tlevine

I have the radio on and was reminded that this time last year the temperature was in the low 80's.  This year it is unreasonably cold.  I was thrilled that it got above freezing for the first time in several weeks.  I found a picture of the newly completed hull taken one year ago today and would like to compare it with my progress one year later.  The good news is that I have not been distracted with gardening this year.
 
March 2012

 
March 2013

Here are some more pictures for you Joe.
 
The lower deck hook/eking piece was made next.  This is constructed from three pieces of wood hook scarfed together.  Another difference from TFFM was found with this piece.  The book shows the upper surface of the hook flat whereas the draughts show a rebate at the fore end of the hook.  This would allow the deck planking to end on the hook rather than at the footwaling.  The pictures show the sequence of construction of the eking piece, beam 1 and their associated carling, ledges and pillar.  There is a deliberate gap at the lateral edge of the hook and beam because I am not installing any of the footwaling.
 
Lower Deck Hook
           
 
 
The second beam, with its knees, carlings and ledges was installed next.
 
Lower Deck Second Beam
   

The fore platform bulkheads are less complicated than the aft ones.  Everything is at a right angle in contrast to the odd corners aft.  There is some difference in the door configuration between TFFM and the Atalanta draughts.  Greg’s Pegasus also has this configuration (as seen in TFFM vol.3).
 
Fore Platform Bulkheads
 
 
This picture shows how the well lines up with the aft platform structures.  The well will not be glued in place until the lower deck has been partially assembled.  The color contrast shows where the finish has been applied.
 

 
 
 

None of the beams are installed but I have decided to add the finished pillars as the bulkheads are fabricated.  This is where I got in to trouble again.  The fore bulkhead of the magazine rests on the platform beam and the pillar is fixed to it.  Careful (after the fact) review of the plans shows that this pillar is not centered on the lower deck beam.  It is shifted aft.  The reason for this is that one could not open the passageway doors into the magazine if it was positioned directly under the center of the beam.  Openings have been made for the door into the magazine, the light window and the scuttle into the bread room.
 
The mullions for the light room window were made by sawing halfway through the wood strips and then assembling them Lincoln Log style.  The glazing is mica.  The candle is typing paper rolled around a scrap of wood.  The weathered appearance is purely accidental.  My fingers were dirty when I made it.
 
 
Light Room Bulkhead
   
 
Fore Magazine Bulkhead
 
 
The remaining rooms on the port side of the platform have been made and installed.  Since all of the wood planks for the bulkhead walls are the same dimension, I made up a stock “wall” made up of strips of wood glued together.  The lengths of the bulkhead segments were then cut from that stock sheet. 
 
Holes are drilled into the upper light room door for ventilation.  The hinges on the steward and bread room doors are photo etch from Admiralty Model’s photo etch sheet for Swan Class vessels.  This also includes pump assemblies, lanterns and other misc. parts.
 
Aft Platform Bulkheads

 
 
I have reached the end of the build log rescued by Dave (Midnight).  This leaves me about two months to reconstruct de novo.  At least I have the pictures...

The hinge assemblies were blackened.  I have used Blacken It for a long time but I have some Birchwood Casey’s on order for the next batch of metal work.  Once they are installed and the finish applied to the wood, I will apply a coat of Floquil reflectance reducer to the hinges.  This will even out the color and protect them from getting the gray bloom that plagues blackened fittings (at least mine).  I am still deciding on what adhesive to use.  I find epoxy too messy.  I am considering contact cement.  I used it to apply the copper plates on a Cutty Sark twenty years ago and it has shown no signs of failing.
 
 
 
Author:  druxey.  Silver solder and brass soup…been there and done that!  On the other hand, I accidentally discovered a new technique.  Heat the end of a wire or thin rod.  The tip will melt and form a nice ball.  Great for metal stanchions!
Author:  Dan Vad.  Epoxy doesn’t have to be messy to use on very small pieces.  The trick is NOT to try to clean off any excess until it has at least ¾ set.  Then trim it off with a sharp Xacto.
 
Author:  remcohe.  I used very small drops of thick CA to fix them.
 
Author:  druxey.  Excess epoxy can also be removed before it is set up by – yes, you’ve guessed it! – isopropanol.  I use a Q-tip to do this. 
 
