ERS Rich

Shaping the Filler Blocks (continued), Starting Bow Framing This week spent time understanding how to make the stern filler blocks using the contour templates. Started on the bow framing. Filler Blocks: Found a board with the contour heights marked, as parallel lines, was a time saver. Index the block along the board edge, and slide the template along the line to contact the block. Shaped the block by working the midline shoulder between the bearding and bulkhead R lines. Kept rounding the shoulder and stayed away from the edges. Worked up to the bulkhead R and bearding line edges last. Bow Framing: Found notching the topside of the bow block, end grain, difficult. Used a Tamiya mini saw for the notch side cuts. Would do this job next time before installing the bow filler block. Used a brass bar to compress the fibers in the notches, port side done in the picture. Made the spar deck rail, attached template with double sided tape, found reside hard to remove, going with graphite paper tracing going forward. Also relearned you need a hardwood board under the chisel to prevent tear out. Used the Foredom drill press to make relief holes in the waste areas on the spar deck rail, to make it easier to remove the remaining waste with a chisel. Gentle chisel cuts needed, with the grain direction, tabs easily break off. Have a good weekend.

Thanks for showing the method for using the copper strips. And that spray gun is a game changer. Enjoying your posts, thank you.

Welcome aboard and greetings from Massachusetts. Always available to answer any questions. May your projects go smoothly! -Rich

Hello Tomasz, greetings from Massachusetts USA. Always ready to answer a question, if you need a hand. Cheers!

Thanks Gunter. Setup for cabinet making, had a closet cabinet making business for about 5 years.... And an understanding wife!

Hello, just found your log. Thank you for posting, seems to set the standard for how this is done! All the best in the new year. -Rich

Shaping the Filler Blocks (continued) Ok, lined up to go at it again. Needed to mill up material for the rough blocks. A 10’ board was purchased years ago, can’t remember the species. Mill process is cut to length - 2 feet, square 2 faces with the joiner, thickness plane, then square last face with the table saw. Slice a 1 1/8” wide board from the piece on the table saw , then cut 2, 6” lengths from that board , cut each 6” length into 2 pieces, make each piece 2 7/8” long by 2 3/8” pieces. Starting with 2 sets of blocks. All marked up ready to go. Thinking of hand carving one set and power carving the other with the Foredom.

Shaping the Filler Blocks (continued) Thanks Gunther. Work part time, in the shop daily, this week the part time work needed much more time. Here’s the update..... Kaboom! Have been checking the work against Bulkhead R and the bearding line template but not the counter. And somehow the side going against the counter is way out! First time making a block of this shape and naively thought I could knock it out quickly. Picture shows the stern blocks sitting on the counter template. Wood should be covering the white areas. And I thought I was getting the hang of it! No worries, starting the stern blocks over......always something to learn! This time will try doweling a small block onto the rough block, so it can be held in the vise while working. Have a good weekend!

Welcome! Always available to answer a question. Good luck and cheers!

Still making the stern blocks! Thinking of updating this project weekly.....

Shaping the Filler Blocks (continued) Hanging out with the blocks and rasp this afternoon. First time through this part and taking my time. Rasping in the “downhill” direction. Helps to have the board clamped and protruding off the bench.

Hi Gunther, Yes, find I need to be careful about rounding the bevel. Will be on the lookout to address that during the planking task. Sometimes I get a little carried away with it. I think of that residue like a pencil line....need to keep the line or you may not know where you are. Really enjoy the sanding blocks by Dowl-It. Thanks for the comment. Procrastinating this weekend, need to get to it! Enjoy the rest of the weekend. -Rich

