bhermann

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 15 – Setting Midship Frame Pair
 
 
American Clipper Note: In March 1849, the telegraph watcher at Sandy Hook, NJ, observed a large ship approaching from the southeast.  It could only be a tea clipper, but the first of these for that year was not due to arrive for at least two weeks.  It turned out to be Sea Witch, an early extreme clipper designed by John W. Griffiths, under Captain Robert Waterman, just 75 days out from Hong Kong, a west bound journey to New York of 14,500 miles - establishing the first permanent sailing record – never to be beaten by a sailing ship.  Her average speed: 193 miles/day.  Later in the year, Sea Witch set the standing record from Canton to New York, a slightly longer passage, in 77 days.  Hong Kong – New York – Canton – New York in one year – unheard of.
 
Back to work.  The first picture shows the setup for erecting the square frames.
 

 
In this picture the midship frame is held in position for attachment to the keel.  The two clamped squares hold the frame at the sides and will maintain pressure on the glue joint at the keel.
 
The squares are clamped at the breadth to the frame with the corners set at the joint line as shown below.
 

 
The joint line of the pair is aligned with the edge of the square – held by clamps.  At this stage the mark at the center of the cross-spale is centered using the Plexiglas rectangle.  This gauge was cut square and notched to clear the keel.
 

 
With the clamps tightened, the bolt hole through the floor into the keel is drilled. A brass “bolt” is then tapped in slightly.  The frame is raised slightly to apply glue, then lowered and the position rechecked.  The “bolt” is then driven in as shown below.
 

 
The next picture shows the installed frame later with the clamps cleared away.
 

 
This is a good time to recheck the center mark on the cross-spale – without the clamps.
 
The next picture shows the bolt hole center being marked on frame A.
 

 
The last picture shows the first three frame pairs erected. 
 

 
A cross-spale was added to pair A because it was slightly off-pattern at the top.  The frames need to be correct at the breadth to use this method.  B was OK.  Frame C is ready to be set in this picture.
 
Progress at this point:  Pairs 0 to C set, 0 to G fabricated, 0 to K lofted.
 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 14 – Setting Frames – preparation
 
American Clipper Note: Young America cost $140,000 to build.  Gross revenue from her first voyage from New York to San Francisco was $86,400 – more than half her initial cost in her first four months!
 
 
With four frames finished and a few more in progress, it was time to start thinking about erecting them.  The first picture shows the midship frame set up temporarily on the keel, supported by the two clamped squares set at the maximum breadth line on both sides.
 

 
The so-called "midship" frame is set at the deadflat location along the keel.  This is not at the midpoint of the hull, but is actually about 20’ forward of that point.  Also, this frame is the widest part of the hull only in the neighborhood of the load waterline.  At topside the frames immediately aft are wider and at the bottom the frames immediately forward are wider.  This is a departure from normal 18C RN practice where the midship frame was the widest at every height.
 
Before setting any frames, some other work had to be done.  First, the keel had to be bolted securely to the shipway.  The next picture shows the three bolts made for this purpose.
 

 
These are identical to the type used on Naiad.  The reduced diameter section fits up through the keel.  It is stopped at the bottom of the keel shoe by the shoulder at the change in diameter.  This limits the distance the bolt can be screwed into the model, preventing the keelson from being popped off by over tightening.  The small threads are 4-40 and the larger 10-32.
 
The next picture shows one of the bolts pulled up at the keel bottom by the small nut on top,
 

 
With the top nuts on the three bolts tightened up, and larger holes drilled through the shipway, the keel is slipped into position as shown below.
 

 
Thumbscrews with lock washers are then tightened up under the shipway.  Eventually the top nuts will be filed to fit within the woodwork and the top of the studs will be filed flush  to the nuts.  These will be covered by the keelson or deadwood.
 
With the keel secured, the end posts were set up in the vertical position as shown below.
 

 
The next picture shows three frames set loosely in position and a fourth lying flat where it would have been assembled in the real shipyard.
 

