EdT

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 155– Quarterdeck/Forecastle continued
Posted 10/14/12
 
Work has been moving forward at a good pace on the decking and the inside planking of the quarterdeck and forecastle.  The first picture shows the spirketing and the “berthing up” of the qdeck well along.  The temporary roughtree rail has been removed but saved as a drilling template for the final rail.
 

 
There are still a few strakes of decking to be added to the outside planked area on this deck, and of course the decking in the center area, which is awaiting the framing of the numerous hatch openings.  The top strakes of side planking aft will await the installation of the fixed blocks on the aft framing.  I will be glad to dispense with the unsightly bomb shelter – but not yet.  I have whacked it several times already.
 
The next picture shows the berthing up from the outside of the hull.
 
 

 
This side will be exposed as shown but some ribbands and of course the roughtree rail will be added.
 
The next picture from above shows the decking leveled out and rough sanded.
 

 
The three ports in this picture are 9-pounder ports – open up to the roughtree rail.
 
In the next picture the waterway on the forecastle is being glued down.
 

 
The forward end of this piece was curved into shape by my usual method of boiling, pinning/clamping it in place, allowing it to thoroughly dry, then finish sanding it and gluing it down.  The next picture shows this on the starboard side.
 

 
In the next picture two sections of the lower strake of spirketing on either side of the cathead are drying after boiling.  The aft section is glued in.
 

 
The decking of the forecastle has been going on concurrently and is all installed in this picture.  Although difficult to discern in this picture, the five outside strakes are “hooked” at their forwards ends with the fifth hook cut into the waterway.  The remaining inside planks are angled at the end to fit the waterway and cathead.  The waterway between the cathead and dummy bowsprit and the strake of spirketing above it are being installed in this picture.
 
In the next picture the next strake of spirketing has been installed up to the aft side of the forward carronade port and the forward section is clamped in place and drying out.
 
 

 
In this picture the planking has been leveled out.  The lines of nail holes have been marked for drilling.  The next picture shows the same status on the starboard side, but there will be no decking on this side.
 

 
The aft carronade port sill on this side is a bit low – another error due to premature port framing.  Fortunately both sides of this port will be planked over so the repair will be hidden.  Otherwise, the match in heights of the topside and the breadth of the spirketing band on both sides matches up.  Only one of the timberheads required some surgery.  They should finish up pretty well.  I have been concerned about this since these frames were installed – over two years ago.  I did not want to have to use short dummies for these.  The hole marks in the decking can be seen in this picture.
 
 
Ed
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 154– Quarterdeck/Gangway
Posted 10/10/12
 
The installation of the skid beams was completed this week.  The first picture shows a pillar for the next to last beam.
 
 

 
The beam is mortised to fit the tenon on the top of this pillar, which is also tenoned into the center plank at the bottom.  Each of these pillars rests on top of a beam.  Where necessary the bases are cut back to fit against the head ledges of the hatchways as shown in the picture.
 
The next picture shows all of the skid beams installed . . . .
 
 

 
. . . . and thus, finally all the deck beams in the model.  This was the last of them and the last of the fabrication of iron knees – a major milestone.
 
The next picture shows the beginning of the quarterdeck planking.
 
 
 

 
All the planking at this level is 3” thick.  The waterway against the frames is 4” thick, 11” wide and bearded down to just above the top of the next plank..  The planks are being set with a 3-butt shift with a minimum of 6 feet between butts, except that I am avoiding short planks at the ends.
 
The next picture shows the gangway planking installed.
 
 

 
The plank butts here are given less shift to keep the planks long, given the wide spacing between beams.  The 3” thick planksheer will fit against the outermost plank on top of the frames so it will be flush with the gangway decking.  It will extend outward beyond the side planking enough to allow a round molded edge.
 
In the next picture the first strakes of spirketing are being installed.
 

 
The top corners of these forward ends will be cut back later to match the curved ends of the drift rails.  The tops of the frames have been roughly cut back to this shape.  The next picture shows this area from the inside.
 

 
In this picture the decks have been leveled out.  The ends of the gangway planks fit into a rabbet cut into the front of the breast beams, similar but not as wide as the rabbet for the qdeck planks.  I may be a bit ahead of myself with the top strake of spirketing.  As installed its top is at the height of the 9-pounder port sills, but I need to do some research to discover if these ports had linings.  If so the top strake will need to be raised to match the lining top.  These are currently drafted with no sills.  Any opinions?
 
The last picture shows the outside of the frames in the waist area.
 

 
I believe all of the bolts are installed except for those securing the two large cleats inside.  The frames need to be finish sanded before installing the planksheer.  This is well along on the frames to the left in  this picture.  Pinholes above the ports from the temporary ribbands that were removed earlier are still visible.  These will be covered by a permanent ribband like the one just visible in the lower right corner.  There will also be one in between.  When all the finished sanding and buffing is done the copper scuppers shown in this picture will be blackened to simulate lead.
 
At this stage of the work, the accuracy in the placement of the heavy structural members meets the intricate detail of the finish carpentry – and the inaccuracies in the former start to come home to roost.  A lot of dimension checking has been going on this week.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed
 
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 153– Skid Beams
Posted 10/4/12
 
 
There are two large cleats to be made and bolted to the side in the waist before installing the overhead beams.  These secured the lines that reeve through the fixed blocks discussed in the last post. 
 
These, like the iron structural knees, were made from copper electrical wire – in this case 12 gauge.  The first picture shows one of these during the final shaping process.
 
 

 
The next picture shows a pair installed on the port side.
 

 
The next picture shows the five skid beams positioned on their clamps over the waist.
 
 

 
Each of these will be secured at the ends with a single iron knee – much like the other beams at this level – but these are spaced further apart.  The contract language had not quite caught up with the practice of permanently installed skid beams flush with the fore and aft decks at this level, so some assumptions were made in deciding how these are secured as well as there spacing.   These were placed over upper deck beams to allow a pillar to be installed under the center of each one.  They are the longest beams at this level and would be pretty “springy” without pillars.
 
In the next picture a pillar is being turned from a strip of pear.  The piece is turned at high speed – secured in a four jaw centering chuck with a dead center being used to steady the other end.  There is no four-jaw centering chuck for the Unimat, so a brass adapter was made to use the Sherline chuck.  This is visible in the picture.
 

 
The next picture shows some turned pillars before sizing.
 
 

 
The two tools used to turn these are shown in the picture.
 
The next picture shows the first beam installed with its iron knees and pillar.
 

 
The next picture shows the first two beams installed from above.
 

 
The last picture shows the same two installed beams.
 

 
This picture shows chocks fit between the beams – similar to those used with the iron knees in other locations.  There are a lot of obstructions on the side planking in the waist and fitting the knees was something of a challenge.  The curved side mounted knee shown in this picture is typical of most of the skid beam knees – of necessity.
 
Installing the remaining three skid beams should be straightforward.  This will complete the last of the deck beams – a total of 115 for all the decks.  Not exactly a three decker, but a lot of work to check off as finished.
 
Ed
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 152– Fixed Blocks
Posted 9/30/12
 
Before installing the skid beams in the waist, some details need to be added.  These include on each side a fixed single block for the main tack and a double version for the fore and spritsail sheets and iron cleats for these lines.  I will also install turned pillars under the skid beams.  All this work has been proceeding concurrently for the past few days.  I will cover the blocks in this part.
 
