bhermann

Thanks for all your input on the HMS surprise kit. I'm glad I asked. I will never deal with disreputable companies' that pirate. I feel like a knuckle head for not knowing about these practices. Thanks for the warning and I've noted the list of companies to look out for. Glad I trusted my instincts.

Finishing up the stern ports and planking- then onto the upperdeck.

Thanks Tim, George, Scott, and Warren, and the likes.
 
Scott - thanks for that reminder to not sand too much. I have had this problem in the past, especially where I had bad clinkering going on. I think filling the low spots with wood filler helps in this regard, as I can see how much is coming off as I sand it out, without trying to remove all the surrounding wood.
 
I spent a couple of hours last night getting the rough sanding done. I had a ridge along both sides where the hull planking met the bottom of the wales, but after some serious attention with the sanding block I was able to get this area to flow together. Here are some shots of the hull at this point, ready for the medium and fine sanding, which will have to wait until Sunday, after the holiday.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it, and a nice weekend to the rest of you.
 
PS - after looking at the pictures in the preview pane, I think there may be a few spots that still need some filler, which I will address as I do the rest of the sanding.
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 97 – Planksheer / Main Rail
 
In the first picture the a portion of the port outer planksheer rail is being fitted.
 

  The height gauge is being used here to check the height along the rail before inserting pins to hold the correct line.  This part of the rail needs to be beveled to fit against the flare of the bow.  In the next picture the rail is being glued with the pins holding the line.
 

 
I spent a lot of time checking heights this week.  In the next picture the height of the lower edge of the main rail is being marked out to set the top of the band of planking between the rails.
 

 
The distance between the height of the planksheer and the main rail varies over the length of the hull.  This became apparent when setting these points.  It seemed wrong, but the drawings verified this.  This made me suspect my drawings but the original table of offsets confirmed the variation.  The planking of this band between the two rails is further complicated by the flare out at the bow.   This makes the true projection of the band wider than shown on the vertical section.  These differences are small, but critical if the planking is going to converge at the top of the frames.  I was doing a lot of height checking this week.
 
A part of the inside of the main rail and fillers between frames have been installed in the next picture.
 

 
The “look” of the inside of the bulwarks is starting to emerge.  An outside view of this work at the bow is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The bottom of the inside of the main rail must match the height of the top of the outer band of planking.  The next picture shows why.
 

 
In this picture the outer main rail is being fitted. Its top is flush with the tops of the filling pieces between frames.  All these rails are horizontal.  The last picture shows the inside of the bow at this stage before fitting the main rail in this area.  I say "fitting" because the outer main rail will not be installed until later - for painting reasons.
 

 
The next step is to install the thin planking above the main rail up to the tops of the frames leaving a tight space for the outer main rail.  This will be installed after the surrounding planking and the rail itself are painted - black and white respectively.  It is also time to fit the rails and planking around the elliptical stern.  Can’t wait.
 
Time for a holiday break.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone – well at least everyone in America.  My British friends used to tell me they celebrated thanksgiving on July 4th.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

Now that we've been back from holidays a couple of weeks I thought it was about time I posted an update on the 'Francis'.
 
All the deck beams are now in place , so the next job will be to give the frames a final external fairing and then I can start work on the planking battens.
 
I hope to be getting a bit of extra time at the museum over the next few weeks, so hopefully there'll be a bit more progress before long.
 
John
 

 

 

 

Thanks again guys. The encouragement is really appreciated.
 
Well, after 11 months of working on the hull, a major milestone has been reached - all of the outer hull planking is on. I spent this weekend sanding and scraping the hull, adding wood filler where needed, and sanding and scraping some more. I am still only using rough sand paper, so there is still a lot of work to be done. Here is a picture of the various tools I am using to get the planks smoothed down.
 

 
The curved end of the large sanding block has really come in handy on the curved parts of the hull, especially in the stern. The handle with the straight razor blade I use as a scraper. That little block plane come in handy with planks that are raised from the rest.
 
Here are some shots of the rough planking before I started sanding:
 

 

 
And here are some shots during the sanding process:
 

 

 

 

 
These two shots are after some sanding but before any wood filler was added. You can see some of the gaps that have to be filled.
 

 

 
I am not sure how long it is going to take me to get to the point where I can start sanding with finer paper, but probably later this week. It always amazes me how much better this looks after some wood filler and a preliminary sanding. But, then it seems to take just as long or longer to get to a  finished hull, if there is such a thing. As I said before, I always find areas that could use more work and I don't expect this hull to be any different.

