gieb8688

Working at alignment of the frames.
longways beam.psd
 

Checking of frames and decks and longways beams. Any ideas are welcome.

I am hammering away at these laser cut parts.  Had to do a lot of filing to make myself happy with alignment and structure.
I think after dry fitting the decks and checking a few places with planks I am going to mark or tack location of frames.


 
 

I am not at all surprised that a shipbuilder would take on most anything.  Truth be told my retirement is from the sale of homes I built myself. When we built our 4th house I told my boys who were in college "This is your boot camp, You are now paying for your college education." They were not amused but did a great job anyway. I just added a pic and would love to hear your opinion on it. All are welcome to give me their ideas.

Hi Emmet- that sheer line to the bow is way too steep (unless you are into extreme roller skating!- did they include a quick take off deck into her??? 😁There should be a side elevation of the frames on the plan - looks to me like the two end frames need fettled deeper onto the keel piece- or maybe the middle frames need to come up a notch?
 on mine the  deck at the bow is only  2mm or so higher than midships- i have included a pic from some mantua 1/98 victory i have from that rebuild i did showing bow profile.

also loved the bit with the kids "finish the house to go to college escapade"- talk about teaching responsibility and dedication!😁
 
Keith

Whew the bow frames must be fixed.


cannot get rid of above so ignore above and see the pic below.
The roundhouse faceover has to determine the final slope of the deck.


 

Ty for the comments likes and views folk- yes Emmet the main topgallant yard is on eye level when on the bench (i am 5' 10") - yours wont be as bad being smaller scale but you will still need to stand so lower work station would be a good idea for you.
back in yo olde shipyard and the main topgallant lifts are rigged and finally got round to finishing the rigging of the main topgallant stay to is collar on the foretop.


take care all
 
Keith
 

Working on the wheel:

The pillar, stanchion and barrel:

The binnacle is roughed out:

The Victory is starting to really take shape:

Thank you!
 
The start of the ship’s wheel:

Also starting on the Binnacle.
 

Made some belaying pins out of sewing pins:

The poop deck knees are glued down:

The quarterdeck staghorns are drying and will be ready to install shortly:

Test fit for more poop deck fittings:

Thank you, Emmet!

Thank you everyone for all the likes!
 
Two staghorns are made and installed.

The mizzen bitts are in the process of being made.  They are currently drying, because they keep splitting out.

The Victory has proven to be very frustrating at times because of the scale.

Yet my skills are improving as I go, so it is paying off.  I have put much more detail into a much more complicated model at a much smaller scale, compared to the Prince de Neufchatel.  

This will help immensely on my next project.
 
 

Thank you Mark and Richard!
 
Thank you everyone for all the likes!
 
The railings for the ladders from the poop deck to the quarterdeck are installed and mostly done.

I ordered desert camouflage netting off EBay for the netting on the hammock cranes and the railings because it looks like the right color and mesh size for my scale netting.  The Tulle that I had previously purchased was out of scale and black, which is the wrong color.
 
In other news, I carved both poop deck staghorns.

Thank you very much!
 
The railing on the poop deck is made.

The mizzen mast coat is done and installed.

The remaining stanchions for the ladders are awaiting paint.  They broke during carving and had to be glued back together.

 The pattern for the mizzen mast bitts are glued to the wood.

The horns for the staghorns and the patterns for the giant cleats on the poop deck are glued down.

I discovered from pictures taken by a member of this forum, and posted on YT’s build, that the flag lockers are removable cabinets that are not permanently installed.  I will make them after I make the knees on the transom (which are on my to do list).

I have been thinking about how you have to stand a lot-something I have trouble with.  I am going to have to make work surfaces at different levels. Tinkering with the yards looks interesting and requires diligence and dedication. I thoroughly enjoy viewing your work.
This arrangement is impressive.

got the topgallant sheets and clewlines rigged- nearly totalled the build by accidentally catching one of the yards when belaying the lines- safe to say lots of self depreciaton and fluttery bowels (she didn't half rock on the building cradle)🤕😵.
 


next up the lifts
take care all
 
Keith

Ty for input guys and i am still deciding as left light in colour i can see them and less likely to poke my eyes out, though i must admit that does look nice jeff- hmmmm choices🤨.
 
back in ye olde shipyard and the t'gallant yard is ready for lifts, clewlines and sheets.
also rigged the t'gallant tye.
 

also a while back invested in a set of victory lanterns from caldercraft via the model dockyard- one on left is replacement one on right is the generic billings fitting!
 

take care all and thanks to all who pop in for a gander.
 