 
At the yard, once the midship frame was set, moveable assembly platforms were constructed fore and aft.  Working two at a time, frame pairs were assembled on these then raised up into position.  The platforms were then moved and the work on the next frames begun.  Methods like these enabled these ships to be constructed in 3 to 6 months – some in less time.  If there were two of me I could duplicate this practice.
 
The next picture shows the midship frame being prepared for installation.  A pine cross-spale is being glued to the toptimbers to hold the correct upper separation.  Also, while in this position, an alignment centerline is marked on the spale with a razor blade.
 

 
This will be done to perhaps every 4th or 5th frame – plus any that need it – until some other means of holding frame alignment is installed.
 
Finally, the fore and aft faces of the first several frame pairs were squared up from the base drawing and marked in pencil on the top of the keel as shown below.
 

 
The frames will be glued to the keel based on these marks – and of course plumbed and aligned.  Bolt holes will be drilled through the floors, and bolts – probably brass pins - driven into the keel – as was done in practice.  Although authentic, these will be invisible when the keelson is installed over them.
 
 
Ed

Almost done with the stanchions, next move is to drill the holes for the deadeye stays...

Kimberly,
Modeling for me has always been a thing that I could do that no one could say you were doing it right or wrong, a place of relaxation and the only person you had to satisfy was yourself. you will find that the more you do it the more you will learn and you will find there are several ways to do things. As for the painting part, you don't like how something turns out just simply paint over it, that has always worked for me. Keep going, you are doing a fine job.
 
Happy Modeling
 
Marty G.

Floyd -   in this case I am working under the assumption that what is provided in the plans IS a 2D sail template.  In short, my CAD drawings don't take this into account, they assume that a bunch of flat strips of cloth were sewn together to make a bigger flat sheet.  I will shape the finished product into wind-filled sails after cutting them out and adding details.  I don't know how I'll do that just yet, but there are lots of interesting approaches to be found on MSW.
 
Pete - thanks for stopping by and for the kind words.  I love the quote in your signature.
 
As promised, I temporarily attached the the main and fore sails to check for rough fit and to get a feel for where I might be headed with them.  Here are the photos.
 

 
Thanks,
Bob
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 13 –Frame Assembly 2
 
 
American Clipper Note: In 1848 there were 9 sailings recorded from New York to San Francisco and they averaged over 150 days.  The following year, 1849, after the gold discovery, there were 37 passages averaging 177 days – for those that made it.  From 1850 to 1853 - as the extreme clippers came off the slips - there were around 375 voyages averaging 128 days.  In her maiden voyage Young America did it in the excellent time of 110 days.  This was longer than the record of 89 days, 21 hours set by McKay’s Flying Cloud in 1851, but up to the end of 1853, times of under 110 days were achieved only 41 times in the 375 passages.
 
The first picture shows frame pair A with the pins removed after assembly. 
 

 
The was the first pair forward of the deaflat, so there is virtually no bevel.  The next picture shows the assembly being sanded back to the aft profile on the disk sander.  The inside was cleaned up using a spindle sander, but left rough.
 
 

 
At this stage the outer profiles are accurate enough to set the frame, so the patterns can be removed.  This will allow the sidings of the upper timbers to be reduced.
 
Reducing the sidings after assembly will allow the frames to be accurately beveled based on the patterns, which would be inaccurate for the timbers with reduced siding.  Also, it is much easier to assemble the timbers using pins if they are all the same thickness.  The drawback is that timbers have to be reduced on the finished assembly.
 
The safest way to do this – for you and the work - is filing by hand as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The sidings step down by an inch of so at each joint moving upward, so this can be done by filing then measuring.
 
With so many frames to do, I adopted two other methods to speed the process.  The first is shown in the next picture.
 

 
In this method a ¼-inch end mill is lowered down to touch the piece.  The piece is then removed and the cutter lowered to make the cut above the joint.  Do not even think of doing this without the guard and without being able to hold the piece on two sides as shown.    Although the amount to be removed at each level is small, I did this in stages of about .005”.
 
