tlevine
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The main wale is composed of three strakes. The upper most is a straight board. The lower two interlock with anchor stock planking. The ends are all butt joints. Several of the planks have either severe bends or twists in them. My basic technique for plank bending if the bend is mild is to soak the wood and then clamp it into place, allowing it to dry. I will then final fit and glue into place. The bends at the bow are anything but mild. For these planks I soak them for a few hours and then use my ancient Aericopola plank bender to bend them. I over-bend them and then allow them to finish drying off the model. Then I final fit them and glue them into place. One trick I have learned is to leave extra length (1/2") on the bent end (the bow in this case). The plank bender will not work well at the end of the plank and the final result is usually a broken end. By leaving the extra length, the extreme end of the plank can be left straight, avoiding breakage. I use a 16 oz soda bottle because it is tall enough to soak a long length of wood and it does not waste too much water. Floating the wood in a pan of water results in one side staying much drier than the other. The plank shown is 0.95" thick and was bent in about five minutes. In the second photo the plank is offered to the hull without forcing. The first row of the wale has been installed. The lower tape is left for reference. The middle row of the wale planking has been installed. Since I plan on painting the wale I decided not to highlight the plank edge with paper or chamfering. You can see the saw-toothed appearance of the anchor stock planking in the second photo. For the lower row of planking I first fit the top of the plant to the middle plank. After I was happy with the fit I marked the lower edge with a compass and cut the plank down to the line.
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Thanks everyone. The first strake of the main wale has been installed. I hope to finish it over the weekend. Pictures forthcoming.
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It has been a while since I have posted anything new...but I have an excuse. I was performing nautical research in the Tetons and Yellowstone. For you non-US folks, these are two national parks adjacent to each other in the Rocky Mountains. First I had to research the types of water craft used on Jackson Lake. This photo was taken from our campsite. We had rain and so drove up to Yellowstone. We had never seen Old Faithful and decided to act like tourists. There is a lovely grand hotel called the Yellowstone Inn that overlooks the geyser. It was built by the railroad in the '20's to promote travel in the West (which had to occur via rail since there were few passable roads). Walking back to the car I looked up under the eaves and saw...compass timbers! So much for the nautical research. The rest of the time was spent hiking and enjoying a phenomenal wildflower display.
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Absolutely love it! A perfect example of how MSW turns a bunch of crazy ship modelers into a crazier bunch of ship modelers.
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That is a pretty little ship. Not too complicated but with plenty of challenges. I usually do not like the clutter of sails but on this model they bring the ship to life. You have a hard decision ahead of you. I once quit modeling for five years because of a lack of motivation, although I would still visit the workshop several times a week.
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Thanks, Pete. Mike and Ben, I will make my final selections in the next few weeks. The first order of business will be to install the wales.
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Mark, although I like the look of unsteamed pear, I find swiss pear too pink for my taste. I am going to cut some planks of pear, holly and pau marfin (in addition to costello) and see what I like best. David, I didn't say the paint was bought recently . It is left over from my Victory build so it must be at least 10 years old.
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A belated thank you Remco. And thank you everyone for the likes. A little progress has been made. In order to fit the counter planks the ship had to be "launched" from its building board. This marks the first time I have removed it from its home since fairing the exterior of the hull over a year ago. No champagne was wasted in the launching but I did toast it with a little homebrewed IPA. I have also done a little more fairing of the lower transoms and cut off the aft ends of the ribbands. The lower counter was covered with five rows of planks. These are cut to shape rather than attempting to edge-bend them. The planking started next to the stern post and progressed outwards. The exact shape of the cut-out on the outermost plank will await fabrication of the rudder. There are a few points in every build where decisions need to be made which will impact everything else going forward. I am at one of those points. I have decided to attack at least some of the hull planking next. The decisions to make are: how much to plank, what materials to use and what finish to apply. I will be leaving the starboard side with ribbands and hairpins. The port side will be completely planked. The main wales will be castillo that will be colored black. I made test pieces using india ink, archival marker, ebony stain (oil and water based) and paint. Ink is very messy but dyes the wood well. I found the archival marker too time consuming but it does a good job of dying the wood. Regular marker will bleed with oil based finishes. The castillo is to dense to take up stain readily. I have opted to paint the wale black with Poly S model railroad color Engine Black. I used this same approach with Hannah. I am still uncertain about the rest of the planking. It boils down to aesthetics... Two colors vs. several. I am leaning towards only two colors but I'm a girl so I have the right to change my mind at any time. I measured the top and bottom of the wale from the plans and marked the points on the hull. I then ran a row of pin striping tape above and below these points and faired them to a smooth run of planking.