In my experience with Vallejo, Flow Improver is the key. Model Air does not need to be thinned. Often airbrush small amounts of paint, 5-10 drops. Starting with an empty cup, load a couple of drops of flow improver, then dump the excess. This coats the interior of the nozzle, and the needle, then a drop or two after the paint is in the cup. Stirring is needed. For larger jobs the label directions work - ratio of flow improver to paint drops. Watch for tip buildup and have a cotton swab moist with thinner at the ready to clean the tip. Tip buildup or bubbles in the cup means more flow improver is needed. A lot of bubbles? The nozzle is clogged or needs to be tightened. My go to airbrush is Paasche Talon with 3mm tip, about 20 psi. Took a while to get it just right, been around for a while and started with and have Testors Airbrush/Paints, Badger, etc. Vallejo is go to in my shop, water cleanup, no toxic waste, etc. Like the opaque properties of Vallejo, buildup the color, etc. Paasche Talon for small jobs. Iwata RG3 mini spray gun for big jobs. Learning how to keep the brush clean, without removing the nozzle after each color, was important for me. Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner is essential. Instantly dissolves paint. It’s powerful, fragrant, and toxic. Found that it’s easy to get caught up and distracted with compressors, airbrushes, tips, techniques. The bottom line is it comes down to a clean brush and properly thinned paint. At the end of a session my method, with Vallejo paint, is rinse the brush with hot water, slide the needle in and out until water flowing in the cup flows out of the nozzle. Wipe out the cup residue with a swab with Tamiya thinner. Load the cup with Tamiya thinner, shoot that out, then extract and clean the needle. Clean the needle with steel wool. Finally leave a few drops of Tamiya thinner in the cup. Usually the nozzle does not need to be removed and cleaned. Too many times, I’ve forgotten and left the paint in brush - the phone rang or something. No big deal. Let some Tamiya thinner soak in the cup until the needle can move. Clean as above. Soak the nozzle in Tamiya thinner. Then run the cleaning brushes through the brush. Steel wool the needle. Tip bent? It’s all over. Time for a new needle. Coast Airbrush out in California is my supplier, they sell individual parts/needles. Good luck with it. -Rich

Hello Richard, Perhaps a different perspective..... Congrats on your decision to become a serious woodworker! You will be working wood in ways beyond a carpenter and approaching, if not exceeding, a cabinet maker (an extinct profession). Being a building inspector you may know the following, please forgive me if you do. Sharp tools are essential. Makes woodworking a joy. Grab a set of chisels and a small block plane from your favorite home improvement store, they won’t be sharp, and choose the way you will sharpen them in your shop....wet stones? Tormek? Respectfully, other suggestions are take a basic tool/woodworking course...if you can.... And start with a small project, such as a cutter with several cannon.... Perfect the techniques you will use in your shop, woodworking and most important finishing, on a small project, and you will be ready for the “big one”. Grab a copy of “Ship Modeling Simplified” by Mastini. All the best with it and I’m always around if you need a hand. -Rich

After trying a plastic folding product, and steel rule and razor blade, finally purchased Small Shop hold and fold and the set of rods for forming circles. Small shop hold and fold worked the best for me. Hold and fold produced precise right angles. Small shop may cost more but will save time and frustration. The old adage “a cheap tool is an expensive tool” certainly applies in this situation. -Rich

Notes on this work Bevels: Aim to leave the brown laser residue on one edge, to retain the shape of the frame. Shaping blocks. Remove large flat chips of waste with the chisel, leaving small flat faces (facets). Next is the powerful rasp, excellent for smoothing the facets, removing large amounts of wood vs the file, and shaping along lines. Leave the file for final smoothing. I abandoned the sandpaper.

