AnobiumPunctatum

Thanks Ben, Rusty and Mark - here are the updated photos.  I will be adding the channels next in boxwood and dye their inverted knees with Fiebings black leather dye.  I will scratch the deadeye strops and chain plate assemblies (hoping to get a torch for Xmas), then its finishing the head rails and adding the stump masts/anchors and mounting her to a display board.  
 
Yancovitch - I did not simulate caulking on the hull planking - not really a fan of that look - and most museum models do not show this detail.  You can see from the photos that the Tung Oil finish I used did accentuate the lines of the planking slightly - which was the effect I wanted. I  used a number 2 pencil to simulate caulking for the deck planking.  As far as treenailing - at this scale i didn't want to bother with it - I do think think the drilling and saw dust method would work well though if you want to go for it.  All planks were glued to each other and the bulkheads to try to get as tight of a result as possible.  Hope that helps - and thanks for the kind words!
 
Happy Thanksgiving !
Chris

Continuation.
 
 
 

 
 
 

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

Continuation.
 
 
 

 
 
 

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

Continuation.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

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

Hi Guys,
 
Time really flies and boy am I due an update.
 
Thanks for all the comments guys and for those that hit the like button.
 
I've experienced a bit of aggro fitting the frames into my jig, the jig seemed to be too big and the frames flopped around inside when fitted.
 
It turned out to be two things, firstly the top cut outs on the jig were deep and so did not hold the frames as it should, secondly my centre line on the jig was out of alignment, bearing in mind this was my first practice piece it's hardly surprising.
 
I was also having a bit of trouble with my glue, it just wasn't holding the 9 parts of each frame together. Following advice from my build partners I changed the glue and although it's early days this new glue seems to be doing the job.
 
The glue I was using was Ever Build 502 which stood me in good stead for the time I was building the Agamemnon, this glue only has a life of 12 months after the date of manufacture and unfortunately there is no date on it, anyway I got some Evo-Stik weatherproof wood adhesive, seems to be good stuff. 
 
The long and short of it is that a new Frame Jig was made, this time properly and it's now doing the business.
 
Both Grant and I differ on this next area, it's only athetics, I wont go into what Grants doing but I am not putting treenails in the frames. Looking at AOT's there are bolts around the bottom section of each frame, I decided to use 0.7mm oval head brass pins for these bolts with 0.7mm flat head brass pins on the revers side. I decided to leave these brass colour, you know me, that's the look I like.
 
Enough chat, I have a few pics showing you where I'm at, please, if you have any comments / remarks don't be afraid to ask or make suggestions. I'm here to learn.
 
The first two pics are of the new jig
 
 
These are the first 5 frames 0, A,  B, C and D, 0 and D frames are doubles

 
This is the 0 frame showing the bolts.

 
This is the jig with the 5 completed frame in position

 
So your right up to date now guys, destructive then constructive comments are always welcome.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 

Thank you Eamonn, George, Maury and Jan.
 
Catharpins
 
A rather tricky step in the rigging, I've fitted these before starting the ratlines as it gave me better access.
 
Some careful measuring was needed (along with a bit of trial and error) to ensure that the catharpins would just slightly pull the shrouds together when fitted. They also had to all be EXACTLY the same length. The eye splices also had to be taken into account.
 
First job was to serve the 8 pieces needed, leaving some extra length in the serving line that would act as a "splice". Then the eyes were "spliced" in a similar fashion to others I'd done before. The seizing lines were tied to each eye :
 

 
One end was loosely seized near the bottom of the shroud where it was a bit easier to do :
 

 
Then the unit was raised into position. I used a self-closing tweezer to hold the opposite side in position while I finished off the seizing. The foremast catharpins fitted :
 

 
  Danny

It's time to show a short update of the frameing.
 
The frames and the fore cant frames are finished.
 

 
In the moment I work on the after cants. There I have a big problem, because I don't understand how the construction really works. All drawings I found do not show any details. Is it right, that the fashion piece has the same angle as the last cant frame? Perhaps someone can help me out, to understand this detail right.
 

I was really suprised that I did not find a build log about the Naval Cutter Alert on MSW 2.0. I know that there exist some pictures of a model on the old MSW
 
The first source for building a model of this small vessel are Peter Goodwins book "The Naval Cutter Alert, 1777", published by PhoenixPublications Inc. 1991 and the two original drawing of her sister Rattlesnake (1776) which you will find on the homepage of the NMM.
There also exist two paintings of Joseph Marshall of the ship, which are exhibited in the Science Museum, London.
I found also an Sheer and Profile drawing of Alert which was published by the NRG.
 
