DocBlake

Looks great!

Thanks, Hamilton, and thanks to everyone for the "likes"! After careful sanding and fitting, I glued the keelson to the frame floors using epoxy. I'll add some reinforcing bolts a little later. I cut the rabbet for the limber boards into the first strake using my Byrnes saw. The limber boards are one continuous board, with separations simulated with a X-Acto blade, a narrow needle file and pencil marks. I drilled 5/64" holes (2-1/2" in scale) for the finger holes. I then started laying the floorwaling. The last photo is a detail of the limber board-keelson anatomy. None of the wood has poly yet. All the hold planking is European beech.

I finished the keel and used brass tubing, glued to holes in the keel to fit into holes drilled in the build board to mount the keel. It's removable. I sanded the inboard side of all the frames with my spindle sander and I marked the location of both the upper and lower deck clamps on each frame from the plans. Then I scored each line with an X-Acto knife so the location marks would remain, even after final sanding. I carefully plumbed each frame and centered them on the keel using a squaring jig and line level. the first 5 frames are virtually identical and are glued in place. Frames 6-9 taper inward moving aft and begin rising on the keel also. That's next.

I added brass tubing to the keel bottom and drilled holes in the build jig to keep the keel stationary. The Frames are dry fitted to the keel and the jig. Very small adjustments are being made with files and shimming so each frame is square and plumb. Once that's complete I'll glue and dowel the frames in place.

Hamilton: The idea was to keep the framing relatively simple, so a novice builder would be comfortable. I have no earthly idea why I chose copper for the bolts! David: The Beech is really nice to work with! After I realized my mistake in using copper for the keel scarf, I figured out a strange way to blacken the copper. Normally to simulate black bolts I would cut of the ends of toothpicks and let them sit in a bath of Solar-Lux Jet Black wood dye. The dye penetrates the full thickness of the toothpick so no white core. Just put the tip in some CA glue and push them into place. Clip and sand. This is kind of crazy but let me explain what I did to "blacken" the copper bolts in the keel. I first tried "painting" the exposed copper with Jax Black and Brass Black. The black residue that formed bled into the surrounding wood and made a mess. I sanded back to bare wood and metal and tried again. I tried painting the copper flat black, but the results were not uniformly round, and the paint looked terrible. Sanded to bare wood and copper again. The I saw something on the internet! Hard boil, cool and peel 2 eggs. Chop up the eggs and break up the shells and layer them on the bottom of a plastic container with a tight fitting top. Secure the keel to the top with bread bag ties so the part isn't sitting on the eggs. Wait over night. You can see the results in the photo. I did put a coat of poly over the blackening so that I don't damage it or rub it off somehow. The bolts still look like metal - but used and oxidized metal! It's the sulfur in the eggs!

Thanks, G.L.! I was looking at the drawings of the HMS Blandford in the AOTS book. In the section represented by this build, there is a vertical scarf joint in the keel located right at the step of the main mast. It extends between frames 4 and 5. I think it would add interest to simulate that scarf joint and treenail both sides with 6 scale treenails. There are scarfs in the keelson at both ends of the model section, but since they end up as partial in this cross section, I think they are best ignored because they may look weird. I've enclosed a photo of the area in question with the scarf identified. I simulated scarph in the keel as shown in the AOTS drawings and used 18 gauge copper wire to simulate the bolts. You can see how much the beech resembles oak. Next up is blackening the copper. I'm trying a new method... hope it works!

This is my method for glueing up the frames: I use Weldbond - it's easy to dissolve with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and easy to scrape off the wood with an X-Acto blade so it won't block any stain penetration. I don't use a sheet of glass, but rather tape the frame plan to a flat surface. A piece of melamine shelving works great. Once in place, I lay down Scotch double-sided tape over the frame outline. The first layer of the framing is laid down congruent with the plans and the tape holds each piece in place. I put a small drop of glue on the abutting surfaces of the first layer. When that is done, the second layer of the framing is glued to the top of the first layer with glue at all the butt joints also. I place a piece of plywood on the glued up frame and weight it down. The frames can come out in about an hour, but I wait overnight to remove the futtock templates and do any sanding. 　

Hi Hamilton! The idea was to keep things simple. The keel was designed so that the aft-most frames (7, 8 and 9) sat higher on the keel than the first six. When the rabbet was cut, I just cut it to simulate a gradual rise, rather than an abrupt "step". The illusion of the rising wood was completed by sanding the frames to create the rise, and sanding the floors of the frames to accommodate the rising keelson. Hope that makes sense! Here's a section of the keel plans..

All 9 finished floor assemblies sitting on the keel blank.

I finished cutting out all of the parts for the 9 frames. Each frame has 2 floors which have the notches that fit into the recesses on the keel. The first step was to file the notches smooth and get a nice fit. I used a piece of the blank I used to make the keel to fit the notches. Then the 2 floors for each frame were glued together while mounted on my piece of keel stock to keep the notches aligned. I used Glad-Wrap to prevent glueing the floors to the keel stock. All 9 floor assemblies were glued up. Next is to finish glueing up the remaining futtocks to create finished frames.

Hi Griphos! I use Elmer’s Rubber Cement. The template peels off and the residue rubs off easily. An acetone wipe and the frames are good to go.

Thanks, guys!

Before actually working on the keel, I decided to build the frames, so that I could more accurately fit the frame floors to the notches on the keel. The notches would be cut out after the keel and false keel were assembled and cut to length. I'm not so sure the sequence is all that critical, because the build jig also plays a role in determining where the frames go. I laid out the frame components (futtocks)on my beech billets, each 1/4" thick. The frames are double, so the finished frames are 1/2" thick or 16 scale inches. All the parts were then cut out on the scroll saw.

Russ: Check your PM

Very impressive! Beautiful.