SJSoane

Beautiful, beautiful, Ed. A joy to watch.

I heard the same thing from British friends about Thanksgiving when I lived in London. But I couldn't find the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner either in November or July. Guy Fawkes bonfires more than made up for it! ;-)

Mark

I also use the Lie-Nielsen model maker planes, as well as the small block plane, and they are a joy to use. I endorse the idea of "buy quality tools once" for life. I spent way too much in earlier years on "make-do" tools that I later had to throw or give away. My son will inherit these tools, and they will be good for another life!

Beautiful work, Ed. I  notice that with the ledges almost as large as the carlings, the mortises into the carlings take out a big bite of wood!

By the way, I have been following your CAD instructions in your Naiad book, concerning the construction of the body plan. Thanks very much for the help on deciphering Steel's instructions. I like it when he says "...Next, by drawing curves passing from the back of the upper-breadth sweeps so as to intersect the top timber half-breadths, the timbers will be formed from the keel to the top of the side." Not much guidance on how these uppermost sweeps were formed. Once one finds out that their radius is the same as the upper-breadth sweeps, which are all the same radius, it is pretty easy. Perhaps all of the apprentice shipwrights reading Steel's book already knew that.... 

Best wishes,

Mark

Echoing earlier comments, I have few regrets in life other than buying cheap tools, and then soon after buying better tools. They make all the difference in the world to your confidence and quality, and I could have saved a lot of money over the years buying once to last a lifetime, rather than thinking I could make do and then replacing....

yes, indeed, that metal work is just about perfect....

Mark

Hi Siggi,

I have also been thinking about how to do that tapered grating for a long time. Very clever jig, and beautiful tapered grates! I'll have to try your jig when I get to that point.

Best wishes,

Mark

I discovered in my mast partners that there is indeed a slight problem when the octagonal structure is trimmed into a circle before installing the wedges. In order for the circle to circumscribe the octagon, the circle has to cut a bit into the sides of the carlings. The only alternative is to leave a gap, as Mike pointed out, and I could not see how the wedges would work gracefully within an odd-shaped opening.

Anyway, my thoughts....

Mark

Thanks, Ed, the practical details of a world gone by are somehow very fascinating to ponder.

Mark

Remco,

besides the outstanding metal work, i am struck by the joints in the wood. Can you remind me what you use to show the joints, and how do you get these to be so perfectly even along the length of the joint?

Mark

So with a little help from the TurboCad forum, I think I have determined that the line weights specified by mm will change their thickness in printing according to the scale of the print. For example, a .5mm line printed at a scale of 1"=1"  (full size) will print as .5mm. But if you print at 1/2"= 1", the same line will print as .25mm. So at a scale of 3/16", the mm lines at any size will print as the thinnest possible lines. Not what one would intuitively expect.

On the other hand, lines specified as 1, 2, 3 or 4 pixels, will print at that size no matter what the scale. So, I guess my palette is 1,2,3 or 4 pixels. It will probably work.

I hope this helps anyone else using TurboCad on the mac. And if you find a different way to use the mm line weights, please let me know!

Mark

Ed, on reflection, I suppose water stored in a metal tank is no worse, and probably better, than water stored in wooden casks in the hold. But one cannot help but think how ripe that tank would be after a number of trans-continental trips. I wonder how they freshened the tank.... How was the water filled, and was there a drainage method?

Mark

Hi Siggi,

these are really great photos. What museum has Franklin's model? I only know it from the photos in the Peter Goodwin book.

Mark

Thanks, Wayne, I'll look into these. 

So TC for the PC has a setting to choose how lines are printed/displayed, or it just happens automatically?

By the way, your drawings for HMS Euryalus are a source of inspiration for me as I move my Bellona drawings into CAD.

Best wishes,

Mark

Can anyone help me with how to make TurboCad print the line weights? They show up as expected on screen, but then all print at the same weight. Interestingly, if I change any line on screen from the default, even to a large thickness, it prints out even thinner than usual.

Mark

Hi Siggi,

I have never seen this view of Franklin's model. Fascinating!

Mark

Aha, thanks everyone,  it sounds like it missed its original publication date, and the Amazon system automatically assumed it was no longer available even though it had not yet become available. I'll try another pre-order.

Mark

Hi Siggi,

I am not sure of how the port lids were secured; I expect some of our experts will answer this soon. But in the meantime, could you post a picture of the framing of the upper deck at the stern, where the rudder head comes through? I am fascinated to see how this worked out.

Best wishes,

Mark

Hi Ed,

Thanks for the very interesting comparisons. It does get one thinking: the Royal Navy tradition of a web of large (beam), medium (carling) and small (ledge) structural members is not the only way to frame a deck required to carry a heavy, fairly uniform load. Indeed, a system like the Young America with large (beam) alternating with almost-large (long ledges) might even make more sense. I had understood the Royal Navy idea was to get the large beams directly under the guns, but at least in the case of the Bellona, this was not uniformly accomplished. A series of large and medium beams like in the Young America could have been more effective structurally.

Also of interest is whether one of these compared to the other uses more timber, or requires more labor intensive cutting of joints, etc. And, perhaps the increasing scarcity of timber in England encouraged using up the smaller pieces in the many ledges.

If I could remember any of the structural engineering I learning many, many years ago in architecture, I would do some calculations to see just how efficient each of these systems really are in comparison to each other; but I don't remember with any confidence, and it will have to remain an interesting speculation.

And after all, we have no way of letting the 18th century shipwrights know that there could have been a more efficient system for framing their ships!

Best wishes,

Mark

Hi Siggi,

Great to see you started a build log. You have an exceptionally nice project, well worth sharing. That is beautiful carving and painting, nicely executed! And, I can learn a lot from you since the Dragon is the sister ship to the Bellona.

Mark

I had put in an advance order on Amazon for this book advertised to come out this October. I just received notice from Amazon that it is no longer available, and they cancelled my order.

Does anyone know what happened to this book, and is it available anywhere?

Mark

Very nice drawings. Adding the sailors really show off the scale of the hull. I think that sub design is the ultimate in a nightmare for people tending towards claustrophobia!

Best wishes,

Mark

Ben, I just looked in. Very nice work!

Mark

Beautiful oven, Gaetan. So the brick was laid up within a wooden box? Very interesting detail.

Mark

Hi Ed,

I just noticed the pattern of framing a deck here is different from the Naiad and other 18th C ships of war, in that there are fewer banks of carlings transversally, and therefore longer ledges. And there appears to be only one ledge between beams. I assume this is all because the clipper carried no heavy ordnance, and is narrower? how do the Young America and the Naiad compare in length and width?

Best wishes,

Mark

Hi Remco, I am just catching up after a long absence. The draught marks are terrific, both stem and stern. You have an exceptional hand with a chisel.

Mark