AnobiumPunctatum

The axletrees, brackets, transom and stays temporarily in place below.  The stays are made of copper rather than brass so I can blacken them in situ with liver of sulfur.  In general I prefer to use copper rod, wire, and sheet rather than brass as it is much easier to blacken and can be blackened in place without discoloring the surrounding wood.  Care does need to be taken to make sure any metal dust or particle have been cleaned away if there was some filing of the part once in place.     
 

In the photo below the stays have been "bolted" in place and blackened.  It is difficult to see but square retainers are on all the rods.  The trucks are just sitting temporarily in place in this photo.

 
 
 
 

For the mortises for the axle trees,  holes for the bed bolt and the cut out for the trunnions, wedges had to be made.  The wedges were sized to have the brackets at the required 2 degree angle rather than lying flat.  I first tried with temporary axletrees to get the brackets at the proper angle but this was not necessary. Using wedges as in the drawing below was easier and worked well. (Sorry forgot to take a photo)  These openings are perpendicular to the bore of the cannon barrel so the brackets could not just rest flat when the mortises for the axletrees and drilling were done.  The wedges were then temporarily glued in place with a tiny dot of PVA.  This temporary assembly was then drilled and cut.  Note that in order to get a properly placed partial hole for the trunnions sacrificial pieces were temporarily glued on top of the brackets and were large enough to drill a full hole, then the temporary pieces were removed.
Allan

 

The drawing has been modified with the brackets at 2.5 degrees rather than 4.5 degrees.  Always easier to fix the drawing than an assembled carriage😀
Allan
 

..... still (slowly) installing clamps.
Here is a steamed 2nd or middle layer gundeck clamping strake bow piece being put into place.
The mate (on the other side) already installed and clamped.
seems I sometimes need one or both shoes on my wooden clamps whereas at other times I do not.
I still haven't used any elastic bands on them.
 
Very warm outside today, so I was working the dining room. I expect the weather to swing over to fall very soon. When that happens it is back to the dungeon.

Hello,
now after three weeks of summer, it is cold and rainy again  So, not to see the disaster, I'm back at the shipyard. 
 
The upper counter rail and there supporting parts. Just to say it, it was't easy. But at least I think I got it. 



And here the parts who did't make it. To fill the space between the lower and upper rail would also be a challenge

Installed one length of the upper of three gundeck clamps using my large wooden clamps to hold them in place while the glue sets.
Found the pivoting shoes didn't work so I rushed and removed them.
Clamped without elastics but need a spacer block so I used a shoe.
I'll get the other long piece on the other side tomorrow and work my way through them.
I decided I will install the orlop deck clamps.

I used some string to measure the length of upper deck clamp required for the curvature of the bow.
Cut my length, steamed and clamped it in place to dry.
Glued and clamped that on the next day. Below you see it running up to the stem post.

Today I sanded the stern counter beams. A little more work to go on them before I install the upper deck clamps back there.
I wasn't really happy with my work closing up the stern but after today's sanding effort I feel much better about it.
 

Completed the sanding and installed an extra long length of the port or larboard side Upper Deck clamp yesterday.
The contract reads that they were 4'-6" long scarphs "to be tabled into each other with hook and butt". As the actual connection will not be seen and I've yet to master such a joint I decided to give myself a break and do simple square end butt joints.
The top edge of the deck clamps are about 3/8" below the gunports. I marked the upper location with a pencil to help locate them.
Wood glue was applied, deck clamp put in place and holding clamps installed and left overnight to set and cure.
I decided to run about 2/3rds of the length in one strip as I could just reach most of the length with my bar clamps and only needed to use three of the homemade elastic band wooden clamps through gunports. There is a short length required at the stern quarter and another at the bow.  The bow piece will need to be steamed and clamped to shape.
Moments ago I installed a similar long piece on the starboard side and I'll not touch this again until tomorrow.
I'll work on the short pieces next, and then the Gun Deck clamps will be made in shorter lengths and clamped with the elastic band wooden clamps alone.
I've still not decided if I'll bother with the Orlop deck.
She is stiffening up quite nicely.

Really nice start. You choose the same method I like to us for my own build. How did you made the notches? With the table saw?

I have a few updates to the design of the structural assembly for the first part of the model, it is almost complete, I need to add a few things like the stern chaser port framing, some sheaves and tie in some of the structure in the stern. Otherwise this is pretty close to what I will begin assembling in September, this will lead into Planking and Q gallery assembly, I am well ahead in that aspect of the design and will probably begin test building that separately alongside the prototype build. Comments and questions are welcome.
 
JJ

I will follow your log with great interest.

Congratulation for reaching this milestone. Your planking is looking incredible.

Finally, after 8 months of planking, I reached the last plank….
Cheers!!!
Frank.








 
 
 
 




 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Unlike building guns, I find building frames meditative and relaxing. It's looking really good.

It looks excellent. You make it really hard for me to stay true to my resolutions.

Really wonderful pogress, Mike

Thank you....Today I glued the qbadges on permanently.  It needed to be done now so I can add the fancy molding on the hull and then the friezes etc.   I working my way up to the sheer and cap rail.   For the qbadge,  some acetate was placed in the window opening first from the outboard side.  Then the window itself which is laser cut on plastic as you have seen earlier.   Lastly I added the qbadge so the roof molding on the badge lined up with the 3/32" wide planking strip.  This will line up the badge properly with the molding I am going to add.  This also shows the port side which I have been working on today.
 

