ChadB

10. Jig making for Setting Frames
 
 Today I was able to put together a jig for aligning and attaching the frames to the keel. This is a pretty vital step so I've been going through various building logs and coming up with ideas of how I was going to do this. Everything kind of came together this morning and here's what I came up with... 
  I started with two half inch thick by five and a half inch wide billets of poplar from Lowes which cost a total of 6 bucks. The first step was cutting a base that would be long enough to hold the keel and have plenty of extra working room- this one was about 1ft long. Next was something to hold the keel in place on the board. I ripped 2 pieces to run the length of the base with a height of a quarter inch, so as not to interfere with the rabbet. One of them was then glued to the base like so..      Next, I took a print of the 'cross section frames' and cut out a section that shows all frames and the keel. This was then cut into two, making sure to cut exactly perpendicular to the frames. I then attached one side of the drawing with 3M spray mount to the base like shown, using a square to make sure the frames will be perpendicular..      Next the other side of the drawing was attached in the same way to the other side. Two things to watch is make sure you have fore and aft facing the same direction on each side and that both sides are aligned correctly. This is what it looks like at this point..      I then put the keel up against the 'rail' and glued the other 'rail' in place (over the frame drawing). The keel fits snugly in place and has no extra movement. With the keel in the correct position, I then glued small stoppers made of scrap on each end to keep the keel from sliding out of place. You can see these in the last few photos..      Next was the vertical board that will align the frames. My goal was to have it contact as much of the frame as possible. I cut a notch in the bottom just wide enough to straddle the 'rails' and just high enough to clear  the keel..      Next came probably the most crucial part- creating the pieces that will keep that board on the correct axis when mounting the frames. After they were cut, I checked and checked and checked again that they were an exact 90 degree angle. The shape is totally arbitrary- it's the angle that counts.      Finally the assembly. Pretty simple from here, but still easy to screw up. I attached the 90 degree pieces to the board tight in against the 'rails' so there isn't any play side to side. It's also imperative to make sure the board lines up exactly against the frame drawing edge and is at an exact 90 degrees up and down.     And that's it. The final product..      

 
A long time ago I bought the fair- a-frame from Model Expo. I think I paid something like 40 bucks for it and what a piece of junk it was. This cost me 6 bucks and is essentially the same thing just alot more accurate and sturdier. Hopefully someone will see this (or the others throughout various build logs) and be saved the frustration of trying to use that god-awful thing.  So next up is the step that probably scares me the most- actually using this. I see attaching frames as the 'no-turning-back point'. I just always have this feeling that I'l get everything attached and remember some vital step that I missed, so I think I'll spend tomorrow making sure I have everything that needs to be done squared away. -Chad

9. Treenails
 
Treenails. Ugh.    How anyone does a full model I don't know. I had read in one of the posts by Russ somewhere that it's a good idea to just start making treenails in advance whenever you have a minute so you don't have to sit there for hours mindlessly making them. I am here to tell you I wholly endorse that idea.    Boxwood treenails turned out to be a bit more work, but I'm glad I did it. Here's a photo of a 1mm boxwood vs. bamboo treenail mock-up to show the difference. They were given a coat of wipe on poly, which is  what I'll use...    boxwood left, bamboo right   It seems like bamboo might hold the slight edge in strength, although boxwood seemed fairly strong also. The cross grain on the bamboo is very porous and always looked green to me, while boxwood just has a cleaner. subtler look. I think in places where treenails are not seen (attaching frames to keel, etc...) I will use bamboo and attempt to use hardwood for the rest.  It may seem fairly straightforward, but I'm trying to take nothing for granted, so here's how I made my treenails..  I used a spare billet of boxwood that was the same thickness as the frames and ripped small plank-like pieces about 1.5mm wide...      ...then using an exacto and a metal ruler, cut each plank down to toothpick size...      This was then pulled through the drawplate (no. 36 or 37 hole on Byrnes drawplate). Most would break at some point or another so the 3 inch long toothpicks usually ended up considerably shorter, adding to the frustration of making treenails.  Once they were ready, it was simply inserting into the pre-drilled holes. Some slid right in so I rubbed a little white glue on them, while others were just tight enough that they didn't need anything. I left a little extra on each side of the frame and then just sanded it down.  All the frames are ready to be mounted on the keel now, so I've been starting to put together a jig for that similar to what I've seen in some of the full build logs. -Chad  

8. Treenail Holes
 
I've gotten all the frames fitted for the keel and keelson now and am starting to work on treenailing. One of the little things that I wanted to make sure I did was have the treenails evenly spaced and not just 'eyeball' it. Just one of those things that can look crummy if done wrong, and I really have no desire to mess it up and cut anymore frames! So I wanted to come up with a template of some kind to correctly drill my treenail holes. This is what I came up with for the floors
  pretty straight forward... It's just a cutout from the plans with the holes measured out...      The template for the heels of the futtocks took a little more brainstorming. I ended up with the following template. It's just a piece of rigid plastic I cut from the packaging of a pack of batteries. I just scribed a straight line down the middle and poked 2 holes an even amount from each side of the scribe. The scribe was placed on the joint on the frames and a mark left where I was to drill...      Overall I was happy with the results....      For the actual treenails, I was planning on using my old faithful bamboo skewers pulled through a drawplate (the Byrnes drawplate is the way to go..), but after alot of tests on old frames with different finishes and and even trying to soak the bamboo in stain, I'm just not liking the look. I ripped some boxwood (lord knows I have TONS of scrap to work with...) and tried a few trials and it looks real nice- very subtle but you know it's there. So now I'm going to attempt boxwood treenails, which won't be easy but it's the look I want so I'll suffer.  Anyway- this is what I have so far. I've also gone ahead and finished my keel (apple), keelson (apple) and false keel (indian laurel) with tung oil. -Chad         

