allanyed

As stated above it takes a library, albeit a small  one to get started.  Great advice has been given above.   I highly recommend Goodwin's The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War and Brian Lavery's The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600-1815.  For rigging, there are several, but the best by far, and I think many would agree, when it comes to explanations and accuracy, is David Lees' The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War 1625-1860. 
 
There are also free sources that are useful.
The formulas in Lees' book for sizing masts, spars and lines have been put into a spread sheet by the late Danny Vadas and available here at MSW in the Articles data base.  It is spot on except for the period from 1670 to 1711 where he did not use the right initial formula so everything is completely wrong for that time span and should not be used.
 
To learn how to properly plank ships of that era the 4 part You Tube Video by Chuck Passaro and the article Primer on Planking by professional ship modeler and author David Antscherl, both of who are members here,  which can be found here at MSW in the Articles data base are hard to beat.  
 
Even if you are kit building, these articles and books will help you immensely.  
 
And there are thousands of free low resolution contemporary plans and photos of models on the RMG Collections site as well as free high resolution versions of nearly 1000 of these (along with about 2000 low res) on the Wiki Commons site.   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ship_plans_of_the_Royal_Museums_Greenwich
 
It is all part of the journey and should be a most pleasurable one.
 
Allan
 
 
 
 

Hello Baris,
Properly spiled planks can be soaked and pre-bent and dried before gluing to the model.  If this is done, they can be held with the fingers for a minute or less while the glues starts to set.(aliphatic glue).  There is no need for pinning.   That said, making perfectly spiled planks is not always possible if only using strips of wood such as come in kits rather than cutting from sheet stock as mentioned by Chuck.  A number of planking clamp designs have been shown on this site including many by Ed Tosti in his Naiad build log (and books.)  They eliminate the need for using pins. 
Allan

Don,
For a good start, you might benefit from reading Wayne Kempson's article here at MSW on drafting, which includes square and cant frames.  https://thenrg.org/resources/Documents/articles/DraftingShipPlansInCAD.pdf
Allan

Sheerline, the planking for your first build is really quite good.   
Study the tutorials and it will get even better!    You get to spiling planks and pretty soon you may step over to the dark side of scratch building in the not too distant future!
Allan

OK, I'm sold.  I will give the hacksaw blade a try the next time I am making moldings.   I do see an advantage in being able to use two hands to hold a 3 or 4 inch blade on each end and thus having a bit more control when drawing the cutter along the wood.   
Allan
 

Druxey
I have tried using hacksaw blades as well and they work just as well as the razor blades regarding stiffness, in my experience.  One advantage I have found with the razors is they are thinner and do not have to be heat treated and softened before grinding the shape.   Both give excellent results as long as easy strokes on the wood are used at the start rather than trying to dig in and give the shape with one or two passes.  
 
Mark, I usually use my lathe, chucking the grinding wheel and resting the blade on the tool holder then manually moving it to the shape I want.  I like to start by marking the shape as close as possible with a fine tip marker or better, coating it with Dykem Steel Blue layout fluid then scribing the shape into the blue so there is an accurate drawing to follow for the grinding.   I have also clamped the  Dremel in a vise and then use a block of wood or some such on which I rest the blade while I move it in and out.     GO SLOW, as the thin disks will break very quickly if forced to work faster than they are meant to.   AND WEAR SAFETY GLASSES OR GOGGLES!!  If the grinding wheel breaks, bits fly all over the place.  
 
Allan
 
 

One other way to make moldings/rails scrapers.  I like to use stiff backed razors, shaped as mentioned above with thin grinding wheels set up on my lathe or can be done with a Dremel or similar rotary tool.   I make them as needed and save them for future use.  I never found a problem with any shape or size.   If small, several shapes can be cut into one blade. 
Allan

Do you mean the technique that you designed?  With your apparent drawing skills, why not modify your drawings to match those of actual gratings rather than something that was never used in actual practice?  If that does not suit your needs do whatever makes you happy.  The most obvious thing is to have the battens running fore and aft, not athwartships as Druxey has explained.
Allan

Further to Druxey

A bit more on this.  Of course you can get any of thousands of drawings that are shown on the RMG Collections site in high resolution as well, but they are costly.  For the Wiki Commons site, there are about 800 high res drawings and another 2000+ in low res.  I have assembled all of the high res drawings into 30 folders by type of vessel, including number of guns, &c.  so it is much easier to navigate than the website.  The folders include mainly the contemporary plans but there are also a few contemporary contracts in the appropriate folders.  For example in each folder there are the subfolders for each ship.   In the subfolder for Elephant 1786 there are the high res drawings as well as a transcription of the original contract which gives her scantlings. I offered them to MSW a couple years ago so they could make them accessible for all members to use and add to it to allow it to grow, but there are other priorities, which I fully understand.  The full set is about 45 GB at this point.
Allan 
 
 

The free plans on the collections website at RMG are low res.  If you are interested in 6 very high resolution plans from RMG at no cost, go to the first page on the  Wiki Commons web site and go down to the Ardent 1764, the class of which included Agamemnon 1781.   
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ship_plans_of_the_Royal_Museums_Greenwich
Allan

