin).

Thanks again for your encouragement, folks.
 
All the thwarts are now in, along with their longitudinal pieces. Once I figured out my strategy, this was easier to accomplish than I thought. After marking out and cutting recesses in the thwart, a small tongue was glued underneath. This prevents the longitudinal strip from falling through and allows it to sit flush to the thwart. The recesses are carefully marked and cut using a scalpel. The longitudinal is cut to length and the corners bevelled to 45 degrees using a fine sanding stick. I found that using a chisel here was difficult, as I could not cut the corners consistently.
 
Next are the two small platforms or decks forward of the first thwart. That will complete internal work at the fore end of the model.

The bow of this ship has certainly been a challenge.  Here she is, still very much in the rough.  I have installed through frame V.  The sheer line still needs to be defined, but I will worry about that later.  I experimented with a yellow Titebond woodglue that I am not a fan of.  Switching back to Elmers Carpenter - a white glue for the duration. At this stage, I am 72-hours into the build, again, averaging about an hour or so each day.
 

 

You will note that the template is still on the port frame V. As per the book, I am trying to keep the templates on as long as possible.
 

The shape of the bow at the sheer line has turned out a little sharp.  I plan to correct this in the planking stage.  Otherwise, she is symmetrical. 

Great result Dan! Well worth the extra effort.

Glenn,
 
Here's the finished diorama. I first spray painted the base with Floquil Engine Black and then a light spray of
Floquil Coach Green. When dry I stippled on one coat of Mod-Podge. Tried to mimic the look and color of a local
river.
 
John

Turned some pillars for under the thwarts freehand with files. As there are only five to make, it was not worth the effort to make a contour pattern. The pillars will be almost invisible in the finished model anyway! The stock was 2" square.
 
Started cutting and fitting thwarts. The ensign staff step was also added under the wider thwart before the area became inaccessible. The thwart itself has now been drilled for the staff and installed (third photo).

I added the reinforcing bands to the pumps.  I'm playing around with adding some furniture and a couple of paintings on the wall of the great cabin.  The portrait is stuck up there with double sided tape for the photo.

Thanks Kurt, Steven, Andy and John,
 
John, great idea!  This is how I'll handle the rest of the wheels.  I think I will leave the base cutaway on the port side to see the entire wheel but the starboard paddlewheel on the first model and the flywheel and starboard paddlewheel on the second model will all be recessed like this.  Thanks for the photos.  Do you mind if I ask if you textured or painted the waters surface?
 
Kurt, I'm attaching a couple of photos of my first sectioned diorama to show the extent of the wreck.  I'm also including some photos of the original paddlewheel assembly and associated bearing to show how badly the shaft was moving around in the bearing.  I don't know how they trusted this to hold together!
 
Thanks again for your comments and ideas.
 
Glenn
 
 
My first diorama of the Heroines remains.  At this time the forward half of the vessel hadn't been excavated yet.

 
Close-up of the clutch mechanism.  I will be modeling this next.

 
 
Port paddlewheel before conservation.

 
Outboard port paddlewheel bearing.  Oddly, instead of having bronze sleeves, this was the only bearing cast entirely of iron without a separate bronze lining.  You can even see the part line where the iron should end and the bronze should start.  The shaft also wore away the after edge of the bearing surface.  The shaft must have moved in the bearing with any change of momentum or force on the shaft.  With over a ton of wood and metal bouncing around it must have made for a bouncy ride.

 
Associated bearing cap showing wear to aft side and matching wear on shaft.  All the caps were cast with a grease cup on  top.  This cap was the only one that wasn't bored with a hole in the bottom of the cap.  It appears that they felt no need to grease this bearing.

Hi Gerhard,
 
We sincerely appreciate your taking the time to visit our site and hope to see you more often.  NRG Model Ship World has so many beautiful and interesting logs to see and we hope you get a chancce to visit many of them.
We have visited your site to see what a magnificent job you are doing engineering and fabricating the parts for the model you are building.  Jerry said that even as an engineer he wouldn't attempt to do what you have started and accomplished.  What a terrific piece of work on your behalf.
Have a wonderful day,
Charlene
 
P.S.
 
