Matrim

Thanks for the comments all.. Now for a brief digression onto rising wood planning. For some reason I am using the turbocad structure better to simplify the plans. As an example looking at my existing rising wood plan I would have previously put the measurements on each section making it somewhat confusing to read. After trying (taking my piece 1 as an example, the rear piece) copied it 5 times and then split the measurements over those  5 colour coding to differentiate better between vertical and horizontal as can be seen below. I then started on my cut plan and realised even that was excessive and I could just concentrate on those measurements which would need cutting. I could then change the print scale to 2.5:1 so it was much bigger and get all the relevant measurements in two copies.
 
Piece 1 is the smallest piece and I have enough wood to start producing some testing pieces to work out how I want to cut it. You can also see I am retaining my plan to simplify the piece by removing the horizontal angle and replacing with a straight edge.
 

Complete at last. Now follows an unsuccessful attempt to find the best place to take a photo which sets her off nicely. But fails. 
 


 


 
I was pleased with the way that the hull and wood fittings sections went and thought most of my scratch and replacement choices both looked and worked well. This was not a surprise as after my last kit (Caldercraft Diana) I had specifically been unhappy with both of these and had then completed the Triton cross section and Chucks longboat in an attempt to improve basic wood working skill. Curiously though I had been happy with my rigging on Diana and it is something I enjoy doing a lot yet I was much less pleased with my rigging now. Probably due to the length of time since I last attempted to rig an entire ship. The worse bit if rigging for me was the shrouds. Looking back at my Diana the Shrouds are straight (still) and their primary weakness is that the ink has worked off (basically if there is any movement in the shrouds over time due to dusting etc then even sight motion will gradually de-ink). For this kit I used black thread and whether this made it worse or whether it was the relative size and distance they did not come out well. Something for me to consider in far  more detail when moving forward. 
 
The Rigging.
 
Since it’s been so long and it is likely to be a similar huge amount of time before I rig again I want to cover some of the lessons learnt concerning rigging to remind my future self of what to do. Now rigging, like many things, is an art and some people are very good at it. It is less important to an unknowledgeable observer as it is the impression of the multitude of ropes that counts rather than ‘ooo that one is seized beautifully’ but even so I want to try and move towards best practice from ‘just works’ 
 
So random notes (in no particular order) 
 
 
Add the shroud cleats to the shrouds BEFORE tying the ratlines and carrying out any other rigging. I attempted to add after I had starting rigging and it did not go well   
IF you superglue to secure a rope then ensure you put it under strain before supergluing. If you don’t then you will get a rope with a weird angle (I don’t do this any more but remembered it from last time)  You will accidentally punch a rope when tying something, so it is NOT POSSIBLE to keep ropes correctly tensioned. The solution here is to seize the highest (most easily accessible) section of the rope (usually the one on a yard) allowing it to be tightened later on in either direction. That way if something gets loose you can do something about it.  So the area on a live ship where you would tension the rigging (down on deck) is actually a locked area and tensioning is done where you can both easily reach it and where it can occur (allowing you do not glue both ends)  Order is important and not always the kit order. I think starting from rigging that bases itself close to the masts then move outwards (after the primary (not back) stays).   
Always drill block holes again and test the intended rope fits through prior to fitting on the mast/yards. You will regret it if you attach a block then find it has too small a hole for the rope. Especially if trying to do so from two inches away  
Like with gun carriage rigging I often found that it was easier to rig off model with the rope through all the relevant blocks and then attach to the model and then tighten as opposed to trying to rig onto the model directly.    
When making belaying pins it is better to have long shanks as it is easier to get purchase around them when rigging especially when other ropes are present. The shanks on the Bounty are tiny so I gave up and went for simple hitches in most cases.   
Before securing ropes try and tighten manually to see if another rope is in the way. Sometimes you add a rope think it looks okay and then tighten then when you see its actually competing with an unexpected different rope, so you have to undo and re-do.  there was something dodgy about the lifts and the way they were interacting with the shrouds. I suspect I made a big mistake somewhere so be careful of this next time.  
 
