jaerschen

To be able to continue the upper part of the planking the windows at the great cabin had to be built in (they are made up in about the same way as the stern windows described earlier):
 
Midships I have reached now the part where the planks are glued and treenailed only at the relatively thin toptimbers. At midships this is the final height, so at least in this area there is no more danger of breaking the toptimbers:
 

 
For a considerable time I was not sure if I should leave the upper works naturally of if I should paint it. In the end I decided to paint some parts. The geometrical patterns consisting of triangles of different colors which are often shown on Mayflower models are obvioulsy derived from the drawings of Matthew Baker, but were outdated already at the time of the Mayflower. My idea is to stain the upper strakes in red and then paint some yelow friezes onto the stained planks.
Since paint and I are not very good friends (I always fear to spoil my models when I have to apply paint) I tested this at first on a few planks (which are not glued onto the model) to see what it looks like:
 

 
Since this did not look too bad (at least from a distance of several feet) I decided to follow this route (note: no risk - no fun).
The next picture gives an idea how the planned decoration would look on the model (at the aft part the decoration is painted onto a piece of cardboard - not yet the model):
 

 
For the red I intend to use wood stain, for the black strip Chinese ink (which penetrates the wood better than wood stain) and for the yellow acrylic paint)
 
 
 
Klaus
 
 
 

Planking of the underwater hull:
 
At first I installed one plank (which served more or less as a guiding batton) between the keel and the main wale in a way that it was approx. in the middle between keel and main wale at each frames station and taking care that it followed a fair curve.
 

 

 

 
Then I worked from the lower wale down to this plank and then from the keel upwards. Towards the bow the planks have to be reduced in widths and the number of planks has also to be reduced. Some stealers are required to achive this, the first stealer is shown in the follwing pictures:
 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Each plank is treenailed twice at each frame position:
 

 

 


Planking of the underwater hull is finished, I needed 3 stealers in the bow area:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Klaus

 

A bit of extra time at the museum of late has allowed me to get ahead with the Pritt.
 
The counter rim frame is now roughed in and will stay like this until after hull planking, at which time I'll finish fairing it in properly.
 
I've also made a start on the deck beams.  Once these are completed I can start to think about planking the hull.
 
John
 




 
 

hi all
just acouple of photos to show current progress. treenailing of thickstuff and ceiling timbers now done. just started work on lower deck.
 
cheers.....mick

hi all
bit more progress to report. ceiling work finished up to first deck level.....preparing to treenail.
 
pulled some 1mm sqaure pear thru a byrnes drawplate down to no 29  , which appears to correspond to 0.7mm. done a couple a trial fittings and all looks ok.
 
first two deck beams cut to size.....thats it for tonight.
 
cheers....mick

All the problem can't frames have been replaced and rough fairing inside and out has begun.
 
Ben

Fore Cants up to #10 have been installed, now to make #11 with the 2" cast top timber for the forward gunport.

Ben

Thanks Ben and Sjors. Only two coats of paint and when viewed up close you can see the differences
in the coverage. Several more will be needed.
 
Well this is the start of Chapter 5, planking the hull below the wales.
 
Chuck describes how to plank the hull with no drop planks at the bow and no stealers at the stern.
This is something I have never been able to accomplish. The description is very detailed and I'm
hoping to duplicate it.
 
First a paper tick strip was to be made and divide it into 5/32” increments. To keep as many errors
out of this process as possible I made my tick strip from 5/32" graph paper printed on card stock
instead of using a ruler and  pencil and transferring the marks to card stock.
 
 

 

 
 
Next I positioned the strip along bulkheads “1” and “A” and marked the increments. There are a
total of 24 planks so there will be 4 "belts" of 7 planks each.
 
Chuck wrote;
 
I had some yellow pinstripe tape so I used that to mark off the hull belts. After applying the tape and
tweaking to get a smooth even run I sent these pictures to Chuck.
 

 

 

 
His sharp eye caught some runs that weren't the best and sent this back which I used to adjust
the belts run.
 

 
Now I'm off to do the starboard side.

Hi All,
 
Well in case you didn't notice I've been AWOL for a while now. August and the first week of September is really busy at work. 80 hours work weeks with no days off blah, blah blah. Boy that was no fun. I used to be able to do it no problem but now it kicks my butt. So it was work, sleep, dream of working on the Winnie and then back to work.  Once that was over  it was another week or so to catch up around the house with all the things that needed my attention.
 
So I've now looked at MSW and found 11 unread pages in the Kit Build Logs and 4 pages in the Scratch Build Logs. Not to mention, oops I just did, all the other topics!
 
So to all my friends out there I'm sorry I missed posting to your logs for the past 6 weeks and it may take another 6 weeks just to catch up.
 
Now that I've got my whining out of the way here is where I'm at.
 
