jfhealey

I forgot to mention – chuck supplies 14 window frames of various angles from which you can select the best 6 to suit your QG. In the photos above I have just taken the first three – just see what they look like. Here's a start on the other side.

Good morning everyone from a (finally) sunny Cornwall. First, it has been two months since Bob G asked me to explain a little more where I had gone wrong with the stern counter. Please accept my apologies, Bob, for the delay in responding. This is how I see it. First, the stern counter needs to be sanded to the correct shape. Looking at the incoming planking there is quite a pronounced L shape as the sides of the how turn underneath the stern counter. Chuck's post at #337 is the one to look at. Stuntflyer Mike's post at #133 is another one to study. Of the more recent posts Guillermo Madico's stern counter looks good (post #41) though oddly he has left out the supporting block screwed to the underside of the stern frame's. Scubby J at #93 shows the roles those supporting blocks play in providing something to glue the incoming planking to. I sanded to the wrong shape. I sanded to a gentle curve rather than pronounced L. That's the first thing I got wrong. Secondly, those supporting blocks need to be sanded to allow the incoming planks butt up to the lower counter planking with the edges of each nicely bevelled. I didn't sand away sufficient of the supporting blocks so that my incoming planking "overthrew" the lower counter planking. When the incoming planking was sanding down it left gaps – see #43 above. Fortunately, I had access to the planking from the other side and was able to fill the area with glue and then filler so it is all perfectly sound albeit unsightly. There is, as Chuck has said, fancy profile to go along the junction so I hope to be able to hide some of the error, at least. Finally, the incoming planks turn quite sharply upwards in the last insurer so before they meet the lower counter planking – look at Scrubby J's #93 and you will see what I mean. That sharp upward turn really needs to be preformed with heat. Aside from turning up quite sharply the planks also need to be tapered, edge bent and twisted along the length. They are tricky. I did the tapering, edge bending and twisting first so that I had a pretty well fitting plank up to the point where it needed to be turned up quite sharply. I then tried to form the upward turn by holding the plank with pliers in the heat of a room blow heater. The cherry goes quite plastic once it reaches a certain temperature and it will take and hold bend quite well. The difficulty, as I found it, was controlling exactly where the bend formed. I think I would doing it again I put the bending fairly early stage of making the planking question and then, but only then, fettle the edge bending, tapering and bevelling. So, like I suspect most of these things, there is a combination of errors in play. I hope I will do better next time? On a much happier note, and after a journey of several thousand miles involving three transatlantic crossing is (New York – London / London – Miami and Miami – London) and the best part of a month my chapter 3 parts finally arrived – though not before I got clobbered for import duty. Winchelsea is only my third build (after Amati's Lady Nelson and AL's Bounty ) so I do not speak from a wealth of experience but the laser cutting quality of the chapter 3 parts (as with the earlier parts) is far, far better than anything I have seen before. I have started work on the QGs. I doubt if I have the angle of the transom correct. I certainly think I have set the stern windows to low in the frame's. I doubt if my hull planking follows the plans – unfortunately, all the balsa wood and body filler I added (see above) obscured Chuck's guidelines so I just eyeballed the run. All in all I am expecting to have to make a few compromises but here are some pictures showing the present state of play. The qg frames are just rested in place as our the frames in the great cabin.

Thanks Chuck. If there were no postal risk I'd order the carving set too but given there is a risk of things going astray I'd be jolly grateful if you could supply the chapter 3 parts. I'm quite happy to accept the risk. Can I just place the order through Syren in the usual way? I'm not sure what a PM is! Fred

Wow. You made a bit of progress between posts 39 and 41! Tell me ( because I'm thinking of treenailing my Winchelsea) did you drill all the holes with a hand drill or electric and if the latter did you use a big DIYers one (is there one with a chuck capable of holding such a small bit?) or a small modellers one? I ask because I can't find a small modellers drill with a soft start. I'm doubtful about treenailng because it seems to me that done well it's superb and done less well it looks awful. You clearly know what you are doing however. Fred

This is looking fantastic. I'm not far behind you Rusty and following with keen interest. Fred

I can't work out how to interpose text between pictures. You can see that (with nothing else to do!) I've lined the inside of the bulwarks. That all went surprisingly well. I had a lot of cutting away of the QG framing in order to allow for the panelling without intruding into the window opening - the blue arrow on the last but one picture above. I've also lined the inside of the lower counter and plan to cut out the rudder trunk later. I got fed up looking at the mess I made of the lower counter inside as well as out. I plan to paint the panelling - duck egg blue or something like that - but to leave the non-panelled lining in wood. I know that's probably not correct but it looks really nice unpainted. Stay well everyone. Now to see if I can scan in my diagrams and explain where I think I went so badly wrong with the lower counter. All the best Fred

Thanks Chaps. Bob, Eamonn and Rusty: my sincere apologies for the tardiness of this response. Things have rather ground to a halt on the Winchelsea front with Chuck unable to ship internationally for the time being. Bob - I thought I had a clear grasp on where I went wrong with the lower counter but the more I think about it the less sure I am. I've done a couple of diagrams and I'll post them below if I can figure out how to do it. First though some pictures.

