EdT

Thanks, everyone. As always, your compliments are very encouraging. I wish the work were a little more varied, but at this stage there is a lot of deck framing to do and much of it looks alike. I am beginning to appreciate that it is a large ship - but she was a beauty and I am glad to have chosen it for a model. Dave, the main thing I'm thinking when looking down through all those beams is - how did all that debris get into the hold and will I be able to get it out? Cheers, all. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 79 –Middle Deck Framing continued The middle deck framing continues. The first picture shows the opening for the large water tank being framed. The header between beams 16 and 20 has been installed and the half beam at 18 fitted temporarily. The large 6000 gal fresh water tank will fill most of the space in this opening from its base in the hold to just under the main deck beams. In the next picture the hanging knee and the pillar under the half beam are in place and the half beam is ready to be installed. The smaller 2000-gallon water tank will come up to just below this deck . Its top will fit in the currently unframed opening between beams 16 and fourteen in the upper right of this picture. In the next picture the pillar under the starboard half beam is being fitted for size. The next picture shows this area looking down and aft. The paired pillars on either side of the tank opening can be seen in this picture. The next picture shows the extent of framing aft of midship completed to date. One full beam and two pairs of half beams remain to be fitted – then the lodging knees and ledges. Some of the lodging knees have been fitted at the aft end of the deck. The last picture shows the stern view opening. As mentioned earlier, this one shows only the space between the middle and lower decks. The exposed ends of the frames have been fairly well squared off in this picture, but there is still finish sanding, etc to be done. The outsides of the frames have been faired, but final sanding and finishing cannot be done until many more simulated bolts are installed. Those in the picture are bolts for the deck clamps and for the heavy internal bilge ceiling. Bolts for deck knees have not been installed yet. Ed

Thas, everyone. Ian, it was painful to cut through those frames, but one must make choices and the alternative was for everything to be buried out of view forever - as was the case with much hard workon Naiad's magazine,et al. Dave, by your new avatar it appears you have given up pirating. Maury, I am pleased with the ports. There is more work to do in cleaning them up, but I need to invert the hull for that. Druxey, believe me, no one would try to pass these scraps off as their own work, but thanks for defending my rights to them. Spent most of themorning sharpening chisels so no measurable progress today. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 78 –Middle Deck Framing continued It has been almost another two weeks since the last post. Again, the work is pretty repetitive – a carbon copy of the lower deck – but with fancier pillars. Work continues, however. At the bow, as seen in the first picture, the installation of lodging knees has begun. This has provided something of a break in the hanging knee/beam work going on aft. In the next picture lodging knee installation has been followed by the ledges and also the bolts associated with each beam. Meanwhile, in the next picture, 240 feet aft, the deck hook at the stern has been fitted, followed by the first few beams. The deck hook was made in two pieces to save Swiss pear trees. That center seam will be covered by central deck planks as was done on the lower deck. As middle deck beams were installed, the aft view ports could be cut, as shown in the next picture. There is only one level in view in these aft openings because the rising line is quite high this far back, so there is nothing much to see below the lower deck. The last picture shows the current state of the middle deck beam work aft. The work goes fast when I stay with it, but this time of the year there is much else to do. Ed

Hello Mark, The pin holes that set the location of the pillars at the bottom are drilled into the centers of the planks on either side of the centerline and on the centers of the beams below. Then, when the pillar is fitted on the bottom pin the top is adjusted by eye wen glued - to the others and to be vertical in the fore and aft direction - again by eye. After the glue has set,the top pinholes are drilled down through the beam above into the top of the pillar. Nothing too fancy. Ed

Thank you all for these comments and "likes" - most appreciated. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 77 –Middle Deck Framing continued It has been almost two weeks since the last post due mainly to the similarity of the lower and middle decks – not a lot of new stuff. However, the middle deck framing is proceeding quickly – perhaps it’s the learning curve. The first picture shows beam installation progressing from the bow aft. The beams, hanging knees, pillars and carlings are all being installed progressively – leaving the lodging knees and ledges until later. This has helped with the pace. The next picture shows a carling being fitted. The carling seats were cut out at the bench based on marks made on the model with the beams pinned – so the carling fitting goes very fast. The next picture is a close up of the carlings for the above beam. The wet spots are from washing off excess glue. The pillars are set at the bottom on a piece of wire fit into a drilled hole – after adjusting the length to fit. They are then glued top and bottom. Wire “bolts” into the top will be added later. The pillars were offset to permit long through bolts that were used to hold the beams tightly when side hull stresses would tend to separate them. In the next picture wire “bolts” have been epoxied through the beams at the ends and into each pillar. The bolts at the very end pin the beams in place. The bolts just inside of those are inserted at an angle, down into the hanging knees to give their connection additional reinforcement. The last two pictures show the current status of the work on the middle deck. The work will now continue from the stern forward. It is easier to do the small end beams starting from the stern deck hook. Ed