Hello guys !! After a long absence from  my build due to workload , I finally manage to finish it.
Thank you for your support. I will post some photos to the gallery.
 
Dimitris
 
 
 

Sorry it’s been so long since my last pictures.  It’s been one of those times when everything that could go wrong did.  Let’s leave it at that.  I have however finished the Lettie to the admiral’s delight.  She is now dressed in all her sails and rigging.  So here she is in all her finery.
 
 

 

 

 
 
Don't know what is next.  The admiral likes to see sails but I'm leaning towards a launch.  We'll see.
 
Bob

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 96 – Planksheer continued
 
In the first picture the starboard planksheer rail is being fitted at the bow.
 

 
Pins were needed here to hold the position when clamping due to the outward flare of the sides.  This part of the rail also had to be beveled on the back side to keep the top face level.
 
In the next picture the inside rail on the port side is being glued.
 

 
While the glue on that rail was drying the starboard outer rail was glued. 
 

 
As you can see it was all hands on deck for the clamps.  Anything that resembled a clamp was drafted into service to keep every part of the rail tight to the side.  The next picture is a close-up of the forward rail on the starboard side.
 

 
In the next picture a dummy bowsprit has been fitted and planking has begun above the rail on this side.
 

 
I am using hard maple for the external planking.  It will be painted.  The last picture shows the port side ready for the outer rail.  The inner rails and spacers between top-timbers are now completely installed on both sides.
 

 
Getting these rails finished – including around the elliptical stern – and planking up to the main rail is the next order of business.
 
Ed

Thank heavens I started over..  this is coming out better than I thought.  I missed so much on the plans and pictures the last time stumbling though... 
 
I'm making templates of the transom timbers from the plans and using the cleaned up photos as a guide.  I think it's coming together much better.  Here's the first two timbers in place.  They're of the proper shape but not faired.  That will come when all of the stern is in place lest I screw it up. 
 

 
The next one, the top transom, is the challenge.  It has two curves (one vertically and one horizontally) to give the stern windows their curve but also the curve from side to side.   Plus... (added bonus for complexity) it has eight slots milled into it for the vertical timbers.  This should be frustrating and fun at the same time.  See the pic for the plan view of this timber.
 

 
Onward and upward....

Lanterns and supports painted.
 

 
Lanterns mounted.  The top of the lanterns have not been fixed in place in order to add glazing inside the lanterns. I'm experimenting with glazing.  Has anyone tried the Micro Glaze from Micro Mark?  And if so, does it stand up to handling?
 

 
The smaller Admiral's lantern is attached aft of the main top.
 

Moving on to the ship's lanterns. The JoTika kit has very nice etched brass for the lantern windows that can be bent to fit the base.  Soldering the lantern supports.
 

 
Solder points filed down
 

 
Holes drilled into the lantern bases for the lantern supports. Supports fixed with C/A glue.
 

 
Lanterns
 

Thanks again guys for the encouragement. I am feeling a bit better about the state of the planking now that it is almost done. I am down to one plank section per side, which I should be able to finish up tonight. Those screw in planking clamps have worked really well on these small gaps. I bought a bunch of them a few years ago when Micro Mark had them on sale, so I didn't run out once on this build. They were a bit expensive even on sale, but they sure came in handy. There were even a few planks where I did not have a gap left that I just screwed the post through the plank to hold it, which I will fill the hole with putty now. I first tried straight pins, but they would not hold the planks flat to the filler blocks.
 

 

 

 

 
I am seeing some wavy-ness when looking down the hull, but I think that will be sanded out when I complete the sanding. That is going to be the next big task, one in which I always have a hard time. I think that I am getting close to being done, then look at the hull with light from a different angle and see all sorts of anomalies. And this hull is bigger by a lot than any previous planking that I have done. So, I just need to get at it and take my time and be generous with the wood putty (although most of it will get sanded off).
 
Since I am down to working one plank per side at a time, I have had some time to make all the quoins for the gun deck cannons. I also made all the ring bolts for them, which I have blackened along with the eye bolts for them. I have started making the hooks for the gun tackles, as well. I can do about 10 per night before my eyes give out, and I need about 90 of them. I started out trying to use a pair of pliers with round ends for the loops, but ended up using tweezers instead, which resulted in smaller loops. The hook part is made by bending around the end of a needle nose pliers. I do this all with the wire still on the roll, then cut off the hook and file the end somewhat pointy, although not as pointy as I would like yet. It is really hard to hold them still while filing, since they are so small.
 

