Paddy

I’ve assembled the two other rows for the shell room, glued the cannonballs in place
and set all three rows in place. I then added the top beams just like the bottom beams.
 

 
Here you see the plans for the mortar pit beams and planking as well as the beams cut
out as per the plans.
 

 

 
The mortar pit beams have been cut and test fit into place on top of the shell room. The
bottom of each beam is notched to fit over the top beams of the room.
 

 
Here you see the notches cut into the tops of the mortar pit beam and ready to accept
the mortar pit boundary timber.
 

 

 
Thanks for stopping by!  

Thanks Michael and welcome aboard.
 
I’ve cut and fit the mortar pit boundary timbers. Between these two timbers will be a first
row of decking. It is cut from boxwood and the calking is simulated using black construction
paper. Doing the pencil on the edges just looked too thin at this scale.
 
 

 

 
 
Here I’ve cut out the plans showing the second layer of planking that will go right over the
top of the first. You will notice that a nice circle is formed in the middle for the mortar.
Seeing I don’t have a drill bit that big it should be interesting getting the hole round.
 

 
Well this will be the last post for awhile. We are off to the land of oranges, alligators and a
talking mouse with the grand kids. Should be interesting to see how steady my hand is
when we get back.  
 
You all be good now while I’m away! No slacking off or rum rations will be cut!  
 
 
 

I think I’m getting there now after you all setting me straight. After some practicing today I think I’m in business. I laid out the rabbit with the two stop cuts as Russ suggested and then cleaned out the channel with the V gouge.

Hi Ben, Thanks for your continued support. I’ve done a couple of admiralty
style POF’s already and I’m not sure when I will do a full one again.
So many things to build.
 
Well the floor riders have been shaped and installed along with the motor deck
clamps. I’ve also placed the first of the inboard planking between the keel and
the deck clamps. The channel has been cut for the limber boards too.
 

 

 
Seeing that the clamps and riders are installed the framing is stable enough to fair
the outer hull now. So I took her outside and seeing she is so big I was able to use a
palm sander I normally use on full size work to rough her in.
 

 
Here you see one side has been done with 80 grit. I’ll work out to 220 grit for now.
 
 

My two cents in the "should I buy the kit" discusion
 
With the knowledge I have now of the 'kit' I would not buy it again. Apart from the hefty price tag it's more of a scratch build starter package than a kit. And although all the parts are precut, Mr Hunt had no good control of his CNC router leaving ugly dents in every part. Cleaning up is tedious and will harm the overall shape of the parts. I stopped using them a long time ago....
Building the kit is just as complex as making it from scratch, so if I could go back in time I would:
 
Get the Swan plans from admiraltymodels.com 
Get the Swan framing package from hobbymillusa.com 
Get TFFM Vol I, II and III from seawatchbooks.com, well I got them as you need the books even if you have the 'kit' as the practicum won't take you all the way.
 
(ps just a happy customer from the above company's nothing more) 
 
Buy yourself a good scroll saw and table saw, you can easily squeeze this into the budget of the kit price you've just saved from spending. And it's a good investment for future projects. 
Take a plunge into the wonderful world of scratch building, it's not as difficult as I had imagined especially with all the help and knowledge here on MSW you can tap in to. And one other thing, if you mess up a kit part like the hawse timbers ( it took me more than one attempt  ) you're in trouble. But if you make your own parts you just cut a new set and try again.....
 
Now lets get back on topic Thank you Martin for your kind words.
 
Current state of the lower deck. Progress is slow bud steady.
 

 

 
Remco
 
 
 
 
 

Hello Shipmates.
Done quite a lot of work but as yet not photographed anything.
I did change the hinges on the shot lockers.
As you can see they are very small and they come with the pins.

 
A single Hatch.

 
All the Hatches.

 
And made up the main mast.

 
Will post more tomorrow evening.
 
Regards Antony.

Hi Ben and thanks. It was good to see you back at the echo cross section but no nothing
from me on the echo right now. That’s a story I’ll have to post there sometime soon.
 
