Richard Griffith

Good tips, all.
Jeff at the Hobby Mill also has a great tip: see http://www.hobbymillusa.com/byrnes-saw-operation.php on this forum.
 
Good luck, keep your fingers clear of the blade and have fun.
 
Duff

Hello Scratchbuildmike, you have a good point about cost verses benefits.  It is not so much that the blade turns some of the wood into sawdust (as does scraping) but rather the cost of the table saw/planer/sanders/vacuums/blades/ and your time involved.  Without having the machinery, then mail order is a good deal for many folks.  
 
I choose to cut my own because:
1. I can control the quality of the wood, its color, and its final size;
2. I use the machines to build other things such as toys for the kids and their kids (grand kids are so much fun!);
3. I don't have to wait for mail order, and there are no shipping costs (I seldom buy wood that needs shipping);
4. I can make planks, beams, frames etcetera out of any wood I can get my hands on.
 
A note on veneers:  I don't favor them because most of them have cracks, and many are brittle from age.  The cracks are made by the huge knives used in peeling the thin veneer from the log.  Some high end veneers are made by sawing but you will be paying extra for these. Veneers do have their place and the cracks might not be problematic if you control their application to the model ship.  
 
Keep building and have fun.                      Duff

Hello Scratchbuildmike, you have a good point about cost verses benefits.  It is not so much that the blade turns some of the wood into sawdust (as does scraping) but rather the cost of the table saw/planer/sanders/vacuums/blades/ and your time involved.  Without having the machinery, then mail order is a good deal for many folks.  
 
I choose to cut my own because:
1. I can control the quality of the wood, its color, and its final size;
2. I use the machines to build other things such as toys for the kids and their kids (grand kids are so much fun!);
3. I don't have to wait for mail order, and there are no shipping costs (I seldom buy wood that needs shipping);
4. I can make planks, beams, frames etcetera out of any wood I can get my hands on.
 
A note on veneers:  I don't favor them because most of them have cracks, and many are brittle from age.  The cracks are made by the huge knives used in peeling the thin veneer from the log.  Some high end veneers are made by sawing but you will be paying extra for these. Veneers do have their place and the cracks might not be problematic if you control their application to the model ship.  
 
Keep building and have fun.                      Duff

Beautiful work Alexander!  Your work, and that of Janos' and others, is inspirational, and it just might kick me into trying some.  
 
Thank you for posting.                            Duff

Beautiful work Alexander!  Your work, and that of Janos' and others, is inspirational, and it just might kick me into trying some.  
 
Thank you for posting.                            Duff

Excerpt below from those that know (i.e. The Queen's official website)
 
The Royal Standard is flown when The Queen is in residence in one of the Royal Palaces, on The Queen's car on official journeys and on aircraft (when on the ground).  It may also be flown on any building, official or private (but not ecclesiastical buildings), during a visit by The Queen, if the owner or proprietor so requests.  The Royal Standard also used to be flown on board the Royal Yacht, when it was in service and The Queen was on board.
The Royal Standard is only flown when the Sovereign is present.
 
I doubt that the protocol around usage has changed - i.e. the Royal Standard would only be flown if the monarch were present.

Wow. looking forward to your progress, Farbror!  
 
Duff

wq3296 makes an excellent point and I agree with him/her.
 
Wasa was mentioned in a prior post, which got me thinking about her, so I pulled out my copy of "Wasa I: The Archaeology of a Swedish Warship of 1628" to look at the plans for the decks.  BTW, Wasa is 98% complete (except for the rigging).  Her decks are asymetrical, planks are seldom straight, they differ in width and length, the hook scarfs in the waterways differ port to starboard, and there are some 'planks' that are almost square, eg small.  There are steelers, jogs and all manner of sizes.  This tells me that the builders would use what ever wood they could get their hands on and then shape it to the spacing. 
 
One item that does not appear is a plank with a sharp end.  Many are spiled but the ends are never cut to a point.
 