These were assemblies that were bolted from the inside through a lap joint inset into the internal planking with the outside of the block flush with the outer planking – as will be seen below.  Steel gives quite specific dimensions for these including the bolts through the laps.
 
The first picture shows the way I made these as a sandwich of built up strips.  The very small sheave thickness of 1 ¼” for the spritsail sheet block dictates this approach.  I just don’t have a milling bit that small – or long enough.  The sandwich approach also leaves very clean and precisely sized openings.  The first picture shows an assembly from which both blocks will be cut. 
 
 

 
The files are to remove glue residue and round the ends a bit.  The next picture shows the first of these sized to the correct depth of 12”.
 
 

 
The sheaves slant downward somewhat in the aft direction.  After facing off the slant on the top, the bottom face was cut to size by ripping on the circular saw.
 
The next picture shows a double block casing.  The lap ears still need to be trimmed to size.
 
 

 
Sheaves of the correct diameter and thickness were turned from pear and dyed almost black.  I believe these would have been made from lignum vitae – a dense, oily, dark, tropical hardwood.  Pins were inserted in drilled through-holes – but not until the block casing was fit into the side and trimmed on flush on the outside – just before final installation.  Two small holes for ¾” bolts were also drilled in each ear – also after fitting.  All this was the easy part.
 
I won’t go into all the gory details of cutting the openings and fitting these neatly into the sides.  The casing fits snuggly between two frames with a frame between these two cut out.  Steel shows this detail in one of his plates.  These must have been installed after the planking otherwise the cut frame would be loose. 
 
The next picture shows the finished block for the main tack on the starboard side on the inside of the hull, which is not planked.
 

 
The next picture shows this block on the outside.
 
 

 
The next picture shows the finished counterpart on the port side, which is planked.
 

 
It just fits between the port and the top rider.  I see in this picture that the iron hanging knee under the breast beam just forward of the rider did not get blackened – notice?  The next picture shows this block on the unplanked outside of the hull.
 
 

 
The last picture shows the main tack block and the double blocks for the sheets on the outside.
 
 

 
I had some interference problems with the top riders just forward of these double blocks.  This required some surgery on the riders – still thinking about the solution to this.  I think the original draftsman wasn’t thinking about blocks when locating the riders – and neither was I when copying his locations.
 
In the next part I will cover the cleats in the waist on the planked side, the pillars and hopefully some skid beam installation.
 
Ed
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 151– Completing the Quarterdeck Beams
Posted 9/27/12
 
Two rainy days have helped move the quarterdeck framing to completion.  In the first picture the beam over the partition between the coach and the captain’s day cabin has been installed, the partition is installed and a top retaining cant is being glued into place.  Cants at the base on either side of the double doors have been installed.
 

 
In this picture the upper door hinges have somehow gone astray.  They have been restored in the next picture.
 

 
In the next picture all but the last of the beams have been installed.
 
 
 
 

 
In this picture the area around the lodging knees is still wet from washing the glue off. 
 
In the next picture, the last beam is being sprung to allow it to drop into place.
 

 
Because of the inward slant of the sides all of the beams needed to be slightly sprung to fit in from the top.  The next picture shows the aft end of the model after the quarterdeck beams were all installed.
 

 
The ugly bunker is still in place and will be for some time.  With all the beams installed it was time to complete the bolting for all the deck framing on the exterior of the port side.
 

 
This side will be left unplanked so the bolts can be installed now.  This step will have to await the planking being added on the other side.  The blue tape in this picture has been applied on the line of the lodging knees to help keep the line of holes neat.  These are all “dummy” bolts.  The inside heads were installed in the knees before setting the beams.  As I have mentioned before, I gave up trying to drill these all the wat through from the outside and hit the right spot on the knee.
 
In the next picture the quarterdeck lodging knee bolts have all been installed and a bolt for one of the gun port eyebolts is being inserted.
 
 

 
The vertical lines of bolts in this picture are those of the iron hanging knees.  I have been intent on getting as many of the structural bolts as possible installed.  There is no neat pattern to this multitude of fasteners.  Once this work is done, this portion of the framing can be given its finish sanding.
 
The work will now move to the waist.
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 150– Aft Quarterdeck Beams
Posted 9/25/12
 
Moving right along this week. Anticipating the completion of the quarterdeck framing, I applied the turpentine wax finish to most of the upper deck framing, decking and sides – excluding the area where the captain’s cabin partition will be installed – while access was available. The contrast between the unfinished and the finished areas can be seen in the first picture.
 
 

 
The next picture shows the finish on the deck framing and sides on the starboard side. All the accessible areas on the upper deck were finished at this time except as mentioned and also in the waist where the beams still need to be installed.
 
 

 
The next picture shows the remaining quarterdeck beams aft of the wheel fitted with their lodging knees and set temporarily in place.
 

 
The mizzenmast is just aft of the wheel and there are some eyebolts in the deck on either side. I had neglected reinforcing carlings under these on the drawings and so did not cut seats in the beam at the aft side of the wheel. In the next picture this is being corrected.
 

 
The bunker had to be removed from the wheel for this, so I was extra careful using the saw and chisels for this work. In the next picture the next two beams with carlings are being installed.
 

In the next picture the decking on either side of the wheel pedestals is being installed. I figured I’d get all this work done while the lid was off the wheel.
 
 

 
In the next picture the ends of the planks have been trimmed and the mast ring installed. The whole for the mast was cut in the planking in place – another risky process next to the exposed wheel. The planks butt up against the fore side of the companion – the glazed set of windows that illuminated the coach underneath – to be installed later.
 
 

 
The mast ring was turned in boxwood and has an opening just over 18” in diameter. In this picture the wheel has been given a coat of wax finish. The next picture is a close up of this work.
 
 

 
The plank on the near side shows a dark painted edge. I use dark paint to highlight the caulked joints. The paint is applied before the planks are ripped to thickness. Additional planking is to be installed on this side.
 
As soon as this work was done the bunker was replaced over the wheel. Fortunately no mishaps.
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 149– Captain’s Cabins
Posted 9/23/12
 
 
It has been a few weeks since the last post.  I had some other things to do and spent the last week lying on the beach.  Now back to work.  In the last part the steering gear was rigged.  The remaining framing of the upper deck – the ledges aft of the partition and the four half beams over the tiller – could then be installed.  The first picture shows these additions.
 

 
In this picture the decking is being installed aft of the partition on the port side.  The cants at the base of the partition are installed after the decking.
 
Before much of this work was done it was clear that the steering wheel needed some protection from me.  With all the rigging now buried under structure, any breakage at this stage would be very hard to repair, so the bomb shelter shown in the next picture was installed before going any further.
 

 
This strong cover was made from scrap hardwood and clamped on the beams with a screw on each side.  I think that even I will have a hard time breaking this.
 
Before detailing the cabins, the iron transom knees were installed.  The next picture shows these for the upper deck seat transom and the quarterdeck transom – on the port side.
 

 
The fore and aft legs of these knees jog down to fit under the deck beams and the opening to the quarter gallery.  I see one bolt missing in this picture – one of the reasons I take pictures.  The next picture shows these after blackening.
 
 

 
A similar knee, installed much earlier,  for the upper deck transom, can be seen in this picture.
 
The next picture shows one of these knees on the port side after some of the finish carpentry in the great cabin was installed. 
 
 

 
The lower knee is hidden with a step under the opening to the quarter gallery, which is fitted with a sliding door.  The wide benches are typical of frigates, where this cabin is directly above both the lower and the upper counters.  Larger ships provide the captain and/or admiral with a lot more usable floor space.  This picture also illustrates why aft chase guns are impractical on this deck.  This finish work is installed on the port side only.  The hexagonal cabinet over the rudder head is cut away to show that detail.  None of this wood work has had finish applied.
 
