allanyed

Arnold 
Welcome to MSW!!!!
 
According to Howard Chappelle,  Banks Schooners used hemp cable, not chain.  Chain cable was used for harbor service.  When chain was carried for harbor service it was stud link chain with 5 inch X 3inch links on boats more than 75 feet long so would be appropriate for Bluenose.  He does not mention how long the rode is nor if it was hemp or chain.  If you need to make a rode of chain, at your scale, links would be 12 links per inch.   Keep in mind the links are stud links, not open links but at your scale may not be noticeable to most folks.
Allan

There are five items for each  yard that takes a stunsail, , the yard itself, the studdingsail boom port, studdingsail yard port, studdingsail boom starboard, and studdingsail yard starboard.  You can see these on the drawing on page 105 of your Diana book..  The booms slide outboard through guide rings attached to the yards.  The studdingsail yards "hang" free.  For the lower yards stunsails, the stunsail yard has a halyard seized around the stunsail yard and roves through a block seized to the outer boom iron on the foreyard.  There are also inner halyards and sheets for each stunsail.  There are very detailed drawings in Darcy Lever's Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor which is also reproduced in Lees'  Masting and Rigging on page 116.  In this case, the drawings truly are worth a thousand words, maybe more.
Allan

Hi Ross!
What scale?   Plank on frame might be a bit difficult at 1:85 if that is the appropriate scale, but certainly can be done.  As the boats were stowed right side up do you want the interiors to look realistic, including having all the pieces to scale?   I have had the most success using a method similar to what Frolich describes in his book Art of Ship Modeling.  It is also described in detail in volume II of HMS Euryalus.  You can also try a method similar to that used by several kit makers including the Medway long boat by Syren.   A 38 gun frigate of 1794 would  probably have had five or six boats including a 24 foot launch, a 30 foot pinnace, a 24 foot cutter and 18 foot cutter plus two smaller boats based in information from May's The Boats of Men of War..  It sometimes varied from ship to ship based on the preference of the captain.  For a model, most folks would only include 2 to 4 boats.   You can find great information, including scantlings for each boat in the W.E. May book.  Below are a 1:48 scale cutter, pinnace, and launch built using the methods detailed in the Euryalus book.
Allan
 

Rock,
The big IF, is do you want your gratings to look like real gratings?  If you do, you will have to make your own or can get them from Syren but I don't know if the scales offered match your kit.  Most kits either laser cut the openings or use  interlocking strips rather than using ledges and battens and most of these are totally out of scale. 
I suspect the construction would have been similar even in the 16th century.  If that is the case the below may be of some help to you.  Keep in mind the openings should be about 2.5" to 3" square.  Do a search on gratings here at MSW on how to make these.
Allan



 
 
 

Jamie??
You are trying to edge set the planks which does not work.   You have to either spile them or soak and pre-bend the plank around a form then heat it as shown in the tutorials here at MSW.   You can try both methods to see which works best for you, but keep in mind you may have occasions where one works easily and the other does not, depending on the severity of the bend, the type of wood, etc.    If you are stuck with strip wood from the kit,  you will be relegated to moisture and heat to side bend around a form before putting on the hull as spiling requires wider stock so you can cut the plank to the proper curve.   I noticed you have not marked out the bulkheads with the width of the plank at each bulkhead so you can be sure your planks are properly tapered.   This will really help you get fair lines of planking.
Cheers
 
Allan
 
 

Why use just the plans from a kit rather than the contemporary plans for the actual details?  There are  contemporary drawings  including two profile drawings and all her decks as re-fitted in Deptford in 1768 for her exploration voyage and possible additional changes in 1771 when James Gordon took command and Cook went to Resolution.   I assume the kit plans and replica were based on some of these but which ones?  
 
The contemporary drawings are very high resolution and free, so probably better than anything in the kit or the replica.  There are actually two contemporary profile drawings, one of which shows her original lines plus ticked lines showing the alterations to be made at Deptford.  The other profile drawing is after the alterations.  If you use the deck plans, be careful.  There are deck plans from Deptford in 1768 showing her refit design, plus another from 1771 at Woolwich.  i did not study them to find the differences so there may be some, or maybe not.   
 
They are all on the Wikimedia commons site.   Go to the site and scroll down to the eighth page.  All of the drawings can be downloaded in high res.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ship_plans_of_the_Royal_Museums_Greenwich
 
Following  these drawings will insure an accurate model based on original sources. 
 
Allan
 
 
 
 

Have you watched the videos of the ten year San Salvador project?   There may be some clues there as they did a ton of research before building the replica.  I have no idea how accurate they have been but the old video here is quite interesting.
There are lots of photos of this ship on the net since she was launched that show the chain plates which look like those of the 17th century.
 
Also, there are photos of a 16th century galleon at the RMG Collections site.  The model is modern (1988) but based on contemporary information.  Note that one of the builders of the model was noted author James Lees.   The description of the model is as follows:
 
Scale: 1:96. A full hull model of a Spanish galleon (circa 1588). Built in the solid and plank on frame. Model is decked, equipped and fully rigged, including details such as a pair of anchors, deck gratings, flags, decoration around the stern and bulwarks, and a number of scale figures in the rigging and on deck. This model and the English equivalent (SLR0358) have been built from a design by David White, formerly of the NMM, based upon contemporary evidence and known naval architectural design. By comparison, the Spanish ships were much higher and rounded in the midship section. Spain did not possess a permanent force of sailing warships in the Atlantic before the 1570s. Twelve royal galleons built between 1568 and 1570 were deemed to small for fighting ships, and the three building programmes between 1578 and 1591 aimed to produce large ships that could carry a great deal of sail, many guns and would be able to overcome their opponents. This model represents one of the new, large galleons of the Armada period.
 
You can get high resolution photos  from RMG.
 
Allan  

Marcus,  assuming the inside diameter is .65mm, the size is about right for treenails in a hull for 1:48 scale.  For smaller scales it is  oversized.  You probably need something like a 21 gage needle like those made by Becton Dickinson and others.   They go down to much smaller diameter as well.
 
Have you tried making treenails with a draw plate?   Bamboo treenails are incredibly strong and easy to make with a good draw plate such as the one from Jim Byrnes.   With a typical hull having upwards of 10,000 treenails, making them with a hypodermic needle is a task most would not want to try.  If your scale is 3/16=1 inch or smaller, treenails will ruin the look and probably be better left off.  Many otherwise beautiful planking jobs on the hull and decks have been ruined with oversized treenails.    There are a number of posts on making these using different methods and different materials from fishing line to wire to different wood species.  

The rabbet is at the top of the keel only and is basically the same depth it's entire length.  The bottoms of the frames at the deadwood are above the rabbet and rest in steps or in some cases along a curved bearding line that is cut into the deadwood.  There is tapering vertically and horizontally along the length and height of the deadwood.   Look at the various scratch build logs here at MSW and you will find how this is done.  Not sure if your project has steps or a curved bearding line, but the tapering is present for either style.  It can be done with a mill, chisels or assembled as a sandwich of three laminations.  The photos below show individual laminations for a 50 gun ship of the late 17th century and the assembled laminations in the second photo.  It is pretty easy to cut and then taper the outer laminations and glue to the center lamination.  The bottom of the assembled deadwood will rest on the keel where the rabbet is.    I know the jog was pretty much standard, but I don't recall the reason for it being there.
Allan