ChadB

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

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!
 

1. Intro
 
I realized some time back that I'm just not liking the prospect of building kits forever. The fact that I would look over the ME and Bluejacket catalogs almost obsessively probably didn't help that much, since I've looked at just about every kit out there about 8 billion times. I also think that while working on my second (kit) model at an astonishingly slow pace (not for want of working on it, just the rest of life doing whatever it can to keep me away), I've found that it's just so much more satisfying to take the time and replace all the garbage castings and alot of wood that is supplied. I still have the box in the closet and it now contains about 3 times the amount of wood that originally came with it, since just about everything has been replaced with something nicer. 
So slowly but surely I've started to accept the fact that diving in to scratch building is the way to go, and the sooner the better. I'm still pretty young (29) and I now have a new home with a garage that is just begging me to fill it with power tools. Originally my first build was going to be the 42 foot longboat practicum that I ordered from ANCRE. Now not to get off topic, but it is a very nicely done practicum that I really can't wait to build. I was all set to go when I came to the realization that I really need more practice on my recently purchased scroll saw and table saw (the Dewalt scroll saw and the Byrnes table saw- both HIGHLY recommended..) before I tackle some of the cutting for the longboat. This is what brought me into the Triton forums...  I had checked out the Triton info before, and really never was that interested. Not that I didn't admire all the (free) work that had gone into the planning- that's something that goes on in very few places on the internet and just shows what an amazing sight this is. But once I really started digging into some of the build logs and seeing how everyone was making the build "their own" I became really interested. I also realized that the help would be there along the way as I get my feet wet in reading drawings and really planning just about every aspect of what I was gonna do. 

This is very good advice. You don't need to leave a lot, but I try to leave enough that when I lay the frame on the plan it completely covers the outline of the frame (if that makes sense). Fairing is the worst, but it's better than having to redo a bunch of frames.You can treenail now since you won't be leaving so much extra meat that they will be off kilter at the end.  -Chad

This is very good advice. You don't need to leave a lot, but I try to leave enough that when I lay the frame on the plan it completely covers the outline of the frame (if that makes sense). Fairing is the worst, but it's better than having to redo a bunch of frames.You can treenail now since you won't be leaving so much extra meat that they will be off kilter at the end.  -Chad

This is very good advice. You don't need to leave a lot, but I try to leave enough that when I lay the frame on the plan it completely covers the outline of the frame (if that makes sense). Fairing is the worst, but it's better than having to redo a bunch of frames.You can treenail now since you won't be leaving so much extra meat that they will be off kilter at the end.  -Chad

COAMINGS AND GRATING
 
The joints were made as usual with the Proxxon saw. To cut the angles (63 degrees) I first inscribed the top edges by 1.73mm using dividers with the measurement derived from the TurboCAD programme.
 

 

 
This then allowed me to use the saw at an angle which has a nicely accurate indicator in degrees. I edged the coaming towards the saw until it cut right at the line.
 

 
By the way: if you do this, WATCH OUT FOR YOUR FINGERS AS YOU MAY FORGET THE EDGE OF THE SAW COULD BE CLOSER TO THEM THAN YOU THINK! I was wary of this, but thought I’d better mention it in case others might not have thought about it.
 
Having made the coamings, I could now install the grating I made earlier. I now realised that the long edges could not be the same width as the grating battens if they were to fit into the coaming I had made. I reckon I must have made a very slight error in cutting the strips, but thought that I might well make the same kind of error again so I went with the grating as made.
 

 
You might well note that I've not curved the top of the grating to match the deck camber. My decision was the lazy one -- I followed the plans! As for the base of the coamings, where curvature would come into play, again I was lazy -- the tiny cracks at their base sides will be covered by the planking.
 
One small point to watch out for is that if you stick too closely to the plan measurements it is vital to check these against the actual measurements you achieve on the model. In my case the forward hatch I made came out 0.5mm less wide than on the plans, but as this was not going to affect anything except the width of the ladder, I kept the hatch I made.
 