Thanks, Guy, for your continuing and loyal support - and also to those who commented or "liked" since the last post. I am not on vacation, but have been consumed with some other things - mostly related to the model - drawings patterns, rigging schedule, etc. The middle deck is also long a quite like the lower, so there is not much new to show. However, I willtry to get the next part up soon. Thanks, again. You all keep me motivated. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 76 –Middle Deck Framing Since the last post eight middle deck beams and one pair of half beams have been installed – along with their hanging knees and pillars. Lodging knees will follow. The first picture shows the first four beams and two pillars installed. The beams are glued bolted to the clamps with copper wire - epoxied in. There will also be copper wire bolts through the beams into the tops of each hanging knee for extra strength. The pillars are reinforced with wire into the beams top and bottom. The next picture shows the first of the carlings installed. These are going in after the pillars to leave space for fitting those. In the next picture, the next beam has been glued in and is awaiting its hanging knees. Once the beams are in place to support the clamp over the view openings, they can be cut out – as in the above picture. The next picture shows the first two of three openings cut into the forward view area. The next picture shows those openings from the inside. This area is now ready for the headers around the fore mast and the half beams to those headers. The areas below the middle deck are having wax finish applied progressively as the work above is finished. In the next picture the two headers and half beams have been installed astride the fore mast opening, The beam, knee and pillar bolts mentioned above were also in when this picture was taken. The last picture shows the current extent of the work completed. This work is going faster than the lower deck framing, mainly because there are no knees on the pillars. Patterns for the middle deck knees were also lofted more carefully using a different process - meaning the initial fits are better. Also, deferring the lodging knees is probably more efficient. Ed

Thanks for the pictures, David. I am sure that at the prevailing freight rates she was jammed to the gun'ls. SawdustDave, I can't answer your question. You need an entymologist for that one. But related to that, unlike many other aging clippers, I do not think Young America ever had to suffer the indignities of the detested guano trade. However, my minimal undrstanding of that is that the ships were moored under the chutes and basically filled up. Ammonia cocktail, anyone? Ed

Thanks, again, for the comments. On the cargoes, Guy has it quite right - anything that the market demanded - in Gold Rush California that meant just about any saleable commodity. The hold, lower and upper decks were basically jammed with cargo, the hatches sealed and caulked and usually no one went below the main deck until it was time to unload. She did make one run from Hong Kong to Manila with 800 coolies aboard and in her last years under Austrian ownership she carried a lot of Pennsylvania crude oil to Trieste. Attached is a cargo list from her October 1854 voyage from NYC to SF that will give you an idea of typical cargo - if you can decipher it. Right click and open link to magnify. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 75 – Lower Deck Finishing/ Middle Deck Beams The finishing touches on the lower deck are finally complete. The first four pictures show the last stages of the work. The first picture shows the last section of binding strake being installed. As usual the dark area are wet from washing off excess glue. The two central planks aft of the after hatch are also being glued. The opening for the mizzenmast will be cut later. The next picture shows final planking around the main masts. The planks astride the openings are need for the pillars. There is not much planking on this deck – to maximize visibility of the hold. After this final planking, all of the remaining treenails were installed and all of the copper bolts blackened in preparation for finish. In the next picture the starboard side framing has received the first application of wax solution. The side planking is left unfinished so the hanging knees can be glued. The next picture shows a closer view above the forward hatch after the first coat of finish was applied. The planks have been cut for the fore mast opening and left unfinished for later gluing of the pillars. The next picture shows fitting of the middle deck beams in progress. These have been cut to size, shaped at the ends to match the frames and pinned in place temporarily. In the next picture all of the full width beams have been pinned in place. Ed