Dec. 3, 2012.  I did not like the effect from my blackening solution so I took the hinges back to almost bright metal by soaking them in Sparex pickling solution and reblackening them in Birchwood Casey Brass Blackener.  Quite an improvement.  I installed the hinges using contact cement.  I put a tiny stripe of the cement on the door and on the hinge.  I let it dry for 15 minutes and then installed them.  No adhesive squeezing out.  I deliberately made the hinge pins come from the same side.  It seemed to me that it might be necessary for someone to remove the lid for access or repair and this would  allow the door to be removed more easily.
 

 
 
Dec. 3, 2012.  There are several rooms built on to the aft and fore platforms.  On the aft platform are the magazine and its maze of entry passages, the bread room, the steward’s room, the light room and other rooms on the starboard side of the ship which I will not be installing.  Superficially, this seems easy.  Build a bunch of walls, trim them to fit, put in a few fenestrations, pop in a few door and voila…instant room.  Needless to say, this is not the case.  One of the hardest parts of this for me was visualizing how everything went together.  I then followed the platform plan, only to discover that the fore and aft positions of the bulkheads were slightly different from the body plan.  “Slightly” loosely translates into just enough to make me start over.
 
I decided to start aft and work forward.  The aft magazine bulkhead sits behind the mizzen mast step. 
The aft bulkhead does not go all the way to the hull.  There will be a bulkhead connecting the fore and aft magazine bulkheads and lateral to that is storage for the bread room.  There is a box surrounding the mizzen mast, keeping it separate from the magazine.  The magazine also has a removable false floor, called the palletting.  These planks go athwart ship in contrast to the deck flooring.  My first mistake was making the magazine area too short.  The fore pallet beam had to be remade and a wider plank installed.  Compare the 2nd and 4th pictures for before and after shots of the pallet beams and decking.
 
 

 
 

I decided to build the lower well/shot locker before the fore and aft platform bulkheads.  This would give me more room to work on the well without damaging the bulkheads.  The well will be permanently installed later.  I build the lateral walls of the well first.  Since these planks had cyphered edges, I did not highlight the plank edge with pencil.  I then added the stanchions, cutting them long for later fitting with the lower deck beams.  The athwartship walls were installed next.  The lowest plank is wider and shaped to fit the hull configuration.
 

 
The next step was to exactly locate the well/locker fore and aft on the keelson.  I had previously marked the locations of the lower deck beam stanchions on the keelson and inserted the tenon of the aft wall stanchion into this.  I removed the limber boards on either side of the well and will remake them to fit later.  Next, I took the lower deck beams and placed them adjacent to the athwartship walls, marking the correct height.  The stanchions were cut down, keeping the mortise (for the most part) to insert into the underside of the beam.
 

 
Now it is time to add the finishing touches.  The doors to the shot locker would not have been as air tight as the walls, so these plank edges were highlighted with pencil.  I also left a slight gap on either side of the door to highlight the idea that these are two separate doors. 

 
Nov. 27, 2012.  I made the hinges for the shot locker.  I started with shim brass (the second thinnest in a pack containing misc. thicknesses) and heat it in a gas flame to remove any lacquer that might have been applied at the factory.  Next, a strap and an offset “T” piece for the hinge were cut.  The hinge pin is a brass pin from Model Expo.  I put pins in both pieces and formed a loop around the pin.  The pin was left in place on the hinge plate and both pieces were silver soldered.  I use a Smith Little Torch using propane and oxygen because it gives me a finer flame than a butane torch.  With the thin brass this is important because there is a fine line between soldering the joint and creating a brass/silver soup.  I attempted to dimple the strap for nail heads and was not very successful so I will simply call it “distressed metal.”  With the naked eye you cannot see any detail of the surface of the metal.
 

 
 

Nov 19, 2012.  I am at the point of applying finish to the areas of the hull which will soon be unreachable.  The first picture shows the finish applied only to the port side to illustrate the effect of the finish.  The second picture shows the finish applied to both sides up to the top of the lower deck clamps.
 
 
 
The aft platform has been installed along with the fish room bulkheads.  The door to the fish room is notched to accommodate the pillar from the lower deck beam to the keelson.
 
Aft Platform Installed

 
Nov 19, 2012.  I have started the fore platforms.  There are three of them, each at a different height.  They are made in a similar manner to the aft platform.  One must be careful to locate them relative to the various pillars.  The most critical of the platforms to locate is the aft one because the riding bitts run through the aft end of the decking.  The difference in the color between the two platforms is a result of the picture being taken a few minutes after I applied the finish on the middle platform and a few hours after it was applied on the aft.
 
Fore Platform
       
 
 
Nov. 26, 2012.  The last two sections of the fore platform have been installed.
 
