Gabek

Thanks, Matrim. I think I may have made that mistake on the other frames, but they really are so weak that I can see them breaking when I try to fair them later. I think I may make the planking a bit thicker and fair up the lines by sanding them, instead. These outside, built-up frames however are much stronger (my hat goes off to the ship designers and builders of yore!) And, like a kid, I couldn't wait to see what the frame would look like so I sanded it up and the chocks are almost invisible (just the way I like it!). A couple of the butt joints between the futtocks, however, are not tight...something I have to work on for frame pair 5. (Hmmm...uploader said the picture file was too big...but it's only 715 kB. I posted the topic and hit edit, now it works. Anyone else getting this?)

Well, thought I'd just check the glue and found it was dry. So, I decided to try adding chocks...it took maybe 30 minutes, if that! Tough to get a perfect fit, but I think it will do. I also noticed just how much stronger this frame is compared to the one-piece frames I've already made. Using the grain of the wood properly sure helps! Sanding the frame to size is next.

Hello Mauro, Looking forward to seeing your work on this model. This is a kit that is on my bucket list! Best wishes and clear skies! Gabe

Ah...summer holidays. Done another term of teaching and managed to finish a ship in a bottle as a gift for my dad while my parents were in town to celebrate my youngest son's graduation from high school. I can now pick up the Triton where I left off. I had already prepped some 3/16" cherry for the two frame pairs (C and 5) that I was going to build up. I glued the futtock patterns along the grain and roughly cut them out on the scroll saw. Not ever having done this before, I decided to try to complete one frame pair first before working on the other and make any necessary modifications to my method. I left extra wood on the futtocks thinking that it might be easier to clean them up once the frames were all built and stronger. Thinking of some of the things I want to do with this build I began doing some more research on frigate construction. I own the Anatomy of a Ship books on the HMS Pandora (24 gun) and the HMS Diana (36) and I soon noticed that chocks were used between most of the futtocks, particularly the lower ones, and sometimes scarfs for upper futtocks. I made a decision that I may regret later: I was going to install chocks on these built-up frames, but only on the futtocks that would be visible in the completed model. At first I thought I could just fake the chocks by scoring the frames with an x-acto knife, but I realized that the butt joint between the futtocks would bisect the simulated chocks. So, I was going to actually make chocks. The chocks in these two books look similar, but the Diana shows them being longer and more gently tapered than on the Pandora. Although I liked the look of the sleeker chocks, I decided to copy the Pandora version because the size of that frigate is closer to the Triton. Also, I thought that cutting out the futtocks at this scale might be easier with shorter chocks. I did a few measurements and calculations to come up with a plan to follow. Because I was using some really small measurements (0.7 mm in some cases) I used a knife to mark my lines on the wood. I soon discovered that cherry was fairly easy to cut so I used the knife to cut out the shapes rather than a razor saw as I had first intended. I cleaned up the notches with a needle file. Three steps in making the frames I decided to build up the frames individually and then glue the frame pairs together before installing the chocks. To build up the frames I cut the futtocks to the butt joint lines and I lined them up on a printout, using pins to hold them in place. A drop of cyano on the joints was used to hold the futtocks together until I could glue the frame pair. I carefully sanded one side of each frame on a flat surface and glued them together with carpenter's glue. I cleaned up the squeeze out where the chocks will go with a dental pick. I'll find out if this was all a mistake when I add the chocks and clean up the frames. Pinned and ready for cyano Frame pair ready Frame pair glued

Thanks for the comment, Donny. I have been rather occupied the last few weeks - I'm a high school teacher and June is a crazy month. However, today I started summer vacation and I hope to get back to my builds, shortly. Regards, Gabe

Great project, E&T, and excellent work. I've done a fair amount of reading on the north west passage expeditions and on Franklin. "Barrow's Boys" by Fleming and "Voyages of Delusion" by Williams stand out for me. I'm just amazed at the combination of bravery, determination and stupidity of these voyages. In particular, the profession of 'theoretical geography' which sent many sailors to their doom is entirely mystifying. I've started reading your blog and look forward to following your progress here on MSW. Kind regards, Gabe

