native one

Been working on the getting the ships steering put together,made up the pulleys and some scale rope, made the ships steering wheels drum and positioned it where it would be so I can get the rope tension right,everything seems to line up and now I need to make the tension pulleys that run down the side of the tiller ,I deviated on the plans a bit on the first set of pulleys that are right under the orlop deck,they called for them to be set parallel with the center line of the ship but everytime I put pressure on the line the rope jumped off the pulley,so I decided to give them a slight offset, now the lines run alot smoother back to the second set of pulleys. 

Cold weather has come around in my part of the world,so time to pull the dust cover off the Mahonesa's and resume working her,not much has been done,still working on the gundeck beams and building the gratings,need to build a different stand so I can mount the rudder and began working on the tiller and sweep.

Finished the officers quarters and now making grates to cover the hatches,and start working on the enclosure around the mainmast and pump tubes.

Finished making up all the deck beams and now I am beginning to work on making the officers quarters, 

Finally finished planking the interior of the hull,then proceeded to the stern to began building the bulwark that separates the gunner room from the rest of the officers quarters, then realized I  need the deck beams temporarily in so I can build the  walls of the rooms up to and around the beams.

Finished nailing off the deck,built the hatchways for the coal storage and access to the light room and powder magazine, have the first three deck beams made up in the bow so I can secure the posts for the riding bitts and the bowsprit support 

Finally came to an decision on how much deck I was going to leave off,just enough so you can view some of the lower deck structure but I retained enough in the stern area so when I get around to building the bulwarks and quarters there will be enough decking underneath to give them support,now for the tedious job of nailing the deck off.

So I  have decided to leave some of the decking of the orlop off so people can see the deck framing and hopefully some of the rooms in the hold,but not to much , I  would like the rooms and bulwarks in the stern to have a solid base under them.

For the stern and bow my model never left the build board so I could retain my extreme breadth line which helped keep it at the width the frames needed to be set at,and by drawing the frame locations on the upper board made it easier to keep the cant frames evenly spaced.

Finished putting in the ledges and began planking the center between the binding strakes,now I need to decide if I am going to completely plank it or leave some of it unplanked to view the deck underneath.

Began the decking of the orlop deck,beginning with the binding strakes notching them into every beam and leaving them thick enough so there is room for the ledges to be notched into them.

A scroll saw  is very useful especially when it comes to cutting out all the pieces for the frames,11 total for each frame for the Mahonesa's. 

Before starting on the decking of the orlop I decided to plank between the waterway and spirketing in the stern of the ship,kind of a tricky task on the Mahonesa's because the waterway starts out nearly flat then makes a gradual climb towards the deck clamps,the bend of the planking in the stern area is so much that I had to make templates for every piece then cut each piece out of thicker material then sand in the curve top and bottom before fitting them in place.

Finished the waterway that sits right up against the hull,and pretty much just been in the shop milling up all the lumber in preparation for doing the deck.

After a long break due to my job and the days getting shorter I am back in the shipyard able to continue on the Mahonesa's, filled in the planking between the gunports and continuing with the deck beams of the orlop deck,and finished up the storage rooms in the bow of the ship.

finished all the storage rooms in the rear of the hold,then milled out all the two piece beams midship, still need to mark out and cut in all the notches in the beams for the carlings, began working on the storage rooms in the forward part of the hold,alot of metal work in this area because of the four doors in this area.

With the deck down in the hold done,I can began building the storage rooms,towards midship the beams are two piece which are milled out then fine tuned with files,not very complicated work to be done but  i ⁹really have to pay attention to where parts of the deck beams cut thru the walls in places.

Planked the floor  in the hold, now to began construction of the storerooms that fill in that part of the hold,and still need laders down to light room and powder magazine,but first I'll probably need to put in some more deck beams of the orlop deck so I can tell which ones cut thru the walls of the storage rooms.

Finally finished the pump well and mounted it permanently, there are two beams in the hold that go thru the pump well and they have to be placed so the front one is right in front of the mast when it is put in and the rear one that  the down tube for the chain pumps has to sit against,took me some time to get them exactly  where they go but I  got them,then I  moved on up to the front of the hold and installed the forward platform which numerous storage rooms will be built,and with the pump well in place I  was able to continue building the beam supports for the orlop deck.

Finished putting  together  the  pump  well and got the the shot locker mounted in the front of it,just need to install  the handles for the sliding access doors.

Began working on the middle part of the hold,and started putting together the pump well with it's access doors and ladders still needs the shot locker attached to the front,cut out and put in the Sampson posts.

There wasn't much room in the powder magazines of the Mahonesa's as shown by my scale guy,very tight quarters to be maneuvering around in.

The last bulwark to put in the powder magazine was for storage of the cartridges, then the hatchways,there just sitting on there framework for now,they are actually mounted on top of the decking.

Welcome aboard.