Walter Biles

Happy Birthday Mark. I hope you and Janet are having a nice holiday, and birthday.  You are both in my prayers.  We'll be sticking to the home front this holiday.  There are a lot of people on the road this holiday, and I hate driving in heavy traffic.  My best to you both.

Happy Birthday Mark. I hope you and Janet are having a nice holiday, and birthday.  You are both in my prayers.  We'll be sticking to the home front this holiday.  There are a lot of people on the road this holiday, and I hate driving in heavy traffic.  My best to you both.

Happy Birthday Mark. I hope you and Janet are having a nice holiday, and birthday.  You are both in my prayers.  We'll be sticking to the home front this holiday.  There are a lot of people on the road this holiday, and I hate driving in heavy traffic.  My best to you both.

I've been diligently working while continuing to dig for information.  I've looked at what seems to be a zillion plans, paintings, sketches, etc. online of French frigates...   this darned ship's galleries don't match any of them.  There's a couple of other odd things I noticed but since the NMM plans have them, I have to assume that the guys in the yard taking the lines, etc. knew what they were doing and drew what they saw in front of them..  My eyes are killing me from staring at the computer and the NMM plans...  Aspirin helps. 
 
I've reworked the roof to match the lines (and this time allowed for tolerances and my own stupidty) and then stained it black.  I momentarily thought about using ebony but 1) didn't have the proper size stock and 2) didn't want to deal with the mess.   I've reworked the rail/decorations.  These appear to be more decorative than an actual railing so I'm cutting the pieces as individuals and will fit them as I go.  
 
In the pics, one set of decorations has been cut and etched on 1/32" (<1mm) Euro Boxwood.  The other still needs cutting but I need to thickness another chunk of wood for that as i wasted a bit getting the settings right on the cutter.  There will be a black covering board for the roof top with a piece of boxwood trim around it.  
 
Well.... here goes....  wish me luck as I dive off the deep end.  I hope there's water in the pool... metaphorically speaking.
 

Yes, Bob, that's the plan.  I still have not figured out how I malformed that keel frame.  Grabbing a line at the bottom and unintentionally moving the bottom closer to the top sounds to me what might have occurred, which was the inverse of what I thought had happened to the longer frames.  Finding where the misallignment was has proved to me that I am still not good enough with even 2D CAD, and I will need to be very careful when drawing.  Using the mockups was my old school acid test to see if I had screwed up, but now I know, and at least where I messed up even if it is still a mystery to me exactly How I did so.  

Mark, I think I may just have enough for the new sections, I will have to use cardboard for the rest, but that works too.  I can use the same keel (the newest one)  I think I will use cardboard for the rest.  If they come out okay, This build is ready.  

Yes, Bob, that's the plan.  I still have not figured out how I malformed that keel frame.  Grabbing a line at the bottom and unintentionally moving the bottom closer to the top sounds to me what might have occurred, which was the inverse of what I thought had happened to the longer frames.  Finding where the misallignment was has proved to me that I am still not good enough with even 2D CAD, and I will need to be very careful when drawing.  Using the mockups was my old school acid test to see if I had screwed up, but now I know, and at least where I messed up even if it is still a mystery to me exactly How I did so.  

Well, I finished doing all the dimensions so I can locate how far out the waterline to mark the curve on the frames at each level.  I think I already did the butt line dimensions on my set of plans.  If not then I will have to do those, if there are any points where they could add to the definition of the hull.  I believe I should have enough.  I am going to have to rest a bit while I think over where I would want to go now with the build.  I am contemplating another mockup with these latest lines and figures to make sure I have them okay all over this time.  It would sure save me some wasted wood if something still is not right, and I have already had 2 strikes in the department of planning and I can get cardboard from pallets and boxes from the local grocery store.  I can just dream of cutting those frames and assembling them as if it was a real boat.  However all that basswood came to way more money than I can afford to waste.  
 
I'm sorry guys, I use my site to put down the thoughts before I do them,  I use it more as a tool to help me muddle things through.  So If you read this and have a thought let me know.  It wouldn't be the first time nor probably the last that somebody came up with a relevant idea in my build.  I am not just building  a boat, I am working on brain process repair in the effort.  For awhile, I couldn't even do anything constructive with my mind back not so many years ago.  I am also working on piecing my thought processes back in order.  It has not been unusual for me to skip over an important process in analyzing a problem or process that I used to be able to do as a matter of course, before they finally found out that I had severe apnea and started my treatment.  The doctors, with all their training, could not even tell me if I would be able to do any better than I could at that time.  I have found that if I can re-establish a link with an old set of memories, that often they will break through and become useable.  However, It is not without some effort and I often have gaps that need worked through.  I have relearned an awful lot, but I realize I have a long way to go.  I often remember how easy it seemed to come to me to do a task or build something, and I can still remember NOT being able to do so more recently.  I do love building models of things, though.  
 
I wish you all the very best.  

Well, I finished doing all the dimensions so I can locate how far out the waterline to mark the curve on the frames at each level.  I think I already did the butt line dimensions on my set of plans.  If not then I will have to do those, if there are any points where they could add to the definition of the hull.  I believe I should have enough.  I am going to have to rest a bit while I think over where I would want to go now with the build.  I am contemplating another mockup with these latest lines and figures to make sure I have them okay all over this time.  It would sure save me some wasted wood if something still is not right, and I have already had 2 strikes in the department of planning and I can get cardboard from pallets and boxes from the local grocery store.  I can just dream of cutting those frames and assembling them as if it was a real boat.  However all that basswood came to way more money than I can afford to waste.  
 