The sheer and profile of the NRG and Goodwin differ from the original drawing. They show the maximum width of the ship not at frame 0. Perhaps my Engish is to bad, but I could not find any reason for this. So I decide to draw my own lines. which were based on Goodwin and the original drawing.

 
The drawing is not finished, because I decided only to draw what I need for my build.
 
Next step was the keel. Goodwin shows for the pass between keel and lower apron a solution which I could not find on any original cutter drawings.

 
For the after deadwood he does not offer any possible solution

 
I decide to follow the original drawing of Cheerful 1806 for the pass between keel and lower apron. The flat joint at the foremost keel part is shown on original drawings of this period (for example on HMS Triton). For the after deadwood I decided to use a bearing line. I am not sure if this is common for ships of this period.
The next picture shows my completed keel drawing:

 
Goodwin uses for his design the common frameing pattern of double and single frames. I am not sure that this design was used for the original ship. For the Swan class sloops only single frames were used. This you will also find on the drawing of Cheerful and other cutters. Also the wide of the frame parts are not clear. In his drawing he uses much smaller futtocks than he descibed in the text part of the book. In his "Construction and Fitting of Sailing Man of War" he gives a third solution.
What now? Alert is a practice model for me to get the experience to continue my HMS Fly build. Marshall shows on his paintings an simplified frameing design, so I decided to use this. Every frame is 8'' width followed by 8'' space. For the port side I like to show the clinker planking.
On my drawing the final design for the last frame and the hawse pieces is missing in the moment.

 
The drawings for every 31frames and 21cant frames are finished.

 
I am not sure in the moment if I will use the original practice with chocks or the simplified method of Harold Hahn for my build.
 
It will be very nice if you have further information about the cutters of this time. I found the Marmaduke Stalkartt on Google-books, but they didn't scan the plates. Perhaps one of the MSW user can help me to confirm my decisions.

It's time to show a short update of the frameing.
 
The frames and the fore cant frames are finished.
 

 
In the moment I work on the after cants. There I have a big problem, because I don't understand how the construction really works. All drawings I found do not show any details. Is it right, that the fashion piece has the same angle as the last cant frame? Perhaps someone can help me out, to understand this detail right.
 

Hello Christian.
Sorry I have no idea. I have looked through all the books and drawings I have. Nothing
Very impressed with your frames drawing. Very nice curves.
 
Regards Antony.

After the drawing works it was time to make sawdust.
 
First part is the keel, which is a little bit tricky. The keel has a light curvature and the joints are perpendicular to the base line.
I cut some small stripes with my cirular saw, make the joints and glue the parts together. Next I added the parts for the stem.
The picture shows the step on the building board. I use Tamiya Tape to avoid that the keel glues on the paper during the build.

 
The next pictures show the complete assembled backbone for the small vessel,

 
the stem with with the changed layout of the parts,

 
the keel and the rising wood,

 
and the stern post with the after deadwood.

 
The next steps are cutting the rabbet, the keelson and the building board. Then I can start with the frames.
 

Part 2.
Assembly of stem post, apron, keel, rising wood, stem post, inner post, dead wood. Keelson assembly was also finished. Rabbet trench for the plank board was carved at this moment.
Please estimate the size and scale of this boat with 150mm ruler.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 97 – Planksheer / Main Rail
 
In the first picture the a portion of the port outer planksheer rail is being fitted.
 

  The height gauge is being used here to check the height along the rail before inserting pins to hold the correct line.  This part of the rail needs to be beveled to fit against the flare of the bow.  In the next picture the rail is being glued with the pins holding the line.
 

 
I spent a lot of time checking heights this week.  In the next picture the height of the lower edge of the main rail is being marked out to set the top of the band of planking between the rails.
 

 
The distance between the height of the planksheer and the main rail varies over the length of the hull.  This became apparent when setting these points.  It seemed wrong, but the drawings verified this.  This made me suspect my drawings but the original table of offsets confirmed the variation.  The planking of this band between the two rails is further complicated by the flare out at the bow.   This makes the true projection of the band wider than shown on the vertical section.  These differences are small, but critical if the planking is going to converge at the top of the frames.  I was doing a lot of height checking this week.
 
A part of the inside of the main rail and fillers between frames have been installed in the next picture.
 

 
The “look” of the inside of the bulwarks is starting to emerge.  An outside view of this work at the bow is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The bottom of the inside of the main rail must match the height of the top of the outer band of planking.  The next picture shows why.
 