In the past I have secured the yards with a pin. This is all very well but A) Doing so prior to the shrouds going on can cause shroud issues so don’t pin until you can see the shrouds and secondly it can make securing the yards correctly difficult. I found I preferred not pinning and pulling the yard into place was the easiest approach.   
When cutting loose ends of threads always pull the loose end with tweezers first so you can see what you are cutting. Though I was much better at this this time around I still ended up cutting two-three actual ropes as opposed to the loose end I was aiming for   
When attaching blocks to ropes I found simple seizing was the easiest approach (not historical) and secured the block better. Basically wrap the thread around the block and hold close to the block with locking tweezers then a simple hitch with thin material at the block end then repeat further back. Slight drop of super glue on the securing material (not on the block holding rope!) and job done.   
Don’t forget that if you randomly tighten one rope that looks loose then you may be loosening a different rope elsewhere.    
Scale matters. My Snake and Diana are at the same scale as the Bounty but are larger ships so the rigging is (was) easier.  For this reason it looks like the Bounty rigging is even more simplified but equally there are a lot of ropes fitting in a smaller area.   
For me my next task is to build a couple of Goban (not ship modelling related but it will help hone skills with almost all of my machine tools) which should take a month or two to do correctly. After that I may re-furbish my Diana by fixing some broken rigging (and a mast ☹ ), re-inking the shrouds and generally trying to de-dust. That should take only a week to do. After that I am going to re-start my Amphion. Due to the lessons learnt above I will be upping the scale from 1:64 to 1:48. I have zero chance of getting a 1:64 scale frigate into the house so since it will be remaining in my workshop I might as well go for a 1:48. This will make some of the parts much easier to make and machine. It’s either that or drop it to 128 and lose loads of detail and perhaps go solid hull. I have a couple of months to decide. Anyway, thanks for reading and happy modelling. 
 
 

Only  a tiny update as I steadily prep the masts. Mass gluing with little clamps
 

 
and then using a mill to drill the holes for the rigging in the tops. To get the hole location I traced the outer angle of the top on a piece of paper then marked the holes. I then cut the outer shape with scissors laid the template on the top and pushed through with a sharp point.
 

Could not see any markings...
 
Quick visual update only as the bowsprit is now on. I think I made a minor mistake in making the footropes out of string. At that diameter wire is better as it needs tension to keep shape. Otherwise I am pleased with it. The spirtsail is at a strange angle because I am going to try and use the rigging to set its position and not pinning it. We will see if it works when the rigging goes in.
 

 

 

Did a bit of work on a new bowsprit cap (this post will be in some detail)
 
I made a slightly larger blank
 
 

Next I prepared the disc sander to generate an angle on a piece of scrap wood
 

Here is the scrap piece post sand
 

 
But then had to cut it down to size on the table saw as it was a little large
 

This then went into thew vice to be the 'base' to the cap and to add the correct angle when drilling. Drilling was slow as the drill would be against the grain so would need to be treated gently to avoid the drill bit wandering.
 
After some maths to ensure I had the circle centers at the correct location I started with a counter punch type thingy
 

Then went up to 2mm drill then a 3mm drill then a 4mm drill.
 

 
So shown below we have the relevant pieces required step by step.
 

 
When this was done I generally tested the fit against the bowsprit
 
this is the point where (accidents notwithstanding) I decide whether to restart with a different base plate angle. As it stands I was pleased with the angle so carried on to the jiboom. With this I repeated the drill to 4 but eventually decided to go to 5 as it was a little wider (and I could fill the hole with card if needed)
 
Then another sizing test
 

 
Rather irritatingly post this photo I managed to lose the saddle piece (probably accidentally hoovered it) so will have to scratch build one of those as well.
 
Next steps were to sand down to size. Depth first then width and finally height. I left it slightly larger (depth) on the right side to take the jack post (should I add it)
 
Here is the 2 end pieces side by side
 

 
Mine to the right.
 
 
 

 
Another fitting session on the bowsprit
 
 
Finally as a comparison what this looks like end on as compared to the kit part
 

SO there is the little mini-project. I will start on the parts to add to the bowsprit next..
 
 
 

That would be good to see.
 