Here are all of the floor riders constructed. Then I took and numbered each one as they would
be unique as I'm sanding them to fit both the hull frames and the mortar deck clamp.
 

 

 

 
Once they are finished and in place it will time to put the limited inboard hull planking.

As I was making the floor riders I looked ahead in the plans at the shell room
as that comes after the floor riders. I measured up the cannon balls, went to the
shot locker and I just couldn’t understand why I didn’t have any cannon balls
big enough. I mean they are only 14mm (.55”).
So I had a not so bright idea. I tip toed into the Admirals craft room, located her
stash of jewelry making supplies and found some 14mm beads. Then with the
saddest face I could make asked permission to use them.
 
Permission was granted, hole on one end filled, paint administered and tada cannon balls!
 

 

 

Thanks.
 
I temporary turned my attention to make the aft hatch and grating. Making gratings was one of the things I've been looking forward to making. I finally got around to set up my table saw to make the notched battens, it was actually less difficult than I had imagined. In the end I didn't use the special sled I had made, but just a regular cross sled with a small batten off set from the blade to make repeated cuts. I had to adapt the coamings to let the bitt pins pass. 
 
A big batch of notched battens were made so I only need to do this once and have good supply to make all the gratings.
 

 

 

 
The nails are simulated with a graphite tipped needle, just like I did on the mast tops.
 

 
Remco

Grant and Bob thanks for your opinion on the treenails. I too like the larger one.
To me it’s better on the eye. I’ll hold off for a while on making a final decision though.
 
Here I’ve made the false keel. It calls for the top edges to be beveled and to do this I used
the Byrnes table saw with my new tilting table. Once I figured out the angle it worked great.
No surprise there.
 

 

 
I then glued the false keel in place. I used a second piece clamping the ends to hold it in
place. I also put a ¼” thick piece in the middle between the false keel and the second
piece to put pressure there until the glue dried.
 

 
 
Next up will be making the deck clamps and floor riders.

Hello SpencerC
 
I don't think so, but I can not fully assure that, as I have used mine for a very short time. What I can say is that it's the best method I have found to bend planks. I suggest you buy your own. They are not that expensive.
 
Here's a link to mine.
 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050QLCSI/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Ulises
 

I wanted to have the lower gudgeon and pintle assembly in place before I painted the model.  I decided on a technique that I had never used before. I may have "re-invented the wheel,"  but for me it was something new.  After removing the temper and oxidation from a strip of brass that was supplied with the kit, I bent it into the desired shape.  After applying some flux to the piece, I placed a strip of "sacrificial" wood in position, so that it would act as a dam.  Small bits of Stay-Brite solder were then placed inside the area and heated with a micro torch.

When the Stay-Brite melted, it had a tendency to bead up, and not completely fill the area.  I took a flat tool, and compressed the hot solder, forcing it to fill the void.

I then filed away the residue, and shaped the piece.


For the pintles, I opted to epoxy the pin in place, rather than include it in the soldering process.  I just felt that it would be a lot easier to file down the piece to its correct shape if the pin was installed afterwards.

For me, the hardest part of this procedure was getting the brass strips shaped exactly the way I wanted them, so they would fit properly around the stern post and rudder.  The rest of the technique was pretty straight forward.
 
BobF

Thank you Rob.
 
Well I’ve installed all of the frames. After fine tuning them so they sat correctly it
was just a matter of gluing one in place, waiting for the glue to set then repeat.
 
 

 

 
To strengthen the frames for when I remove the cross section from the framing jig I
glued blocks between the frames at the area of the wales and then at the tops of
the frames.
 

 
I also thought about installing blocks between the frames at the keel but instead I
drilled through the frames into the keel and glued in a dowel. Now those frames
aren’t going anywhere.
 

 

 
Next up will be a lot of sanding the frames to fair it up. I’ll start with the inboard while
it’s still in the framing jig and install some of the interior framing and clamps to strengthen
it even more.
 
Well I’m off on a short vacation so I’ll be away from a computer. Hopefully the withdrawal
pains won’t be too severe!  

