Derek C

Evening, 
Time for an update. Admittedly, not much done this past week.     Work.........hmmmph!!!!!!!! 
I have 2 dollars on Powerball tonight. That's $177,000,000.00!
Even after taxes, that's still plenty to retire on and build to my hearts content.
Of course I'd be building from a beautiful house on the Maine coast line in the summer and the mountains of Vermont in the winter!!!!!!
 
 
Continued to add the second 3/64 batten, both sides.
Wont head any more south than this. I plan on concentrating on the gunport and sweeps opening and plank them first.
I don't feel like I'm totally done fairing the bottom half. 
I will use the tick strips to lay out the bands for planking. 
 
Mike, thanks for the heads up on those plank twists!
Dang! That's gonna take some soaking!
Especially where it meets the transom area.
Don't think, in my limited experience, I have ever bent something like that.
I should but some extra planks now!!!!! 
 

 
 
I do love these mini-clamps. Very handy.
If I remember correctly, Home Depot for about $0.30.
Good grip too! Sometimes too strong and will jump off!
 
 

 
 
 
Finished battens from the stern.
 
 

 
 
Finished battens from the bow. 
They align well at the very front of the bow, under the bowsprit.
Surprisingly I don't have a pic from that angle.
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
As stated in a previous post, I started building some carronade.
One to check for clearance at the deck/main rail area, also.......because its fun!
There carronades, this ship will have some teeth!
 

 
 
With some sanding and shaping the carronades perk up well.
The base and sled are laser cut, easy enough.
A few, of I'm sure to be hundreds!, metal eyebolts made from 28 gauge wire.
Easy enough to make with a few twists.
 
I'll put a layer of primer over all before adding there final colors.
 

 
Tom E
 

Ladder finally in position, darkened and varnished.

I am building this now , thanks for the posts your log has been very helpful and your cross section is beautiful 
Derek

No problem Derek- Your cross section is coming along great! I really like your forethought into mounting hardware- it will really pay off down the road (mine was an absolute pain to mount without it lopping over to one side).
 
-Chad

...and with that it was done. I then ventured into my first somewhat -bigger woodworking foray and making a case. I was surprised (and have continually been) at how robust the Byrnes table saw is at cutting bigger stock. I made the case out of Peruvian Walnut which is a fairly soft for a hardwood (and very porous) and finished it with a french polish which is a total pain in the *** but looks beautiful. The base is curly maple with an ebony and rosewood inlay, and the model was mounted on two turned brass pedestals. As i just mentioned in my comment to Derek I really wish I had the forethought like him to install mounting hardware way back in the beginning, the problem being that my cross section kept listing because of the cannons on one side. It ended up taking epoxy to get it to sit right and now the Triton will never be leaving it's stand!



 
And that's that! It was a fun (and glacially slow) build, but I couldn't be happier with the final product. Every day for the last couple years my wife and kids walk by my Triton cross section, stop, stare in awe, and never fail to exclaim something like "Wow, Dad- that is amazing!"  Just kidding- none of them care and the only time they mention it is when we need to move it to put up the Christmas Tree.... but to me it was the journey. Everyone is going to have their own outlook on modeling, but I hope if you are starting this project that you don't take the mindset of this being a throwaway project that leads to something bigger- enjoy the ride and do the best you can. Personally, when I'm old and my hands don't work anymore I'd like to look back on this hobby and have built maybe a handful of incredible models that I know I put all my effort into and will be kept in the family than a houseful of models that I blew through and my kids toss in the trash the day after I die. Enjoy the ride and make sawdust!   -Chad

I am building this now , thanks for the posts your log has been very helpful and your cross section is beautiful 
Derek

Well... unfortunately, that's where the saved file of my original log ends so the rest of this may be incredibly anticlimactic (and if you jumped in somewhere in the middle and are incredibly confused on what the hell is going on, the first post should explain it all). When I did the original build log I included as much detail as possible so that others may have something to follow as something of a practicum, so if you've made it this far then the rest should be a breeze, anyway.So without further adieu, here's some photos of the ladders and cannons with me trying to guess how I did it five years ago!
 
