Gabek

I set up my little table saw to make carlings. I’m astounded that I had to make over a metre of 2.6mm x 2.6mm stock for this tiny model! (And there will be way more needed for the ledges!) As I was cutting all the carlings I was mulling over the next steps and realized that I need to deal with the beam arms before anything else. The stock material  was made by resawing some birch left over from the frames. 

 

 
 
 
 
(Kind of messy job with the spray glue!)
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
My biggest concern in making these beam arms was to make sure I had the spacing and sizes all consistent.  At thIs scale, just a fraction of a millimetre would be noticeable.  So I devised a plan to mark and shape the pieces so that they all matched.  After I glued on templates I sanded each raw blank carefully to where the beam arms needed to be notched. This allowed me to line up those notches when I clamped all four beam arms together.  I then made the stop cuts for the notches by cutting across all four beam arms at once. 



 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Using a square and knife to mark the notches.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marking all done.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Using this microsaw to make the stop cuts
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
I separated the pieces, made several depth cuts in the notched out areas, and used a small chisel to rough cut the material. I concentrated on getting one beam arm completed by filing, sanding, scraping and praying.  This first beam arm would become the template for the remaining ones, which were first rough-shaped on the belt sander and then clamped altogether for final shaping.  Although not perfect, I'm pleased with the end products. It was good practice for when I will do the same for the gun deck.
 




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Depth cuts to assist in making the notches
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Taking out material using a small chisel.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
 
Filing to the lines.
 
 
 

 
First beam arm done.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Three more to go! 

Getting ready for final shaping.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Here are all the tools I used to make these! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
One wrong move and...🤬😢😫

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The whole time I worked on these I chuckled at how much anxiety they were able to create and how much they reminded me of the wishbone from the Operation game!  And about as big! 

 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 

Thanks Gabek.
I look at your project sometimes also. And I wonder how it can be done on such a small scale.

Wow... that is beyond cold.    I hope everything goes well with the build from here on.  I've noticed that unless I make the air inside more humid, my wood dries out and shrinks.  I'm still shivering over your temperature up  there.

Oh! I thought it was the PLANS that were out, Mark! 😂🤣
 
Attesting to the nature of wood, I noticed a significant difference in the width between the frames after I varethaned the outside faces. The beams fit very well beforehand but are now too long for the space. The "spring" in the frames is also much reduced, making me wince when I try to dry fit the beams.  
 
I'll be following your and Edward's advice and move ahead with building the deck in place. I’m going to have to carefully plan the painting and realistic touches I intend to add. 
 
Warm regards (it was -34C in Winnipeg today, btw, so I really mean it!🥶)
- Gabe  
 
 

 
 

Beautiful work, Ainars! 