Back to the comedy of errors that is the build log. I started on the ships boats and have now decided the ships boats will be 'on duty' moving backwards and forwards out of sight because the hulls were to warped for my liking. Meh
 
Nothing to see here (literally) so moving on next I have the bowsprit. I first did some planning and worked out the angle of bowsprit to deck ( in a 'proper' model the bowsprit would disappear under the deck but in the kit it will 'pretend' to whilst attaching to the upper deck )
 

and it seemed a nice 15 degrees.
 
I then turned a slightly outsized version on my Sherline
 
 

I left it outsized as the bowsprit was actually flat (flatish?) on the top so would use a disc sander then files to level it off slightly thus reducing the overall size.
 
I then removed the  15 degrees for the deck contact before test fitting against its resting place
 

 
and the intermediate point
 
 

In this last shot you can more clearly see the flattened top ( the sides apparently were also done though I have not here)
 
I then looked at the cap and that was a bit 'meh' to. Here it is in all its glory
 

 
One thing is obvious. Those holes are vertical. Also the (larger) lower hole is much larger than the diameter of the little reduced section at the end of the bowsprit but almost as large as the diameter of the main section next to it. I suspect this is so that the rake of the cap can be added as otherwise it would not fit. But but but the jiboom would very nearly almost fit and if it does would stick out at a very strange angle. This could all be worked around with filing but it struck me that it would be quite a weak joint so I have decided to have a go at making my own. This will be the next task.
 
I have also got to think about some other little question marks. Do I put in a bowsprit wolding just after the cap and before the saddle? If I do then do I want to leave the cap and surroundings unpainted - I may just paint the dolphin striker, cap and bees black and leave the bowsprit and jiboom stained (the natural dowel colour is a bit too light for my liking).
 
Anyway  thanks for reading...
 

Time for a tiny update initially to show progression with pretty, arty, shots. Then to show how bad I actually am I am going to show some very, very detailed shots of one item and as we all know we should never take extreme close ups of something. Especially when I am a fully paid up member of the 'LG5FA' club (looks good 5 feet away)
 
Anyway progression arty shots, cue relaxing music
 

 
and from the top
 

Arty is my middle name. Or soft focus. One or the other.
 
Anyway now for the true unvarnished horror. I had a few issues with the kit canons. Not the canons themselves but the carriages as I found them as ugly as anything. This 'might' be utter lack of modelling skills (which certainly plays a part) or alternately mis-understanding of the instructions.
 
Anyway here is one
 

 
Mmmmm lovely. Doesn't the camera bring up all the horrific detail. Let's make it worse and add a cannon
 

Allowing the cannon needs trimming at the sides that still looks pretty crud.
 
I was so 'not happy' with the general boxiness of the carriage that I purchased some 3rd party carriages that I also then proceeded to mangle in a horrific fashion but they still look better (3rd party is Syren model ship company)
 

 
As before not quite complete as needs touching up and I dont know why the handle at the end looks like a cleaver (yes I do! because I made it..)
 
Let's add a cannon
 

 
Looks better. Compare the two side by side?
 

 
Perhaps 'in situ' shots will help
 

 

 
Actually it does not look quite so horrific in place though does appear to be suffering from bulging out.
 
I checked over the plans to ensure I had not made them incorrectly and they certainly look boxy on the plans
 

 

 
I dont think the cannon in the picture above fits that snuggly, especially when compared to the overhead shot above.
 
As a final comparison I looked at the cannons on my Diana (also Caldercraft) and noticed the surprising fact (to me at least) that the carriages are the same width even though the cannons on the Diana were much bigger. They were though much shorter. It did make me wonder if they were re-using some of the cutting instructions across all their carriages.
 
To be honest it is probably me mucking up the building that caused the issue and I am happy with the Syren carriages (and Caldercraft cannon). I just felt I needed to offset the arty shots first shown with the much less arty shots down below.

Still generating hull decoration, gratings etc. Just started on the Catheads
 
Here I did some extra work. The actual piece had two vertical slots in it to assist in dealing with the boats and two holes for rigging?. None of this is indicated on the plan so I assume it is not used. Instead I drilled the slots and the holes. Flattened the base and then cut a small ramp for it to sit on the rail (otherwise it would stick out to high).
 