The next picture shows how the remaining ends were done after the above step using the disk sander.
 

 
Both these last methods require a lot of care.
 
After a few frames, I decided to install the top timbers – cut from thinner 10” stock - on the forward frames after all this work.  These will be visible inside the hull planking above the main deck, so this way they will all be the same size.  The next picture shows a top timber.
 

 
In this picture the iron bolts have been installed.  The next picture shows that work in progress.
 

 
As on Naiad, I used black monofilament for these iron bolts, held in with CA glue.
 
The last picture shows the final midship frame, ready to be erected.
 

 
 
 
Ed

Floyd -   in this case I am working under the assumption that what is provided in the plans IS a 2D sail template.  In short, my CAD drawings don't take this into account, they assume that a bunch of flat strips of cloth were sewn together to make a bigger flat sheet.  I will shape the finished product into wind-filled sails after cutting them out and adding details.  I don't know how I'll do that just yet, but there are lots of interesting approaches to be found on MSW.
 
Pete - thanks for stopping by and for the kind words.  I love the quote in your signature.
 
As promised, I temporarily attached the the main and fore sails to check for rough fit and to get a feel for where I might be headed with them.  Here are the photos.
 

 
Thanks,
Bob
 
 

Ahoy Mates
 
Lawrence: Welcome aboard, I draw much inspiration from your log. Thanks for posting
 
Back to the build: Time 16hr (Bulkheads and Deck) Total 30hrs
 
The adventure continues: After making the call on the gunports I re-re-re-read the "little book' and found this. "Therefore, re-move some small portion of the frames whose profile coincides exactly with the gunports (frames No. 2, 4, 6, 7, and 13); in this case the frame itself acts as a support for the half barrels No. 174." Now this statement is the last sentence before the next paragraph on planking. It also doesn't mention that gun port at B7 uses a cannon and not the half barrel. I would love to hear from others as to how they handled the removal of B7 on the gun deck which can be seen and if you followed the instructions has already been planked.
 
I can see I will be deviating
 
I installed the first gun deck supplied with the kit. Having never done one of these plywood pre decks before, it turned into quite a learning experience. It seems ply wood does not like to be bent in two directions at the same time. The whole kit deck/bulkhead thing has in the past been difficult for me: I once sanded a deck flat. I took measurements but because Corel only supplies you with a waterline draft  that shows this deck height I decided to take my measurements from the differences. I measured the plans and determined how much higher or lower the deck line was at bulkheads 4-9. Then I measured/marked my bible bulkhead using the deck and used the differences from the plans to mark the rest. Then I refitted the deck and made my adjustments so the deck would lie at each mark. Because I wanted my measurements to be accurate I bolted down the hull. This worked really well for me. The idea came to me after a few beers.
 
I can not overstate how much better it is to just tack things. I am starting to believe full on gluing things was an amateur mistake. Once I started to glue the deck, again only tacking it, the sweep of the hull that the deck need to follow started to fight the crown of the deck. A large concentric pin was used it to apply pressure/mediate the edges making sure the deck edge remained at the correct mark. Because I only tacked the deck in the center this was easy. I also applied some water with a damp rag to get the deck to relax after everything was tacked. It seems a little stressed.
 
With the deck in I started putting in all the fillets to permanently bond all the parts. I start with a very thinned PVA, a small paint brush and let capillary action suck the mixture into the joints. Then I go back with a stronger mix and do the seam. I learned this building RC aircraft where glue was weight and major repairs were just a part of the hobby. These glue joints are not as strong as when you glue both pieces and then apply pressure but this is also not the Queen Mary. Those joints are stronger then the wood, mine are not and are much easier to undo.
 
