AnobiumPunctatum

In the moment I am working on a corrected disposition of frames drawing for my sloop
The basis are
 
DOF of Cygnet (ZAZ4691) Dimensions given in "The Ship Builders Repository", 1788 (1) Dimensions given in Steel "The Element and Practice of Naval Architecture", 1805 (1) Antscherl TFFM, Volume 1  
(1) The dimensions I took from Allan Yedlinsky "Scantlings of Royal Navy Ships 1719-1805". The original books are unfortunately to expansive for my hobby budget.
 
The different timbers for the keel and the knee of the head, I took from David's book. I only adapt these to the other proportions.
 
After a lot of measurements in the DOF of Cygnet and comparing with the given dimensions, I decided to follow Steel. I am really surprised how well the frames fit to the original drawing. If you compare the numbers of the sweep ports with the original drawing, yo see that there is one port missing, because it was not shown on the As built drawing.
 

 
In the moment I am drawing the cant frames, which is much easier as by my second project.

The transoms can not be derived directly from my reconstruction of the body plan.In the half breath plan of the orioginal drawing the form of each timber is indeed located, but does not fit properly on the corrected design. Before starting for the next step I have taken these lines and adjust them so that they match up with my design and also with the position of transoms in Sheer plan.
Subsequently the transoms were transferred to 3mm plywood, sawn and glued on the control model. I 've filles the gaps as usual with poplar plywood. After sanding the area looks like in the following pictures:
 

 

 

 
 

Then I've started sanding the hull. I've used 60 grid until 120 grid sandpaper for the process. After around one week - I can only work on my model in the evening or at the weekends- I've finished the front half of my control model.
I am very happy with the result
 

 

 

 
To check the curves I use 1mm thick stripes of maple. The found differences are very small. So I think that my reconstruction will work for the checked range.
 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Johann, druxey, Mike and Nils for your nice comments and all others for the Likes
 
Next I've installed all bulkheads until frame 20 and the filling pieces.
 

 
Then my favourite pastime - sanding
 

 

To check the lines I started to build a half model. For the frames I use 3mm birch plywood, it's for a model in 1/32 perhaps a little small, but I've had a bigger batch at home. All space between the frames I fill with poplar plywood. It's easy to shape but stable enough for the purpose.
I glue the drawngs with rubber cement on the ply woord


 
With a sharp knife I mark every 5' line. The picture shows frame 0:
 

 
All bulkheades and the center are cutted out. The hull has a length of around 1m, which is not as big compared with the new 1/200 model kits of the WWII battle ships.
 

 

Part 1 Reconstruction of the hull lines
 
David Antscherl wrote in his wonderful series about th Swan Class Sloop, that there are a lot of smaller differences between the ships of the class, for example the knee of the head of Fly.
As first decision for my new start I decided not to use the general lines, which David has published. I want to do my own reconstruction. The naval cutter was a first exercise for this project. In January I started with the reconstruction. At the end of February I had a first version of my body plan, which matchs the lines of the historical drawing very well.
 

 

Don't cry Greg, there'll be another .
 
Capstan Bars Fitted
 
I made the capstan bars long ago when I made the capstan. I'd actually forgotten that I did, but luckily I found them before I wasted my time building another set .
 
Not much else to say, here are the pics :
 

 

 
 Danny

Thanks once again for the kind words Carl, Greg, Neal, Cabrapente, Maury, Dave and Christian .
 
 
Don't forget Remco's and Toni's logs of Kingfisher and Atalanta. They are even more detailed than mine has been, and they both still have a long way to go .
 
Or you could follow my next build when I start it very shortly .
 
 Danny

Dan, it looks like that you've nearly finished your build and also your log. These are very sad news.
 
What should I read in the future? Your log was and is a big inspiration for me. Thanks for the really lot of work you've done by photograhing the steps of your build writing your explanations and so on.
Your log is in my opinion beside the book of Greg the best source of building this type of model
 
Thanks very much.

Dan, it looks like that you've nearly finished your build and also your log. These are very sad news.
 
What should I read in the future? Your log was and is a big inspiration for me. Thanks for the really lot of work you've done by photograhing the steps of your build writing your explanations and so on.
Your log is in my opinion beside the book of Greg the best source of building this type of model
 
Thanks very much.

Stern planking and fitting of cathead, channel, shot racks...nailing and bolting...
 
Many thanks friends for the warm words and likes.
 