Here is the worked pieces
 

Along with one of the pin rails pinned at the bottom ready to be placed.
 
Here is the slot cut into the rail
 

 

Another fast update. I have spent the last few weeks on the channels and have just moved to some of the paintwork. My main up coming decision is whether to make my own rope for this (requiring a purchase) or buy off a 3rd party.
 
Here is a couple of shots so far
 


 
 
 

Time for a process post. I actually found a small method of working which helped ( you probably all know this anyway but what the hell).
 
I was having some difficulty accurately filing/sanding down the ends of tiny posts to fit in tiny holes.
 
Here is a tiny hole
 

 
Here is the tiny post prior to tidying
 

 
my tools were
 

 
So I worked out that rather than trying to hold the post in my fingers (or making a jig) I could place the flat end of the square file over the post and hold the far end down with my finger
 

 
allowing me to then use the triangular  file to file the end with the square file both holding the post and controlling the line of approach of the triangular file (which being triangular did not 'argue' too much in its contact with the square file)
 

note the above is missing the key controlling finger on the square file.
 
I was much happier with the end result
 

 
Anyway this is more because I will probably forget this by the time my next model roles around so its more an aide memoir!

Currently moving through the little extras for the hull. As close up photography is good at doing it shows up a lot of errors you don't always notice with the eye So for example on one side one of the steps is off (though once I noticed it with the camera I can easily see with the eye) I may have to remove the bottom one and replace
 

The rudder was added along with the steering post
 

 
I was also going to put up a picture of the bow rails but noticed an annoying gap so have instead just stipped it off, sanded the contact point and re-set with clamps. 

Thanks though I still think it leaves a lot to be desired. I am a great believer in incremental improvement. Though a lot of people here are true craftsman who have the talent to produce something amazing I also think you need the time to repeatedly replace errant objects and much like Software Development completing a project is as much a positive feature as anything else in the hobby. As an example take those gratings. I shall hold my breath and show a photo of my first full models gratings (the Diana also from Caldercraft)
 

as can be seen it uses the clever slotting pieces in the kit but the finish and the cutting of the surrounding wood is not good, to put it mildly. Now since I look to improve (a little bit at least) the gratings in this model should be better than that (as they are at the same scale). So here are a couple of shots of the completed
 

 

I am happy to say I think I have improved but again can see more room for improvement next time.
 
I was also curious at the difference the scale made. Previous to this model I made the Triton cross section and the due to the increased size the gratings there were both easier and smarter
 

 
the planking in this last shot also used the caulk method that failed to work with this model.

The re-planked deck is finally up. It is much better than the caulk attempt but I may use a thick liner sometimes as I found that easier to control on my Diana
 
Here is a rougn shot of the deck
 

I then added the rudder and used an innovative (to me) technique to make glueing easier
 

 
So am now moving onto deck furniture. Here are my rough gratings sized on the plan
 

 
and here they are gluing upside down
 

 
They dont look pretty yet. Once dry I will sand the ends close on my disc sander before introducing a slight bevel. I'll then decide whether to re-make or not.

Well disaster struck yesterday. I was working on the deck and was following an approach I had liked (a lot) with my Triton. The deck was to be 4 shifted with gaps between each plank then treenailed (two at ends and single at intermediate). This all went well. Then it came to the caulking. This used the following steps
 
apply a varnish to the deck (prevents the next step from 'seeping' through)
get some dark wood filler and mix with black ink to darken further and then apply to the gaps between the planks
use cabinet scrapers/other to scrape the deck clear ending up with a nice clean deck with filled dark caulking.
 
All had seemed to be going well but it was far more difficult than I expected to scrape a deck on a kit with bulkheads (should have seen that one coming) and then I noticed that I was having to go extremely thin on the planks to get them even remotely scraped. After a few choice words I actually followed the historical Bounty and ripped the entire deck up. Next try (I need to order some more holly) I will use the pencil/ink edged approach.
 
