gieb8688

Hi Antony,
thank you for your compliment .
I continue with the production of external keel. It is made of individual parts which are glued together.

Thank you all for the motivations
 
Today I finished the Self Inflatable Liferafts. I remeber my father (who was a fisherman) called them dinkys. It has two plastic shells which are bond together and in between is the liferaft. The liferaft is stored in a steel cage which can be tilted over to release the raft in the sea. In the water the  raft inflates and a rope keeps the raft close to the ship.
 

Kind Regards, Kees

A little more progress..........
 
Having marked the waterline on the hull I realised my previous sequence had missed the vital step of making a building cradle. I had a look around the workshop and came across the discarded cradle from Endeavour. The fuller hull of Altair was fortuitous as a few quick cuts with the jigsaw transformed the cradle into one suitable for this build. (I used the frame templates from earlier to get the correct cradle profile).
 
With the hull finally the correct way up I set about the task of removing the building board. You may recall not all the frames were glued to the board and I had marked the glued frames so I knew where to cut.
 
While cutting away the building board I mused on the various removal stages and decided to name them for fun:-
 
1 THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER STAGE. (Illustrious class I think)
 

 
2 SAWING THE FAT LADY IN HALF STAGE. (Taking care not to get carried away)
 

 
3 THE CHINESE JUNK PHASE.
 

 
4 THE GALLEON PHASE (Forecastle still to be built)
 

 
Having removed all of the building board I started on the frames - the aft most frame removed to deck level.
 

Having completed and finish sanded 1st planking I had a few things to sort out about future stages. After some thought I decided on the following sequence:-
 

 
1 Drill the hole to take the prop shaft.
2 Mark the waterline.
 
I wanted to compete items 1 and 2 while the hull was still attached to the building board - so that I had a reference datum for the 2 operations.
 
The sequence continues with:-
 
3 Remove the hull from the building board.
4 Trim the frames to size at deck level.
5 Mount the 1/16th inch ply sub deck, with cut outs for the deck house, skylights and hatches.
6 Plank and finish sand the deck.
7 Mount the 3 layers of 1/32 inch ply which form the bulwarks and the sculpturing of the hull sides.
8 2nd plank the hull. (Having manufactured the planks from mahogany).
 
This lot should take care of the next few months.
 
Staring with the prop shaft which is asymmetric - sitting on the port side of the hull.
 
The prop tube is 3/8 inch diameter, angles downwards at an angle of 6 deg and outward from the centre line  at an angle of 8.5 degrees. See Photo.
 

 
I didn't feel comfortable trying to drill this by eye, so I manufactured a simple jig consisting of 2 parallel MDF boards, separated by 3 inch, drilled with offset holes the alignment of which gave the compound angle necessary for drilling. I did have to revert to a bit of school room trigonometry which taxed the brain cells more than I expected (a bit worrying). See Photo.
 

 
Having positioned the jig so that the drill intersected the hull at the correct point I then clamped it in place and drilled the hull with a 3/8 inch by 18 inch long auger drill. To keep things under control I took my time and hand drilled using a woodworking brace. The photographs illustrate the procedure.
 



 
 
 

I have now completed the 1st planking on both sides of the hull - so far so good. Although I had thought that I would revert to narrower planks at some stage, in the end I found it to be unnecessary.
 
Before sanding I roughly drew pencil lines on the hull to act a sanding guide. Sanding to remove the pencil lines enables me to achieve a smooth finish while avoiding sanding through of the planks.
 


 
I have completed the sanding of one side - it took about an hour and a half using coarse grit emery cloth on a cork block.
 


 
The bow and stern shots show the before and after.
 


 
I have abandoned sanding - family are arriving soon and they plan to stay for at least a week. Boat building has to be curtailed for some time.
 
 
 
 

Hi Pete, John and HArtmut. Thanks for your encouragement on my planking efforts.
 
Its time for a progress update.
 
I thought I would get the difficult bit out of the way and continue with the tapered planks around the hulls belly. The photos are fairly self explanatory so I'll cut down on dialogue.
 




 
The final closure plank is always the most tricky to get right and I have developed the "black finger method" to make it easier.
I start by loosely laying a piece of printer paper over the hole to be filled. Running a finger over the paper above the hole creates an indent which accurately represents the shape of the closure plank. 
 

 
I find it really hard to see the profile of the plank once the paper is removed so I shave some graphite from pencil and rub my finger in it.
 

 
I then rub my finger over the paper and this gives me a very visible profile for the closure plank.
 

 
I then cut out the profile to make a template.
 

 
The template is transferred to a plank and glued in place using a glue stick.
 

 
The plank is cut out, finish sanded to fit and then glued in place.
 


 
Now I can proceed with the easier task of planking the keel.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi Pete - thanks for the positive feedback.
 
