Avi

Finally got my marking gauge, after being away on vacation for a while, so back on the game. I set it to ⅛”, and away it marks. I need to figure out how thick to make the bulwarks at the bows. The port and starboard side are fine at that thickness, still figuring out the bows.

Wow @ERS Rich that spardeck is beautiful!

While I await a marking gauge so I can get the bulwarks the right width, I decided to tackle marking the gun ports, starting with the gundeck. I definitely do not want to cut them out before finishing the bulwarks. It is much easier to shape them and send them when they are a single surface than when they are interrupted by holes (the ports) every ½" or so. In theory, the gunports should be easy: they are all the same sizes (3/8" x 3/8") and are the exact same height above the gundeck at ¼". In practice, it isn't quite that easy, since the gundeck itself curves upwards as you go from amidships to the bow or stern. If I had the gundeck marked precisely on the outside of the hull, then it would be easier, but that just defers the problem of getting the gundeck marked properly. I may yet do that, but the technique and effort for marking the gundeck is the same as the gunports, so might as well do it once. I did the following: Took an extra copy of the blueprints and cut out the spardeck and gundeck plans Laid the gundeck plan on top of the hull, sure to align the (X) midship marking For each gunport, measure from the bottom of the gunport to the waterline, which *is* marked on the outside of the hull Transfer that height to the hull, placing it roughly underneath the location of the gunport in the gundeck plan, which (from before), is sitting on top of the hull. Be extra careful as the waterline is straight, and the ports, while each one is straight, do angle slightly one from the other as you get further from the midship point Made another small copy of part of the hull profile, to get just a few gunports Measure them until I find one that is exactly the desired 3/8" x 3/8". The best one turned out to be just forward of the midship line Cut it out precisely Glue it onto a piece of scrap wood Hold it onto the hull: bottom aligned with the marking from the height-from-waterline measurement, left and right (technically, aft and fore or reversed, depending on sides) aligned with the edges of the gunport in the template on the hull Trace the outline. You have a gunport! Repeat for all of the gunports on the gundeck In practice, I would do one thing differently if I had to do it again (and I may yet): trace the outline from the paper onto something stiffer, like Bristol board. It makes it much easier to trace the outlines.

For that part yeah. For the bulwark width, still a little stumped.

I sat with the blueprints and a long metal ruler, placed it along the edge of the larboard and matching starboard gunports on the deck plan, and saw where it lined up on the profile. For the spar deck, it was just right. For the gundeck, all were just right except the bridle ports up near the bows, which probably is an artifact of the curvature (or missing) on the profile. I think you may just have gotten unlucky with a bad printing of theirs, Kurt, or they heard your criticisms and fixed it in future printing. That also answers how I will do the gunport locations: with both profile and deck plans matching, I will stick with those over the slightly different Marquardt. In terms of symmetry, I wasn't totally sure what you meant, so I measured at the top (i.e. where the caprail would be) from the very bows of the ship (edge of where the bowsprit will go) to the sternmost part of the bulwarks on both starboard and larboard sides. Both came out to precisely 60cm. which looks fine to my inexperienced eye. Now if only I could figure out carving the interior of the bulwarks.

Wow what a build! I love the details. I’m doing a bluejacket Connie right now, so looking at how others are building different models. I love your detailed techniques. she’s coming along beautifully!

Thanks for the warning @KHauptfuehrer I am unsure what you mean by “stem to stern on both sides”; isn’t the stem in the middle? also, how did trying to fix it mean you would have sanded through the gunwales?

I’m also becoming aware of what @KHauptfuehrer wrote about the gun ports not quite lining up. They’re distinctly different locations in Marquardt vs the blueprints provided with the model. I’m still measuring the locations of them on the profile vs the top down views on the blueprint. in any case, Marquardt vs blueprints? 🤷‍♂️

There is little doubt that I will have to modify. I measured the thickness of the hull (really the bulwarks) at the very top (caprail), and then at the bottom of the gundeck. caprail: 15" thick in reality, scaled at 1:96 is 5/32", which is a little more than ⅛". I have plenty of room to trim down to that. Should be ok. gundeck: 21-22" thick in reality, let's call it 21" (easier to scale) at 1:96 is 7/32". Add the 3/8" (= 12/32") overhang, and it needs to be at least 19/32" thick, or a little more than ½". Even then the remainder - 7.32", or just under ¼", will be quite than (and perhaps brittle). And there's the rub. Other than right amidships - templates C through 17 (depending on the side, maybe a little more towards the bows at L or towards the stern at 23 - there just isn't that much material left. At two spots, it actually is exactly 3/8"! It is possible I shaved down too much (obviously, it didn't seem like it at the time), but that is neither here nor there. I need a solution as to how I am going to continue to get the right shape. One possibility is to have <3/8" overhang, say half of that at 3/16". That would make the minimum thickness required to be 13/32", which I have everywhere (except at the very bows, but they curve forward and thicken that way). A little bit stumped.

