DocBlake

I've added the shear strake and completed framing the gun ports.  After the glue is cured I will cut away the shear strake to the top of the port frame to define the upper edge of the gun port.  On the old MS model of the Armed Virginia Sloop, many builders painted the shear strake to add a little decoration.  I decided to make mine out of purpleheart and not paint it.

I added the black strake and three boxwood strakes above it.  The practicum calls for adding a 4th strake and then framing in the gun ports.  The ports are then opened up by drilling holes at the corners, and connecting the holes with an X-Acto knife.  The better way is to cut the ports BEFORE adding the 4th strake!  I used a razor saw and cut down using the hull frames as a guide.  The bottom of the port is formed by using a #10  X-Acto to define the line and then sawing through the half frame that needs to be removed with a #13 blade.  A file cleans up the edges.  As you can see they are crisp and straight.  Once the last strake is added to the top off the port, the top edge is defined again with an X-Acto.  Please excuse the planking.  It hasn't been sanded so the grit, glue stains and unevenness show up well.  It WILL look better when done!

I decided to build the stern assembly off the model as Mike S. did.  This consists of the   transom proper, the wing transom, the counter and transom framing and the transom beams.  I built a jig to hold the parts securely while the glue dried.  The jig is just scrap plywood joined at a 104 degree angle (14 degrees from the vertical).  Fortunately I have a miter saw and it took just a few minutes to build.  While the glue was drying, I started removing the tabs from the foot of each frame, so the frame flows smoothly into the rabbet along it's length.  The hard maple is hard on blades too!.  I'm about half done and I've gone through four X-Acto blades already.  Once the tabs are removed and the hull gets it's final fairing, I'll glue the stern assembly in place.

Slow progress on the hawse timbers.  I did finish a building cradle for the model, which will be her home in the shipyard until she'd mounted on the display stand.
 
I was satisfied with the fit of the first hawse timbers in bass wood so I fitted the real maple ones and glued them in place.  I just finished the bass wood mockup for the second timber and fit it in place.  It turned out pretty well.  I feel confident in the technique I'm using to shape these complex timbers to the model, and the practice on the bass wood mockups helps a lot.  Once the third timbers are mounted, the hull will be faired.

The inside of the ship was faired, as was the outside down to the jig.  I installed the temporary battens and removed the ship from the jig.   Next up:  Fitting the hawse timbers and fairing the outside.

I've added the shear strake and completed framing the gun ports.  After the glue is cured I will cut away the shear strake to the top of the port frame to define the upper edge of the gun port.  On the old MS model of the Armed Virginia Sloop, many builders painted the shear strake to add a little decoration.  I decided to make mine out of purpleheart and not paint it.

I've added the shear strake and completed framing the gun ports.  After the glue is cured I will cut away the shear strake to the top of the port frame to define the upper edge of the gun port.  On the old MS model of the Armed Virginia Sloop, many builders painted the shear strake to add a little decoration.  I decided to make mine out of purpleheart and not paint it.

I've added the shear strake and completed framing the gun ports.  After the glue is cured I will cut away the shear strake to the top of the port frame to define the upper edge of the gun port.  On the old MS model of the Armed Virginia Sloop, many builders painted the shear strake to add a little decoration.  I decided to make mine out of purpleheart and not paint it.

I added the black strake and three boxwood strakes above it.  The practicum calls for adding a 4th strake and then framing in the gun ports.  The ports are then opened up by drilling holes at the corners, and connecting the holes with an X-Acto knife.  The better way is to cut the ports BEFORE adding the 4th strake!  I used a razor saw and cut down using the hull frames as a guide.  The bottom of the port is formed by using a #10  X-Acto to define the line and then sawing through the half frame that needs to be removed with a #13 blade.  A file cleans up the edges.  As you can see they are crisp and straight.  Once the last strake is added to the top off the port, the top edge is defined again with an X-Acto.  Please excuse the planking.  It hasn't been sanded so the grit, glue stains and unevenness show up well.  It WILL look better when done!

I've been trimming the little tabs that were used to stabilize the frames when they were glued to the rising wood and deadwood.  There are three left to do!  You can see from the photo how each frame flows smoothly into the rabbet.  My next task is the final hull sanding and attaching the counter and transom.