1st Planking the hull continues. After completing 9 parallel planks the curvature was getting a little excessive so it was time for a change in strategy. I started looking for a natural plank line and then dithered for hours wondering which line would be best. After drawing many options on the hull I decided to be undecided and just ploughed on regardless - reasoning that I'd make the best of whatever line I chose. I marked a line using a stiff plank and used pins to form location points for positioning the first of the next stage of planks.
 


 
Having marked out the plank line on one side of the hull I used dividers to transpose an identical line on the other side of the hull. So far the planking on either side of the hull is identical and I want to keep it this way - silly really as it will be over planked. (My OCD kicking in again).
 



 
I have now completed 3 of the new phase of planking and all is well - so far!!!
 

The deck (and hence the hull top line) has a significant bow from stem to stern. I therefore decided not to try and follow the deck to hull intersection with the 1st plank. Also the first plank was being laid at a small distance from the hull / deck intersection to take the later installation of the bulwark.
 
The line of the 1st plank was marked using a flexible straight edge which I made from .060 inch plastic.

 
Having marked the line I placed a number of pins along it to act as stops against which to accurately locate the 1st plank. The first plank was then installed using PVA wood glue and held in place by notice board pins while drying.

 
At .060 inch thick the first plank wasn't as flexible as I would have liked and so I decided to thin down succeeding planks progressively thinning each plank by .002 inch (reducing the planking thickness .050 inch by the 6th plank). Another departure from a previous post is that I found that I only had .250 inch x 3 inch x 48 inch obechi. I ordered up some .200 inch but decided to progress the planking using what I had. I will revert to the narrower planks where the hull curvature becomes more pronounced.

 
The first 5 rows of planking have gone on well and I haven't felt the need to do any tapering thus far.
 
The natural flow of the 1st plank left the stern in need of additional planks and before proceeding with the stern I marked a straight edge for the uppermost (nearest the deck) plank. I checked that the line for the upper plank was identical on both sided of the hull using my improvised height gauge (on the right of the picture)

 
I then installed the top plank on each side.

 
I then infilled the remainder of the stern using tapered planks.

I thought it would be interesting to compare the hull with what Endeavour looked like at this stage. I have done a better job with balsa backing Altair. Endeavours frames however show the greater uniformity of shape. Laser cutting of frames on a mass produced kit clearly has advantages over not so well drawn jigsaw cut frames.

Much sanding - but now complete. It took about half a day per side using 60 grit emery cloth attached to my home made sanding block - in one of the pictures. The reshaping of some of the frames (mentioned earlier) proved to be necessary. Marking the edges of the frames was very helpful as a sanding guide and the sanded hull passed the "hand undulation check". The frames in the area of the hull at the top of the rudder proved to be incorrectly shaped and i will sort this out prior to 1st planking. I have attached a photo of the real thing to show what I need to reproduce.

Balsa Infill Prior to Planking
 
I find infilling between frames with balsa eases the planking operation. Also I quite enjoy the process as it’s a bit of a challenge creating the 3 dimensional shapes necessary to nest between frames while conforming to the profile of adjacent infill pieces. All the balsa is ½ inch plank 3 inches wide by 18 inches long. I needed 12 planks to complete the hull – cost me £12 on ebay.
I use a disc sander for shaping – mine has been modified to take the miter gauge from my Byrnes saw. A simple and cheap way of getting an acceptably accurate disc sander.
 
Having completed the rough fairing of the frames I re-marked the edges of the frames with the felt tip pen. This would give me the guide for final sanding once the balsa infill was complete.
 
I find filling alternate frame gaps with balsa has the benefit of allowing me to progress while the previously completed and glued balsa infill dries (I use a PVA wood glue). Also at this stage I roughly shape the infill using a rasp leaving about 1/16 inch of balsa proud of the adjacent frames – for final finishing with sandpaper.
 
I then infill the remaining frame gaps before finishing the rough shaping with the rasp.

Frame Adjustment & Fairing
 
Having done the test assembly I did the usual plank check by laying a .040” by .200” plank along the length of the hull and looking for high and low spots. The significantly oversized frames were marked with a green felt tip and the significantly undersized frames were marked in pink. By significant I mean a deviation of between .040 and .080 inches. See Photos.
 
The oversized frames were easily adjusted using disc sander while the undersized frames had to be built up by bending and gluing .040 strips of wood around the frame edges.
 
Having got the frames about right I then glued up the skeleton of the yacht. Only 4 of the frames were glued to the building board to ease removal at a later date. Because all frames were positively located in building board the gluing of 4 frames proved sufficient to create a very rigid assembly.
 
After gluing I used a felt tip pen to colour the edges of all the frames. I do this as I find it gives a very good guide when sanding to fair the frames. By watching where the felt pen is removed during sanding I am able to duplicated the fairing on both sides of the hull and ensure that that the blending of the hull lines is uniform.  I take my time while sanding and frequently check the form of the hull using the previously mentioned flexible plank. See photos.

Keel and building board
 
A bit more progress fitted in around various DIY jobs. I transferred the keel shape to card that I the stuck to the ¼ inch ply before more jigsaw work. See Photos.
 