 
I will post pictures of the sanding as it progresses. 

As some of you know I had a dispute with a retailer over a Euromodel kit. The retailer never sent me anything and I had to get a refund from Paypal. Euromodel heard about this issue through Pete who runs their helpdesk and although Euromodel was in no way part of this dispute they offered me a discount on the kit as a compensation for my trouble with the retailer!!!!
 
This is really an example of extraordinaire customer care I never have experienced before, and it shows how much Euromodel values their customers.
 
Thank you Euromodel and thank you Pete.

Happily, I 've completed one of those tedious tasks that I never enjoy very much. With the completion of the mizzen deadeyes and chains, that work is done. The mizzen work duplicated the work on the fore and main and needs no further description.
 
For those looking at the full profile photo attached to this post, there is an addition that may or may not become permanent. I've been thinking about what to do about a boat or boats. While contemplating whether to try (likely unsuccessfully) to duplicate the wonderful efforts of B.E., Grant and others to make framed and planked boats, I discovered that I had a partially built boat made from lifts. To my surprise, this boat ,with some small changes , virtually matched the dimensions and shape of the 28' longboat shown in AOTS Essex. I'm going to do some more work on it to see if it will produce a result that  I'll be happy  with. Stay tuned. 
 
Bob
 

Thank you mhegazi and Nils (I'm still not sure about how many sails I'll be fitting, if any).
 
Main Stay
 
Apart from the Anchor Hawse the Main Stay is the largest rope on the ship at 1.4mm diameter. It fits to the mast top in similar fashion to the mizzen stay, and is lashed to the stay collar at it's lower end. The upper end is served to a few scale feet below the mouse :
 

 

 

 
I'd forgotten to fit the Main Preventer Stay Collar before I'd permanently fitted the foremast. It made the job slightly more difficult. To prevent the collar from shifting upward two cleats are glued to the sides of the foremast :
 

 
  Danny

Beautiful workmanship Ed, I now know how you manage to get so much accomplished, I see that in picture six you are still working at break neck speed even as the photograph is being taken;>)
 
Michael

Well Steve. I think you're correct on all counts. After I started on the small boat kit and realized I was in trouble, I started searching MSW and found your post on the MS Bounty Launch build.
 
One thing I do know for sure is that if you follow the MS instructions to the letter, you'll end up with a mess and a lot of rework. Even the drawings they provide don't agree with their verbal instructions. The biggest thing I've noticed thus far is that if you follow the instructions as written, the bow former would be completely useless.
 
Honestly, I think I can make the kit work but, it's going to take a lot of improvisation and, as you've already found out, a lot of trial-and-error. Maybe I can come up with a better set of instructions and a better set of pictures and drawings.
 
I couldn't agree more regarding the value of MSW and the folks who follow this forum. I'd be completely lost in this build and I have no doubt my build would end up a huge disaster without the folks here. As I pointed out to someone recently, I've actually been petrified at the prospect of starting this build and thought I'd made a huge mistake in purchasing this kit. But, by reading the build logs of other folks here, I came to believe that I might actually be able to pull it off.
 
Fletch

Winter is approaching, this means model ship building season is upon us (or at least me)!
I have been thinking whether I should pursue building my Hesper (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/723-hesper-by-frenchguy-pilot-schooner-scale-148/?hl=hesper ), or put her on the back burner and start something else. Hesper is a beautiful model, but it’s a scratch build model, and despite fantastic plans from Erik Ronnberg, this model has already tested my limits with scratch building. So Hesper will stay on the shelf at least until next year.
 
There are two other models from kits that have been on my radar for some time: the America Yacht from BlueJacket, and the Benjamin W. Latham from Model Shipways. Both are 1:48 model, the first one is POF, the second is POB
 
I finally decided to go with Benjamin Latham for the following reasons:
1-      I love New England Schooners
2-      The America kit from BlueJacket is fairly expensive (although I found their kits to be of better quality overall that Model shipways)
3-      There are already several logs of folks here building this model - and I will shamelessly steal any good idea I come across J
4-      There is solid information about New England schooners  in Chapelle’s schooner bible
5-      I got  a 40% coupon discount for MS
6-      I love New England Schooners
 
There is plenty of documentation and pictures on her. I also saw a beautiful model of this schooner at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA http://www.capeannmuseum.org/collections/objects/schooner-benjamin-w-latham/
So here we are, I just received the box, and inventoried the content. The kit was backordered, but with the discount, it was well worth the wait.  I had printed the manual some years ago, and went through it a few times before (BlueJacket, take note: offering a free download of the manual from your website would be a great idea). The plan sheets are superbly detailed and I also like the down to earth approach of Ben Lanksford when it comes to instructions.
 