I have not completed marking all of the bulkheads with the plank locations. That was over 1400 little pencil marks. I'm seeing little dashes in my sleep know.
 

 
I've now started on the planking and here you see my first attempt at spiling a plank. You can see the curve compared to a piece of strip wood.
 

 
 
Well I've now started the planking and will let you know how it goes.

Thank you all for your comments and likes.
 
I was not happy with the way the brass square nuts were looking, so made the decision this morning to replace them with blued steel ones, this entails a bit more work but I prefer the results. the only thing is i also need to make the washers as well now because the nuts on the wood are not good practice.
 
The new steel nuts are first bored then the top surface is shaped with a file as the steel is spinning, then parted off and tapped in the vice, by tapping the nuts after they are parted off I can use the first tap only and there is very little clogging because the tap distance is short. after the nut is tapped then it is put onto a threaded mandrel and buffed. then while still on the mandrel it is heated through the tempering colours until the purplish  blue is reached then quenched in water and then oiled.
 

 
I added the leather to the wood blocks and also the retaining screws for holding the wood to the swivel plate.
 

 
There is a few more hours of making the nuts before moving on to the bow supports.
 

 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Build log part 62
 
 
a Little update....
 
 
Nils

At long last the installation of the upper planking is progressing.  After installing most of the planking up to the level of the top of the gun ports I discovered that the height of the lower sill was 2 scale inches too high.  However, I also determined that the height of the bridal port and the last gun port were correct.  To make everything perfect would have required removing all of the spirketing and the string in the waist.  Well, that wasn't going to happen so I did the next best thing.  I raised the sills of the bridal and aft gun ports one inch and lowered everything else one inch.  There was minimal damage to the appearance inside the hull with this approach.  In the first picture it looks like the aft port is too low.  This is an optical illusion caused by the narrowing distance between the main wale and the bottom of the gun port as one moves aft.  I removed the gun port liner after the outer planks were installed to get a better edge.  The pictures show some of them reinstalled.  I have tapered the thickness of the planking to 2 1/2".  The sheer plank will be 3".  I still have to finish sand the planks, reinstall the rest of the gun and sweep port liners and finish the opening for the sweep ports inside the hull.  The scrapes in the main wale paint will be addressed when all of the hull planking is completed.
 

 

 

I believe Guy (The Leaner) and I (and possibly others) have frames 27 and 28 incorrect. I blame it on the frame jig. ;-)  These frames turn inward at the stern if you lay them in using the jig. In reality they need to go almost straight back in line with frame 26 and the outer stern timbers. Daniel got it right - good job Daniel!
To fix mine I had to “break the bones” of the top 1/3 of the frames and re-set them at the proper angle. This, of course makes for a nasty looking frame piece but this area is merely a support structure for planking so no one will ever know.  I had to add some extra wood to the outside edge of frame 28 and will need to do a lot of grinding to the inside portion of that frame as well to make it all line up. Wish I would have caught that sooner. On a side note, I do not have a problem with the bulge that was discuss in a different forum topic. This seems to be just a matter of sanding correctly, not the fault of the drawing.
In the below pictures there are before and after shots from above to show the difference. The last one is Wang’s model with arrows showing the mistake, er, incorrectness. All will line up correctly after planking so pardon the odd bends and warped look to the whole thing. Bending wood into the final shape you want is part of the process for me. I couldn't cut a straight line if my life depended on it. ;-)
Just thought I would get that out there to help other folks who might not notice until too late.
 
Richard

Yeah for me...after 11 days and 3 tries, the hawse timbers are cut, assembled, shaped, and installed.  They still need lots of sanding but it's best (from my point of view) to blend into the framing plus there's an inside curve down down low that becomes the outside curve as it rises.  I'm thinking it's best to try it this way.
 
There's also still a ton of fairing to do and I want that done and out of the way before attacking the stern.   So the next update my be awhile. 
 
I'm debating whether to drill out the hawse ports or put in the plugs and leave the anchors unrigged.  My reasoning is that I'm considering full rigging and sails for this one.
 

I didn't update my log after my last regular visit to the museum as when I got there I found that I'd forgotten to pack the wood I needed to continue building!
 
I therefore spent most of the day talking to visitors and having cups of coffee in the members lounge!
 
On Friday I had some extra time at the museum desk so was able to do a bit of work on the 'counter rim frame' - pearling lugger jargon.  This is the frame that runs around the counter at deck level and onto which both the hull and deck planking butts.
 
Because it is fitted into the aftermost frames at deck level, fitting it is largely a case of 'suck it and see' (or trial and error).  So the roughed out frame is now glued and dowelled to the two aftermost frames ready for shaping.  By the time I'm at the museum next Wednesday the glue will be nicely cured and ready to work on.
 