I made the building board from ¾ inch thick 6 inch wide MDF. For about 2/3 of the length of the hull the building board is double thickness with the stand off for the frames reduced in height to compensate (reducing plywood wastage). Using my router table I machined slots along the length of the MDF to facilitate:-
 
1.   accurate alignment of the 2 boards
2.   location of the frames along the center line
3.   location of the board on the milling machine to cut slots for the frames at right angles to the center line.

The frame spacing was accurately measured from the plan and I used the digital read out on the mill to accurately set the positions for the frame sots. None of the frames were equally spaced which was a bit of a bind.
The photos should illustrate the process.

Finally I did a test assembly of the frames to give myself a feeling of progress.
Everything fitting together well and all right angles accurately made .......... feeling very content!

Frames finished (23 in all)
 
Having cut out the frames I stacked them and did an eyeball check on how well they nested. All seemed to be sensible with the exception of frame 8 which was noticeably too narrow by about 3/16 of an inch. I assumed that I  had marked it out incorrectly so rechecked it against the plans. It turned out that I had marked it out correctly and the frame drawn on the plan was incorrect. The frames on the plan are all individually drawn rather than the normal convention of overlaying all hull lines on a single image. The latter approach would of course have revealed the error during the draughting of the plans. I corrected the problem by widening frame 8 with strips of wood on either edge and then sanded by eye using frames 7 and 9 as guides. See Photo.
 
I used the jigsaw to cut through about 80% of each frame at deck level to ease removal of the building board up-stand later in the build.
 
I then stacked all frames to satisfy myself that the transitions between frames seemed logical. 
 

Keel and building board location slots.
 
The important thing here is that the keel and building board slots are accurately cut to width and that they are in perfect alignment with one another. I did consider cutting them freehand but decided to try and find a way of slotting them out accurately on the mill. The slots needed to be ¼ inch wide to match the ply that I intended using for the keel.
 
I started by making a jig for drilling - see photo. With this I drilled holes at the inner end of the location slot in all the frames. By drilling trough the frames and the jig I created a position for a location peg (1/4 inch diameter) which meant I could accurately reposition the frames to drill the ¼ inch holes at the end and at interim positions in the keel slot.
 
I should explain that I am drilling using a mill with an x/y table. I am keeping the y setting locked and only varying the x setting to accommodate the different positions of the keel slot. I am therefor ensuring that all the drilled holes are in alignment and at right angles to the building board edge of the frame.
 
To cut the slots accurately I decided to use a slitting saw mounted in the mill. My first operation was to mount a piece of wood vertically in the mill vice. I then locked the mill spindle and machined off the upper edge of the wood using the slitting saw, thus ensuring that the saw cut relative to the wood was the same for all subsequent cuts. See Photo.
 
Using the ¼ inch holes in the frames with a pair of location pegs I then clamped the frames to the wood with the pegs tight against previously cut surface. Once clamped the pegs were removed. With the slitting saw (still locked in its preset vertical position) I then cut one side of the keel and location slots (obviously two cuts from opposite ends). See Photo. I then unclamped the frame reinserted the dowel pegs flipped it over re-clamped and repeated the cuts as before. Result! – accurate ¼ inch keel and location slots perfectly aligned.

ALTAIR is an auxiliary gaff rigged schooner built by William Fife & Sons at Fairlie as yard number 789. She was launched in May 1931.
 

 
The 1.32 scale model plans were created by Sandy Cousins and produce a model 1200mm LOA and 200mm Beam. The plans are on 6 sheets and include building notes by the author. 

The plans can be used to create a sailing model. To achieve this requires the addition of a significant extension to the keel in the form of a metal plate some 100mm deep with a swing keel pivoting below this. As I am building a static display model I don’t need to worry about this.
 
So to begin………..
 
I chose this build as as I had really enjoyed building the Amati Endeavour 1:35 kit but wanted to return to scratch building for my next project. My daughter bought me the plans and they were delivered by Santa a couple of weeks ago.
 
As designed the plans suggest that the main frames are made from 1/8 inch ply stiffened by several 1/8 inch ply “decks” forming a box structure. This felt overly complex and I resolved to make the frames out of ¼ inch ply as I had done on previous models with a ¼ inch ply keel running the length of the model. The plans also suggest that he hull is constructed attached to a building board. The allowance for the upstand from the board seemed excessive and potentially wasteful so I reduced it by about 1 inch at the bow and about 1.75 inch at the stern. I will step the building board to allow all frames to sit correctly relative to one another.
 
I considered a number of options for marking out the frames. As per normal practice only half frames were drawn. The building notes suggest transferring the outlines to the ply using carbon paper. I didn’t fancy this and decided to cut out the frame outlines from the plan and then mount the half frames on card to create templates. The templates were then used to transfer the outlines onto folded paper.  Once cut out and unfolded I had the frame cutting profiles and these were attached to the ¼ inch ply with Pritt Stick glue. I tried a few arrangements to get the minimum waste. Before cutting out the frames using a jig saw with a fine cut blade. I don’t have a scroll saw and cant justify one for the limited use I would make of it. After a number of hours of careful cutting I finished up with a reasonable set of frames.
 
