AnobiumPunctatum

Good morning.

Ok a bit of warning here. If you are anything like me you WILL either break a plank or over sand/adjust one or more. I have 3 racked up so far. Here is what I did to get a nice new plank almost as good as the original. First off be careful removing the planks from the sheet and set it aside not breaking it just in case you need to make a copy. I took the sheet that the broken plank came from, clamped it on an area of another planking sheet that it would fit on. I then traced the plank, cut it out carefully sanded it and test fit it. 
 
Hopefully you won't need to do this but just to be safe save those sheets the planks came out of. 
 

Thanks guys....Chisels are something I am very comfortable with.   But when you are trying to mass produce a project for many,  there is a whole other side of the fun you guys dont get to see.  For examle,   in order to try and make a part that is mass-produce-able, there is so much testing and re-testing.  
 

 
I must have laser cut over 100 hance pieces and molding samples.   I sanded and finished tested about two dozen of those.   When testing,  they must be placed on the model temporarily which can be problematic if I am not careful.  The first photos I posted yesterday of the molding and hance pieces was probably 50 versions ago.    You should compare the photos because it is interesting to see how the design changed over the last few days.  With each new try it gets a little batter.....baby steps.
 
This was my final test just about one hour ago with the last iteration of hance pieces and molding.   They were lightly tacked to the model with the tiniest drop of glue.  But the molding can be hard to see against the same color background.   So with each test, I used some blue painters tape where the painted frieze will eventually go.  Although not exactly the right color it is close enough to give me a good sense of how the molding will look.  Making laser cut moldings and hance pieces is new territory for me.  Although I tried it with the Confederacy kit, I wasnt able to test it as much as I can now that the laser cutter is only 3 feet away from my workbench.

Many wonder why these kits are so expensive...I cant tell you how expensive it is to test this much while trying to produce the very best product or design concept.  This is why it is so upsetting when another company in a foreign land will just wait it out and copy the final product.  That saves so much time and money and aggravation.  But I digress.....Testing on the molding and hances have lasted three days.....I am so far behind with making blocks and rope!!!
 
These will be the final iteration of hances although the molding between the ports is traditionally different.  I just havent had time to develop those yet.   Lots more to do.  I hope you are interested in the trials and tribulations of a model designer.  There are good days and there are bad days.  Days where everything you try just turn out like crap....and its back to the drawing board!!!  Hopefully that isnt the case here.  🤞
 

Thank you.....yes I could break out the chisels and blades but the fun challenge for me is to try and engineer a really good part so that I wont have to.  While it was fresh in my brain and different ideas were swirling around in there, I decided to do a simplification test with fewer etched grooves.  I think this is the winner at it achieves exactly what I am shooting for.  The aft upper hance is new and made from boxwood.  I will go with boxwood on the final versions too.  I also reduced the scroll in size and it is now perfectly sized for the Winnie.   I added a simulated cap rail which will be painted black so I could see the molding better.
 
Now back to making rope and blocks which I have fallen very behind with since I spent a couple of days fiddling with the scroll-work and molding.
 

I finished the wales and black strake on both sides and painted them black.   But I still had to add the anchor lining.  Rather than use individual boards I just laser cut the shape from some 1/32" sheet.  This will cover the wales but then an additional strip of thicker wood must placed on top of this to cover the black strake.  They are all flush outboard but the strip on top of the black strake for the lining remains bright.
 
The 1/32" sheet for the lining was gradually sanded thinner as it worked down towards the bottom of the wales.
 


Now before I start planking below the wales, I have a few things to do first.  One of them is to fair inboard.  This is not a fun task and it will make a mess.  But I want to get it out of the way now so all of the dust falls through the hull rather than just fall into one that is fully planked.  
 
One thing I notice when folks build my kits (or any kit for that matter) is how they fair inboard.  They never quite know how thick to make the bulwarks.  In most cases they are left way too wide which makes the entire model look clumsy and kit-like.  To help with this on the Winnie, I designed a "fairing cap" that will be 3/16" wide.  This needs to be placed on the top of the sheer.  Then when I start fairing inboard I will be better able to maintain that 3/16" measurement consistently for the bulwarks.  Some portions of this "fairing cap" were laser cut like the area above the hances and at the bow.  For the remainder a 3/16" x 1/16" strip was used.  See below.
 
NOTE!!!!  IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!  DO NOT place the 3/16" x 1/16" fairing cap in the waste.  It is only to be used on the hance pieces and along the quarter deck.  AND in addition......along the forecastle at the bow.  Using it along the waste which I show in the photo below will make the waist too high and screw up the placement of the molding.  The top of the external planking will be the sheer along the waste and the 1/16" strip would make it too high.  I made this mistake and later removed this strip along the waist.
 