The photos are, I think, pretty self explanatory.  The final one shows the typical kicked up stern of the Thursday Island luggers.
 
John
 




 

Another very small update. 
 
Last time I was in the museum I temporarily abandoned the deck clamps in favour of starting to fit the bilge stringers, as one of the other model makers came in and wanted to photograph the process of inserting treenails for an article he was writing and the bilge was easier for his camera focus.
 
What with photos, yarning about model making and an extended lunch in the museum café, I didn't get much done!  
 
John
 

Unfortuneatly it has been a while since my last post but I have progressed steadily, though slowly, I think.
 
I finally got the basic shape of the bulkheads before cutting out the middle of them. I then decided to strengthen them by adding strips of wood either side. However, they were still too delicate and in order to sand the sides safly.I then added the lower gun deck as 3 sections. I used a 2cm wide strip down the middle into which I drilled out the holes for the masts. I next built up the sides using balsa strips. While doing this i created the gun ports by adding birch strip on top or below each layer as well as on the ends of the inner sections. Once this was completed i now have a sturdy structure which can be easily sanded to the final shape. I am not happy with the supports for the upper gun deck i left on the bulkheads and so have removed them. Instead I shall fit 2mm strips and add the beams accross them.
 
My next task is to add the stern filler blocks and then start the planking.This will be followed by construction of the stern galleries. My plan for these is to build from the poop deck downwards and finnish with the entire stern section fitting behind the final bulkhead and removing that part of the false keel. That is the plan though it is not finalised yet.  

Thanks Grant and Pat.
 
filing the square in the spanshackles must have been 'fun'
 
Not too bad, but I'm rather glad I decided to only do the ONE .
 
Wooldings
 
My 0.3mm black rigging line has turned up from Chuck, so I can continue with the Wooldings. The pics below show the sequence of fitting them so they can't come untied :
 

 

 

 
The upper bands were then fitted :
 

 

 
  Danny

And thank you John .
 
All the Wooldings and Bands are done. There is only one on the Mizzen Mast :
 

 

 
  Danny

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 83 – Toptimbers/Middle Deck Framing
 
It has been almost two weeks since the last post.  In that time, work was done to prepare the toptimbers for final alignment and the framing of the middle deck was completed.
 
After aligning the toptimbers around the curved stern, all of the rest and upper futtocks – except those at the forecastle – were cut off and adjusted to their final heights.  Toptimbers on the odd numbered frame lines were cut back to the planksheer line.  The first picture shows the way the height gauge was used to set the tops of the timbers.
 

 
A strip of wood was taped to the top of the gauge arm.  The heights of the fancy rail and the planksheer were then set from the drawing for each frame and the heights on the model adjusted to match with a flat file.  Each timber was filed horizontally until the gauge arm just slid over the top.  The picture shows some of the toptimbers cut off.  The tops of the frames are now ready for final fairing and installation of rails and outer planking.
 
The clamps for the cabin deck were dubbed off and the stern hook for that deck made and installed as shown in the next picture.
 

 
This short “mezzanine” deck is the next to be framed after completion of the decking and inboard planking above the middle deck.  The next picture was taken during framing of the middle deck – specifically the installation of lodging knees and ledges.
 

 
Some of the port side lodging knees have yet to be installed.  The picture shows all of the toptimber work completed.  The next pictures show some steps in setting ledges.
 

 
In this picture a score for the ledge is being cut into the lodging knees at the side with a small chisel.  The scores in the carlings were cut earlier with a triangular file.  In the next picture a ledge has been fit into the lodging knee score and is being measured for its final fit.
 

 
The last picture shows the completed framing of the middle deck.  It will now be sanded fair.
 

 
Work on the middle deck waterways will be next.
 
 Ed

Hi Juergen,
 
I just caught uo with your HMS Leopard, a lovely build, and a pleasure to watch it grow...
 
Nils

Thank you for your words Juergen,
 
I`m happy that you like it.
I just had an Update look into your very fine looking HMS Leopard, thats a great build
 
Nils

Could you tell me the result please. It's very interesting for me-
 
And now to the idea from Mark
 
I sanded the Main Wales about days and following this I used black stain.
 
How shall I put it?
You are right Mark, it looks mutch better. Thank you, the effort paid off.

 
In fact it's much better to seen as at the photos.
 
And also I planked the Lower Counter

Hi Niklas and Adam, thanks for the kind words.
 
It's going on with the Main Wale. I done it in the same manner as John McKay is shown at his plans.
I made two templates at first because I must produce many equal pieces.

 
Also it must drawn the postion of the Main Wales to the Frames.

 
Thereafter began the agony

 
Here's the result

 
Juergen

Hi Nils
 
I finally had time again to read the posts on MSW. Your Pegasus is looking great and also your other models