I have left the frame keel slot and the building board locating slot uncut while I decide how to saw these accurately as this will be key to a successful build.
 
Well thats enough for now - back to more sawing tomorrow.
 
Keith

February 2016

 

Fig-09 - The half model painted and mounted, with the the centre 40 frame patterns removed.  - At this stage I could have dumped the fore and aft ends of the hull half pattern, as they were only required to give me the centre sections true shape.  However, I liked the look of it, as it started to give me inspiration for what I was about with the centre section of the ship, here she was in all her glory.  So I decided to paint it up, mount it on a stand and keep it in view while working up the actual model.  One can build dead-pan, like building by numbers, when all about you are pieces of wood and metal, until the project is completed, when you finally see what you have built, which is usually a dead-pan model.  

 

For me I have to have the subject in my head at all times, constantly being reminded by drawings & photos of the complete subject, so that I am substituting an imaginary part with a real part every time I complete a section however small.  In this way I hope to make a miniature of the subject, rather than a model, in that it captures the character of the original, as seen through the wrong end of a telescope.  Some models will always appear as models however you photograph them, others can trick the mind, in that you ask yourself when you view the photo, is this a model, or the real thing, that is when you had captured the character of the subject. This for me is only possible when I have fully researched the subject, and I constantly keep in view my research material.

 

The figure at the break of the foc'sl is Jock the riveter, carved in nickel silver to the same scale as the model - always useful to have a scale figure around to double check what you are about - we will see him again from time to time.

 

Fig-10 - The centre  40 frame patterns bolted together, with a thin plate of aluminium between each.  - The MDF quarter inch thick frame patterns are of no use as they are, as each side of each plate will have a different shape, very minute in the centre, but more pronounced as one moves out fore and aft. For them to serve their purpose, I needed a very thin copy of each, so slipped in a drilled sheet of thin aluminium between each, bolted the pack together again and filed each to match the MDF shapes.  The reason for this is that each half pattern has to  provide a right and left side for each frame. the quarter inch thick MDF plate cannot do this.

 

Fig-11 - The 40 MDF frame patterns with the 40 aluminium patterns removed.   - Thus I now had a pack of thin half patterns for the 40 frames, that  can be used to give two half frame shapes that will be identical, one for each side of the ships hull.

 

Fig-12 - The frame making jig.  (FMJ) - I knew nothing about iron ship building when I started the project, so read up every book that I could lay hands on on the subject.  Then knowing every stage for building a full size ship, imagined each of those stages for a miniature, and the tools required to accomplish that end - then made the tools.  The complete tool kit was designed and made from scratch over a 9 week period of brain storming, before starting the model. Details of the construction of each tool can be found on my web site. With some minor modifications that I will mention when we get to those stages, all of the tools worked out as planed.

 

FMJ - The first requirement is to be able to precisely hold 4 sections of brass angle and a brass plate in one place, such that they can be soft soldered together to form a ships frame, then to exactly locate and solder in place the two deck beams.  The third requirement is to be able to do that 40 times, with a slightly different shape for each frames. And should I wish to build a complete hull, to accommodate all 129 frames.

 

My solution was a set of infinitely adjustable fingers, the tips of which are provided with a small flat and a slot to accommodate angled brass section, these being made from aluminium, to facilitate soft soldering. 

 

The basic ships frame, for the Falls of Clyde, is made up of 5 parts, 4 of which are angle iron. Two of these are bent to shape, such that a flat is on the out side, one for each side.  A second pair, called reverse frames, are bent to match these, but with the flat on the inside and both are riveted together for most of their length. The fifth element is a flat plate at the bottom, riveted between the frame and reverse frame and is called the ‘Floor’

Jan-2016
Fig-05  This is the aft end of the half model with the stern end block removed to show the ends of the two screwed rods that hold it all together.
 
Fig-06  Showing the forward end of the half model, with the stem block removed to show the threaded rods.
 
Fig-07  Showing the third rod in the centre of the half model.
 
Fig-08  Showing the half model with the centre 40 frame patterns removed,  these are the patterns to be used for making this particular model of the centre section of the Falls of Clyde.
 
On plans and data for iron and steel ships - One of the advantages of building models of iron and steel ships, is that they are all built in the same way to the minutest detail and to the same rules, those built in the UK, to the rules set out by Lloyds of London who insured the ships.  I have been given to understand that there were similar rules and standards set in the USA and other countries.  The owner would set out the capacity of the ship to be built together with certain other details, after which the builder would consult Lloyds specifications as to how to proceed with the construction.  For an iron ship of a given tonnage, the distance between the frames, the thickness of the metal for those frames and the thickness of the shell plating for any given place, will all be specified by the insurer.  As also the diameter of all the rivets and the spacing there-of for every part.  If the mast is of this hight, then the diameter at a given place and the thickness of the plating at that place will all be listed in the insurers specification.  Every detail of the construction has to comply with the insurers specification, to obtain a certificate upon which the rates of insurance can be calculated before the ship can put to sea.
 
