garyshipwright

Thank you John,
 
Up to now, all the pictures presented were in automatic mode. Circumstances made that next week will be the last part of Photography for the beginner. As for each week, we must try few pictures, so I develop a subject already tried but this time in manual mode!
 
On the second picture, by changing the camera angle the distance between the figures changed.
 
On the third picture, different tries by adding a white transparent curtain to soften the neon lighting coming from the ceiling.

Image 1 parts are done with white cardboard which  
 
-Lines are copied on a transparent paper from plans then glued with Pritt paper glue on a white cardboard
-Copied directly from the model
 
Image 5 made from 2 planks with a groove for assembly
 
Image 7
actually working on the balcony ramp made from 3 parts: 2 sides and 1 back same kind of assembly for the lower rail for the balcony. Alignment of sides is done with a plank resting on side planking thus giving exact parallelism between each one template made from 2 parts to give parallelism between the 2 rails the assembly of the side balcony ramp on the vertical post is done exactly as when assembling  a cross  

Merci Messieurs,
 
I will continue in the same area; paper is replaced by wood and everything is dry fit with brass needles to hold everything until  adjustments  and alignments are completed. The last gunport will make part of the assmbly.

Hi everyone,
 
After building the cisterns, I discovered how difficult it was to locate them square to the mast partners, and the right distance from the mortises for the jeer bitts. So I built a little spacing jig, slotted into the mortises in the partners and with a spacer the right distance to the cistern. Once the cisterns were clamped in place against the jig, I was then able to drill down with a Foredom through the stub pump tube tops, for location pins. I also used this jig to align the hoods so that the future pump handles running through the hoods will line up with the inner face of the bitts where the rhodings will be attached. I made a little sliding joint on the bottom of the hoods so that they could move a little on the cistern athwartships, to allow precise alignment.
 
And finally, in keeping with the color scheme of the dockyard models that so I admire, I stained the cisterns red, to match the riding bitts. In the closeup, you can see the stump tube tops, and a simplified drain plug. The bearings are still to come. The long shots show how nicely the red accents are showing up along the length of the hull. I know color is not to the taste of everyone, but I like the overall effect of colored accents against the natural wood.
 
I am being pulled back to work issues, so I may not be able to work and then post for a while. It was a nice run while it lasted....
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
I then started on the pump cisterns. I had originally planned to run the pump tubes down into the hold, but after trying some mock-ups, I reminded myself that my stylized dockland framing system really does start everything above the gun deck for a reason. Without an orlop, a well, or anything else along with the tubes, I decided they would look silly all by themselves down in the hold. So I followed the lead of the HMS Princess Royal in the Legacy of a Model book, and built stub tube tops between the partners and the bottom of the cisterns.
 
I pondered how to build the coopered covers on the pumps; at 3/16" scale, a ¾" thick shell was too thin to get good coopered joints. So I cheated a little. I turned a wood blank, and then layered the ¾" pieces (plus a little for trimming) on the blank. I then re-chucked this, and turned the assembly down to final size, leaving a clean and accurately sized hood. I cut off the lower half of the blank, leaving the half round hood. They aren't hollow, but I didn't build the pump inside anyway...
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
This weekend, I pushed along to finish the aft end of the gundeck (all but ledges). The first photo shows using a caul shaped to the fore and aft camber of the gundeck, which I used to level the beams as I glued them in place. Clamping the beams up to the caul ensured that they are all precisely level on the upper surface, where it counts.
 
I then worked on the carlings. I found an easy way to measure the angle of the end of each carling in a beam, with an angle gauge. i could then use the gauge to set the angle of the miter gauge on the sanding machine, for precise results, and flip it over to reverse the miter gauge and sand the symmetrically opposite carling in the same bay. Systematically working aft and from outboard to the center, I got them all done in a day. I still need to cut mortises for ledges in the carlings before they can be glued. I got progressively better at this as I worked along. The carling fair well fore and aft, with only one joint needing a slight adjustment from my original mortise cuts.
 
