AnobiumPunctatum

Continuation.
 
Prepare materials for the construction winches,
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
and the yoke masts.
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
The beginning of the relation is available at this address:
 
 
http://5500.forumact...ndre-1-24#66516
 
 
 
Regards, Paul

With the boiler deck planked, apart from a section I left open for internal views, I moved on to building the cabin structures. 
 

 
Typical riverboats of this design had two lines of crew/passenger cabins (usually called staterooms), separated by an open main cabin (or parlor) down the centerline in which meals were served and folks could socialize. Only stateroom passengers were allowed in here; those paying for deck passage fended for themselves on the semi-open main deck. The forward-most staterooms would be used by the captain, pilot, clerk, and engineer, then a few mens' staterooms, then a larger room on each side used as galley & storage, then more staterooms aft. Generally the aft-most section of the main cabin was carpeted and reserved for ladies & families only, along with the aft-most staterooms, to save their exposure to cigars, spittoons, cursing, and other male tendencies of the period. 
 

 
The boiler deck has a slight, but clear, sheer both fore and aft (especially aft). So I couldn't just assemble nice, straight walls and set them down, I had to account for the curvature of the deck. The longitudinal walls were built in three sections, with notches to help each fit together. I filed slight angles into these joints, so that the sections fit together in a subtle curve, matching the deck. I cheated slightly with these, using sheets of pre-scribed wood rather than building frames for individual planks, as I did for the main deck structures. However, I did build all the doors and windows from scratch, as advised by the commentariat.
 
In the photo above, the top row are the two ends of the cabin structure (one turned over to show the bracing for the walls), the middle row are the outer walls of the port staterooms, and the lower row are the inner walls of the port staterooms. Lady for scale. I only build the port-side walls, leaving the starboard side open for views of the inner main cabin.
 

 
I started installing the walls by clamping squares across the deck to guide the fore end (not sure "bulkhead" is appropriate in this context). Then I glued guide strips of scrap wood along the deck, inside the runs of the port walls where they wouldn't be seen, and used these as gluing and clamping guides for the walls. Each 1/3 wall was glued in, then the next one sanded to fit and glued in, then the last one.
 

 
Above is the completed cabin structure. By not exposing the interior of the port staterooms, I was better able to support and straighten them with internal stringers. In return, I built two open-sided staterooms at the fore and aft end of the starboard side, to allow a view of the interiors, but left the rest open for better internal views and light. The main cabin should have tables, chairs, wood stoves, chandeliers, and so on, but I'm not up for building all that right now. I'll always have access to this area if I choose to detail it later on.
 

 
A closeup view showing how small these staterooms were, just two bunk beds at most 6' long and perhaps a small cubby for hanging clothes. These were rough frontier boats, not the floating palaces of the lower Mississippi River. Toilets and laundry facilities were at the stern, and will be built and explained in a later post. In this photo you can also see that I managed to install the forgotten engine vent stacks just fine (note: the main smokestacks were actually called "chimneys" on riverboats; I don't know if this terminology extends to smaller stacks).
 

 
Main cabins had a raised clerestory with skylights along the length, allowing light into this central area. Thus I needed to build two of these long, narrow structures complete with regular windows, but strong enough to span the open, unsupported stretch on the starboard side. I did this by laying out two parallel beams on double-sided tape, then setting my cutter to the inside dimension and cutting lots of filler pieces. Using spacers, I laid out the window pattern along the whole structure, then glued in the spacers. When the whole assembly had dried, I peeled it off the tape, sanded it smooth, and painted it. I built two of these one right above the other, so I could visually line up the spacers and ensure the two pieces were identical.
 

 
And here's the result, along with a good start on the beams supporting the hurricane deck (supposedly named for the constant breeze up there).
 

 
And here's a better overall view from an angle, giving a sense of the cabin's overall structure and placement. 
 
Next tasks:
Frame in the rest of the hurricane deck (also serving as the cabins' roof), which extends forward as far as the boiler deck does, but aft only to the end of the cabins. In other words, the forward boiler deck is covered but the after boiler deck is open. Build the aft-most structure, housing the pit toilets (opening into the wheel) and laundry. Lay out and install the hog chains, iron rods which extend longitudinally through multiple decks and support the fore and aft weight of the boat, preventing it from hogging (particularly from the weight of the sternwheel). When I started this project, I had hoped to complete it by the end of the year. That seems unlikely now, but the end is nevertheless in sight. It's exciting to see the Bertrand really taking on its full form, beyond the barge-like appearance it's had for so long. No music this time, too busy to come up with something interesting. Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas or whatever seasonal salutation warms your cockles. 

Hello,
 
Thank you for your kind words and likes. Today I finished the rails of the poop deck, except for the scrolls at there beginning. I think I build these tomorrow. 
 

 

 

 
Regards,
Siggi

Really wonderful progress, Albert.

Few more photos 
 

 

 

 

 

Provisional laying the beams of the lower deck
 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I've finished the drawing work for the frames. 55 frames and 26 cant frames are a lot stuff, which I have to build now.
 
The following picture shows frame 10a for example.
 