I may still return to the caulk though if ever in the same situation I would be tempted to put masking tape/other over the planks along with the varnish so simplifying scrping duties. I would also thicken the plan depth more than I did here.
 
There were some advantages to this problem in that I was not entirely happy with the treenails. They were correctly positioned but looked too 'busy' on a 1:64 model. On the 1:48 Triton it looked good... So in the re-deck I may either simulate the treenails using a pusher to create an indentation (or perhaps a sharp pencil) but may also only do the butts. I might even not indicate the treenails at all as I am not now certain the scale is suitable.
 
Back to the ship yards..

Put on the bulkheads and then looked at the waterline. I have had lots of difficulties in the past but finally have a method I am comfortable with.
 
Firstly I mark onto the hull 2-3 locations taken from the plans and then use a coving laser to indicate a line between these points making sure the ship is as level as I can make it
 
I then check the indicated line by using calipers against the plan
 

 
which can then be placed directly agains the model to check the line
 

 
Finally I use masking tape to indicate the line itself as it is easier to adjust around to the shape
 

 
After that I used copper tape as an experiment. I have used it before on my Triton cross section and there had used the tape itself on one side and the tape plus paper backing on the other. Now of the two the version with the paper backing looked better but after three or so years started to come off whereas the tape on own lasted. I must admit to still not being entirely happy with the tape on own but think I can correct this later with smaller sections. My process here was to make a little jig to mark the plate size and to cut a strip of copper. I then used the jig to score the copper with the back of a scalpel. Once done I then used a ponce wheel to mark down the left and bottom sides of the plate. When attaching I eventually worked out it was better to keep continuous pressure and push down with the other hand. Any looseness causes slight wrinkles.
 
My photos of that were not good so I will try and generate some better ones later. After this I have just started on the planking and here is a 'moody' (read unfocsed) shot of the deck with some king planks I had just cut. You will notice the lines across the deck, these approximate to the expected locations of the beams.
 

 
I will do another post soon on the deck planking plan. Cheers for reading
 

Initial set of hull planking is now done. Not 'brilliant' but much better than my usual attempts. Improvements are that I am getting better pre-shaping and (for once) actually managed to get continuous lines of planks without sticking a random central filler because I misjudged the shape (hoorah for pre-planning the strips).
 
Here's a bottom view.
 

 
And since the camera is a vicious critic here is a softer version that might match what it looks like for someone not staring at a 1mm gap like an abyss
 

 
Next steps are to plank the rear facia. The plans don't call for it but I am doing so (with very thin planks of ebony) anyway.
 
 

Onto the outer layer of planking, which is doing its normal magnificent job of showing just how much vast improvement I still need.
 
I started with the wale which (contrary to the instructions) I planked straight onto the first layer using ebony. I have fairly restrictive practices with regards to this wood. These are never to saw in an enclosed area (I took my table saw outside and cut strips there whilst masked) and don't sand if I can get away with cutting. This is mainly to reduce risk from what is a nasty wood healthwise.
 
Anyway its not only nasty health wise its also not easy to work. Therefore I did reduce myself to soaking planks for 12 hours before bending. Still I did manage to get through it.
 
For the standard planking I endeavoured to improve my technique. I attempted to tick mark out the required planks if only to allow me to place string battens to get an eye for the run. Once this was done I mainly ignored them and instead switched to using those fancy compass things. On these you set the amount of planks in a section (5 for my first 3) then measure the gap between the batten line and the upper line with one end and the other end gives you the correct size of plank. This is only needed for the front planks at this early stage but is repeated for each hopefully avoiding incremental errors in the tick marking or anything else.
 

A shaped plank
 
Once I have my plank cut to the correct angle I now try and bend the side angle with some clamps and a hairdryer and then start using an amati planking strip bender (my new favourite planking tool!) which can cope with curves in two angles. The upper corner is removed with an abrasive and the bottom side covered wwith black pencil. I then glue in. I am still a creature of habit though and use wood glue and superglue. I usually smear the wood glue in three sections on the plank and then along the top. Super glue then gets touched at both ends and the middle. I then position the plank using pins pushed through the under plank layer (not the outer plank layer). Which do a nice job of holding the plank tight against the parent whilst it dries.
 