I also built the mizen mast core in anticipation of building the partners, and found an easy way to set the diameters at the 4 quarters, using a proportional divider set to two divisions. I set the long legs on the ruler for the total diameter at any point, and then used the short legs to mark off either side of the center line. It saved a lot of time.
 
I made the fore and aft standard fitting up against the wing transom and stern post. It took some fiddling to match angles and cut the slot for the wing transom. But very satisfying after all of these years to see that finishing up the aft deck. You can see on the starboard side of the aft gun deck, my first efforts at working out how a knee would finish up the deck at the rounded aft end. I have no drawings that show what this knee would look like but there has to be one to provide a landing for decking in the corner, before the decking can land on the deck transom. I can't believe that the decking would just land on the inner side of the aftmost frames with no support under it. Does anyone recall seeing a drawing of what happens here?
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 

HI everyone,
 
Druxey, remco, EdT, Michael, blue ensign, spencerC, thank you for your kind comments. And many apologies for not replying sooner; work is really getting in the way of the shipyard these days! 
 
After finishing up around the main mast, I sat down one day to finish up the mortises in the beams for carlings. I was inspired by Gaetan, who advised me that doing the same thing over and over, and in a logical order, is efficient, meditative, and it improves one's skills. So I told myself I was not leaving the shop until the remaining mortises were cut. It was hours later, but very satisfying to see all of these after a number of years of looking at the deck without mortises. Gaetan was absolutely right in his advice. i processed each step on all beams, then went back to the first for the next step. It build a great rhythm.
 
I then turned my attention to the step for the main capstan. You will see in the photo of the original Admiralty drawing that this was very cryptic. How does a circle sit on the beams, and how does one plank up to the circle? I then came across a photo of the Ajax cut away model, showing the entire gun deck. It showed this step as a raised surface in a rectangular plank. After reviewing Steel, I decided that it was really a central, thicker plank, with thinner planks on either side to make up the width across the two central carlings. You can see the dotted line of the three planks in the Admiralty drawing. The projection at the front of the circle is to provide a surface for the pawls, which pivot from the fore edge of the projection and can be kicked under the capstan when wishing to stop rotation either way (another fun part to make some day).
 
I also remembered from David Antscherl's book that the top surface of the capstan step would have to be parallel to the keel, not parallel to the deck. This is because the capstan turns on an axis perpendicular to the keel, and the aft side would be higher off the deck than the fore side because the deck slopes at this point. Then it made sense that the circle would provide the surface parallel to the keel, and the remainder of the step would be flush with the decking and therefore parallel with the deck, to avoid places to trip when working the capstan. Very ingenious design, when you finally figure out what they were doing.
 
I had fun with the mill making this. First, you see the step sitting in a vise on the tilting table, having one surface milled down at 1 ½ degrees to match the difference between the deck angle and a line parallel to the keel. Then you see the rotating table, with the step mounted on top. I first used a Starrett wiggler on the central hole of the rotating table to align it with the mill spindle. Then I clamped the step on top, using a Starrett wiggler to locate the center of the step circle also under the mill spindle. I then used a mill cutter to cut a perfect circle around the edge, leaving a flat base with a raised circle at the 1 ½ degree angle. I used chisels to clean up the serpentine curve on either side at the fore end.
 
I stole the capstan from midships for the photos. I now need to build the second capstan....
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 

Thanks guys for all the likes and complements!
 
Greg, it's no coincidence, coamings and ledges were fit to the finished grating. I rather see a not so perfectly sized coaming than a mutilated grating to get it fit in a perfect coaming.
 
Joe, I think 45 minutes.
 
Mark, I'll pass the compliments to Greg, the barrels are from admiraltymodels.com the engravings, or Royal Cyphers were a 'wedding gift' from Greg. EU etching produced these but I'm not sure if they are still available. The 'only' thing I added was the vent. 
 

 

 
Daniel, thanks for taking the time to count them, and this is just one of many gratings 
 
Remco

Go for it guy's make lots and lots of pins  They are key to position parts temporarily, I don't exaggerate but I think any particular beam in this build is taken in and out at least 100 times to position parts, mark mortices etc etc. 
 