For anyone following this build there is a relationship between the deck and the bulkheads. Putting in the bulkheads without using the deck as a guide will most likely mean the deck slots will have to be widened which will then require fillers to allow you to glue to, to get the deck height correct at the gunnels. I was able to make some changes because I only "tacked" everything but still needed three 1/32nd shims. The curve of my deck at B4 is slight listing to starboard and I believe the crown on B 7 is a little flatter then it should be. To me these are very minor and will only be noticed now and by me. You might be able to see the slight list in the pic "Bulkheads 6"
 
Next will be the stern and the fillers. There is some chatter on the net regarding the stern bulkheads on the Corel kit so some research will be needed. My hold downs currently prevent the installation of B16, the stern, and the bow fillers so a slight change will be needed there.
 
Let me know what you think. All comments welcome. Especially if it is in regards to the B7 cannon debacle

Hi Ben and thanks. It was good to see you back at the echo cross section but no nothing
from me on the echo right now. That’s a story I’ll have to post there sometime soon.
 
Here are all of the floor riders constructed. Then I took and numbered each one as they would
be unique as I'm sanding them to fit both the hull frames and the mortar deck clamp.
 

 

 

 
Once they are finished and in place it will time to put the limited inboard hull planking.

Hello rfolsom
You were quite fortunate that the planking covered the damage done by your birds. Birds always love pecking on wood.
 
Hi Jeff
Thank you and yes, you are quite right. Pets and models do not mix well. That is the reason why my pets are never allowed in the workshop unless they are supervised. Even then it will only be a short visit. In and out within a few minutes.
 
Frederica
 
 
Hi all,
 
I had to place an additional piece of wood on part 2A so that the fore deck would sit in the correct position.
 

 
I have started the first planking
 

 
 
I placed the garboard plank. For reasons of ease I used a plank which is wider that the ones supplied in the kit.
 

 
The first planking has almost finished with just a few planks remaining to be placed at the top part and also the formation of the rounded shape of the stern.
 

 

 

 
Frederica
 
 
 
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 12 –Frame Assembly 1
 
 
American Clipper Note: Rated tonnage rules based on length, breadth and depth of ships, used to assess tax on cargoes, retarded the development of fast merchant ships for a hundred years, perhaps longer.  Shippers, wanting hulls that could carry more than their rated tonnage - to reduce taxes on actual tonnage - created demand for the slow, “floating bathtub” designs that prevailed to mid-19th Century.  High profit margins, the result of two gold rushes and the lucrative China trade flipped the coin – enter the fast sailing clipper.  Extreme clippers, with their long sleek hulls, stiffened with massive internal structures, were often incapable of carrying even their rated tonnage.  The higher profit margins and the faster voyage times made the ships profitable in spite of the tax disadvantages.  Tonnage laws were eventually revised.
 
With the keel assembly constructed and set up on the shipway, the next major task will be framing.  There are many frames and I expect this will take months.  Earlier I described a frame assembly process trial and decided to proceed based on that.  In this part, assembly of one of the first frames is described.
 
The first picture shows the pattern being cut up into the segments to be pasted on to 14” thick pear stock.  This is the siding of the floors – the thickest pieces.  I intend to make all the frame timbers this size then machine off the upper futtocks (and the patterns) to the correct sidings after assembly and initial beveling.
 

 
The patterns include accurately placed bolt holes.  These are indexed on both the fore and aft frames in the pair to be used to align the parts.  All the frame pairs on the ship are bolted together on the respective frame line.
 
After cutting out all the pieces for the pair – in this case the fore and aft frames at line A – the outside profiles were sanded back closer to the line on the disk sander as shown below.
 

 
The ends of each timber were also sanded back square to the cut line on the pattern segment as shown in the next picture.
 

 
This sanding needs to be precise so the timbers butt neatly.  At this stage they are left slightly oversize.
 
In the next picture, bolt holes in one of the timbers is being drilled.  These holes need to be precisely located so the parts will fit accurately.  The holes are, of course, first center marked as accurately as possible.
 

 
In the next picture the floor of the forward face is being pinned to the pattern with the pattern side down. 
 

 
The pins are centered as shown on the bolt hole centers on the pattern.  The pins and holes are sized for a sliding fit.
 