Thanks, Keith. Your feedback really gives me a boost everytime. Looking at my scrap bin I think I'm on my way to being an Einstein! Thanks, ziled. Looking forward to seeing your Triton. I once read that Oliver Cromwell told an artist that was painting his portrait to paint him "Warts and all". A philosophy to which I highly subscribe. There's something cathartic about putting your mistakes out there for others to see. Having a laugh over them even better! Regards, folks. Gabe

Welcome to the "Swifties" - there is something about the Swift that drives you crazy but you still love it! I made a point of walking away whenever I lost patience and came back to the model when I was in a good space again. Don't be afraid to change or modify the kit, that seems to be the norm...and Keith is the king of the bash! Enjoy and don't hesitate to ask questions here. I found Frank Mastini's, "Ship Modelling Simplified" a really good general resource. Regards, Gabe

Thanks, Matrim. I have a joke I tell all my friends... Do you know what a short story is? I don't. I was a bit tired when I posted the last entry. I duplicated one photo and forgot this one of the completed frames.

March 2014 My main motivation for starting this project was to learn the craft of scratch-building - and the online format with so many build logs and supportive modellers makes this an ideal educational environment. I also wanted to develop my skills on some of the power tools I now own, some of them thanks to my friend Clarence who was an avid woodworker but downscaled his workshop when he and his wife decided to sell their home and move into a senior's condo. His scroll saw has basically been collecting dust in my home except for the one scary time I used it to cut the rail cap on my first build, the Swift. I had no clue how to properly work it, so this project was going to be my scroll saw course. As I looked over the plans for the Triton it started to dawn on me what a challenge1/96 might be. The size of the parts for the frames would make things 'interesting' in the Chinese curse way. The futtocks would have to be cut from 3/32 stock. This was my first scratch build so I still wanted to try assembling frames, but making 9 of them at this scale was beginning to worry me. So, I came up with a compromise that I could live with...but I'm not sure what you folks might think. I plan on building the outermost frame pairs (4 and D) accordingly, but the inner frames I'm going to cut as single pieces. This way I get some experience building up frames, the model will look more authentic (outwardly at least) and I won't go nuts. After some research and a look through my supply of wood, I decided to go with birch for the inner, one-piece frame pairs. To get my 1" stock down to 3/16" it needed to be resawn and then planed...and I didn't have the equipment to get this done. However, we have a wood shop in the school where I teach and the woods teacher was happy to help me out. So, after classes on a Friday afternoon he coached and helped me make the stock I needed. (Thanks, Michael!). Later that evening I printed out the frame plans and glued them to the birch with spray adhesive. The next day I used the band saw to roughly cut apart the frames. I grabbed #4 and took it to the scroll saw for the moment of truth. I set up a fine-toothed blade, dialed in a fast speed and nervously pushed the wood into the teeth. Well, I suppose it was an ok job...but it took a bit more reading, a great YouTube video and a few more frames before I could really say I had the hang of cutting a controlled line! My goal was to use the scroll saw to get to about a millimetre of the line on the plan and then take the frame to my little belt sander to get the wood to the line. But, the frames at this scale were just so thin that I became very nervous about snapping them while getting them to size. So, I decided to cut and sand to the inside line before even cutting the outside to give at least some support to the wood as I worked on it. I chose to do the inside first because it was harder to work with at the sander. The belt sander was terrifying to use...it could remove material so fast that it took a very light touch and a lot of concentration not to grind a frame down too far. There were many heart-stopping moments, and one mistake that will need a bit of a fix. To smooth out the lines left by the sander I made a couple of sanding blocks that fit the inner and outer curves of the frames using a product called Sand-to-Shape. I had picked these up at the sale table at our Lee Valley. Eventually I had the hang of things and I was able to complete a frame in about 30 minutes. I soon realized that my one-piece frame pairs had a weakness. The upper futtocks ran with the grain of the wood, but the grain went across the first and floor futtocks. So, in addition to being very thin I had to be careful not to stress the lower parts of the frames too much. Sure enough, while cutting frame 3 on the scroll saw the blade caught the wood and it snapped. The worst part was that it happened while cutting the outside line...AFTER I had already spent the time and energy to cut and sand the inside of the frame. Ah well.