Sorry to be confusing in flipping back and forth between real and scale dimensions, Dave, I almost always use actual historical feet and inches to express ship or ship part dimensions so you can convert to scaled, model sized dimensions in cm or ft-in as you prefer. These ships were built in the English system of measure - not that it matters in scaling. However when talking about tools - like the 2" saw blade - or even the thickness of the starting block for the knees - 1" thick - I will usually use actual feet and inches, since it makes no sense to say I'm using a 12 foot diameter saw blade on my Preac - or even - a block of pear 6 feet thick. When expressing some model dimensions, like the finished siding thickness of the knees, I will sometimes indicate both the actual, unscaled plus the scaled- as in the last post - 12"(.167"). The .167" is the 1:72 equivalent of the unscaled 12" - in this case to better describe the actual size of the piece being sliced off. I hope this explanation has not confused you even more. I do understand why it might. The most frequently used tool in my workshop is the 1:72 conversion chart that converts real unscaled dimensions to scaled dimensions. A copy is attached. Rulers, English or metric are the least used. Ed 1to72 Inch Conversions.pdf

Thank you, everyone - for the comments, "likes" and the questions. As for the questions: Pops, I'm afraid its all book learning and practice over 40+ years - a great deal of furniture work, other mdoelmaking and two previous ship models - both on these pages. A close look will tell you I'm no perfectionist, but I am productive. Its a balance for me. Mark, the knees are sliced off on a 2" diameter Preac table saw using a fairly thin slotting saw blade. Because of the shape these require two passes, each made with one knee arm up so they can be held from above through the cut. Two push sticks can also be used. This double cut sometimes leaves a visible cut line, which is sanded off. These are 12" (.167") so I usually get 5 from a 1" thick shape. These could be cut individually from a .167" blank, but the method shown saves hours (and sanity). ...and yes, Young America had very beautiful lines - for which I, of course, take no credit. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 74 – Middle Deck Parts Posts to the log have not been as frequent because much of the work has been repetitive. In the next phase – the middle deck – the work will be a virtual carbon copy of the lower deck. Very little work remains to finish the lower deck – mainly treenailing and some deck planking. While that is being completed, parts for the middle deck are being made. In the first picture some sample turned pillars have been made to help me decide on the choice of woods for these. Six dozen are required for the next two decks. Turned pillars above the lower and middle decks were probably black locust – a favorite wood for that application – and for treenails. The four options pictured are, left to right, Castelo, Cherry, Mahogany and Black Walnut. I loved the color of the Honduras Mahogany but the pores are a bit distracting –same with the Walnut. They could be filled but not on these small pieces – maybe for the upper deck rails. So I decided on the cherry. It is slightly darker than the pear I am using for oak members. For the final versions of these a new lathe bit for the beads was required. After quite a lot of fiddling with the shape and the depth of the cut the tool in the following picture was used. The next picture shows the beads on a pillar being turned. The piece is held in a self-centering four jaw Sherline chuck, running on my ancient Unimat SL. The homemade brass adapter for the chuck can be seen in the lower left corner. The cherry square is kept on center inside a close fitting brass sleeve in the tailstock chuck. Cutting depth is set by the brass half sleeve stop slipped over the cross-feed rods – visible just below the cutting tool. The beads are cut first and the piece removed so others can use the same setup. That set up is then changed and the area between the beads turned in about the same way. The next picture shows the first two dozen pillars in progress. Deck beams were also made. The picture below shows the middle deck set before cutting to length. The clamp template in the picture is used on a router table to impart the top of the beam curve – a recycled tool from Naiad – but with a different round up. Once the curve is put on the top of a blank, the beam is parted off and run upside down through the thickness sander. I have described this process on a few earlier posts and it is described in detail in Naiad Vol II. Knees, knees, knees – about ten dozen are needed for the middle deck. Below the pattern sheet for the starter set of hanging knees has been pasted to a pear blank about an inch thick. After cutting out on the scroll saw the 12” thick knees will be sliced off. The next picture shows the pieces after cutting to shape with some ripped to size. The shape of these knees will need to be refined to fit each location – from about eight basic shapes. Finally, the out-of-date drawing on the shipway board was replaced with a new one with latest revisions - and is it clean!. The picture below was taken before setting up the end supports – to give a good view of the stern hull lines. Ed

Incredible work, Karl. Absolutely beautiful. Ed

Guy, your approach sounds like mine - out of the scrapbox, cut to fit the situation,then usually back into he box.

