SJSoane

Further note: I had earlier built the gratings in the normal method of a table saw jig, but my first gratings were way out of scale because I did not have a slitting saw of the exact right dimension. In round two, which you can see at postings number 87 and 93, I used a slitting saw on a mill, which allowed me to dial in exact sizes including moving the saw over slightly after the first cut for each groove to make the exact right size of groove. The construction method itself used an idea developed by Clay Feldman, which avoids the problem of assembling tiny pieces in two directions. Best wishes, Mark

Hi everyone, Steel says, for all sizes of ship, "Grating battens to be 2 ¾" broad, and ¾" thick. The ledges and battens to be of oak, the gratings substantially made, and the openings not more than 2 ¾" square." On the page labeled Folio XXIII. The ledges vary according to size of ship. For my 74 gun ship, they are 3" thick and 4" deep. This is what it looks like at my scale of 3/16" = 1'-0". I showed one way to construct this in my build log. Best wishes, Mark

Hi Remco, I just saw your posting on Facebook, and noticed your gun barrels. I don't see anything about that on your posting here. They are beautifully detailed; can you show a few images of how you did that? Is each one individually turned, or did you make a master and cast? And how did you create the beautiful engraving on top? Best wishes, Mark

Michael, You are a maestro! I would swear your photos are of full scale fittings and a full scale cutter! Mark

Thank you Joe, Nigel, mij and druxey. I get so little time in the shop, and the build moves so slowly. Your encouragement definitely helps to keep things moving along. Best wishes, Mark

Hi Gary, I just had a chance to catch up with your build. It is looking great! I have also been wondering how to mount guns on an unplanked deck; it is interesting to see your idea. I was thinking about little pieces of plank directly under each gun carriage truck, small enough to lift it to the right height. But it might look funny especially when the truck is not directly over a beam, carling or ledge. I look forward to seeing what you finally decide. Best wishes, Mark

Very nice, Greg. It is a clever idea to stain the wale before installation, because that shoe dye does like to flow into places you don't want it if you don't score enough of a line at the junction. But how did it work with fasteners? Did you re-stain once the trennails were in place and trimmed? Mark

Hi everyone, This weekend, I pushed along to finish the aft end of the gundeck (all but ledges). The first photo shows using a caul shaped to the fore and aft camber of the gundeck, which I used to level the beams as I glued them in place. Clamping the beams up to the caul ensured that they are all precisely level on the upper surface, where it counts. I then worked on the carlings. I found an easy way to measure the angle of the end of each carling in a beam, with an angle gauge. i could then use the gauge to set the angle of the miter gauge on the sanding machine, for precise results, and flip it over to reverse the miter gauge and sand the symmetrically opposite carling in the same bay. Systematically working aft and from outboard to the center, I got them all done in a day. I still need to cut mortises for ledges in the carlings before they can be glued. I got progressively better at this as I worked along. The carling fair well fore and aft, with only one joint needing a slight adjustment from my original mortise cuts. I also built the mizen mast core in anticipation of building the partners, and found an easy way to set the diameters at the 4 quarters, using a proportional divider set to two divisions. I set the long legs on the ruler for the total diameter at any point, and then used the short legs to mark off either side of the center line. It saved a lot of time. I made the fore and aft standard fitting up against the wing transom and stern post. It took some fiddling to match angles and cut the slot for the wing transom. But very satisfying after all of these years to see that finishing up the aft deck. You can see on the starboard side of the aft gun deck, my first efforts at working out how a knee would finish up the deck at the rounded aft end. I have no drawings that show what this knee would look like but there has to be one to provide a landing for decking in the corner, before the decking can land on the deck transom. I can't believe that the decking would just land on the inner side of the aftmost frames with no support under it. Does anyone recall seeing a drawing of what happens here? Best wishes, Mark

Thanks, Grant and Greg. The Starrett wiggler turns out to be a hugely time-saving device. I bought one with a couple of attachments. The center finder is a fine point that you align to perfect concentricity by pushing against it with a piece of wood. Go too far, and it flips out and runs in an oval. Push again more gently, and it comes to concentricity again. Once running perfectly, you can align it visually over a center point or a center line. Another attachment has a very fine disk at the end. I used that to center the rotating table. Run it up against one side of the hole in the middle of the table, until it is running concentrically. Note the location on the digital readout. Then run it against the opposite side of the hole until it is concentric, and note the digital readout there. Subtract the one from the other, divide by two, and move the table by that distance. Do the same thing in the other axis, and the center of the spindle is now perfectly aligned over the center of the rotating table. Slick! I also have a Starrett edge finding device. It works great, but in my recent projects I have left blanks a little wide so they can be planed down to perfect size later. It works just as well to locate the center line of a blank with the center finder, and let the edges be wherever they are. Mark