The next picture provides a larger view.
 

 
There will be a partition across the deck between the two gun ports in this picture.
 
The next picture provides a closeup.
 
 

 
This degree of finish work was deemed sufficient for the lowly frigate post captain – no paneling of the sides, some exposed ironwork, and of course the floor space reduced by the wide benches.
 
The last picture shows the great cabin from above.
 
 

 
Except for the partition separating this area from the sleeping cabin and the coach this is the extent of the interior work.  This picture also shows the cutaway of the rudder cover and the full structural detail on the starboard side.
 
 
Ed
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 148– Installing the Wheel 2
Posted 9/4/12
 
In Part 147 the framing of the hatchways between the capstan and the wheel were constructed.  Three of the openings have gratings and the third is a ladderway.  In the first picture the grating ledges are being formed on the circular saw with the help of an auxiliary Plexiglas®  table with an inset guide strip.
 
 

 
The blade is a .045” slotting saw.  This is equivalent to the 3-inch width of the grating sections.  The guide strip and the distance to the blade are both the same measurement (.045”).
 
The next picture shows the gratings being installed.
 
 

 
The center grating is finished.  Before installing it was curved to match the curve of the head ledges by passing it across the shoulder of a 25-watt soldering iron.  The grating to the left has not been sanded yet.  The one to the right had to fit in a very slightly larger opening, so the first strips were glued in using the opening as a guide.  The remaining to ledges were spaced in between.  The difference in spacing is unnoticeable as can be seen in the next picture.
 

 
Here the assembly is almost ready to be glued.  It just needs a few bolts holes for locating pins.  The corners of these hatchway frames will be rounded after the decking is installed.
 
The next step was to install the forward bulkhead to the captains quarters to stiffen up the beam under the aft pedestal of the wheel.  This is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The paneled sections are 2’ 6” wide and were built up using thin boxwood stiles and panels on both sides of a single thin boxwood sheet cut to fit the space under the beam.  The door hardware is ebony.
 
The next picture shows the wheel assembly being glued down to the beams.
 

 
Finally, after the glue on this dried, it was time to rig up the wheel and see if it would move the rudder.
 
The next three pictures show the final rigged wheel – and I am relieved to say it works.
 
 

 
It turned out to be much easier to thread up than I had anticipated.  I had left off the framing and decking over the tiller assembly to be able to access the tiller tackle that was installed much earlier.
 
 

 
With the rope threaded through and put under tension, a seizing was tied just forward of the tensioning tackle then given a drop of glue.
 
The last picture is a closeup of the wheel showing the wrapping of the rope.
 

 
The picture also shows small strips on either side of the central plank.  When the adjacent slotted planking is added these strips will appear to be part of those planks.  The aft end of the central plank will later be shaped to fit around the mizzenmast opening.
 
I have been working toward this milestone for some time.  It allows the remaining upper deck framing and the detailing of the captains’s cabins to proceed.
 
Ed
 
 

I'm sorry Randy, but I am still not following you.  The deck beams do not bolt through the frames or even into the frames if /I recall correctly.  If you can give me the drawing reference it may help.  IF you refer to page 136, Vol I, Figure 10-11 shows the detail for the model bolting.  Bolts are placed through the beam into the clamp and into the hanging knee.  Is this the detail you are referring to?
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 146– Capstan/Cathead Detailing
Posted 8/4/12
To finish up on the capstan: The first picture shows the hole in the quarterdeck step being bored on the lathe.
 
 

 
The hole was sized to fit the bearing area on the capstan barrel. Two of these were made, then split down their centers to make two equal halves.
 
The next picture shows the two part step being glued in placed around the capstan.
 

 
Once the capstan was completely fabricated and finished, the next beam aft of it was installed with it in place. It will not fit between these beams in one piece. I did not want to make the single barrel in two pieces. The step carlings were then installed followed by the step itself as shown above. There will be hatchways and gratings fore and aft of the capstan.
 
The next picture shows the finished installation without the aft beams in place.
 
 

 
The starboard side of the upper step was cut back to just enough to hold the capstan securely in place to allow visibility from the starboard side to the lower parts. Unfortunately all those iron strips on the barrel bearing face are not visible.
 
I had not fully detailed the catheads earlier and decided to do that now. The paneled surfaces on the side were cut as shown below.
 
 

 
The next pictures show some of the work on the end caps carving.
 

 
The first step on these small star carvings was to face turn the buttons in the center on the lathe with the small square piece set up in a four jaw chuck. The area around the button was then pared back. It is glued to a piece of paper on a wood block. This piece of paper saw a lot of use in carving the taffrail figures.
 

 
The final size of the endplate was drawn on the piece. The points of the star were then laid out by scribing lines to each of the centers of the sides and the corners – all tangential to the round button. The eight point star shape was then carved out with small chisels – using an optivisor.
 
The next picture shows the starboard cathead installed.
 
 

 
The planking on this side will be completed right up to the topside.
 
And the last picture shows the installed cathead on the port side.
 
 

 
As I have mentioned before, the port side will be unplanked, except in areas where structure is built over the planking. The port head structure will be built over the planning in this picture.
 
Now back to those dreary deck beams.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 145– Capstan
Posted 8/1/12
 
First, many thanks to the administrators for making more upload space available – so I’m back to the old format.
 
While everyone was focused on my hard earned scrap pile (really guys!), I was busy finishing the capstan which I started back in Part 130.  But first, here’s one last picture of the taffrail figures after giving them a bit of finish to bring out the relief.
 
 

 
They look better with the finish.  I used the wax and turpentine mixture that I have used everywhere else on the model but added just a trace of a dark Minwax stain to the solution to put some darkness into the cuts.  The work on the stern decoration is now essentially complete.  I have been relieved of the agony of lettering the name on the upper counter by the Admiralty order, probably around the start of the war with France (1793?), that ordered the discontinuation of name boards.  I thought I had a nice solution for this task but it didn’t pan out.  Fortunately I didn’t need it, but I tested it out anyway without success.  No mystery.  I was hoping to make my own dry transfers from inkjet printouts.  Turned out looking like decals.
 
On to the capstan.  The barrel, the drumhead and the pall head were made earlier.  The next step was to make the trundlehead -  the head on the lower assembly.  The first picture shows the machining of the square holes for the bars.  The top of this was parted off on the lathe as a disk, the same milling operation was the performed on remaining piece, these were then glued up cross grain, and the trundle head was the turned on the lathe.
 
 

 
At the suggestion of Keith, I used a dial indicator to center this so the slots would be centered on diagonals and therefore match with the mating piece.  A very helpful suggestion. A Unimat 48 tooth indexing head is being used in the picture setup in the Sherline mill.  A rotary table could have been used but I like the positive indexing of the gearhead and this also allowed me to use the same chuck for the slotting and the turning.
 
The next picture shows the completed trundlehead (in the center of the barrel) and the other two heads fitted to the barrel along with the upper whelps that fit to the barrel under the drumhead.
 

 
There is another set of these – different sizes of course – on the lower part.  The copper reinforcing rings on the heads were photo-etched copper and are secured by small copper wire “bolts” – no cement to mess up the blackeneing.
 
The whelps were made by hand.  After cutting the scores for the chocks in a single, wide piece of Boxwood, the whelps were parted off and the outside faces shaped.  The two to the right are just-in-case spares and never did get shaped.
 