7. Dry Fitting Frames
 
So I now have all the frames cut and together, but they are still rough. I decided I'm going to fair down the frames all together once they are mounted on the keel like it would be done on a full framed model just for a little practice. I don't see this being a problem once the frames are treenailed down and the keelson is in place. I think I will also put spacers in above the wales since both sides will be planked wales up, which will add a little sturdiness. 
  I'm now doing a final fit of all the frames to the keel and cutting the notch for the keelson. I had cut it very roughly- and in hindsight probably could have cut a little tighter- so there's alot of sand a little and check, sand a little and check... . Luckily this can all be done in the house and not in the garage where it's getting a little chilly.  Here's where I'm at..   
 

 
these are the tools I've been using for the keelson. The large file was an impulse buy at Harbor Freight for a dollar that has come in very handy for this. It seems big but for some reason is easier to use.. 
 

 
..So once this is done, I'll be treenailing the frames, finishing the keel and keelson with tung oil, then treenailing the frames to the keel. Onward! -Chad

6. Back on Track Making Frames
 
Well, I think the little setback is the best thing that could have happened to me. I'm back on track now and have a little over half the frames built and they look a heck of alot better than the first ones. Restarting was definitely the best way to go.    So I thought I'd break down how I've been building my frames. It's alot like some of the other ways I've seen, but with a few little twists. It's been changing a little bit with each frame since I've found little ways to  make it more efficient. but here's where I'm at now.  1 - cut out pattern pieces for frames Pretty self explanatory here- just make sure there is extra "meat" one all four sides of the edges. I probably leave at least 4 mm just so I can get a good adhesion for cutting.    2- apply the pattern to the wood For this I used 3M Spray Mount. I have mixed feelings about this product since sometimes it peels off in the middle of cutting and other times it takes forever to try and remove it all from the wood. I can't find any correlation between dry time, cleanliness of wood, or the amount of spray- so after this project I'll probably be looking for something else. If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them.  But back on track- Because of the shapes of the floors and futtocks, it's pretty easy to conserve wood and tack everything to the wood close to each other. I tried to avoid doing that since thats what led to my demise the first time around. Maybe when I get better at scroll sawing I'll feel more comfortable cramming everything together, but for now I've given each piece some air to breathe. I tried to stay with the grain but was not horribly worried about it on this model. It seems like that becomes very important with cant frames on full models. One last note on the 3M Spray Mount- it gets everywhere. I'm using a pair of needlenose pliers to hold the pattern while I spray it so it doesn't cover my hands. I've also since learned that spraying over the garage floor will cause the wife to ask questions like "Why is the floor all sticky?" - so I do all my spraying over the garbage can now.    3 - cut out the pattern I gave myself about a 1mm cushion on the sides and about 5 mm cushion on the heels of every piece. I think if there's ANYTHING taken away from this post- this is it. It's save you lots of future trouble and money.    4- file out the floor where it will sit on the keel. I just used a couple small square files I got at the hobby shop for this. Took off a little at a time until the floor fit snugly on the keel.    5- Assembling the first side of the frame. Once I knew the floor would fit on the keel, I sanded down the heels right to the edge of the line. For this I used a disc sander which has made things go really quick. It's important to make sure the table is squared up to the sanding disc to avoid problems later. Then I taped the floor down in position on the assembly drawing- which you won't see in the photos since that was something I just started doing last night. Everything else gets based off the floor, so it helps having to recenter it all the time.  Next up comes the second futtock. I sanded down the heel where it'll join the floor right to the edge of the line, then checked the fit. The goal was to have the heels sit flush AND have the frame eventually fit naturally into the jig without any pressure. Most of the time the futtocks will have to be resanded by just "touching" them to the sanded to get the correct angle. This was what I shot for..      After it "looked" good, I peeled back the edges of the pattern to see make sure the heels were fully flush..      Once everything looked kosher, I glued the floor and second futtock together. I found that poking the heel with an exacto to leave some small divits for the glue seems to give a better joint..      From here I just repeated the same steps to apply the fourth futtock, which gave me the first side of the frame.   
 
6- assembling the other side of the frame One half the frame is done, the rest was pretty easy. I started by peeling the pattern off of the floor and second futtock, but I guess there's no reason not to take all the patterns off. It's important to watch for residue from the pattern or glue that could prevent both sides of the frame from sitting flush and leaving gaps. This is a little extreme, but a razor will scrape it all off..      Now I was ready to line up the first futtocks. The hardest part was having both heels sit together and still line up with the floor and second futtock. But once I got that, I just sanded the heel for the third futtock and got ready for glueing. I did the same thing with the divits on the heels and also on the face that was being glued down. Then just a little glue and a bunch of colorful clamps..      Once this was done, the rest is just repeating what was done above. Making sure the heels are flush and everything lines up with the assembly sheet in the plans are the biggest points. I sanded down a couple of the first frames (but have since left all frames unsanded so I can do all them at the same time) and have found that the joints are so good I had a tough time finding them. Two of my friends have taken a look and thought each frame was made from a single piece of wood! This is the finished result..     - file out the rest of the seat for the keel Since the floor is correctly filed for the keel, I just had to match up the first futtocks. Here's the right side done and the left side ready to be filed..      ...So that's it so far. I have to make a few more frames before moving on and may remake a frame or two also. I tried out some treenails on one and found that the Dremel workstation does not take the place of a good drill press, so that may be my next investment. I know this was a pretty long and detailed writeup on making frames, but this was one thing that I had no idea how to approach coming into this build, and like I said in the beginning- hopefully this will help someone else in the same boat as me. Oh yeah- here's how it's looking so far     far After the frames are done, I'll be working on sanding them down and treenailing.  -Chad