 
Now I have to clean up my work room and prepare the building board. I hope I've nothing forgotten so that I can make sawdust and start the build of my model

It has rained for several days in usually sunny south Florida. Rain means no golf. No golf means more modeling. All of this is a long way to say that I've done a number of items of work on the hull. Included in this list are the opening for the rudder in the transom and the extension of the stern post; the stern gun port lids; the timber heads; the hull steps; the jib outhaul fixed block on the stem; and the scuppers.
 
All of this work was straightforward and doesn't seem to require explanation. The last photo shows the hull as it looks to this point. I am now working on the channels and waiting for the arrival of brass strip for the chainplates.
 
Bob

Hello,
 
the taffrail is ready! That was't so easy as it looks, but now fresh under paint, all the hardships are forgotten.
 

 

 

 

 
Regards,
Siggi
 
 

I second the compliment of the others. I find it very interesting what you do with the color on your model. I got a lot of inspiration from this.

HI ALL
SECOND POST OF THE DAY..........BEEN A BUSY OLD MORNIN SO FAR
HAWSE FRAMES ARE NOW COMPLETE.
 
IVE INCLUDED PHOTOS WHICH I WILL UPLOAD IN ORDER....HOPEFULLY THEY WILL MAKE SOME SENSE OF THE SEQUENCE OF PRODUCTION.
 
I HAVE BEEN A BIT OF A MASOCHIST THIS MORNING AND MADE THESE ENTIRELY BY HAND WITH PLANES FRET SAW RASPS AND SOME LOVELY LITTLE CABINET SCRAPERS WHICH WERE JUST THE RIGHT SIZE.
ANYWAY PHOTOS ENCLOSED.
AS USUAL ALL COMMENTS CRITISMS ETC GRATEFULLY RECEIVED.
 
CHEERS....MICK

Mick,
 
a Swan class Sloop is really a nice project.

Mick,
 
a Swan class Sloop is really a nice project.

HI ALL
NOW THAT THE FORWARD CANT FRAMES ARE ALL IN ITS TIME TO START THE DREADED HAWSE PEICES.
 
THE LAMINATED BLOCKS FOR THESE WERE MADE UP PREVIOUSLY FROM SOME 1/8 INCH STOCK SOMEWHAT OVERSIZE MAINLY SO ID GOT SOMETHING TO HANG ON TO WHISLT I SHAPED THEM.
 
THE BLOCKS WERE SHAPED TO THE PLANVIEW OVER THER ENTIRE LENGTH FIRST.
 
A CARD STOCK PROFILE OF THE STEM REBATE...AFTER EDGE...WAS THEN MADE AND USED TO MARK OUT FOR THE FIRST SHAPING CUT WITH A JEWELLERS SAW. THE STEM PROFILE HAS BEEN TWEAKED WITH SOME RIFLER FILES UNTIL ITS ABOUT RIGHT....FINAL FINISHING WILL COME LATER WHEN THE HULL IS FAIRED.
 
THE ANGLE OF THE BLOCK MATCHES NICELY WITH THE ANGLE BETWEEN THE FORWARD FACE OF THE FINAL CANT FRAME AND THE STEM DEADWOOD SO HOPEFULLY IVE DONE SOMETHING RIGHT!!!!
 
THE NEXT PROFILE CUT WAS AGAINST THE FORWARD FACE OTF THE LAST CANT FRAME AGAIN WITH A JEWELLERS SAW AND FINISHED WITH RASPS.
 
SOME MORE SMOOTHING OF THE OUTSIDE FACES IS NEEDED AND SOME FINAL FETTLING OF THE EDGE THAT MATES UP WITH THE STEM REABTE.
 
THE NEXT AWKWARD BIT IS PROFILIG THE INSIDE FACE......AND THEN REPEATING FOR THE OTHER SIDE.
 
HOPE THIS ALL MAKES SENSE!!
 
PHOTOS ENCLOSED ALL COMMENTS MOST WELCOME.
 
CHEERS FOR NOW......MICK
 

I second the compliment of the others. I find it very interesting what you do with the color on your model. I got a lot of inspiration from this.

Space is something which is allways insufficient. It's the same with the time.
I made the mistake some years ago to think too much about the space my models need and forget to build one. So I have space but no model.
If you like to build such a big model perhaps also as POF do it. You will need several years for the research and the build and no one knows what happend in the meantime.
 
Hope you understand my denglish.

Space is something which is allways insufficient. It's the same with the time.
I made the mistake some years ago to think too much about the space my models need and forget to build one. So I have space but no model.
If you like to build such a big model perhaps also as POF do it. You will need several years for the research and the build and no one knows what happend in the meantime.
 
Hope you understand my denglish.

Space is something which is allways insufficient. It's the same with the time.
I made the mistake some years ago to think too much about the space my models need and forget to build one. So I have space but no model.
If you like to build such a big model perhaps also as POF do it. You will need several years for the research and the build and no one knows what happend in the meantime.
 
Hope you understand my denglish.

I second the compliment of the others. I find it very interesting what you do with the color on your model. I got a lot of inspiration from this.