Now, I'm on the way of nailing to the wale with brass wire. Nail heads will be blackened later.
 
Cheers, Lee

Really nice planking job

Really nice planking job

Some small progress: hardware ports:

 
 
 
To get an idea of the proportions, the one you see in the picture at the top is the tip of 0.4 mm with which I performed the holes

 

 

 

 

 

Really nice planking job

Thank you Greg and John.
 
 
I started Scratchbuilding not long after I started the AL kit of HMS Supply and found that the entire kit was not only wrong but contained a lot of garbage parts. That was about 7 years ago. After that I used the hull bulkheads of a Modeller's Shipyard kit of the Norfolk Sloop which I'd bought for my grandson to build (he didn't start it) and Scratchbuilt the rest, including milling my own timber from a chunk of Norfolk Island Pine for all the planking, masts etc.
 
Sure, lots of guys build models as good as or better than mine using just hand tools. It takes a bit longer though, especially when making multiples of the same part which can be "mass produced" on a Mill in next to no time. Others use a drill or Dremel tool to turn parts if they don't have a lathe.
 
Personally, I find it more accurate using the machines. I couldn't do some of the things I do without them.
 
An update on the Flags. I painted some Egyptian Cotton white on one side and let it dry. Then I cut a 5mm wide strip from it to make the Hoist Cloth. I glued half the width to the flag using Industrial Strength Contact Cement.
 

 

 
Next I glued a loop into each end of some 0.20mm line and PVA glued it to the middle of the hoist cloth and let it dry. Finally, I Contact Cemented the 2nd half of the cloth over itself. All that remains is to soak the flags and shape them. This is why I used the Contact - the PVA would have softened and let go :
 

 

 
 Danny

Not only your teacher, Dave.

Thanks for the comments Robin, George, Spyglass, John, Pat, Mark and Greg .
 
John, I was thinking ahead (well sort of) - when I fitted the quarterdeck rail I wasn't sure if I'd fit the hammock cranes as my silver soldering skills at the time were only in their infancy. By the time I'd got around to the shrouds I'd forgotten all about the cranes   .
 
Flags
 
I have made my own flags before - on my last two models I used Silkspan with reasonably good results. Unfortunately it seems like I've left the silkspan at my daughter's place, so I thought I'd have a go at using the Egyptian Cotton which I fortunately DID bring with me, and used Artist's Acrylic paints. I figured all I had to lose was a couple of day's work. If they were a failure I would buy some from Modelflags.com who from all accounts supply some pretty good ones.
 
I started by drawing the Jack using AutoCAD. I then printed it out twice, drew up the borders for the Ensign and used the 2nd Jack in it's top corner. I taped both of these to the tops of a couple of flat containers so I could turn them in whichever direction I wanted when doing the hand painting. Then I taped the two pieces of (oversize) cotton over them. Last thing for this step was to go over the outline of each section with a pencil as they were only just visible :
 

 
I painted the White areas first, being careful to stay inside the lines as much as possible - from previous experience I'd found that it was better not to have to paint over the white, even with dark blue, as it lightened considerably and needed at least three coats to cover sufficiently :
 

 
After laboriously painting the red cross without using any masking I had the idea of using Tamiya Masking Tape for the blue areas. I tried it out on a 3rd piece I was painting for any experiments I might have needed - it worked very well, considering I was painting on a medium that it wasn't really designed for. There was a small amount of "bleeding" in some areas that needed a bit of touch-up, but it was much easier than trying to free-hand the lot  . Then I removed both flags, turned them over, and repeated the process for the other side :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I cut the borders with a new Xacto blade and steel rule. The painted edges cut cleanly, but the small border I left for the Hoist Cloth tore out a bit as the weave of the cloth wasn't quite exactly square to the flag. A tip to avoid this is either paint the band white or use dilute PVA on it :
 

 
 Danny

Hello,
 
the great cabin is ready! That was a lot of interesting work. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The next thing to install are the knees, but first without the beams. 
 
And if anyone knows more about the storing of the gunnery equipment, your knowledge is welcome. For more details please see my last posting.
 
Regards,
Siggi

Thanks Druxey, I sure did. I managed to drill the holes with a Pin Vise without "re-arranging" any rigging .
 
Fitting Swivel Guns
 
I've also fitted the Swivel Guns that I'd made earlier. They are only going on the port side. All the guns can be moved in any direction. Once again, I had to redrill the holes in the posts from 0.8mm to 1mm to accept the mounting legs :
 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thanks for the kind comments Robin, George, Mark, David, Albert, Carl, Ronnie and Marc. As always they are much appreciated .
 
