BANYAN

Nice catch Mark.  I always find a book by an expert user for each of the power tools I have that explains how to 'tune' them to get consistent quality /accurate cuts, finishes etc.  I have top thank a mentor in my club for that sage bit of advice.  ....and that reminds me about time I revisited each to ensure all is still in alignment etc
 
cheers
 
Pat

Thank you for input, mate. Sadly, when it comes to window width, structure looks like that:
 
 

 
As you can see what I got so far is a base for sculpture, BUT decoration gets... how to say it... to be built upon it or to be added to it, so yes, it will probably make windows appear a bit narrower, but I am afraid if they will be narrow enough (of course there is camera shortening, perspective distortion and all other things to be considered). Sadly- overall space I got is limited by theoretical lines of hull and can not really be changed too much.

Thanks guys. Druxey, actually the drawers are made with half blind dovetails
 
For the utensils I thought to just borrow the admiral's but somehow they don't fit.....
 

 
Well a scaled down version then.... I leave it up to you to guess how I made these...
 

 

 
Enough playing around let's get back to the serious stuff (but maybe next build a doll house?)
 
Remco

Yesterday I have started with guns and I tried to make the first carriage using wood and card. The barrel is casted from metal but I am thinking about making my own from card.










 
Best regards
Doris

Pat,
Next round of peanuts are on me. 
 
Mark,
Thanks.  I'm applying everything I learned from Version 1.0.   Some of the fittings will hit the trash, some won't.  I'm testing myself again.     I still have a pile more work to do before the framing gets here, like keel, etc.   And if there's time, fiddle with the lathe and turn some cannon.

Glenn
 
I have made quite good experience in using copper-tape as David is describing, and using a poncewheel as you mentioned, and it conforms to the hulls curves very well. If you do the copper stripes in a way of e.g. 4 or 5 "resembled plates" at a time. (length of stripes) you should be finished before you are old.
And a Major Advantage is you are not Messing around with CA, ruining your fingertips...., because of well sticking tape instead.
The ponced copper surface can be flattend off a bit afterwards, before the tape strips are put on.
Have a look below and see what I mean
 
Nils
 

 

 

Nearly missed the start of this second version mark; glad I didn't as you have made a great start.  Bit crowded in the stalls so I've grabbed a seat at the back so that I can throw peanuts
 
cheers
 
Pat

Finished knightheads:

I have also created other crew members - a midshipman and one of the officers:

Hello dear friends,

I am touched by your comments, your words and praise mean a lot for me. Thank you very much for your support and comments. That is a great honour for me and also a commitment to make things as best as possible to be worthy of your words.
 
On Royal Caroline I finished a small staircase and railing in front of the main cabin:
 




 
And there are also prepared all flags printed in a laser printer on the thin cloth - batiste (I have no such printer at home, but one of my friends helped me with printing).

The biggest flag is already placed on the flagpole:
 

Hi Rod, the mahogany planks look fine mate.  Will you be painting the silver ash (if they are silver ash, they look a bit like the cheap pale coloured veneer in the AL kits)?  If you are, simply fill and sand, then paint.  If not you need to decide whether you can live with them; if you can, a light sand may remove some of the pitting/chipping.
 
I always bought more veneer than  provided in the kit so that I could select the least chipped along the edge ones; sanding can be done on the edge to bevel it which can provide a tighter fit (I did that) but if not painting I run a 2b pencil along the edge to give definition. 
 
cheers
 
Pat

Update time... Things have not been quiet in the shipyard.
 
I laminated the plans to some MDF and attached a strip of wood at the reference line.  Also attached the stern framing to this so as not to mis-read any critical dimension.

 
The strip allows me to use the Ed Tool without any induced errors from having it canted slightly.

 
I've marked all the plans with appropriate reference marks and rescanned them all.  Also broke up Version 1.0 in order salvage certain bits..  like everything along the centerline... bitts, grates, pin rails, pumps, capstan, etc., some or all of the deck beams but none of the deck planking.   Also salvaged the mast steps and the stern framing.  I'll use the stern framing for some references.