The next picture shows the upper whelps installed and the assembly set up in place
 

 
The bottom of the whelps clear the top of the quarterdeck step, which will be installed later.  Because the heads are larger than the beam spacing, the capstan needs to be in place before adding the next beam.
 
The next picture shows the pall head in the process of having its ratchet arms installed.  .
 
 
 

 
These will ride in the pall ring inset in the upper deck step where stops are installed to prevent reversal of direction.
 
Finally, the completed capstan is shown in position inside the pall ring on the lower step.
 
 

 
After polishing the wood and metalwork and then cleaning the copper with acetone, all the metal was blackened with liver of sulfur.  The black monofilament bolts were then added and the entire assembly given a coat of wax finish.  It will tone down a bit when dry.
 
The last picture is a closer view.
 

 
The ratchet arms are visible in this picture.  The iron strips in the barrel below the quarter deck were installed as a bearing surface.  The entire assembly is supported on a metal shaft a metal cup bearing set in the lower step.  The upper step will be installed in two pieces around the barrel.  There is nothing to keep the assembly down.  I may need to add something.  The real capstan probably relied on its weight, and since no one was turning the ship upside down…
 
Cheers,
 
Ed
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 138–Stern Galleries 4 –Quarter Piece Figures
Posted 6/18/12
 
The ratio of hours spent per cubic inch of wood has been skyrocketing lately. The work is still being driven by the necessary construction sequence. As I mentioned earlier, I want to finish all the work that requires the hull to be upside down before returning to the detailing of the quarterdeck, so this meant doing all the stern detailing earlier than expected.
 
The first picture shows the stools and rim for the port quarter galleries being installed.
 
 

 
The next required timbers are the quarter pieces, which need to be in place before the quarter gallery windows are done. To do the quarter pieces I wanted to have the quarter piece figures carved so all this could be fit up together.
 
The next picture shows the final (I think) design for the quarter piece figures.
 

 
Several versions of these figures have been developed and some carved and fit up. In this picture, patterns for the figures for both sides have been pasted to pieces of European boxwood and the shapes cut out on the scroll saw.
 
There is no decoration plan for Naiad, so these figures are speculative. Naiads were fresh water nymphs so I wanted the figures to appear young and graceful. I looked at a lot of 19th century romantic artwork featuring mythological nymphs before settling on a design. In a previous post I showed an early version of the figures to be used toward the center of the taffrail. Those will be redone.
 
In the next picture these have been glued to a wood block with a layer of paper in between to allow them to be removed easily. Carving has begun. The plan was to carve these together to assure that they were at least similar.
 

 
This approach worked well. I had also made rough mockups of the taffrail figures using epoxy modeling compound. This was helpful in determining the amount of relief needed in various places on the figures. For the final carvings I started with the faces and if they looked Ok moved on to areas that needed to be deep. Both rotary tools and small carving tools were used.
 
The next picture shows one of the figures pasted in place temporarily on the starboard quarter piece to check for fit.
 

 
The figure is not finished, but the back has been sanded back to fit against the taffrail and post. The next picture was taken at the same time.
 

 
This picture helps give an idea of the proportions. I resized these a couple of times. There is a cap rail to be fitted on top of the taffrail. The figures hand will rest on this. The next picture shows the figure on the other side being fit in the same way.
 
 

 
The next picture shows the stern with both figures further along and pasted in place again. There was a lot of this back and forth.
 

 
In the last picture the figures have again been returned to the wood block for more detailing and polishing.
 
 

 
Hopefully the final refinements on these will get them to a finished state.
 
Once these are installed I will probably move on to all the windows. I’d like to do all these at once – rear and sides.
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 137– Constructing the Stern Galleries 3
Posted 6/10/12
 
 
A lot of work has been going on lately, but not too much to show yet. Carving ( and recarving) of the figures for the taffrail has been time consuming. I think I am approaching final versions but nothing to show yet. Sizing has been one issue. However, other work has been proceeding in parallel, but slowly.
 
The first picture shows the exterior decoration of the counter timbers between the windows.
 
 

 
The next picture is a closer view.
 

 
In addition to the columns, top and bottom sills were installed. The window units will fit into these openings.
 
The next picture shows planking of the lower counter being re-installed.
 

 
Two strakes of this had been removed to install the lower rail. The next picture shows the tuck rail on the staboard side being installed.
 

 
After forming, this was rabbeted top and bottom to fit over the planking. The lower rabbet is barely visible. This rail will only be installed on this side.
 
The next picture shows the rail and also the lower finishing shaped and fit under the lower stool of the starboard quarter gallery.
 

 
This picture also shows a cove rail with a bead fitted to the taffrail above the windows. This will be trimmed off at the ends to fit smaller cove rails at the ends. These will most likely be turned or milled using a rotary table – to avoid the sharp curvature needed.
 
The last picture shows the upper finishing being fit above the upper stool on the starboard side.
 
 

 
There is still some work to be done on this – shaping the slanted roof and cutting out the notch for the quarter piece. The quarter pieces on each side are large vertical members that are carved on the aft side. These slant back and in. A foot tenon fit in the mortise formed by the pieces at the aft end of the rim and its inside will butt against the taffrail end. I plan to make these in two pieces – the plain forward part installed first and the carved after section which will be attached later.
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 136– Constructing the Stern Galleries 2
Posted 6/3/12
 
 
A lot of the work shown below was done concurrently so the pictures are not in strict chronological order. After installing curved blocks for the lower ends of the quarter pieces as shown on one side in the first picture, the next step was to make and install the rims.
 

 
The rims are curved structural rails that run from the athwartship rail at the top of the upper counter. It rests on top of the lower quarter piece and bolts to the side of the hull just aft of the last port. Pencil marks showing the position at the side are visible in the above picture. The curve of the rims was formed on a wider piece of pear on a form after boiling the piece. In the next picture, the well dried rails are being sliced off this piece using the circular saw.
 

 
This method assures that the rails on both sides will be the same. In the next picture the starboard rim has been mortised through for the lower stanchions and window mullions and is pinned in place.
 

 
With the rim positioned the spots for mortises in the lower stool were marked. With the rim removed they were then cut out using a small burr in a rotary tool, then squared a bit with a small chisel. The next picture shows the rim and lower stanchions installed.
 
 

 
These stanchions are very tiny pieces and cutting tenons on the ends was a challenge. The aft end of the rim forms the closing side of the mortise for the upper part of the quarter piece, which will attach at the top to the taffrail. The stanchions will be planked over after the counter planking is trimmed back. The counter rails will be cut off at an angle to match similar side rails that will fit over both the rim and the lower stool.
 
The next picture gives a better view of the curve of the rim.
 

 
This picture also shows the counter timbers boxed in to form the framing of the stern windows. After this, five of the lower window sills were fit into place. One is being glued and clamped in this picture.
 
The next picture shows the sills from above and trim across the front of the timbers.
 
 

 
The forward sides of the counter timbers will be boxed over to match the aft sides. This will be done with scored columns with small pediments. A wide bench will be constructed below this on top of the seat transom – the cross member just aft of the rudder.. Most of this finish woodwork was improvised based on the White and McKay books on Diana and Pandora.
 
The next picture shows the completed planking and the rails of the upper counter.
 
 

 
Naiad is almost ready for her name. Two strakes of lower counter planking were removed and need to be replaced. There is also a tuck rail to be installed on one side where the planking meets the wing transom. There is a lot of terminology associated with all this, so I hope my descriptions are intelligible.
 