Hello,
 
it is done, the last deck is planked.     I hope that the captain will spend some drinks this evening. But writing this,  I haven't seen him the last time 
 
Looking for some details, I fond this picture. That was exactly 6 month ago. So I worked 6 month at this deck!
 

 
Cutting and painting the planks was the first step. I lived 3 days only from wood dust.
 

 
A last view without planks
 

 
and the first with
 

 

 

 

 
Regards,
Siggi
 
 
 
 
 

Blowing Off the Dust        I dare say there are more than a few experienced ship model builders here in the MSW forum who have at one time started a model and, for whatever reason, stopped construction on it.  No doubt some of those models were terminated due to a mistake that was beyond repair, some cannibalized for yet another try, and others shelved with the hope of being revisited sometime in the future.  My Hancock is one such shelved model.
 

 
     When I was cleaning and reorganizing my shop several months ago I found, high on top a bookcase tucked behind a bunch of junk, an old model of the Continental frigate Hancock that I had started twenty years earlier.  It was tightly wrapped up in a heavy gauge plastic bag, taped securely and covered in dust, lots of dust.  Its age made me curious as to its condition so I decided to untape it and have a look.  Seeing the hull of the Hancock again took me back to a much earlier time when my model building skills were far less developed.  This was one of the first large scale bread and butter construction hulls I worked on.  As I looked over the model I was reminded why it ended up in a plastic bag.  There were so many problems with it.  Some were blatantly obvious with others discernible on closer inspection.  With a wry smile I shook my head, part in disgust and part in amusement, that I had made so many mistakes on the model.  I was about to put the hull back into the plastic bag when a little voice in my head said  "No Tom, don't do it.  It's true this model has a number of problems, some serious, but none are irreparable errors.  See if you can fix them and bring the Hancock back to life."  That afternoon I carefully went over every inch of the hull and cast a critical eye if it was worth the effort.  Even though there were a lot of issues to be dealt with the project I started twenty years earlier still had an enormous upside.  There was great potential to produce an attractive Revolutionary War frigate model so I decided then to give it a go.  I would resurrect Hancock. 
 
     It's too bad I didn't take pictures of the hull when I first removed it from the plastic bag.  I never envisioned, even after starting repairs on the hull, that I should make a build log for this model.  That was a mistake.  I wish I had because describing a problem is one thing, but showing before and after photos of them is quite another.  I'm glad I eventually decided to do one.  It's not often you will see a build log that starts off with a repair of a twenty year old model.  😉
 
     Yes, the hull had a number of problems, but what was the mistake that had me bring construction to a halt and shelf the model?   Well, after installing the keel, false keel, stem, sternpost, and knee of the head I discovered I made a serious error when I shaped the model's profile in the bow.  It was off enough it had to be addressed.   How could I make a profile error like this when I was so fastidiously meticulous in shaping the hull with station line templates?  How did it happen? Even back twenty years ago I shouldn't have made that mistake.  All that work had to be ripped out, the profile corrected, and all new pieces put in.  I don't know if it was a problem with a draught distortion, expanding a drawing from one scale to another, transferring the shape of the profile from the drawing to the template, carelessness in making the template, being sloppy in aligning the template on the hull, over-aggressive sanding of the bow, falling asleep while working, .....  There probably were a number of errors made, but whatever the reason(s) the profile was off.  While there were other errors made on this model, as you will see, that one completely freaked me out.  I was angry, frustrated and puzzled over what happened; and I certainly wasn't ready to rebuild the parts I removed.   At that time the only thing I could do was bag and shelf the model and come back to it another time.  Who would have guessed that would be twenty years later?
 
Tom
 

Fantastic work on your steering wheel

Fantastic work on your steering wheel

And now for something completely different. I took a break from the tedious deck work, intrigued by Garus' steering wheel on his excellent Victory and especially his duplicating device, I build the steering wheel. Using the technique described in TFFM 2 and 3. Not easy but lots of fun, frustration and multiple redo's later, the results:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Remco

HI ALL
WORK ON THE CANT FRAMES CONTINUES......NEXT PAIR HAVE BEEN FITTED.
 
THE ACRYLIC JIGS HAVE HAD A LINE SCRIBED ACROSS AT THE LWL LEVEL....HOPE THIS SHOWS IN THE PHOTOS.
 
THE NEXT TWO PAIRS OF CANT FRAMES WILL HAVE TO BE SUPPORTED BY A FRESH PAIR OF JIGS.......THIS AFTERNOONS JOB WHILST THE GLUES SETTING......UNFORTUNATELY DESPITE ALANS SUGGESTION TURNING THE CURRENT JIGS AROUND MEANS I CANT GET MY CLAMPS IN PLACE.
 
NOT A MAJOR PROBLEM THE BYRNES SAW WILL MAKE SHORT WORK OF MAKING A NEW SET......I SHOULD OF GIVEN MUCH MORE THOUGHT TO THESE JIGS IN THE FIRST PLACE........FILE THAT IN THE MEMORY BANKS FOR THE NEXT BUILD!
 
ANYWAY PHOTOS ENCLOSED FOR YOUR DELICTATION.
 
CHEERS.....MICK