For the model maker this can make life easy, for if you can locate the specification for the country in questions, you have all your questions answered as to how the ship was built.  This will include such things as how the shell plating was applied, not as I have seen on some models, with a butt joint at every alternate strake of plating up the side of the ship, but at every 5th strake of shell plating.  To make the plating like a tiled floor or a brick wall would weaken the structure, for it is the shell plating of an iron or steel ship, that is it’s strength.  As also the deck planking, where I have seen on many models with alternative planks butt jointed across a deck.  It might look pretty but check photos of a real deck, and you will see at least 5 or 6 planks between each butt joint.
 
This is very basic information that can be gleaned from old photos, however there are books available with a lot of this information in.  The first one of these that I came across with Harold Underhill’s ‘Masting and Rigging’ - as with the hull of a ship, so with the rigging.  A hull of a given tonnage will have masts and yards of a given length and the rigging from any part of these  will be of a stated size, whether it be hemp or wire, scale this down and there is no excuse for having running rigging with a scale thickness of 6 inches in diameter, it never was so.
 
For the iron and steel hull I can recommend ‘The Modern Practice of Shipbuilding in iron and steel’ by Samuel J.P. Thearle, in two Volumes, one of text the other of detailed drawings. Also ‘Ship Construction and Calculations’ by George Nicol, with many illustrations.  Both of these date from the last period of sail and the start of the period of the steam ship.  It may be difficult to find copies to purchase, but central libraries, such as the British Library in London, have copies, that may be borrowed through local town hall libraries, which is how I got access to them.

Thank you all, this is lionfish poetry
 
I found some "how -to´s" concerning two important topics "guns" and "boats".
 

 
Most of the guns for model ships are either purchased or made, using a machine and brass tubes.
 
(please don´t care for the nickel silver tank tracks,  Merkava3D ) More important is the use of master patterns for the various types of gun barrels. In this case the 12pounder long gun....
 
and the 24pounder caronade. This masters are made from simple epoxy putty, intended for car repairs.
 
I choosed a very low temperature bismuth tin alloy to cast the guns (you can use normal silicone for the moulds) and didn´t mind to use resin parts for the wheels of the carriages.

The colour of the barrel is an experiment, in the end I prefered a dull black paint and a drybrush with "gun metal".
 

 
This is the complete layout of guns for Jack Aubreys Surprise  18punder caronade for the boat, 24 pounder for the upper deck, 12pounder longguns for the main battery and 9pounder longguns for the chasers.
 
 
Same thing with the boats:
 
I tried to simplyfy the whole procedure for the holiday "workbench".
 
cardboard replaced more elaborate methods:
 

 
The jollyboat took me three or four days hard holidaywork

 

 
When the boat was completed, I could´nt withstand to place it in front of the famous church tower of Coullioure (as a tribute zu POB )
My dog "Queequegg" was not amused though...
 

 

 
The pinnace is carvel planked but was build the same way.

Good idea, the problem is, a lot of the "how-to-do" pictures drowned, when a german forum suddenly "capsized" and sank deep in the heard of the internet nirwana...
 
have a look through Jack Aubreys rear windows...
 
Well there still are a few examples to be found in my personal data nirwana....
 
The Lamp

 
The asymetrical head was formed using copper foil, the base is a ordinary silver bordure from a goldsmith shop. Very useful especially if you don´t like to carve such horribly small parts. Its even better than a photo etching because it´s three dimentional and more convincing. I used it again for the portside galleries.
 

 
The glas is no glas at all. I employed a conventional laminator (bureau) without putting a sheet of paper in between. This material turned out to be very resistent using cyano acrylate glue ( clear plastic often tents to get "milky")
 

 
Before the lamp finally became decorated with oak leafes, it looked somewhat "chinese".
 

 
The side galleries

 
What the hell is that? A part of the original sketch of Mr. Marshal from 1798
 
and this is my, a little bit flamboyant design...
 
You may have noticed that my HMS Surprise is not symetrical, the starboard side is coppered, the guns are runed out and it features the shown side gallery.
 
The port side...
 

 

 
is looking more conventional. (despite the nice Sofia Aubrey portrait of course)
 

 
 

Lets have a little surprise gathering tonight
 

 
a litle tribute to Capt. Marryat, the almost (al least in Germany) forgotten godfather of naval storys.
 
Ther are a lot of thíngs that make a quarterdeck looking "authentic", the capstan, the wheel and of course the binnacle.
 

 

 

 
... and aft of the wheel the (one and only) ships lamp.
 

Before adding the rest of the hull plates I searched around to understand and verify the "Dressing Belt" per the plans. In looking at pictures of the real ship there was in fact three rows of plates for the dressing belt. They are full height at the bow and taper at the stern. Here is a sequence showing how I added the necessary tape lines. Also note the tape setback for the hull plates to be trimmed to and that the dressing belt will overlap.
 