5. Screwing up Frames and Lessons Learned
 
Well, I was hoping this next post would be my 'frames are completed- Hooray!' post, but it's gonna be a 'lessons learned post' instead. 
I had cut out all my frame parts and started assembling the other day, when I came to the conclusion that I'm going to need to reorder some boxwood sheets and start over if I want to do a quality job. I made a couple major (and a couple minor) mistakes that led to this point that hopefully will help a few other modelers..    1.) Cut out your frame pieces with a little extra 'meat' on them- This was probably my biggest mistake. It led to me having to re-cut alot of pieces because I cut away too much. As many have said- you can take it off, but it's nearly impossible to put back on. I'm still a novice when it comes to scroll-sawing, I'll just consider it more practice.    2.) If buying milled wood, get enough and don't skimp for quality- Because of #1, I had to order more boxwood since I didn't expect to use as much. But I ordered from a different dealer since I wasn't too happy with the quality of the first dealer. I knew the second dealers quality was great, but had balked on ordering since I wanted to order all from one place. Well, the new boxwood was great, but the thickness was a little less than the original. This caused me to have to sand down the frame by hand if I had to make a replacement futtock. I ended up not sanding down enough on a frame, which left a gap between the second and third futtock. Trying to pry them apart after the glue had cured nearly caused a stitch in my finger.    3.)If using spray mount to tack the pattern onto your wood, don't put all patterns on unless you plan on cutting them all soon.- Maybe it was the humidity, but I had cut all the patterns out and placed them allon the boxwood at one time. As mentioned, I'm still pretty new to woodworking with power tools, so I took my time over a week or two to cut the frame pieces. Unfortunately I ended up having to re-tack alot of the patterns because they lifted before I cut, or had flapping patterns while scroll sawing. It was a minor thing, but a nuisance nonetheless.    ..Well- I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really discouraged last night when I came to the realization that I'd lost the work I'd done- but I told myself I was going to take my time and do everything right. I don't want to slap something together that looks crummy just to regret it later. Unfortunately my modeling time is close to nothing right now with a little one running around, another on the way, and my mother in law living with us, so it'll probably take another 2 months to get back to this point.  On the bright side, I guess I have been lucky enough to learn all these lessons now at one time, than slowly throughout the build! 

4. Cutting the Rabbet
 
I cut my keel the other night and came up with this little jig to scrape out the rabbet... 
Pretty easy- just a scrap block of wood with another scrap piece used as a "slide". That piece was cut in half and half a razor blade was super glued between at the correct angle. I found the angle by taping the keel 
cross section to the end... 
I went through quite a few razor blades, but I found that with the super glue, the blade never moved during scraping and was easily removed with a pair of pliers. 
Overall, I was really pleased with the outcome- the rabbet has a nice, sharp edge and matches up nicely with the drawings. 
On to the False keel, keelson, and frames!
 

Nice job- looking good! I love the look of oiled wood!   -Chad

Nice job- looking good! I love the look of oiled wood!   -Chad

11. Cross Spalls
 
Thanks for the tips Lee and thanks to everyone else again for the kind words. 
I decided to go Lee and Gary's route of a tight string down the centerline and cross spalls across the tops of the frames. I was kind of freaked out about glueing anything to the tops of frames, even though that whole area will be covered. Something about having to separate it at some point and the possibility of a frame breaking scares me a little- So I came up with something removeable that still does the job of centering the frame and keeping it in place.  I was lucky enough to have a few sheets of extra boxwood left over from my frames, thanks to Jeff at Hobbymill. I don't think I could say it enough that he provides the best quality milled wood around and has answered MANY questions I've thrown his direction about different types of wood. So back on subject- I ripped nine 5mmx5mm strips that were all long enough to cross the top of the widest frame (200mm or 8 inches would be a good length.      The next step was to take one of the spalls and lay it along the 'Top of Frame Line' mark on the frame assembly drawing and mark the inside of the frame. I then sanded down to this line on my disc sander and checked and resanded until both sides were where they needed to be..        So you'd think that would be good enough, right? But no- I'm a man, and it's in our genetics to over-engineer anything we make, especially something trivial like this. So I still had some of the small strips of boxwood left from making treenails (the stips that would eventually be cut down to toothpick size) and I glued one on each side along the top of the spall like so..      OK- so even though I joked about doing this- there was a reason behind it. I had a couple frames that that were a tiny bit too wide at the top for whatever reason. Nothing real bad, but enough that it seemed like it could be an annoyance down the line. So to fix that, I took some small square scraps and glued them to the outside of the strip affixed across the top of the spall. If the frame was a bit wide, I made sure that this little square was glued in snug against the frame to keep it in place.      Once everything was dry, I went back and just double checked that all the frames were fitted correctly and added the centerline on the top using the centerline mark on the frame assembly drawing. So now I have a frame that can be aligned correctly and ready to be mounted.       

