jaerschen

It has been over a year since i have posted on my build.  I will post some pictures of the current state of my build.  Work has kept me very busy.
I am working on the forecastle area of the Triton since that seems to me to be the easier than then the stern with all of quarter galliries and stern
windows.  I will add some pictures that show the hawse holes, quarterdeck timbers and catheads.

here are a few pictures.

Thank you my friends, for taking interest in, I am really touched.
Even I don't make any update and comment so often I always keep following your beautiful handiworks...

She's looking very nice after final sanding Ray.
The book from Rif Winfield of 50th is good investment. My main concern is also the ornate carving, but that will go off all right.

Thanks Guys
 
Christian your cutter is progressing well
 
Ben! the cant frames are actually very easy to install but just one at the time, as they are difficult to clamp except with the fingers! I actually thought of gluing a small angled piece of wood onto the frame and deadwood to assist the clamping
 

 
 
 

Much thanks Danny. Your explanation will be a great help.

Thanks very much Alexander.
 
Slowly but constant. Here's a new update.
I added the Channel Wale and planks between the Main Wale and the Channel Wale.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, a few days has turned into a few weeks.  I received my cup burrs.  They do a nice job of smoothing the ends of brass "bolts".  There are several sizes available, depending on the gauge of the wire.  I purchased my from Widget Supply, a company that sells hobby supplies.  While on the site I found a great sanding devise, a 1/2" disc sander for the Dremel with several grits.  I used to get these from Micromark, but they stopped selling them last year.  The disc sander is perfect for outside tapers and when you want a less aggressive sander than the drum sander.  I have no connection to the company, simply a pleased customer.
 

 
I have installed beam set 4.  Notches have been cut into the bulkhead walls for the carlings and ledges.  I am much happier with the bolt head on the fore mast partner after rounding them up and painting them.  Blackening was not possible in situ and I was pleased with how it turned out.  The hole in the deck aft of beam 5 is for the pin of the bit.
 

 

The hand is mostly healed so I was able to get a little work done this weekend.
 
The fore mast partner is located between beams 2 and 3.  Unlike the lower deck, the fore and main partners on the upper deck are complicated affairs.  The carlings are let into the beam from below but stop one inch below the top of the beam.  Fore and aft cross chocks are mortised into the carlings and the beams.  Finally, the four corner chocks  are mortised into the cross chocks and the carlings.  The cross chocks have a round-up to match the beams.  A total of 32 bolts hold this assembly together.  Sorry for the picture quality but these were taken before I finish sanded and cleaned up the assembly.  The blue discoloration is from the droplet of blackener I put on one of the bolts that was damaged during insertion.  I put plain water on the area later and it is not longer a problem.
 

 

 

 

 
The completed assembly is glued to beam 3 but dry-fit to beam 2.  The brass wire will keep the assembly in place as I make the knees and carlings.  You can see that the blue color is gone.
 

 

 
I have started work on the beam 3 assembly.  The lodging knees are attached to the beam but everything else is simply press fit in place.  I was lucky enough to have bright sun to take pictures in.  Yes, I know, light overcast is best to prevent shadows.  But sunlight picks up gaps and other irregularities better.  You can see the difference between beam set 2, which is finished and glued and beam set 3 which is still in the "rough" stage.
 

 

Good afternoon everyone
Got some progress done on my build today, the bow work continues, - all the gun port lids are rigged on the port side, and the head timbers are looking a lot tidier tonight,  I have still to put a set door on the very forward middle gun deck opening, she always looks a lot nicer in daylight, than my man shed, of which I am going to put a window in possibly in the next couple of weeks
Also I sent a bit of time cleaning some of the tiles, with fresh brasso, and as a result, I have managed to clear a lot much surplus glue from the tiles, I am well happy

Well I thought I would just quickly update the results of my re-doing of the mizzen crowsfeet (and adding the crowsfeet on the main mast). Thanks to Alistair for the encouragement & BE for the tips on materials.
 