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They look great. It took me a few tries as well before I was happy with the results.
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David, I made a template of the space between the inner counter timbers to give a general outline for the piece of wood to cut. Next, I sized the piece to fill the entire space between the timbers, cutting the opening for the stern timber. I made sure the wood was thick enough to accommodate the inner and outer curvatures. The opening for the rudder was drawn on the piece as were the cuts for intersection with the chock. After cutting away everything aft of this point I was able to make the hole for the rudder and install the side pieces. The chock was formed by careful fitting and refitting and refitting.
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Next on the agenda is the helm port. I worked on this while the stern was being rebuilt so the corrections will not be evident until the next posting. The helm port is a opening in the counter to allow the rudder to pass into the ship. It needs to be large enough to accommodate the rotation of the rudder. It is comprised of three pieces, two side pieces and a chock and in construction is very similar to the bowsprit chock. (Loosely translated as a right royal pain in the stern.) At first glance you would say "two straight pieces and a chock, what's so hard about that?" The straight edges' lateral pieces are cut an an angle to match the taper of the sternpost and the cant of the inner counter timbers. Once that is set, the chock was started. The chock not only has the same side angles as the lateral pieces, but must also lock into their top edge. After I was happy with the fit, I traced the curvature of the inner counter timbers onto the over-sized pieces and sanded in the top and bottom curvature off the model with a Dremel. The opening in the helm port is perpendicular to the water line. The aft end of the chock was left rough at this point and will be finished when the knuckles of the counter are shaped.
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Druxey, I think we are all at least a little OCD if we participate in this hobby. I went back and remeasured everything again. It appears the last time I corrected the elevation the pieces shifted when I clamped them. So I unglued everything, remade the aft starboard deck clamps and rebuilt it yesterday. To prevent the same problem from happening again I glued the quarter deck transom in place and then added the deck clamp after the transom was secured. No pictures yet, but I am much happier with the results. I appreciate you and everyone who alerts me to problems. As you know, when one looks at something for a long time you stop seeing the problems until they are pointed out.
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Druxey, thank you for your astute observation. When I saw the photo I went back and measured everything...again. The angle of the photo is part of the problem; the difference is actually barely noticeable. The position of the quarter deck transom is correct. The starboard end of the wing transom is lower than the port, giving the illusion that the quarter deck transom is uneven.
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Now that I was happy with the elevation of the quarter deck clamp, it was time to finish the quarter deck transom. The middle and inner counter timbers fit into slots on the aft end of the transom. The slot has to be cut at an angle fore and aft as well at side to side because of the shape and slope of the counter timber. The upper face of the transom is shaped to the curve of the quarter deck beams. A rabbet is cut into the fore end to accept the deck planking. The extensions on the ends of the transom are for the waterways. Everything was going well until I discovered that I had cut the top of the transom too thin. Luckily, I cut the rabbet to the correct thickness and so added a thin layer of wood to build up the aft portion of the transom. This line can be seen looking from the stern but will be covered up by the stern planking. The last two pictures show everything glued up and brass bolts inserted into the feet of the counter timbers. I will touch-up these bolts with black paint after final sanding.
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Danny, scary that we had the same issue. After I discovered the problem I simply walked away and did nothing on her until the next day. Of course, then you are second guessing yourself. I remeasured both sides bow to stern and found no other issues other than a slight rise at the stem, which will be dealt with when I frame the forecastle deck. Well, Druxey, I guess you simply can never go on holiday again!
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Thanks for the encouragement, guys. Hopefully this will be my last close call!
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Thanks Ben. And thanks everyone for the likes as well. The next step was to make the quarter deck transom. The first photo is a drawing of the transom from TFFM. I used it as a starting point to develop a template, as seen in the second photo. This piece is made extra thick to accommodate the roundup of the deck and the waterways. And then disaster struck! As is obvious from the photo, the quarter deck clamps are not level. I went back and remeasured everything. Luckily the port elevation was correct so I only had to adjust two planks rather than the entire run of planking on the finished side.