Ladders
Ladders were made out of Indian laurel using somewhat of the same process as the louvres for the well mod. I made this little jig to keep everything squared and sturdy while inserting the rungs since it was pretty delicate. I had dry fitted the sides first, knowing that trying to cut out notches or sand them after the rungs were inserted would be a disaster. 

Thanks for all the Hello's from around the world! I'm looking forward to a lot of fun and satisfaction but also understand that there will be some catastrophes (e.g., David Rice, 02-Aug) along the way. I've been browsing the forums while awaiting my order's arrival so although I have yet to create any sawdust, I've learned an awful lot from all the posts.
 
Jonathan
P.S. Rumor has it that my order has left Model Shipways and is currently in Opa Locka, FL. Won't be long now!

Railings, Catwalks,
 
Well, it's been a while (again), but some work has taken place and hopefully I can put this baby to bed over the next month or so. It's funny how, as a parent, you think you'll get more free time as your kids get older, but it generally seems to be the opposite that happens. Oh well-they're only young once and soon enough they'll be rolling their eyes at me!
So the first thing I took care of was the railings. I've had them made for quite some time, but was hesitant to install them until I figured out how to cover the exposed section on the rearmost frame. It's been bugging me for quite some time and finally stumbled upon one of the Triton drawings that gave me a clue.  I took a little artistic license and came up with this (this and rails were made of Indian laurel)...

 
Once that was done, it was time to start on the brackets. The two problems I encountered while making these were cutting thicker brass sheets, blackening them. I used something a bit thicker to add a bit of structural integrity, but didn't feel like sitting there scoring a strip for a half hour (cutting made it curl and bend toward the cutting side). The solution was scoring the strip on the edge of the sheet to the right width a few times with an exacto and a ruler, then bending it off with a pair of cheap welding pliers from harbor freight. Now, they're cheap for a reason- I needed to file the edges so I didn't mar the brass, but after that worked well. I think at some point I'll cut up some thin rubber strips and glue them into the jaws. Finally I just gave a quick file to cut side of the brass strip and that was that. I decided to solder the brackets, which was a pain without a set of helping hands- so i'd suggest one of those little bases with the alligator clips on them to avoid frustration with this. The second problem was blackening. This thread pretty much sums up my ineptitude without going into it here. The short story is I stink at getting Blacken-It to work and ended up painting them. I wanted to stay away from paint, but the finish with the powder black model RR paint I used looks fantastic. I ended up painting over the bands on the mast also because it looked so good.
Next were the catwalks. i wanted to make them off the model so I could caulk them the same way as the deck. If I did it by laying the planking on the brackets, I was pretty sure I would ham-fist it and break something. The challenge is finding a way to make a gap between planks from end to end but still have it all connected without seeing. The answer ended up being using a slitting blade to add a very small batten to the back. I started with the three long planks and added the battens where the the brackets would be It would be tough to see anyway, but just in case...). Unfortunately I sometimes lack foresight and forgot about the rest of the planks to follow, which is why in the second photo you can see all the other battens. Once the three long planks were battened, I made the next plank and slit them, then added the batten, then rinse-and-repeat fro the next two planks. When it was all done it was waxed, then caulked the same way as the decks (done in maple).
battened, pre-caulking..

back side showing battens...

caulked..

I actually made the edging (Indian laurel) first, so that was probably a bit "cart-before-the-horse," but pretty straight forward. They're made of three pieces then glued together. It's worth noting that I probably gave myself the second "best' cut with an exacto blade (brand new, even!) during this step. I'm glad my wife is a nurse and was able to get me to stop hopping around like a little girl, but was quickly followed by a stern look and a declaration of my future demise from my tools. Moral of the story-be careful.