I cannot tell if you are doing this from the photos, but I like to print a second page for each frame and then set the pieces on the drawing and hold them down with scrap weights to be sure they are exactly right when gluing them together.  (page 57 of volume 1)
Allan
 

Keep at it, you have a ton of support and supporters here at MSW.  I find if I need a respite for any reason, it is good to maybe get into the deck furniture or boats or some such for a particular build.  Keeps the project moving along nicely and eases the frustration at the same time.  
Allan

Ron,   I have been following Matiz' build log on Euryalus.  If you have not already been doing so, maybe give it a look see.  His work is spectacular plus some good questions and comments have arisen during his build.
 
I am looking forward to seeing your progress updates 😀
 
Allan

The joinery and overall precision in your builds yields a true work of art.
Allan

Also keep in mind that the shape of the rabbet is dynamic, never being the same angle along the length of the keel except in the area of the dead flat.  The angle should match that of the frames/bulkheads where they end at the keel/rabbet line.   There is more to it depending on the era as the keel itself changed over time as well.  For a kit, the same basic idea should apply, though.  The following was posted in the past but this may help you avoid a search.
Allan

 

Also keep in mind that the shape of the rabbet is dynamic, never being the same angle along the length of the keel except in the area of the dead flat.  The angle should match that of the frames/bulkheads where they end at the keel/rabbet line.   There is more to it depending on the era as the keel itself changed over time as well.  For a kit, the same basic idea should apply, though.  The following was posted in the past but this may help you avoid a search.
Allan

 

Sorry for the very late reply, been traveling a bit this past week.
 
1. what rubber mould brand did you use? I used Micro-Mark 1-to-1/ Rapid RTV Silicone, and it was surprisingly fragile. You can see how it broke out in the mould I showed earlier. Did you find something more durable?  
I purchased molding and casting materials from Polytek (https://www.polytek.com/)   They were extremely helpful in selecting the right materials a they have many.  The next time I am in need I will likely use them again.  
 
2. Did you provide any vents for gasses, or is it not needed with such a simple form? No vents were used, but I was careful to tap and vibrate the mold for some minutes to bring any air to the top.   
 
3. When you pour the metal, do you leave the rubber mould in its forming box so it doesn't distort?   Yes, for both resin or metal.   For the resin I left the material in the mold for some hours to be sure it was cured.  For metal, I left it until cool enough to touch without burning fingers.   
 
4. Do you use the Micro Mark lead free pewter? The pewter was given to me by a friend/client some years back.  Their business is machining to make a variety of molds and items and had a lot of experience with materials, but I don't know any details on the metal itself.  They gave me about 5 or 10 pounds of the stuff so enough for a LOT of cannon barrels.  FYI If you go to resin, there are dies that can be added to make black barrels rather than painting, but I have not tried it.
 
Allan
 

Ciao Matiz
 
I admire your work very much.   What wood are you using for the frames, keel, &tc?
 
Lucky you living in Toscana!!!   It is one my favorite parts of the world, including the olive oil from Lucca, fenomenale!  
 
Allan

Lovely drawing Igor!  I think the knee of the head is supposed to taper to about half the width, or less, than the width of the stem by the time it reaches the forward most point of the bobstay.  (see white lines on the below picture.
Again, your drawings are wonderful!!      Allan

Kevin,
Does the Lavery book offer many/any detailed photos of late 17th century vessels?  
Thanks
 
Allan

No matter the method you wind up using remember the gratings need to be solid on the periphery.  This sometimes ends giving slightly different overall dimensions than the plans, so make the gratings first, then make the head ledges and coamings to suit rather than trying to adjust the grating dimension to fit into the coaming.  Also, the battens should run fore and aft, not the ledges (not to be confused with the head ledges)
Allan

You can do a quick bit of research by Googling Higgins boats and go to images for lots of plans then download and save whichever ones you want.  Not sure which ones you want though, the LCVP or some others as they built a number of vessels at their yards with the 20,000 workers employed there during WWII 
 
Insert into your CAD program and scale to whatever you need or save on a flash drive and take it to a local print shop.   DOUBLE CHECK  the measurements when they print as half the time I have found them to be slightly out of scale.  An engineering printing company is your best best as they seem to always get it right.    The pic at the following address can be opened in high res if you click on the original file bottom left of the drawing.  
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/LCVP_Landing_Craft-_Inboard_Profile_and_Construction_Plan_-_NARA_-_78116787.jpg
Allan
 

Paul,
I hope a lot of kit builders and scratchers as well as some of the other  kit manufacturers are taking some time studying your build log as your model is exemplary.     
Allan

There is an excellent explanation of a common/easy method of making wooden blocks with hand tools as well as their proportional dimensions in The Fully Framed Model  Volume IV pp. 61-63.  For tiny blocks (1.5mm and smaller) McCaffery goes into some detail in his book Ships in Miniature on making punches for making paper blocks.
Allan