Fitting Hammock Cranes
 
I managed to drill the holes for the hammock crane mounting "bolts" without going completely insane, but it was a near thing . It would have been MUCH easier if I'd done this a lot earlier in the build. The couple hiding amongst the shrouds were fun (not).
 
I've fitted the passing ropes too. I chose to use a simple knot at each end :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 Danny

Thank You...
 
In preparation for planking the deck,  I added the waterway/margin planks.   For my purposes here I talk about them as two separate pieces.  First the wider margin plank was created with scarf joints next to the bulwarks.  I used card stock to make templates first.  There are three lengths as shown below.  This required a lot of tweaking until I got it right. Then the templates were traced onto a 1/16" thick sheet of boxwood and cut out.  The deck planking will be 1/16" thick.   
 

 
I spent a lot of time carefully shaping the scarf joints with a #11 blade and some needle files until they were a nice clean and tight fit.  Then they were glued onto the deck area.  The back edge needed to be beveled so I could get a tight fit against the bulwarks in many areas.  Particularly at the bow.  A pencil darkened the seam of scarf joint just like the hull planking.  Eventually the deck planking will be nibbed into these margin planks.   
 

 

 

 
When finished, I added the waterway on top of the margin plank.  It was a 1/32" strip that was slowly sanded to become a 1/4 round.  I basically sanded off one corner edge and rounded it off.  It was glued on top and the seams between the pieces were carefully lined up with the scarf joints.  So again three lengths were used.  This way they look like they were done as one piece.   These thin strips also needed to be beveled to fit tight against the bulwarks.  The bulwarks are unfortunately not at a nice 90 degree angle to the deck so the bevel was an absolute necessity. 
 

 

 
Now its time to start building the hatches, coamings and gratings and skylight.   Then I can plank the deck around them.  I cant wait until thats done,.  After this step its just about the small details...and that is a lot of fun.
 
Chuck

Thank you guys.
 
Just a real quick update.   Not to much except I did drill the hawse holes and the hole for the bowsprit.  As simple as this procedure may sound it is actually rather tricky.  I had to be really careful to drill these parallel to the keel and straight back.  There is always a tendency to just drill through straight in.  But instead,  the bit must be held so it enters the bulwarks parallel to the keel.  I started with a small hole so if the angle was wrong it could be corrected.  Then I switched to needle files and then an even bigger round file to finish it off.  
 
The angle is super important because the hole for the bowsprit must be drilled the same way.  Straigh back and parallel to the centerline.   If the hawse holes were drilled at an "off" angle then there wouldnt be room to properly create the hole for the bowsprit.  I used a graphite pencil to darken the hawse holes but I may go back and use a dull flat dark gray instead,   No rush to decide.
 
Now I can move on and start creating the waterway in preparation for the deck planking.
 
Chuck
 

 

 

Thank you all for your kind words and likes.
 
Work is progressing and more knees, hanging knees, carlings and ledges are added. 
 
I also forgot to install a pillar in front of the fore mast , but that was taken care of.
 

 

 
The last opportunity to take a look at the sail room before its permanently installed in the hull
 

 
Some of the knees with mortices cut
 

 
The state of the upper deck to date
 

 

 

 
 
The next weeks will be more of the same... with the addition of installing hammock battens as I work my way across the deck
 
Remco
 
 
 

....... continued.
 
The standing end of the Fore Course Sheet is seized to an eyebolt below the aft fixed block, through the sheet block, through the fixed block, and belays to the aft cleat in the bulwark :
 

 
The standing end of the Main Course Sheet is seized to an eyebolt below the fixed block on the quarterdeck planksheer, through the sheet block, through the fixed block, and belays to a timberhead forward of the block :
 

 
The sheets for the topsails start with a crown knot through the strop in the clue block, through the sheet block on the outboard end of the lower yard, inboard to the sheet block near the centre of the yard, and belays to the fore topsail sheet bitts (fore), main topsail sheet bitts (main) and to an eyebolt at the foot of the mizzen mast (mizzen) :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The Spritsail clues and sheets are rigged in similar fashion, both belaying to cleats in the bow :
 

 
I won't be adding any more rigging such as Buntlines, Leechlines, or any of the Staysail rigging as no sails are going on this model.
 
 Danny