dvm27

Ivan is an amazing talent, Karl. I often wonder about the wisdom of having such elaborately carved figureheads adorning ships of war (not Royal barges and the like - those I understand). With the high cost of the carvings and undoubtable high cost of replacement why would they be placed on naval vessels? If I were an enemy gunner I'd take personal pride in knocking it off. I seem to recall however, that the actual number of vessels that ever saw battle was quite low so perhaps damage to them was rather rare.

That look's terrific, Ben. You may wish to add a temporary batten at the toptomber line as the whole assembly is pretty fragile. I believe both Toni and myself have snapped off portions with errant elbows.

Thank you Jason!
Moldings from boxwood - yet only temporary fastening.

Preparation of metal parts.

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That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

I actually use my mill a lot.  For fine drilling I use the Sensitive Drilling Attachment, and for regular drilling I use the z-axis hand wheel.  I stopped using my mini drill press, so I sold it.
 
I recently used my Rotary Table and the Tilting Angle table to produce the mast tops for my Paragon (modified Mayflower).
 
                    
 
I still consider myself a novice, since there is so much more to learn.

For a few years, I owned a Proxxon mill, but didn't wind up using it all that much. I didn't have many accessories for it. But a couple months ago, I bought a Sherline mill and there are three accessories that have proven to be very useful indeed. One is the rotating base for the mill vise. Very useful if you need to mill a slot or edge at an angle. The second is the right-angle plate. It can be adjusted from 0-90 degrees and will hold the vise or the rotary table. Here's an instance where I needed to mill a specific angle on the edge of a piece of wood. My Preac table saw won't cut at an angle and it would have been too small anyway. If I'd started with longer, wider stock, I probably could have done it on the 10" table saw or even on the band saw. But the mill did such a nice job of it and it didn't even need to be sanded when I was done and setup was pretty quick for this one.
 

 
The other accessory I bought was the rotary table. Boy, do I love that thing! I'm working on making the anchor windlass for my current model and I needed a couple of gears for it. Now, I don't have a gear cutter so I didn't want to tackle making them from scratch but I found a plastic gear for an RC car that was the right diameter and had about the right number of teeth. Problem was, the center was nothing like what I needed. So I mounted the gear on the rotary table and milled out the center in no time. Here's a before and after pic:
 

 
I'm not real sure how I would have done it without the mill. There is also a smaller gear and I found one made of steel that was the right diameter and pitch but it was too wide. Once again, the mill came to the rescue and I was able to mill off half of it to make it the right thickness. I don't honestly think I could have done that with a hacksaw.
 
I also used the rotary table and a Dremel bit to cut the pawl plates for the drums on the windlass. And I'll be using the rotary table when I get around to making the steering wheel.
 
I'd say the one drawback to a mill is that setup can take quite a long time. You can easily spend more time getting set up to mill something than it actually takes to mill the piece. But I love the thing and I am very happy that I bought it! I also got the DRO with mine and I'm glad I did although I don't use/need it for every operation.
 
Cheers -
John

That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

Christian,
I can only try to answer your questions based on what I learned doing the Naiad drawings and from reading (and rereading, and rereading) Steel and the Repository on preparing drafts.  These texts are virtually identical.  As I understand the process for placing cant frames, it is as follows - in my words:
 
1.      Determine the number of aft cant timbers (pairs)between the fashion piece and the last square frame.
 
2.      On the half breadth plan set the aft edge of the forward section of the fashion piece (the aftermost cant frame) on a line from its joint face on the end of the wing transom to a point on the deadwood.  This point on the deadwood must allow just enough space aft of the last square frame to fit the inside ends of all the cant frames.
 
3.      This line is usually the joint line between the forward and aft parts of the fashion piece pair.  The aft section of this frame normally fits under and supports the wing transom.  On larger ships there may be more fashion pieces aft of this pair.
 
4.      On the half breadth plan, from the above line, set off equal spaces on the maximum breadth line to the joint line of the last square frame – one for each cant frame pair.
 
5.      Set of the same number of spaces on the deadwood.
 
6.      Draw in the lines of the cant frame pairs between these points and the points on the deadwood.
 
7.      Individual frames of each pair are then placed on either side of these lines so as to provide air space and to accurately define the sides of gun ports in the cant frame area.  On multi-deck ships, some jogging of the toptimbers may be necessary - as with square frames at times.
 
8.      By locating the sides of the ports from the sheer plan, the frames on either side can be accurately place on the half breadth plan.
 