This may look odd at this point but dont worry....this "cap" will be completely covered by the fancy molding and volutes.   These wont be added to much later in the project but here is a look at some prototype "scrolls"  I worked on.  One of the things that was troubling me was how I was going to handle these scrolls.   Sure, many people can carve them and they look great.  But these are difficult for most.  I could have provided castings but then the profile molding would be impossible to match so it looks good.
 
So I have been experimenting.  This is what I have at this point and I think it looks pretty good.  This of course means that I know have to provide all of the molding for this project along with the carved scrolls.  They may not be as good as those that are hand carved or scraped, but I think they look better than most and will do the job nicely.  I still have to tweak a few things.  What do you guys think?  By the way...the top aft scroll and molding behind it is made from boxwood.   The forward scroll and molding below it were made with the same process but out of Yellow cedar.  I think the results are pretty similar although the boxwood version is slightly darker.  The Cedar version of the scroll was much more fragile to sand than the box version.  I will have to decide which to include.
 
There was no carving what-so-ever or scraping.   The scrolls and molding were laser cut.  I just sanded the sides to remove the char and rounded the sides off a bit using 420 grit sandpaper.  The notches or grooves were laser etched at various depths and I just left the char in those untouched.   I applied wipe on poly over them and it looks pretty good.  These are just test fit against the hull to see how they look.  

 
 

I have been working on this build for a couple of weeks now and I will post some pictures of my progress. I purchased the wood package that Chuck offers and Wow! I bought the Alaska Yellow Cedar wood and what a wonderful wood it is. Working with this wood I have to say is a great pleasure. The quality is tremendous a credit to Chucks skill a pride in the items he offers for sale. If you never worked with this yellow cedar you should try it. A great aroma as well.
 
Her are some picture of my progress so far...




 

 
 

 
 
 
 

Thanks for the liks, 
 
After all the fairing of the hull , am over to the stern fraim 
I did some sanding first before it wil be glued on later 
so I think thats it on fairing the hull😊
 
Svein.erik 

Thanks everyone for looking in and the "Likes".
 
Part 5
 
Basic planking done,  sanding next,  then the wales will be fitted.

Bow view.

Stern view.

Quarter Bow View.

Starboard view with wales fitted and sanding started.

Stern view with most of the tapering done.

Bow view with tapering by chisel.  More sanding yet to go. 
Then it's on to "nailing" the wales. 

 
More To Come,
 
Bob W
 
 
 

I am not sure if I posted this yet but I want to give everyone a detailed view of the model as it will ultimately appear....hopefully.   Here is a link to download sheet one of the plans.  I am going to shoot for launching this before it is completed so it is important that you guys see what the Frigate Winchelsea will ultimately look like.   This shows the profile and stern view.   Dont worry, like all of my plans, this first sheet wont contain any parts so no need to worry about pirating.
 
Download and have a look!!!  Because the image has very fine lines so a jpg like posted above is just too light.  Click below for full size sheet.
 
Winchelseaplanone.pdf
 
 

Admiralty Models has only a few three pounder Speedwell cannon barrels left. The set of eight are CNC turned in brass with exceptional detail. Bored for trunnions (included). Barrels are 1.125" in length (32 mm). If you are planning on building Speedwell at 1:48 scale then these are the cannons you want! Price for the set is $40 US plus shipping. If interested please send a PM or respond to dvm27@comcast.net.
 

Case in point about the similarity between Cedar and boxwood.  Mike hasnt applied any Wipe on Poly to his Winnie yet.  That will be a really good comparison.  Hopefully in a Couple of weeks.   But to illustrate the color and texture between these two fine woods I can post the images below.  The first smaller (3/16" Boxwood) version of Winnie from seven years ago is on the bottom.
 
The Winnie in Cedar clearly has a richer, deeper warm tone.  But they are very similar.  When mixing some boxwood for the finer details, it blends so well that is is so difficult to tell where the boxwood was used.  This helps me exploit the use of boxwood on the thinner more delicate parts of the model without them sticking out like a sore thumb.  They will just blend in perfectly.  
 
 

That are good news. I will wait for the 1/48 scale figures. Have you also planned some sailors and gun crews?

That are good news. I will wait for the 1/48 scale figures. Have you also planned some sailors and gun crews?

I finished planking the other side up to the sheer.  With that completed, I would really like to add the second layer of the wales and the black strake.  BUT...it just makes sense to add a few strakes below the first layer of wales first.  
 
