Gabek

Thanks all. It's great to be back.
 
 
Coming up I'll be talking about treenailing the
inboard planking. I used a Dremel Stylus, with lithium-ion battery, that I
received for my birthday. Thanks to the Admiral for that one.
 
 
So having used it only occasionally so far I thought I would put to the test.
I gave it a full charge and then started drilling treenails. Over several days
I drill over 1100 treenails without recharging. Finally before I reached the
1200 mark the charge gave out. I couldn't have been more pleased. Now I
have a good sense how much drilling I can do before losing a charge. And
quite honestly I don't see a time I would drill that many treenails without
stopping so that adds a bit of comfort.
 


 
 
So now here I have the start of a row of trenails.
 

 
 
And now here are all the treenails added and sanded down.
 

 
Now awhile ago it was mentioned to me that I had not added the holes and
cuts for the limber boards. As they were not on the original plans I didn't
give them a thought. After looking at some other builders who did include
them I though I'd give it a go.
 

 
Not as good as Chad's and some of the others but I'm happy.
 
Well that brings me up to date and now it's on to framing the lower gun deck.
 



 
 
 


 

Here is the wales and hull planking 
 
I found 1 picture I forgot to repost and added it to the end. It shows the strip
I used to line up my treenail marks.

I am new to ship building so I am learning a great deal as I go a long. Thanks to all the members here and Mort Stoll who has taken an interest in assisting me when I get stuck.
 
I ran across a great video done by Jay (Modeler12) building on a thread by Bender (click here for the thread)  on how they seize lines. It is great. However, they are a bit more talented than I am in handling the delicate lines. I was struggling to get the seizing to be consistent. I found the end I was wrapping around would move and create chaos in my seizing operation. 
 
I decided to try my hand at tool making and came up with a seizing tool that builds on what Jay does and helps me create the consistent seizing I was looking for. Perhaps it might help some of you. Perhaps it has already been done and I have recreated the wheel. 
 
Anyway, here is what I did. For the photos below I used a red thread for the line to be seized and a tan thread for the seizing/whipping line.
 
1) Cut the end off a needle and glue it into a small dowel.
2) Cut a notch in the handle below the open U in the needle.
 
  3) Put the rope to be seized through the end of the needle, around the notch, back up through the needle and back to the notch. This creates the loop.
 


 
4) Take the seizing line and put it through the needle and down around the notch,
 
5) Hold the dowel around the notch to keep the threads secure
 
6) Wrap the seizing around the needle

 
7) Insert the end of the line through the seizing loop and tighten the knot,
 

 
8) Slide the completed knot off the needle

 
9) Insert the block in the loop

 
10) Place the block in the hemostats holding the loop around the block
11) Slide the seizing up to the block
12) Cinch the seized line on the spar.
 
 
 
The link to Jay's excellent video of the whole operation is here. http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/4657-a-video-about-attaching-blocks-to-spars-and-masts/?hl=%2Battaching+%2Bblocks
 
Bill
 

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.
 

Absolutely unreal!! Awesome job and very neat and tidy. Good work! I love the clamps you made out of cable ties. I had never thought of that before. Thanks

October – December 2012:  Completing the second planking. 
 
At this point the planking was really worrying me.  The veneer was being badly forced into place and there were all kinds of little puckers.  To try and make things more manageable I decided to switch and install some planks upward from the keel and just shape planks to fit where the strakes would meet.  
 
(I should mention that I decided not to install the sternpost so that I would be able to let the planks run over the stern and be trimmed back later.  In hindsight, I would have caught a significant mistake before it was too late if I had installed it before planking. You'll see what I mean in an upcoming post) 
 

[The next plank on the cutting mat with a traced pattern taped over the end]
 
Stealers and joggles helped me finish the planking at the bow and stern. I used tracing paper to get the shapes for the ends of the planks that would be adjacent to these.  
 

[close up of a stealer]
 
As I sanded down the hull all the imperfections and gaps really became obvious.  I did my best to fill these with slivers and, in a few places, I made a filling paste with sanding dust and carpenter’s glue.  This paste worked…but I did see a slight difference in colour.  Ah well. In the end I became so tired of sanding and filling I decided that I would live with a few imperfections.  I really needed to move on to keep my sanity!
 

[second planking done and sanded]

1987 - 2012
 
With a lack of skill with wooden models I knew I would have some difficulties with my first ship.  What I hadn't expected was that the kit itself would provide so many of my headaches:  unclear instructions and having to fabricate so many parts from scratch. 
 