Let the building begin!

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 95 – Main Deck Ledges, Planksheer
 
The first picture shows the last of the work on the main deck ledges.
 

 
The seats for the last row of ledges have been cut into the carlings and outside lodging knees.  The next picture shows the completed main deck framing.
 
 

 
The planksheer was the next order of business.  This rail caps and seals off the tops of the frames at the weather deck - the main deck.  On the outside it defines the sheer line of the ship.  Internally it rests on the 11” deep main deck waterway.  It would seem to make sense to install the waterways first, but to facilitate painting I decided to install the planksheer then slip the waterway underneath it later.  In the next picture a strip of pine representing the waterway is being used to check the height of the upper futtocks prior to setting the planksheer.
 

 
The cutoff heights of the upper futtocks were checked earlier and trimmed to match the lower edge of the planksheer rail.  However, since the heights of the deck beams at the side evolved somewhat independently when the deck clamps were set, there was certainly room for discrepancies.  After a fair amount of measuring, remeasuring and some adjustments, the first section of rail was ready to be installed.  This is shown below.
 

 
The 6" rail is a molded section with three beads.  The lower two are half the diameter of the upper.  The rail was formed with a simple scraper.  The real planksheer was installed in one of two ways.  It could be mortised to fit over the toptimbers or it could be made in two halves each notched to fit around the toptimbers from either side.  To avoid all of this precision notching or mortising, I install the rail on one side, then fit blocks between the timbers, and then fit the opposite side – trying to make the joints relatively invisible.  This will all be painted so there is no issue in this case.  The next picture shows some blocks installed between frames.
 

 
These also strengthen the joint between the frames and the inner rail.  After the glue had dried these were sanded flush to the side.  The tops were filed off horizontal and flush with the top of the inside rail. 
The next picture shows part of the starboard planksheer at this stage.
 

 
The last step is to install and finish off the exterior rail as shown in the next picture.
 

 
There is a similar rail a few feet up – the main rail – and then another capping rail – the fancy rail – fitted to the tops of the toptimbers.
 
 
Ed

And the sheet anchor.  The chain and spliced line to support the anchor shaft and on the right, the line for lashing the stock.
 

 
The sheet anchor lashed in place.
 

 
And on to the next challenge.  Cheers, Gil

Good evening, one and all.  It has been quite some time since my last update - but here at last is one!
 
After spending more than a month not even picking up a piece of sandpaper or fitting a plank to the Essex, I have brought the Emma C. Berry back to the build table - being able to actually see the progress on her is quite rewarding.
 
Have been continuing my work on the interior details.  Continued fitting out the cabin, installed the rest of the ceiling on the port side and most of the ceiling on the starboard side as well - leaving a gap for a peep hole from the outside.
 
My biggest sense of accomplishment, though, is the progress on the wet well.  I intend to leave it at this stage - will be painting the interior in a red bottom paint color, but leaving a couple of planks bare to simulate repairs underway.  Will also be finishing the bulkhead at the forward end of the cabin (in progress) - that will extend all the way to the deck beams (they are only dry-fitted for now to aid in the wet well construction and cabin bulkhead installation).
 
The black square will have a sand base inside and then I will be making a small stove for the cabin - that may take a bit of trial and error!
 
Since I intend to display her as a working vessel undergoing some minor replanking (both deck and hull), I opted for somewhat of a "stained" or "tarnished" look for the ceiling.  Will also be distressing some of the other paint as well when the time gets closer.
 
At any rate, here are the latest set of photos - ENJOY!!!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

I'm curious about this question, too. I see how doing the standing rigging before running rigging would be imperative on square rigged ships. But what about in the case of fore-and-aft sails (even on a brigantine)? Let me give my current example.
 
I'm working on the OcCre Dos Amigos - a Baltimore Clipper. It occurred to me in projecting forward to adding the sails that I might do the rigging in the following order:
 
1. Stays
2. Attach & rig the fore-and-aft sails (main sail, foreward mainsail, foresail, jib and flying jib)
3. Shrouds & backstays
4. Attach and rig the square sails.
 
Mostly, this strategy was suggested to me by the difficulty I've had in previous builds attaching the main sail and the foreward mainsail to mast hoops and trying to work around the shrouds. If the rule is to operate from centre line outward, then it would seem to make sense (and not break too much protocol) to rig things according to the above order......
 