I very much enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on the plans, hearing about your research, and trading ideas!  My plans just arrived today from the NMM, so will study them closely in relation to everything we've been talking about.  Gregor, I read the same about some of the Sherbourne plans recently--some may have been training ones; I just can't remember where I read that to cite the source (old age... ).  I'll also be looking at some of those other 1763 plans a bit closer now that I'm ready to move forward with my build.
 
I also agree that plans don't have to be followed with total faith.  I'm sure the ship's look, fittings, and etc. were changed over the course of their active lives (I know many ship captains would change a ship's rigging to suit their tastes).  I also suspect many beginner kits (at least the kits by good companies like Caldercraft, Amati, and etc.) get some modification by designers so that they are easier builds for new builders--sort of make sense.  In the end, they're our builds, so we can do what makes us happy and makes a nice model!  My only big complaint with kits is when they design them with bad mistakes and not fix those problems--it makes building them very difficult.  I ran into this with an Artesania Latina kit--many things were just very messed up with the kit's basic design so that building it was very difficult, as a result I'll never build another one of their kits again.
 
Sumner, that's a beautiful view you have!  Guess I could deal with that altitude on beautiful days!  Wow, 3 elevators...I won't complain about my ride times anymore..lol!
 
Jay
 
 

Clinker planking has to start from the garboard plank. As described above, I used 4mm x 0.5mm walnut strips. The plan was to have a 1mm overlap on each plank, with the top edge of each plank sanded to accommodate the one above it..
 

 
Things got off to a pretty smooth start. It's key to make sure the garboard plank does not rise too high, as that effect gets magnified as the planks rise along the bow. You want to keep the run of the planks as flat as possible.
 

 

 
One step that I neglected in the first part of my build was to carve the rabbet. At the time, I didn't feel very confident that I could do this well and it seemed optional. As you can see in the picture below, the result is that the planks aren't entirely flush. This will require some sanding and the use of PVA/sawdust filler to fix. If I was to do the build again, I would absolutely carve a rabbet as I think it makes such a difference in the final results.
 

 
These next three pictures show how I installed the planks. The first thing I did was to use a 3mm plank to mark where the top of the next plank should lie, thereby giving me a 1mm overlap.
 

 
After that, I would place the plank and put the first drops of glue amidship, followed by gluing the fore and aft sections of the plank.
 

 
This worked pretty well, although the positioning of the planks became significantly more complex as I moved up the hull.
 

 

 

 

 

 
And this is where my build more or less came to a halt in mid-2012 with our move to Hong Kong. Over time, the walnut faded in color. As with the stern counter, I probably should have taken steps to protect the wood with varnish of some sort but the model nonetheless survived in relatively good shape.
 
Sumner

Interesting thoughts and perspective on the lids, Jay.
 
I guess the advantage of having lids would be to offer a bit more weather protection, especially since the gunports went all the way to the cap rail. One of the aspects that I like about these plans is that they give us a hint of what the Sherbourne looked like, but still leave plenty of room for interpretation.
 
Hong Kong is a pretty unique place. If it weren't for work, we wouldn't be here ... and we wouldn't be living quite so high up. There are days when it rains that we're literally living in the clouds and can't see the ground below. Pretty wild.
 
Here's a picture that I took this afternoon to give you a sense of what it's like here in MSW's highest shipyard (if it weren't so hazy today, you'd be able to see Lantau island off in the distance):
 

 
Sumner

Originally, I stated that painting was next, but I reconsidered.  After studying some photos of contemporary long boat models at the National Maritime Museum, I decided to make some small changes on my model.  The first involved the addition of a thin plank under the molding strip.  These thicker planks may have been there to provide additional strength for mounting the chain plates.

The wood I used was dogwood.  It is similar to boxwood, but is very flexible, which was a plus in this case.  The markings the wood possesses are not a problem, since the plank will be painted.

Two other changes involved the addition of strips under the caprail on the inboard side, and the breast hook being attached so that it is flush with the top of the caprail.  In the kit it is mounted under the caprail.

In the kit, the staysail halyard block is attached to the breast hook.  On the NMM models this block is attached to the apron located under the breast hook, which is what I intend to do.

