Sjors

Decided to go ahead and make it look as if the wooden ratlines were actually tied on

a big thanks to every one for the likes and the kind comments    I'd have been around yesterday,  but my monitor decided to kick the bucket.........I'm reduced to using our old stand-by........a 12 X 12 LG VGA monitor.   everything looks so tiny   
 
a warm hello to you Sal.......always glad to see new faces.  I try to be as descriptive as I can.  if someone benefits from the info.......I feel that's a big plus 
 
that bevy of chain Carl is for the trawl rig.....or a major part of it.  as a matter of fact,  I bought some more Friday......another type...'antique copper'.   I'm always on the look-out for something cool    as for the engine......I want to pull the heads to see if there is any piston damage.....and to see if the right side head has been replaced as well.   I'll go with anything that's cheaper to do.   it's a wait and see thing.
 
I'll keep that in mind Patrick.......I would like to do something about it     I've even thought of filling them with white glue and dusting them with fine sawdust.  could also be a case of the wood shrinking.
 
I did a bit more on Friday......most of it had to do with the aft section of of the trawl rig.   there is a bit of framework involved with it.   first went the outer support framing.
 

 
the rest of it was soldered in place...I used a file ans sandpaper to clean it up.
 

 
a brass pin was installed at the base of the scaffold and dry fitted in place.   there is still a bit more to add to it before it sees any paint.
 

 
the portholes were finally put where they belong.....before they got lost on the table
 

 

 
the second picture shows the  'glass'  better,  I think       the front support bar was added to the first section of the trawl rig.......still more to go.
 

 
as for the hold.....simulated hinges were added and painted.   it is now permanently in place on the main deck
 

 
all was fine until I attempted to add the eye 'shackles' to the top of the aft section of the trawl rig.   I ended up cutting the botched top off and fitting another one.
 

Well, laziness got the better of me and I paid the price!       
 
I had decided that the next step was to permanently install the Mortar Pit Deck Clamps.  To do this, I needed to clamp the Clamps properly to the frames.  However, as “regular” clamps could not fit around the frames/jig, I decided to use a push method to hold them in place. This is where I got lazy.  I thought I would just use some scrap timber cut slightly over length and then wedge this between the opposing sides to give a pushing force on the clamps. Unfortunately, all I succeeded in doing was marking the face of the Clamps to the extent that they needed to be totally re-made.                  
 
Time to re-think clamping.  I decided to do what I should have done in the first place, and make up some spales.  These are really simple to make and require only some brass or aluminium tube, some threaded rod, nuts to suit, some scrap wood and some felt.  A quick trip to the hardware store got me all the supplies I needed and in next to no time I had some spales ready to use:
 

 

 
I made these to a size to suit this specific job.  While I was at it, I made up some smaller ones that I figured would come in handy when fixing the riders in place.
 

 
Just for comparison, here’s the two sizes side by side:
 

 
With these made up, and it was a simple job to re-cut the Mortar Pit Deck Clamps and then glue them in place using the spales to hold them tightly:
 

 
Once the Clamps were in place, I could then install the Riders.  The mini-spales came in real handy for this job:
 

 
Here is a couple of pics of the Riders in place. The joinery is not as tight as I would have liked, but I’m hoping that most of the flaws won’t be terribly visible later on.
 

 

 
Limber Boards and Footwaling
 
With the Riders in place, it was time to install the Limber boards and Footwaling.  This was a fairly straight forward job – and it was the first introduction of a different “colour” of timber - Boxwood.       
 
The “L”-shaped rabbet in the Limber Strake was cut using the Byrnes saw, and the angle faces on the Limber board were achieved using the Byrnes disc sander.  Temporary spacers were cut to aid in placing everything at the right distances.  Here’s the result:
 

 
 

 
Still tossing up whether to add tree-nails to the planking here.  The correct scale size would be a #78 drill  bit.  If I do these, I may use the drill and fill method, rather than trying to draw proper treenails to that size.  Will give this some further consideration during the week. Observations / suggestions welcome.  
 

Hola Ulises:
 
I suppose you are buying the filler by gallons!! jajaja    
 
Saludos

Look what you made me do! You know who you are!!!
 

Thank you all for your comments, encouragement and likes.
Sjors: Okay okay. I will use some more filler. 
Mark: I started doing the frames job with coarse sand paper on a wood block. Then I found a small file with very sharp and big teeth. Rasp I think it's called, and that made a lot of difference. Finished port side in 1 and a half sessions.

a couple more

Foremast Lower Ratboards are now completed, which also completes the port side lowers. time to move to starboard. I can't believe I'm only half way done on this. I think I've been tying knots all my life, and now I don't know any better. Definitely monotonous, but not boring.

Mainmast Starboard side Ratboards are done. I'm happy with the end results, and glad I started doing this with the least visible side, which for me is the port side Mizzen. It seems to be improving with practice.

Hi Sjors, thanks for the tip......I agree scaled planks are much easier to work with for the top planking and as you can see that's exactly what i'm doing

Bit of a diversion while I continue to wait for some more Limewood from CMB.
 