14. Fairing (Blech.)
 
So far in my short ship modeling career, I think fairing a hull (well) is right up there with planking a hull as one of the tougher things to do. I now know why it's tough to get good advice on how to do it well, since it's just about impossible (as far as I can see, anyway) to explain how to do it well. I just had to jump in and feel it out along the way.  I started with the frames not being roughly faired so that the fore and aft sides of the frame were even, which in hindsight was a mistake since it would have been easier off the keel, but really just adds extra time to the fairing process...      I turned out to be a real pain to sand those areas down, so I decided to start on the floor, since it was flat and would let start getting a feel for what kind of tools were going to work. The first thing I had to do though was determine where the flat part of the floor ended and started curving up, since - once again- nothing was faired first. I did this by taking a copy of the Cross Section Frames drawing and drawing a "centerline" down the middle perpendicular to the frames. Then I took each of the Frame Assembly drawings and measured the length of the floor, copied it onto the "centerline" of my other drawing, and connected the sides with a french curve. Finally I just pasted it to a scrap piece of matte board and cut it out, giving me this...      The floor was pretty easy since it was flat- I found a standard card cabinet scraper worked best. I guess before I go any further I'll mention the tools I found worked best. First and foremost- a $10 pack of 3 cabinet scrapers was a fantastic investment. Of course, with cabinet scrapers they will have to be sharpened- so I also had to pick up a $10 burnishing tool and a waterstone (about $25). Sharpening them is almost an art in itself, as I've gotten sharpening the card scrapers down but the curved ones have taken a little more practice. I looked at about every link on sharpening cabinet scrapers that google brought up, but everyone has their own way of doing it so I just went at it until I found something that worked for me. Other than the scrapers I used a flat ruler sized piece of scrap wood and 4 sanding blocks with 100 grit sandpaper on them. I found the sanding blocks are used the most. All are pretty much just small rectangles with one side curved over that I cut out real quick on the scroll saw. One of them is just a little over the width of a frame, and the others are about a frame and a half thickness. The thicker ones I find usefull for sanding across multiple frames without getting "caught up" between frames, while the thinner one is good for just working on a single frame.      So after the floor, I started on the inside since I thought this would be the harder part (it is) and on the side that would eventually be fully planked. I figured it was best to get a feel for things on the side that would be a little more forgiving since it will all be covered anyway. This is where I can't really explain what went on since it just has to be "experienced". I imagine it like trying to describe to someone how to sculpt- kind of tough to do I would think. I just started rough and kept refining it little by little. This was when I noticed a problem on the horizon- one of the frames seemed out of place at "the turn of the bilge" (thanks Lee). I  thought about it and finally decided one night to break the frame loose and reset it to try to align it. Once it was broken free with an exacto knife I had no clue what to do- that's how I ended up with this gem  ...     ..first I aligned the turn of the bilge area by laying a scrap piece of wood along the frames and wrapping thread around the frame and the scrap, and behind the free frame, which kind of cinched everything into place. Then I used a couple more pieces of scrap to align the tops. Once everything was glued into place, the frames aligned much nicer. After that was done and I had the inside roughly faired, I started from the floors and just started cleaning it all up by working my way up with a scrap pushed down along the inside to see what needed to be cleaned up.      So now I have about 3/4 of the cross section faired with only one of the outsides to go (once I got a hande on the inside, the outside is pretty easy). Although I don't think I'll be able to leave a whole side open as  planned since I still have a few spots that aren't totally faired because I STILL left the frames thin  , a decent section near the bilge will be, which is OK with me. The only disturbing thing I've noticed is separation on some of my futtocks..      I was pretty careful not to have anything like this when I built my frames, so I think it could be from either the little bit of bending that went into setting a few frames on the keel or the cold snap we had a few weeks back when the cross section sat in the garage (since moved inside). There's only a couple spots like this, so I may try filling it with some wood glue/sawdust mix and see what the results are. -Chad    

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

Hi.
I add a little progress from my model.
 
I glued the first top plank to hold together all frames. And cuts off all frames in the right-size.

 
And only then start sanding  inside of hull.
 

 
 
Step by step I stars planking. 
First planks I made a slightly curved. To keep straight part in bottom of inside hull. As well pre drill holes in keelson for hold pillar.
 

 
Next I made a couple of clams for planking. To make future work easier.
 

It works pretty well.
 

Cut out limber board in right shape. And cut it by small parts.
Then folded again all together and drill holes between.
 

By individual pieces I glued it In place. I leave only place for pump room.

It's all for the moment.
I hope so will have more free time to keep going.:)
 
Ainars

Oh! I thought it was the PLANS that were out, Mark! 😂🤣
 
Attesting to the nature of wood, I noticed a significant difference in the width between the frames after I varethaned the outside faces. The beams fit very well beforehand but are now too long for the space. The "spring" in the frames is also much reduced, making me wince when I try to dry fit the beams.  
 
I'll be following your and Edward's advice and move ahead with building the deck in place. I’m going to have to carefully plan the painting and realistic touches I intend to add. 
 
Warm regards (it was -34C in Winnipeg today, btw, so I really mean it!🥶)
- Gabe  
 
 

 
 

Gabe.
What Edward said is the best way.  The plans may be 100% spot on but wood breathes and humans's sometimes aren't 100% exact in cutting, etc.