Fore Platforms Finished

Nov. 10, 2012.  The pillars between the deck beams and the keelson have been temporarily installed.  Just as with the deck beams, I have left them rough until final installation so I do not have to address any damage from storing them.  There is a mortise at the top and bottom of the pillar.  I made the mortises with the Preac saw.  By positioning the blade to that it barely clears the table I am able to get a square mortise which is perfectly positioned in the middle of the pillar.  The top and bottom faces of the pillar are horizontal athwartship but not fore and aft because of the rise of the keelson and lower deck as one goes aft.  The last two pillars extend to the upper deck beams.  The pillars will be chamfered prior to final installation.
 
Pillar Blank

 
AFt Lower Deck Beams and Pillars

 
 
The deck planking is 1” x 12” holly.  I realize there would be no caulking of this deck but I used a pencil on one side of the plank so that the individual planks would be apparent.  I tried it without first and it looked like a sheet of plywood.  Cut outs have been made in the first plank for the pillars.  According to TFFM, dowels were used on beams and trunnels were used on ledges.  They were the same size (3/4”).  I used bamboo for the trunnels and holly for the dowels.  Holly is no fun to pull through a draw plate!
 
I am at the point where parts of the model need to have a finish applied.  I am using Watco’s Danish Wood Oil.  As you can see, the holly dowels are almost invisible until the finish is applied.  The color difference between the bamboo and holly is subtle.
Aft Lower Deck Beams and Pillars

 
Aft Platform Decked

Oct. 8, 2012.  The next project to tackle is the aft platform.  On these smaller ships, there was no orlop deck so the fore and aft platforms served the function.  The location of the platform beams were taken off the draught.  The difference in length from the draught is a combination of probably removing too much wood during fairing and the thickness of the inner planking.  There are two bulkhead walls which intersect the first two beams.  These are the fore and aft fish room bulkheads.  The planks are 2” x 9” and are cyphered or bevel-cut on the long edges.  I made the planks 2” x 6” and eliminated the cypher as this will never be seen and I do not have a disc sander or a tilt table on my saw to get a consistent bevel.
 
There are two stanchions on the fore face of the fore bulkhead.  These mortise into the limber plank and the fore platform beam.  You can see the mortise and tenon for the platform beam.  The limber plank connector will be a brass pin which I will insert when the platform is ready to install.  I will be planking the port side and leaving the starboard exposed.
 
Aft Platform Bulkheads
       
 
 
Nov. 5, 2012.  I have completed the framing for the aft platforms.  The port side will be planked and so I have not installed all of the ledges.  The mortises are all made with the diagonal cut technique rather than a step-mortise.  I will try the other technique when I make the fore platforms.  As I do not own a mill, the mortises are made with a razor saw and finished up with and 11 blade scalpel.  The platform actually looks much better than the photos would suggest.  Since I am not installing Footwaling, there is a gap between the lateral edge of the platform and the hull framing.  As this platform will basically be invisible once the model is completed, I omitted the fasteners in the knees.
 
Aft Platform Frame
   
 
 
In order to complete the aft platform, the aft lower deck beams must be temporarily installed.  There are pillars extending from the beams to the keel and these pass through the platform.  There is a 3” roundup on the lower deck.  Everyone has their own technique for shaping beams.  My approach is to make a template of the roundup on thin balsa.  I then draw this line onto an oversize beam blank.  Using a spindle sander (a disc sander would be better but I don’t own one) I shape the top of the beam almost to the line and then finish it with sandpaper.  Next, I fit the beam to the lower deck clamp.  The beam is let 1” onto the clamp.  Finally, I mark out the lower edge of the beam and repeat the process used on the top.  The hardest part is getting a tight fit against the hull because of the compound curves.  There is no footwaling so I should be leaving a 2” gap at the end of each beam.  I did this and it looked sloppy.  Therefore, I took builder’s license and extended the beams out to the hull timbers.  After placing the beams on the clamps, I was thrilled to see that a straight-edge placed in the midline on top of the beams was flush with the beams.  Final sanding and shaping fore and aft will wait until the beams are permanently installed.
 
Lower Deck Beams Aft
   
 

Sept. 30, 2012.  I have come to the first project which requires a decision about how to build out the interior of the hull.  I have decided to leave the starboard side open for viewing as much as possible and completely build out the port side (except for the Footwaling).  The next items to install are the limber boards.  These are supposed to be approx. 36” long except under the hatches (18-24”).  I marked out the location in the bilge for the hatches, fore partition and well.  I then divided these spaces evenly and came up with long boards of 32” and short boards of 20”.  The second photo shows two long boards and three short ones.
 