 
Marine archaeology can dispel myths and provide answers, when we can get such artifacts.    Duff  

Hi Adrieke, prior posts are good advice.  
 
For me, I run a Delta 14" band saw and put a wide blade on it for ripping.  Wide means 1/2" with about 8 teeth per inch.  My band saw has only one speed setting so I adjust my feed rate to what the saw and blade can handle.  Tension the blade per owners manual and check it during the cutting as it will heat up and expand.  
 
I do not bother with a rip fence becuase of the wander.  I plane the bottom of the my wood so it is flat, sometimes the top too, run a pencil line along the top; and then saw to that, adjusting the wood so the blade stays at the pencil line.  
 
When I want multiple planks, I will rig a home made fence which is a 3" tall piece of wood cut to a narrow, almost pointy edge set just forward of the teeth. This acts as a fulcrum.  Keep the wood stock against this fulcrum.  It lets me prvot the wood so the blade stays on the pencil line and provides the same width for each plank.  (I will post a photo after I find my digital camera.)
 
Even when I get the planks the same width, wihch is rare, the planks are too rough to use on a model; they need planing in a thickness planer or thickness sander, or hand planed, what ever you have.  
 
Duff

Hi Adrieke, prior posts are good advice.  
 
For me, I run a Delta 14" band saw and put a wide blade on it for ripping.  Wide means 1/2" with about 8 teeth per inch.  My band saw has only one speed setting so I adjust my feed rate to what the saw and blade can handle.  Tension the blade per owners manual and check it during the cutting as it will heat up and expand.  
 
I do not bother with a rip fence becuase of the wander.  I plane the bottom of the my wood so it is flat, sometimes the top too, run a pencil line along the top; and then saw to that, adjusting the wood so the blade stays at the pencil line.  
 
When I want multiple planks, I will rig a home made fence which is a 3" tall piece of wood cut to a narrow, almost pointy edge set just forward of the teeth. This acts as a fulcrum.  Keep the wood stock against this fulcrum.  It lets me prvot the wood so the blade stays on the pencil line and provides the same width for each plank.  (I will post a photo after I find my digital camera.)
 
Even when I get the planks the same width, wihch is rare, the planks are too rough to use on a model; they need planing in a thickness planer or thickness sander, or hand planed, what ever you have.  
 
Duff

wq3296 makes an excellent point and I agree with him/her.
 
Wasa was mentioned in a prior post, which got me thinking about her, so I pulled out my copy of "Wasa I: The Archaeology of a Swedish Warship of 1628" to look at the plans for the decks.  BTW, Wasa is 98% complete (except for the rigging).  Her decks are asymetrical, planks are seldom straight, they differ in width and length, the hook scarfs in the waterways differ port to starboard, and there are some 'planks' that are almost square, eg small.  There are steelers, jogs and all manner of sizes.  This tells me that the builders would use what ever wood they could get their hands on and then shape it to the spacing. 
 
One item that does not appear is a plank with a sharp end.  Many are spiled but the ends are never cut to a point.
 
 
Marine archaeology can dispel myths and provide answers, when we can get such artifacts.    Duff  

Hi Adrieke, prior posts are good advice.  
 
For me, I run a Delta 14" band saw and put a wide blade on it for ripping.  Wide means 1/2" with about 8 teeth per inch.  My band saw has only one speed setting so I adjust my feed rate to what the saw and blade can handle.  Tension the blade per owners manual and check it during the cutting as it will heat up and expand.  
 
I do not bother with a rip fence becuase of the wander.  I plane the bottom of the my wood so it is flat, sometimes the top too, run a pencil line along the top; and then saw to that, adjusting the wood so the blade stays at the pencil line.  
 
When I want multiple planks, I will rig a home made fence which is a 3" tall piece of wood cut to a narrow, almost pointy edge set just forward of the teeth. This acts as a fulcrum.  Keep the wood stock against this fulcrum.  It lets me prvot the wood so the blade stays on the pencil line and provides the same width for each plank.  (I will post a photo after I find my digital camera.)
 
