TJM

Thanks a lot! I think all in all it has been running over 5 months, so these rapid succession posts does not really show that! I estimate around 30 hours of design work for the Bornholm, so it does take some time!

QCAD! For all the design. I work at the target scale of 1:64 as I can then just open the file with the parts laid out in the laser cutter software and make no changes in that program.

Heavy frigate 'Bornholm' I had a period with no access to the workshop, but 2-3 hours a day of free time with my computer, so I started adapting a much larger ship. The Bornholm, named after the island in the Baltic Sea, was an atypical ship for the Danish navy at the time it was built in 1748. Frigates usually had 18-20 cannon (8 pounders) or 30-36 cannon (12 and 4 pounders). However, this ship had 40 cannon on two full decks, 20 18 pounders and 20 8 pounders. It was therefore very heavily armed, more like the common 50 or 60 gun warships. Here's a few original drawings: I really like the profile and the simple ornaments. I thought of it as a Phinx with an extra layer of guns. It was 1 bit longer at 130 danish foot. This is an example of what @Thukydides mentioned above: a bit of paper warping in the original plans. Fortunately there are several copies of the same drawing for the main profiles and it is possible to correct any small issues in one plan by cross referencing to the others. I was starting up my Sphinx/Christiania build when I was making the CAD drawings for this so Iwas very inspired by the way Chris have designed the structure of that amazing kit. It was an interesting mental exercise to keep track of all the parts in my purely 2D design space. But it worked out quite well! Here is a look at the design in QCAD: And here is the cut files: It took a large amount of MDF to make all of these parts. And it took around 3 hours on the laser cutter. It only dawned on my how big this is in 1:64 when I was cutting it out. I thought it was just a little bit bigger than Sphinx, and while it is in some ways, it just looks much bigger overall! It was exciting to see all the parts fit together as planned and I only had to do minor modifications to the parts to make everything come together: This 'test' is what really gives me confidence that I can make a design that will work, at least structurally. While I have drawn the stern parts and bulwark patterns, I have not cut them, and won't do so until I decide to actually continue this as a real build. I would like to, but I will use the Sphinx kit to learn about all the other parts that are needed before I attempt to go further here. I am very aware that I have not at all started on the fittings and decorative elements and getting experience from the Phinx kit is an important stepping stone for me. I also have to constrain myself and not start working on too many projects at once or I will never finish anything! Heres a size comparison with my Sphinx-as-Christiania build in it's current state: This was the last if my tests for now and definitely the culmination. More will come, but at a much, much slower rate! I am working on the next one, but I want to spend time actually building my current project! I will post here whenever I have something to show. But it has been a great learning experience and I really enjoy the CAD element! Thank you for all your comments and likes so far, your inputs are all greatly appreciated! BR TJM

That is interesting! But in Danish, 'huk' means 'cut' whereas a hook is called 'krog', so the name 'hukkert' does not seem to be related to hooks - unless it is a dutch ship type that we have adopted, along with a version of the name!

Thanks a lot for the nice comment! I used Amati 3mm mdf. I find the fit is a bit more loose than the 4 mm, likely because it is a hair thinner than 3mm.

8 gun cutter 'Fehmern' For my next attempt, I wanted something small, but with high quality plans to work from. I came across a small 8-gun vessel that, despite its small size, had very nice ornaments and some fine details. In Danish it is called a 'Hukkert' which translates quite directly to 'Cutter', but it has two masts, unlike the vessels I have seen that are named cutters in English. If anyone has a better English term, I would like to know! I attach the sail plan below if this helps. Here are a few of the original plans: It only took a few hours to trace the keel and bulkheads and a little ekstra for the stern elements and bulwark patterns. I cut this out of 3 mm MDF and for now the stern elements and bulwark patterns are just 0.5 mm cardboard: The ship is really tiny - just 35 cm at 1:64 scale for the hull. I am very happy with how this turned out! I believe I could just glue this up faire the hull and start planking. It would also be easy to cut a deck in thin ply to plank on top of, or even just score the deck with a planking pattern with the laser. Whether I would be able to design all the deck fittings as well as the decorative elements of course remains to be seen! This one is definitely on the list of possible future builds 😁. As I thought I was getting the hang of this, I moved on to something bigger....🫣 For the next post ! BR TJM

