Captain Poison

Thanks Rusty and Glenn.
 
looking forward to some more updates on your Winnie, Rusty.
 
Glenn, your cheerful is a delight on the eyes, can’t wait to see your Winnie get going.
 
I finished up chapter 5 last week, took care of the rest of the  gun ports and the small stuff which is a convenient stopping point as my mobile shipyard has sold to new owners so my tools and supplies are packed and my Winnie is crated up in a wonderful smelling custom pine box.
Hopefully I’ll get back to her soon, but In the meantime I’m working on developing another project for the future, HMS Portland 1770, a 50 gun 4th rate at 1:48. I’m aiming for the Joseph marshal painting, similar to how the Winnie is built. I’m hoping to get the hull surfaced soon and the basic structure and framing built. 
JJ

Half of the decking now completed, it took longer than I thought it would. This is the second attempt. 
I'm curious as to the decking count, I looked at the print and it was laid out differently than the actual decks I have been looking at in other peoples photos.
I got 10 planks in width to the margin planks, while the print showed 13 planks to the margin planks, and the first planks were laid full width to either side of the center line and not centered on the whole width of the deck. Just checking to make sure we are not following the prints for the decking....
I also knocked out two windows in the Q gallery with my fingers as I was positioning the deck planks. I had to replace these and that was not fun.
 

 
The captain has his own plank to walk...

 

 
This is right after I put on the wipe on Poly to protect it from further dirt.

So after some thinking about it, I was able to solve my molding profile problem.
I took a Dremel stone and used a diamond file to dress the profile of the molding into the stone while it was rotating. I don't know why I didn't think about this before...I was a machinist in the USAF and this is something we did all the time. Of course that was many decades ago, and I have many files in my head that I cant access as rapidly as I wish. 
Here is a shot of the new profile next to the one I made for the Winnie, too late to change so it will have to wait for Winnie 2

 
And here is the stone on the end of the Dremel after dressing with a Small diamond file. 

So I finally got through Chapter 3, the transom is complete, the windows were just sitting in the frame to check the fit again. Overall I'm happy with the ship at this point, but it is not going to win any Blue Ribbons
I am going to have to learn how to make scraped moldings better, It really brings the model down. But at this point it is now Model Ships 101 for me and I will just continue to make errors and learn the ropes....I have many more pics...but none worthy to post. 
So onward and upward. 
 

Just a quick update...I wanted to get the caprail all finished before the show this Saturday.   It really finishes it off.  Just like along the quarter deck, the cap rail is laser cut for you for the bow.  The outboard edges were rounded off and each section was painted off the model.   Then the forward-most pieces were glued on the model.

 
Then a laser cut spacer (looks like a small pointed arow) the width of the catheads was used to help position the next longer piece on both sides.  This is an important step.  Its easier to widen the slot later and not so easy to make it smaller so be cautious here.  Than the hance caps were made as before.  The two halves glued together so we have a nice wide piece.  The hance caps were shaped and sanded for a snug fit.   Then care was taken to eliminate any seams between it and the cap rail.   
 

I am happy this is completed and I can move to the deck now.  I will add the margin planks next before starting the coamings just to get them over with.
 

 
 

Hi...

Hi, and thanks for visiting.  Also thanks HardeeHarHar for the encouragement.
Basic jury masts made and mounted so that I can see how much room there is
to fix the blocks at the base of the masts.
These will be finished, fixed and chocked into position at a later date.
 
Regards,
Sam.
 

Thank you all for the likes and comments,
I finished half of the guns yesterday. They are all little mini-projects and take some time. 
I bought a paint-brush for the carriages and it I am quite happy with the result. 
The wheels are painted dark grey by hand.
Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Next I will add the bolts and rings to the model and start with chapter 7. 
The rest of the guns will be made later, once I need them for the model.
 
Matthias

Thanks everybody for the likes and comment.
I proceeded with chapter five. The ladders are now installed and I took the model to daylight, to make some photos.
 

 

 

 

 
Next thing to do will be the hair brackets at the bow and all the lovely scrollwork there.
I am especially looking forward to this part of the chapter.
Here are the first steps:
 

 

 
Matthias
 
 

Thanks for the comments 👍
 
I've now completed the keelson assembly or the patience tester as its now called in my home 🤣
 
So many joints on 4 pieces of wood that as I have found have to be spot on or it will just not fit.  Making the parts was not too hard but getting them to fit takes literally hours.  I didn't have to remove too much material to do this I just had to work out where to remove it from.  This was for me one of those jobs where it would be far too easy to remove loads of wood and end up with bad joints.
 
Cutting the notches in the curved part of the keelson was interesting as its so easy to loose the correct angle of the cut.  I found that the best way of doing this was to mill out the vertical angles first with a 1mm end mill and then remove the centre afterwards.
 
I was also amazed at just how little glue is required to hold the whole assembly in place.  Because its such a high fit I only used a very small amount which was great as there was virtually no clean up to do.
 