Haha! Don't worry about it- I fully expect this to confuse a few people! 
 
-Chad

Ooops! I've only just recalled that all this is a re-post of a long-finished build! I've edited comments to suit. Sorry about that!
 
Tony

Tony- I love this idea! I'm still using that damn spray on adhesive on my current build but I think that comes to an end now! I stil have the needlenose pliers I used for the cross section build and they are nearly impossible to open because they are so gunked up at this point. Thanks for the pointer!
 
-Chad

10. Jig making for Setting Frames
 
 Today I was able to put together a jig for aligning and attaching the frames to the keel. This is a pretty vital step so I've been going through various building logs and coming up with ideas of how I was going to do this. Everything kind of came together this morning and here's what I came up with... 
  I started with two half inch thick by five and a half inch wide billets of poplar from Lowes which cost a total of 6 bucks. The first step was cutting a base that would be long enough to hold the keel and have plenty of extra working room- this one was about 1ft long. Next was something to hold the keel in place on the board. I ripped 2 pieces to run the length of the base with a height of a quarter inch, so as not to interfere with the rabbet. One of them was then glued to the base like so..      Next, I took a print of the 'cross section frames' and cut out a section that shows all frames and the keel. This was then cut into two, making sure to cut exactly perpendicular to the frames. I then attached one side of the drawing with 3M spray mount to the base like shown, using a square to make sure the frames will be perpendicular..      Next the other side of the drawing was attached in the same way to the other side. Two things to watch is make sure you have fore and aft facing the same direction on each side and that both sides are aligned correctly. This is what it looks like at this point..      I then put the keel up against the 'rail' and glued the other 'rail' in place (over the frame drawing). The keel fits snugly in place and has no extra movement. With the keel in the correct position, I then glued small stoppers made of scrap on each end to keep the keel from sliding out of place. You can see these in the last few photos..      Next was the vertical board that will align the frames. My goal was to have it contact as much of the frame as possible. I cut a notch in the bottom just wide enough to straddle the 'rails' and just high enough to clear  the keel..      Next came probably the most crucial part- creating the pieces that will keep that board on the correct axis when mounting the frames. After they were cut, I checked and checked and checked again that they were an exact 90 degree angle. The shape is totally arbitrary- it's the angle that counts.      Finally the assembly. Pretty simple from here, but still easy to screw up. I attached the 90 degree pieces to the board tight in against the 'rails' so there isn't any play side to side. It's also imperative to make sure the board lines up exactly against the frame drawing edge and is at an exact 90 degrees up and down.     And that's it. The final product..      

 
A long time ago I bought the fair- a-frame from Model Expo. I think I paid something like 40 bucks for it and what a piece of junk it was. This cost me 6 bucks and is essentially the same thing just alot more accurate and sturdier. Hopefully someone will see this (or the others throughout various build logs) and be saved the frustration of trying to use that god-awful thing.  So next up is the step that probably scares me the most- actually using this. I see attaching frames as the 'no-turning-back point'. I just always have this feeling that I'l get everything attached and remember some vital step that I missed, so I think I'll spend tomorrow making sure I have everything that needs to be done squared away. -Chad

9. Treenails
 
Treenails. Ugh.    How anyone does a full model I don't know. I had read in one of the posts by Russ somewhere that it's a good idea to just start making treenails in advance whenever you have a minute so you don't have to sit there for hours mindlessly making them. I am here to tell you I wholly endorse that idea.    Boxwood treenails turned out to be a bit more work, but I'm glad I did it. Here's a photo of a 1mm boxwood vs. bamboo treenail mock-up to show the difference. They were given a coat of wipe on poly, which is  what I'll use...    boxwood left, bamboo right   It seems like bamboo might hold the slight edge in strength, although boxwood seemed fairly strong also. The cross grain on the bamboo is very porous and always looked green to me, while boxwood just has a cleaner. subtler look. I think in places where treenails are not seen (attaching frames to keel, etc...) I will use bamboo and attempt to use hardwood for the rest.  It may seem fairly straightforward, but I'm trying to take nothing for granted, so here's how I made my treenails..  I used a spare billet of boxwood that was the same thickness as the frames and ripped small plank-like pieces about 1.5mm wide...      ...then using an exacto and a metal ruler, cut each plank down to toothpick size...      This was then pulled through the drawplate (no. 36 or 37 hole on Byrnes drawplate). Most would break at some point or another so the 3 inch long toothpicks usually ended up considerably shorter, adding to the frustration of making treenails.  Once they were ready, it was simply inserting into the pre-drilled holes. Some slid right in so I rubbed a little white glue on them, while others were just tight enough that they didn't need anything. I left a little extra on each side of the frame and then just sanded it down.  All the frames are ready to be mounted on the keel now, so I've been starting to put together a jig for that similar to what I've seen in some of the full build logs. -Chad  

Totally agree about the value of making your own scrapers. I wish I'd done my rabbet like that now I've used a scraper for the waterways.
 
On the tacking down of the templates, I use a water-based glue stick (Pritt stick in the UK) for two reasons:
 
1. It's easy to put on, and so if an edge lifts off it's really easy just to dab at it with the stick.
 
2. It's much easier to remove than the contact adhesive rubber-based glues. All you have to do is paint it over with a brush or dab with a sponge.
 