True! I agree that it would be possible to continue with this one, but if/when I do, I will probably prefer to take advantage of the learnings I have had! I aldo now think that the 4 mm dmf is a bit to heavy for the rear elements. It would be workable, I'm sure, but better with 2-3 mm material.

Thanks! I am using an Xtool S1 with a 20W diode head. Most will tell you a 20W diode is too small for the materials we need, and I am sure a 60-100 W CO2 laser would be much faster, but for hobby use, I find the small S1 to be absolutely fine. It is very accurate and have very high repeatability. The thickest material I have cut is 4 mm mdf which I can do at 5 mm/s (or two passes at 10 mm/s) it actually almost cuts through with one pass at 6-7 mm/s but I lile to make sure the cut is totally clean. I can't tell on the cut if one or two passes have been used, but there are a bit more soot on the surface when it does not cut all the way through. The Fides files above took perhaps half an hour or 40 min to cut. This is an image of it cutting 1 mm pear for my current Christiania build.

It looks very good indeed!

The frigate 'Fides' My next test subject was the frigate Fides from 1615. It is from the prime of the illustrious Christian IV, who drew the midship profile and handled the contract largely by himself. The king also sailed on the ship himself on a number of occasions. It has a very interesting history that I will not go into here, except to say that at that time, continental ship builders did not use plans, but worked full scale from mathematical principles and a good portion of raw experience. So no original plans exists for this ship, though we do have a few Van de Velde drawings for the ornaments! However, the preserved contract for Fides is so elaborate, that ship historian Neils Probst was able to reconstruct the ship with very high accuracy, based on the original mathematical principles described in it and the Van de Velde paintings. Here is a picture of a model from the War Museum in Copenhagen: My biggest challenge is that I only currently have access to a low resolution scan. I know high resolution plans exists, but have not made a great effort to obtain these. So this really is just a small test. Here are my cut files on top of the reconstruction drawing: I can't cut anything larger than around 30x40 cm, so I have to do the keel in two pieces. I was initially very happy that everything came together nicely, but have since come to the conclusion that more elaborate structural details would be needed if I were ever to continue with this as an actual model. I would need to add braces on the lower deck, and the simple strip of 1x4 mm planking down the bulkheads that worked fine for the small section of Christians Øe, would not be enough for this, especially withe the larger distance between bulkheads. It would also not be a very solid base for the forecastle and quarterdecks. I will definitely make a ship from this era (early 1600's) at some point down the line, but if I go with Fides, I will revisit everything and make a more elaborate structure. My latest efforts have given me many good leanings that I would need to apply here as well, but this was still an important step on the journey, even if this particular model will never move beyond this stage 😁. BR TJM

That makes sense! I totally agree that if the plans are not accurate any more, I will copy the mistakes. I have seen examples where lines a a bit wobbly, but actually most are in extremely nice condition and the scans are of excellent quality. In many cases, multiple original copies of the hull drawings exist, as there were several working copies, as well as a master which was often approved by the king. These doublets should allow for some identification of issues in the plans due to paper warping! But it is a good point! I guess I would also just accept some degree of uncertainty in the build. One of the next examples have some warped lines, but the final physical model looks ok. Thanks a lot for your inputs @Thukydides, much appreciated, as always! It gets me thinking abut things I have not really thought about yet!