Thanks, S.C. I appreciate the comments. I can thank my father, a retired electrician, for showing me the trick of chaining cable ties like that. That d-shape they form does the trick and now that they make reusable ties it becomes practical to use them as clamps. Regards, Gabe

Thanks for the compliment but I'm really envious of the sails on your model, Hip...they look awesome. I really feel like my model is incomplete. Kind regards, Gabe

Keith has done it again! He motivated me to do something and I'm now posting my final reflection on the Swift. Inspired by one of my favourite movies, I'm going to use some headings in this post.

Hey there, Cap'n! Looking forward to following your work. I've read quite a bit on Bligh and the mutiny - incredible story no matter which perspective you look at it. I've been slowly getting books, materials and building skills for making figures, as well. I've been leaning toward working with polymer clay...soft until you bake it at low temperature. If you're interested you may want to check out the book, "Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay: Tools and Techniques for Sculpting Realistic Figures". I also hope to be able to sculpt decorative work on my models using this same material. One day...one day... Kind regards, Gabe

Thanks, folks! I've been looking at some of the other builds and, I must say, I'm a little intimidated! There is a lot of phenomenal work going on in these Triton builds and I hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew. However, I gotta start somewhere...and I know people here are great. Regards, Gabe

I just finished my first ship model last weekend, I've got another kit on the go, but this Triton project looks really cool and will most definitely be educational. I'm really looking forward to this. Smaller scales appeal to me for some reason. This works out well because our house is so jammed with stuff that I really don't have a lot of room to display models!

I thought I would just post the final result of everyone's advice here. Thinner line for the flag halyard. Small cleat installed on the mainmast. Toggle above the flag, eye splice below. Eye splice in the halyard for the toggle, sheet bend to attach the halyard to the eyesplice below the flag. A little extra length in the halyard to join the two ends when a flag is not being flown. And I added a few small drops of cyano to keep the flag in the direction I wanted. And my first wood model is done! Thanks a bunch, mates.

Thanks, Keith. Great to hear from you. I thought long and hard about sails. I read up on how to make furled sails and even bought some silkspan to give it a try. I also was about to bid on eBay on a "new" Swift kit with the sails just to install the sails and have a box of material. Unfortunately, the pricing went too high for my liking. In the end, I decided to go bare poles and put sails on my next kit, AL's Harvey. I've seen that Katy before! I think It was that model that convinced me not to try furled sails! I thought the fore sail looked a bit wonky. I do like that model, though. The rigging is right, for one! I'm still cursing that I didn't put blocks on the throat halyards. Kind regards, Gabe

Absolutely astounding work! Are all your mouldings and decorative works done on CNC? I tookup relief carving as a hobby with the goal of trying to add these kind of details to my models. (One day, but no where near as good as your work! ) Thank you for sharing this with us.

Hey there, 3sheets. You're doing excellent work (in spite of the puppy)! Having all the MSW crew behind you is an unbelievable resource, one that I could have used when I started this model. Thanks, Gabe

Thanks, folks. Having this build log and all the great feedback from members it generated was a major factor in pushing me to finish. And, putting pictures up for everyone to see kept me on my toes, so to speak! Regards, Gabe

