ERS Rich

Head Deck Gratings and Second Rail It took me a while studying the plans and the reference books, particularly the Anatomy of the Ship, to understand the sequence to install the Second Rail. Finally understood the deck grating is where to start. The gratings sit on a frame attached to the stem and head timbers, and the rail acts as a fascia board, covering the outboard end of the timbers and the ends of the athwartship grating support beams. Study plan detail 4A to understand this relationship. The deck grating position drives where the beams are located on the timbers. And the location of the beam on the timber drives the final shaping of the timber top. So started by building the grating frames. The frame aft edge is aligned to the bottom of the second strake below the sheer strake. Picture 1 shows the port side frame. Notice the beam ends are a little long and will be trimmed and shaped to fit against the side of the rail. Also notice the rail ends offer additional glue surface area, that will help when glueing up the rail. Picture 2 shows glueing up the rail with ends clamped and a rubber band in the center of the stem looped around the board. Picture 3 shows the rail in place. And picture 4 shows the grating installed. Finally picture 5 shows the side view.

Hi Bob, and thank you. Trying to show this in a way that is easy to do and understand. Good luck on your Constitution. -Rich

Third Head Rail After much time checking the fit and shaping, forged ahead and began glueing the rail in position, starting with the forward end and working aft. So glued the forward end of the rail to a position just aft of the laser cut scroll work and the first timber, then clamped, and let dry. Repeated 2 timbers at a time. After starting, realized that’s the horn on the aft end was not shaped as much as I wanted but had to go with it. Picture 1. Picture 2 shows glue squeeze out along the rail horn, to get some gap filling. Use a toothpick to remove the excess after a few minutes. I also used a dab of CA to get a quick hold without clamping. Pictures 3 and 4 are views after shaping the cathead support knee and the aft end of the rail, using a cylindrical burr in the Foredom - Picture 5. I think the rail horn needs a bit more material removed along the lower edge, seems a little fat in picture 3.

Thanks KLB, this is the first time I’ve built such an elaborate head, the rails are intimidating. I spent a lot of time looking at the plan and the Anatomy of the Ship reference book. Finally came to realize that there are variations in the references so there isn’t a perfect answer to positioning the timbers. It’s been a very iterative process, shaping the rail, committing and installing the timbers, using the rail to mark the timber notches, checking the fit of the rail, and shaping it. Thanks for checking in and stay tuned!

Cathead Attached the hardware on the cathead. Used the Foredom drill press to drill the 1/64” holes for the eyebolts. The cathead face decoration is by Caldercraft purchased from Cornwallmodelboats.co.uk. Note, they are too small, so ordered the larger size. Also drilled 6 holes to simulate the sheaves. Picture 1. Then I painted the inboard ends black and installed. Picture 2. Last I made and installed the support knee with the template on plan sheet 5. Built it a little over wide so it can be blended into the 3rd Rail aft piece. Picture 3.

Finishing the Timbers Installed Timbers 4, then clamped the 3rd Head Rail on the timbers to mark the notch locations. Picture 1. Picture 2 shows the notches. Notice that the lower edges of the notch follows the line of the paper templates. Next worked on final shaping of the rail, clamped the rail to the timbers to check the fit, removed and shaped, clamp again, repeat. During this process noticed Timber needed to be moved away from the hull, so broke the glue bond and added a shim. Picture 3. Finally with the rail again clamped in place, determined the location of Timber 5, which needed a bevel on the inboard end.

Making and Installing the Head Timbers Have the 3rd Head Rails partially shaped, but need the head timbers in place to guide the final shaping. Started by using the plan to determine the dimensions of the required blank for Timber 3. Picture 1 shows the dimensions of 9/16” by 15/16” and two blanks taped together with double sided tape. The blanks are popular. Hardwood is best for sharp and crisp corners. Next use a template to mark up the blank. We are taking advantage of the lower left corner and the horizontal top of the blank. Picture 2 Picture 3 shows chunks of waste wood, cutoff with the table saw. The Foredom drill press with the drum sander makes quick work of shaping the piece. Picture 4 The timber is glued to the stem, with a section of the plan used as a spacer.

Hello friend from Massachusetts USA. Good luck with your ship model!

Nice idea regarding the black bristles….model looks really good, Congrats!

Greetings from Massachusetts and good luck with your project!

Welcome to MSW, always open to answering a question if you need a hand. Good luck with your project!

Third Head Rail - Rough Cut Making the 3rd Head Rail from a single piece, from a block of hard maple cut on the scroll saw. The technique is the same used in furniture building to make a cabriole leg, (YouTube example). First is to determine the dimensions of the wood block. Using the plan the block dimensions were determined to be: 4 7/8” long, 1” thick, and 1 5/8” high. Next templates of the profile and plan view were used to line out the blocks - Picture 1 shows port and starboard blocks. The scroll saw was used to cut the block, and after each cut the block was taped back together - Picture 2. Picture 3 shows the block on the saw. Picture 4 shows the result after making all the cuts and breaking away the pieces. Picture 5 shows the port and starboard rough rails, and a starboard rail, previously made. partially shaped. Use the templates to mark lines as necessary. Last picture shows that rail in place, with final shaping yet to be completed.