Thanks Mark!
The beam arms were a real test and I think I'll grade this effort at a “C”. Decent enough job but some mistakes. Hopefully I’ll bring that up to at least a “B" on the gun deck!
 
On another note...
 
Reading other logs I'm torn between several paths.
 
I would like to assemble the deck right on the plans and install the entire assembly.  I plan to make one end of my model realistic which means painting.  Assembling the entire deck off this small model would help in that regard. But, I have already discovered: 1) that the beam templates I used from the frame planes are larger than on the deck plan! 2) the frames on my model aren’t EXACTLY spaced like the plans.  My worry is that I will build a deck off the model that will not fit well when I go to install it. Again, fractions of a millimetre are noticeable and troublesome.  
 
The other choice is to build the deck in place like the shipbuilders would have.  I can correct and shape as I go.  I also think that installing the lodging knees next would also help keep the deck all square.  But, this is a small model and fitting pieces would be difficult.
 
A third option would be to follow some kind of combination of the above. 
 
Any and all advice is welcome and appreciated! 
 
Clear skies,
Gabe
 

Hi Gabe, my advice for what it's worth would be to construct the deck frame on the model, because I did mine on the plan and had to make alterations to get it to fit into the hull.  Only minor changes but still changes. Just my opinion!😉
Cheers 

Looks great, Edward.  One would never know this is your first scratch build.

Beautiful work, Gabe.  I've been thinking that 1:96 would be impossible but you're doing fantastic.

To arms!
 
I had a clear idea of how I was going to fit the beam arms to the beam. I would need to concentrate on creating notches that lined up, were square and had tight junctions.  Well, easier said than done!  I first trimmed all the planking and sanded the ends on a flat surface. A single coat of varethane was applied to the outer frames to keep dirt off and minimize damage.  

I dry fit the beam to determine the proper placement of the beam arms.  Once laid out I used an exacto knife to mark where the notches would need to be made, maintaining a correct alignment of opposite beams arms. The microsaw allowed me to create the stop cuts.  I needed to use the very tip of the xacto blade to carefully chisel out the notches. A slip here and I might have knocked out a giant chip, wrecking all the work...but what’s new?! All of us are in this boat (🤪) together! 

 


It took a lot of trimming, scraping and cursing to fit the beam arms and, in the end, I had a few unsightly gaps and mistakes.  I then reminded myself that this work will likely never be seen.  Besides, I collected dust from sanding the frames and will be adding it to the glue when the time comes to fill in the voids!😳🤣

Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

To arms!
 
I had a clear idea of how I was going to fit the beam arms to the beam. I would need to concentrate on creating notches that lined up, were square and had tight junctions.  Well, easier said than done!  I first trimmed all the planking and sanded the ends on a flat surface. A single coat of varethane was applied to the outer frames to keep dirt off and minimize damage.  

I dry fit the beam to determine the proper placement of the beam arms.  Once laid out I used an exacto knife to mark where the notches would need to be made, maintaining a correct alignment of opposite beams arms. The microsaw allowed me to create the stop cuts.  I needed to use the very tip of the xacto blade to carefully chisel out the notches. A slip here and I might have knocked out a giant chip, wrecking all the work...but what’s new?! All of us are in this boat (🤪) together! 

 


It took a lot of trimming, scraping and cursing to fit the beam arms and, in the end, I had a few unsightly gaps and mistakes.  I then reminded myself that this work will likely never be seen.  Besides, I collected dust from sanding the frames and will be adding it to the glue when the time comes to fill in the voids!😳🤣

Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

Welcome aboard! This is a great place to learn this hobby. In particular, read over the logs of the same model as yours.  Great insights to be had.
From Canada 🇨🇦
 
Clear skies!
-Gabe

To arms!
 
I had a clear idea of how I was going to fit the beam arms to the beam. I would need to concentrate on creating notches that lined up, were square and had tight junctions.  Well, easier said than done!  I first trimmed all the planking and sanded the ends on a flat surface. A single coat of varethane was applied to the outer frames to keep dirt off and minimize damage.  