Limber Boards
 
 
The aft crutch was next.  It really does nook better in real life than the photo would suggest.  I know there is a problem with the height of the top board of the aft deadwood but I could not figure out a way to rectify it at this point so I simply glued the crutch on to the top of the deadwood.  The crutch and the breast hooks are perpendicular to the angle of the keelson/deadwood.  This just adds a little more complexity to their fabrication.  Unlike the crutch and fore/mizzen mast steps, the breasthook bolts are structural, not decorative.
 
Aft Crutch

 
Lower Breast Hook

 
Author:  Dan Vad.  It’s just as well that we take plenty of pics of these bits, because they disappear completely later on.  In fact, about the only way they’d ever be seen again is with an optic fibre or endoscope.  Dan Vad.
 
Oct. 8, 2012.  I made one of the sleepers.  These are knees that cross the lower transoms and the cant frames.  This one cannot actually be used because the rest of the thickstuff has not been installed.  There are supposed to be two bolts per transom according to TFFM but this just does not look right.  Any thoughts?
 
Sleeper

 
Author:  remcohe.  Those are tricky to make.  I just did one bolt per transom in a zig-zag pattern.

 
Author:  druxey.  One bolt per timber certainly looks neater.  Those sleepers are very awkward to fit, and it looks like you’ve nailed it, Toni.  I mean, bolted it.  That doesn’t sound right either…
 

July 16, 2012.  The  treenails are all in place and the hull has been sanded to 220 grit.  I planned on sanding the hull to 400 grit but today I felt like actually building something.  (As it turned out, not the best decision I ever made.)
 
Next on the agenda are the ribbands and harpins.  I decided to fabricate these and then finish the sanding prior to their installation.  I have yet to decide how much hull planking I will be installing and so the lower four pair of ribbands will be installed on both sides.  They can always be removed later and at a minimum provide a bumper for the hull, protecting it from damage.  This model travels with me in the car weekly because of my work schedule, so damage is a real concern.  From an aesthetic perspective, I am not sure I like the appearance of ribbands crossing through the gun ports, so the decision regarding installation of the topmost ribband will come later.  The floor ribbands are located 18” below the floor heads.  I have marked this out with masking tape.
 
Harpin Run


 
I made the harpin first. This is cut out from 4” stock. Like so many items, this is one that looks deceptively easy but is not. There is the changing angle of the hull to take into consideration as well as the angle at which the harpin abuts the stem. There is a simple scarf aft.
 
Floor Harpin

 
 
The ribbands are 4” square. I soaked the aft end of the ribband stock to fit the aft hull curve.  Both the ribbands and harpins are drilled and nailed at every frame.  At this point I have only drilled a few holes and installed some temporary brass pegs.  
 
Floor Harpin and Ribband



 
 
Things were going well and I was thinking of attacking the next pair until…
 
As I was taking the photos for the build long I repositioned myself and ended up giving the transom a kick in the rear end!  Needless to say, I did the only thing an insane model builder could do…take a picture and pour myself a stiff drink! 
 

 
July 30, 2012.  I am still working on the ribbands and harpins.  These are not particularly difficult to make and install but the sheer number of steps involved means it takes a lot of time.  The harpins are made by taking a template of the shape of the hull and transferring the outline to 5” sheet stock.  They are actually 4” thick but the excess was sanded off afterwards.  I decided to make the ribband a single run of planking to give me the smoothest line.  There are five runs of ribbands and although it looks strange to me the topline ribband does run across the quarter light opening.
 
Once these were in place, they were nailed.  There is a nail hole at every frame as well as the hawse timbers and the toe of the harpin. This adds up to approx. 85 holes which must be marked, dimples, drilled and nailed.  TFFM recommends 24 g. brass wire which is left proud of the ribband.  He suggests rounding off the exposed end of the wire to simulate a nail head.  Unfortunately, there really is a difference in the appearance, so 85 holes times 5 runs times 2 sides plus a few extra for screw-ups…  Nine hundred nails to make.  (These will also be used later in the knees for the deck framing so add a few hundred more to that list!)

The white dots on the ribbands are drill holes filled with sawdust.  The black dots are the first three nails.
 
Ribbands and Harpins Completed






July 30, 2012.  Scale Hardware sells 0.4 mm headed rivets that will give the right look for the nails.  These scale out to ¾”.  They are expensive ($10/100) so I am only going to use them where the appearance is critical.