LADDER
 
I debated a while as to how to make the ladder. Essentially the choice was between table saw, hand saw and mill. I decided the easiest would be to use the modified Proxxon drill stand that I made for the Sherbourne. You can see the design at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/4539-how-to-modify-proxxon-mb-140-drill-stand-to-act-as-mill/?p=130660.
 
I made a very slight modification to that modification by adding a locking nut below the screw adjuster. This was because I found that vibration during milling made the screw gradually move upwards. You can see this further modification in the following pictures:
 

 

 
The next question was how best to hold the ladder rails in place while milling. I made a paper template and glued that to a rectangle of fibreboard using water-based glue (Pritt stick).
 
After fiddling around clamping the rails to the template I decided to experiment and see if gluing the rail to the template would allow a sufficiently strong bond for milling. I used PVA to do this and it worked very well indeed – allowing me to remove the rail easily after milling with full-strength isopropanol, and allowing me to remove the paper templates from the fibreboard and the rails with a damp sponge.
 
An additional benefit of this way of clamping is that it allows an uncluttered view of the rails whilst milling.
 

 
I could then proceed by clamping the board to the micro compound table.
 

 
To make the rails equal in height and at the correct angles, I bound them together with a couple of spots of PVA, then used the disc sander for the angles. I was really thankful that the Proxxon sander’s degree marker was accurate!
 

 
I then made a simple jig for placing the steps. I again used the idea of gluing a template to the fibreboard base, then gluing battens to the template. To keep the rails apart while fitting the steps I made two temporary and removable battens from old plywood.
 

 

 
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
 
This allowed me to assemble the coamings, grating and ladder.
 

 

 
I can see from the results that I should really spend time sanding to achieve the glassy kind of finish that others have done, but for the moment I’m just pleased that I can make and put together all these pieces!
 
Next I’ll do some planking.
 
Tony

Anguriel,
 
looks really good. I think it is very helpful to let a little bit more timber on both sides of the frame. So you can sand the whole section in one step and egalize small differences without makeing the frames to small durig this step.

3. Wood Selection
 
 I got down to the business of deciding the What, Where, and What Size of the cross section. I started by figuring that I was going to buy most of my lumber pre-milled, since I have yet to buy a thickness sander and I'm still learning the ropes with my table saw and scroll saw. Next on the agenda was trying to decide what types of wood I'd use. Two things I figured into the equation were 1) I haven't worked with many types of wood outside of the ones that come with kits, so I would like to try diversifying a little, and 2) money wasn't going to be a hinderance. I remember a post somewhere a long time ago that if you divide the price of the supplies over the amount of time it take to finish a project, that the cost tends to be very small- so I'd rather pay a little more for the wood I want since in the end it's probably only pennies difference. 
  So trying to decide what I wanted to use was going to be tough since my wood knowledge is pretty shallow, so I hit up the gallery and came across Raul Guzman Jr.'s Oliver Cromwell*. I have seen this model before and absolutely love it, so I PM'ed him and he was nice enough to provide me a "who's who" of the types of wood used. I pretty much ended up using the same wood list since I liked it so much, and added a couple other types.  Once I knew what types I was going to use, I set out breaking everything down into sizes and types using the plans and came up with this list**. The only part (I think) that I missed was the gun carriages, but I'm going to wait and see how things play out and see what I would like to use. I've ordered everything from the Lumberyard and qty's in parenthesis are for 12 inch+ lengths- which will give me enough to screw up with and yet probably finish.    BOXWOOD  (2) 3/16 x 3" x 24" frames, lodging knees, sills, beam arms (13) 1/8 x 1/8 ledges (6) 3/16 x 3/16 carlings (3) 1/4 x 1/4 gun deck beams (3) 5/16 x 1/4 lower deck beams (1) 5/32 x 2" x 24 hanging knees, lintels  APPLE  (1) 13/32 x 5/16 keel (1) 5/16 x 5/16 keelson (1) 13/32 x 1/16 garboard strake (20) 3/16 x 1/16 planking (3) 1/4 x 1/16 broad strake (6) 7/32 x 3/32 lower deck spirk./gundeck clamps (2) 1/16 x 5/32 skid beams  INDIAN LAUREL  (1) 1/4 x 1/16 gangway ladder (1) 3/16 x 1/16 FWD ladder (1) 1/16 x 3/8 sheer rail (1) 3/8 x 3/32 gangway trim (1) 5/32 x 5/32 gundeck stanchions (2) 1/8 x 5/16 false keel  CHERRY  (6) 1/8 x 5/16 thick stuff (4) 3/32 x 1/4 planking 1 (2) 1/16 x 1/4 planking 2 (2) 1/16 x 3/16 planking 3 (2) 5/32 x 5/32 hold pillars  WALNUT  (2) 1/4 x 5/32 hatches  EBONY  (4) 1/8 x 3/16 wales (2) 1/16 x 1/8 trim (1) 3/8 x 1/16 fenders (2) 3/16 x 3/32 steps  BLOODWOOD  (2) 1/4 x 3/32 gundeck spirketting (1) 3/32 x 3/16 gangway clamp (3) 1/16 x 3/16 bulwarks (1) 3/16 x 3/8 gallows (1) 1/8 x 5/32 cross piece (2) 1/4 x 1/4 bitts  MAPLE  (23) 1/16 x 3/16 deck planking (3) 1/16 x 1/4 waterways (10) 1/16 x 5/32 gangway  ... so now I wait...