The pins in operation
 
Each evening I usually manage to get through one full planking strip before finishing.
 
Now I am a lot happier with the results but am still falling far short of what I would like it to be. I feel that my shaping at the ends introduced slight crescents (as a plank in a gentle V meeting another  plank also V  ing can cause a slight gap. But nothing that is not repairable in the sanding stage (where I tend to fill any gaps with glue and sand over them). It is also noticeable how the side I started first is not quite as good as the second side.
 
Anyway its nice and relaxing and when I get around to my full scratch I will be a lot happier at planking now. Finally I am using a rather ugly two split end planking system. I would be highly unsurprised if it should be a three or more split but this is a  step up from my last kits no split end system so hurrah for me..
 

Status so far - this is the first group of 5 planks and you can see the thread for the next batten at the bottom of the picture. You'll also notice that my tick marks are also slightly out something I put down ot the removing of the corner shrinking each plank slightly as at this point the planks were all left full width..
 
 
 

One of the inumerable ship boks I purchased when I first started modelling stated 'everyone should plank at least one ship, as it teaches humility' (then again it could have been a sig on msw).
 
I always remember that because I really suck at planking. This time I did a better job than usual and the flatter bits look quite nice. Since I am soaking the wood and letting them dry on model the bendy bits sometimes have a tendency to perform extreme shape movements overnight resulted in less decent planking. Fortunately this is the first layer so it will all get sanded to death without to many woes.
 
So prior to sanding we have
 

 
looks nice, but look at the front
 

 
blurrrk. I shall calm myself with a close up of the side
 

 
and then shoot myself by repeating this at the front
 

 
They say a picture never lies, these pictures are not only not lying they are holding up insulting placards and laughing.
 
Anyway a not so hard sand on the sides
 

 
and a harder sand at anything with a curve (that sticky out plank is actually slightly unglued and moves in and out when pressed so I gave up attempting to sand something that happily moved out of the way whenever I applied pressure)
 

 
Means I am almost ready to mark the wale on. I shall probably carry on sanding the front and rear as I am not quite happy with those..

Continuing rapidly along. Next up came the deck which was pinned inexpertedly with a hammer - at least until I remembered I had a pin pusher - which was far more efficient..
 

 

 
The first plank went on using the handy rabbett like slot at the bow
 

 

 
For planking, along with an assortment of tiny clamps, I tend to use the following a lot
 

 
So we have a vase (to soak planks, a steel ruler, lots of pins, a file for bevelling, a very sharp scalpel for cutting and those tweezer things I always forget the name of for removing pins, a pin pusher, glue and a pencil..
 
I tend to use a combination of clamps and pins to try and avoid vast overlap
 

 
Not that it matter so much with double plank construction as the first layer is just to make a 'skin' for the actual visible planks to sit on so errors can be corrected. The worst crime is to have a plank that sticks out a full plank width from the next and this can occur whilst it is drying (so you look the following day and think 'oh dear') and most commonly at the bow when the taper is correct. As I am soaking the planks they can also lose shape when drying especially if under an extreme bend.  I have already noticed a couple of tiny places where I will probably need to reinforce to avoid sanding a plank out of existence but not so much as some of my previous kits. 
 
I also noticed the wood 'moving' on drying so as long as the plank is pinned nicely started using those lovely small clamps to ensure the unsupported plank sections stayed close enough to their neighbor to allow the glue to take effect. I tend to only remove pins after the third plank has arrived - this is just to support the first. When 'adding' a second pressure can be placed on the plank above and I think the pins help prevent the plank detaching. Once another is down below then the pins serve no further useful purpose.
 

 
Anyway first planking will continue. 

No time like the present (as they say). So I have forged on gallantly noting that it has taken a day to go way past what I managed with my scratch build in 6 months..
 
First up I glued the stem, keel and stern post. These fitted nicely though the plans slowed a slightly different set up.
 

 
The only issue was that the stern post stuck out slightly so I adjusted this to match the keel.
 