Some interesting consequences of taking years to complete the Swift:
my knowledge of ship construction increased with each book I bought and website I found.  In some ways this became a bit of a curse because I kept second-guessing every step of the build - which did not help speed things up.   On the bright side, my disposable income increased over the years so I could afford more and better tools.   
Because I don’t have a lot of pictures of the early stages of the Swift I’m not going to log all my work.  Here's just a rundown of some the headaches, mistakes and modifications I made during this time:
 
August 1989:  Planking and Bulwarks
The first layer of hull planking was finished but I can't say that the hull looked very good. I now understand the reason for tapering the edges of planks!  On the deck I had used black felt pen on the edges of the limewood strips to simulate caulk and I followed a very beautiful, regular pattern of staggering the butt joints.  I now realize that I was thinking more like I was building a deck in my yard rather than a deck on a boat.  A shipwright would want to have the longest possible planks with the fewest joints.  I discovered a layout (can’t remember the book…I’ll have to find it again) that made so much more sense and is much more accurate than the beautiful but inaccurate planking I had done on the Swift  
 
I was already noticing an asymmetry in hull.  I wasn't too concerned because I knew I was going to use filler before the second planking.   Little did I know how this would haunt me…20 years later!
 
It was now time to install the bulwarks.  Unfortunately, these die-cut plywood pieces, when dry-fitted, splayed outward drastically and did not follow the upward curve of the hull at all.  I tried shaping the lower edges to fit the deck line better but it was a losing cause.  I realized that I was going to have to fabricate new bulwark pieces. 
 
December 1989:  New bulwarks
Using the shape of the old bulwarks as a guide, I made patterns with card stock and traced them onto 1/16" plywood.  (I never knew such stuff existed!  Now I keep a little supply of this and 1/32" on hand.)  Much better lines now, but they didn’t meet well at the bow.  I ended up cutting off the bow section of these new bulwarks and making, yet again, new pieces.  After gluing I spent many hours working the edges of the bulwarks to get the shape I wanted. 
 
July 1993:  Planking the bulwarks; Deck Cabins; Tapering masts and spars
I found it odd that the outside of the bulwarks were going to be planked over, but the inside was to be the left plain plywood.  I decided to plank the insides to make it look a little more realistic.  As per the instructions, I planked the outer bulwarks and transom with limewood. 
 

[you can see the planking on the interior of the bulwarks and the deck planking pattern I followed]
 
In December 1993 my first son was born and in 1996 my second son came along.  The next entry in my log was…
 
July 1998:  Installing the keel and stem 
I bought a few books in the 5 intervening years and became an armchair modeller.  Based on several readings I departed from the instructions and chose to install the keel and stem before the second planking was done.  After they were affixed, I carefully cut a rabbet into these pieces for the next layer of planks to fit into.  I was much happier that I had done this.  This whole process took two days…the only two days I would work on the model in 1998 and I wouldn’t take the model out of the box until…
 
April 2003: Second planking on hull
From April 2003 to October 2012, between running kids to soccer, baseball, music, scouts, etc., back surgery and completing my M.Ed, I managed to squeeze in about 7 hours of work on planking the Swift.  I had started at the deck line and was working downward and I felt that I was doing a good job on tapering the planks at the bow.  And, I was very happy to hide the ends of the planks in the rabbet I had cut into the stem.  However, it became evident that I was going to have to install joggles.   I was also having a heck of a time getting the planks to sit flat on the hull, particularly at the bend in the bilge, even with screw clamps. 
 
So we’ve reached 2012. 
My boys are big, I have a pretty nice little workshop and I don’t have to pack away the model each time I stop.  I have actually started the Harvey and a vintage ship in the bottle kit I got on Ebay.  My ship modelling library has become fairly impressive and I started scratch-building a miniature of the Beagle.  I also got an iPad and it became really easy to document my work in photos and make quick little notes.  It sits beside me as I work – playing music and giving me quick access to the internet if I want to look something up.  I still kept up the written log in my little book, though.  The rest of this log should be in smaller chunks.
 
And…my wife still puts up with me!
 
 
 
 
 

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.

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.

December 28-30, 2013
 
I was now pushing myself to try and finish the model for New Year's Day so things were happening fast and furious. With the masts stepped and sail hoops made I next went on to install the gaffs. As I threaded the parrels into the jaws the string was a bit too snug to fit and it actually tore through the wood, ruining the hole. Drat. I glued a small wedge of mahogany over the hole and later sanded it back to shape. Drilled the hole again and used a thinner thread for the parrels. This time the hole held..
 
