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The sheer rail was installed.  The key to this is making it very oversized and then trimming it with a No. 11 blade and sandpaper.  I also drilled two holes in the keel for insertion of brass rod for mounting.  The frieze was applied with dilute yellow glue.  When I start painting I will improve the appearance of the freize by the stem. 
 
I am going to take a break from this build to return to Atalanta. 
 
Toni

Nov. 15, 2011.  I had time yesterday to start the fore external and aft internal fairing.  It is daunting to remove all that wood from the hawser timbers and fore cants.

 
Beginning the Fore and Aft Fairing
 
 
Author:  dvm27.   When fairing the hull I use a pencil to draw lines across the hull from top to bottom.  As you begin to fair the marks start to disappear.  This means the high spots are being sanded down towards the lower spots (which still have the pencil marks).  The pencil marks are reapplied every so often.  Once all the pencil marks have disappeared the hull is fair.  Sweep your hand gently across the hull from time to time and you will appreciate the fairing progress.  David Antscherl taught me this method and it has worked quite nicely.  Greg.
 
Nov. 21, 2011.  I have started working on the counter timbers and the knee of the head simultaneously.  There is a lot of fitting and temporary tacking of pieces, so while the aft was drying I worked on the fore, etc. 

I have the angle for the counter timbers set and the timbers are temporarily pinned in place.  I have also started the external curvature of these timbers.  The next step will be to carve out the excess internal wood and permanently install them.  I will not finish the exterior profile until I start the exterior fairing.  The mark on the aft side is the top of timber line.  Atalanta’s top of timber line is 4” shorter but I went with the prototype instead.  The timber’s angle is the key; the height can be shortened later.
 
Counter Timbers
 
 
The shape of the bow timbers had to be redrawn from David’s plans.  The stem of Atalanta has a slightly different shape from the plan, as does the anterior edge of the knee of the head.  The cheeks are positioned 6” lower and the curve of the upper part of the lacing and extension is also a little different.  All of the joints below water have black paper (felt) and the upper joints have pencil on the edges to make the joint more apparent.  I need to sand the knee to its final shape and drill several holes before mounting.
 

 

 
There are always items that seem easy but in reality are not.  The filler timbers between the aft cants and the counter timbers are one example.  I spent a lot of time measuring and remeasuring the location of the side lights.  Even though the height of the top timbers is different on Atalanta than on the prototype, the height of the side light is unchanged.  There are six timbers on each side.  Two of the timbers form the vertical sides of the side lights.  There is a short timber under the sill.  The four aft timbers need to fill in the remaining space relatively evenly while, at the same time, gradually angling aft to approximate the angle of the counter timber.  The fore timber has an unusual configuration.  It is notched onto the first cant frame and has an aft taper superiorly and a fore taper inferiorly.  I left these timbers very oversize because I did not know how it would all come together.

 
I have started cutting the first few full frame pieces.  The frames will have chocks between the futtocks except as shown in the plans.
 
Counter Timbers
   
 
 
 

Robbyn, you are seeing one of the reasons to convert to the dark side of scratch building (or at a minimum, aggressive kit-bashing).  Kits almost never include the material required for this approach.  We are lucky, however, to have vendors such as HobbyMill or the Lumberyard who can provide sheets of wood to replace the kit supplied materials.  Are you single or double planking?  If double planking, the thickness is typically 0.5-1.0 mm.  Sheet veneer could be used in that case and can be purchased from many sources.  When you purchase wood, be sure to get the right species.  The "walnut" provided in most kits is too brittle and the grain is too coarse.  Check out some of the scratch logs to see the species that are commonly used.  Swiss pear, pear, costello boxwood and pau marfin are all tight grained, easily worked with hand tools and are reasonably flexible. Regardless, considering your location, it is either a long drive or mail order.

Sept. 28, 2011.  I have made the first six fore cant frames.  I used the angle gauge on my scroll saw for cutting the angles for the bollard, hawse and cant  timbers.  I later discovered the gauge is off approx. 1 degree.  This resulted in a 2 degree cumulative error which was corrected by changing the angle of the aft end of the bollard timber by 2 degrees.  Needless to say I have bought an accurate protractor and am no longer relying on the angle gauge on the saw.  I felt this was safer than removing 1 degree on two pieces.  Of course, I had already glued and pinned the bollard timbers so this had to be done mounted on the stem.  Any internal imperfections will be hidden by further construction.  The apparent crossing of cant 3 in the first picture is a result of the camera angle. Because this is such a critical timber, I used hidden brass pins to secure them.  Wood treenails were installed externally for a uniform appearance.

 
Fore Cant 

  
 

 


 
Author:  Dan Vad. I do the 90 degree bevels with my disc sander to the angle on the pattern – also the little step where it sits on the apron.  Then I use a sanding board to shape the fore-aft angle.  My sanding board is a piece of MDF with a gloss laminate (old shelving) which I’ve cut to the size of a sanding sheet and screwed to a corner of my workbench (from underneath).  I glue 120 grit paper to it with spray-on contact cement.  I start off with a couple of rough cuts by feel on the edge that will need the most cut off, holding the frame like a pencil.  Then I use my adjustable protractor to check how close my angle is, making more cuts and adjusting my grip as needed.  As I near the “uncut” edge I check the angle again.  Etc.  This also works great when finessing the chocks.
 

Sept. 30, 2011.  I discovered that the toprail contour for Atalanta is different from the prototype.  It is lower fore, the same midships and higher aft.  The bowsprit is also at a slightly different angle.  Initially I thought that the plans had become distorted in the copying process but after taking several measurements I was convinced there was no error.  I also noticed that the fore shape of the stem is different towards the keel. 