 
Once done the next job was to fit the bulkheads. I used my little drill thingy for most of the laborious beveling along with a strip of wood to test the angles were correct. I only noticed three issues with the kit wood. Two of the bulkheads had been cut too deeply on one side.
 

 
So I added strips of wood to allow the hull shape to match.
 

 
The final issue was one of the bulkheads was sitting a little low so I used a filler piece to get the height to match that of the others. 
 

 

 

 
Next up getting the deck template fitted and allowing the bulkheads plenty of time to dry..
 
 
 
 
 
 

So my 'filler' model will by Caldercraft's Bounty. Whilst I redo the plans for my Bounty I wanted a less mentally challenging kit to keep my modelling going. I expect to replace largish sections so will use different outer planks, deck planks and I may also replace the hatches/ladders/guns with my own. I also am unlikely to use the kit thread preferring to use third party choices though this time I might purchase a Rope maker myself and see what I can do on my own.
 
Anyway obligatory box shot....
 

 
All contents
 

 
And bulkheads for the first section well marked with their frame number in ink
 

 
Hopefully this will be better updated than most of my stuff but you never know...

Great to see an update Matrim; frames are always time consuming.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Stuff is still happening though my updates are not particularly good. I spent some time on the transom plans which can be seen in the thread here
 
and those are now done (whether I have to re-draw when wood is cut remains to be seen - at the moment I'm waiting until next month when I can afford some more fixogum before starting some test pieces.
 
In the meantime I switched back to frames which will need doing sometime. My frame structure will be staggered (at least that's the intention) so when building the individual frame plans I am putting a horizontal line at the furthest point of the frame then the individual futtock can be sized accordingly when cutting onto the model. I am also keeping both forward and reverse lines on all plans (red and blue with Waynes guide). On the mid frames there is bugger all difference but there is slight. I am also 'just' using one line to build the relevant thickness for the inside where I am less worried about the slight shape differences  - this will change when moving away from amidships as having the inside bevel will help fairing.
 
One other thing I did was to print one of the central frames out and stick it on cardboard and then just test fit on the keel to see if it 'looked' right. Seemed okay once I had counterbalanced the weird balancing of very thin cardboard
 

Stuff is still happening though my updates are not particularly good. I spent some time on the transom plans which can be seen in the thread here
 
and those are now done (whether I have to re-draw when wood is cut remains to be seen - at the moment I'm waiting until next month when I can afford some more fixogum before starting some test pieces.
 
In the meantime I switched back to frames which will need doing sometime. My frame structure will be staggered (at least that's the intention) so when building the individual frame plans I am putting a horizontal line at the furthest point of the frame then the individual futtock can be sized accordingly when cutting onto the model. I am also keeping both forward and reverse lines on all plans (red and blue with Waynes guide). On the mid frames there is bugger all difference but there is slight. I am also 'just' using one line to build the relevant thickness for the inside where I am less worried about the slight shape differences  - this will change when moving away from amidships as having the inside bevel will help fairing.
 
One other thing I did was to print one of the central frames out and stick it on cardboard and then just test fit on the keel to see if it 'looked' right. Seemed okay once I had counterbalanced the weird balancing of very thin cardboard
 

Stuff is still happening though my updates are not particularly good. I spent some time on the transom plans which can be seen in the thread here
 
and those are now done (whether I have to re-draw when wood is cut remains to be seen - at the moment I'm waiting until next month when I can afford some more fixogum before starting some test pieces.
 
In the meantime I switched back to frames which will need doing sometime. My frame structure will be staggered (at least that's the intention) so when building the individual frame plans I am putting a horizontal line at the furthest point of the frame then the individual futtock can be sized accordingly when cutting onto the model. I am also keeping both forward and reverse lines on all plans (red and blue with Waynes guide). On the mid frames there is bugger all difference but there is slight. I am also 'just' using one line to build the relevant thickness for the inside where I am less worried about the slight shape differences  - this will change when moving away from amidships as having the inside bevel will help fairing.
 
One other thing I did was to print one of the central frames out and stick it on cardboard and then just test fit on the keel to see if it 'looked' right. Seemed okay once I had counterbalanced the weird balancing of very thin cardboard