The window top and side sills are not yet installed. The 9-pane window deadlights will be installed within those sills. The specifications call for deadlights, but if anyone can comment on whether sliding sash was used, the input would be appreciated.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 135– Constructing the Stern Galleries 1
Posted 5/30/12
 
Once I had gotten comfortable with the design for the stern decoration – and once the drawings and patterns were made – I could begin building the structure. The most important member in the stern structure is the taffrail or taferel. It was a large member about nine inches thick with carved figures in relief. Since I am not painting the model I had decided to do all the decoration using European boxwood to contrast with the underlying pear. Also, instead of hollowing out the lower curved areas of the taffrail, I decided to use a laminated construction – two 3” thick sections for the basic member and 3” relief carvings on the surface to make up the 9” overall thickness.
 
The first picture shows the two base pieces ready to be cut out from the 3” thick pear.
 

 
By this time I had decided to make the two stern chase ports elliptical in shape rather than rectangular, so they are shown on the patterns. The patterns also show the decorative beading that will be added later.
 
In the next picture the inside piece is being clamped and glued to the counter timbers.
 
 

 
When the outer piece is similarly glued to the first, the curve will be locked into the lamination, eliminating any significant residual stress. This is being installed in the next picture.
 
 

 
With this major member installed, the next step, shown below, was to attach the molded rail at the base of the windows.
 

 
This is an oddly shaped molding. It rests on the angled break of the touch of the upper counter. I installed a lower counter plank to found it on and then, to avoid the complex trapezoidal shape of a single molded strip, inserted a triangular boxwood section behind the molding so its top surface would be a horizontal ledge outside the window lights. The molding was formed using a scraper cut to the profile. The separation between the rail and the counters was carefully checked across the width. This is the point where careless work on the underlying structure comes home to roost. So far, so good.
 
The next picture shows this planking/molding reinforced with the first of the quarter gallery structural pieces.
 

 
I made this piece as a combined aft rim/commode. The hole is for the convenience of the captain. Making this in a single wide piece provided increased strength for these first pieces of the quarter gallery structure. The notch in the corner of the seat will form a mortise - when the outer rim pieces is installed - for the bottom of the quarter piece. The seat is pinned to the side with two hidden copper wire bolts.
 
The next picture shows work on the next parts of the quarter gallery.
 
 

 
The lower stool – the curved planked pear slab – was glued and pinned to both the top of the black strake at the side and on its aft side to the lower molding. It will be bolted to the side later with long bolts. The lower curved portion of the quarter post was glued in at the same time. This acts as a spacer and assures the proper slant to the lower stool, which should match the molding – and also the deck camber. I expect to make the quarter posts in multiple pieces. These will have figure carvings on their aft/outer sides.
 
The next picture shows the same construction proceeding on the unplanked port side.
 
 

 
Small sections of plank are installed to bed the structural members of the gallery. The length of pear planking represents part of the black strake and will bed the lower stool. The piece of box above it will support the forward end of the curved rim piece, which at this stage was merrily boiling away offsite.
 
This picture also shows an overlay sheet placed on top of the original base drawing. The overlay provides an alignment pattern for squaring up the parts of the quarter galleries. This detail was not included on the original base board plan.
 
The last picture is a view from astern, showing rails at the upper and lower counters installed.
 
 

 
Obtaining clean tight joint lines on both the upper and lower parts of the rails is involving a lot of flipping of the model upside down and back, so getting this done before installing the fragile quarterdeck detail was a good idea.
 
There is still a long way to go with this work.
 
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 130 – Capstan 1
Posted 4/15/12
 
Although it has been a couple of weeks since the last post, work continues. As the work on the quarterdeck has been moving aft, the capstan has been looming as a major project. I spent a good bit of time examining drawings and the scantlings and then doing the 1:60 drawing for Naiad.
 
The first step was to replace my previously installed upper deck step, which did not have a pall ring. The first picture shows the machining of the inset to take the ring.
 
 

 
The inset was machined first, then the step sized around it. This was done concurrently with the machining of the ring itself, shown below, to assure a good fit.
 

 
The machined ring is shown below fitted into the step.
 
 

 
Eight palls were then silver soldered into the ring. The final ring is shown below after blackening, in the step, in position on the upper deck. The bearing cup, removed from the first step has been centered and installed in the new one.
 

 
Concurrently with this work, the barrel of the capstan was begun. In the first picture a piece of European Boxwood is being turned between centers.
 
 

 
With the piece between centers the end to the right of the picture was turned to a diameter of 24”. This is the width between flats of the 12-sided polygon shape. It will be used to set the height of the tool to machine the flats. The middle section was left larger. In the next picture the piece has been flipped and the round end held in the three-jaw chuck with the other end held on center.
 
 

 
The tailstock end was turned to an actual 5/16” diameter to fit into a makeshift centering device shown below. In the picture the round bearing area at the level of the quarterdeck step is being turned to a 22” diameter.
 
The next picture shows the piece, still held in the 3-jaw chuck, having the slots for the iron bearing strips machined with a very small spherical cutter.
 
 

 
For this and the next step, the 3-jaw chuck has been moved to the milling machine set up with an indexing head with 48 teeth without removing the work piece. The opposite end is set up and held on center by the improvised piece to the left. Two increments between passes yielded slots for 24 strips.
 
In the next picture the 12-sided shaped is being cut.
 

 
As mentioned above, the height of the cutter is set at the diameter previously turned, now at the chuck end. There are four increments between each pass in this step, yielding the twelve-sided shape.
 
The next picture shows the barrel with the 24 bearing strips installed.
 

 
These were made from the black monofilament, shaved off flat at the diameter. They may be slightly oversize, but I could manage nothing smaller. I’m hoping to show some of this bearing detail on the finished model. The barrel is still over length at this stage
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 129 – Y-Bitts, Forecastle Beams
Posted 4/3/12
 
 
The fore jeer and topsail sheet bitts surround the foremast on the forecastle. On the Naiad draft, the jeer bitts are indicated as Y-bitts, but it is unclear if this specification is meant to apply to both sets. I decided to take this interpretation and make both sets as Y-bitts. The picture below shows the parts after fit-up and before assembly.
 
 

 
The sheave caps on the sides were sliced off of the larger piece to the right. In this piece the sheave opening was milled and the decorative mold at the top filed by hand before slicing off the pieces. In the next picture the bitts have been installed.
 

 
The white paper on the upper deck is my solution to minimize small parts dropping into the lower depths. This can be a real problem because tweezers are no longer a feasible extraction method if the pieces reach the bottom. I have had to unbolt the model once or twice to shake out parts that were too valuable to abandon until the next major clean out.
 
The next picture shows the installation from forward.
 
 

 
This picture shows that in my concentrating on these details I had forgotten to install bolts in the made beams and in the mast step. These were soon added. This is easier to do before installing the beams – obviously.
 
In the next picture the beams over the stove are being installed.
 
 

 
In this picture the carlings supporting the vent grating over the boiler lids are being clamped for gluing. I wonder if the barrels of salt meat were dumped into the boilers through this opening or from under the deck? There is not much space for the latter. There is also a grated opening framed over the range area at the front of the stove and the stack will come up through an opening in the deck that will be covered by a metal plate. This latter grated opening is flanked by two openings for rigging – but I am not sure which lines require these openings.
 
The next picture shows some support detail for the beams at the aft end of the forecastle.
 