June 4, 2012.  The gun port sills have been installed.  My biggest problem was keeping the sills level across the ship.  My solution was to take the glass bubble out of a level and place that directly on the sill.

Gun ports installed


 
 
Author:  Dan Vad.  I’d leave the fixed blocks until later (like after you finish framing the upper deck).  I don’t know how many times I managed to hit them when I was sanding parts of the deck.  They don’t stick out much but just enough to be a nuisance. Danny.

June 10, 2012.  I have completed all of the sweep ports and will begin fairing next.  The top timbers have been reinstalled above the gunports except in the waist where the top of the upper sill is immediately below the rail.  The two close-up photos
show the inboard and outboard surfaces. It amazes me how much detail is picked up in the pictures.  When I look at the model (even with Optivisors) I feel good about the appearance.  But looking at the pictures it appears like the work has been done by a six year old.  Sanding should take care of that!
 
Sweeps Installed




 

Author: dvm27.  When you get down to your final sanding grit, paint a dab of white glue into any gaps where the sills are, then sand. Those gaps will virtually disappear.  Greg.

June 10, 2012.  A little 60 grit has helped quite a bit.  This photo is from the same part of the ship as the last photo.  I only broke out two cant frames and had to reglue several of the topline spacers.
 
Sweeps Sanded

 
June 25, 2012.  The last few weeks have been taken up with sanding and sanding and more…sanding.  I took Danny’s advice and glued a temporary batten to the exterior of the hull for increased stability.  I made no attempt to bend this around the bow.  I used a rather stiff plank (1 x 6 mm) which I placed at the level of the gun port sills and removed several of the spacers at the top timbers.  They will be replaced prior to removing the batten.  You can see this on one of the photos.
 
Although I am not finished with the internal sanding, I decided to fabricate the keelson.  This is made up of five pieces connected with hook scarfs.  The fore scarf will mate with the stemson.  The aft deadwood is different on Atalanta than on the Mylar.  I found it easiest to use a contour gauge to make a template of the shape.  I then transferred this shape onto adhesive paper, leaving a generous amount superiorly, which was easily removed later.  I still need to knock down the edges and notch one of the pieces for a crutch.   The photo shows the pieces separated from each other to highlight the scarfs.  The keelson is simply laid in place in the third photo.

Oh well, back to sanding.
 
Keelson



 

July 2, 2012.  I have installed the stemson.  If there is a contest for the biggest pain-in-the-you-know-where piece, the stemson is right up there.  Between the hook scarf, the anterior shape as it meets the stem and the recesses for the deck clamp and breast hooks…  Speaking of which, the clamp anterior to the fore mast is in a slightly different location than on the Mylar.  This clamp straddles the scarf joint between the firth keelson piece and the stemson.  The keelson is 12” but tapers to 9” as it fays with the stemson, which is also 9”.  Bolts and trunnels are next.
 
I made an interior height gauge to obtain the correct elevations for the stemson recessed.  This will never win any beauty contests but it works well and did not require any metal work or “big boy toys”.  I cannibalized parts from my exterior elevation gauge and framing jig to make it.

Stemson


 
Inside Measurement Jig

April 13, 2012.  I wanted to get the topsides faired externally to make sure none of the frames needed to be reglued (or remade!).  With the spacers glued in between the toptimbers, the hull feels reasonably stable at this point to safely remove it from the building board.  The final fairing of the lower external hull will wait until the fillers are in place.  I have decided to install the gunport and sweep sills after fairing.  I think this will increase my accuracy in determining the sill heights.

May 11, 2012.  I have drawn out about 20’ of bamboo to start the treenailing.  I equate this task to putting in rat lines.  I started to mark out the gun ports and discovered that for two of the cast frames (nos. 4 and 8) I had placed the bend of the cast to superior.  These frames were removed and new top timbers were made.  Progress continues on the filling pieces I have found that the easiest way to tackle them is to make strips of wood the thickness of the largest space between the frames. Then, using a thickness sander, the strips are gradually thinned down and offered to the spaces between the frames.  The filling pieces add significantly to the structural integrity of the hull at this point.
 