Karl, Beautiful work, and a level of carefully crafted detail that sets the standard for everyone else. Best wishes, Mark

Hi Michael, I am just catching up with your build. Beautiful work. It is hard to believe, when looking at these photos, that this is not full scale. I thought at first you were building full size drawers with those dovetails! Best wishes, Mark

Gaetan, Beautiful work. The French stern has many more flowing and intersecting curves than an English stern, causing not only extra challenges for the original draftsmen, but also for a contemporary model builder! Best wishes, Mark

Hi Remco, I have just been able to catch up with your build. You are a consummate craftsman, and an inspiration. I found it challenging and tedious to fay the arm of a lodging knee to the curved face of the beam. You did a perfect job! Best wishes, mark

Alexandru, Beautiful work. I will return to this as a good tutorial when i get to that stage. Best wishes, Mark

Hi Ed, Fun to watch a 19th century build, after so much focus on the 18th century. Someday, you might offer some thoughts about how shipbuilding changed between the Naiad and the Young America, above and beyond the differences due to naval vs. commercial. Did they get more efficient in use of materials or assembly as time went on? Best wishes, Mark

HI everyone, Druxey, remco, EdT, Michael, blue ensign, spencerC, thank you for your kind comments. And many apologies for not replying sooner; work is really getting in the way of the shipyard these days! After finishing up around the main mast, I sat down one day to finish up the mortises in the beams for carlings. I was inspired by Gaetan, who advised me that doing the same thing over and over, and in a logical order, is efficient, meditative, and it improves one's skills. So I told myself I was not leaving the shop until the remaining mortises were cut. It was hours later, but very satisfying to see all of these after a number of years of looking at the deck without mortises. Gaetan was absolutely right in his advice. i processed each step on all beams, then went back to the first for the next step. It build a great rhythm. I then turned my attention to the step for the main capstan. You will see in the photo of the original Admiralty drawing that this was very cryptic. How does a circle sit on the beams, and how does one plank up to the circle? I then came across a photo of the Ajax cut away model, showing the entire gun deck. It showed this step as a raised surface in a rectangular plank. After reviewing Steel, I decided that it was really a central, thicker plank, with thinner planks on either side to make up the width across the two central carlings. You can see the dotted line of the three planks in the Admiralty drawing. The projection at the front of the circle is to provide a surface for the pawls, which pivot from the fore edge of the projection and can be kicked under the capstan when wishing to stop rotation either way (another fun part to make some day). I also remembered from David Antscherl's book that the top surface of the capstan step would have to be parallel to the keel, not parallel to the deck. This is because the capstan turns on an axis perpendicular to the keel, and the aft side would be higher off the deck than the fore side because the deck slopes at this point. Then it made sense that the circle would provide the surface parallel to the keel, and the remainder of the step would be flush with the decking and therefore parallel with the deck, to avoid places to trip when working the capstan. Very ingenious design, when you finally figure out what they were doing. I had fun with the mill making this. First, you see the step sitting in a vise on the tilting table, having one surface milled down at 1 ½ degrees to match the difference between the deck angle and a line parallel to the keel. Then you see the rotating table, with the step mounted on top. I first used a Starrett wiggler on the central hole of the rotating table to align it with the mill spindle. Then I clamped the step on top, using a Starrett wiggler to locate the center of the step circle also under the mill spindle. I then used a mill cutter to cut a perfect circle around the edge, leaving a flat base with a raised circle at the 1 ½ degree angle. I used chisels to clean up the serpentine curve on either side at the fore end. I stole the capstan from midships for the photos. I now need to build the second capstan.... Best wishes, Mark

Thanks, Ed, I have really missed keeping up with the website. I did manage to get a copy of your latest book, however. It is a masterpiece! I am referring to it regularly as I ponder how to undertake certain tasks on the Bellona. A masterpiece! I also see that you have started a new build here. I look forward to following it with as much enthusiasm as I did with the Naiad build. Best wishes, Mark