I decided to build the stern assembly off the model as Mike S. did.  This consists of the   transom proper, the wing transom, the counter and transom framing and the transom beams.  I built a jig to hold the parts securely while the glue dried.  The jig is just scrap plywood joined at a 104 degree angle (14 degrees from the vertical).  Fortunately I have a miter saw and it took just a few minutes to build.  While the glue was drying, I started removing the tabs from the foot of each frame, so the frame flows smoothly into the rabbet along it's length.  The hard maple is hard on blades too!.  I'm about half done and I've gone through four X-Acto blades already.  Once the tabs are removed and the hull gets it's final fairing, I'll glue the stern assembly in place.

The transom framing and counter framing will be visible through the great cabin roof (poop deck) which will be partially planked.  The kit provided the hull planking in hard maple, but counter and transom planking is in cherry.  I just finished cutting out the components for this framing, including the wing transom, out of hard maple to match the general framing.  To add some contrast, I redid the transom itself.  The kit provides two pieces to form the transom.  There is the transom proper (TR1) and an "overlay" trim piece (TR2).  Both are made of cherry.  I took the outline of the transom piece and traced it on some 1/64" plywood and planked both inside and out with swiss pear.  I then remade the overlay piece out of boxwood to match the outer bulwark planking.  Once the transom is fit in place, the bottom will be trimmed off and the overlay fitted with a plank as shown in the photo. The second transom in the photo is the two kit parts. I like the color contrast between the boxwood and swiss pear.

The hawse frames were completed and glued in place.  Overall I'm happy with the fit.  The first hawse frame is short, but that should be no problem because the kit was design with the hawse timbers and the first two cant frames long, so they can be custom cut for the model. Frame Q is also glued in place.  That's where the wing transom sits.  Next is fairing the hull.

Slow progress on the hawse timbers.  I did finish a building cradle for the model, which will be her home in the shipyard until she'd mounted on the display stand.
 
I was satisfied with the fit of the first hawse timbers in bass wood so I fitted the real maple ones and glued them in place.  I just finished the bass wood mockup for the second timber and fit it in place.  It turned out pretty well.  I feel confident in the technique I'm using to shape these complex timbers to the model, and the practice on the bass wood mockups helps a lot.  Once the third timbers are mounted, the hull will be faired.

I started work on the hawse timbers.  These will be the most difficult part of the framing.  Pictured is a basswood mockup I made.  It's roughly shaped to size.  The real timbers will be hard maple.  It took about 1 hour to fit the mockup.

The inside of the ship was faired, as was the outside down to the jig.  I installed the temporary battens and removed the ship from the jig.   Next up:  Fitting the hawse timbers and fairing the outside.

All of the frames are glued to the rising wood and the deadwood except the last two, P and Q.  I had to remake the two pair of forward cant frames, because I didn't like the way they fit.  They are much better now, and the fairing of the hull will be easier.  I did rum into trouble with frame P, the next to the last one.  Basically the kit pieces made for a  set of frames that tended to "curl in" rather than line up with the upper futtocks of the frames that come before.  The size of the finished frame doesn't leave enough excess wood to fair frame P into the same plane as the frames before.  So I used the beveling template to make a new pair of frames, and beveled them to fit the hull curves at that station.  Cutting out the futtocks and gluing them together is easy...fitting the frame in place without an accurate beveling template is hard.  It took me a couple of hours to fit the new frames, but I like the end result.
 
The first photo shows the old frame P.  It is the first one.  Notice how the upper futtock is rotated inward.  The second and third photos shows the new frame P before beveling. The forward edge of the frame is high compared to the frame in front, and the uppermost  parts need to be shaped.  The last three photos are of the final pair of frames P in position in the jig.  The uppermost part flows more smoothly and the inside and outside surfaces are fair compared with the frame before.  A great improvement.  Once the poly is dry I'll glue this frame in place, fair the upper hull and install temporary ribbands to the frame tops.  The model will be ready to come out of the jig,