I also agree about the learning you've done. On my previous and first build I found that on average I had to make something twice over before I'd get it right a third time. There are some people here who've even built a near complete ship only to find it was absolutely necessary to start all over again. If you see it as learning, as you've done, then the pain is very much less!
 
On my Triton build I've had to do quite a bit of insertion of wood pieces to make up for over-rigorous sanding but oddly enough that's a skill I've really enjoyed learning.
 
Looking forward to the recovery stages!
 
Tony
 
Tony

8. Treenail Holes
 
I've gotten all the frames fitted for the keel and keelson now and am starting to work on treenailing. One of the little things that I wanted to make sure I did was have the treenails evenly spaced and not just 'eyeball' it. Just one of those things that can look crummy if done wrong, and I really have no desire to mess it up and cut anymore frames! So I wanted to come up with a template of some kind to correctly drill my treenail holes. This is what I came up with for the floors
  pretty straight forward... It's just a cutout from the plans with the holes measured out...      The template for the heels of the futtocks took a little more brainstorming. I ended up with the following template. It's just a piece of rigid plastic I cut from the packaging of a pack of batteries. I just scribed a straight line down the middle and poked 2 holes an even amount from each side of the scribe. The scribe was placed on the joint on the frames and a mark left where I was to drill...      Overall I was happy with the results....      For the actual treenails, I was planning on using my old faithful bamboo skewers pulled through a drawplate (the Byrnes drawplate is the way to go..), but after alot of tests on old frames with different finishes and and even trying to soak the bamboo in stain, I'm just not liking the look. I ripped some boxwood (lord knows I have TONS of scrap to work with...) and tried a few trials and it looks real nice- very subtle but you know it's there. So now I'm going to attempt boxwood treenails, which won't be easy but it's the look I want so I'll suffer.  Anyway- this is what I have so far. I've also gone ahead and finished my keel (apple), keelson (apple) and false keel (indian laurel) with tung oil. -Chad         

10. Jig making for Setting Frames
 
 Today I was able to put together a jig for aligning and attaching the frames to the keel. This is a pretty vital step so I've been going through various building logs and coming up with ideas of how I was going to do this. Everything kind of came together this morning and here's what I came up with... 
  I started with two half inch thick by five and a half inch wide billets of poplar from Lowes which cost a total of 6 bucks. The first step was cutting a base that would be long enough to hold the keel and have plenty of extra working room- this one was about 1ft long. Next was something to hold the keel in place on the board. I ripped 2 pieces to run the length of the base with a height of a quarter inch, so as not to interfere with the rabbet. One of them was then glued to the base like so..      Next, I took a print of the 'cross section frames' and cut out a section that shows all frames and the keel. This was then cut into two, making sure to cut exactly perpendicular to the frames. I then attached one side of the drawing with 3M spray mount to the base like shown, using a square to make sure the frames will be perpendicular..      Next the other side of the drawing was attached in the same way to the other side. Two things to watch is make sure you have fore and aft facing the same direction on each side and that both sides are aligned correctly. This is what it looks like at this point..      I then put the keel up against the 'rail' and glued the other 'rail' in place (over the frame drawing). The keel fits snugly in place and has no extra movement. With the keel in the correct position, I then glued small stoppers made of scrap on each end to keep the keel from sliding out of place. You can see these in the last few photos..      Next was the vertical board that will align the frames. My goal was to have it contact as much of the frame as possible. I cut a notch in the bottom just wide enough to straddle the 'rails' and just high enough to clear  the keel..      Next came probably the most crucial part- creating the pieces that will keep that board on the correct axis when mounting the frames. After they were cut, I checked and checked and checked again that they were an exact 90 degree angle. The shape is totally arbitrary- it's the angle that counts.      Finally the assembly. Pretty simple from here, but still easy to screw up. I attached the 90 degree pieces to the board tight in against the 'rails' so there isn't any play side to side. It's also imperative to make sure the board lines up exactly against the frame drawing edge and is at an exact 90 degrees up and down.     And that's it. The final product..      

 
A long time ago I bought the fair- a-frame from Model Expo. I think I paid something like 40 bucks for it and what a piece of junk it was. This cost me 6 bucks and is essentially the same thing just alot more accurate and sturdier. Hopefully someone will see this (or the others throughout various build logs) and be saved the frustration of trying to use that god-awful thing.  So next up is the step that probably scares me the most- actually using this. I see attaching frames as the 'no-turning-back point'. I just always have this feeling that I'l get everything attached and remember some vital step that I missed, so I think I'll spend tomorrow making sure I have everything that needs to be done squared away. -Chad