I guess that is true, but I don't think it will be a problem. As long as you place the bulkheads so the the direction of the fairing works (offset towards the closest end, if that makes sense), you can faire the hull as you always would, faring until you just remove the char. And since I don't have a 3D model in the virtual world, I don't have to have the fairing modelled at all! At least I think that is so! I guess I am doing it the same way you would old school, just working acc. to the plans. Just, instead of copying the plans to a piece if ply or mdf, I draw the individual parts in CAD and cut them out with a laser cutter. This ensures reproducibility and low tolerances, but otherwise it is the same as all-analog 🙂

Sounds interesting, I may give it a look! I do really like QCAD and have been quite successful even if it is only 2D - I will give some examples in the next posts. But it is good to have a 3D option if I run into something I can't get to work in QCAD.

So they say, but it is extremely limited in terms of export functions. I was not able to get any export I could actually use on my laser cutter. The issue is the 3D. You really need access to the feature that takes all your 3D parts, lays them out and exports a 2D projection for your cut files. As far as I could tell, that feature is only available in the paid version.

The stern of 'Christians Øe' My first attempt was a stern profile in scale 1:64 (I will stay at this scale as I like my models to be directly comparable). I found a nice frigate of 30 guns with what I thought looked like a nice subject, in one way complex (two stories, a balcony) and in another way simple (mostly friezes, no sculptures). Here is a few of the original drawings from 1767: The design I made is very simple: just a keel, the bulkheads and two side parts for the stern gallery. I made slots on the inside of the bulkheads for a 1x4mm strip to stabilise and double as base for the quarterdeck. This is probably a bit too simple a construction for a big build, but I think it would be viable on this small model. Here is a view of my part design: I cut out the frames in 4 mm MDF (from Amati) and found the fit to be perfect! Very tight, but workable. This would be a purely exterior model, as is probably evident from the rearmost bulkhead that blocks the great cabin. I cut it to include two gunports in the main gundeck, 12 pounders, and two on the quarterdeck, 4 pounders, on either side. I have not cut the rear panels and I have not designed the upper bulwark patters that I would cut out of plywood. Or it could just be planked, but I like the idea of using pre-cut parts where I can, to ensure correct positioning of features like the gunports. I know a lot of important design-work is missing, especially for the side galleries, but this was just a first smalle test. I may continue with this one at some point in the future when I need a 'smaller' project. In that case, I will open up a proper build log then. For now, it just stays on the shelf. Stay tuned for more in the coming days! BR TJM

I forgot to mention! I have tried a few including Fusion 360 (nice with the 3D capabilities, but it is not free anymore - it is actually very expensive!) and DELFTship (I just couldn't get used to it, did not feel intuitive), but I settled on QCAD after using the trial version a little. It runs very nicely, with no lag or hiccups, it has a (to me) very intuitive interface/GUI, I quickly leaned the keybord shortcuts, it is very easy to import an image file, scale it and draw on top of it for accurate reproduction, it exports in all kinds of formats and the native dxf format imports directly into my laser cutter software at correct scale - and it is cheap, just $40. Only downside is that it is only 2d, so everything 3D has to happen i my head, and the is no help to make slots in the parts, I have to do it all manually. But I really like it, and would highly recommend it to anyone in this hobby! Just be aware of what it doesn't do!

Hello all, For the past months, I have been dabbling in 2D CAD design. The grand aim is to be able to take the historical plans from the Danish National Archive and make a scratch built model from those. However, i am a CAD novice and have also only had my laser cutter for half a years time, so there is bound to be a steep learning curve on both of these components! Instead of going all out on a limb whenever I attempt my first scratch build (not before my current Christiania build based on VM's HMS Sphinx kit is done), I decided to make some trials. This thread will be about those, and my hope is to test out what works and what doesnt before I really dive into scratch building (a good while yet, still early days for Christiania!). I have already made 4 small test projects over the past months and the first posts here will be about those. I hope to get some feedback from this great forum, so that I may be ready to start building when my current build is done. More to follow soon, with my first attempts! BR TJM