So today I did a little detailing of the gratings. I simulated the pins that were used by making small holes with a needle and then taking the same needle tip loaded with graphite to enhance the holes. This really takes your mind off-line  after a busy day 
 

 

 

 
For comparison, the 'big' bolts on the corners are 0,4 mm
 
Remco
 

Thanks Grant, about 3 on the main deck and a few small ones I think. No nightmares here
Danny, thanks for the compliment and pointing out my error, I made the battle station 3 years ago meanwhile I also learned  I shouldn't portray them run out  
 
Meanwhile knight to C4, bishop to C4, bishop takes knight........ I like Greg's metaphor that scratch building is like playing chess. And I was caught by my opponent. I forgot to cut the mortises in the curved beam and had to do them in situ, little nerve wrecking.....
 

 
So a little mile stone today, I finished all the beams, knees, carlings, ledges, opposing knees ands so on for the lower deck that I want to portray. After sanding the deck it came out really nice. On to the planking of the deck, I'll keep that to a minimum though to show as much of the details as possible. A waterway on both sides and just enough planks to support the bulkheads.
 

 

 
Remco

Hello Shipmates.
   Thanks Paddy. I have to say your Cross section is one of the reasons I went into the cross section building.
 
The Orlop Deck is now in place
Very happy with the fit and the look.
 
The deck planks on the Top Right look as if they are not stained... Yes they are
The Housing and the Sail store walls are not fixed as they will need to be cut to size.

 

 

 

 
Now I can start to Cut the timber for the bulwark of the Orlop deck.
And so the Lower gun deck starts next week.
 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Regards Antony.
 

Hello Shipmates.
Thanks Rusty and Bob for you comments.
 
Orlop is now complete and ready for final adjustments before fixing into place in the void.
Gratings and planks that adjoin the Headers are not glued as they will be cut to fit after fixing the deck.
 
View from top.

 
Another angle of the Deck.

 
A different angle.

 
 
View of the underside of the Orlop deck.

 
Another angle

 
From the other side.

 
 
That’s it for now. Will take a few photos when deck is fixed into place.
 
Regards Antony.
 

Hello Shipmates.
Thanks for your comments... Na ..  I just make things look good .
 
Another update :-
 Filling in all the planking on the Orlop deck at the moment and built the enclosure on the Orlop deck.
Not yet cleaned up to remove the dust and lose fibers.
 
Not sure that the walls are ventilated but they look nice.

 
Door is built up with planks and the lock is a bolt through. No idea what’s on the real one

 
The plank's are rounded as they are removable.
The row at the back are as yet not stained or fixed. Need to stain before fixing.

 
Three rows done.

 
Progress is good and the Grating is made. But not cut to size yet.

 
First row of the Planking.

 
That’s it for Now.
Thanks for looking in
 
Regards Antony.
 

Hello Shipmates.
Another update on the Lower gundeck.
Basic assembly done just the Deck carlings to machine and fit into place.
No Gluing done at this stage.. Just good old tight joints.
 
Sides being treenailed.

 
 
And the other side.

 
View from the underside of the deck.

 
View from the Top side.

 
Close up of a joint.

 
No Glue or pins in this yet .

 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Regards Antony.
 

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.
 

 

 

Beam set 7 includes the opening for the fore hatch.  These carlings are a little larger than the standard ones.  As I am building the lower deck structures as I move aft, it was time to build the aft sail room.  The fore sail room is one of the small rooms on the port side near beam set 4.  This was a fun little structure to make.  The lateral walls have louvers to allow ventilation into the room.  I do not own a mill so the mortises for the louvers were made with an 11 blade.  On Atalanta, the door into this room is a slider, not a hinged door.  Consequently, the door must be made wider than the opening and it will be on the outside wall of the sail room.  There is a pillar on the inside wall precluding placing the door there.  Not having built a sliding door before, I went over to the local stable and looked at my horse's stall door.  The latch is a L-shaped bolt on the door with a U-shaped piece of metal on the door frame to receive the bolt.  The bolt measured 3" x 4" x 3/8".  This would require making a u-shaped channel 0.01" square.  Needless to say, this is well beyond my skill set so I have a flat piece of metal on the door frame representing it instead.  Decking was placed under the assembly on the starboard side.  The last two pictures show the sail room assembly before and after a coat of finish.
 

