SJSoane

Thanks, everyone, these are very helpful suggestions. In hindsight, I now know it would have been better to build the wales before building the gun deck. I was just very curious about what the gun deck would look like all those many years ago! Greg, did you alternate cyanoacrylate with carpenter's glue, within each inch of your gluing process? Is there any problem if they interact or mix together? Best wishes, Mark

Hi Paul, Do you have a source for those, or a brand name? They look handy. A challenge I have with the lowest, foremost plank is that the gun deck is higher inside than the wale; so the inner side of the clamp cannot be aligned opposite the outer side of the clamp on the wale. It has to be made asymmetrical. But maybe there is a way to extend one of the arms. Best wishes, Mark

Greg, I think I now know the answer to your earlier question. The piece I just fitted is the longest plank in the wale, and it wraps so far around the bow that pulling it up tight towards its aft end tended to pull everything into place. The next lower piece, which I am showing in the first photo before beginning to fair it, is much shorter. And the vertical clamps pull it away from the hull, just as you asked about. I will need to clamp it in the fore and aft direction. And because my frames run only athwartships, I have no easy way to clamp fore and aft, or perpendicular to the wale on the diagonal to the hull. My first thought is to construct a device, shown in the second drawing, that would slip a piece of plywood between the frames, and then use this to bolt a former that would tighten up against the wale. But it will need cut-outs, so I can still get the vertical clamps in place. Looks like a long uphill project at this point in the day. Might look better tomorrow. Mark

Hi Greg, Interesting you ask that. The upper planks definitely needed some clamping pressure onto the hull, not just up to the batten. But this one fit really well, and the clamping to the upper strakes seemed enough to hold it against the hull. I had to put the horizontal clamp at that particular place because it was bowing out just a bit. When I first offered the plank up to the hull, it looked like the spiling had given it too much fore and aft bend, and I had to push the two ends up when I started fine tuning the joint. But after a while it just began to fit into place without much clamping pressure anywhere. I had left this plank in the former after steaming for a couple of days, because I had gone out of town and just left it for when I got back. It had less spring-back than usual, which is perhaps why it fit a little better. I dread the thought that I have to leave pieces in the former for a few days. I will leave the equivalent port plank in the former for just a day, and see if this was an issue or not. It just goes to show that no matter how much I try to perfect a process, it always throws a new twist, both good and bad! Mark

Thank you, Greg, druxey and montañes. Not boring comments to me, greatly appreciated! I forgot to point out the challenge of clamping at the round of the bow. I had to cut angled blocks as seen in the previous photos, to match the angle of the wale at the clamping point. But the angle means it tries to slide off when tightened. I tried tying it back with string, as seen in the photo (gave me practice tying a bowline knot), but this was insufficient. In the end, a strong C-clamp right next to it was enough to keep it in place. Mark

Hi Siggi, Your planking is beginning to show the lovely lines of the Tiger. And very nice mouldings! Mark

Away for a few days, to the annual Charlie Russell art auction in Great Falls, Montana. Some of the best Western traditional art in the US. I can't afford to buy any, just look and admire... I am continuing with the wales. I fitted the foremost, lower two strakes before bending, using artist's transfer paper squeezed between the two pieces. This notes high points which are then lightly filed down, and the two are tested again. With patience, one can sneak up on a very tight joint. The second photo shows dry clamping for fit after the bending, and a closeup in the third photo. Interestingly, the plank was carefully spiled, but it still needed a fair amount of adjustment using the artist's transfer paper. I think it has to do with the constantly changing angle of the upper surface, since most of the high points were on the inner edge. Glue tomorrow! Mark

Thanks, Ed, I knew there would have been some extensive testing involved in this decision. This makes perfect sense.

Dear Siggi, I have wondered about planking before the upper decks are installed. Would it help to install some temporary ties along the deck levels, like the ones you already installed at the stern? Mark

Hi Alan, Congratulations on retirement! More time for yourself, but less sand in the hourglass of life. That keeps me very motivated, although I am shocked at how time flies by. A friend defined retirement as taking all day to do something that only took you an hour when you worked.... Mark

Ed, I forgot to ask about a previous post. You are using wipe on poly for the spars and masts, not your usual turps and wax as on the hull. Is there a construction reason for this? Mark