3. Wood Selection
 
 I got down to the business of deciding the What, Where, and What Size of the cross section. I started by figuring that I was going to buy most of my lumber pre-milled, since I have yet to buy a thickness sander and I'm still learning the ropes with my table saw and scroll saw. Next on the agenda was trying to decide what types of wood I'd use. Two things I figured into the equation were 1) I haven't worked with many types of wood outside of the ones that come with kits, so I would like to try diversifying a little, and 2) money wasn't going to be a hinderance. I remember a post somewhere a long time ago that if you divide the price of the supplies over the amount of time it take to finish a project, that the cost tends to be very small- so I'd rather pay a little more for the wood I want since in the end it's probably only pennies difference. 
  So trying to decide what I wanted to use was going to be tough since my wood knowledge is pretty shallow, so I hit up the gallery and came across Raul Guzman Jr.'s Oliver Cromwell*. I have seen this model before and absolutely love it, so I PM'ed him and he was nice enough to provide me a "who's who" of the types of wood used. I pretty much ended up using the same wood list since I liked it so much, and added a couple other types.  Once I knew what types I was going to use, I set out breaking everything down into sizes and types using the plans and came up with this list**. The only part (I think) that I missed was the gun carriages, but I'm going to wait and see how things play out and see what I would like to use. I've ordered everything from the Lumberyard and qty's in parenthesis are for 12 inch+ lengths- which will give me enough to screw up with and yet probably finish.    BOXWOOD  (2) 3/16 x 3" x 24" frames, lodging knees, sills, beam arms (13) 1/8 x 1/8 ledges (6) 3/16 x 3/16 carlings (3) 1/4 x 1/4 gun deck beams (3) 5/16 x 1/4 lower deck beams (1) 5/32 x 2" x 24 hanging knees, lintels  APPLE  (1) 13/32 x 5/16 keel (1) 5/16 x 5/16 keelson (1) 13/32 x 1/16 garboard strake (20) 3/16 x 1/16 planking (3) 1/4 x 1/16 broad strake (6) 7/32 x 3/32 lower deck spirk./gundeck clamps (2) 1/16 x 5/32 skid beams  INDIAN LAUREL  (1) 1/4 x 1/16 gangway ladder (1) 3/16 x 1/16 FWD ladder (1) 1/16 x 3/8 sheer rail (1) 3/8 x 3/32 gangway trim (1) 5/32 x 5/32 gundeck stanchions (2) 1/8 x 5/16 false keel  CHERRY  (6) 1/8 x 5/16 thick stuff (4) 3/32 x 1/4 planking 1 (2) 1/16 x 1/4 planking 2 (2) 1/16 x 3/16 planking 3 (2) 5/32 x 5/32 hold pillars  WALNUT  (2) 1/4 x 5/32 hatches  EBONY  (4) 1/8 x 3/16 wales (2) 1/16 x 1/8 trim (1) 3/8 x 1/16 fenders (2) 3/16 x 3/32 steps  BLOODWOOD  (2) 1/4 x 3/32 gundeck spirketting (1) 3/32 x 3/16 gangway clamp (3) 1/16 x 3/16 bulwarks (1) 3/16 x 3/8 gallows (1) 1/8 x 5/32 cross piece (2) 1/4 x 1/4 bitts  MAPLE  (23) 1/16 x 3/16 deck planking (3) 1/16 x 1/4 waterways (10) 1/16 x 5/32 gangway  ... so now I wait...