First I used my panavise to mark the line which will only be good 2/3's down the hull and then they taper to the stern.

This shows the tape in place allowing for the overlap.


Here I am using a divider to position and adjust the tape line.

This shows the hull plates intersecting the dressing belt and being trimmed with a sharp blade for a clean cut.

This shows the finished hull plates. Next the top tape will be removed and the dressing belt added starting at the stern.

Finally finished up the sanding to a 220 grit finish. I used the round sanding sticks, nail finger files and 60 grit, 150 sandpaper and 220 grit flexible pad. Just a slow careful process to get all surfaces to match with the different characteristics of the basswood.


This shows the variances within the wood stock supplied.

 
I applied the pre-stain conditioner as suggested and I is like painting water, however you can feel the difference once it is dry. 
 
This is the first time I have used a water based black stain and I broke down the process into sections to stain since the excess stain must be wipe off while wet. I used a 1" foam brush which worked perfectly.

 
The hull definitely needed to be stained twice, this shows the first coat.

 
Here are views of the stained hull.


 
I made a support based to be used while working while waiting for the stain to dry. Here are a couple of views of the stain dried and satin clear coating will be next.


 
While waiting for the clear coat to dry I tried a couple of tests of coppering using foil tape. My wife uses 3/16" in her work so I tried it out using the small ponce wheel on the perimeter and the larger wheel for the center area.
I think I will go with Test 3 using the 1/4" tape. Also after looking at the real ship photos I decided that only the lower edge and left end need to be marked since the next plate will overlap with it's marks. I also tested the center area using the larger wheel. The center area on the real ship has three rows.

 
Now back to working on the hull.
 

February 1st, 2016
 
Hi all
here I am with a new small update for my French Brig “Le Colibri”. It was a busy 2 weeks period, as the stern windows are very time consuming due to their very small size... but let’s start with order.
 
The first job I started with was the finishing of the transom. It consisted of two phases, the planking and the application of 4 moldings.
For the planking I used the same 0.5mm Tanganika veneer as for the main hull. In this case the planks layout is clearly depicted in the Ancre monography, so I quickly copied the plans and pasted the templates to the veneer.
Before gluing the planks I had to draw the horseshoe profile in the uppermost part of the transom face, and the profile for the large molding in its lower part. Then the planks application started.
 

 
After planking, the two round gunports where cut out and filed flush to their lining.
I then installed the first of the two moldings delimiting the area where some decorations are scheduled: this is built with a 2x1mm Pearwood strip bent with water and heat. The strip is sitting on the planks thickness, which greatly helps both shaping and gluing.
 

 
2mm width is much more than the amount required, as the molding only needs to be raised less than 1mm from the planked surface of the transom: it will be trimmed later.
Second phase, I added another Pearwood strip to the rearmost upper edge of the transom. This is 3mm wide, as the extra 1mm is needed to glue the molding above the transom: this way, this will also be the aft molding for the transom upper border that will contain some other decorations.
And finally a third 1x1mm strip is glued to the forward-most edge of the transom upper border, thus enclosing the second recessed area for the stern decorations.
 
As already said all these strips have excess of material: after glue was set, they were sanded with a rotating abrasive disk down to the required width and thickness.
 

 
BTW, I will never stop being amazed by the ease of bending this wood with just some heat, it’s unbelievable! Consider that I had to bend them in horseshoe shape and then edgewise to match the transom profile when seen from above, all in a single piece!!
 
Second task: the galleries.
Well, some of their parts are already visible in the above pictures, because I worked in parallel on multiple items while waiting for the glue to set. This was the sequence:
The profile of the side galleries, or fake windows as you prefer, is given in the plans. So again I just copied, mirrored and pasted it to both sides to draw the involved profiles.
 

 
With them defined, I could remove with a scalpel the portions of the three side moldings affected by the galleries:
 

 
Next I draw from the plans the floor and ceiling profiles for the windows area and transferred them to a thin plywood sheet: 2mm thick for the floor where a wide decorative molding is scheduled, 1mm thick for the ceiling where the molding is narrower.
 

 
Vertical positioning of the two profiles was quite tricky, as I had to match their slope (when seen from the side), the matcing surface of the transom wings, the large side molding of the hull and the multiple sheaves block.
In the end I realized that the only way to get the correct orientation was to fit the floor profile below the transom wings, and not just forward of them. So in the above picture the port floor profile is correctly shown in its final position, while the following picture shows the starboard side with the incorrect positioning. The starboard profiles were only temporarily glued, so I easily managed to remove both of them, rebuild a longer floor profile and reinstall them.
As far as the ceiling profile, its rear side is too high and touches the sheaves block with its internal corner: I had to lower it about 1mm at the rear to get the correct slope (seen from the side) and to clear the block with the required distance.
 