Hi everyone, After building the cisterns, I discovered how difficult it was to locate them square to the mast partners, and the right distance from the mortises for the jeer bitts. So I built a little spacing jig, slotted into the mortises in the partners and with a spacer the right distance to the cistern. Once the cisterns were clamped in place against the jig, I was then able to drill down with a Foredom through the stub pump tube tops, for location pins. I also used this jig to align the hoods so that the future pump handles running through the hoods will line up with the inner face of the bitts where the rhodings will be attached. I made a little sliding joint on the bottom of the hoods so that they could move a little on the cistern athwartships, to allow precise alignment. And finally, in keeping with the color scheme of the dockyard models that so I admire, I stained the cisterns red, to match the riding bitts. In the closeup, you can see the stump tube tops, and a simplified drain plug. The bearings are still to come. The long shots show how nicely the red accents are showing up along the length of the hull. I know color is not to the taste of everyone, but I like the overall effect of colored accents against the natural wood. I am being pulled back to work issues, so I may not be able to work and then post for a while. It was a nice run while it lasted.... Best wishes, Mark

Hi everyone, I then started on the pump cisterns. I had originally planned to run the pump tubes down into the hold, but after trying some mock-ups, I reminded myself that my stylized dockland framing system really does start everything above the gun deck for a reason. Without an orlop, a well, or anything else along with the tubes, I decided they would look silly all by themselves down in the hold. So I followed the lead of the HMS Princess Royal in the Legacy of a Model book, and built stub tube tops between the partners and the bottom of the cisterns. I pondered how to build the coopered covers on the pumps; at 3/16" scale, a ¾" thick shell was too thin to get good coopered joints. So I cheated a little. I turned a wood blank, and then layered the ¾" pieces (plus a little for trimming) on the blank. I then re-chucked this, and turned the assembly down to final size, leaving a clean and accurately sized hood. I cut off the lower half of the blank, leaving the half round hood. They aren't hollow, but I didn't build the pump inside anyway... Best wishes, Mark

Hi everyone, I was taken away from the shop by work for a number of months, and I have slowly been starting up again. I'll post a few updates. I focused on the mainmast and its immediate area. Here I am showing the mainmast under development. The basic construction is taken from Antscherl's Fully Framed Model Vol. IV, which planes a blank to an octagon, and then is smoothed round with sandpaper. I developed a couple of jigs to help. First, I put some nylon screws in the bottom of the jig for planing 4 and then 8 sides. As the mast is tapered, it kept rocking in the jig. This way, I can raise a screw underneath the blank to keep it level as I plane. Really helped. I also am showing a jig for marking the 7-10-7 proportions on the side of the 4 square blank; planing to these lines creates a perfect octagon. And rather than draw the proportions on each side, this jig lets me scribe the same on all sides, very quickly. I just hold the two end pins firmly against the sides of the blank, and let the middle ones scribe a line. It can accommodate the tapers and still keep the lines in proportion. I drilled the holes for the jig in the mill, which allowed me to dial in exactly the right distances to drill. I am also showing the setup for drilling out the partners for the mast wedge. The partners and the mast are both at different angles, and so I set this up on the angle plate on the mill to get an accurate bore. I built the partners up from the various parts, including the 45 degree chocks. And then I aligned the mast with a ruler on an adjustable drafting triangle to get the right fore and aft rake; and a holding jig at the top of the hull timbers to keep the mast centered. Fortunately, everything lined up on center. Best wishes, Mark

Hi Ed, I have not been able to keep up with the website for a number of months, due to pressing obligations outside the workshop. But I did check into see if you had completed the Naiad, and see here the good news. A virtuoso performance. Congratulations! I look forward to reading it again in Volume II. Is there a publication date yet? Best wishes, Mark

Giorgio, Beautiful work. I especially like seeing your construction steps. I hope all is well with you. Mark

Alexandru, I have re-done a few things, and know how painful it is. But the new line for the wale looks much better! Mark

Hi Michael, I just got back after an absence and caught up on your build. Fantastic! I am ready to take a class from you on metal working. Best wishes, Mark

Hi everyone, Work has kept me from the shipyard; I wish it was the other way around... Here are the gratings and coamings completed. The Bellona has a very unusual serpentine curve to the upper side of the gratings and coamings. I made sanding blocks to accomplish this. The first photos show how I cut the template from thin plywood, then glued this to the end of a maple block. I then use a piloting bit on the router table to cut the profile all along the length of the block. I then rubber cemented sand paper to the surface, with some guide bars to keep the hatch/coaming in the center of the jig. I did the hatches and coaming separately, to get them down to size, and then I sanded them with the grating in the coaming frame so they would be exactly the same. The coaming ends are rounded, but only above the level of the deck planking. To arrange this, I used a blank of wood the thickness of the decking as a spacer to use my chisel to cut the coamings at the right height. A file rounded them off nicely. I used masking tape and scored lines to keep the black shoe polish off the square corners. When the decking comes in, it should be a very nice fit. I am showing a temporary jig for the main mast partners, to make sure everything fits and the mast rakes at the right angle, before constructing the partners. Best wishes, Mark