To do this, we will need to make a drop plank at the bow.  The drop plank essentially takes two strakes at mid ship and reduces them down to one strake as it enters the rabbet at the bow.  I really good example of this is shown below on this contemporary model.
 

A very similar drop plank was used on the Cheerful model as well.  They are not that difficult to lay out and make.  But having said this, I noticed that a few people building the Cheerful had some trouble making theirs.  So to make that easier this time around,  I laser cut the drop planks.  Of course this may need tweaking to fit on other models of the Winnie. It will be almost certain that the planks above it will be added slightly different on everyone's model.  But it should be very close.  At the very least, it could be used as a template and new one cut to fit your model.
 

You will notice another small tool in that photo above.  Its two 1/4" wide planks glued together.  This will be used as a gauge to mark the two strakes aft of the drop plank.  Basically you should mark every bulkhead starting with bulkhead "Q" and work your way aft.  Those bulkheads ahead of "Q" will have planks slightly narrower and tapered.
 

Then I took the "tail" of the drop plank which will end on bulkhead "Q" and did a dry fit.  I wanted to make sure a 1/4" plank would fit between the drop plank and wales....the "tail" of the drop plank is on the top in the photo below......then I checked to see if the plank fit and matched my tick marks.

 
The drop plank was glued into position.  I made sure that the "tail" ended where my tick marks indicated.  Then I continued planking the two strakes and worked my way aft.  Now I can finally add the second layer of wales and the black strake.  That will be done next and after painting the wales this model should actually start looking like something recognizable as a frigate.
 

Heres an overall view of the hull.....it will look much different once those wales are completed and painted.

 
Once again heres that contemporary model.....note how the wales are black and the black strake is left natural.  This is what I will be shooting for.  
 

 
 
 
 

Hi Ed,
 
what a really beautiful model. Congratulation for finishing her.

HI everyone,
 
I forgot to mention that my gun drafting came as part of re-drafting the Bellona in CAD. Here are a couple of screen shots of progress so far....
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
I have been away, and just got back to the website. Greg, Michael, druxey and Ed, I hoped I wouldn't actually have to build it, once I drew it....;-)
 
All kidding aside, it is interesting how precise one has to be with CAD, or it doesn't get drawn at all. When I first drew it freehand in my original hand drafted drawings, I now realize I was able to fudge exactly where things began and ended, and I am sure my curves were not sections of accurate circles. Freehand has its virtues. And yet, when it is actually built at my small scale of 1:64, the subtleties of where exactly the scroll begins hardly matter. It is a lesson in understanding appropriate tolerances at different scales.
 
Wayne, I hope I didn't lead you down a rabbit-hole with this exercise. But it sounds like you learned as much as I did about interesting geometrical constructions from the 18th century and before (the volute in Classical architecture goes back to 500 BC or earlier). It is very satisfying to puzzle through a geometrical construction, and then when you draw for the final time, everything just falls into place. Obsession has its rewards!
 
This construction is also a reminder for me that our predecessors relied much more on relative proportions and geometrical constructions for forming complex shapes including an entire ship design. We don't tend to think as much today of objects in terms of their proportional relations to other objects when designing and drawing. Perhaps we lost some important ways of looking at the world.
 
And Ben, I am glad solving my puzzle helped solve yours regarding the dotted lines in the stem construction. Further evidence of why this website is so valuable to us all.
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Cherry wood, frame included, and many others not shown are included. I will show you the validation process one after another. I hope to give you more valuable comments.

Your planking looks absolut fantastic. I like the color of the cedar. I think it will give a really nice contrast with pear of swiss pear.

Your planking looks absolut fantastic. I like the color of the cedar. I think it will give a really nice contrast with pear of swiss pear.

Your planking looks absolut fantastic. I like the color of the cedar. I think it will give a really nice contrast with pear of swiss pear.

Have you seen the new POF kit of the Cutter Alert being made by a company called Trident?   
 
Yes, it is being made in China but as this is the first offering by "Trident" and it is an original work, this kit is perfectly fine to be built here on MSW.  Trident is not a company currently on our banned list and by all indications future kits in the works are also of original design and not pirated.  So, feel free to talk about it and maybe we will see some being built when it is officially released.
 
From all appearances this looks to be an excellent POF kit.  Here are some photos below.





 
 

I have finished planking the starboard side up to the sheer.   I will start on the port side this weekend.   As you can see now, the wales and black strake are much darker than the wood above it.  That was done on purpose so I could easily identify the wales when I add the second layer.  Having said that,  the Alaskan Yellow cedar is really nice stuff for working this large.  I like the color and its easy to work with.  This is the largest model ship I have seen made from Yellow cedar.   This will be a great test of how versatile and useful it is for ship modeling.
 



 
Chuck