9.      The cant frames can then be lofted by taking dimensions to waterlines along the cant frame faces.
 
The forward cant frames are drawn in the same way once the forward fashion piece is placed at the aft edge of the hawse timbers.  Care must be taken to eave adequate space along the deadwood to seat all the frames.
 
Another way of looking at this is to set the joint line points on the half breadth at the intersection with the numbered frame lines.  Some of Steel’s examples show the lines intersecting these points.  Both methods give very similar results.
 
As far as timberheads are concerned, I believe these were normally formed on the heads of the toptimbers that were left longer,  above the top of the side – for strength.  I would not be surprised to see anomalies on the drafts.  It would not be the first I have seen.
 
I hope this is helpful.
 
Ed

That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

That's a clever jig for scoring the rising wood to accept the frames. Part of the fun of using a mill is figuring out the setups. I would make sure the pattern is marked out on top of the rising wood and checked every few passes. Even with the spacer, cumulative error can creep in and the last few mortices could be off by an inch or so.
 
For those without a mill, you can accomplish the same result using a table saw with a .052 or larger blade set to the correct height. The pattern is affixed to the side of the rising wood with rubber cement (or your preference) and successive cuts made. Note - in the photo the sides are also scored.
 

 
 

Its very difficult to measure rope using any method.  That technique of wrapping it around a dowel is not very good either.  There is too much variation depending on how tightly you wrap it.  It would flatten out the rope and distort it.   It is also hard to get a consistent space next to each revolution around the dowel.   One may be closer than another.  It may be squishing the wrap next to it etc.  If you did it ten times or asked two different people to measure the same rope that way you would never get the same measurement.
 
You would be surprised how sophisticated our software has become.   I use Corel Draw and Illustrator all of the time.   When you draw a line in either program its thickness is measured in points.  Lucky for us there are many conversion tables and apps that will convert points to inches.....or metric.  Whichever you prefer.
 
If you know that a line you need is .018" and you want to see what that exact thickness or diameter in our case is....then do the conversion.  
 
018" is equal to 1.296 points.   If you create a line in any of those programs and make it 1.296 points thick.....its pretty darn accurate.  You will know what a .018 size rope should be....
 
Here is a chart I have on my site for folks that need a more visual way to see what these sizes actually look like. 
 
http://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com/resources/ropesizechart.pdf
 
Its pretty darn on the money and I have one close by at all times when I make my rope.  Its leaps and bound the more accurate way with technology to measure rope accurately.   Also set your printer for the highest quality print job........
 
Maybe when I get some time I will create a new chart which contains even more size variations.  Maybe every .005" or something.  Here is a good inches to points conversion calculator.   Its the one I use.
 
http://www.thecalculatorsite.com/conversions/length/points-to-inches.php
 
I will also make this a stand alone topic so its easier for folks to find when they search for the topic.
 
Chuck

Hello all,
 
Quarter deck almost complete - missing last two beams - somehow I counted them wrong. I still have to add several hanging knee and lodging knees too.
 
Before someone asks, in the before last picture the space for the companionway between the first (lower) two beams is shifted toward left as in the plans.
 
The upper deck below was oiled as there will be nothing else that needs to be glued to it.
 
Regards,
Alexandru

Today it rained all day, so I had enough time to finish the design of the cant frames





The Bollard Timbers and Hawse Pieces are missing to complete the planning of  framework.
The individual components and the frames I'll draw later during the build.

Next, the construction of the two-stage slipway is on the ToDo list, then I can lay down the keel for the model.

Hi there
 
I finished fairing the moulds & have done a few planks. The intention is to first do a band of planks from the top edge of the transom down, to help stabilise the whole thing. There are some planks above this line due to the raised deck design, . When there's what seems to be a stable band of planks I'll probably start planking back up from the garboard.
 
They are going on well, I've been using toothpicks at the stem & transom to help hold the planks in position - they will want to pull away under the tension on the planks, but the glue gets slippery & it would be a bummer if a plank slipped & set in the wrong place. The toothpicks act as pegs & hold the planks in place while the glue goes off. 
 
An interesting scale comparison is a new casting for our boom.
 
hanks
 
 

 

 

 

 

Before finalizing the shape and scantlings of the rising wood, I found I needed to loft the frames from, at least, station VI forward to get a ‘best fit’ for the heels of the ‘fourcats’. The rising needed some slight adjustment in the moulded dimension to receive the frame timbering and make for a smooth bearding. CAD is invaluable for this kind of stuff.
 
While I was at it, I also lofted the master frame, ‘maitre couple’, from the offsets in the specs. Some people have asked about offsets, elsewhere, so thought it appropriate to ‘show and tell’, as it were.
 