To install them, I wrestled with what to do with the "open" side of the model-I didn't want a full catwalk, but I also wanted to make it's presence known. I settled on only the edging, which i really like the look of. I'm still not sure if I'll do guns on that side, but if I do it will give a full view of them.
Other than that-the mast has been secured, so the "well-mod" is officially completed, and added the ringbolts for the gun tackle. So really it's only ladders and guns now...let's see if i can get in under 5 years

Thanks for the support, Nic. This was exactly the thought I had. I'm really happy with how smooth and fair it's turned out but if you have any feedback given your experience (I know the second photo's a little blurry so may be hard to give an opinion) I'm all ears for tweaks/improvements as I get started on the other side.
 
I'm already making much quicker process on the right side now that I've figured out a good approach to work across multiple areas at once to get the shape smooth. Having the keel at the right height from the outset is also a big help for round 2.

Anybody contemplating using scalpel blades should consider getting a beefier handle than the stamped metal handles sold for surgery as there is little force used in surgical procedures whereas we tend to exert a bit more force and using the surgical handles gets old real quick.  Borrowed one of those from my wife quickly gave it back and bought the ones shown below.  I use the metal one for fine work and the red one for less critical stuff.  When the metal handle needs a new blade the blade in the red handle is thrown away and it gets the used blade from the metal handle.  The swapped blade is still plenty sharp.  Stropping is routine for blades in my shop.  I still have a bunch of Xacto blades/handles but use the scalpel blades most.
 
Each of the handles below cost less than $7.00 each with the red plastic one costing more than the metal one!    Both were obtained from ebay (with free shipping - the only way I buy on ebay).
 
Kurt

You Rock MrBlueJacket,
i will definitely purchase from you guys as I can see customer service is top notch.
 

Reminder - don't forget to mark your bands before you go any further. Also you'll want to add your garboard and a strake or two above it before too long.

Thanks G.L. I never thought about grain direction, I will definitely remember to take the grain direction into account next time I’m cutting out parts .
Derek

Thanks Jim.  My experience with Lumberyard wasn't very good either.  I reached out to them for African Blackwood, and I felt like it was a huge runaround and not to mention, it almost seemed like when they did actually respond to me, they tried talking me out of it.  
 
I'll take look at Ocooch, they seem to have a bunch of nice wood there.
 
If you're looking for holly and boxwood, try www.inlaybanding.com - very nice seller who was willing to take a custom order from me for ebony.  and milled sheets of it in various specifications.

I’ll second the comments on grain direction, although if the grain is transverse and the matching futtock is longitudinal, the frame should be strong; it’ll look better with longitudinal grain, however.

Welcome to  MSW dooder85 
 
I am relatively new to this hobby and I am so glad that I found this website the people here are very talented and helpful. The forums and build logs are packed with so much information 
Derek

Be Sure to look around and choose a boat the peaks your interest once you find one you can always get honest input from fellow  members 

Billings makes great kits and good instructions on the newer kits I hear . Model ship ways,and Blue Jacket also excellent choices. 
 
Oh and 
All the best 
Derek

I would suggest you buy a kit from a manufacturer that is known for good instructions and prints the Chinese ripoff’s are neither good quality nor good instructions, and they steal the product from good legitimate company’s. Look at some of our sponsors they have great kits available with quality and ease of instructions and I have seen first hand they back there products. Do yourself a favor and trash that kit or send it back.
 

Thanks G.L. I never thought about grain direction, I will definitely remember to take the grain direction into account next time I’m cutting out parts .
Derek

After sanding for a bit I got up enough confidence to assemble the frames to the keel. Now I wait for them to dry .Then I can pull out the spacers and tack in some temporary stiffeners to fair the inside and out .Everything is square and true right now I hope it stays that way once all the clamps and bands are removed. 🤞🏻
 
We shall see what tomorrow brings 

Derek

Be Sure to look around and choose a boat the peaks your interest once you find one you can always get honest input from fellow  members 

Billings makes great kits and good instructions on the newer kits I hear . Model ship ways,and Blue Jacket also excellent choices. 
 
Oh and 
All the best 
Derek