After fitting and pinning all the forward frame timbers to the pattern,  the aft frame timbers are pinned through the holes with the pattern side up as shown below.
 

 
After all the aft timbers have been fitted and pinned on top of the forward frame, final assembly can begin.  The next picture shows the second of the two lower futtocks to be glued down.
 

 
The lower futtock to the right has been glued and nailed down tight with the pins.  Small blocks of soft wood were used to allow the pins to be removed more easily and without damage to the frame. The futtock to the left = being glued - was set with its pins in the holes before the dark glue was applied.  In the picture it is ready to be nailed down into place.
 
In the next picture all of the aft frame timbers have been progressively glued into place.
 

 
When the glue has dried the frame will be removed for some clean-up, beveling, machining to the correct sidings at each level and bolting.  I will show this in the next part(s?)
 
There will be 50 full square frame pairs like this one to be made.  This excludes the 19 pairs of half frames and the 11 pairs of cant frames at the ends of the ship.
 
Ed
 
 

Wayne,
I’ve been following your build and it looks great.  I have been thinking about “unique” ways to show the work that went into a model. Here is a photo from the Muse National De Marine (something like that!) in Paris with a very elaborate cutaway system.  As detailed below, I hope I came up with something subtle but effective. 
 

 
And now more photos and stuff.
 
Another day off, another bit of progress on this wonderful model.
 
This time, I tackled the wet well. As you probably know, this is a very unique feature to this particular historical boat, so I really wanted it to shine.
 
As I mentioned above in this build log, I was considering a “lift off” section of the deck to showcase the plank-on-frame construction, while still fully fitting out the interior of the boat.  Well, I decided that I definitely wanted to do that, and thought it would be a good opportunity to showcase the wet well.
 
I will also mention that, during this point of the build, I’m really glad I didn’t glue in the deck beams, as many parts required repeated fitting that would have just been aggravating if I had to carefully snake the bits in through the ribs and deck beams.  I highly recommend this method to anyone building this (or any other, really) model!
 
Enough blah, on to the photos.
 
Here I’ve cut the wet well planking to approximate length and simply stacked them up to see what they looked like.  Here, I decided that the fit between planks was so nice with the kit wood that I would just glue the wet well planking to the corner posts, not to each other to avoid glue squeezing out and messing up the wood. This, too, was really the way to go because, in the finished shots later, my wife thought it was a solid piece of wood! Even in real life she thought that! Nice.
 

 
Speaking of the corner posts, they were interesting builds, with several complex angles that had to be cut and sanded “just so” for a good joint. They are glued down at the bed logs, but “floating” on top at the deck without glue, though the are held in place quite well by the fit. Actually, sharp eyed viewers will not that the corner posts are supposed to extend fore and aft to sit directly on the frame, OUTSIDE the bedlogs. Then the wet well planking is supposed to go outside the corner posts on the port and stbd sides, but inside the corner posts on the fore and aft ends. Well, I messed it up and it was too late to fix it, so I did what I always do.  Move on.  I think, aside from you guys, no one will ever know!
 
Here is a shot with the wet well planking glued on port and stbd but the deck popped off.

 
Here I have started fitting the forward side wet well planking.  At this point, I realized I didn’t have enough of the proper sized wood to plank up the after side. 

 
The, I got to thinking!  Uh Oh!
 
With the interior of the craft eventually covered in ceilings (ceilings are the equivalent of hull planking, only on the interior side of the boat) there really won’t be any way to see the hull frames, even if I have a lift-off deck section. So, what I decided to do was something more fun.
 
I “planked” after side with a custom cut and fit piece of acrylic. This will allow one to peer in through the lift off deck into the back of the wet well, showcasing this unique feature as well as giving a glimpse of the framing inside the wet well also.  Well, that is the theory at least. 
 
For a mini how-to, please see the next post!
 