 
There must have been a lot of onsite improvisation in configuring all these iron knees to avoid the ports, port ironwork, riders and each other. In this case, another iron knee supporting the breast beam – not yet installed – will fit between these knees and the rider.
 
The next picture is a view of the installed breast beam.
 
 

 
This is an interesting beam. It has a wood lodging knee on the aft side – the appropriate orientation for beams in the fore-body. It has an iron hanging knee that can be seen just aft of the rider. The beam has a rabbet on top to butt the forecastle planking and a decorative molding on its aft face. Because of the rabbet and the molding, this beam and its quarterdeck counterpart were made in one piece.
 
The next picture shows a close up of the end of this beam.
 
 

 
The forecastle and gangway planking will butt against the upper portion of the beam with the forecastle planks resting on the top rabbet and the gangway planks resting on the lodging knee. The rounded molded face at the top of the beam will be cut back to take the ends of the gangway planks. The hanging knee for the beam is hidden behind the rider in this picture.
 
The next picture shows the forecastle framing completed and ready for coamings, head ledges and planking.
 

 
This picture also shows that wax finish has been applied to the upper deck and between-deck structures below the forecastle.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 128 – Upper Deck Gratings, Shot Racks
Posted 3/28/12
 
I wanted to model the gratings on the hatches on the upper deck in the waist. This reduces visibility down through the hatches, but there is a lot of open space on the starboard side to see down into the hull. These needed to be installed before the crankshafts for the pumps.
 
I used the method that I am sure many have used to make these. The first picture shows the key parts ready for assembly.
 

 
The supporting ledges and the slats are 2 ¾” wide. The ledges were made deep enough to allow them to be rounded up to match the head ledges of the hatches. The large piece in the lower part of the picture is the assembly jig. All these pieces except the slats were cut using the set up in the next picture.
 

 
A square of Plexiglas was cut to fit the saw table. The saw was fitted with a 2 ¾” (.045”) slotting blade. A dado was ripped into the Plexiglas to fit a guide strip and the opening for the blade cut into it. The boxwood stock was then ripped by guiding it on the wood strip. There is nothing new about all this.
 
The boxwood was then ripped into 2 ¾” wide strips using a much thinner blade. These were then placed in the fixture as shown below.
 

 
The fit in the fixture is loose enough to slide the ledges back and forth. The slats were then fit into the notches. These were a tight fit, but a thin film of glue was applied to the bottom face to help keep the assembly together when removed. The next picture shows a section of grating before sizing.
 

 
The next picture shows the gratings fit to the three hatches in the waist.
 

 
The bottoms of the ledges were sanded until the center of the grating was flush at the head ledges. They were then glued in and the round up sanded top match the curve of the head ledges. They were then finish sanded and polished up.
 
Shot racks were then made and added on the decked side only.
 

 
The shot holes were made with a cannon ball sized spherical cutter in the milling machine, using the Sherline sensitive drilling attachment so the holes could be stopped at a uniform depth - about 1/3 the diameter of a ball - into the edge of a wide piece of pear stock. The strips were then ripped off, cut to length, rounded and glued in place. They were omitted from sides of ladderway openings.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 127 – Mr. Brodie’s Stove
Posted 3/25/12
 
It has been two weeks since the last post. I’ve been working back along the forecastle with beams and the upper deck detail below them. The picture below shows beams 5 and 6 with the copper knees - not yet blackened. The foremast partners were installed before these beams and are partly visible.
 

 
Beam 7 and 8 were also installed, but that was as far as I could go until the Brodie Stave was made and installed.
 
The Brodie Iron Stove had become the standard by Naiad’s time. It was introduced in the 1780’s but was not dissimilar from types used up to that time. An iron housing contained two built in cauldrons for boiling water. One can imagine 250 pounds of salt meat being loaded into this daily. Below these pots was a firebox with doors on either side for charging fuel – wood or coal. A smaller door below the firebox grate was used to remove ash. A contained oven, accessible from doors on either side, could be used for baking. The front of the stove, the range, was open in the front and was equipped with arms for hanging pots and one or more rotating spits, turned by chain pulleys driven by a vane inside the stack. There was a drip pan under this spit.
 
The finished model of the stove for Naiad is shown below.
 

 
I have been working on this for the last few weeks. I decided to make it from photo-etched parts, but it proved impractical to photo-etch all the pieces then solder these very small parts together. I won’t go through the gory details of the learning process or the earlier failed attempts. I finally settled on making the basic stove structure from a photo-etched plate that could be folded up, origami style, into the basic stove, then making the detailed parts separately. This version has been in production for about a week
 
The next picture shows this photo-etched plate, which was the starting point.
 

 
Some of the stove detail is engraved on the sides – the firebox and oven doors and the front grille. The necking down of the stack transition is the odd part in the lower center of this picture. The next picture shows the basic shape mostly cut out.
 

 
The fold lines were etched out on the back and also one on the front. In retrospect all the etchings could have been deeper. The next picture shows some of this being cut out with a jeweler’s saw.
 

 
In this picture the front vent flap sides are being cut so it can bend up over the stove opening in the front. This piece was made from .032” brass. It might have been better to use a thickness closer to .020”. My early attempts were with much thinner material – too thin, but this thickness made the silver soldering, especially the fastening of the small details, a lot more difficult.
 
The next picture shows the stove in the process of being folded up.
 

The edges along the joints had to be chamfered back to make a tight fit along the seams. The next picture shows the basic stove after silver soldering.
 
 

 
At this stage the internal partitions, the stack, the boiler top, the range grille and the base plate are attached. This soldering required high heat – a regular sized propane torch – hence the blackening. This was pickled off between soldering steps using Sparex dip. Finally the brass-copper fabrication was blackened with dilute Hobby Black. It took about an hour to turn the final shade – shown in the second and the next/last picture.
 
The last picture shows the finished stove in its final position between the bitt standards on the upper deck.
 
 

 
The base plate will be bolted through the deck. The upper stack will be added later when the forecastle is framed.
 
Getting this built was a major milestone. The next big project is the capstan.
 
Cheers,
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 126 – Upper Deck Detailing (5)
Posted 3/10/12
 
 
Before moving to the bow, I needed to install the third beam over the mast partners, above the upper deck. In the first picture the beam is ready to be installed.
 

 
Because of the closeness of the beam ahead of it, this beam has U-shaped iron lodging knees. The hanging knees are also iron. These were bolted on before installation. The next picture shows the beam glued in place.
 
 

 
Quite a few bolts need to be installed to complete the installation of this beam. The next picture shows one of these bolts being driven in.
 
 

 
The hole in the end of the leg, in this case the bottom, was drilled first. Its bolt of copper wire was then pushed in with pliers and driven in as shown. The other holes could then be drilled without fear of the arm moving off the first hole. The steel hammering aid shown in this picture was made from drill rod for cases like this, where there is no room to hammer directly. A variety of devices – punches, bent rods etc. - are used for the different access needs. The holes are (usually) driven into but not through a frame, so the bolt can act like a nail. The horizontal holes between the beams, were, of necessity, drilled at a slight angle. With this done, the work moved to the bow.
 
The next picture shows the catheads being glued to beams 2 and 3, there is no beam 1 – a design change.
 

 
The catheads are identical mirror images. At the bottom they meet on the centerline under beam 3. The ends were then checked for length by measuring out from the side and with a square up from the drawing. The fore and aft angle was also squared up from the base drawing and the height of the ends checked..
 
The next picture shows the finished installation.
 