Thanks @KHauptfuehrer I’ve got Marquadt and will check it out. I’ll also see if I can find some MS builds here

Next step: shaping the bulwarks. Unfortunately, the instructions are *really* weak on this, lots of confusion. One piece that stands out to me is that it says the bulwarks are 21” to 22” thick, thinning down to 15” at the caprail. This is the key shaping directive, but the rate of narrowing and where it starts is unclear. Is it 21-22” thick at the foot of the gundeck and thins evenly to 15” at the caprail? Does it stay 21-22” thick until the spardeck and then thin? Somewhere in between? the other confusing part is how it “leans”. The photos show an inward slope such that the top of the bulwarks at the caprail overhang the bottom at the gundeck by 3/8”. If you combine that with the confusion above, it isn’t clear how it all comes together. It appears to be a slope on the inside such that it is 3/8” overhang, and a steeper slope on the outside such that you have the slope compounded by the thinning of the bulwarks (wherever it is that they start thinning). it also isn’t clear to me where the material should be removed. Assuming the bulwarks to be 15” thick at the caprail, which translates to 5/32”, do you trim the excess from the inside at the caprail, and then further carve in below it to get the inward slope to an overhang of 3/8”? Or do you carve from the current inboard to get the 3/8”, and then remove sufficient material from the outside to trim it down to 5/32” thickness? I assume the former, since we did a lot of work to shape the outside of the hull to the templates, but it isn’t totally clear to me. I’m hopeful a closer examination of the plans will yield more insights.

Now that it is in a cradle, I decided to readdress the waterline marking. I will need to do this several times, since I am marking it now, in order to align and cut the gun ports properly, but also again after I prime and paint the hull. Might as well get it done though. There are two challenges here: Get the elevation of the hull correct. Since the waterline at the bows is 20'0" (at scale, 2.50"), and at the stern it is 22'0" (at scale, 2.75"), I need to tilt the bows up to make them both parallel. Create a mount that can hold my marker (a pencil) at precisely the right height). My process: Use the profile template to mark the waterline at the bows and stern. Interestingly, at the bows it was right at the bottom edge of the rabbet for holding planks in the knee (is that part still considered the knee?). That made sense. In the stern, it was about midway through the height of the rabbet in the sternpost. I measured it at least 4 or 5 times, so I am comfortable with it, but it is odd. Create a harness such that the point of the pencil is precisely at the waterline marking at the stern. Use different pieces of scrap wood at different locations until the pencil in the harness is at the waterline mark in the bows. Move the harness all around until I have a waterline marked. Do this lightly, so pressure doesn't bend or tilt it. It thus required several runs. For elevation, the remaining length of keel after it was shortened to fit the hull length was perfect. It is ¼"x3/16". I placed it just behind the forward supports in the cradle. For the harness, I tried many different things - different mugs, spices, peanut butter case (my friend the doctor has a new company of fabulous peanut butter called "Holy Butter"; the interesting marketing opportunities when you are selling from the holy land 🙂 ), cans, you name it. In the end, it worked perfectly with a ginger container, on top of which I placed the rudder (yes, I could have used any scrap of 3/16" thickness, and will for the next time, but the rudder was right there), then the pencil, and taped it. Everyday kitchen appliances for detailed woodwork. I feel like MacGyver!

Took a lot of work, but she’s in the working cradle and the wood block is removed. Big day! (I’ll fix the picture orientation next time I’m on my laptop)

On to building a work cradle. I’ve looked at the smaller one in @KHauptfuehrer’s log and the larger one in @jfinan’s log. I tried to build something like the larger one without much success. First, the instructions recommend 3.5” high. Given that the waterline is about 2.5” above the keel, that would make it impossible to plank and very difficult to do a lot of the other carving (gun ports, etc). So my first cut will have to be cut down. Second, finding the right materials was an issue. I’m not planning on buying a professional router, so was hoping to use the router attachment on my dremel. I first tried some discarded cabinet from a renovation, all ¾“ plywood. I’m not sure what wood they used, but cutting through that broke 2 bits. Then I got the idea to use some old MDF from unused baseboards of an ikea cabinet. It didn’t break the bits, but still was quite difficult to get precise enough to shape. I did sand it down after cutting, so it’s better, but far from what it needs to be. Do the above builders have suggestions?