9. Treenails
 
Treenails. Ugh.    How anyone does a full model I don't know. I had read in one of the posts by Russ somewhere that it's a good idea to just start making treenails in advance whenever you have a minute so you don't have to sit there for hours mindlessly making them. I am here to tell you I wholly endorse that idea.    Boxwood treenails turned out to be a bit more work, but I'm glad I did it. Here's a photo of a 1mm boxwood vs. bamboo treenail mock-up to show the difference. They were given a coat of wipe on poly, which is  what I'll use...    boxwood left, bamboo right   It seems like bamboo might hold the slight edge in strength, although boxwood seemed fairly strong also. The cross grain on the bamboo is very porous and always looked green to me, while boxwood just has a cleaner. subtler look. I think in places where treenails are not seen (attaching frames to keel, etc...) I will use bamboo and attempt to use hardwood for the rest.  It may seem fairly straightforward, but I'm trying to take nothing for granted, so here's how I made my treenails..  I used a spare billet of boxwood that was the same thickness as the frames and ripped small plank-like pieces about 1.5mm wide...      ...then using an exacto and a metal ruler, cut each plank down to toothpick size...      This was then pulled through the drawplate (no. 36 or 37 hole on Byrnes drawplate). Most would break at some point or another so the 3 inch long toothpicks usually ended up considerably shorter, adding to the frustration of making treenails.  Once they were ready, it was simply inserting into the pre-drilled holes. Some slid right in so I rubbed a little white glue on them, while others were just tight enough that they didn't need anything. I left a little extra on each side of the frame and then just sanded it down.  All the frames are ready to be mounted on the keel now, so I've been starting to put together a jig for that similar to what I've seen in some of the full build logs. -Chad  

6. Back on Track Making Frames
 
Well, I think the little setback is the best thing that could have happened to me. I'm back on track now and have a little over half the frames built and they look a heck of alot better than the first ones. Restarting was definitely the best way to go.    So I thought I'd break down how I've been building my frames. It's alot like some of the other ways I've seen, but with a few little twists. It's been changing a little bit with each frame since I've found little ways to  make it more efficient. but here's where I'm at now.  1 - cut out pattern pieces for frames Pretty self explanatory here- just make sure there is extra "meat" one all four sides of the edges. I probably leave at least 4 mm just so I can get a good adhesion for cutting.    2- apply the pattern to the wood For this I used 3M Spray Mount. I have mixed feelings about this product since sometimes it peels off in the middle of cutting and other times it takes forever to try and remove it all from the wood. I can't find any correlation between dry time, cleanliness of wood, or the amount of spray- so after this project I'll probably be looking for something else. If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them.  But back on track- Because of the shapes of the floors and futtocks, it's pretty easy to conserve wood and tack everything to the wood close to each other. I tried to avoid doing that since thats what led to my demise the first time around. Maybe when I get better at scroll sawing I'll feel more comfortable cramming everything together, but for now I've given each piece some air to breathe. I tried to stay with the grain but was not horribly worried about it on this model. It seems like that becomes very important with cant frames on full models. One last note on the 3M Spray Mount- it gets everywhere. I'm using a pair of needlenose pliers to hold the pattern while I spray it so it doesn't cover my hands. I've also since learned that spraying over the garage floor will cause the wife to ask questions like "Why is the floor all sticky?" - so I do all my spraying over the garbage can now.    3 - cut out the pattern I gave myself about a 1mm cushion on the sides and about 5 mm cushion on the heels of every piece. I think if there's ANYTHING taken away from this post- this is it. It's save you lots of future trouble and money.    4- file out the floor where it will sit on the keel. I just used a couple small square files I got at the hobby shop for this. Took off a little at a time until the floor fit snugly on the keel.    5- Assembling the first side of the frame. Once I knew the floor would fit on the keel, I sanded down the heels right to the edge of the line. For this I used a disc sander which has made things go really quick. It's important to make sure the table is squared up to the sanding disc to avoid problems later. Then I taped the floor down in position on the assembly drawing- which you won't see in the photos since that was something I just started doing last night. Everything else gets based off the floor, so it helps having to recenter it all the time.  Next up comes the second futtock. I sanded down the heel where it'll join the floor right to the edge of the line, then checked the fit. The goal was to have the heels sit flush AND have the frame eventually fit naturally into the jig without any pressure. Most of the time the futtocks will have to be resanded by just "touching" them to the sanded to get the correct angle. This was what I shot for..      After it "looked" good, I peeled back the edges of the pattern to see make sure the heels were fully flush..      Once everything looked kosher, I glued the floor and second futtock together. I found that poking the heel with an exacto to leave some small divits for the glue seems to give a better joint..      From here I just repeated the same steps to apply the fourth futtock, which gave me the first side of the frame.   
 
6- assembling the other side of the frame One half the frame is done, the rest was pretty easy. I started by peeling the pattern off of the floor and second futtock, but I guess there's no reason not to take all the patterns off. It's important to watch for residue from the pattern or glue that could prevent both sides of the frame from sitting flush and leaving gaps. This is a little extreme, but a razor will scrape it all off..      Now I was ready to line up the first futtocks. The hardest part was having both heels sit together and still line up with the floor and second futtock. But once I got that, I just sanded the heel for the third futtock and got ready for glueing. I did the same thing with the divits on the heels and also on the face that was being glued down. Then just a little glue and a bunch of colorful clamps..      Once this was done, the rest is just repeating what was done above. Making sure the heels are flush and everything lines up with the assembly sheet in the plans are the biggest points. I sanded down a couple of the first frames (but have since left all frames unsanded so I can do all them at the same time) and have found that the joints are so good I had a tough time finding them. Two of my friends have taken a look and thought each frame was made from a single piece of wood! This is the finished result..     - file out the rest of the seat for the keel Since the floor is correctly filed for the keel, I just had to match up the first futtocks. Here's the right side done and the left side ready to be filed..      ...So that's it so far. I have to make a few more frames before moving on and may remake a frame or two also. I tried out some treenails on one and found that the Dremel workstation does not take the place of a good drill press, so that may be my next investment. I know this was a pretty long and detailed writeup on making frames, but this was one thing that I had no idea how to approach coming into this build, and like I said in the beginning- hopefully this will help someone else in the same boat as me. Oh yeah- here's how it's looking so far     far After the frames are done, I'll be working on sanding them down and treenailing.  -Chad