 
I'm currently cutting out with as much precision as I can muster, a new build board.  I noted that on the old one, there were some frame notches that we either too deep or not deep enough.  Stupidity on my part.  I'll be re-using the previous version of the frame squaring jig (on the right in the picture).

 
Hopefully, in the next week or so, I can start cutting the keel, deadwood, and stem.  Since the wood for framing won't be here until early May, I'm planning on building some sub-assemblies such as most of the deck furniture.   I've located a local source of good birch plywood,  and am considering Woodcraft or the local source for masting materials and some other items.

Thanks Matt.
 
In the end I decided to plank the stem, keel and stern post.  It's not as good as solid timber but looks a lot better than the plywood parts that came with the kit.
It has also given me a pseudo rabbet into which I can butt the second layer of planking as the instructions just say to epoxy the keel, stem and stern posts on after the second layer of planking is completed. 
 
Because I had already faired the false keel at the stern I had to add some filler to ensure that the 2nd planking layer will be level with the veneer I just added on.
 
I haven't had much time to do much work on her this week due to work commitments but I have most of the day set aside tomorrow to make a start on the second layer of planking.  Hopefully I will get most of it done tomorrow.
Thanks for the tips.
 
Rod

Hi Pat
 
Afraid I don't have a bunch of time to search out my references so I'm going from memory here but regardless I think this is one of those cases where you need to put yourself in the shoes of the people at the time and apply the basic rule, 'simple & functional' then decorate.
 
The cat heads would have been just long enough to keep the largest anchor clear of the hull, the longer it is the greater the danger sending men out there, life might have been cheaper then than now but you didn't throw away good seamen. Also, when you then haul the anchor up to the billboards you don't want to be pulling it into the hull as well as lifting it, ships were hard work, you don't want to make it harder.
 
The whisker booms were designed to spread the jibboom stays but they needed to be kept in line, if there was any upward or downward force on the whisker it would fold up as soon as you started taking up on the shrouds. So by placing the shrouds in place without the whisker and laying the whisker under or on top of the shrouds as appropriate will give you the line required, then push the shrouds out along that line. Basically you need to push them out to enough to clear any headwork, but if that doesn't give you enough side support to the jibboom you may need to go a little further, other warships of the period will give you an idea of what the navy considered an adequate angle.
 
As you pointed out merchant ships and naval ships were rigged with different criteria, man power, redundancy, weight considerations were all quite different so while the physics may be the same the arrangement may not be.
 
I do have a couple of books on rigging warships at home which I'll look at tonight and see if there's anything there that might help you but those books all relate to pure sailing ships 1750-1820 so there are likely differences to a later steamer with auxiliary sails.
 
BTW have you considered showing your research to Gary Renshaw at Modellers Shipyard, he may be interested in including it in his Colonial Ship series of model kits. I'm a little afraid if you only give it to the AWM it will disappear into their archives never to be seen again, much better to spread 'the word' first then give the material to a safe place and tell everyone where it is.
 
Not really surprised by the Navy Heritage Centre disinterest, the Australian military seem to think that they popped into existance in their modern form, they don't acknowledge their early heritage.
 
Mark D

Piet,
 
Looks sweet.. as for the mines.. I'm an old airplane guy too.  Bombs get dropped out the bottom of the plane so to me, mines have to drop out the bottom of the submarine. 

Hi John, thanks for the feedback.  I have some drawings of upward canted catheads as fitted in clippers, but only a photo of one in a warship.  These are enough to create a best-guess design for the Victoria which I can use the width of the anchor arm as an indicative (or minimum) distance to place the tip from the hull.  However, I was hoping there might be some guidance somewhere that naval architects may have used.  if I cannot find anything more definitive I am going to use the plan view off-set distance shown for the Vigilant Class ships, but translate this to incorporate the upward cant.  I am just hoping someone somewhere may have seen a rule-of-thumb or the like that stated something like anchor arm length x 1.22 or something for the off-set distance; the rest I could interpolate.
 