I had planned to replace the plywood false keel stem with boxwood, originally I was going to simply cut out the replacement shape.  However, I though this would be a good opportunity to do a little 'scratch' building to give me a flavour for it.  I followed the diagrams in the AOTS book, although simplified them slightly (using enlarged scans as pseudo plans while reconciling key dimensions back to the kit to ensure things stay in line).  Took quite a  few days to do (a full framed ship would clearly be out of the question for me!), its certainly not up to Chuck's standard but overall I was really happy with the result for a first attempt.  I lightly used a pencil to highlight the seams to a small degree without wanting to overdo this.  Unfortunately, I suspect I will be painting over 75% of this, but it was great experience.  
 
I rounded of and tapered the knee of the head using approximate guidance from the FFM book 1.  I think this should be tapered more, but I stopped where I did because it resulted in a nice snug fit for the figurehead I plan to use, any more would have resulted in gaps.  I rounded the leading edge, and will wait to cut the gammoning slot until I'm confident of the placement of the head rail features.  You can see the comparison below between the supplied Diana figurehead which is clearly made to straddle a 5mm knee and result in gaps.  I purchased the figure head from Syren when I bought the kit.
 

 
Everything in place (dry fitted for now). Took some adjustment to ensure I the bowsprit would sit correctly and clear the figurehead.
 

 
Also have addressed the lower counter at the stern.  I got quite aggressive and cut back the transition between the lower counter and the planking to ensure this drops and sweeps forward as it appears to in the AOTS book.  I'm only going to use 1 set of the lower counter shapers
 

 
Premade a lower counter sheet which I though might work better than simple planking.  Looks like some adjustment will be needed as the keel former extends into the hole for the rudder.  I've got my approach laid out for the upper counter and stern fascia which will probably deviate from what the kit suggests...but thats a story for a future post 
 

And time stood still......
5 months....very quick Ulises     
You have find a good way to fit in those steal gun ports.
I like it ! ( yes, I also hit that button   )
Then the planking....I think you can make it smoother by using filler.
You've got to do a second planking ?( of course you have )
You still need filler for the gaps in the hull.
When you put the second planking on right now, you will see it later ( after you've done the second planking )
So be brave , use filler and sanding it smooth !
Please ????
 
Sjors

And time stood still......
5 months....very quick Ulises     
You have find a good way to fit in those steal gun ports.
I like it ! ( yes, I also hit that button   )
Then the planking....I think you can make it smoother by using filler.
You've got to do a second planking ?( of course you have )
You still need filler for the gaps in the hull.
When you put the second planking on right now, you will see it later ( after you've done the second planking )
So be brave , use filler and sanding it smooth !
Please ????
 
Sjors

Augie,
 
When you close your eyes, you are on the dark side       
Leave him here with us Frank !!!!!!!
 
Sjors

Augie,
 
When you close your eyes, you are on the dark side       
Leave him here with us Frank !!!!!!!
 
Sjors

Augie,
 
When you close your eyes, you are on the dark side       
Leave him here with us Frank !!!!!!!
 
Sjors

And time stood still......
5 months....very quick Ulises     
You have find a good way to fit in those steal gun ports.
I like it ! ( yes, I also hit that button   )
Then the planking....I think you can make it smoother by using filler.
You've got to do a second planking ?( of course you have )
You still need filler for the gaps in the hull.
When you put the second planking on right now, you will see it later ( after you've done the second planking )
So be brave , use filler and sanding it smooth !
Please ????
 
Sjors

Wonderful.  Do you now need to abandon your chair to continue the rigging????

Hello all.
I can't believe it took me more than five months to finish the first planking of my ship. This hull is HUGE!
I finished placing all the wood on the hull, leveling the metal frames to hull level, sanding and smoothing the hole thing and painting red the metal frames.
I plan to let the second planking just a bit short from the openings to achieve the effect shown in the first photo. Not sure how this will come out. 
Also, do you see the photo of an unpainted frame with the upper right corner slightly rounded? Well.... all 66 red frames were like that so that was something else to fix.
The hull is not perfectly even... there a re a few albeit very small bumps here and there, but that will have to do.-
 
Thanks for watching!
 
 
 

Very nice David !
 
You've done a great job with the shrouds and ratlines !!!
Better when I did it on my Corsair !!!!
 
Sjors

Augie,
 
When you close your eyes, you are on the dark side       
Leave him here with us Frank !!!!!!!
 
Sjors

Excellent work Augie..... looks like you're ready for the "Dark Side" !!!
 
Frank

Some additional progress. I have made up and mounted the three topgallant/royal mast assemblies. They were done in the same manner as the topmasts, starting with a dowel, then filing square sections and gluing on strip wood to build up the portions that would be square and octagonal. On these masts that involved the lower end that had both square and 8 sided portions and the 8 sided hounds that separate the topgallant and royal masts. A short masthead of smaller dowel was then inserted in a drilled hole at the tops of the royals and a truck glued to the top of those. Simulated sheaves were then drilled and cut into the hounds and royal masts and pins added for the mounting of yards. Brass rod fids were the added and the mast assemblies were glued in place, together with their caps, which I had also made.
 
Now it's time to rig them.
 
Bob

I know what the knees are but the inboard planking ??????
It looks great as usual !
The normal standard for you       
 
Sjors

Thanks Hartmut     
 
You have just make my day !!!!
 
Sjors