Eamonn - this is superb. I wholeheartedly recommend the Winchelsea as your next build. No way will you be batting too high up the order! Pour yourself a Guiness - you deserve one. All the best Fred

I've been thinking about the time in New York. I reckon, on reflection, it might be cup of tea time rather than 6:30am. Sorry!

This is the other side. Not far to go and then its the q galleries. Even Stuntflyer Mike says there are tough bits there so what hope for me I wonder! Keep safe everyone Fred

Thank you Chuck. I reckon it must be about 6:30am over there. Don't you sleep well??

But don't get me wrong. I am loving this project. The Winchelsea is a beautiful ship. Chuck has clearly spent countless hours making the build accessible to even nincampoops like me. And I love to read of everyone else's triumphs and even to share the pain of things going wrong. I suspect my first skin of balsa wood and body filler is rather frowned upon - but I simply don't have the confidence to plank without. I wish I marked out the tic strips and followed them with greater precision. In the photo below I think every plank probably ends in a different width from its neighbour. But it's been a sharp learning curve and I suppose that's the point. I'm seriously thinking of regarding this Winchelsea as a dry run for another to be started next winter: I love this ship that much. Oh - and perhaps buying a new camera to replace my 15 year old point and shoot. And I forgot to own up to the awful joint in the keel. I got ratty with the sandpaper when I knew I should have walked away and had a beer.

There are sadly some right old howlers. This is a failure to understand the relationship between the lower counter, the incoming planking and, crucially, the substrate. I can see exactly what I did wrong. Its down to a lack of experience. I won't make the same mistake again.

I can't work out how to add pictures and text in one go so this is all a bit disjointed. I don't have a Jim Byrnes or similar (is there anything similar to a Jim Byrnes?) so I bought pre cut planking and I have mixed feelings about it. There is a mixture of planks showing a fair face and planks showing an end grain face and it looks a bit disjointed and over complicated. Its OK if the finish is completely matt but any sheen brings out the problem.

Thank you Bob; and thank you too for the kind remarks about our garden. We had a spell of gorgeous weather even you lucky Californians would have been pleased to see. Thank you for the likes - every kind word and thumbs up lifts your spirits when things don't go according to plan. Which is quite often in my case. I've planked one side!

In the picture at post 29 above I transposed B and C. Sorry. Thank you nzreg and JpR62 for your likes.

In the picture above A is 2mm and B is 13mm.

Should I cut out the window frames and re-install 3mm or so higher up? That would push the transom piece up by the same amount which looks to be desirable comparing this picture with your photos in the instructions. The top of the blank window, as far as I can make out from your pictures is a clear plank or so higher than the top of the doorway to the quarter gallery. Mine as you can see is about two thirds of a plank's width. Pushing the window frames up would fix that, but am I, I wonder making another problem. All of this comes, I'm sure, from multiple little inaccuracies throughout.

I wonder if I have a problem here. Chuck, can you help? The plans show the deflection from a straight line between A and B is, at C, 2.5mm. I must have over vigourously sanded and mine came to 9mm. Taking the hance pieces as a datum point and assuming I needed to use a plank of constant width as distinct from a tapered one I built up the sheer with limewood strips. So far so good. But am I now too high at the junction with the stern frames. I have not yet got the hang of posting photos in the order I want them but here goes. I wonder if I've put the window frames in too low. I set the widow sills level with the transition from straight to curved on the stern frame - at the outside. I've lost the photo just at the minute - but this picture shows the result from the inside.

I do not have a Jim Byrne's table saw (perhaps for Chuck's next project!) so I used commercially available cherry necessarily, on our side of the pond, in millimetres. I should have taken more care - a lack of experience showing - selecting widths. As it was I planked in 6mm all the way up until the last two where I had to use 8mm. I'm hoping the error will be hidden behind the fancy mouldings and friezes - or perhaps they will make the error more obvious. We will see. I'm pleased with the run of the planks and I have no dips and hollows or corrugations but the edge to edge fit is not great. Chuck's laser cut drop planks went in with no more adjustment than sanding down from imperial to metric.

We've had the most wonderful early summer weather here in Cornwall for the past 10 days or so and the forecast is set fair. Cornwall is a holiday destination and the roads and beaches are usually packed over Easter. Instead all is quiet - and the sky over my home, usually criss-crossed with jet airliner vapour trails, is unbroken blue. Stay safe everyone. I've planked one side to the bottom of the first belt (and given it two coats of sanding sealer) and the other to two strakes below the wales.

Good morning Mark. I cut my own frames with a scroll saw - which was a new tool for me. I found out two things. First a little bit of "out" when cutting the slots in the bulkheads ( I stayed off the line and then filed to fit the bulkhead former for a snug fit but may have filed more off one side than the other) means a big out at the top of frames. Take care there. Secondly take care to be really precise with frame 29 and the slots for the stern frames. Again a little bit of out at the slot end means a big out at the top. I spent a lot of time fiddling about doing my best to get things something like right. Otherwise good luck! Fred Healey

Thank you Chuck