Shaping the Bow Filler Block and Fairing the Bulkheads Friday already! At this time work progressing on multiple related fronts: beveling the frames (to get the lines for the blocking), testing different ways to shape the blocks, and templating and making the bow gundeck framing. Also inventory/segregating the stock lumber in the kit. Using sanding blocks by Dowl-It to shape the bevels. The rounded blocks give tight control. Quick work. Shaping the blocks with chisel, rasp (most effective), file, and Flexifiles. Using contour templates to measure progress. Pin nailed temporary blocks to the block to allow holding in the vise. Nails did get in the way so removed them. Getting through the first piece is time consuming, the remaining three should go faster. First time shaping multiple blocks, so deciding on and establishing my methodology, for future reuse. Same with making the bow framing. Initial thought was to use a single template to mark the lumber, but the pencil line would increase the size of the part, so going with double sided tape to attach individual templates. Goal is to have all blocks installed by Monday. Have a good weekend! -Rich

Bow and Stern Block Prep Busy this week on the bow and stern blocking. Some unexpected results, while making the bevel cut template for outboard transom frames, led to checking the Byrnes and Micromark table saws, the jointer, and the Incra fence on the sawstop for square. Adjustments were needed. Also sharpened the 1” bench and fishtail chisels on the Tormec, so ready for carving. First off squared the rough blocking, with the jointer and table saw; and cut the necessary bow and stern filler blocks to finish size. Templates were made by photocopying the plans. A glue stick was used to fix them to index cards. Blocks were marked up with the templates. Blocks were then cut on the bandsaw. Since there are two cuts, piece was taped back together before the second cut. Finally marked the blocks with contour intervals to prepare for carving. Next: carving/filing/sanding bow and stern filler blocks to final shape, using the contour templates.

Nice looking fantail! Happy New Year! -Rich

Transom Frame Prep An upcoming, interesting, challenge is processing the outboard port and starboard Transom frames. Each frame has a bevel on the deck and forward side. First off the parts are marked: Inboard, Port/Starboard, deck edge and forward edge. The issue is how to form the bevels given frames can’t be changed dimensionally and they are unique. Failure means much wasted time making a replacement. The first thought is cutting the frame bevels with the Byrnes saw and tilt table. But the cut would have to be perfect - a little risky. Doing by hand is necessary. So decided to use the table saw to make a form beveled on two sides. Temporarily place the counter block and align with blocks. Step 1: Measure the deck bevel angle with a protractor. Step 2: Align the tilt table and make a cut on scrap. Check the fit on the model. Adjust the tilt table as necessary. Make the cut on the form block. Check the fit. Step 3: Measure the frame bevel. Repeat Step 2. Step 4: Clamp the frame to the form block and create the bevels on the frames with a file.

Always open to answering a question.... Happy New Year! -Rich

Completing Counter Block Happy New Year! Finished up the counter today. Continued shaping the counter block. Made a couple of blanks, just in case, however, one was enough. Step 1: Shaped aft bevel, with hand plane setup in vise (see post above) and flat file. Removed most of the bevel with the hand plane. Notice the piece is moved through the plane at an angle, shear cut. Had some tear out near the lines. So proceeded with the file to flatten the facets and flatten the bevel. Love using the flat file for this work, it’s easy to stay in the lines and flatten the surface. Along the way clamped piece to the table and moved the file, clamped file to table and moved the piece. Step 2: Placed counter blank on frame, centered, above stern post. Tapped with mini hammer to get a location mark for the through hole. Hand drilled a pilot hole and finished with a round file. Spent an hour or so filing and checking the fit with the rudder taped in place and the transom frame. Step 3: Checked the result with Transom frames. The top of the frame is just about flush with bulkhead R (may add a wood shaving under the transom block to raise it a bit. Left the outboard ends of the transom oversized and will fit to stern filler blocks later. Next is the stern and bow filler blocks.

Hello, happy new year! “Out of the box”, to me, means building with the kit supplied plans, and parts. And with the Anatomy of the Ship book, and my own photographs. A couple of things..... My last few projects included a couple of vintage kits, purchased on eBay, Eagle and Katy, that required gathering fittings, extra work etc. so enjoying that this kit is complete. And to set the expectation. I want to respect the Constitution experts, who know the ins and outs of this ship, of which I am not. My general interests are sharing techniques and creating an accurate representation of the ship that pleases the viewer. This project is the next step in my learning curve: 3 masts, ship rigged. And a lot of guns too! -Rich