I do have one small issue - I just could not get the keelson to get fully down towards the stern.  I have a small gap of less than 1mm so I really need some opinions on this.  Do I just leave it as it is or should I make up some filler out of PVA and sawdust to fill the gap?  Its a bit too small I think to successfully put slivers of wood in but I would appreciate others thoughts.  I also still need to make a piece to fill the gap between the apron and the first frame but that's my next job.  I cannot do any more work for two weeks as I've got family staying and they need my time but I'll get back on this when I can.
 
Cheers Mark
 

Yep it sure is - my last build was a kit which I think I changed about 85% of it to try and make it better.  A radio controlled live steam powered Italian tug.
 

The particular challenge of erecting the aft bulwark pieces is that I don’t have the stock stern plate, in place, to guide their placement.  It is helpful that the forward bulwarks are in place, as they provide an anchor point, but they do nothing to help establish the slope of tumblehome that should be present.
 
The first step was to spend as much time as necessary fettling the lap joint to ensure that the part seated snuggly, along the upper main wale.  With that much established, I could secure additional glue tabs to the inside face of the bulwark, just as I had done with the forward bulwarks.  It was also necessary to fir-out, behind the upper main wale, so that these glue tabs had a firm landing spot.
 
Whereas with the forward bulwarks, I glued the bulwarks in-place, and then secured the gusset pieces, afterwards - the process reverses for the aft bulwarks because it is the gussets that establish the slope of tumblehome by providing a positive stop to clamp against.
 
At the very beginning of this project, I drew the transom by simply tracing the outer profile of the bulwark ends to the increased breadth of the transom; the additional 1/2” would enable me to add the missing 6th window at all three levels.  This was my initial drawing:
 

 
As a side note, it is funny to look back at my first attempt to draw the quarter galleries; the results were poorly scaled and relatively crude, as I was attempting to include all five false windows along the lower tier if the QG.
 
Anyway, at the time that I made this drawing, it was pointed out to me that the top of the bulwarks appear to flare outboard, again, at the very top.  Back then, I was not too concerned about this.
 
At this stage, though, I can see that the finished bulwark piece does not look right at all, if I allow it to flare out at the top; the whole upper structure of the ship changes in a way that is neither pleasing, nor reflective of actual practice.  The only thing to do, here, was to shape my gussets in a way that would pull these bulwarks in more, thus providing a nicely sloping tumblehome.
 
Frankly, this is more art than science.  I simply manipulated the bulwark, inboard towards the centerline, until I had a pleasing profile.  I then took a measurement from the bulwark rabbet to the centerline, along the bottom edge of this window tier: 1 1/2” to center, and 3” overall.  This seemed like it would be adequate.
 
So, I clamped and taped the bulwark in this attitude, so that I could make card gusset templates.  I then made the gussets with all necessary beveling, and added a prop leg to make them a little stiffer for the eventual glue-up of the bulwark piece:
 


 
I went to bed feeing really good about this.  The part would have some minor tension, but I had increased glue surface area significantly enough to cancel out those forces.  In fact, there will be a third, aft-most gusset fitted after the glue-up.
 
Then, I woke up the next day and remembered my original layout drawing.  I took some measurements and found that I had effectively reduced the available space for this top tier of six windows by 1/4”.  In fact, my new stern, at this top-most level, won’t be much broader than the stock kit stern-plate, which only has five windows.  I began to feel a bit of panic creeping in.
 
Before glueing-in the bulwark piece, I thought it might be prudent to take some really good measurements, and do a little drafting to see what a revised window layout might look like.  One quarter inch doesn’t sound like much, but it is quite significant across this short span.  If I found that the reduced breadth resulted in a cramped window layout, I would be forced to buy back at least an 1/8”, in breadth, thus compromising my ideal tumblehome.  This would require very fiddly firring of the gusset pieces I had just glued-in, so my fingers were crossed tight.
 
Here is the new layout that I arrived at this morning:
 

 
And here, I’ve detailed one pane to get a better sense of the proportions.:
 

The original by Berain:

 
Mine isn’t the best drawing, but it’s good enough to get a sense of proportion.  I’ll do a much better vellum drawing, when the time comes for it.  I found that I only had to reduce each window pane by 1/32”, and each pilaster by a heavy 1/64” to get back the heavy 1/4” I had lost.
 
And so, I will go ahead and glue-in the upper bulwark, in the next few days.  I’ve been busily filling the skid joins, touching up the bulwarks, and establishing the location of the mizzen chanels.  A whole lot still has to happen in the next two weeks, but I am confident that I will be on-track for the show.
 
Thank you for stopping by!

Spent the day yesterday getting practice on my Proxxon FET table saw and made this stand. Not sure if I like it or not though.
 
 

@bdgiantman2
  Hi there,
I am happy to comply with your request.
Of course, the model looks a little messy in this condition.
Besides, I'm not a professional photographer. I will soon get myself a real background for taking photos so that I can bring the whole model onto the picture.
I hope that you like the pictures so far.

 

 

 

Been plugging away at guns, hinges and metal work. Still a long way to go but it’s starting to shape up. Need to add more details to the carriages as well as tackle. I Also got the capstan sitting temporarily, may take a crack at the cherry one and see how it looks but I like the way the AYC one looks so far.
 
JJ

Thank you for the kind words Frank.
 