While the glue was drying on this patch job I prepared the lower dead eyes by wrapping the chains from the kit around them. I must admit I was nervous about getting a tight fit and a nice, 90 degree bend on the wire. I concentrated on pushing the brass hard against the dead eye as I worked it around 360 degrees. To make the bend "crisp" I used a pair of hobby pliers without teeth and, holding the wire at the right location, bent it by hand over the side of the jaws of the tool. I was actually surprised and pleased at how smoothly this went.
 

 
I followed Mastini's method to mark the location and set the angle for the chains by taping the shrouds in place first. I then used a sanding cord to make notches in the channels for the chains. Holes were drilled in the flattened part of the chains, I shaped them to the curve of the ship and I drilled holes in the hull for the pins. When, as I was about to attach the eighth and last chain...
 
...the flattened tab snapped off.
 
Great. At first I thought of soldering the pieces back together but didn't think it would be a good joint. I ended up using some brass shim stock that I bent like the blade of a shovel around its handle. To avoid possibly overheating the brass and discolouring it I used epoxy to attach the new tab. Once the epoxy set I filed it down, shaped the tab and installed the last chain.
 

The broken tab and its replacement
 
 

Right after the epoxy set.
 

Cleaned up with a file
 
 

Installed.

further:

Last time show a finished action figure





 
 

Show how everything was done gradually 
Draft Thread


moving eventually worked out the details. First rough and about




moving eventually worked out the details. First rough and about later in more detail. Neponravilis folds of the dress , so was their remodel

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

Hello to you all fellow builders,

As you know , Mobbsie has ordered the HMS Agamemnon for me and finally she is in dry dock in Schiedam.
I will not start on her .
I have first finish the Le Mirage.
But when you have a new kit in the house , you want to show it.
That's the reason why I open a build log…...
First of course a little history lesson and later on the pictures of all the stuff that is in the box.
When I start on her I know I need a lot of help and advise from all of you.
I have a few great examples of other Aggy's and I know that Mobbsie will be there for me if needed.
So let the lesson begins and hopefully it will not take to long when I can start building her.




Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon 1781 1:64

HMS Agamemnon 1781 64 Gun 3rd Rate Ship of the Line 1:64 Scale.




The Agamemnon was one of seven ships built to the same design, drawn by the same naval architect that designed the famous Victory, Sir Thomas Slade. Agamemnon was the third to be built in the class, the first two being Ardent in 1762 and Raisonnable, laid down in 1763. Third was Agamemnon, followed by Belliqueux in 1778, Stately in 1779, Indefatigable in 1781 and finally the Nassau in 1783.




A Third Rate ship of the line like Agamemnon was an expensive warship to build. The construction of the ship’s hull with yards and masts fitted cost the Admiralty £20,579 (in today’s terms, approximately £12 million), a figure that did not include ordnance, sails, hemp, copper plating and other hardware.




For three of the most crucial decades in British naval history, Agamemnon always seemed to be at the centre of the action, having no less than eleven battle honours.




Agamemnon’s maiden voyage was on 9th July 1781 under the command of Captain Caldwell. Her first engagement was at the battle of Ushant on 12th December 1781 where the British fleet under Rear Admiral Kempenfelt defeated the French fleet and captured a significant number of ships, including the convoy the French were escorting. Agamemnon’s next major engagement was at the Battle of The Saints on 12th April 1782 where Rodney and Lord Hood’s fleet defeated Comte de Grasse’s French fleet.




On 7th January 1793, Nelson learned from Lord Hood that he had been chosen to command his first ship of the line, the Agamemnon. Although initially disappointed that he had not been given command of a 74, Nelson soon grew fond of Agamemnon. Nelson wrote to his wife, Fanny. She was, he said, "Without exception one of the finest ships in the fleet, with the character of sailing most remarkably well". He also wrote after twelve days in a storm in the Mediterranean in "Gales and lumping seas but in Agamemnon we mind them not; she is the finest ship I ever sailed in, and were she a 74, nothing should induce me to leave her while the war lasts". Even a French Commander Admiral Alemand expressed the view that Agamemnon was one of the fastest ships in the British Navy. That, coupled with Nelson’s inspirational command made her a very potent fighting unit.




Nelson commanded Agamemnon, or "eggs and bacon" as her crew affectionately called her, until 10th June 1796. In that time Nelson had proved to be a great Commander, tactically and physically.