 
In this picture the outer main rail is being fitted. Its top is flush with the tops of the filling pieces between frames.  All these rails are horizontal.  The last picture shows the inside of the bow at this stage before fitting the main rail in this area.  I say "fitting" because the outer main rail will not be installed until later - for painting reasons.
 

 
The next step is to install the thin planking above the main rail up to the tops of the frames leaving a tight space for the outer main rail.  This will be installed after the surrounding planking and the rail itself are painted - black and white respectively.  It is also time to fit the rails and planking around the elliptical stern.  Can’t wait.
 
Time for a holiday break.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone – well at least everyone in America.  My British friends used to tell me they celebrated thanksgiving on July 4th.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

I was able to shape the fashion pieces today.  They are will be in one piece with the boom crutch added separately later.  The boom crutches wont be added until the cap rail is added way down the road.   For now I just left them extra long so I can file them back to where I want them. You can see in the photo how the bottom fashion piece was bent using heat.....no water or soaking.  The top one is the flat 1/16" thick piece which has not been bent yet.
 
Once these were glued on the model,   the second layer of the wales (two strakes) were added and painted.  I still have to paint them on the other side.  After thats done I will treenail above the wales.  That will be easier to do before I add the fancy molding along the sides of the hull per the plan.
 
Notice how the fashion piece covers the end grain of the planks on the stern transom.  When the stern is all done there shouldnt be any end-grain exposed for any of the planking.  The fashion piece and square tuck protect them from the elements.
 

 

 

 

Really nice progress, Jürgen.
 
As you know, I am a great freind of oil colors for painting the wale black.

Mobbsie,
 
now it's clear, but I don't have any idea why the author of the drawings choose this solution. It is in my knowledge not common.
I've had a short look at the prototype build of Mike at MSB, but could not find a picture of this area.
I would suggest to build frame 12 and check if it is on top of the rabbet ot your model.

Mobbsie,
 
the curve of your keel rabbet confuses me. I thought that it is nearly a straight line midships.
Your frame is looking nice.

Mobbsie,
 
thanks for your explanation. But I can't follow you.
If I have a look at the original drawing at the NMM (see here) the rabbet doesn't have a curved line.
You're sure that you do not misinterpret a line on your drawing?

Hi Everyone. Thanks for the comments and likes.
 
Sorry for the delay getting back to you all. My PC's hard drive started failing and had to take her to the doctor.
 
During that time I was able to complete the startboard side planking, sanded it down and applied one coat of
wipe on poly. The good news is that I was successful in doing it without any drop planks or steelers. The bad
news is after sanding it a few joints aren't as tight as I would have liked.
 
All in all I'm happy with my first attempt at this type of planking. Hopefully the next one will be better
and the planks a little more uniform.
 

 
Well I'm off to the port side to start the last two bands of planking.

Hi Christian.
Would not allow the DXF file.
Yes Illustrator will allow me to save it
Attached 1 PDF file.
Deck and Side.pdf
 
Regards Antony.

Slowly, in the moment I am drawing all frames. The parallel frames will be finished this evening, then I start drawing the 21 cant frames.

Hi Christian.
There is nothing wrong in going slow. Wait till you my age.. You have no choice
I have done some drawings of the Alert using the anatomy in Illustrater format that can be exported to PDF .. Did you want me to post them here. Might be of some use to you.
Have done the Deck, side view and a few small details.
 
Regards Antony.

Slowly, in the moment I am drawing all frames. The parallel frames will be finished this evening, then I start drawing the 21 cant frames.

Thanks Dave, make sure you wipe your screen and keyboard every now and then .
 
Main Preventer Stay
 
The Main Preventer Stay is smaller than the main stay (1.0mm diameter) and fits around the mast head above the main stay. It's lower end lashes to the preventer stay collar on the foremast :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thank you mhegazi and Nils (I'm still not sure about how many sails I'll be fitting, if any).
 
Main Stay
 
Apart from the Anchor Hawse the Main Stay is the largest rope on the ship at 1.4mm diameter. It fits to the mast top in similar fashion to the mizzen stay, and is lashed to the stay collar at it's lower end. The upper end is served to a few scale feet below the mouse :
 

 

 

 
I'd forgotten to fit the Main Preventer Stay Collar before I'd permanently fitted the foremast. It made the job slightly more difficult. To prevent the collar from shifting upward two cleats are glued to the sides of the foremast :
 

 
  Danny