7. Dry Fitting Frames
 
So I now have all the frames cut and together, but they are still rough. I decided I'm going to fair down the frames all together once they are mounted on the keel like it would be done on a full framed model just for a little practice. I don't see this being a problem once the frames are treenailed down and the keelson is in place. I think I will also put spacers in above the wales since both sides will be planked wales up, which will add a little sturdiness. 
  I'm now doing a final fit of all the frames to the keel and cutting the notch for the keelson. I had cut it very roughly- and in hindsight probably could have cut a little tighter- so there's alot of sand a little and check, sand a little and check... . Luckily this can all be done in the house and not in the garage where it's getting a little chilly.  Here's where I'm at..   
 

 
these are the tools I've been using for the keelson. The large file was an impulse buy at Harbor Freight for a dollar that has come in very handy for this. It seems big but for some reason is easier to use.. 
 

 
..So once this is done, I'll be treenailing the frames, finishing the keel and keelson with tung oil, then treenailing the frames to the keel. Onward! -Chad

8. Treenail Holes
 
I've gotten all the frames fitted for the keel and keelson now and am starting to work on treenailing. One of the little things that I wanted to make sure I did was have the treenails evenly spaced and not just 'eyeball' it. Just one of those things that can look crummy if done wrong, and I really have no desire to mess it up and cut anymore frames! So I wanted to come up with a template of some kind to correctly drill my treenail holes. This is what I came up with for the floors
  pretty straight forward... It's just a cutout from the plans with the holes measured out...      The template for the heels of the futtocks took a little more brainstorming. I ended up with the following template. It's just a piece of rigid plastic I cut from the packaging of a pack of batteries. I just scribed a straight line down the middle and poked 2 holes an even amount from each side of the scribe. The scribe was placed on the joint on the frames and a mark left where I was to drill...      Overall I was happy with the results....      For the actual treenails, I was planning on using my old faithful bamboo skewers pulled through a drawplate (the Byrnes drawplate is the way to go..), but after alot of tests on old frames with different finishes and and even trying to soak the bamboo in stain, I'm just not liking the look. I ripped some boxwood (lord knows I have TONS of scrap to work with...) and tried a few trials and it looks real nice- very subtle but you know it's there. So now I'm going to attempt boxwood treenails, which won't be easy but it's the look I want so I'll suffer.  Anyway- this is what I have so far. I've also gone ahead and finished my keel (apple), keelson (apple) and false keel (indian laurel) with tung oil. -Chad         

7. Dry Fitting Frames
 
So I now have all the frames cut and together, but they are still rough. I decided I'm going to fair down the frames all together once they are mounted on the keel like it would be done on a full framed model just for a little practice. I don't see this being a problem once the frames are treenailed down and the keelson is in place. I think I will also put spacers in above the wales since both sides will be planked wales up, which will add a little sturdiness. 
  I'm now doing a final fit of all the frames to the keel and cutting the notch for the keelson. I had cut it very roughly- and in hindsight probably could have cut a little tighter- so there's alot of sand a little and check, sand a little and check... . Luckily this can all be done in the house and not in the garage where it's getting a little chilly.  Here's where I'm at..   
 

 
these are the tools I've been using for the keelson. The large file was an impulse buy at Harbor Freight for a dollar that has come in very handy for this. It seems big but for some reason is easier to use.. 
 

 
..So once this is done, I'll be treenailing the frames, finishing the keel and keelson with tung oil, then treenailing the frames to the keel. Onward! -Chad

6. Back on Track Making Frames
 
Well, I think the little setback is the best thing that could have happened to me. I'm back on track now and have a little over half the frames built and they look a heck of alot better than the first ones. Restarting was definitely the best way to go.    So I thought I'd break down how I've been building my frames. It's alot like some of the other ways I've seen, but with a few little twists. It's been changing a little bit with each frame since I've found little ways to  make it more efficient. but here's where I'm at now.  1 - cut out pattern pieces for frames Pretty self explanatory here- just make sure there is extra "meat" one all four sides of the edges. I probably leave at least 4 mm just so I can get a good adhesion for cutting.    2- apply the pattern to the wood For this I used 3M Spray Mount. I have mixed feelings about this product since sometimes it peels off in the middle of cutting and other times it takes forever to try and remove it all from the wood. I can't find any correlation between dry time, cleanliness of wood, or the amount of spray- so after this project I'll probably be looking for something else. If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to them.  But back on track- Because of the shapes of the floors and futtocks, it's pretty easy to conserve wood and tack everything to the wood close to each other. I tried to avoid doing that since thats what led to my demise the first time around. Maybe when I get better at scroll sawing I'll feel more comfortable cramming everything together, but for now I've given each piece some air to breathe. I tried to stay with the grain but was not horribly worried about it on this model. It seems like that becomes very important with cant frames on full models. One last note on the 3M Spray Mount- it gets everywhere. I'm using a pair of needlenose pliers to hold the pattern while I spray it so it doesn't cover my hands. I've also since learned that spraying over the garage floor will cause the wife to ask questions like "Why is the floor all sticky?" - so I do all my spraying over the garbage can now.    3 - cut out the pattern I gave myself about a 1mm cushion on the sides and about 5 mm cushion on the heels of every piece. I think if there's ANYTHING taken away from this post- this is it. It's save you lots of future trouble and money.    4- file out the floor where it will sit on the keel. I just used a couple small square files I got at the hobby shop for this. Took off a little at a time until the floor fit snugly on the keel.    5- Assembling the first side of the frame. Once I knew the floor would fit on the keel, I sanded down the heels right to the edge of the line. For this I used a disc sander which has made things go really quick. It's important to make sure the table is squared up to the sanding disc to avoid problems later. Then I taped the floor down in position on the assembly drawing- which you won't see in the photos since that was something I just started doing last night. Everything else gets based off the floor, so it helps having to recenter it all the time.  Next up comes the second futtock. I sanded down the heel where it'll join the floor right to the edge of the line, then checked the fit. The goal was to have the heels sit flush AND have the frame eventually fit naturally into the jig without any pressure. Most of the time the futtocks will have to be resanded by just "touching" them to the sanded to get the correct angle. This was what I shot for..      After it "looked" good, I peeled back the edges of the pattern to see make sure the heels were fully flush..      Once everything looked kosher, I glued the floor and second futtock together. I found that poking the heel with an exacto to leave some small divits for the glue seems to give a better joint..      From here I just repeated the same steps to apply the fourth futtock, which gave me the first side of the frame.   
 