Here you can see the ends of all the planks trimmed to final dimension. I started by roughing it down with a sharp #11 blade, the realized that I had a lot of control with that, and sanding sort of de-highlighted (?) the plank ends, making it further look like a single sheet of wood instead of individual planks. So the finish you see is the result of shaving them down, not sanding. Minor detail, but (hopefully) interesting.
You can also see the top-most wet well planks, and the complex shaping and fit-up needed. Again, here, having the deck NOT glued in was a godsend.  Those three (P, S, and Fore) took as long to make as the rest of the wet-well put together!
 

 
 
Finally, a parting shot of the completed wet well, with acrylic after-facing “planking” in place.
 

 
Cheers and happy building
-c

For those who work exclusively by hand (or those of us not to be trusted with power tools ), I included a brief description of some of my tapering methods in my log.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/217-bluenose-by-bhermann-model-shipways-2130-164/page-3
 
Check posts #33 and 34 for the details.
 
Bob

Boat deck secured and support stanchions in place. Some more photos: In the bow shot you'll notice the second stanchion on the right needs fixing. My pipe fitters took care of that this morning as you can see in the subsequent photos. Also, the chief of the boat is in charge of painting that panel on the pilot house door.
 
Tom

Well, she's finished at last!
 
The last couple of details were finished at the museum yesterday.  As you can see from the photographs, she still needs a proper stand and case - plus a bit of a clean off of odd dust particles before she's permanently cased - but she is complete at last.
 
I must say I'm quite pleased with the way she's turned out.  I think I've got the spars fine enough to look realistic and make her look light and fast rather than just over sparred, but that's just my opinion.
 
The next model is currently in the planning stage and a new building log will appear shortly.
 
John

She's in!  Lines are tight and she's sailing beautifully.  This ship is by far my best work.  The bottle it's in has the best clarity I've seen in a bottle.  It's a tradition of mine to call the entering of the ship into the bottle her maiden voyage.  Old sailor superstition has it that the maiden voyage is a reflection of the life of the ship.  If that's the case the Mercury's got a good long life in front of her.  She shook off the snag's and problems and came together with ease.  She's been a pleasure to work on.  I'm just sad I have to ship her away for some one else to enjoy.  I still have to build a stand and put a turks head knot on the bottle but other then that she's good to go.  
 

 

 

 

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 11 – Stem Pieces, Knightheads, Hawse Timbers
 
 
American Clipper Note:  The record sailing times logged by American clippers did not result from hull design and huge sail plans alone.  The transatlantic packet service, begun in 1818, in which ships advertised - and ran - to a published schedule, placed extreme performance demands on captains and crews.  Captains in this trade - many in their 20’s - learned to drive their ships relentlessly, at the expense of ships and men.  When the sleek clippers began to come down American shipways, there were captains, well prepared – and still young enough - to make them run.
 
 
In the last part I mentioned the stem piece fillers on either side of the stem.  These pieces, the knightheads, and the first hawse timbers were lofted, cut out and installed as shown below.
 
The first picture shows the stem pieces and knightheads placed in position on the port side,  Their starboard counterparts are to the right.  These have been pared back almost to the bevel lines on the patterns. (This picture was taken before cutting out the rabbeted area of the pattern as shown in the last part.)
 
 

 
In the next picture the stem piece on the starboard side is being pinned in place prior to gluing.  The square clamped against the keel in this picture assures that the back face of the stem piece is vertical.  It has been beveled on that face to match the first cant frame that will eventually be bolted against it.
 

 
In the next picture, the last piece – the port hawse piece – is being glued on, completing this stage of the assembly.
 

 
The next step is to fair these timbers into the stem rabbet.  The picture below shows just the preliminary pre-assembly beveling.  There is some work to do.
 

 
Much of the fairing work was done using the curved, flat-faced riffler shown in the next picture.  It is a coarse #0 cut Grobet.  The smaller riffler in the picture was used in the rabbet corners,  Curved scraper blades were also used. 
 

 
The small ruler in the upper right corner of the above picture was used to check the line.  The waterlines into the rabbet at this point are almost straight – very slightly convex.  Because the initial pieces were cut right to the forward profile, once the glue line is reached the work is finished, except for sanding and leveling out ridges – especially near the rabbet line.
 