 

 

 

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 28 – "Pin-Indexing"
 
Next on the agenda is a long slog of repetitive work – making and setting the 29 full frames of the afterbody.  This will be followed by 13 pairs of half frames and 6 pairs of cants – then the eagerly anticipated circular stern
 
Essentially, this framing will be a repeat of the installation in the forebody.  I previously showed pictures and described the frame assembly using pin-indexed pieces.  This has greatly improved efficiency and accuracy in assembling the 13 pieces of each full frame pair.  This process can only be used if indexed bolt/pin holes are provided on the pattern sheets.  I thought it might be interesting to give a short overview of how that step in the lofting process was done.
 
I put this post together a few days ago thinking I might post it.  The discussion on pre-beveling of frames prompted me to do so, since the lofting described is one of the enablers for that. 
 
This is an overview only of the pin/bolt hole placement on the patterns. I will not describe the entire frame lofting process here, except to say that profiles for the true fore and aft faces of each frame must added to the normal body plan and used for lofting beveled frames.  Using profiles from the next frame forward and aft does not provide sufficient accuracy for bolt placement in beveled frames. 
 
The first image shows the fore and aft half-pattern objects for forward frame R, created from the enhanced body plan. 
 
In each pattern green is used to show the forward profiles and red for the aft profiles.
 

 
Every frame “bend” on Young America is constructed with offset, sistered fore and aft timber segments. The segments are delineated by the cut lines on each pattern.  In this image no pin holes have yet been placed on either pattern, but the objects for the hole marks are scattered to the left of the forward pattern.
 
 
The two patterns are then aligned to their final relative positions as shown below.
 

 
This is a highly beveled frame pair, as can be seen in this image.
 
With the patterns aligned, the pin/bolt hole objects are placed on the combined patterns between the line for the forward outboard profile and the aft inboard profile.  This assures that they will not break through either the inboard or outboard faces – hence the need for accurate profiles.  The placement of some of these near the top of the frame is shown below.
 

 
In this highly beveled frame, these hole objects just fit between the lines.  The actual pin/bolt holes will be smaller than these objects.  Note that the top of the forward frame is higher since it includes the stanchion for the main rail.
 
With the holes placed, the aft frame pattern object is selected along with all of the hole objects.  This combination is then copied and pasted to the right in the next image.  The aft pattern is then deleted from its position atop the forward pattern leaving just the forward frame and the original hole objects in place.  The two pattern halves now have precisely indexed pin/bolt hole marks.
 

 
The two objects in this image are then mirrored and combined to form the full frame patterns shown below.  This same basic process is also used for the half and cant frames.
 

 
After cutting out the timber segments, the patterns can then be used to drill indexing pin holes to locate the timbers on a pattern sheet for assembly and later for insertion of model bolts.  This was described in previous posts.
 
Assembly accuracy is very dependent on accurate drilling, but that is another topic.  Besides the advantages in assembly time, the final frame emerges with patterns on both fore and aft faces – one of the important enablers for pre-beveling before erection.
 
I believe this process has reduced the frame assembly time to half of what I expected so far.  The above description is, of course, simply an overview, hardly a tutorial.
 
The jury is still out on whether this and the other process features will enable frames to be completely beveled before erection.
 
Sorry, no photos.  Next time.
 
Ed
 

No worries Elmer - plenty more where that came from .
 
I've finished fitting all the Planksheers. The port quarterdeck one is completely finished, others are in various stages.
 

 

 
You can clearly see the two-piece construction on the forecastle ones. This is necessary (even on the real ship) as it is impossible to fit the planksheer over the timberheads owing to the changing angles of the latter.
 
Don't forget, I'm "cheating" here - I'm not making the timberheads as part of the top timbers. I find it much easier to cut the moldings into their tops on the bench rather than on the ship   .
 

 

 

 
  Danny

Thank you, and you're most welcome Mark, Remco, Christian, Grant, Jeff, Maury and Neal .
 