Thanks, everyone, for your support. I was taken away from the shop for a few days, to rig up a hoist for kayaks--real rigging. I am starting on the lower two strakes of the wales. I originally cut the foremost planks at the round of the bow according to my CAD drawing. But when I spiled to the strakes already installed, I discovered that the upper curve was much more dramatic than my original piece. The photo below shows the original piece at the top, and the card with the spiled edge below, showing the difference in curvature. In hindsight, I realize that I assumed the wales would be dead straight vertical, since they are so at midships; not so at the bow or stern! I made xerox copies of the spiled card for port and starboard. A couple of more pieces for the mistake box. I had spent a great of time on the first two strakes sanding and filing the edges of the planks. I did this freehand with shaped sanding blocks. The challenge was to keep the edge square, or tapered slightly where needed to tighten up the joint. It was a little hit and miss. So I am trying a little jig shown below, which clamps into my jeweler's vise block. The two hold downs secure the plank, and then I can run the sanding block against the edge, keeping it exactly perpendicular. When I need to angle the edge, I will slip a thin spacer under one edge of the plank to change its angle to the table. Mark

Very nice joinery on the stem, Mike.

A couple of further thoughts on chisels, I do use small chisels, for example, in the hundreds of mortises in the gun deck framing below. The dockyard chisel shown works very well. Also, I use a strop with green compound, and strop my chisels large and small every few cuts. It helps maintain the sharpened edge, and I can really feel the difference when the chisel is freshly stropped. Sharp makes all the difference in the world when cutting miniature joinery! Mark

I concur with druxey's recommendation on Veritas. Equivalent quality at Lie-Nielsen, which is what I now use. The virtue of a good chisel is that it can be sharpened well, and then keep its edge. My experience with too many cheap chisels that I have bought over the years is that they don't sharpen well or hold their edges for very long. I wish I had bought good chisels the first time; the number of cheap chisels I ended up throwing away could have paid for the good ones to last the rest of my life. Also, when I started on my ship model at 3/16" scale, I thought that I would mainly need small chisels, like the Dockyard sets. I use these, and they are good. But I have found that the vast majority of my chisel work uses standard sizes, mostly ¾" and ½". This is because the larger chisel has a wide face that you can more easily align to a cutting line. Too narrow a chisel, and you can't see if it is parallel to your intended cut. Also, a good polish on a wide chisel allows you to use it as mirror to ensure that the chisel is being held absolutely vertical to a cut. The great books by David Antscherl on the Fully Framed Model, and Ed Tosti's books on his projects, give very good advice on how to cut miniature joinery with large chisels. I have tried no end of sharpening techniques, and have personally settled on waterstones with a Veritas Mark II guide. I never could make an oilstone work, but each to his or her own preferences. Mark

Siggi, That is a beautiful hooked scarph joint in the last photo! Mark

Hi Siggi, I was away for a few days, and I missed this entire discussion about the mouldings. I enjoyed catching up, very interesting conversation. The drawing from Falconer looks like the best evidence, and it is closer in time to the Tiger. I did notice that the Falconer drawing shows a waterway that is probably not accurate. It looks like a wedge sitting on top of the deck planking, while most other evidence says that it would have been a thickened and shaped plank sitting on the deck beams. Does this call into question how the other details, like the mouldings, are drawn? I would still be inclined to follow the Falconer drawing for the mouldings. Best wishes, Mark

Hi Ed, It is looking quite wonderful. What a great series of lessons on metalwork, clipper rigging. I have a question about the jackstays. Were there any fastening devices to keep these from sliding out of the eyebolts? Or were they ever intentionally slid out? Mark

I have spent a tedious weekend fairing up the lower edge of the upper two strakes of the wales. I had made each plank a bit oversize in width, concerned that the careful fitting of the hooked scarphs could throw off the outer edges slightly, and this proved to be the case. The upper edge is fair because of the batten, but the lower edge wavered a little from plank to plank. A simple matter to draw a line parallel to the top with the compass, and a not so simple matter of then fairing to the line. I had to use a coarse riffler in places, followed by a sanding block cut to the radius of the wale. For some reason, sanding was very slow, perhaps because I was not keen to use a coarser sandpaper and risk marring the lower edge. Oh, well, who is in a hurry? Mark

Siggi, it looks great. I am noticing for the first time, how straight the fore edge of the stem is, in relationship to British ships later in the eighteenth century. Very distinctive! Mark

That step is like finely crafted furniture! What is the wood? Mark

Beautiful work, exquisitely crafted. Mark

Oh, my, those quarter galleries look difficult and complex! You are doing a great job. Mark

Gary, The planking is looking really great. Are you going to leave some of the side un-planked to show the framing? Mark

druxey, I truly married up, but not enough to share sharpened chisels. A ding in an edge could challenge the best marriage...