Keith
 
 

The first order of business was to figure out how to make use of these wonderful builders plans I got from the crew of the Mary Day. The plans consisted of 3/8” scale builder’s plan showing the structure of the keel, the frame locations, the structure of the deck, and location of the cabinhouses on the profile view; then there was also a 3/8” scale lines drawing of the hull that was essentially the same as the old 3/16” scale lines drawing I had received from them shortly after our cruise. These very large plans (24x36”) were scanned by the staff at Brooklin Boat Yard, creating very large image files. Once I got back home, I had the scanned files reprinted at the original 3/8” scale, and I had multiple copies made of the plans at 3/16” for use in the shop.
 
I had previously played with Rhino 3D many years earlier, back when I was doing some research involving CT scans of historic ship models. All that had been done using a trial version of Rhino, but it was time to make the investment. So I plunked down the four-figure amount of money for a full version of Rhino 3D. I could have gone cheaper, but I figured it was better to build on what I already knew about Rhino rather than have to start anew with some other program.
 

It took some doing to remember how to take an image such as the builder’s plans and make it appear as an image in Rhino so that tracings could be taken. Help was found in the form of at least one article in the Nautical Research Journal that refreshed my memory on the necessary commands. The builder’s plan was thus imported, and it had to be carefully leveled to make sure everything was square. A long line was drawn through the waterline, and this was used as a handle to grab the plans and make very small incremental rotations in the plans.

I could go into a lot of detail about the steps involved in generating a 3D model of the ship, but the condensed version is that after inputting all the possible information from the builder’s plan, the lines drawing was used to take the shapes of the molds at eleven stations.

These shapes were then moved to their appropriate station fore and aft on the profile view. In addition, the shape of the keel had to be created, and there was a lot of detail work involving the shape of the bow and the transom. But once all this information was present, Rhino was able to render the surface of the hull and give me the shape of the hull from the tops of the bulwark stanchions to the bottom of the keel.

I could then take a cross-section of the hull’s shape at any point along the fore-and-aft length of the vessel.

Using a surface offset function, the thickness of the hull planking could be deducted, giving the needed shape for the frames upon which the planking would rest. Frame patterns were created in this way for each of 51 (!) frames along the length of the hull. The image above is a pdf output from Rhino, and for each station it shows the shape of the station, outlined by a pair of lines that indicate the thickness of the planking. The width of the keel is indicated by the parallel lines at the bottom of each station, and the waterline is also drawn in. These frames were printed on cardstock, carefully cut out, and numbered.
 
This process required about 7 months to work through. Fortunately, while I slogged through this process, it was also possible to actually work on building the keel shape using the 3/16” scale builder’s plans. These were copied on to transparency, and pinpricks through the transparency were used to transfer the patterns to wood. I will go there in the next post.

The schooner Mary Day is a passenger schooner on the coast of Maine that is based out of Camden. She was built at the Harvey Gamage shipyard that was located in South Bristol, Maine, and launched in 1962. Her designer was Arno Day, and she is named for his daughter. The Mary Day was designed and constructed to be a passenger schooner, and therefore has not been converted from any previous use. It was Havilah Hawkins that conceived of the idea of a schooner built specifically for the passenger trade. You can learn more about her at schoonermaryday.com, and I encourage everyone to visit their webpage. She is such an important part of coastal Maine’s heritage.
 
My wife and I took a cruise on the Mary Day in 1997, as a sort of delayed honeymoon since we got married when I was still in medical training (in 1994). Barry King was the captain of that cruise, and shortly thereafter he and his wife Jennifer Martin took over ownership of the boat. It was during this same time frame that my interest in model boat building was developing, and I always kept in the back of my mind the idea of building a model of her, even though my skills at that time would only permit the idea of building model boats from kits.
 
Before evolving to my current skill level, though, I did learn how to build half hull models by taking a course with Eric Dow at the Wooden Boat School in 2004. In the course of a week, each student built two models. The first was one based on purchased lines drawings from the Wooden Boat Store to build one of a variety of models, plus we could do a second model of our choosing. Shortly after our trip on the Mary Day, Barry and Jen had kindly sent me the lines drawing for her:

Only now do I regret using this plan sheet to directly transfer the lines to the pieces of wood used to build up her hull. I should have had accurate copies of this original made, then used those to actually build the two models I ended up creating. As a result, this original is quite beat-up after about 20 years of existence!