I have posted a few more pictures of our progress on Bouty.  It seems we overlooked the bowsprit stays and so we spent several hours making them and placing them in place.  Now we are truly ready to shape the yards and boomkins and begin the running rigging once these parts are made.

Thank you for the comments and likes.
Here is another update.
 
Alexandru

Friday, March 11, 2016

I finally finished the planking laid down with the "Klingon" method.

I have to admit it was a really great experience, from which I learned many things: first to proceed slowly. From the three-four strakes per side that typically I can apply during a working session with the "carvel method"", with the "clinker" it was a success when I was able to apply one strake per side every two days. Probably, if a strake should be made with a single strip rather than by two probably I would have needed half the time I spent. A possible idea for an improvement to the author of this kit.
However it was a considerable good exercise for my patience, property I think to own a lot.
In addition, as I proceeded away from the keel, the initial errors grew, so I had to spend time and efforts to fix some things . . if you watch closely the attached images you will see some frames where I had to insert some wood to get a proper curvature, without "valleys or hills".

Now that the laying of the planks is over, a phase of arrangement of the whole complex begins, starting from the two hull ends but also from the reconstruction of the modified frames where I had to add wood. But all these tasks worries me much less than what I have done until now. However the shape of this boat is spectacular . .

Now that I came out from the "Klingon planking" tunnel I plan to keep my diary updated regularly. See you next time, Jack.
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Lots of small steps is the way to go Kevin! Looking good.

I should point out that there's several differences between the French rudder and the British/American besides the previously mentioned shape at least at the point of time of the Licorne and Belle Poule.
 
The French didn't use a spectacle plate as such.  It was two eyebolts either by themselves or as part of the uppermost rudder iron.  Since the uppermost rudder iron on Licorne will be too close or even covered by the rudder coat, I put them down lower "C".
 
On the British/American ships, the rudder was retained by lines to the spectacle plate.  On the French, there is a strop hole "A" that has a line from a ringbolt through the hole, and then to another ringbolt.
 
Also, there's two lifting rings "B" to aid in resetting a rudder that went adrift.
 

Thanks for the likes and comments and following along.
 
You guys are going to make this decision for the next ship hard, aren't you?         And I thought it would just be a simple decision.. Roebuck or something French like L'Orient.   I figure why not go for tough ones.... 
 
John, the Roebuck also juxtaposes with quite a few American ships according to the history, as I recall.
 
A bit of an update... the rudder is ready for hanging.  The macro shows the problems but in real life it looks pretty good to my eye.  I actually had another one made but it hit the floor without my knowing it.  The pup (hah!!!!  at 3 years old, not a pup but she thinks she is) picked it up, and gave it back with unfortunately some deep teeth marks.  I had to laugh as I call her "my helping bud". 
 
Anyway, I've got blue taped into position while I sort out the irons attached to the hull.
 

 

 
As always, critiques, comments, or general mayhem is welcome.

Couldn't do anything through the week and not much progress today.
 
Made new keel pieces this afternoon.
 
I am very happy with these and will hopefully glue the paper on tomorrow and might get the sections together.

I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions on modeling the water surface.  I spent the week trying to come up with something and I think I'm leaning towards the woodland scenics  approach.  I have a lot of surface to cover - it could get expensive.
 
This week I tried to reproduce the damage done to the paddlewheels.  Every paddlewheel had some damage to it.  The channels that hold the spokes were broken off in several locations and repaired with custom made forged iron straps.  The inboard port flange was the worst with all the channels broken off.
 
 
Inboard port paddlewheel flange and straps.  Black outline shows the extent of the damage.

 
Strap layout for the mill.  Green outlines are for the inboard flange, black for outboard.

 
Straps milled in brass.

 
Fitting inboard paddlewheel spokes.

 
Flanges soldered to shaft and blackened.

 

 

 
Spokes and staps in place.

 
Wooden spreaders added between spokes.  36 down 252 more to go.

 
I rushed to take photos and forgot to clean up the timbers.  Looking a little hairy in this photo.

Thank you for your positive comments and encouragement, everyone.
 
Test made the joint required for the thwarts. A little tricky, but not impossible. The critical thing will be to have all the longitudinal pieces line up nicely!