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Thanks for the encouragement, Greg. David, why don't you post pictures of something you have completed?
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May I suggest two tools for cutting the scarfs...chisels and a hobby-sized miter saw. Actually three tools as you will need a way to sharpen the chisels as they become dull. Make a bill of materials for the thicknesses of wood you will need for the keel, deadwood, transoms and frames. Then carry your barrel staves to a local cabinet maker and let them cut the wood to the correct thicknesses. Although you will need a table saw at some point, this is relatively inexpensive and will allow you to get building sooner.
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On the actual ship there would be iron straps extending down from the counter timbers and on to the inner surfaces of the lower transoms. The TFFM construction sequence shows the counter timbers and quarter deck transom installed prior to building the upper deck. I chose not to follow this sequence because I was afraid of damaging the stern framing during construction of the upper deck. The downside is that It is now impossible for me to install these straps. My compromise will be to insert bolts into the holes that I am using to position the counter timbers on the wing transom. In retrospect, I should have fabricated the counter timbers, along with their straps before the deck was constructed and then left the straps attached to the lower transoms so that I could build the upper deck around them. I am still happy that I left the stern open while building the upper deck as it gave me much better access to the inner hull.
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Looking good, Bob. Well worth the wait. Now stop playing with those grandchildren and get back to making more sawdust!
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Now it is time to move on to the counter timbers. There are a pair of middle and inner counter timbers. These timbers provide the framing for the stern and frame the stern lights. They are canted towards the midline but the inner timbers have a different angle from the middle ones to allow for a pleasing appearance to the counter. This is one of those things that is harder to describe than to illustrate; it becomes obvious as the framing is erected. They are each made of two parts, just as the outer timbers were, with a scarf joint. They decrease in thickness from bottom to top. I made a rabbet in the transom to allow for a more secure seat for the timbers. In order to do this, an additional 1" was added to the foot of the timber to compensate for the rabbet. One of the tricky points is getting the angle of the counter timbers correct. I accomplished this two ways. First, I temporarily glued the timbers in place. (I think I glued and unglued these pieces 4 times during the construction process.) Next, I measured the angle of the outer counter timbers with a protractor. Although there is a curvature to the stern, the angle of the counter timbers remains constant. This let me set the angle of the rest of the counter timbers. To double check my work I drew a line on the plans from the baseline to the aft end of the timbers at the top rail and at the top of the quarter deck beams. This height was then measured on the counter timbers. I did this by wrapping an angle iron with masking tape and drawing the points on to the tape. The timbers were raised and adjusted to get equal distances between them at the lights. Later on I discovered that the rabbet for the inner timbers were not equidistant from the midline. The error is approximately 1 mm (real measurement). This is the disadvantage of the rabbet... I was not able to correct this error without damaging the transom and so left it alone.
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Pete, John and Ben, thanks for your comments. Danny and Greg, the striations were trivial in the unfinished wood. My only option was to rip out all the decking. Because the cannons will cause a visual break-up of the deck, I decided to leave it alone. I will be very careful with holly in the future. Danny, I have some holly from HobbyMill that is very white but I went with this older stock because it had a more muted tone. The stern is a lot of fun (not!). Hope to have some pictures by the end of the week. Danny, several years ago I actually abandoned a build (Amati's 1:60 Prince) because I could not figure out the headworks. I'm past that now but every time I walk into the living room that model is there to remind me how I need to keep improving my skills.
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Contact cement works very well in these situations where you have two dissimilar materials to join. Apply a tiny bit to the pintle/gudgeon and to the model. Let dry according to the directions and then mount the hardware. Just remember, you only have one try with contact cement. The advantage is you do not have to worry about glue seepage.
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As several people have already stated, this is a hobby that balances historical accuracy and aesthetics. Victory is the only ship I have modeled that is painted. Although I originally intended to leave it natural, it "spoke to me" and informed me that it needed to be painted. This also gave me the opportunity to learn a new skill, airbrushing. I have added my best picture showing the run of the wales and gunports and how they do not follow the ochre striping. Good luck with your decision.
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