Perhaps @MrBlueJacket I’ll give the next set a few hours next time I use it. I’m heading stateside on business soon. Any good CA brands I should pick up?

I will say, I was not overly pleased with how tightly the CA held the wood of the various parts (stem, keel, sternpost) to the hull. Both were sanded down very smoothly (I used ~400 grit for final passes on everything). It also was a newly opened bottle of fine CA, so not likely to be that it "expired". Without the pins, I am fairly convinced it would not have come close to holding. I am open to advice on the matter, including links to more I can learn about using CA properly, or properly selecting brands (if it matters).

Unfortunately, and I don’t know why, the “shoulder” of the knee snapped off. I must have hit it, but I don’t recall doing so. the solution was straightforward. I held it in place, pre drilled the pin hole into both parts, plus the countersink hole into the upper part, then some CA and a pin. Voila.

To quote @jfinan here, it is indeed a momentous occasion when the keel is laid! I found that I had cut the sternpost a tad too short. Rather than trying to rebuild it, since everything will be coppered, I just filled in the gap with wood filler. Putting the pins in was a bit of a challenge. The torque of the pin vise put enough strain on the CA that it pulled the sternpost off. I didn’t want to struggle with it, so I drilled the pilot holes - and the countersink holes - into the sternpost, stem, and keel before mounting them on the hull. Once they were glued in place, I only had to extend the pilot holes a bit into the hull itself, putting no rotational pressure on the attached parts. Then I sunk the pins. Worked like a charm. Here is the keel: And the stem:

Got it. So prime the hull (possibly a few times lightly with sanding in between), then paint, then CA to attach shaped planks. Your links say that you don’t bother sealing the wood separately, just prime a few times?

@MrBlueJacket I have been thinking about what you wrote. If I do attach raw planks to unsealed and unprimed/unpainted hull, then wood glue or others can bind nicely. If I prime and paint the hull (like your link above), then my planks' glue are adhering to the paint. I am not sure if wood glue would adhere to the paint, and if the strength is good enough; might the seal between the two deteriorate over time? Similarly for the idea in the instructions about using CA to create a "perfectly smooth surface which is almost like plastic"; what glue do you use to bond between the raw wood planking and the plastic-like CA surface?

I do think, though, that I’ll delay that part by a bit. I’m going to finish the keel, stem, sternpost, etc; remove the block; shape the top (bulwarks, gunports, etc); and only then return to painting.

That was super helpful @MrBlueJacket I really like the idea of painting the hull an appropriate colour underneath, then applying the planking or copper plates. Below the waterline I would do copper, so no chance of anything wrong showing through. Above the waterline, I’d do flat black, so anything that does come through just looks like caulking. Perfect!

Finally got the sterns the way I like them, very much like the blueprints and the drydock pictures. Also narrowed the inner sternpost to 3/16” all the way, and much of the keel rabbet to just about the same. I left a little more thickness on the keel towards the midships and bows, as I liked it better that way. finally redid it all with 220 grit sandpaper and a run with wet 400 grit.

An interesting challenge, I am hoping @MrBlueJacket can pipe in. I am planning on planking. The instructions say: Yet planks and copper are applied via glue. The section on planking even has this great idea: It seems like, even without wood sealer, the clear finish will sink into the wood pores, weakening the ability to the CA glue to sink in, and affecting the CA technique mentioned? Am I misunderstanding? Should both be done?

The plans have the width of the keel at 18", which, at 1:96 scale, comes out to 3/16", which is exactly what the keel and sternpost are in the provided wood. So that is good. My inner sternpost was way more than that everywhere. So I sanded it down, no need to fill in, and it looks much better now. As far as the uneven areas in the stern at the flaring just below the knuckle, I spent a long time looking at the blueprints in the Marquardt book, as well as those great pictures of the ship in dry dock, and I have come to the conclusion that the flaring, ending in a sharp curve at the stern, doesn't really exist. It more is a gentler curving as the ship runs bow to stern. This picture was particularly helpful. Now that that is done, going to redo the 220 grit wet sanding, and do a 400 grit wet sanding as well.