It was during his command of Agamemnon that Nelson lost the sight of his right eye. When at the Siege of Calvi in 1794 during the morning of 10th July, Nelson was hit in the face and chest by splinters, stones and sand that were thrown up by an enemy shell that hit a battlement during a shore action. On 13th June 1796, Nelson’s broad pennant was transferred to the 74 gun Captain at anchor in San-Fiorenza bay. He watched the worn out Agamemnon sail to England for a much-needed refit. She was refitted from the bottom up at Chatham. When re-commissioned in 1797 she was ordered to join Admiral Duncan’s squadron off Yarmouth, which was keeping watch on the coast of Holland. She was immediately caught up in the naval mutinies of that year. Agamemnon was however considered untrustworthy by Richard Parker the leader of the Nore mutineers and had the guns of the mutinous ships trained on her to ensure she did not ‘blackleg’. Subsequently in the proceedings that followed all thirteen of Agamemnon’s crew who were tried were pardoned.




Agamemnon’s next major fleet engagement was the battle of Copenhagen on the 21st April 1801. Unfortunately she was grounded on a shoal for most of the action, but Nelson won the battle and a truce with Denmark was negotiated. On the 21st October 1805 Agamemnon took part in the battle of Trafalgar. When Nelsons favorite ship hove in sight a week before, with Nelsons old friend Sir Edward Berry in command of the Agamemnon, Nelson was delighted "Here comes that damned fool Berry! Now we shall have a battle." At Trafalgar the 27 British ships of the line defeated the Franco Spanish fleet of 33 line of battle ships in a victory that ensured British supremacy of the sea for the next 100 years. Later in Agamemnon’s career, she served in the West Indies, taking part in the battle of Santo Domingo, and then in South American waters. Agamemnon was wrecked in Maldonado Bay off the coast of Uruguay on the 16th June 1809. Divers have recently discovered the remains of HMS Agamemnon on the bottom of Maldonado Bay, after a six-year search by marine archaeologists. Strewn around the site are hundreds of copper plate, as well as a 24 pounder cannon, parts of the pumping devices as well as a significant amount of shot, bolts and copper nails. Also discovered was a silver pocket seal, complete with fob chain. On its face of translucent stone it bore a star shaped emblem with the name ‘Nelson’ in mirror image incised in a curve above.




Agamemnon was laid down at Bucklers Hard in May 1777 and launched on the 10th April 1781. Her dimensions were as follows;




Gun deck - 160 feet 2 inches


Keel- 131 feet 10 1/4 inches


Beam - 44 feet 5 inches


Tonnage - 1384 tons


Guns;


Twenty-six, twenty-four pounder - Gun deck.


Twenty-six, eighteen pounder - Upper deck.


Twelve, nine pounder - Quarterdeck.


Complement - 491 officers and ratings.




The Caldercraft Agamemnon kit features: Double plank on bulkhead construction, Keel and bulkheads are CNC cut in Birch ply as are all the major constructional parts. Extensive use of CNC cut Walnut has been employed for the majority of visible structures and fittings.


The wood strip pack contains Lime wood for the first planking, Walnut for the second planking and Tanganyka for the decks. Ramin dowel is supplied for the masts and yards.


Walnut and etched brass stern gallery windows, with the remaining tafrail decoration in finely cast white metal. Scale brass cannon barrels with walnut carriages.


Rigging thread is supplied in natural and black to rig the model as depicted in the photographs. Beechwood deck gratings and Walnut Blocks and deadeyes. Shroud cleats, trucks, stunsail yard brackets as well as CNC cut Walnut tops, crosstrees, trestle trees, mast caps and a wealth of unique detail parts. Copper plates are provided to sheath the hull bottom.


Fully detailed full size plans and a comprehensive construction manual.



Specifications:


Scale: 1:64


Length: 1300mm


Width: 490mm


Height 945mm


Planking: Double

Hello Gabe and Welcome Aboard!
 
And me... working on 1:48 Ays!!
 
Beatiful tools and hands. Hope this projesct will satisfied you!
 
welcome aboard again and happy modelling!
 
 
Daniel.
 
p.s. I made my Harvey back in 2006 and was an excellent ship to make.

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!

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

Bob, good start. Looking forward to following along. Hope to be where you are in a few days.