I dry fit the beam to determine the proper placement of the beam arms.  Once laid out I used an exacto knife to mark where the notches would need to be made, maintaining a correct alignment of opposite beams arms. The microsaw allowed me to create the stop cuts.  I needed to use the very tip of the xacto blade to carefully chisel out the notches. A slip here and I might have knocked out a giant chip, wrecking all the work...but what’s new?! All of us are in this boat (🤪) together! 

 


It took a lot of trimming, scraping and cursing to fit the beam arms and, in the end, I had a few unsightly gaps and mistakes.  I then reminded myself that this work will likely never be seen.  Besides, I collected dust from sanding the frames and will be adding it to the glue when the time comes to fill in the voids!😳🤣

Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

A couple of steps more forward 
 

So practise I did, and I still have a way to go before the notches are perfect, but the nice thing is that the lower deck gives practice for the gun deck which will be more visible!
 
Getting the beams on
 
I thought it best to make the entire aft beam, beam arm, carling and ledge assembly before gluing the beams to the hull as I thought it would be too difficult to place the arms, carlings and ledges afterwards.
 
That pesky little aft-most carling which will have no support at its aft end was epoxied in and trued up with a square beforehand as well.
 
Once I had done that, I glued the beams to the hull with rapid-setting epoxy and held them down with the simple clamping arrangement shown in the photo.
 

 
Lodging knees
 
I then had a look at the lodging and hanging knees. It was immediately apparent that making the hanging knees fit perfectly was going to be a challenge well beyond my capability. So I had a read of Antscherl’s book on the Fully Framed Model, and he suggested that it was quite as likely for the lodging knees to cover the entire distance between the beams – unlike the current plans where the knees do not do so.
 
If I were to make the lodging knees cover the full distance, this would make the construction of the hanging knees more easy as I’d only have to cut the pattern in relation to the planking below the beams. So that’s exactly what I did.
 
Notch placement for the ledges
 
In order to have the notches for the ledges between carlings line up across the width of the section, I placed the carlings in their notches and only then drew the lines across them from knee to knee using the position of the notches on the knees as reference points (and using a pair of dividers as markers). I then took down the carlings and cut the notches for the ledges before gluing them in place.
 

 
After all this, placing the ledges was fairly straightforward.
 

 

 
Of course there are lots of errors and slight misalignments, but as I said above, it makes for good practice for the gun deck.
 
The next challenge, though, is to work out how to make and cut accurately the hanging knees for the lower deck.
 
Onwards and upwards (to the gun deck eventually, that is)!
 
Tony

A fantastic job on those beam arms at that scale, I'm going to hang around for the rest of this project if you don't mind!!??👏😃

To arms!
 
I had a clear idea of how I was going to fit the beam arms to the beam. I would need to concentrate on creating notches that lined up, were square and had tight junctions.  Well, easier said than done!  I first trimmed all the planking and sanded the ends on a flat surface. A single coat of varethane was applied to the outer frames to keep dirt off and minimize damage.  

I dry fit the beam to determine the proper placement of the beam arms.  Once laid out I used an exacto knife to mark where the notches would need to be made, maintaining a correct alignment of opposite beams arms. The microsaw allowed me to create the stop cuts.  I needed to use the very tip of the xacto blade to carefully chisel out the notches. A slip here and I might have knocked out a giant chip, wrecking all the work...but what’s new?! All of us are in this boat (🤪) together! 

 


It took a lot of trimming, scraping and cursing to fit the beam arms and, in the end, I had a few unsightly gaps and mistakes.  I then reminded myself that this work will likely never be seen.  Besides, I collected dust from sanding the frames and will be adding it to the glue when the time comes to fill in the voids!😳🤣

Clear skies!
Gabe
 
 

I set up my little table saw to make carlings. I’m astounded that I had to make over a metre of 2.6mm x 2.6mm stock for this tiny model! (And there will be way more needed for the ledges!) As I was cutting all the carlings I was mulling over the next steps and realized that I need to deal with the beam arms before anything else. The stock material  was made by resawing some birch left over from the frames. 