Having done a photo-etch design for the Naiad stove, its clear that PierLuigi's work is in a different league. IfI were toput his stove in a model the forecastle would have to be left off to display it. Beautiful, meticulous design and modeling. Ed

Mark, if your wedges are made as beautifully as your other tools, mine would be unrecognizable beside them. I tend to cut mine on the fly - often after applying glue. But the subjest warants some thought because they have many virtues as holding devices. One of the things I was thinking about was opposed sets - to bridge wider spaces - also laid parallel to the planking. Maybe a common angle for all, so they could be used interchangeably. Hmmm. Ed

Extraordinary work as always, Mark. Your precision always knocks me out. Ed

maturin, you are welcome. There are a variety of fastenings visible. Some are dummies for show. Some are functional and contribute to the strength of the model. All are based on the type, sizes and locations on the original ship - but usually in lesser number. The functional bolts are copper wire that is epoxied into the holes from both ends forming very strong joints. Most of the lower hull structural work is fastened in this way - bilge ceiling, deck clamps, keel, keelson, etc. . One reason for this is to add strength so when the view ports are cut out their will be no problems. Many of the copper bolts get blackened before applying finish. Some are left copper. Black monofilament is used for many bolts, glued in with CA. Treenails are bamboo, glued in with dark glue. These and some of the monofilament may add some strength to glue joints. Ed

Thank you, Salvatore. That is truly beautiful work. I'm very envious. A masterpiece - certainly at 1:60. Ed

Thanks, everyone for the comments and all the "likes". Allan, wedging seems to be the best way to tight joints if it can be done. My wedges are usually cut "just-in-time" so they a pretty ad hoc. It may be worth some thinking to develop a better set of wedging tools. For example, they way they are cut sometimes leaves grain that doesn't allow easy wedging. There is also the issue of too much space to allow wedging. Often clamps are also needed to get the planks tight to the frames - especially true with the iron strapping. As you say, sizing of planks - breadth and thickness is also important. Its probably best to cut the fully supply of planks at the start so tools do not have to be reset when a new batch is needed. Always lots of "process development" to do. Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853 Part 73 – Lower Deck continued Work continues on the lower deck. In the first picture a forward section of binding strake is being glued in place held by pins. These structural strakes were often let down on the beam by an inch or so, but because this depth is so small at this scale I did not score the beams and merely reduced the depth of the strake by an inch. As with many details, Young America’s exact configuration is unknown. The binding strakes are bolted into each beam and horizontally into the waterways. Inside these strakes were margin planking – wider planks that allow the ends of forward planking to be cut into them. I will not be installing these on the deck – to leave the ends of the lodging knees visible from above. In the next picture the next section of binfding strake is being installed. Planking on the centerline is in progress. This planking is 3 ½” thick. I made these 7” wide. These are required as bases for the middle deck pillars. I have not yet decided if any planking beyond the two central strakes will be installed on this deck. The next picture shows further work near the bow. The fore hatchway is complete including its bolts. Although not very visible due to sanding dust, the treenails and bolts for all this work have been installed. Next is a picture of the port side forward. There will be no ladder ways into the hold. These would probably have been movable and taken up after the cargo was loaded – and before the hatches were sealed for the voyage. This gives a pretty good idea of the forward view port. The unplanked frames will be removed below the middle deck clamp down to the lower futtock heads – when I summon the courage to cut them out. The next picture shows the port side aft. The aft view port will only extend from the top of the lower deck clamp to the underside of the middle deck clamp. Next are two pictures showing most of the hull at its current state – i.e. today. Once the remaining bolts and treenails and the few remaining bits of binding strake and central planking are installed, I can move on the middle deck. Ed

E&T, The use of terms like "fir" and "pine" leave much to the imagination. Variations between species within these broad terms are considerable. For example Douglas fir vs. the softer Balsam fir - or Longleaf (hard) pine vs. the softer much weaker Sugar pine. In both cases the latter species is substantially weaker, while longleaf pine rivals white (like English) oak in strength, while Live Oak is 50% stronger than white. So much for generic names. Ed