AnobiumPunctatum

Thanks for the likes, the comments, and the ideas.
 
Carl, I think you might be onto something. I never thought about coming in from the top.  I'll take another look this week and see.  
 
Pat, I seem to recall that build also... too many years ago,.. <sigh>  Oh yes, I'm logging the lessons.
 
 
Here's the rudder in it's not quite or maybe it is, final form.  (Rudder coat notwithstanding).  I've added the strop and the chains.   Now that's back in it's jig, I'm going to attend to several things...  the rudder coat install from the top, the carvings <takes a deep breath>, the quarter galleries, and a bit if finishing up the sanding on the inside of the hull.
 
And the pictures.  I'm pretty happy with it even with some issues that the macro brings up..  
 

 

 

Made a support jig to install the hull in an upright position.
It is a first time I see it this way, very, khm, unusual! Like it is upside down. Or, hold on, right side up? Very confusing after working on the inverted hull for little bit more than 1.5 years..

 

 

 

 

 
The jig is simple and surprisingly stable. I was planning to add a diagonal braces to it to increase stability, but looks like it is not necessary. 
 
Now it even looks much bigger when stored right side up

 
Ok, so now I do not have any more excuses, time to fair the inside of the hull. See you in a few dusty weeks!

Skylights and Ship's Wheel
 
I've been on a several month hiatus from model building, during which progress has been rather slow. However, over the last few weeks, I have been able to get back to my project. Here are the latest results....
 
  The Skylights
 
HMS Erebus and Terror each had two skylights located on the aft of the upper deck. Both follow a design originally adopted by HMS Terror in 1836.  The sides of the skylights were rimmed with panes of glass to allow sunlight into the captain’s cabin and officer’s mess. Unusually, their tops had no peak or even a slight camber – attributes confirmed by the daguerreotype and the NMM model of Erebus. Interestingly, the daguerreotype indicates that the panes were not protected by brass rods as was standard on many Royal Navy vessels of the era – an indication of the peaceful aims of  the expedition. In addition, the aft skylight on HMS Trincomalee, which is very similar to those used on HMS Erebus and Terror, provided important details for my recreation. 
 
The 1836/1837 and 1839 plans for Terror/Erebus indicate the skylights may have had collapsible sides, at least on the starboard. This would have permitted ventilation, if necessary, though the plans seem to indicate the ultimate aim was to enable the skylights to be used as makeshift companionways.  In this scenario, it is likely the roofs of the skylights would have been removable. I opted not to model these aspects of the skylights, as I had no information on how these features were designed.
 

Laser cutting the wheel components.
 
 
Comparing the parts to the plans.
 

Preparing the plastic stock for the windows. I use electronic
blister packaging for this. It is crystal clear, quite thin, does not discolour
in the sun, and is easy to work. 
 

The window panes were inlaid as one strip. I 
scoured and sanded the interior to simulate
window frost (and to obscure the inside of the POB ship). 
 

The completed skylights.
 

 

Mini-Crozier stands next to the his skylights. 
 

 
 
The Ship’s Wheel
 
The 1836/1837 and 1839 plans of HMS Terror and Erebus show that their wheels were slightly smaller than those typically used on Royal Navy ships, being more consistent with those used on merchant vessels of similar size. The recently recovered portion of  Erebus’ wheel, as well as the Le Vesconte daguerreotype, reveal that the wheel itself was relatively plain and was held together by copper alloy screws or nails. Fine examples of this type of  wheel can be found today on HMS Unicorn and HMS Trincomalee. Trincomalee’s wheel isperhaps closest in design, with distinctive grooved felloes nearly identical to those on the HMS Erebus wheel found by Parks Canada.
 
Like most large Royal Navy vessels, Erebus and Terror’s wheels had ten spokes, each radiating at 36 degrees from the barrel. Usually, survey vessels ships of this size would have had an eight spoke wheel; the extra spokes would have substantially increased the strength of such a small wheel, and perhaps it was deemed necessary for arctic exploration.
 
The Le Vesconte daguerreotype indicates that the top of the wheel pedestals were protected by a very heavy moulded brass guard plate. This can be confirmed by the subtle reflections seen on the plate in the daguerreotype. HMS Trincomalee has similar heavy copper guard plates on its wheel pedestals.
 
 

Laser cutting the wheel components.
 

Th finished sheet. 
 

I used the wheel plan to assemble a building jig. 
 

The completed jig. 
 

Gluing the felloes. 
 

Creating the outer groove in the felloes. The same
procedure was used for the inner groove.
 

The rim was notched to receive the spokes. 
 

I don't own a lathe, so each spoke was laser cut 
from sheet stock, then filed into final shape. 
 

Assembling the wheel. The card stock allows for 
the spokes to be centered on the rim. 
 

Spokes in position. 
 

The completed wheel with a 10 cent piece for scale. 
 

The second wheel compared to the first. 
 

The barrel was made from three pieces of sheet stock, 
and filed to final shape. 
 

Gluing the barrel to a wheel, using the spindle as a guide. 
Note the damage on the barrel - caused by a dull blade. 
 