6- assembling the other side of the frame One half the frame is done, the rest was pretty easy. I started by peeling the pattern off of the floor and second futtock, but I guess there's no reason not to take all the patterns off. It's important to watch for residue from the pattern or glue that could prevent both sides of the frame from sitting flush and leaving gaps. This is a little extreme, but a razor will scrape it all off..      Now I was ready to line up the first futtocks. The hardest part was having both heels sit together and still line up with the floor and second futtock. But once I got that, I just sanded the heel for the third futtock and got ready for glueing. I did the same thing with the divits on the heels and also on the face that was being glued down. Then just a little glue and a bunch of colorful clamps..      Once this was done, the rest is just repeating what was done above. Making sure the heels are flush and everything lines up with the assembly sheet in the plans are the biggest points. I sanded down a couple of the first frames (but have since left all frames unsanded so I can do all them at the same time) and have found that the joints are so good I had a tough time finding them. Two of my friends have taken a look and thought each frame was made from a single piece of wood! This is the finished result..     - file out the rest of the seat for the keel Since the floor is correctly filed for the keel, I just had to match up the first futtocks. Here's the right side done and the left side ready to be filed..      ...So that's it so far. I have to make a few more frames before moving on and may remake a frame or two also. I tried out some treenails on one and found that the Dremel workstation does not take the place of a good drill press, so that may be my next investment. I know this was a pretty long and detailed writeup on making frames, but this was one thing that I had no idea how to approach coming into this build, and like I said in the beginning- hopefully this will help someone else in the same boat as me. Oh yeah- here's how it's looking so far     far After the frames are done, I'll be working on sanding them down and treenailing.  -Chad

5. Screwing up Frames and Lessons Learned
 
Well, I was hoping this next post would be my 'frames are completed- Hooray!' post, but it's gonna be a 'lessons learned post' instead. 
I had cut out all my frame parts and started assembling the other day, when I came to the conclusion that I'm going to need to reorder some boxwood sheets and start over if I want to do a quality job. I made a couple major (and a couple minor) mistakes that led to this point that hopefully will help a few other modelers..    1.) Cut out your frame pieces with a little extra 'meat' on them- This was probably my biggest mistake. It led to me having to re-cut alot of pieces because I cut away too much. As many have said- you can take it off, but it's nearly impossible to put back on. I'm still a novice when it comes to scroll-sawing, I'll just consider it more practice.    2.) If buying milled wood, get enough and don't skimp for quality- Because of #1, I had to order more boxwood since I didn't expect to use as much. But I ordered from a different dealer since I wasn't too happy with the quality of the first dealer. I knew the second dealers quality was great, but had balked on ordering since I wanted to order all from one place. Well, the new boxwood was great, but the thickness was a little less than the original. This caused me to have to sand down the frame by hand if I had to make a replacement futtock. I ended up not sanding down enough on a frame, which left a gap between the second and third futtock. Trying to pry them apart after the glue had cured nearly caused a stitch in my finger.    3.)If using spray mount to tack the pattern onto your wood, don't put all patterns on unless you plan on cutting them all soon.- Maybe it was the humidity, but I had cut all the patterns out and placed them allon the boxwood at one time. As mentioned, I'm still pretty new to woodworking with power tools, so I took my time over a week or two to cut the frame pieces. Unfortunately I ended up having to re-tack alot of the patterns because they lifted before I cut, or had flapping patterns while scroll sawing. It was a minor thing, but a nuisance nonetheless.    ..Well- I'd be lying if I said I wasn't really discouraged last night when I came to the realization that I'd lost the work I'd done- but I told myself I was going to take my time and do everything right. I don't want to slap something together that looks crummy just to regret it later. Unfortunately my modeling time is close to nothing right now with a little one running around, another on the way, and my mother in law living with us, so it'll probably take another 2 months to get back to this point.  On the bright side, I guess I have been lucky enough to learn all these lessons now at one time, than slowly throughout the build!