The second and third hawser timbers have been placed.  All the hawse holes will be reshaped during the final fairing.  In the last picture you can see the temporary spacers placed in the airspace.  It always amazes me how something that looks hard is deceptively easy and something that looks easy is actually quite difficult.  As an example, the airspaces and hawse holes
looked tough to me but were easy.  But mounting the hawse timbers square, plumb and at the correct angle is very difficult.  I measured across the timbers at the airspace and full breadth lines and am shy be a scale inch.  I will make that up in the fourth timber. 

Hawse timber 2 installed

 
 
Hawse timber 3 installed
 
 
 

Sept. 18, 2011.  The next step is to sand the top of the stem for the bowsprit and make the opening in the bollard timbers through which the bowsprit passes.  In TFFM, David demonstrates a surefire way to get the angle correct.  The line of the bowsprit is extended to the keel.  A brass tube wrapped in sandpaper
to achieve the correct diameter of the yard is threaded over a dowel.  The dowel is then used to guide the moveable brass tube and sand the opening at the correct angle and diameter.  The mortise for the chock between the bollard timbers has also been made.  The pictures show the fore and aft faces of the timber. Hopefully, the difference in the mortise size is visible (it is larger aft).  The angle of the bowsprit can also be appreciated.  The timbers still need
finish sanding.
 
Bowsprit Opening Fore and Aft
   

The bollard timbers are now glued to the stem.  I put two pins into the stem for added strength.
 
Bollard timbers attached to stem
    
 
 
Author Dan Vad.  Did you run the sanding tube back through after fitting the bollard timbers?  It may need a small touch-up but I would wait until after you glue the chock in.  That definitely will need rounding off.

 
Sept. 26, 2011.  I made the chock for the bollard timbers and then added the groove for the top of the bowsprit off the ship.  That minimized the risk of damaging the bollard timbers.  Once installed, I tweeked the curve with an 11-blade.  Only took me two tries!  In the second picture you can see the slight step-off for the air space between the bollard and the second hawse timber.
 
Chock
  
 

While completing Hannah I decided to start thinking about my next project.  I thought I would mast Hannah but after completing the fore lower mast it became obvious that this was too tall for my pre-existing display cabinets.  (I have all my ships in a large glass and mahogany cabinet rather than in individual
cases.  This arrangement is not air tight but takes up much less space. 
 
I decided to try my hand at a Swan class, a 16 gun sixth rate sloop.  There are several advantages to this selection:  the research has already been done, plans are available, the ship is not too large and (most importantly) there are four volumes of wisdom from David Antscherl and Greg Herbert.  I already own David’s Mylar plan and CD.  The next decision was which one of the ships to select.  There are kits for Fly and Pegasus.  Some of the ships had too few
plans available from the National Maritime Museum (NMM).  Therefore I selected Atalanta.  Atalanta was a Greek huntress and wrestler.  The most notable
story about her was that she agreed to marry the man who could outrun her in a race; but if she won, the suitor was killed. So much for mythology!

Atalanta did not have much of a career.  She was launched on August 12, 1775 from Sheerness dockyard.  She was involved in one action on May 28,
1781 and was captured by the American ship Alliance off the coast of Nova Scotia.  She was recaptured by the British off Cape Cod a few weeks later and was eventually sold and broken up in 1802.

I sent away for plans from the National Maritime Museum and ordered my wood from Jeff at HobbyMill.  I will be using Costello boxwood and possibly some other hardwoods for accents.  The wood is gorgeous.  Jeff has developed a wood package for a Swan build which will eliminate hours of “fun” at the thickness sander.  (Ask for an extra sheet of wood (scale 6") for the hanging and lodging knees unless you want to thickness down one of the thicker sheets.)

I do not have a lot of spare time but I am hopeful that I can complete the model within five years.  It will not be masted.  I have not decided about hull and deck planking.  I figure that I have a few years before I need to worry about these decisions!
 
Toni
 
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Author:  dvm27

Terrific choice, Toni.  For those unfamiliar with Atalanta there is a lovely model of her in the NMM built in the Georgian
style.  It may be viewed at:  http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explire/object.cfm?ID=SLR0340&picture=2#content

Greg

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July 24, 2011.  The first thing to address was the building board.  This was made with ¾ inch MDF and given a couple of coats of Kilz.  After sanding it smooth, the centerline and the fore and aft dimension lines were drawn in and scribed.  A copy of the plan was glued to the building board.  The mirror image was obtained by copying the Mylar from the reverse.  I used Elmer’s poster glue as it allows for removal of the plan without damaging the building board if I decide I don’t like having the plan on the board.  The hull dimensions will be roughly 25 x 7 inches.
 

 
Now to begin making some sawdust!  The keel pieces were cut on the Preac and the scarf joints were made with chisels.  I have never used chisels before and am still getting the hang of them.  The key is sharpness of the tool.  In TFFM it is recommended to make cuts on a flat piece of hardwood.  I am using an old acrylic cutting board from the kitchen which has been sanded dead flat and is knife friendly.
 

 
Joints below waterline are lined with tarred flannel.  I used black paper which I already had for another purpose.  I tested it first in a mock-up to make sure the color did not bleed with either the glue or the finish.  I plan on using Watco’s Danish Wood Oil, which gives an almost dead-flat finish.
 
Toni

I have not decided what I am going to do to reconstruct the build log.  Like most of us, I did not save any of the text accompanying the photos.  Over the next few days I will figure out my next step.
 
But now there is a new beginning so I will post some pictures of the progress so far.  They are not the best pictures (I have to rely on ambient lighting) but I wanted to get the build log restarted.  When Sadie heard about the disaster she insisted on getting back on line!
 
Toni