 
Windows then: a real pain in the ...! They are so small and tiny that I found no alternative other than building them one by one by hands: no automatization was possible, nor it was worth, because they are not equal to each other and they are just six.
So I cut very thin strips for the contour and the internal frame, using two qualities of Pearwood: 0.8mm thick darker Pearwood for the borders, 0.5mm light Pearwood for the frame pieces. Width (i.e. the window thickness) is 2mm for both and is reduced to 1mm after mounting is completed.
This is the first prototype almost completed: it took a whole building session of three hours to get at this stage!!
 

 
And this is the completed prototype, thinned and sanded, compared to the plans: measures are something about 12x7mm, with backward sloping tenon junctions at all corners.
 

 
I was satisfied with the result, so started with ‘mass’ production. The pillars are 2.7mm wide, and I chose a slightly different decoration with respect to the plans that, I remind, deal with the Le Cygne brig.
 

 
Another consideration about the general layout of the stern galleries: in all the plans of the Le Cygne class brigs we managed to find (with ‘we’ I’m meaning JA and myself), there are apparently only two layouts that only differ in the shape of the upper roof. The brig Le Cyclope, which pictures were posted by JA in his buildlog here (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/7795-hms-guadeloupe-ex-french-le-nisus-brick-de-24-by-jackaubrey-148-scale/?p=242287), shows the second possible layout.
Given the total absence of any drawing (so far) for Le Colibri, I decided to stick with the plans.
 
The following is another picture of the starboard gallery at a later stage: the glass, or blind, of the fake windows is simulated by gluing a piece of clear plastic sheet to the back of the window structure. I sanded the front surface of the plastic with very fine (1000 grade) sanding paper to diminish its glossy look, ant then painted black its back side.
 

 
The port windows and pillars completed: a simple capital is still missing from both ends of the pillars, but the basic shape is complete.
 

 
Now the upper roof: I took advantage of the skill learned while making the bow cheeks, because even in this case it was just a matter of matching multiple surfaces.
This is the starting point, with a block of Basswood cut and sanded to match the hull (on the internal side) and the front face of the transom wing (on the back face).
 

 
Then the external profile is vertically cut just matching the border of the windows ceiling profile. Also the forward slope is roughly cut, using the profile line draught on the hull side:
 

 
Next the forward slope is refined, until getting the correct shape, and the upper face is cut following the line draught on the hull:
 

 
Finally the inside part is cut, removing the material blocking the sheaves block:
 

 
And this is the roof piece sanded smooth, sealed, sanded again and painted matt black:
 

 
Note that also the recessed area for the transom border decoration has been painted, in preparation for the next stage.
The final look of the port gallery, with the required decorative moldings applied to the roof. A floral decoration is still needed on the roof surface; I have to figure out how to build one sufficiently thin and delicate for my taste. A paper template for the transom border decoration is also evident.
 

 
As all these jobs were quite demanding, I needed something alternative to relax. So switched back to the bow area and started preparing the pieces for the catheads.
 
First step was to cut the recesses in the gunwales that are needed to house the cathead beam.
I prepared a template showing the beams angle as seen from above, and positioned it on the hull centerline and, in the longitudinal axis, using the only reference body that I have already available: the bitt for the bowsprit foot.
 

 
After cutting the two recesses in the gunwales, I could start with the inner beam: Cherrywood was the choice this time, to match the color I’ve decided for all the deck fittings. I started removing a portion of molding and then shaped the face matching the inside bulwark and the waterway. My scope was to get a tight fit without cutting the waterway, so took my time and adapted the lower surface with continuous test fits and modifications.
 

 
For the outward side, I had to build a simple jib permitting to obtain the correct cathead angle in the horizontal and vertical plane. The vertical knee is just a dummy for the final knee, whose shape is available in the Ancre plans. The horizontal knee is just a piece of wood cut to the correct angle, with respect to the outboard surface of the bulwark, and resting under the protruding gunwale. To obtain the correct horizontal angle, i.e. with the cathead slightly backward of the perpendicular to the bulwark, I used again the template above shown.
Also visible is the upper portion of the inner vertical beam, that I left longer than needed.
 

 
Last picture related to the cathead shows the completed starboard item. To reach this stage I deepened and sloped the gunwale recess and cut the internal beam flush with the recess, so that the athwart beam could be positioned with the correct angles. Then glued the two beams together, strengthening the joint with a brass pin that will remain invisible. Then completed the job with filing and sanding until getting the final shape.
 

 
Were the catheads of this type built in a single piece, or by joining two beams the way I did? And in the latter case, was any metalwork visible for the junction of the two pieces? I don’t know, I’ve seen examples of both types... any suggestion?
 
Last job I did, again to ‘relax’ among more demanding works, was to start carving the transom decorations.
I evaluated different types of decoration suitable to fill the narrow strip on the transom border, and even considering that the same decoration would have to be used for the slightly larger area on the back face of the transom. I considered simple disks, shells, leaves, had a look in my photographic database of shipmodels...then decided for a sequence of overlapping stylized leaves: leaves and flowers should match the typical environment where hummingbirds (= colibri) live, it looked like a good and logic choice.
 