I think I have tracked down almost all known drawings, lithographs, plans, photos etc of this ship and yep, a great pity the Government, Navy or other authority did not keep any significant records etc.  it is almost like they washed their hands of the Victorian Colonial Navy
 
There is only one painting that I am aware of that I do not have a copy of.  I have managed to purchase copies of all known photographs, wood cut etching (London Illustrated News) and lithographs etc.  The owner of the only known surviving/existing plan for the ship (single sheet as drawn by Lang and include the side profile, sheer and waterlines, and a separate drawing of the boilers) has kindly let us take a copy in return for the model to go on display in his Museum when it is completed.  The other known set of plans have disappeared from the Victorian Records Office (and  no, the set discussed earlier are not those ).  I have also assembled every newspaper article, journal articles, magazine articles I can find, and a copy of the Geoffrey Ingleton documents,  etc etc. 
 
I have also engaged a researcher in the UK whom has tracked down and provided copies of a lot of the correspondence between the various parties, authorities and family embers etc ( includes Lang, the ship's agent, overseer, Colonial office etc).  She even located a folio of drawing by Lang that has proven very useful.  The rest of the materials have come from searching contemporary articles, journals, records, reports, publications etc for the listed equipment and fittings stated in the Contract.   I have also had some very useful help from a historian and author whom has done a lot of research on the history of the ship, but not the ship itself. 
 
I am reasonably confident, or may dare venture, that at this stage I probably have the most complete collection of information about this ship in existence (by that I mean all collected together - there is nothing new)   .  I am currently trying to draw up a series of deck arrangement and profile plans/illustrations to build a representative model, but as no formal deck arrangement drawings have been found - this is at best "A Best Guess" .  I will need to get someone with a little more talent to make them presentable though!
 
I will be donating the information collected to an interested party on completion, probably either the Australian War Memorial or Navy Heritage Centre, but as the Naval heritage/history people do not seem to rate this ship it will probably be the earlier
 
cheers
 
Pat
 
p.s.  The hull has been built, we are making and fitting the screw and then onto the deck planking - so hint taken and implemented

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 42 – Internal Hull Work
 
With the hull framing finished it was time to step back and consider the right construction sequence going forward.  Rather than go to work fairing and sanding the outer hull as I has anticipated, I decided to focus next on some of the basic internal structural elements.  Installing some key internal longitudinal members will add a lot of strength to the frames, in particular the connections of the full square frames at the keel.  These joints are rather weak and may not stand up well to outside sanding.  In practice this joint was strengthened by use of a very heavy garboard strake (the plank next to the keel) that was bolted up through the floors and lower futtocks.  This 9” thick block was in turn edge bolted into the keel.  The garboard was a much more important structural member in these ships than the familiar 18C RN subjects.
 
The first step was to fair out the inboard sides of the frames.  The full square frames had been carefully checked for fairness before locking them forever into place when the keelson was installed.  The careful pre-beveling of the half and cant frames and the use of the topside ribband to set these resulted in a pretty fair surface.  A few had to be removed and reset.
 
The first picture shows the first sanding/fairing step using 120-grit paper and a “soft-sander” foam pad.
 

 
Once all the surfaces were faired out with the 120-grit paper, 220-grit was used to start smoothing the surfaces.  In the next picture a round piece of a soft-sander pad is stuck to a vibrating sander and it turn has some 220-grit paper attached to that – all with two-faced carpet tape,  A few different pad shapes were used. 
 

 
This was followed by 320-grit, using the same device.  There was also a lot of old-fashioned handwork with all this sanding.
 
In the next picture the wood is being given a final polish with #0000 steel wool.
 

 
I don’t like using steel wool very much – it leaves a lot of steel fibers lying around and this also adheres to steel tools.  But after years of searching, I have found nothing that polishes bare hardwood like steel wool, so I am using it here - #1, then #0, then #0000.  All the tools are cleared away before doing this and the shop-vac comes out frequently.
 
With the inside of the hull given its final polishing, the lines of the deck clamps were scored on the frames as shown in the next picture.
 