I thought I would post these two images of a cross section model from the science museum.  I thought it might help or at least act as inspiration for those building teh cross section Triton.  What I find very pleasing is the change in the plank thickness.  Especially the outboard planking.  I have no idea which ship this is as I didnt write that down when I saved it.  It is one of hundreds of pictures I saved and now I am trying to organize. Based on what I see it may be a later vessel...but still worthy of inspiration.
 
Chuck

"Okay, here is a rough set of dimensions to use for various parts of the model in the three scales. 

1/48 scale Frames, no 61 bit (.039", 1mm), hull planking, no 76 bit (.020" .5mm), deck beams, knees, bitts, etc, no 68 bit (.031" .8mm), and for securing the frames and the keelson, a no 52 bit (.0625" 1.5mm) will do fine.

1/64 scale Frames, no 69 bit (.029" .75mm), hull planking, no 79 bit (.015" .4mm), deck beams, knees, bitts, etc, no 73 bit (.024" .6mm), and for securing the frames and keelson use the same 1/16" diameter bit as used in 1/48 scale. It will work fine. 

1/96 scale Frames, no 76 bit (.020" .5mm), hull planking, no 80 bit (.0135" .4mm) deck beams, knees, bitts etc, no 76 bit (.020" .5mm) and for securing the frames and keelson, no 61 bit (.039" 1mm) 

Please, please, please keep in mind these are very rough and very general dimensions. This is a guide, not a set of hard and fast rules. So long as you are close, there should be no big problems. If you do not want to treenail your planking in 1/96 scale, that's fine, but if you do, you might want to use something a bit larger than no 80. Its the builder's choice."
 
[copy of one of Russ's original posts on the subject of treenails] 

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!

Pete, Ron & Joss, thanks for the comments. It's a public holiday here today, so, apart from a reasonably brief foray for coffee and browsing the discount racks at a dress shop with the Admiral, all day has been in the workshop.
Blackening the ringbolts and cannon barrels. Everything I know about this came from a tutorial by Pat (Banyan) in MSW 1.0. I'm using this product diluted at the ratio of 3 parts solution to 7 parts demineralised water.
 

 
The ringbolts were left in a citrus (white vinegar works also, I believe), pickling solution for about an hour, then scrubbed with a toothbrush in an acetone bath. For the black to properly work, the metal needs to be completely cleaned of all dirt, grease etc.
 

 
They were dunked in the dilute solution for about 1 minute, rinsed off and allowed to dry. The strainer/cradle idea courtesy of Bosco (Ship ModellingFor Dummies, I think)
 

 
The cannon barrels were treated to the same scrubbing in acetone, supported by a sling they were dunked in the dilute solution for 1.5 minutes. You need to make sure the solution gets inside the barrel by poking a thin wire in whilst it's submerged. Rinse thoroughly and  drip dry. A syringe is needed to inject water to clean out the solution from inside the barrel. In spite of the scrubbing, 2 of the barrels were duds and had to be redone.
 

 
The barrel on the right has been rubbed with a soft cloth to finish, this removes excess chemical residue.
 
Regards,
Grant.
 
 

While looking through some flash drives that I had at work, I found 1 page saved from an original forum on the old MSW about treenail. This reply is credited to Russ. I hope it is okay to post it here in my log, if not let me know and I'll remove it or the moderators can. THIS IS FOR GENERAL USE ONLY AND NOT A HARD AND FAST RULE.
 
"Okay, here is a rough set of dimensions to use for various parts of the model in the three scales.
 
1/48 scale Frames, no 61 bit (.039", 1mm), hull planking, no 76 bit (.020" .5mm), deck beams, knees, bitts, etc, no 68 bit (.031" .8mm), and for securing the frames and the keelson, a no 52 bit (.0625" 1.5mm) will do fine.
 
1/64 scale Frames, no 69 bit (.029" .75mm), hull planking, no 79 bit (.015" .4mm), deck beams, knees, bitts, etc, no 73 bit (.024" .6mm), and for securing the frames and keelson use the same 1/16" diameter bit as used in 1/48 scale. It will work fine.
 
1/96 scale Frames, no 76 bit (.020" .5mm), hull planking, no 80 bit (.0135" .4mm) deck beams, knees, bitts etc, no 76 bit (.020" .5mm) and for securing the frames and keelson, no 61 bit (.039" 1mm)
 
Please, please, please keep in mind these are very rough and very general dimensions. This is a guide, not a set of hard and fast rules. So long as you are close, there should be no big problems. If you do not want to treenail your planking in 1/96 scale, that's fine, but if you do, you might want to use something a bit larger than no 80. Its the builder's choice."

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.