Forecastle Planksheers
 
The Planksheers for the Forecastle and Quarterdeck need to be fitted before I can continue with the Timberheads.
 
For the quarterdeck I could soak and laterally bend the four required as they only have a shallow bend. Here's the first one fitted - there is a smaller piece still to be fitted on the inboard side :
 

 
The four on the forecastle are a bit trickier. I cut these from wide stock. Fitting the forward one around the Knightheads was quite a task - I had one reject, and used at least 30 "dry fits" on each before I was happy with the result :
 

 

 

 
  Danny

Yeah Greg - although as I mentioned before they are all different .
 
Maury - I'm using the Byrnes Saw instead of the Mill.
 
Using the Timberhead Jig
 
Before the questions are asked about how I use the Timberhead Jig - here's how.
 
1. I file the two inboard and outboard tapers using the wide slot :
 

 

 
2. I transfer the piece to the narrow slot and file the fore and aft tapers :
 

 

 
3. I cut the shoulders for the moldings using a sharp flat Xacto chisel :
 

 
4. The shoulders are rounded off with a needle file :
 

 
5. Using the jig I cut the top of the lower step all around on the Byrnes table saw :
 

 
6. I cut the piece to length :
 

 
7. Using the chisel I cut the lower step to size :
 

 
8. Finally I round off the corners of the step to fit the oval hole cut through the planksheer :
 

 
  Danny

Thank you Michiel.
 
I've been making good progress on the deck framing. It sure helps having cut the parts ahead of time!
 

 

 

 

 
It still will need a good sanding to fair it all up but so far so good!  

Thank you all for stopping in and the likes.
 
Thanks Bob, you never know what kind of oops or such that could pop
up and ruin the day.
 
I have competed the framing of the gun deck. Pretty straight forward and
at this size it turned out to be a lot easier to do.
 

 

 
 
Next in the mortar pit the walls need to be built. There are angles involved
and I didn’t trust myself to build it off the model and keep the correct
dimensions. Also there are four cross braces between the beams that
need to be put in.
 

 
So to help me keep it square and position the cross bracing correctly I clamped
the side walls in place and then started fitting the angles. This way once
completed I can mark the cross bracing, remove the walls, install the bracing
and then return the wall to it's correct location.
 

 
Here is just the top piece of the wall confirming the angle and length are correct.
 

 

 
 
Time will tell if this will work or not.  

Hi Daniel.
I have to agree with druxey sir and from researching the deck planking for Alfred it does look that planking was  straight parallel planks after 18th. From researching this, to be some what accurate on Alfred, there just doesn't seem to be to many plan's showing  how the planks were laid before 18th. at least what I can find . The ones I have found show curved planking before 1800, which has been reduced in width as it progress aft and fwd. Another thing I have found is that on the gun deck the outside plank's was joggled in to each other and the upper deck out side planking was worked top and butt, which seems to be different then what Peter Goodwing say's in his book. It does seem that this was not always done, looking at other plan's. They only give rules for the out side planking and the binding strakes which were to be oak along with the first shift which was also to be oak.  It does seem that laying the deck is a lot like running the plank on the out side, a jig saw but a fun type jig saw. To me, laying the deck in different width's and  in a curve looks more pleasing to the eye's. More in keeping with hand cut plank's, done in saw pits.  Here is a photo of Alfred's deck laid so far. If you want to see some plan's showing the lay of the planking, go to the NMM site and look up Tremendous 1784, and J7921 unknown 74. Once you start getting in to the 1810 ,1815 time frame planking seems to have been layed much different. 
Gary

Just one more set guys and that should  bring the magazine up to speed.

Hi Remco. Thank you very much sir. Am glad you like the cannons sir and seems that your statement is just a little modest but I do thank you. Here are some more photo's of the gun deck with a few more details. Am not sure if I will leave the curve planking which is due to the curve of were the back of the cannon truck's land. May just plank one side for cannon's and leave the other side alone. Reason is that I just don't want to cover all of the detail up and am sort of stuck on the do I want to or not decision. :mellow: Gary