Even when I get the planks the same width, wihch is rare, the planks are too rough to use on a model; they need planing in a thickness planer or thickness sander, or hand planed, what ever you have.  
 
Duff

Michael;
I'll check out this book. Furthermore, depending on what period of Dutch ships you build, I may be able to steer you in the right direction. I have a book and plans from A. Tasman, There is the new Dutch freighter of the 17th century book with 24 sets of plans for 14 ships, There are some other books in Dutch, I can translate for you.
Let me know.
Marc

Hi everyone
 
As promised, here are the photos of Lennox's rigging. I'm pretty confident that I made more than just a few mistakes in the rigging. Nevertheless, at least I tried to make the rigging look as realistic as possible. In fact, if you were to look at it from far away, (let's say, a few metres away(!)) LOL, it actually looks passable. It's only when you look close up, that the purists would shudder....oh well, I did warn you!
 
The next build log will be the final log, featuring the ship on its display stand.
 
All the best!

Lextin, that handle is super!  As a compliment to your artistic talent, I will make one for my own use.
 
Duff

Lextin, that handle is super!  As a compliment to your artistic talent, I will make one for my own use.
 
Duff

Looking good Marc, keep at it.              Duff

Not much to show for the last few weeks.  Last week was devoted to the NRG meeting.  It was great to put faces to some new names.  Hope to see you again next year in Mystic.
 
I started the planking below the wales.  The first 6 rows of planking are anchor stock and the rest is standard planking.  The first strake is 3" thick at the wale, tapering down to 2".  The rest of the strakes are 2" thick.  I laid the first row of strakes full thickness and then tapered the lower edge after the second row of planking was completed.  The extreme fore and aft planks are dropped.  I marked out the landing spots for the planks terminating at the counter to prevent any uneven plank widths.  Holly is a pleasure to work with for the hull planking.  Gentle curves can bent by hand.  The extreme bends require a 30 minute soak in water and are pinned in place with clamps and planking screws.  After they are completely dry, final shaping is done and the plank is glued in place with almost no pressure.  I like to rough sand the planks every few rows to check for any problems.  It is a lot easier to pop one or two problem planks now rather than several planks after the hull is completed.  
 
The wale has gotten scuffed with handling and sanding.  It will get a re-paint  after all the planking has been installed.
 

 

 

 

 
 

Hi Toni,
 
Don't take the Planking Expansion in TFFM as gospel, especially around this stage of the external planking. David himself admits that there will be variations, as this Expansion was done using a CAD program. Any slight deviation in measurement over a couple of planks, or more significantly a variation in Fairing the frames WILL result in an error somewhere down the track. I found I was quite a way off the TFFM expansion by now, and had to "Become My Own Shipwright" to get them to fit.
 
From the explanations in your last post it looks like you're on the right track .
 
  Danny

I have decided to use a finish that will not yellow the holly.  In TFFM David mentions a solvent-based sealer for his finish.  For those of you who own his Comet book or have seen the photos, that is the look I am trying to achieve.  The bottle of solvent-based sanding sealer I have was quite a few years old so I purchased some from Midwest Models, as well as a bottle of flat finish.  I have not decided whether to stick with just the sealer or put a coat of finish on as well.  The pictures are taken after two coats of sealer, the first sanded down to 320 grit and the second sanded to 400.  Later this week I will test applying a coat of the finish on some scrap wood.  One of the nice things about the sealer is that the drying time is very fast but as this is solvent based the smell is pretty strong.  Unlike a oil based finish, the odor dissipates quickly.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, everyone for the comments and the likes.  I have finished the treenails.     I estimate that the whole process consumed about 25 hours of my life.  So my ugly duckling is now in the process of becoming a swan (class).  Sorry, couldn't help it.  I removed the hull from the board for the sanding process.  I find it easier to sand a curved object while holding it in my lap.  This gives me easier access to the various rabbets and the intersection with the wing transom.  In the process, despite using masking tape, the main wale has gotten fairly scuffed up and will require another coat of paint.  In the pictures the hull has been sanded down with 100 grit.  The treenails are hard to see because no finish has been applied yet.
 