 

 
 
 
 
(Kind of messy job with the spray glue!)
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
My biggest concern in making these beam arms was to make sure I had the spacing and sizes all consistent.  At thIs scale, just a fraction of a millimetre would be noticeable.  So I devised a plan to mark and shape the pieces so that they all matched.  After I glued on templates I sanded each raw blank carefully to where the beam arms needed to be notched. This allowed me to line up those notches when I clamped all four beam arms together.  I then made the stop cuts for the notches by cutting across all four beam arms at once. 



 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Using a square and knife to mark the notches.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marking all done.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Using this microsaw to make the stop cuts
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
I separated the pieces, made several depth cuts in the notched out areas, and used a small chisel to rough cut the material. I concentrated on getting one beam arm completed by filing, sanding, scraping and praying.  This first beam arm would become the template for the remaining ones, which were first rough-shaped on the belt sander and then clamped altogether for final shaping.  Although not perfect, I'm pleased with the end products. It was good practice for when I will do the same for the gun deck.
 




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Depth cuts to assist in making the notches
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Taking out material using a small chisel.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
 
Filing to the lines.
 
 
 

 
First beam arm done.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Three more to go! 

Getting ready for final shaping.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Here are all the tools I used to make these! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
One wrong move and...🤬😢😫

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The whole time I worked on these I chuckled at how much anxiety they were able to create and how much they reminded me of the wishbone from the Operation game!  And about as big! 

 
Clear skies!
Gabe
 

A year! It’s been almost a year since I last worked on this model! Sheesh.
 
One step backwards...
I have some advice for other procrastinators:  go back and read your build logs before you pick up that forgotten model.  It would have saved me half a day of work if I had! When I took my Triton out I was perplexed to find that I had only finished one of the upper deck clamps. So, I began preparing stock and planning to shape pieces when I came across the fully assembled clamp in the bottom of the storage container! Wha'?! Then it all came back to me. I discovered that the frames on one side were not spaced properly and had to painstakingly remove the clamp. I was so disheartened by this backward step that I just boxed up the model in disgust and put it on the shelf! 
 
Good news: I didn’t have to fabricate a new deck clamp and, in no time, I had it glued in place with the frames properly spaced. 
New/used upper deck clamp back in place.
 
Deck Beams
 
 After mulling over my options I decided that I should build the decks.  This would determine the spacing of spirketting, waterways and interior planking. I was able to prepare some 3.30 mm birch stock, glue on templates for the beams and rough cut them out:


 
As usual, sanding these small pieces to the correct lines presented some headaches. I tried to do it all by hand, but it was taking so long that I resorted to gingerly taking the "bulk" waste off with my 1” belt sander.  I forgot how nerve-wracking this is! One tiny misstep and I would have to start over again! 
A study in concentration. 
I first tried to do the final sanding with a sanding block but it was taking forever and I was getting frustrated. Birch is beautiful wood to work with but its hardness was working against me. I needed something larger and faster to remove the material before I exploded. 
Are we there, yet?!
In preparation for working on the model I rejuvenated my sanding stick with new 100, 150, 240 and 400 grit sanding paper. With a scrap piece I tried out if I could drag and/or push these small pieces across the wider sanding surfaces. And now birch was my friend! These pieces handled the sanding very nicely and in no time at all I had all 8 deck beams to where I wanted them.
Easy-peazy sanding! 
To eliminate minor differences I clamped the four lower deck beams together and did my final sanding to shape.  I’m too excited to get to the rest of the lower deck that I'll finish shaping the gun deck beams later.



I dry-fit the lower deck beams and I’m happy!😃 (And now I see how little room I have to work with!😳)

Going to have to do some careful planning from here on.  Particularly because I intend to show the hold with ballast and stores. Any advice would be welcome and appreciated.
 
Next step: this Canadian goes carling!🇨🇦🥌🤣
 
 
 
 

Here are two pictures out of Emmanuel de Fontainieu book.... whom I respect on Hermione a lot.