 

Hey thanks to all of you for your interest and support.
 
Yeah Ben, Gregs methods were a big help.
 
Big Frames, Big treenails, Big piles of saw dust! 
 
Oh yeah and a big pile of frames too!
 

Thanks druxey.
 
When making the double frames the plans show a single treenail on each side of the
joint at the chocks. The size came very close to 3/32”. I used a standard dowel that I
had at that size for the treenail. And no I don’t have a drawplate that size.  
 

 

 

 
Almost done making frames!  

I’m still chugging along with assembling the frames. Slow but steady she goes.
 
Here are a few more done and test fitted to the keel and framing jig.
 

 

Having fitted the boom, the next job was to make the gaff. This was made in a similar fashion, its dimensions being taken from the AOTS Alert book. The gaff tapers rather more along its length than the boom, with its maximum width being closer to the mast. Again, I made similar modifications to the kit-supplied jaws (they are actually the same fitting as for the boom) in that they were first split in two, each half being shaped to fit the gaff end, and then glued to the spar on either side.
 
The other fittings are as follows (from the jaws end): an eyebolt on top of the spar, just above the jaws, to take the lower double-block of the throat halliard; a stop, on top of the spar, just aft of this to retain the mainsail throat lashing; a strop for the small double blocks (one each side) for the mainsail brails; another strop, fitted about midway along the gaff, to which were attached two small single lead blocks, again for the brails; two stops on top of the spar, for the rigging span to which is attached one of the single blocks of the peak halliard tackle; further aft, a strop for a second single block for the peak halliard tackle; at the after end, a stop to retain the mainsail peak lashing; finally, an eyebolt in the end of the gaff to which is fitted a small single block for the ensign halliards. I decided to paint the entire gaff black, including the jaws, and gave the spar a light covering of beeswax.
 

 
I thought there might have been similar problems of movement with the after end of the gaff, as there had been with the boom. However, having dry-fitted the spar, in its hoisted position on the pin inserted in the mast, I found it was quite firm and that further measures were not necessary. I also surmised that the process of gluing would significantly reduce any movement. Due to this concern, I had initially intended to fit vangs at the end of the gaff, made fast to belaying pins on each quarter – but then discovered that these items of rigging weren’t fitted at that date. There is, therefore, a spare belaying pin aft on each side. I had a slight worry that the pin in the aft side of the mast might not be dead centre – or the end of the gaff would be off to one side or the other – and it was just slightly out. On the real ship it wouldn’t necessarily have been all-square in any case.
 
Having decided that it would be best to lace the gaff to the head of the mainsail before fitting the spar, I now set about making the sail itself. This was cut from an old, thin, handkerchief, its size being about half that of the actual sail area in order to reduce its bulk when furled. Naturally I made it with a full-length head, to be laced along the length of the gaff, narrowing towards the foot. To represent the seams, I teased out equidistant strands from the cloth, about a centimeter apart, which seemed about right. The operation had to be done very carefully, as the strands could break quite easily, using a pair of tweezers. Around the sail’s edge I made a narrow hem, using a fabric glue, to which I added a scale boltrope (on the traditional larboard, or port, side). I then added reef bands and reef points, with strengthening pieces at the peak, throat, tack and clew (I now realise that those at the peak and throat are a little over large, something I will have to watch with the other sails.)
 
Then it was time to put the kettle on. When it was reasonably hot, but not boiling, I poured the water onto a teabag ­– for staining the sail, of course (!) – in one of my wife’s small baking trays. When the resultant ’brew’ was about the right colour I put in the sail, spreading it out so that it was completely submerged, and left it for a couple of hours. As the sail changed colour quite quickly, I had look at it every now and then to see how it was progressing. Removing it from the tray when a suitable shade, I spread it out to dry overnight. When dry I found that, besides being a good colour, the cloth had puckered somewhat – which made it look even more realistic.
 