Log entry 10 - even more planking.... I had thought that I would wait until the first planking layer was completed for this post, but the last planks are getting a bit fiddly, so here is a few pictures of the current state of things. 1.5 planks missing from one side and 3.5 planks for the other. I can now judge how the hull lines will turn out and I am very pleased. It is a bit more curvy than Sphinx, which I like. Hope to be back soon with a complete hull! BR TJM

Log entry 9 - more planking I am slowly progressing with the first planking layer, adding planks symmetrically at a rate of about 4 planks per work session. I think the modifications at the bow has made it a bit more difficult to plank - it is certainly more difficult to get the planks to sit flat on the bulkheads compared to Flirt! Here's a bunch of pictures of the current state: I have tried to show the shape at the bow, but it is a bit difficult to photograph well. At it's most extreme it is more than 2 cm wider than Sphinx, so quite pronounced! I think I will finish this first layer in a weeks time or so. I am enjoying this operation much more this time around, so that is great! BR TJM

Thanks Ronald 😃. It is definitely much cheaper to go the DIY route, but I would definitely recommend getting someone to cut the acrylic to size unless you have a table saw! And I was surprised at how much was needed. I used a 100x150 cm and a 100x75cm sheet with only a few strips left over!

Log entry 40 - epilogue I have been debating, mostly with myself, where to permanently display Flirt. It has been standing on top of a driks cabinet for a few months, but it will quickly become very dusty and it is at risk from jumping cats and flying toys (I have two small kids). So I knew I had to get it into a case. But boy, those are expensive! Especially as I have only found good options from UK and US and before all is said and done, I would be paying an additional 60% or so plus shipping to get it into Denmark! That would probably be 1.5-2 times the price of Flirt itself... So I decided to build my own. A local model shop stocks brass corners and wooden parts from OcCre for a DIY case. Cutting the frames were easy enough, but I did not get the acrylic glass pre-cut and as I dont have a table saw, it was an excercise with a heavy duty craft knife to score the acrylic from both sides repeatedly and then breaking the sheet. Many, many times. That was a bit of an ordeal and I will have to find a different solution for future projects i think. But the final result ended up ok! At present, I dont have a good place to display it in the living rooms, as the case is so big. So I opted for the staircase to the basement. Not many people will see it there, but I will, several times a day, and there was a well placed light already in place for a pretty nice final setup. Cheers everyone! Now on with Christiania! BR TJM

Log entry 8 - first planking continued First post in a while - i have been spending a lot of time trying to save files from a failing hard drive. Managed to get most of the data out before it died completely. So now I am back in the workshop continuing with the first planking layer. All in all it is going well, with 4 planks on either side added as well as the garboards. It looks a bit rough in places but I am confident that sanding a nd probably a bit of filler here and there will make a sound basis for the second planking. I am taking it slow and making sure I get things as even as I can. I also have to adjust a bit when a plank sits a little too high or low on the modified bulkheads. It is small margins, perhaps half a milimeter here and there, but better to adjust now than later! BR TJM

I have som Amati nails that I got directly from them - they seem to be identical to the ones that come with Vanguard kits.

I totally agree, it looks really good, very well done! I guess you paint the decorations off the model and then add them after?

Log entry 7 - starting the first planking layer As expected, I had to cut off the ply bulwarks just before the first gunport at the prow. It was a bit daunting to just chop up this part, but I am happy I did, as it would not have been possible to get the required shape at the prow with these. And it was not difficult to plank this section with 5 mm strips instead. From the side, you almost can't tell that is i not the Sphinx - as It should be! But from other angles, Christiania is slowly starting to appear. I really like the process of the first planking with the hull shape becoming more and more clear as I progress. I am going to have a bit of of hassle getting the pins out, as I had to insert the fully in many places to make the the planking sit tight against the bulkheads. I did so on my HMS flirt too, ad it was ok, if a bit fiddly, so I am sure it will be fine in the end. BR TJM