Made some progress up front, got cheeks and hair brackets completed. This was quite a project and involved many hours of sanding and test fitting. I’m still not happy with the hair bracket joints and may redo them... I’ll sleep on it a little longer.
 
one thing I found to make it a little easier with the frizzies was to glue them on prior to laminating the upper and lower cheeks, the same applies to the hair brackets. Once dry I gently sanded the excess off and then assembled them, this made the seams appear clean and sharp.
 
I still have some clean up work to do as well as finish the stbd side anchor line holes and a little paint touch up. On to guns and tackle next... probably post that update in about 6 months.
 
also made some poor attempts at better photography with the plans as a background white... lol... lots of room for improvement but I clearly see the benefits now!   
 
JJ
 

Hello,
I have not yet come to the assembly of the mizzen topmast preventer stay and main mast preventer stay. I still have to finish these steps and will of course report on them.
 
At the moment I am dealing with the detail clarification for the following stays:
Mizzen topgallant stay and main topgallant stay  - Étai mât de perruche et Étai grand mât de perroquet

The mizzen topgallant stay of La Créole had a diameter of 22 mm, the main topgallant stay 28 mm (recalculated according to G. Lacroix method). 
  
Source: Atlas du Génie Maritime, Annexe Pl. 1

These stays did not have open eyes like the top mast stays (Fig. 1). The collar was spliced directly to the stay (Fig. 2) and served accordingly. Based on the illustration in the atlas (1860), I assume that these stays, also due to their small diameters, were made as hawser laid rope. Unfortunately, I did not find corresponding information in the monograph on La Créole, also not regarding the continuations and fixations on the respective tops. Also on the picture material available to me I cannot see any indications in this respect.
Only to the mizzen topgallant stay I have read in the monograph that this is led down to Mars via a single block, which was attached to the mast cap. About the attachment of the stay again nothing concrete can be taken from the description.
Therefore a few questions arise in this connection, which I try to bring to a clarification.

In addition first the following representation for the overview of these two stays:
 
Source: Monograph "La Creole" by J. Boudriot, p. 129
 
 

 
My research gave, as shown graphically above, from my point of view a conceivable fixing possibility for these stays (numbers of the overview assigned) on the respective crosstrees. In my opinion, the main topgallant stay could be forwarded by means of a collar (number 3) with a thimble. 
To what extent this way of fixing and forwarding the stays for the La Créole is historically correct, I could not find out.
 
Therefore I would be grateful for any hints and your valued opinion. 

See you soon ...
 
 

QG templates lining up.
 

QG dummy windows installed and boxwood transom cap pieces installed.

Hi ☺️
 
 

Good morning.

I'm finally back from New Jersey, where we ironically ran into a hurricane. Nearly six weeks away didn't change my mind about redoing the forward pump handles, so that was the first thing that I did upon returning. Next, I did the aft handles. After those, the elm pumps were next. I was having trouble creating slots in the laser cut brackets for the handles, so I chose to make up my own by laminating three pieces of 1/32" strip and shaping  that assembly appropriately. To complete the chapter seven work, I added the remaining deck beams and their knees.
 
Now, I will wait for Chuck's return and the release of the chapter eight parts and the stove.
 
Bob

Well, what I originally thought would be about a two week break from working on this build turned into two months instead. Now that I have caught up on other things I was finally able to get back to this the past couple weeks and finally finished fairing the hull. While working on the hull I constantly checked to ensure a plank would lay along the bulkheads very nicely. I did this over and over and over. I did it from all directions. I have only built a couple ships to date and this is by far the longest and most detail minded I have ever been on this part of the build. My past efforts, although they turned out okay, definitely highlighted how critical it is to get the fairing as precise as possible. I am not yet certain that I have it exactly as it should be, but I can say with confidence that I did my best with my current skill set.
 
Midship wasn't too difficult. In fact, the stern on this build was not that bad either. It is the bow that concerned me. I was worried I would not get the proper curve in the bow and end up with strange bends and dips in the planking. Or, that I would overwork the bow and end up with more of a point at the front instead of a nice curve. To help with this, I used the laser cut window sill pieces - the ones that were designed for the first space between the stem pieces and the first bulkhead. I would hold the piece in place to check that the curve was coming along properly and would also try laying a plank along the curve. Between the two I thing I may have finally faired the bow area on a ship properly. Guess I will find out soon enough.
 

 
I also had the time to begin installing the sills. I followed the provided advice and used some spare wood I had from another build to lay along the hull. I temporarily tacked these in place with a few copper nails and adjusted as needed until I had a really nice curve from bow to stern. While the temporary battens were in place I check that the tops of them were level between the port and starboard side at each bulkhead. This, along with simply checking with my eyes, helped to ensure both sides were nearly a mirror of each other. Finally, I did a check at the bow to ensure the battens lined up nearly perfectly and then did the same at the stern. And then I marked each bulkhead with a pencil.
 
Installing the sills is going about as smooth as I could hope for, so all that extra effort to get the lines marked was well worth it. Learning a lot on this build already! The port side lower sills are nearly complete and I will tackle the starboard side over the next couple days.