The offsets are in tables that give “height above top of keel” and “horizontal length from keel center, at that height”. When you plot them, you end up with a series of horizontal lines, of varying length, arranged up the centerline and with varying amounts of separation between them. Connect the endpoints with a Bezier curve(s) and you get a nice outline.

Wayne Kempson prefers to use arcs and reconciling arcs, and I agree with this approach. But where one doesn’t have the initial geometry tags, a good Bezier can set up a good set of sweeps to define the curvature changes.
 
This curve represents a slight departure from Boudriot’s curve of the master couple for the Venus.The bilge arc center is moved and the radius extended, as is main arc. Thus, the reconciling curve is a bit outside Boudrio’s, perhaps reflecting the nominal added displacement of Sane’s follow on designs. All things considered, it’s a matter of ‘pouces’.
 
John

The rising wood (contre-quille) fairs into the apron (contre- étrave); a rather interesting timber.
 
The apron supports the heels of the ‘fourcats’ (forked, highly angled, frames from station VI forward), as well as the heels of the hawse timbers ahead of the “beakhead” frame (Station VII). There is a lot of vertical angularity going on here and the frame timbers need a rest stop to sit on.
 
In an earlier period, there was another member, the marsouins (the dolphins), fayed to the contre- étrave that had all the steps cut in, righty tighty. The dolphins because the timber went up-and-down, up-and-down, like a dolphin. In our period, the contre- étrave could be disposed with sufficient moulded dimension to accommodate the length of the chocks of the fourcat couples and the hawse timbers. In this case, the extension of the contre- étrave is sometimes also referred to as les marsouins.
 
The bottoms of all French frame timbers are substantially straight; there are no cheeks to speak of. The rising wood is cut with steps that receive each frame timber. A fourcat receives the same treatment, but being on a rising curve, needs a bit more attention; thus the marsouins or their alternatives.
 
Not so much forward, as aft, but nevertheless, the siding of the rising (marsouins) is decreased by twice the plank thickness in the lower hull area: slowly increasing until it reaches the nominal value in the neighborhood of bow planking having an appropriate angle of incidence to the stem rabbet.
 
As I mentioned, a very interesting timber.

 
Ciao. John

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 14 – Stem/Keel/Sternpost 3
 
Before attaching the keel/stem assembly to the hull, the sternpost had to be installed.  In the first picture a template is being used to check the hull for fitting the post.
 

 
The template is aligned at station 50.  The picture shows the need for a filler piece.  In the next picture the hull has been cut back for the filler, it has been installed, and the hull is being checked again with a different template.
 

 
The filler piece provided a straight, flat surface on which to bed the sternpost – assuring a good joint and clean surface for shaping the deadwood into the sternpost rabbet.  In the next picture, with the hull plumbed, the sternpost centerline is being marked on the filler.
 

 
In the next picture the hull has again been inverted and the sternpost is being fit up.
 

 
Holes for locating pins were drilled with the post in position.  The bottom of the post was then cut off flush with the bottom of the hull.  In the next picture the sternpost rabbet is being scraped out using the vise as a guide.
 

 
The rabbet was formed on both sides in this way – all the way to the bottom of the post up to the intersection with the hull at the top.  In the next picture the post is being glued to the hull.
 

 
The keel assembly rabbet was extended only back to the inner line of the post, as shown below, deferring final rabbeting until after assembly.
 

 
In the last picture the stem/keel assembly is being glued to the hull and held in place with pins driven through wood blocks.
 

 
The hold down bolts were in position for the gluing/clamping, but were removed to avoid them being glued in.
 
The next step was to fair the deadwood into the rabbets at both ends – next time.
 
Ed

I agree ken....
 
The six deck elements that I needed to complete before I started planking the deck are now finished.    
 
The companionway was pretty straight forward.   I used 1/32" thick strips glued together edgewise to make the sides and top of the companionway.  I darkened the seams before gluing them up with a pencil.  I knew they would show through the transparent red paint and add a nice visual detail.
 
The hinges are laserboard with small lengths of tubes used to simulate them.  They are not working hinges though.  Each side of the companionway was built in one solid piece and assembled like a box.  The hinges were glued on afterwards.  I have omitted the coaming as was seen on the photo from that contemporary model.
 
The last deck element to complete was the coaming where the stove stack will go.  That was pretty straight forward as well.   I just followed the plans.  The height and width for all of the coamings on these six elements varied so Careful attention was needed.  I had to build this last one twice after making the coaming too high.  I need to look at my plans more often!!!
 
Chuck