Now I had to attach it to the gaff, for which I used a needle and .25 black rigging cord. Fastening the cord around the spar at the jaws end I proceeded along the length of the gaff, piercing the sail just under the bolt rope (approximately every centimetre) with the needle, and forming a marline hitch along the spar as it progressed. A brief smear of glue under the line fixed each hitch around the spar when tightened, and a little touch-up with diluted black paint covered any excess that was visible.
 
The next operation was to attach the gaff to the mast. As mentioned the spar was quite firm when dry-fitted, but the CA glue applied to the pin prevented any real further movement. I then fitted the parrel, in similar fashion as for the boom. With that done, the next task was to stretch out the luff, or leading edge, of the sail and lash the tack down to the eyebolt in the boom, using the loop I had formed in the boltrope. This stretched out the sail, and I could then concentrate on fitting the sail hoops. As I mentioned earlier, I had unfortunately already glued the crosstrees in place, which meant that I would have to fit the hoops around the mast. This suggested that they would have to be of a bendable material, and copper strip presented itself as a workable solution – some of which I just happened to have. Making the hoops was straightforward although, being a soft metal, it was quite easy to bend the strips out of shape if too much pressure was applied. There are eight hoops in all and I eventually worked out, with a bit of trail and error, how long they would have to be, including the overlap for glueing the ends. I seem to remember a high-tech piece of string came into the the process! They also have to be a loose fit, to give the illusion that they could run freely on the mast. Following a little experimentation, I finally painted them a near buff colour, which I thought suitable to represent wood. Being metal this took a little while, as there are about three coats, which also included those inside each hoop so that no copper was visible.
 
I fitted the hoops by cutting small equidistant slots in the luff of the sail the width of the hoop, carefully bent each just enough for it to pass around the mast, pushed one end through the slot in the sail, and then closed it against the other end, fixing it with touch of CA glue.
 

 
Furling the sail into the mast, which I had decided would best be done on the model, had to be attempted rather carefully. First of all I attached the two brails on each side, which I would actually use to furl up the sail, threading them through the blocks already fitted. Dampening the sail, with a light wetting from a spray bottle helped with the process. Then it was just a case of gently pulling on each of the four brails, two being attached to the clew and two at about the middle of the leech, and lifting the sail from underneath until it was as close in to the mast as was possible. During the process I was careful that the sail furled with a natural look, and that the folds hung evenly. When it was dry, I was quite pleased with the result. The brails falls were made fast to the pins in the boom jaws, each one being finished off with a small coil. It then only remained to belay the clew outhaul to a cleat on the boom, glue down some of the reef points (which stuck out at odd angles) to the sail, and the job was done.
 
Next time: More items of running rigging, the shrouds.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ron,
Thanks for that. That's the way I'll leave the walnut for the wales with the exception I'm going to do the wales in Top and Butt strakes. 
 
The Rip Angle jig arrived this afternoon, so I ripped some basswood to the scale top dimension for some Top and Butt plank practice and checking my angles. I drew up my scale plan using the dimensions in Peter Goodwin’s tome “Sailing Man of War 1650 ~ 1850” found on page 52.  
 
Love the jig but what’s not to love about a Model Machines product.  Fun!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Ron,
Thanks for that. That's the way I'll leave the walnut for the wales with the exception I'm going to do the wales in Top and Butt strakes. 
 
The Rip Angle jig arrived this afternoon, so I ripped some basswood to the scale top dimension for some Top and Butt plank practice and checking my angles. I drew up my scale plan using the dimensions in Peter Goodwin’s tome “Sailing Man of War 1650 ~ 1850” found on page 52.  
 
Love the jig but what’s not to love about a Model Machines product.  Fun!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Ron,
Thanks for that. That's the way I'll leave the walnut for the wales with the exception I'm going to do the wales in Top and Butt strakes. 
 
The Rip Angle jig arrived this afternoon, so I ripped some basswood to the scale top dimension for some Top and Butt plank practice and checking my angles. I drew up my scale plan using the dimensions in Peter Goodwin’s tome “Sailing Man of War 1650 ~ 1850” found on page 52.  
 
Love the jig but what’s not to love about a Model Machines product.  Fun!
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Oscillating spindle sander with the option for a tilt table