The completed pedestals, with the brass guards in place. Limited information 
on the pedestal hubs was available, so here they are made as simple brass tubes.
​They are barely visible in the completed assembly. 
 

The completed ship's wheel, after applying a coat of Minwax poly.
 

 
 
 
As always, for more content, please see my blog, Building HMS Terror.  
 
 

For the coachwork there are numerous repetitive ornamental mouldings. The first of these to produce is a five-reeded column. This is ⅛" wide, so it was tricky to work. I used a micro-milling cutter (Proxxon) on my mill using an x-y table to incrementally cut reeds into the stock. Also required were columnar capitals. Again, two different micro-milling cutters were used. One was a flat-bottomed cutter, the other a very small ball cutter. These produced a fair imitation of the design. 
 
The millwork is gradually being built up on the pattern piece. The pattern will be integrated into the coach, as the assembly will be painted when completed. The outer corners still need to be bevelled. Each column consists of three pieces. The reeds are stopped; that is to say, they do not extend the whole length of the column. Plain pieces of stock are grafted on the top and bottom to produce the effect of stopped reeding. In addition, there are small fielded panels in the column bases. These were cut in using a scalpel and a micro chisel. The panels in the doors and on either side were added using stock a scale ⅜" thick. 

This is normal. Your woods for the keel and false keel are of different species and absorb/give off moisture at different rates. You need to secure the assembly to your building board. As the build progresses, things will stabilize.

Sunday 27 March 2016
First opportunity to work on the model since last weekend.
Let me start by saying how extremely happy I've been with last weekends work.
 
I made a new scraper and threw that one out.  Filing the cutting edge was a problem for me.
Devised a new method using my dremel and a cutting wheel.  This worked much better.
 


 
Cut the rabbet on one side of the keel.  As everything has been going too well I kept double checking because I knew this was all going too well.  Was I cutting the wrong side? Nope!  So far so good.
Cut the rabbet on the other side... was I doing this one wrong? Nope! How did I manage that?
 

 
Glued the false keel to the keel... did I glue it to the top instead of the bottom?  Nope?  Did I put it on backwards? Was it the right section?  No and Yes... still going well.
 


 
Marked the bolt hole locations in the keel scarph joints.  Made a paper template and used my scratch awl to dimple the marks through... looked awful.  Filled that in with wood glue and sawdust and tried again with a pin.  Still awful.  Made a metal template and tried again.  Still awful.  I have a centering tool but hadn't used it as the punch is pretty large.  Possibly if tapped lightly it would be okay, it worked.  Insert the magnifying cross hair piece to line it up to the mark, remove that and insert the punch and give it a wee little love tap.... repeat...  they look great.  Alignment is perfect.  Marked all these bolt hole locations.
 



 
I knew all was going to well.
 
The keel that was straight all week is now warped!!!!  Lifted up almost 3/8" (1cm).
 
How did this happen?
Any ideas what I should do now?
I cannot soak it as the false keel will unglue.
I've presently have it set up with weights and am attempting to counter bend it.
 
Any ideas?

Completed my first attempt at a keel rabbet V-notch scraper.
 
I used a piece of a left over ceiling tile perimeter L support frame.
Laid out the keel side and top surface lines.
Marked of the 4" thickness of the planks = thickness of the notch (OMG it is tiny)
Punched and drilled a 1/16" diameter hole slightly off centre, more so inboard then outboard.
 

 
I folded over the tabs so a soft edge would contact both the top and side of the keel.
 

 
Rough cut the V cutting edge with some tin snips, filed one side and ground down the other with my dremel.
 

 
It took about 15 or so passes to get a good deep notch and it doesn't look half bad!
 
The notch should be closer to the top of the keel... I guess I was a little too heavy with the dremel.
I might try a spacer to pull the notch closer or make a new scraper.
 
I'll need to sleep on this.

Wonderful, Mike.
How do you want to cut the rabbet on the keel?

Christian, it is only cut on the side that would be fully planked. No rabbet on the other side, for aesthetics reasons.

Wonderful, Mike.
How do you want to cut the rabbet on the keel?

Wonderful, Mike.
How do you want to cut the rabbet on the keel?

Finished fairing the exterior of the hull:
 

 

 
No finish applied yet.
 
First time I show the hidden side of it

 

It is the port side, it would be fully planked and fully hidden - hence no iron bolts, very rough fairing and less attention to the frame alignment - ended up adding strips of wood to patch the low spots. 
 
Now need to make a frame to support the hull in an inverted position (keel down), to be able to comfortably work with the internals of the hull. Internal fairing would be fun!
 

Thank you for the "likes" and the comments.
 
Well.. to paraphrase Clement Moore...  "The rudder was hung on the sternpost with care in hopes that I won't pull out my hair".   Yeah.. bad verse.. Oh well.
 
This part took some sorting out on exactly how to hang it properly rather than sort of cobbled like I did the kit models...   Thank heavens for the Optivisor as the holes for the bolts were pretty tiny.  I've half a mind to build the next one at 1:48 or 1:36 even just so I can see without eyestrain.  Like the Admiralty would be receptive to that.     
 