The next picture shows the faired assembly.
 

 
The first cant frame will rest on the beveled back faces of these pieces.  The bevels are visible in the next picture.  The two vertical pencil lines in the apron show the location of the cant frame pair.
 

 
The remaining pattern piece in the above photo can be removed.  Another hawse timber or two will be bolted to this surface.  These will be cut by eye after the cant frames are installed.
 
 
Ed

Haven’t posted in quite some time, bad me. To catch up, I have stepped the masts and complete much of the standing rigging. I am currently tying ratlines and have competed the port side of the main mast. Some photos to catch up.
 
Main sail lacing.

 
Main and fore masts and sails set in place. The gaffs are temporarily rigged.

 
Used single wires to set constant deadeye heights while seizing the shrouds.  The single wires worked okay for height but allow the deadeye to rotate while tightening the shroud. Next time I’ll try something more stable and may make a single tool for all deadeyes.

 
Lanyards complete.

 
Bowsprit details.

 
Ratlines in progress.

 
Dave B

A little more progress. I've installed the stays and am on to the shrouds. Mighty small scale! I added a couple of boats that were not on the model originally, but I thought they were needed.
 
Tom

Thanks Augie and Bob.  Mark I think I will have to try a bigger model one of these days.  
 
She went in today and so far so good.  I hope to have her wrapped up this weekend.  
 

 

 

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 10 – Stem – apron and rabbet
 
In an early post, I observed that interest by modelers in American clipper ships seems limited – at least judging by topics on the forum – being hugely eclipsed by interest in 18C RN subjects.  I am finding the history of the building, sailing and commercial exploits of these ships extremely fascinating.  To throw some light on the subject, I believe I will start inserting some interesting facts in these posts – starting with this one.
 
American Clipper Fact:  In December 1850, the extreme clipper John Bertram, 190 feet/1050 tons, was launched at the yard of Ewell and Jackson, East Boston, just 61 days after laying of the keel.  She went on to sail for 30 years. (Cutler, Crothers)
 
Back to business.
 
On these ships the apron reinforced the stem and supported the bowsprit.  Construction of this member varied, leaving me with another design decision to make.  On some ships the apron was cut from a single log.  On others it was sided to match the stem and reinforcing “stem pieces” were bolted to either side to make the breadth at the top equal the size of the bowsprit.  Young America had a large, 36” diameter bowsprit, so it seemed likely to me that the apron would be of the latter type, so that is the design I used.  It is a subtle difference on the model – perhaps not even visible.  This allowed me to proceed with the apron – sided 16”.
 
The first picture shows the three pieces of the apron during fitting.
 

 
The next picture shows the central piece being glued on.  This was done after the lower section had been installed – working up from the bottom.
 

 
The next picture shows the top piece – fit-up, but not yet glued.
 

 
In the next picture the apron is secured.  The filler piece behind it on the keel is also installed. 
 

 
Mirrored patterns of the assembly have been pasted to both sides in this picture so the stem rabbet can be accurately marked out.  In the next picture the rabbeted area has been removed from the starboard pattern and the line of the inside of the rabbet is being deepened with a hobby knife.
 

 
The rabbet widens toward the bottom.  Technically, it extends from its forward line to the bearding line – the line defined by the top cut on the pattern.  Both these lines were constructed on the drawings from the intersection of the waterlines with the inner rabbet and the side of the apron respectively.  The forward rabbet line was constructed from the intersections at the forward end of the planks.  The rabbet is very wide at the bottom because of the extremely sharp entry of the forward hull lines.
 
In the next picture the rabbet is being enlarged with a full-sized V-gouge after the center line was cut with a smaller tool of the same type.
 

 
The smaller gouge is to the right in the next picture, which shows the wide part of the rabbet being pared back with a straight chisel.
 

 
The front part of the pattern was removed to better see the forward edge of the groove.  This paring is only partially done at this stage.  Further shaping will be done after the stem pieces and knightheads are installed.  The last picture shows the assembly set up on the board after rabbets were cut on both sides.
 