 

 
Holes have been drilled down through the beams for bolts. This picture also shows the framing around the opening for the bowsprit. Beam 4 has also been positioned against the wood lodging knees. Beam 4 supports the upper end of the bowsprit step, which is shown in the next picture.
 
 

 
This picture was taken when the rabbets for the manger partitions were being cut. A bevel was first pared on the lower forward corners. The bevel is shown on the right side in this picture. A groove was then pared down the center of this using the V-gouge in the picture. The sides were then pared with a chisel to a square rabbet as shown on the upper corner in this picture. A traced circle from the dummy bowsprit is just visible in this picture. It was used to center the square opening for the tenon at the foot of the bowsprit.
 
The next picture shows the step installed.
 

 
This picture also shows the “cast” iron knee on the aft side of beam 4. This avoids the gun port and serves as both a hanging and lodging knee. It has not yet been bolted into the side in this picture.
 
The last picture shows the manger wall on the port side.
 

 
The inside end fits the rabbet in the forward corner of the step. The outside end slides into a vertical cant at the side. The cant and the planking were installed as a unit from above.
 
In this picture the beams at the bow seem to have less round up. I believe this is photographic distortion – but I will re-check.
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 125 – Upper Deck Detailing (4)
Posted 3/6/12
 
With the decking completed in the area of the riding bitts the crosspieces could be installed. The first picture shows the aft cross piece glued and clamped.
 
 

 
The height of these above the deck is set by the wood shim in the picture one on each side. There is an eye in the cross piece at each end, to take a hook that is bolted into the bit. I installed the eyebolt with the hook on the cross piece first. Then when the glue was set, hammered in the bolt through the eye in the hook. This was easier than trying to engage the hook in the eyebolt after both were fastened in place. I did try that.
 
In the next picture the adjacent gun port is coming in handy to drive in one of the hook bolts. The holes for these bolts were also drilled through the ports with a push drill.
 

 
In the next picture both crosspieces are installed.
 

 
The hooks and eyes have been blackened.
 
The next picture shows the crosspiece on the jeer bitts installed.
 

 
The scores for both these pieces were cut before installing the bitts. Bolts were added to hold them in place. These can be seen in the next picture.
 

 
In this picture, two of the three beams over the mast partners have been installed. The breast beam is connected to the sides by curved iron knees to avoid the gunport. Wooden lodging knees are installed between these two beams. There will be lot of variety in the knees for the beams at this level due to the interferences with gun ports and the variation in spacing between the beams. This leads to an interesting variety of wood, L-shaped iron hangers - some curved or canted, and some U-shaped lodging knees. There is no definitive historical source for all this, so I based the drawings on as many typical references as I could find.
 
The next picture shows the fastening of the aft beam of this pair.
 
 

 
Another iron knee – this one shaped to the stepped planking and angled to fit avoid the top rider. All the copper wire bolts in the vertical legs of these knees were driven in and peened over after the beams were installed. Holes were drilled through the holes in the knees into the frames for these bolts. The iron knees were attached to the beams before installing and bolted up through the top of the beam. The lodging knees and all their bolts were also bolted on to the beam before its installation.
 
The next picture shows these two beams from above.
 
 

The picture shows some of the very few carlings at this level. These frame openings in the deck to pass rigging to the sheaves in the jeer bitts. These openings will extend aft for rigging to the topsail sheet bitts, the two aft posts in this picture. This picture also shows the rabbet in the breast beam that will bed the quarterdeck planking.
 
Getting these beams in will provide some protection for the pumps and the details on the bitts. When the third beam is installed I will probably move forward to work on the cathead beams, the bowsprit step, and the manger.
 
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 124 – Upper Deck Detailing (3)
Posted 3/1/12
 
The steering wheel has had me pre-occupied for awhile, but other work on the upper deck has been moving ahead, mostly in the area around the main mast.
 
The first picture shows the two cisterns /top-works housing for the Cole pumps getting some detail – feet, shaft bearings and plugs for the drain holes.
 
 

 
The next picture shows the two elm tree pumps with their top works.
 
 

 
These parts were made from brass, silver soldered and blackened. They are slipped over the tops of the octagonal casings only temporarily.
 
 
The next picture shows the pump components temporarily positioned on the deck.
 

 
The jeer and topsail sheet bitts are not attached yet. They still need sheaves. The “rhodings” for the crankshafts have been installed on the bitts in this picture. These were fabricated from small bore brass tubing silver soldered to a length of brass strip then sliced off on the saw to make the small bearing. The alignment of the pumps and the posts are obviously important here.
 
The next picture shows a somewhat later view of this.
 
 
 

 
In this picture the deck planking is proceeding. The cut out plank around the pump casings has been installed. The discharge nozzles have also been installed on the elm tree pumps. One on each just above the upper deck and one on each – not visible - to service the lower deck. These shafts have been permanently fixed at this stage.
 
In the next picture sheaves in the bitts have been installed and also handles on the pump drain plugs.
 
 
 

 
All four pumps and the bitts are permanently installed at this point. The cross pieces to the bits have not been installed. The pump shafts are just temporary – to maintain alignment while gluing the pumps in place. The sheaves in the bitts are just visible in this picture. At this stage the decking is complete, treenailed and polished up except for some at the aft end. One of the gun ringbolts can be seen in the above picture.
 
The next picture, looking forward, shows some more ringbolts.
 
 

 
Those forward of the main hatch are large sized stopper bolts. These doubled as gun bolts. Aft of the main hatch a smaller ringbolt is positioned to serve each gun. These are smaller diameter.
 
The next picture shows more of the stopper bolts going forward.
 
 
 

 
There was one of these stopper ringbolts in each beam. The eyebolts are semi-sunk into the deck. I made a small tool out of a 2d nail to make the indentations for this. I did not use any glue on these. They are made from copper wire and were blackened before installing. The outer decking in this picture is finished and all this decking and the upper deck framing could be given a wax finish at this stage since there is nothing else to be glued to it. There are still some training eyebolts to be installed between the ports.
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 123 – Steering Wheel 2
Posted 2/25/12
 
In the last part I generally described the process used for making the wheel rims and the hub assembly. The goal was to make each rim as an assembly of segmented pieces with their joints offset and to have a precisely spaced, regular pattern of the ten spokes set between those joints. Most of the responses to the post focused on making the spokes, and the difficulties of turning these small pieces. Although I was concerned about turning the small spokes, I was surprised to find it took only two days to get a reasonable set of spokes made and installed – as opposed to over two weeks to on the rims/hub assembly. Turning these small squares is a lot harder than turning full size table legs. It took some experimentation to get a workable turning process, so I will discuss the final method in some detail for those who want to try this.
 
The first picture shows the first set of spokes inserted in one rim and the second set waiting to have their center portions turned.
 
 

 
The spokes are 2 ¾” (.044”) square and were turned from square strips of European boxwood. The turnings came out reasonably uniform in shape – acceptable (by my standards, at least) for this scale.
 
The next two pictures show the pieces being turned in my ancient Unimat SL.
 
 

 
Two profile cutters were used, one for the handles and one for the turning between the rim and the hub. Their shape was adjusted by trial and error until a reasonable turning could be made without instant breakage of the part. The cutters were ground and filed to shape from ¼” square mild steel bar stock. The top edges were set precisely to the centerline and honed smooth with a stone. The relief angle under the cutting edge was small – about 10-15 degrees. These are really scrapers.
 