Next up will be the rudder coat (hopefully), the strop, and the chains.   Thanks to seeing Giampero's rudder coat, he gave me some ideas on how the Licorne's should look.  
 
Anyway, pictures.....
 
  

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 154 – Quarter Davits
 
It seems like a while since the last post.  Progress has been slowed by research, documentation and drafting for the rigging.  However, about a week ago the last of the four boats was completed and since then the quarter davits have been made and fitted.  The first picture shows the completed 22’ cutter that will be secured to the starboard davits.
 

 
The 6 sweeps were made from drawn bamboo flattened at one end.
 
The quarter davits were secured outside the hull just aft of the main channels.  The forward davits were supported by the channels.  The aft pair were held by iron brackets.  One of these and its bolt is shown in the next picture.
 

 
This is a top bracket – longer to account for the inward slope of the sides.  The lower brackets are shorter with a hole only in the top.  All were made from the brass rectangular section shown in the picture.  In the next picture a lower bracket is being installed.
 

 
The rails were mortised to fit these.  The next picture shows the top end of one of the davits in the lathe after cleanup of the solder and rounding of the top bearing.
 

 
The ends were fashioned by the method used for the poop handrail stanchions.  The next picture shows one of these shaped.
 

 
After cutting to size, this davit was fitted as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The next picture shows both starboard davits fitted with their hooks installed.
 

 
The last picture shows all four davits.
 

 
These will probably be blackened to simulate iron, but I have not decided.  They appear black in one of the photos.  I will probably put these into storage with the boat until later.  There is quite a bit of rigging to be installed along the rails that will best be done with maximum access.  The above picture shows a break in the belaying pins that extends almost the length of the boats.  Pins forward of the six at the forward end of the space will extend uninterrupted all the way to the cargo opening and virtually all will be used.  There were a lot of sails on one of these ships.  A half dozen square sails per mast, an equal number of studding sails on the forward masts, plus quite a few fore and aft sails.  While I do not intend to install sails, I do plan to install most of their rigging, excluding most of the studding sail rigging and other items like staysail sheets.  I expect access to be an issue.
 
Ed
 

Now to catch up with the build progress.
First checking and final adjustments to the top and bottom gunport sills.

 
Next I planked above the wales.

 
And the planking is done. Sanded to 320 but no finish applied yet. It's amazing how nasty it looks before it's done.
The final fitting of the gunports will be done after the interior is planked.

 
The visible ribs are finished. There is one coat of sanding sealer and so far and two coats of an oil finish. I'm using Woodstock Oil Finish. It's made for gun stocks but I'm not sure it's available anymore. I got this bottle over twenty years ago. This picture shows the difference with and without the oil finish added.

 
Finally for today the stringers. All of them are made of two pieces side by side.


 
That's it for today. Hopefully I'll get the planking below the first hangar done tomorrow. It depends on whether she who must be obeyed has anything planned.
 
Thanks for looking
 
Mark 
 
 
 

I've started planking one side. This side will be fully planked. The other will show the ribs below the waterline. All of these are the same size because they will be covered with copper plate.

 
 

The planking below the wales is finished.
 

starboard side
 

port side
 
Now it goes outside to be sanded.
 
Thanks for all the likes. It's nice to know someone is watching!!
 
Mark
 
 
 
 

Thank you, Hakån. I now intend to use a toned rather than pure black. The latter would look too intense at this scale.
 
This morning I performed surgery successfully on the planking and frames in the coach section. The end patterns for the coach have also been cut and fitted. Elastic bands hold the model to the pedestals temporarily.
 
There was some hesitation on my part as to the completeness of the draught. The side windows showed no indication of panes. Were they open spaces? In the 1830's modern sheet glass techniques had not yet been invented. Only spun glass was available for glazing, limiting pane size. The height of these openings was 19". Most panes during this time period were only about 15" high at most. I finally found a reference to spun glass panes that said the maximum dimension of these was about 23". Therefore I have the confidence to install single, large panes along the sides of the coach. Of course, these would have been expensive, showing off the Commissioners' importance and rank.

Does exist a description how do you paint the baseboard? Or can you make a small how to? I like it very much.

Really interesting solutions. That's a very consequent way, to build your model. Well done.

Sharp eyes, Elijah.  Thank you Johann.
 
I was able to finish up one of the cannon today.  Only seven more to go!
 

 

 

 
 
 
 

The rest of the cannon have been rigged and mounted!
 

 

 

 

Really interesting solutions. That's a very consequent way, to build your model. Well done.

Does exist a description how do you paint the baseboard? Or can you make a small how to? I like it very much.

Hello,
 
Meanwhile I could made some progress on the hull and finished the work on the stem by sanding down and rounding the fore part and cutting the rabbit. Next I have to work on the stern constructions and the transoms. Additionally, I have changed the mast position approx 3/16" respectively 1ft forward. CC has shift it aft to an acceptable range as the lower end of the main mast would directly go through the cross section 1. I am sure they made the decision to keep the kit as simple as well as practicable, even to rookies in this wonderful hobby.
 
Have a nice Sunday,
Daniel