 
I believe the next step will be the fitting of the stem pieces and knightheads – after some lofting of these highly curved and beveled pieces.
 
Ed

Well I thought I would just quickly update the results of my re-doing of the mizzen crowsfeet (and adding the crowsfeet on the main mast). Thanks to Alistair for the encouragement & BE for the tips on materials.
 
Now that this is figured out I can finally move ahead - first to the main topmast and then to the foremast shrouds & stays and on and on....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

Good afternoon everyone
Got some progress done on my build today, the bow work continues, - all the gun port lids are rigged on the port side, and the head timbers are looking a lot tidier tonight,  I have still to put a set door on the very forward middle gun deck opening, she always looks a lot nicer in daylight, than my man shed, of which I am going to put a window in possibly in the next couple of weeks
Also I sent a bit of time cleaning some of the tiles, with fresh brasso, and as a result, I have managed to clear a lot much surplus glue from the tiles, I am well happy

I tried a new technique and really like the results.  This is the launch that will be towed behind the ship.
 

 

 
The Launch is made completely out of paper.  I carved out a plug out of bass wood put a little wax on it.  Then cut out small planks of paper and stained them.  I then glued the planks together and planked the plug like it was a solid hull.  Once dry I added a couple coats of clear nail polish to seal and harden it.  I then cut out the plans and stained them then glued them into the stern bow and bottom of the launch.  Last I cut out a few planks and made the seats.  I put on one more coat of nail polish for good measure.  I may try another since I really don't want this little boat sucking up the oils from the clay sea.
 
Strangely enough the jollywatt which is smaller and kept on deck is made completely out of wood.  
  
 
I used a tried and true dremel technique for this one.  Pictures and instructions can be found on my blog.  
 
I got the sea in the bottle.  Just need a few more finishing touches and she's ready to bottle.  

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 9 – Sternpost Rabbet – Shipway Fixtures
 
Progress continues – if slowly.  A lot of drawing checking and refining of the lines at the stem has taken some time – final adjustments to the waterline intersections to the stem and consequent re-plotting of the rabbet and bearding lines.  I learned from Naiad that its best to get all this correct at the start.
 
In the first picture the straight rabbet on the sternpost is being formed with the scraper used on the keel, but with a holder to set it at the correct line for the post.
 

 
The intersections of the keel and sternpost rabbets were the cut with a v-gouge.
 

 
The corners were then trimmed with a straight paring chisel.
 

 
The area of the deadwood within the rabbet will eventually be pared out.  I would prefer to do some of this work at this stage up to the bearding line while the piece can be laid flat, but unfortunately most of the deadwood is installed over the keelsons in these ships and they cannot be installed until the aft frames are set.
 
They next picture shows the last piece at the stern that can be installed before the frames – this is a filler over the keel between the last square frame and the stern knee.
 

 
Some of the aforementioned bearding line is just visible on the drawing in this picture, just above the center of the knee.
 
Before going much further, the shipway needed to be fitted with fixtures to hold and align the keel assembly.  In the spirit of continuous improvement, these are different from those used on Naiad.  In the first picture a Plexiglas strip is being screwed down to hold the starboard side of the keel. 
 

 
Plexiglas has the advantage of transparency, but it is flexible, so it is being aligned against the straightedge.  The second strip was aligned using the keel and is being screwed down in the next picture.
 

 
The lateral supports for the stem and sternpost are also different.  They are made to allow screw adjustment of the vertical position.  A good idea I picked up from other posts on the forum.  The 6-32  rods are screwed through holes tapped in 3/8" thick Plexiglas.
 
 

 
These end supports will eventually be in the way and will need to be replaced with something else, but that is a long way off and these should work well to keep the hull aligned during framing.
 

 
In the next part I will discuss some design issues that needed to be resolved on the stem before installing the apron.  I am beginning to feel that the erection of the midship frame bend is not far off.
 
 
 
Ed