I'm sorry guys, I use my site to put down the thoughts before I do them,  I use it more as a tool to help me muddle things through.  So If you read this and have a thought let me know.  It wouldn't be the first time nor probably the last that somebody came up with a relevant idea in my build.  I am not just building  a boat, I am working on brain process repair in the effort.  For awhile, I couldn't even do anything constructive with my mind back not so many years ago.  I am also working on piecing my thought processes back in order.  It has not been unusual for me to skip over an important process in analyzing a problem or process that I used to be able to do as a matter of course, before they finally found out that I had severe apnea and started my treatment.  The doctors, with all their training, could not even tell me if I would be able to do any better than I could at that time.  I have found that if I can re-establish a link with an old set of memories, that often they will break through and become useable.  However, It is not without some effort and I often have gaps that need worked through.  I have relearned an awful lot, but I realize I have a long way to go.  I often remember how easy it seemed to come to me to do a task or build something, and I can still remember NOT being able to do so more recently.  I do love building models of things, though.  
 
I wish you all the very best.  

I have been hard at work on the America Plans.  I went back and am verifying every waterline at each station off the original plan, and making myself a table of the data.  I have the spacing and size of material for each frame established for my boat.  As soon as I can finish dimensioning my plan completely, so I know it should match the plan drawings, I should be able to formulate the shapes of all the frames in between, including the angles of taper for each one, so I won't have to oversize too much and waste a lot of material.  Once I can get the plan I have made In CAD verified to dimensions, then I can get to work lofting the frames in between.  Then, and only then, will I be able to get to work on the actual frames.  Right now I really don't have anything I can show except the mockup with the stations and keel.  I have finally drawn in the STERN parts although I still have to determine their material thickness.  I am going to do a box around the rudder for the brass sheath to fit in so the rudder can have resistance to water entering the frame around it.  I figure to put a small "O" ring at top and bottom of the rudder with a washer over each end, so I can pack the shaft with vasoline for lube and water protection.  The box will become a part of the horn timber and form the bridge around the shaft to the keel framing.  I wish I had done that on my Meridea.  It wouldn't be an off center hole mousing up the alignment of things.  This old codger learns another thing the hard way!  

I have been hard at work on the America Plans.  I went back and am verifying every waterline at each station off the original plan, and making myself a table of the data.  I have the spacing and size of material for each frame established for my boat.  As soon as I can finish dimensioning my plan completely, so I know it should match the plan drawings, I should be able to formulate the shapes of all the frames in between, including the angles of taper for each one, so I won't have to oversize too much and waste a lot of material.  Once I can get the plan I have made In CAD verified to dimensions, then I can get to work lofting the frames in between.  Then, and only then, will I be able to get to work on the actual frames.  Right now I really don't have anything I can show except the mockup with the stations and keel.  I have finally drawn in the STERN parts although I still have to determine their material thickness.  I am going to do a box around the rudder for the brass sheath to fit in so the rudder can have resistance to water entering the frame around it.  I figure to put a small "O" ring at top and bottom of the rudder with a washer over each end, so I can pack the shaft with vasoline for lube and water protection.  The box will become a part of the horn timber and form the bridge around the shaft to the keel framing.  I wish I had done that on my Meridea.  It wouldn't be an off center hole mousing up the alignment of things.  This old codger learns another thing the hard way!  

I have been hard at work on the America Plans.  I went back and am verifying every waterline at each station off the original plan, and making myself a table of the data.  I have the spacing and size of material for each frame established for my boat.  As soon as I can finish dimensioning my plan completely, so I know it should match the plan drawings, I should be able to formulate the shapes of all the frames in between, including the angles of taper for each one, so I won't have to oversize too much and waste a lot of material.  Once I can get the plan I have made In CAD verified to dimensions, then I can get to work lofting the frames in between.  Then, and only then, will I be able to get to work on the actual frames.  Right now I really don't have anything I can show except the mockup with the stations and keel.  I have finally drawn in the STERN parts although I still have to determine their material thickness.  I am going to do a box around the rudder for the brass sheath to fit in so the rudder can have resistance to water entering the frame around it.  I figure to put a small "O" ring at top and bottom of the rudder with a washer over each end, so I can pack the shaft with vasoline for lube and water protection.  The box will become a part of the horn timber and form the bridge around the shaft to the keel framing.  I wish I had done that on my Meridea.  It wouldn't be an off center hole mousing up the alignment of things.  This old codger learns another thing the hard way!  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, nice try.  It was still cool in effect, even though it didn't quite meet your fit standards.  The redo is bound to please.  

Mark, I'll have you both on my prayer list.  The ship is looking great!
 

Mark, I'll have you both on my prayer list.  The ship is looking great!
 

Thanks Walter.
 
Bob

Mark, I'll have you both on my prayer list.  The ship is looking great!
 

Beautiful job Bob.  Wonderful detail.  Keep up the good work.  

Mark, I'll have you both on my prayer list.  The ship is looking great!