This is the start of the task, from a 3.2x1mm strip of dark Pearwood. The pencil gives an idea of proportions.
The shown rotary tools are my best friends for this type of carvings: I got them from my dentist, as a present after hours of pain and thousands of Euros
 

 
The two missing tools in above picture are a very sharp cutter blade and a chisel I build from a screwdriver... less than 1mm wide, good handle, very hard steel that keeps quite well the cutting edge.
The next picture shows the first strip completed and the next ready to start. The completed decoration has been already bent in two directions and twisted to conform the composite shape of the transom border: the carving makes its easier, together with water soak and heat, but Pearwood is just...
 

 
And this final picture shows the starboard gallery as it was yesterday evening
 

 
Regards
Fam

January 15th, 2016

Hi all
update about building the cheeks. This may appear a bit too detailed, but I’m also writing to give some guidelines to my good friend JA, who is now behind me in the building ... so please forgive me if I’m tedious.

The starting point is a piece, roughly cut from a 6mm or 8mm thick piece of Cherry wood. The picture shows one of the lower cheeks, whose total thickness (including its upward curvature) I calculated to be 4,1mm. I approximated it to 4.5mm, to leave some safety margin, and started from a 6mm thick piece. For the upper cheek, which is longer and with a deeper curvature requiring a 6.6mm thickness, I started from 8mm thickness.
It is a complex shape, with 5 surfaces to cut in order to match the hull curves:
the inner face, matching the knee-of-the-head: this is flat the aft face, matching the hull curvature the front face, with a curve to be cut according to the plans And then, as the cheek is bent upward:
the upper face, that is concave the lower face, that is convex The first three faces are those pointed by the yellow arrows, the latter by red arrows.



I had to find a method, a sequence, to get these five curved surfaces. I started gluing the paper templates of the lower face, that is larger due to the slope of the hull. Then I roughly cut the along the template lines with the scroll-saw.
The inner face was the simplest to obtain, thanks to its flatness, so I got it with the disk-sander.



Next I decided to reduce the thickness to the required value, and used a mill mounted in the press-drill. This way the thicknesses were reduced to 4.5 and 6.8mm, respectively.
Then I went with the upper and lower curved faces: I marked on the three lateral faces the material to be removed, and then used a sanding drum like shown in the following pic:



The next picture shows one upper cheek with 4 completed surfaces: the only still missing is the one matching the hull surface. On this side, I left a 3mm abundance of material, and also left the longer arm 5mm longer than required, to permit further adjustments. This is not evident in the picture, which shows the first attempt that resulted too short, and sadly flew to the scrap pieces box!
Again, I used a template with the cheeks profile cut out to define their correct upward curvature.



Matching the aft face was really a pain: it must be done very slowly, tenth by tenth of millimeter, with continuous fit-tests and adjustments.
The two following pictures show the first, port, upper cheek almost completed (the long arm is still too long) seen from below and above.




Completion of the first cheek, including the wrong discarded piece, required about 3 hours.
After the first piece was completed, I drew two new templates for its upper and lower faces. Then mirrored them and glued to the rough piece for the starboard cheek. Using this trick, I built the second cheek in not more than 15 minutes!



Final touch was the decoration of the front faces: I used a scraper and will not describe again the method, widely discussed and used here on MSW.



So, here they are: the upper cheeks completed and permanently glued:





Before starting with the lower cheeks I had to find their correct position, i.e. distance from the upper ones and slope angle both in the side and front views. So I built a chock the same size of the filler piece using Basswood that is much more easily carved than Cherry wood.
These chocks lay against the flat knee-of-the-head surface, match the curved underside of the completed cheeks and the hull surface, and are as long as the short arm of the filler pieces.




With these pieces fit and temporarily glued (3-4 spots of stick glue), the procedure was repeated for the lower cheeks. A bit quicker, thanks to the first experience, but still a time consuming process.
The following pictures show the two pieces completed and permit to appreciate their complex 3D curves and bevels.



But before fitting the lower cheeks I needed to complete the building of the filling pieces: as written above the chocks shape was already very close to the forward half of the fillers. Considering that they had to be painted, I decided to try the simple addition of the missing arm instead of re-building them from zero. This is the first attempt, only roughly shaped:



The pencil marks are obtained using lower cheeks as templates, which helped a lot in getting the final shape. Similar lines were drawn on the fillers upper face, using the upper cheeks as guiding template.
And finally here is the first fille piece completed, with the joint between the two halves quite evident but smoothed using wood putty:



No need to continue with the wash-cant pieces, the method was again the same.
So I’m posting the final result seen from different points of view:






The last 4 pictures above were taken after the problem I had with copper weathering (described in the previous post), that caused the starboard lower cheek to be discarded and re-built.

Job completed! The next will be the base structure of the stern galleries and transom decoration... stay tuned

Cheers
Fam