 
A thick pine batten was first clamped to the frames as shown.  The heights of the clamps were taken off the inboard arrangement drawing with the calipers shown below.  These will be familiar to those who followed Naiad.
 

 
To allow the measurements to be transferred to the inside of the hull a thin strip was taped on top of the original arm to fit through the frame gaps.  
 
The next picture shows the batten set at the height of the middle deck.  The lower deck clamps on both sides have been marked.  The upper (or main) deck clamps will be just below and essentially parallel to the temporary ribbands clamped to the outside of the frames.  When those clamps are installed, the outside ribbands can be removed
 

 
Removing the temporary ribbands and strengthening the framing with internal members will allow the outside of the hull to be completely faired and finish sanded from the keel up to the top rail.
 
In the next part members of the “bilge ceiling” will be installed below the line of the lower deck clamp.
 
 Ed

Hi guys,
 
have managet to get a free time at this weekend, here the result. Last two beams of Captains cabin are in place now, and I'm beginning to build the bulkhead. Here the stantions test fitted.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Alex

OK, leave over, the kids are back at school, and the garden has been weeded and covered in a truck load of mulch.
 
I thought as a sorbet, I would make the anchor bouys. as you can see from the photos, a bit of off cut dowel and a file and they came out quite easily. I then spent two days serving the ropes that hold them, fitted them just like a real one and compared them on the shrouds, and at 1/48 they would have looked fine, not at 1/60. the term clunky comes to mind.
 
As such I used un-served rope and pained them black and much more to scale. If you look at the photo of them from the AOTS in the next post you will see the proper way are are supposed to look, but I'm just not Dafi and can't work at that scale.
 
 

This past week, I got a little more decking done and I also added the rubrail along the sides of the hull. This is a 1/32" square piece that follows the line of the planking.
 
Questions and comments welcomed.
 
Russ
 
 

Here is another small update. I had some time to solder up the chainplates tonight. There are ten total. Each has an eye soldered in its upper end and is drilled for two wires that will fasten it to the hull.
 
Here is a photo of a dry fit. Never mind the wires, they will eventually be glued in and cut off. Also, the chainplate will be cut shorter, just below the bottom wire. That will happen only just before final installation. The rail is notched for the chainplate to lay flat against the hull and there will be a wooden cap fixed along the outer edge of the rail to help secure the chainplates upper part.
 
Questions and comments welcomed.
 
Russ
 
 
 
 

No can do John , but I can tell you it was a nice little project I can recommend to every one. Those shallow drawers are just great. Next to this I use Ikea's little boxes to store other tools and supply's unfortunately they don't sell this type any more, a real shame. I'm still looking for a better way to organize my sanding paper, keeping them in a big stack is not working...
 

 
So back to making bulkheads, I use wooden peg's under the stanchions to temporary fit and adjust until I'm getting a fit I like. 
 

 

 

 
The cook's working space was not very big. Behind the riding bitt's there is another bulkhead drawn on my plan I thin I'll make a nice cupboard for the cook to store his pot's, pan's and other tools.
 
 
 

Hey Boris - - - see what I have done this afternoon - - -
 

This shows the conduit with the box temporarily put into place for a fit look.  I made one for each side 
After some adjustments they are glued in place using ca and they need some paint.  I still need to add the black squares yet.
 

This shows a small supply of 1 X 1 mm slats for the deck.  I started with the aft deck and glued only a few.  More to come Sunday, I think.  If the weather is good I need to do some yard chores   
 
Cheers,

Hello,
 
capstan prepared for installation on the gun deck.
 
Karl
 
 
 
 
 
T e i l  42

Well, some actual work to show you!
 
I'm continuing to make frame blanks and rough cut the frames, but I've now made my framing jig and have actually raised the first frame.  This is the forward most square frame, so with that in place I can start to finish off and fit the cant frames.
 

The framing jig ready for business
 


The 'backbone' in the jig
 


First frame fitted
 
The entire frame will be cleaned up after all the frames are fitted and faired.
 
John