May 23, 2012.  I have finished the filling pieces.  I used Swiss pear to give a little contrast with the boxwood.  In contrast to the pear that Danny is using in his Vulture build, this is less pink.  Maybe it is the age of the wood; these billets are 25 years old.  I initially installed port and starboard pieces simultaneously to prevent warping of the keel (thank you Danny for that lesson!) but once everything felt solid, I removed the hull from the building board and added them where ever they would fit.  I deliberately left out the filling pieces on the frames that had spacers for aesthetics and to allow a little light to enter the lower hull.  The pictures show them roughly faired in.  They will be finished after the gunports are completed.
 
Filling Pieces


 
I have begun cutting out the gun ports.  I read a lot of approaches and came up with the following.  The top edges of the lower sills were marked out on the hull by taking measurements from the Atalanta draughts.  These heights are a little different than shown on the Mylar. Next, I took a strip of blue masking tape (the kind that does not leave a residue) and ran a fair line along the hull connecting the marks.  Any adjustments to the sill heights were made now.  The lower edge of the upper sill was drawn in next, followed by the lower edge of the lower sill, sweep port and fixed block locations.
 
Now came the moment of truth!  I started in the mid-ships area so that I would not initially have to worry about replacing the top timbers.  The upper sill extends to the top rail.  I cut the timbers about 2 mm above the final location of the sill seat on both sides.  Then, a batten was placed through the opening s to confirm that the sill was level athwartship.  The ports follow the angle of the deck so the fore end of the sill is slightly higher than the aft.  The lower masking tape helps to prevent inadvertent damage to the frames and the upper tape adds a little extra stability.  Although difficult to see, in the last picture the batten in running between the ports.

Masking for Gunports

 
Masking Removed

 
Gun and Sweep Ports Marked

 
Lower Sill



The next order of business is to cut the birdsmouth mortise.  After marking it out I used an Exacto keyhole saw to mark the deepest part of the mortise. This helped me keep the Swiss files that were used to complete the mortise from wandering initially.  This is easier than cutting out the cant port mortises since these are at 90 degrees to the keel.  The sill was then slid into place.  In the second picture, the space between the sill and frame spacer needs to be cleaned out.  The upper sills have a triangular mortise.  Because this is amidships, all that was required was to cut down to the top of the mortise and file the angle.
 
Birdsmouth


 
 
Completed Gunport



    

March 19, 2012.  Frames 9-14 and F-L are mounted and the interior faired.  No exterior fairing has been done.  I have decided not to cut in the gunports and sweeps until all of the frames are in place.  (Next time I think I will pin the frames in place that require sill mortices, mark everything once all the frames have been erected, remove the pinned frames to cut the mortices off the and then permanently remount  the frames.)
 
Eleven Frames Completed

 

 

 
 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.
 
 

 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.
 
 

 

A delayed thank you to Maurey and Pavel.  Druxey, the tracks are now installed and, like so many details that we add, are now almost invisible!  But we all know they are there...
 
Beam sets 9 and 10 are in place.  The only unusual items are the opposed lodging knees at the dead flat.  I did not have thick enough wood with me this week to make them, so they will be installed next week.  They will be identical to the ones on the lower deck.  Look at page 10 of this build to see how they are shaped.
 

 

 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.
 
 

 

I have made and installed the opposed lodging knees.  Since I did not go into any detail on their construction for the lower deck, let me demonstrate how I made them.  First, I make a template of the knee and saw it out a bit oversized.  The thickness of the blank is about 2.5 times the normal thickness to allow for the curvatures.  I then mark on the blank the areas that will be removed. I use a combination of my Preac saw, Dremel sanding discs and sandpaper to remove the excess material.  The knees are given a final shaping and the bolts are added prior to installation. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.
 
 

 

A delayed thank you to Maurey and Pavel.  Druxey, the tracks are now installed and, like so many details that we add, are now almost invisible!  But we all know they are there...
 
Beam sets 9 and 10 are in place.  The only unusual items are the opposed lodging knees at the dead flat.  I did not have thick enough wood with me this week to make them, so they will be installed next week.  They will be identical to the ones on the lower deck.  Look at page 10 of this build to see how they are shaped.
 

 

 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.
 
 

 

I have made and installed the opposed lodging knees.  Since I did not go into any detail on their construction for the lower deck, let me demonstrate how I made them.  First, I make a template of the knee and saw it out a bit oversized.  The thickness of the blank is about 2.5 times the normal thickness to allow for the curvatures.  I then mark on the blank the areas that will be removed. I use a combination of my Preac saw, Dremel sanding discs and sandpaper to remove the excess material.  The knees are given a final shaping and the bolts are added prior to installation. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.
 
 

 

The last two pictures show the knees installed.