Now that this is figured out I can finally move ahead - first to the main topmast and then to the foremast shrouds & stays and on and on....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

Hey all!
Did some progress on the gallery sculptures. I try to get a slightly uneven look of them like the placement on the original ship, that I think looks very full of life and almost organic. I sanded and reshaped the figures quite alot to get a better fit and look more in scale with the model. (Still need to repaint some details after gluing them on the ship.)
 
 
/Matti
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi Peter,
 
That contemporary painting of Pickle by Robert Dodd does indeed show the Foremast vertical and the Mainmast with rake.
When I spoke to Richard Wright at Jotika he said that the painting was the main source of information for the placing of the gaff above the crossjack yard. They obviously didn’t also take the relative mast positions into account.
 
I always thought the Foremast was set a little far back but I spent hours staring at schooners in several books and came to the conclusion that the mast positions varied greatly and there were examples very similar to the Pickle kit set up.
 
Colin White the Curator of the Naval Museum has stated As far as we have been able to tell, no plans of Pickle survive and none of the many paintings she appears in can be considered definitive.
 
The Naval museum model of the Pickle  commissioned in 1968 is also at variance with what we know of Pickle in terms of the armament and doubts have been raised that the model  truly represented her. There is a suggestion that it was based on the plans of HMS Haddock.
 
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/85908.html
 
Colin White is also said to believe that the model was not intended to be “Pickle“, rather a close representation of a naval schooner of that period.
 
This is partly because of the inconclusive research available when the model was made and partly because the model is very unlike any smart cutter, as “Sting” was described, of the period.
Significantly, by the late 18th century “smart cutters” were built with finer lines than those of the model.
 
For those who may not have seen the Naval Museum model here's a few photos taken for me by my  friend Chris (chrism as on the old MSW) as part of my research for the build.

 

The set up with the bitts is different to the kit, and there is no windlass.
 

There is just one small jolly boat set centrally, the set up not particularly well done I thought.
 

She is fitted with eight carronades and two carriage guns, not what is recorded as the Pickle ordnance.
 

 
As with many things to do with our interest there are more questions than answers, and even the ‘experts’ can’t always agree.
 
All of this is of course academic as what we are dealing with here is a beginner level kit that most builders accept at face value and it does make up into an attractive model with more than a nod to a schooner of the period.
 
Jotika may be at fault by claiming that the kit is an exact scale model designed using original Admiralty plans , which infers that the plans were of Pickle without clarifying that they didn’t specifically mean Pickle, but  plans of a schooner of the period. There are a lot worse examples in other kit manufacturers claiming a real history for none existent ships.
 
I have seen working boats of the sort of Pickle dimension with the small jolly boat parked on the side, but I also think centrally placed would be better. Pickle was said to carry a cutter and a jolly boat.
 
On the model there is just enough room to fit a scale 16’ cutter (Jolly boat) between the Mainmast and the Galley chimney, and I could have placed the smaller boat in that position.
 
I still like Pickle as a model and the foregoing would not put me off building it.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.
 
 

...

The final and the third party of photos from the big update...

Gangways
 
The gangways have now also been planked and the 5x2mm beech has been used to make the rail which joins up the quarter and forecastle decks just the inner batten to add and varnish.
 
One side done

 

 
Both sides planked
 

 

Quarter deck planking
 
 
Next I have planked the quarter deck same method used as before and I joggled the planks as I did on the forecastle.
 
Planking started

 
Half way

 
Nearly done

 
Quarter deck planked

 

 

 

The quarter deck open rails have now been completed, and also, the top rail across the top of the stern has also been added, and some more of the the side decoration strips have been added, just a bit of paint touching up is required.
 
Completed open quarter deck rails

 

 

 

 
Stern  rail
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

The quarter deck open rails
 
 
I looked at the photos in my books and worked out a hight for the top rail, and then drew out a template, (see photo), which would give me good idea of what it would look like,  I also used the template to cut out the uprights. Firstly I made a trim to go at the top of the bulwark and under the bottom rail. The bottom and top rails were made from 5x2mm beech which bends really well even after a short soak the uprights were fitted into slots in the bottom rail which when they were all made were painted and glued on, the top rail was bent to shape, and all the upright positions marked, the rail was then drilled to just under the breaking through point,and then cynoed onto the uprights, one down one to do.
 