I'm ready to do a little more ship modeling now that we're into September.  I completed the frames and treenailed every futtock.  Over 800 treenails on the frames alone!   I used birch toothpicks and a #57 drill for them,  making them a scale 1-1/2" in diameter.  Maybe slightly large, but I like the effect anyway.   Each frame was then trimmed and sanded to fit the jig.  The 8 filler pieces (which define the sweep ports and the scuppers were beveled and sanded to fit between the frames.  You can see the paper templates glued to the most forward filler pieces.  these were used to accurately sand the rather acute bevel needed to fit these parts where the bow curves the most.  The others I did by hand, without using the templates provided.  Next is the glue-up.  Notice the compound angles that have to be formed to fit the forward cant frames

Not a lot going on in the shipyard recently.  The Admiral and I just got back from 5 days up in the Door peninsula of Wisconsin.  There's a nice collection of quaint waterside towns that remind me of New England seaside fishing villages, only these are in the Midwest!  We really enjoyed the little excursion. 
 
All the full frames for the sloop have been beveled and fit in place.  I laid a plank across the framing both inboard and outboard and it looks like there will be very little fairing to be done because of the pre-beveling of the frames before installation.  That's a relief!
 
The only mistake so far:  I installed frame H backwards, with the floor facing forward instead of aft.  The beveling is all correct...I just got a little confused when laying out the bevel pattern. I'm not rebuilding the frame, because I'm neither entering this ship in a contest, nor expecting my build to be examined by an expert in historic naval architecture. 

All my frames are glued up.  The first 8 have been sanded and beveled as needed and are sitting on the keel assembly in the building jig.  My frames are hard maple, the keel assembly is cherry.  Final fairing of the maple by hand is not going to be too easy!
 
Dave

I finally finished the keel.  The first step was to glue the stern deadwood in place.  The rosewood false keel was fitted and glued.  Next I cut the rabbet by adding a bevel to the top of the  keel and the bottom of the rising wood.  Then the rising wood was glued in place and the notches squared. Finally came the stem and the stem deadwood.  Once I finish beveling the frames, it'll be time to start framing the hull.
 
Dave

The rising wood was carefully removed from the billet and all the appropriate frames were fitted to the slots.  The slots were squared up and the keel is ready to be glued up.  I went a little out of sequence here by fitting the frames to the rising wood before beveling them, but I don't think it makes any difference.  The strip of dark wood in the picture is rosewood, which I will use for the false keel

I've started gluing up the frames. Frame 0 is amidships. The frame's number increases going forward from there. Frame A is just aft of Frame 0, and the frames proceed alphabetically moving aft from there. Frames 0, 1 2 and 3 are straightforward and require no beveling. The numbered frames forward of these (#4-11) require progressively more beveling as the bow is approached. The same is true for the lettered frames moving aft. The first couple after Frame 0, Frame A and Frame B, require little or no beveling. The remainder (C through Q) are beveled. I finished and glued up the first 4 frames, 0 through 3. I'll also begin gluing up the other frames, as well as constructing the building jig and keel. My frames are maple. The deadwood, rising wood, keel, stem and stern post are all cherry. I'll add a rosewood or ebony false keel. I will also blacken the joints of all the deadwood parts to simulate caulking. I think the contrast in woods will be nice!
 

Thanks, Dan.
 
The first step in the build is to make the frames.  They come attached to the hardwood billets by two tabs.  I found the easiest was to remove them from the billet was to use a Dremel tool and a cutoff wheel.  In the photo, if you look carefully, you can see the burned area on the billet where the parts had been attached.  Each frame is made up of 9 or 10 parts.  The tabs are then cut off of each part, and the parts lightly sanded.  The first layer of parts is stuck to a template of the frame with double sided tape, and the second overlapping "sistered" layer of parts is glued to the first.  The photo gives an idea of scale

I'm beginning my build log of the Lauck Street Shipyards POF kit of an Armed Virginia Sloop, an admiralty style kit in 1/32 scale.  The kit arrived in it's box and it is heavy!  The contents are high quality hardwoods (primarily cherry for deck beams, knees, carlings etc. and hard maple for the frames) with lots of strip wood of various species for planking, trim etc.  There are also a large number of 3-D printed parts; this being the first kit to offer them. There are 5 sheets of plans, each 36" X 24" included.  I may alter the kit, and add additional details and possibly substitute some different woods, but I'm basically going to build it out of the box.  Comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome!
 
Here is the box, and some shots of the maple and cherry billets containing many of the parts.