 
With the badge in position I added the 3/32" x 1/32" molding.  I scraped the profile into these boxwood strips in the usual way.  I created a scraper by filing the profile into an old razor blade.
 

 

I will repeat this on the other side and then add the friezes to the side of the hull next.   
 
 

It's looking really fantastic, Chuck.

This is a really interesting way to build the deadwoods, which I have not seen before.

I have both woods in my stash. Boxwood is harder than yellow cedar. Bother timber you can combine with holy and a light colord pear.
I think it is a personal decision which timber you use. As Chuck has to have a look at the costs of the parts/model he offers, his choice is excellent.
I like to work with both timbers.

Chuck,
 
as I wrote earlier I wish you a lot of fun and success with the project. I took directly an abo to your build log. 
I found inyour first post a very good idea, which helps me a lot by the design of a really old project of mine.
Thanks for sharing your idea and drawing.

Thank you guys for saying...
 
In preparation to install the second layer for the wales, the carved fashion piece was added first.  This is a resin casting prepared in the usual way with gel stain.  Like I did for the Winnie carvings.   It is easier and cleaner to add the carved fashion piece first rather than have to cut and shape the back side to fit over the wales.  I will add the fashion piece first and then just butt the wales up against the forward side next.
 
The resin carving will bend to conform to the hull shape.   No worries there.  I glued the lower end in first and waited for it to dry using CA.   This locked in pretty good so I could then push the top end of the fashion piece to bend it and secure it with CA as well.  I filled any gaps with filler but there shouldnt be many.  It should fit pretty tightly.
 
Note that the QBadge is still just temporarily tacked in position.  Its not permanent yet.
 

 
Then I added the second layer of the upper and lower wales.  I used 1/32"  strips of Yellow cedar.   You could use 3/64" thick strips as well but I am personally partial to thinner wales.   I did knock-off the top and bottom edges of the wales to just soften them up.   No hard edges for me.
 
I also painted the top and bottom edges black before gluing them on the model.  This keeps it nice and neat so I dont have to try and paint that edge on the model.  It makes a big difference and its finally starting to look like a ship model!!!
 


 
In addition to softening the upper and lower edges of each wale strip before gluing them on, I also tapered the forward end thinner.  It should diminish in thickness to a thin almost knife sharp edge going into the stem.  The taper started about 3/4” from the forward edge.   I sanded it to a thin pointy forward edge so it appears to enter the rabbet as it should based on contemporary practice.   It should appear to be the same thickness as the other planks entering the stem rabbet or nearly so.   
 
Then I proceeded to carefully paint the top layer for both wales strakes completely black.  I use Utrecht Brand Acrylic...Mars Black this time around.  Take your time with this and do it neatly because its a huge part of the overall look and feel of your model.  I also finally added the finish to the model using wipe on poly and some "Old Masters" fruitwood gel stain.  Up until this point there was no finish applied.   This gives the wood a nice natural brushed appearance with some deeper color that I like.   The cedar looks great after this application in my opinion.  Wipe on poly was added first...then some gel stain.   The gel stain was wiped off immediately after applying it so it wouldn't get too dark.   By "re-wetting" again with some wipe on poly, and buffing it off you can achieve a nice "brushed appearance".    It doesnt look too sterile or yellow in case you want a different look.  I wanted to try something different this time around.    Just compare the planking and frames in these photos with those in my previous post to see how different they appear.  It is subtle, but you can see the difference.  
 

 
Next up some fancy molding....and odds and ends.
 
 

After finishing the treenails...finally, I continued to plank up to the sheer.  This meant one more 1/4" wide strake to cut around all those ports.  It wasnt too bad to do.  Then another stake of 1/8" wide planking which is the first layer for a fancy molding strip.  We will add that soon.  The top of this 1/8" strake and molding is the sheer.  The top of this along the waist should NOT be altered or sanded down.  You want to maintain that ice continuous and graceful flow for that molding strip and sheer.  If for whatever reason your planking in the waist ends up slightly higher or lower that is OK.  This is tough to plan out exactly.  The top edge for me along the waste was about 1/64" higher than the sheer I sanded into the framing and fairing cap.  Thats is perfectly fine and it is best not to sand the strake down to match.  Best to keep a nice flow and even width to what will become a molding piece.  Hope that makes sense.
 

Then I planked along the drifts fore and aft to complete the external planking on the starboard side.  I will repeat this on the port side next.  The Qbadge and window for it are just lightly tacked in place for the photo.  That wont be glued permanently yet.  
 

 
Note where you would see the scrolls along the waist.  On Speedwell they are different than on a frigate like the Winnie.  Therefore a different approach is needed with them.  So you will notice how the planking drifts along the waist are stepped.  This shape will allow for the addition of the scrollwork later where it will make perfect sense.
 

Once I complete this on the other side I will begin adding the second layer of the wales painted black and the fashion pieces.  Then the fancy molding will be added outboard. 
 
All of the planking should be relatively easy.  Aside from the detailed expansion templates (below), I also created an expansion of every single planking strake above the wales individually.   They have the tapers needed on each of them.  This can be used to literally cut the exact shape of every strake from a 3/64" thick sheet of Yellow Cedar if you chose to.  Even the drifts are included.  You will still have to cut them around each gunport and break them into individual lengths depending on where your planking step pattern is.  You can use the plans to find those.  There was no need to create an expansion drawing for the 3/32" and 1/8" wide strakes that represent the fancy molding.  I just ripped those on my table saw as they are not tapered and easy to plank with being so narrow.
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

It's looking really fantastic, Chuck.

It's looking really fantastic, Chuck.