Feb 3-18 Running rigging and the end game The basic sheets and halyards went fairly well, and I like adding the blocks to the rigging - but how to deal with the falls was driving me bananas! There really should have been more fife rails. After long searches I spotted some very old photos of pilot schooners. It dawned on me that this was a working boat, with seasoned professionals manning her, much like tugboats today. There would have been a practical, no-nonsense approach to sailing her so I decided to coil the falls where they lay. Flemish flaking was good for the navy and yachts, but not for this hard working little ship. I had a small problem, though. I had run out of the line from the kit. The closest I could find was slightly smaller diameter, but I think this worked out in my favour. I began making coils of line for the cleats using a little jig made of bent wire pushed through card stock. The thinner thread made it look like lots of rope was belayed, but it wasn't bulky. I followed a trick I learned here of using watered down glue to help shape the line and make it lay flatter. I tapered the end of a dowel to wrap glue-soaked line for the coils on deck. Once wrapped, I gently nudged the coils off the dowel with a dental pick. While wet I could still shape them a bit. I trimmed the tag ends of these coils and glued one turn of the original fall to the top of these coil mounds to make them look the right sized line. The finished product was adhered to the deck with a few drops of cyano. I figured that the fore gaff downhaul would not have much line, being hoisted up to its maximum height, so I decided to just layout a figure eight fake for this line. I'm not entirely sure that this would have been done in 1805, but I learned about this technique on a Canadian Coast Guard page so I thought I would add this to the Swift as an homage to them. I had assembled the anchors, filed the mould lines and spray painted them black about a month ago. Of course, I had to research anchors. So, now I added puddening to the anchor rings and did a real hash of the seizing. Actually, the cyano glue made a hash of them, causing the thread to go translucent and ugly. I ended up painting the seizings with an off-white model paint. I had toyed with the idea of building wooden stocks and even gluing veneer to the white metal, but decided to paint them to look like wood. Another hobby of mine, painting miniatures (Warhammer, in particular), has given me some skill in painting wood grain on pewter or plastic. I base-coated the stocks with a dark brown, then streaked on a fair amount of a tan, then gave the whole thing a wash in brown ink. They looked ok. I was all set to tie anchor bends to the anchors but I did one more check on my booms and, once again, I was tying anchor clinches. My first attempt took almost two hours and looked hideously bulky and the cyano had wrecked the look of the seizings. I cut off the brutish hitch and tried another time with a much thinner thread. It was ok, but I was so tired of dealing with these clinches that I resurrected an idea that I had when I was making the base for the model. I ended up drilling a hole in the top of the oak base the same diameter as the anchor cable and ran the cable into it to look as if the Swift was at anchor. Considering that she had no sails it only made sense. My 1 mm bit would not reach all the way through the base, so I used some steel wire to push the cable in, giving it a bit of cyano to keep it in the hole. The Swift gently tugging on her anchor I glue-soaked and coiled the extra anchor cable around a tapered felt pen cap to fashion coiled mounds like for the running rigging. I tied the free ends of the cables to the knight-head and glued the coils down to the deck. A few weeks ago I posted a question to MSW about rigging flags and got great advice. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5145-correct-hitch-and-advice-on-rigging-a-flag-needed/ A long time ago (probably 12 years ago) I bought a union jack to put on my model (sorry to my American neighbours). It had adhesive backed material that you just folded down to make a two-sided flag. I curled the flag around a few different diameters of dowels to make it appear to ripple. A short length of string with an eye spliced into it was attached to the 'seam' end. Even using this very slender thread the collapsible eye needle worked its magic and an eye splice was done in seconds. I cut and sanded down some thin birch dowel to make a small toggle to attach above the flag. The kit instructed to run the flag halyards to giant deck cleats. I quickly made a smaller cleat out of http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5145-correct-hitch-and-advice-on-rigging-a-flag-needed/ walnut and attached it to the mainmast. It was fairly simple to thread the toggle through the eye-splice above the flag, and tie on a sheet bend in the eye-splice under the flag. I hoisted the flag, tied the flag halyards to the cleat on the mast and added a drop of cyano to keep it there. I started squaring away the model: matt varnish was painted on blocks, threads and other debris were cleaned off the model, a few stray smears of glue were dealt with... ...the Swift was done. I'll follow up with a reflection soon.