I'm also not sure there's much call in modelling to follow the order of rigging on a real ship....after all, the consequences for breaking these rules are not as dire for the modeller. As long as the finished product is authentic, then the order of the rigging seems secondary (at least until you can't rig one line without rigging another....with all due respect to those who follow a different rule.
 
Just my two cents - and I'd love to hear thoughts on the strategy above....
hamilton

Worked some more on the build over the last few days and thought I'd provide and update and possibly a few insights.
 
Being a novice to POB ship construction, this is a huge learning experience for me. It seems that I may have made somewhat of a mistake with my build in that I probably should have marked the reference lines and bearding lines on the false keel pieces BEFORE I assembled them. Apparently, that allows you to verify the that false keel pieces alight properly when you actually glue them together.
 
Well, I don't know if I just got lucky but, when I transferred the reference lines and bearding lines from the plans to the already assembled false keel, they all lined up perfectly. I may have been due to the way I assembled the false keel using my keel jig to align the piece. But, at the end of the day, all is well and I won't have to make any adjustments.
 
So, my next step was to cut the rabbet in the false keel. I know a lot of folks use a chisel. But, I just felt much more comfortable using my hobby knife. I have a No. 2 and a No. 11 knife. I decided to work with the No. 11 as the blade isn't quite as broad and has a little more flex to it. But, I think a No. 2 would have worked just as well. I used the knife taking off small slivers of wood at a time and worked alternately with the knife and a small sanding block to slowly form the rabbet.
 
When I finished cutting the rabbet, I went ahead and attached the stem and stern pieces to the false keel. I know this is probably out of the norm but, there's method to my madness. I am anticipating receiving some wood from the Constitution. If so, and if there is enough of it, I plan to fabricate the keel for my model of wood from the Constitution. In the interim, I test fit the keel pieces from the kit and made adjustments as necessary so that I can glue them up if Plan A falls through. I'll post a picture below of what it looks like at the moment.
 
After talking to Jeff at HobbyMill, I decided to place an order after all. I may be biting off more than I can chew but, I've decided to model a full gun deck. So, I order enough boxwood to do the gun deck and spar deck. I also ordered enough holly to plank the hull. It may sound crazy since the hull is going to be black and a good portion of it covered with copper. But, I think the holly has better bending properties than the basswood and I think it takes finish better than basswood. Only time will tell at this point.
 
So, I spent a lot of today finishing up my keel jig. Again, I'll post pictures below. I decide to construct a vertical support with a slot in it for the stem to slide in to. I built it so that when the false keel sits in it, it will be at a perfect 90° angle to the build board. I also install a couple of triangular pieces for the stern to sit in to keep the entire false keel in the same geometry.
 
I also started cleaning a few of the 24 lb. long guns that will go on the gun deck while killing some time today. I'm also waiting for some a carronade to come in that I hope will be an acceptable replacement for the carronades provided in the kit. As I pointed out in the update to my "era differences" post, there's nothing wrong with the carronades provided in the kit other than there aren't enough of them and more importantly, they aren't of the 1812 era.
 
Well, that's about all for today. Thanks for following. Oh, and by the way, everything contained in my posts (and more) is going into a detailed build journal which I will provide to the admins for posting at the end of the build. I think it should be very useful for POB novices like myself.
 
Fletch

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 94 – Main Deck Framing 5
 
Because the main deck framing supports the mast partners, knees are installed as reinforcements at the partners.  I also installed them at the hatchway openings.  I made these as overlapping knees.  I did not go to this trouble for the lodging knees at the side because their fore and aft arms are not visible on the model.  I do not yet know if these central knees will be covered with decking or not.  The first picture shows some of these knees before installing.
 

 
The next picture shows a few installed at the main mast partners and at the hatch just aft of this.
 

 
I installed these central knees first before going on to the major task of setting all of the ten dozen or so lodging knees at the sides.   The next picture shows this lodging knee installation proceeding aft from the bow.
 

 
The next picture shows a closer view of this work. 
 
 

 
This is one type of lodging knee combination used on these ships and is the one I used on all of the decks.  It is the simplest – with the fore and aft arms simply butting.  They will be covered by the waterways in any case.  In the picture a knee is being marked so it can be cut to fit neatly between its partner and the beam.  Bolts are then installed, the knee is polished up and then glued in.
 
The next picture shows all of the main deck lodging knees installed.
 

 
And, finally, a picture of the full hull at this stage.
 

 
The next step will be to install the ledges between each of the beams to complete the framing of this deck.
 
Ed