 

 

 

 

I have proclaimed the lower hull planking finished!  In the end I applied three coats of sanding sealer and one coat of flat finish.  This was sanded to 1200 grit.  The finish coat adds luster without shine and is a harder finish than the sanding sealer.  The upper planking will be finished with Watco's to match the rest of the Costello after the channels, moldings, etc. have been installed.  I repainted the wale and put her back in the cradle.  
 

 

 

 

 

OK, Druxey, here is my step by step.
 
I am no artist and the results will probably reflect that but so far the results don't look too bad.  I made the first trial section of frieze only to discover that I painted it upside down and without enough background aft to run out to the hance of the forecastle.  So I used this "opportunity" to document a step by step method for painting the friezes.  For my technique I used the instructions given in Vol II of TFFM.  I also had the pleasure of sitting in on a demonstration of frieze painting by David Antscherl at the most recent NRG national meeting.  
 
The first step is to have a background of the correct color.  I chose a blue background although there is a contemporary model of Atalanta in the NMM holdings that has a red background. The next step I found to be the most difficult.  David says to moisten bond paper (aka printer paper), stretch it gently, tape it to a flat surface and allow it to dry.  Then the background is painted.  The prestretching is supposed to prevent the paper from wrinkling when the acrylic paint is applied.  Well...  I tried three different types of paper, different moisture levels, different tape and weighting the paper under a sheet of glass.  I occasionally ended up with a strip of paper that looked passable.  After that I painted the paper with artist acrylics and ended up with wrinkled paper!  I could not find any blue archival markers.  Ink would cause the same problem.  Regular blue marker would bleed when I apply my solvent based finish.  I seriously thought about printing a sheet of blue paper but was concerned about the lifespan of inkjet pigments.  My solution was to use enamel spray paint without prestretching.  Three coats with a quick sanding of 600 grit between coats gave me good depth of color while smoothing out any imperfections in the paper.  It is still flexible and accepted acrylic paints well.
 

 
Although there is no freize shown on Atalanta's plans, there is one for Fly.  I used these for my design.  I traced the design on to regular bond paper.
 

 

 
The plan shows the starboard side but I am putting the frieze on the port side.  So I turned the paper around and traced the sketch on to the back of the paper, giving me a mirror image.  The drawing was placed on the painted paper and transfer paper was used to transfer the outline.  Transfer paper is found at any craft store and is used for stenciling and applying patterns onto cloth.  It comes in several colors.  White is best for this application.
 

 

 
The images were painted with two coats of ochre.  All the paints used were Liquitex artist acrylic.  
 

 
The highlights were applied with a mixture of ochre and white.  
 
 
 
The lowlights were applied with a mixture of ochre and burnt sienna.  Finally details such as the stems and leaf veins were added with a mixture of burnt sienna and burnt umber.
 

 
I used a pencil eraser to remove any white lines and powder from the transfer paper.
 

 
At these extreme magnifications, the detail work is a little heavy.  At normal viewing it looks much better; definitely better than I thought I could do.  

Last time I counted, it was eleventy gazillion...............but still one short when I needed it!

HI Keith, one can not have too many clamps, cramps as some people say.
 
I have lots of wooden cloths pins in 3 different sizes that I shape for special jobs, lots of plastic spring clamps in several sizes, brass bar clamps, metal spring clamps in many sizes and shapes, fly fishing clamps, auto hose clamps, macinists clamps, women's hair spring clamps, small quick release clamps that Dr. McArdle recommended in his book Sussex, plus other as one finds in hobby stores - you get the idea.  
 
And then there are rubber bands, an essential clamping device, wooden parralell clamps, 'c' clamps, wood worker's bar clamps, pipe and bar clamps, and more.  
 
Many can be had cheap, and I always look for clamps at tag or jumble sales.  Plus you can make some for difficult situations,   
 
Duff