New Year's Day, 2014 As soon as I started looking at what was involved in the running rigging I realized that I wouldn't be finishing this model today. On almost every line that needed to be run I had questions that could not be answered in the instructions and I was researching every knot, hitch and halyard. While I liked reading and checking all of this I was now getting headaches from all the decisions I was having to make. Although I really wanted to finish today I wasn't about to give up on trying to complete as good a model as I can. Jan 2-3, 2014 Resolved to take my time I first prepared the blocks. I felt that, right out of the box, the blocks looked too square, so I sanded down the edges to make them a little more oval and worn looking. I also stained them to make them look a little more like oak by putting a few drops of stain in a ziplock bag and tossing the blocks around in it for a few seconds before turning them out on a paper towel. After spending a lot of time researching the multitude of blocks and which strapping, pendants, etc are used on a ship and how to make them for a model I made a list of what was needed for the Swift. I found an excellent method of strapping a block on another modeller's website (sorry MSW). To make all the straps consistent in size I went back to my fly tying gear. A made a jig out of steel wire that would allow me to hold the block in place while I made a larger loop of thread around it. A simple overhand knot and a drop of cyano under the block made a good simulation of the splice and I then used a much thinner thread to seize the loop tight to the top of the block and form the eye. This became an easy task and I rather liked making these. The gaffs Based on several sources I decided to add stop cleats on the gaffs for the peak halyards. After trying to cut wedges to size, with no luck, I ended up just cutting small blocks of equal size, gluing them in place and shaping them with a knife afterwards. Stop cleats on the gaff to keep the peak halyards in place. I went with eye splices on the throat halyards not only because it was the right choice but also because I found that a collapsible eye needle was the perfect tool for this. I can thank my sister who does a lot of beadwork for making me aware of this invaluable tool. In just a few minutes I had spliced an eye around the ringbolt on the gaff and several other places. Next time I think I'll thread the parrels AFTER doing all this! (I discovered that I'm bad at handling beads - there's probably more on my floor than I could count. So, once I got them on the gaff I wasn't going to take them off!) Preliminary steps in splicing an eye around a ringbolt. The actual installation of the gaffs and boom involved simply threading the parrel lines through the jaws and tying an overhand knot to simulate a stop knot. A drop of cyano finished the job. It was about this time that I really began to notice serious flaws in the rigging plan. For instance, why would the throat halyards be tied directly to ringbolts on deck instead of to tackle? Even if, historically, it was tied off this way, what hitch would you use in the middle of a rope that would be secure enough to hold up a gaff and sail, be fairly quick to release for setting and trimming but not so easy that it could be accidentally unhitched? After A LOT of research, a post for advice here on MSW (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/5145-correct-hitch-and-advice-on-rigging-a-flag-needed/), and the fact that I didn't have enough blocks to correctly add tackle to the halyard (I almost stole some from the Harvey kit I have), I installed the gaff as per instructions and used a slipped buntline to tie off the halyards to the deck.

Thanks, Russ. Although I kinda wince at my work in the photos...lots of little imperfections really become obvious! Regards, Gabe

December 30 - January 1 Standing Rigging I was excited. I broke out the thread from the kit and, with 3 days to the 27th anniversary, was positive that a few feet of string and a couple of knots were not going to be a problem. And I'm quite sure that the veteran modellers here might be chuckling at me right now. This being my first model I had no idea what I was getting into. The instructions of course, were no help whatsoever. The standing rigging seemed to be straight forward. I had read enough to understand seizing and, thinking about how to wrap thread around another piece of thread, another hobby of mine came to mind: fly tying. The small tools made for tying bits of feather, fur and other materials onto a hook seemed to be just perfect for this job. I first made some jigs out of some stiff steel wire to hold dead eyes in the fly vice for seizing the shrouds and to make consistent eye-splices. These worked quite well, in my opinion, and I managed to quickly prepare most of the standing rigging. Tying an eye, not a fly. I used black lacquer from my fly tying supplies to glue the seizing Pull the wire out and the eye is free. Not thinking ahead enough I had to scramble to colour the lines black. Most stores were closed. I ended up dipping them in a ziplock bag with a few mLs of black acrylic airbrush paint I had on hand. To spread the paint on the thread and to remove the excess I fashioned a little squeegee from a clothes pin with some foam glued in the jaws. I hung the lines to dry with spring clamps on the ends to keep them stretched. I have always been amazed at pictures and drawings of the maintop on ships and how well thought-out the arrangement of the shrouds and stays were. When it came time to install the rigging on the Swift I tried to keep in mind which arrangement would make sense for mutual support. The foretop on the Swift. (Ignore the wire jig for now) Installing the shrouds and stays went fairly smoothly. I was not happy with having the forestay attached to a ring on the jib boom with just an eye splice, so I made a thimble with some thin brass shim. I was rather pleased with the result. I think I made a small mistake on the shrouds, though. I was researching every step of the way and most of the literature showed that the tail end of the shrouds should face forward when seized to the upper deadeye. When I ran the halyards for the first few deadeyes I made sure that I did this, but it just didn't look right. I did a bit more snooping and found a picture showing the tail ends facing aft. So, I switched all the work around. After I finished tying all the halyards I happened upon another book (don't remember which one) that outright said the tail ends should face forward. Well, I just wasn't going to change them again. I was running out of time if I wanted to be finished New Year's Day. Next model I'll make sure they're done right.