The handles were turned first. They were set up in an independent four-jaw chuck. Getting the square strips centered was non-trivial and very important to get a successful shape. The depth of cut is less than .01”. A number of other factors were important in reducing breakage. First, the pieces were turned at very highspindle speed – 12,000 rpm – flat out on the SL. The tool feed was done very, very sensitively – in steps of much less than one graduation on the wheel – with periods in between to allow the part to re-center. The tool was kept as close to the chuck as possible as shown in the picture. Everything was set up to be as rigid as possible on this machine. There is flex in the Unimat bed, so the feed wheel had to be handled very lightly. With all these precautions the yield on handle turnings was about 50-60%.
 
The next picture shows the setup for turning the center sections.
 
 

 
All the procedures described above were followed in this step. In addition, a wood centering bearing was drilled to support the handle end while turning the center section. This is shown above. The yield on this step was better – about 80%.
 
Although I am using European boxwood for the wheel, I also tried doing some turnings using Swiss Pear and Castello. Both these species could be turned in the same way.
 
The next pictures are of the (almost) finished wheel.
 

 
The wheel assembly was held together by temporary spokes when it was finished off in the lathe as described in the previous part. These were removed one at a time when the permanent spokes were installed – to preserve the alignment and concentricity. These are not glued – at least not yet. They are fairly tight in the holes. The wheel will be exposed for some time on the open deck. If any spokes get broken, they can be pulled out and replaced – or if I decide I don’t like the looks of one or more. . .
 
The last picture shows the wheel next to a ruler to help visualize the 1:60 size. The rims are slightly less the 1” diameter.
 
 

 
I am still thinking about fasteners (bolts) for the rim segments. I will probably use the version-one wheel to test some out.
 
I hope this detailed discussion is helpful for those who want to turn some square spokes.
 
 
Ed

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 122 – Steering Wheel 1
Posted 2/23/12
 
In the last part I mentioned work on the ship’s wheel.   I wanted the wheel to be built up as a five piece segmented assembly with the joints offset.  Also, I wanted the 10 spokes on each wheel wheel to be evenly spaced and to be of square section where they pass through the rim.  The process for making this is quite complicated and prone to error.  I used up a lot of precious Euro boxwood in working through it. In this part I will outline very generally the steps to make the two-rim/hub assembly.
 
 

 
The first step was to form a block consisting of five triangular pieces large enough for that steps that follow.  These were cut on a 10” table saw then refined to the precise angle required using a disk sander.
 
 

 
The top and bottom were scribed with an oversize circle and the block was sanded to a roughly circuklar shape.  In the above picture the cylinder is about to be drilled through for the hub, which will also serve as a mandrel to turn the piece in the lathe.
 
 

 
The (oversized) hub was turned between centers to just fit the hole.  The parts were then glued together and the assembly set up between centers to accurately turn the outside and square up both flat faces.  This would allow the piece to be held accurately by one end for succeeding steps.  Maintaing an accurate centering through all the steps was critical.  I learned this the hard way.
 
 
 

 
The piece was then able to be held centered in the three-jaw lathe chuck.  In this picture a hole for an axle is being drilled.  The next picture shows the machining of the square spoke holes for one wheel.
 
 
 

 
Before this step, a disk was parted off the cylinder while still on the lathe.  This would be reattached later.  In the step shown above square slots are being cut in one face of the cylinder for the spokes using slotting saw blades.  The same three-jaw chuck was used mounted in an indexing head with setting divisible by 10.  After cutting these slots the disk removed earlier was re-attached to the removed disk piece with the segment joints offset. 
 
The next picture shows later work after a series of pieces were parted off, after the slots for the second wheel were cut, and after the pieces were all assembled. 
 
 

 
In this picture the final assembly is set up for final machining.  This will be done in one piece to preserve the alignment of the slots.  The inside diameter of the wheels are just beginning to be cut in the above picture.
 
The next picture shows the final assembly after this step and before parting off the wheel rims.
 
 
 

 
Temporary square spokes have been inserted through the rims into the hub.  This will maintain the alignment when the rims are parted off.
 
The next picture shows the beginning of the parting off process.
 
 
 

 
The outer rim is being done first.
 
The picture below shows the finished wheel assembly after parting off.
 
 

 
The temporary spokes will remain in place until they are replaced with the final detailed versions – one at a time.  I will cover the spokes later.  They will be .045² square and I am not sure yet by what means they will be shaped.
 
I have skimmed over the steps involved in making this – too many to be described in detail here.  Perhaps in the future book I will be able to describe these fully enough for some brave soul to follow them.
 
 
 
Ed
 
 

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 121 – Upper Deck Detailing Continued 2
Posted 2/20/12
 
It has been a couple of weeks since the last post.  I have been working on a number of different areas of the upper deck and it has taken time for some of this work to come together.  In particular, I have spent a lot of time working on a process to make the split rim segmented wheel assembly.  I will report on that later when I have finalized the method and produced the final wheel.  Here is a picture of the first attempt.
 

 
This was made using Castello.  I am not entirely happy with it and expect to make a replacement.  The final version will be boxwood.  The purpose of this picture is to show the segmented split rim with offset joints and the symmetrical spokes.  That part I’ve got down.  I would like to have square spokes but that may not work out.  I’ll describe the process later.
 
The next picture shows some progress toward the bow.
 
 

 
The first beam has been installed with wood lodging knees and iron hangers.  The as yet unblackened copper hanging knees are curved to avoid the ports.  Planking in this area is in progress.
 
The next series of pictures covers the work around the mainmast.  This involved a lot of interdependent components – the beams, the topsail and jeer bitts and the pump cisterns.  The first picture shows work on the breast beam,
 
 

 
This beam and the one at the forecastle are deeper than the rest because they incorporate a rabbet on the top to bed the ends of the quarterdeck (or forecastle) planks.  This picture shows how these rabbets were cut using a Dremel router table.  This tool is not as precise as the milling machine but for routing, the high speen of the Dremel tool gives a much smoother cut.  The forward face of the beam has a molding decoration.  This was made using a small scraper.
 
The next picture shows this beam pinned in place with the roughed out jeer bit pins being fitted.
 
 

 
These pins support the beam and are scored on the upper and lower deck beams.  In this picture they are pinned in place after having their length adjusrted.  Some small adjustment in the location of the breast beam was needed to bring it directly over the pins.  The pins also need to be spaced correctly athwartship relative to the pump sprocket spacing.  More on this below.
 
In the next picture all four pins have been detailed and are pinned in place. 
 
 

 
Sheaves will be added later, before permanent installation.  The next step was to make and place the pump cisterns. 
 
 

 
The base for these was made previously in one piece to fit neatly over the pump casings.  The two cisterns were built on this base in one piece to assure alignment and spacing.  In the next picture this assembly is shown temporarily in place.  This approach also allowed the spacing between the horizontal crankshafts to be located precisely in relation to the pins, which hold the crankshaft bearings – called “rhodings.”
 
 

 
In this step the cisterns are leveled, with stock for the feet sized to fit between the deck and the base of the cisterns.  Doing this in one piece helps keep everything lined up and level.  In the next picture the assemblies have been separated and the outer feet have been glued on.
 
 

 
 
The inside feet will be added next and then the rest of the detail added to the cisterns. 
 
The new, correct length elm tree pump shafts have also been made and await detailing.
 
I still have not settled on the way to support the decking between the mast partners and the pump carlings (the opening for the pump casings).  There must have been some small ledges installed here.  Anyone with a suggestion?
 
Ed