While I was at the school, we had a surprise visit from the Mary Day, which I had not seen since our cruise 7 years earlier. To my surprise, when I reintroduced myself to Cap’n Barry, he remembered me and spontaneously asked how my wife Susan was doing! What a memory.

I got this lovely picture of her as I was being rowed out to meet her.

This is the product of that school week, and it hangs on the wall in my shop. I built a second model a few years later as a gift to Barry and Jen, and it resides at their business office. The lifts are made of basswood and mahogany, and the backboard is also mahogany.
 
Before I could consider building a fully rigged model of the Mary Day, I would need more information than just a lines drawing. Over the next few years, I stayed in touch with Barry and Jen and would intermittently inquire about more complete plans for the Mary Day. There was certainly no hurry, as I was finishing a kit model that ended up taking about 20 years to build. Harvey Gamage’s shipbuilding yard had since closed, and when I checked with its successor (now known as Gamage Shipyard) about possible builders plans, they suggested that nothing would remain from their predecessor. Research at the local libraries in the area of Camden did not yield any information.
 
In February 2018 I spent a week in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and I let Barry and Jen that I would be paying a visit to Camden. When I arrived, the first thing Barry did was to present me with full builders plans, in 3/8” scale! A dream come true. The most important sheet looks like so:

More than enough detail to build out a very accurate hull. I could even choose to model it as it really exists, with a fit-out interior including deckbeams, carlins, mast partners, and centerboard trunk. Without these plans, no model could be generated, so I am greatly indebted to the staff of the Mary Day for their help.

Cap’n Barry and first mate Tony in February 2018.

Having learned a lesson from the previous lines drawing they had sent me, I promptly had these plans scanned to electronic format, thanks to the good people at Brooklin Boat Yard, where I visited the next day. Having the plans in digital format would of course be very important for constructing a 3D model of the boat using Rhino 3D.
 
I am not (yet?) the kind of model builder that is interested in researching a no-longer-in-existence vessel; I doubt I would have the patience to do the research necessary to resurrect a bygone vessel into an accurate model. My last project was of a currently existing vessel (Pride of Baltimore 2), and having direct access to the vessel was extremely important. So this project greatly appeals to me on multiple levels, not just the personal connection via our previous travels on the Mary Day, but also the physical connection of being able to return to her in Camden, Maine, and obtain any needed documentation.
 
So buckle up! Here we go. First order of business will be to generate a 3D model, because that will enable me to determine the shape of the schooner’s frames at any point along the hull.
 

I cut the planks into 85 mm lengths as this works out best for the hull length.  I put the first two rows on one side. I am coloring the edges with a pencil to try and simulate caulking.  I don't know how it will work out until I  sand. I will now put two rows on the other side. I try to keep everything identical between sides. This wood is in my opinion,  very poor quality. I thought about replacing it all, but that is not just expensive,  but a waste. I will try to make use of this lumber as best possible.  The edges are very rough on all this lumber. Other lumber I  have ordered is very nicely milled on all sides. Maybe this poor lumber will accentuate the seams more, which may be a good thing if it is not too bad.

 
Mark Frazier 

I have laid out every plank as close as I could. The planks are supposed to be 6 mm wide ... BUT ..... I measured them and they are just slightly wider .... like 6.05 to 6.1 mm. So when I laid out for 28 6 mm planks on each side, they wouldn't come out right. I could only get 27 planks on, so I  had to lay them all out again.(more poor quality). I will make any adjustments on the garboard plank.



The walnut strip that is glued on each side is the top of the lower wale. No the wale line will not be correct because I am attempting to make the bands with stained wood instead of painting. I'm going to plank the bottom portion of the hull before I cut the gun ports because I  noticed the line of ports was not all exactly the same height above the lower wale and I  will readjust them before cutting.
 
So.... here I  go..... starting the second planking.  I get really nervous at this point.
 
Mark Frazier 

This is slightly better,  but it will take several drop planks to do it and I  doubt that will look good. 

Mark Frazier 

Since I  screwed up the first planking, I  thought I would lay out the second planking to see how things should look. I used some string and tape ( with everything closed, you gotta use what you can find) to lay out the planking bands. I divided the hull into four bands,  each will have seven, 6 mm planks. I think I  can work with the stern, but the bow .... that's a problem. I let the string kind of follow a natural path. 




The last photo is the bow and 7 planks are NOT going to work well. Any suggestions to how to do the bow would be appreciated.