Well, the 48 batten pieces have been cut, shaped and installed, along with the six footboards.
 
Next will be the thwarts. They should be a simple job, but are complicated by the fact that the edges are moulded and need to be mitred to the longitudinal strip running down the mid-line of the boat. Also, six turned supporting pillars are needed to support the thwarts. Stay tuned.

What do you mean it will be a while, we need to see it NOW, how difficult could making tiny, perfectly fitting pointy sticks be anyway??!!  
Amazing work dear sir, simply amazing!

Again, my appreciation for the complimentary remarks you have posted on this model.
 
The footboards for the rowers are more complicated than one might think. They are moveable - for long and short-legged crew - and have battens that hold them in place. For six thwarts there are a total of 48 battens to be cut and fitted. There are no two pairs alike. No wonder this detail is omitted from nearly every model!
 
If you look carefully, you will see a rejected batten showing the joints that need to be cut at each end. It will be a while until all six sets are completed....

well I actually feel i am getting somewhere with the build, although not checked i quess that I have spent more time on her this year so far than the whole of 2015
the bow now seams to be looking tidier and so far i am happy with it, but with limited build space, it is a bit of a handful
tomorrow i hope to lave the main stay and preventer stay
 
 

Finished up the porthole frames and installed them along with the pulling ropes for the window covers. While at a local dollhouse store looking to see if they had any stars; which they did not I ran across a supply of wood trims and profiles and the ones I thought appropriate for ship building I purchased. In the little treasure trove were several 3/32 double half round boxwood trim pieces that I will use to add to the edges of the main rails. 
 
Here is a picture of the trim in place on the transom rail before staining and again the height is 3/32"
 

 
Here is a picture of the finished transom for now minus the anchor chain which I will add towards the end of the build due to its delicacy and my at times clumsy handling of the hull.
 

 
Next I will ponder my next move which will include adding some of the rail trim and move on to building the cannons for the gundeck. 
 
Any tips or advice on painting the bow decoration strips and scroll work, hand painting is not one of my strengths. Also still waiting for any thoughts on rope walks and making of ones own rope.

Before I could added the molding I needed the transom rings which I fabricated with brass sheet, twisted eyebolt soldered in center then drilled for bolt locations. Once finished they were glued in place and molding added being cut and fitted around them.

 
Next the window covers were cut and fitted with both halves glued at center joint. Then I decided that the windows really needed their flanges. Here is a sequence show how I cut them on my Sherline lathe with the thickness of the flange being .008" thick.



 
Here you can see the results in place, but upside down.

 
Now to cut the rest of the window flanges 2 down 8 to go. Thinking ahead what are builders thoughts on a rope walk and making one's own rope?
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 152 – Ship’s Boats 8
 
I am almost there with the boats and looking forward to getting on with something different.  In the last part the frames and keel assembly for the 22’ cutter were fitted to the plug.  This boat will hang from quarter davits on the finished model.  In the first picture the rabbet if the stem is being roughed out with a V-gouge.
 

 
In the next picture the rabbet is being pared out at the stern. 
 

 
This was followed by some filing and cutting of the rabbet along the keel.  The starboard garboard strake is being installed in the next picture.
 

 
Additional planking has been installed in the next picture and the last installed strake is being beveled at the stern.
 

 
The angle of the bevel becomes more perpendicular to the side at the ends of the boat to allow the lapstraked planking to blend flush at both ends.  The planks also need to be tapered to fit fairly and come out right at the top.  In the next picture the planking is complete except the the wale strake that will be fitted after painting.
 

 
After some cleanup and dressing the planking lines, the boat will be removed from the plug for internal work and finishing.  In the meantime the other boats have been completed and one of the longboats is shown chained down to the skid beams in the next picture.
 

 
The chains have been fitted with covering to protect the boats.  One end of the chain is hooked to an eyebolt and the other is lashed to another eyebolt on the other side.  In the next picture the boat on the port side has been secured and wood chocks have been installed on the beams to restrain movement of the boats.
 

 
The last picture shows the 25’ cutter temporarily in place and complete except for the rudder hinges.
 

 
This boat will be held in storage and secured later after rigging is belayed between it and the rail.
 
 
Ed