Rail profile drawn out

 
trim added under bottom rail


 
bottom rail

 
bottom rail and uprights

 
Top rail ready to fit

 
Top rail fitted

some progress on the cabin, its almost done now. The beams are in place, gunrack placed and I made the rack with tin plates:
 
 
 

 
best,
Michiel

Holiday over ~~~ back to ship building  
 
Them pesky little fenders don't look all that much clinging there to the sides of the ship, but they sure provide some fun tweaking them to get them to match the curves of the hull !
 

 

 
Some structural work has been done in preparation for the foredeck beams and planking.
Some partitioning 'dry positioned' on upper deck >>>
 

 

 
. . . and the rough blank for the aftmost beam 'dry positioned' >>>
 

 
Now for the fun of preparing the catheads and the beakhead bulkhead
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I've gone back to my Nemesis!
I've still to re-work the stern window frames, but I have started to fashion some spindles rather than the square section balusters I had made previously.
 
I did not think that I could create such small spindles as shown on my drawing ~ and while I still can't create exact replicas down to that scale I hope that I can get closer than before.
I decided to have a try at Christian's suggestion and used my drill as a lathe. I used toothpicks/cocktail sticks so they were already round, but at almost 2mm they are too thick so needed to be reduced in diameter. 
I couldn't make the thinnest part of the spindles any less than about 0.75mm - 0.85mm as they just wouldn't survive at less than that.  I had a few failures even at that thickness. (or should that be 'thin-ness'?) 
 
Here's what I attempted >>> 
 


 
 

What a beautiful work Ed!
 
Every single part is so well explain that in some way is like reading a book in fascicles delivered every single week…
 
I just could not resist to attached some pics from Charles G. David´s book (The Built-Up Ship Model). Has nothing to do with the YA but are quite inspirational pictures. The size of the ship is going to be amazing and fully framed!
 
Best wishes.
 
 
Daniel.
 

 

 

 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 7 – Stem and False Stem
I decided to do the stem next because I still have some checking to do on the drawings of the sternpost.

The first picture shows the four pieces involved.  They are all sided 16" - same as the keel.



In this picture the gripe and the false stem have already been assembled. Once the pieces were cut out and trimmed to their final shapes, the patterns were removed to permit close fitting of the joint. The two stem pieces in this picture have been cut to “almost” final shape and still have their patterns attached. Once the assembled forward assembly is fit and attached to the keel the stem pieces will be added – lower stem first then upper stem.

The next picture shows the connection to the keel assembly – not yet fit up.



The desired result in fitting this joint is that the false stem adheres to the line on the underlying drawing, and of course, that the joint gripe/keel assembly seams are tight.  The unfinished end of the keel rabbet can be seen in this picture.

The CAD patterns are extremely accurate. On these pieces I cut up to the 1-pixel line before final fitting. I use a disk sander where possible to keep the edges square. The final adjustment of the joint faces was done with a #0 barrette file with many test fitting. Some adjustment is being made in the next picture.

.



In the next picture the back face (port side) of the joint is being checked for fit. The joint will be visible from both sides.



In the next picture the assembly is being glued to the keel while aligned on the drawing. Waxed paper is being used under the glue joints to protect the drawing..



Once the glue has dried and the assembly has been cleaned up, the lower stem is fit into place on the drawing to assure final alignment - as shown below.




The next picture shows the lower stem permanently attached and the upper stem being fitted. Again, patterns have been removed to be able to see the final joint line.




The last picture shows the finished assembly.







The forward edge of the rabbet runs along the joint between the stem and the false stem. Forward of the rabbet the false stem and the gripe taper to a smaller thickness forward – roughly in line with the planking. The rabbet should probably be at least partially cut at this stage.

It is also time to start thinking about bolts.


Ed

The Port Side is at the same progress as the Starboard Side.
I don't make many words because the procedure is the same.
Here some photos of the current progress.