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

3. Wood Selection
 
 I got down to the business of deciding the What, Where, and What Size of the cross section. I started by figuring that I was going to buy most of my lumber pre-milled, since I have yet to buy a thickness sander and I'm still learning the ropes with my table saw and scroll saw. Next on the agenda was trying to decide what types of wood I'd use. Two things I figured into the equation were 1) I haven't worked with many types of wood outside of the ones that come with kits, so I would like to try diversifying a little, and 2) money wasn't going to be a hinderance. I remember a post somewhere a long time ago that if you divide the price of the supplies over the amount of time it take to finish a project, that the cost tends to be very small- so I'd rather pay a little more for the wood I want since in the end it's probably only pennies difference. 
  So trying to decide what I wanted to use was going to be tough since my wood knowledge is pretty shallow, so I hit up the gallery and came across Raul Guzman Jr.'s Oliver Cromwell*. I have seen this model before and absolutely love it, so I PM'ed him and he was nice enough to provide me a "who's who" of the types of wood used. I pretty much ended up using the same wood list since I liked it so much, and added a couple other types.  Once I knew what types I was going to use, I set out breaking everything down into sizes and types using the plans and came up with this list**. The only part (I think) that I missed was the gun carriages, but I'm going to wait and see how things play out and see what I would like to use. I've ordered everything from the Lumberyard and qty's in parenthesis are for 12 inch+ lengths- which will give me enough to screw up with and yet probably finish.    BOXWOOD  (2) 3/16 x 3" x 24" frames, lodging knees, sills, beam arms (13) 1/8 x 1/8 ledges (6) 3/16 x 3/16 carlings (3) 1/4 x 1/4 gun deck beams (3) 5/16 x 1/4 lower deck beams (1) 5/32 x 2" x 24 hanging knees, lintels  APPLE  (1) 13/32 x 5/16 keel (1) 5/16 x 5/16 keelson (1) 13/32 x 1/16 garboard strake (20) 3/16 x 1/16 planking (3) 1/4 x 1/16 broad strake (6) 7/32 x 3/32 lower deck spirk./gundeck clamps (2) 1/16 x 5/32 skid beams  INDIAN LAUREL  (1) 1/4 x 1/16 gangway ladder (1) 3/16 x 1/16 FWD ladder (1) 1/16 x 3/8 sheer rail (1) 3/8 x 3/32 gangway trim (1) 5/32 x 5/32 gundeck stanchions (2) 1/8 x 5/16 false keel  CHERRY  (6) 1/8 x 5/16 thick stuff (4) 3/32 x 1/4 planking 1 (2) 1/16 x 1/4 planking 2 (2) 1/16 x 3/16 planking 3 (2) 5/32 x 5/32 hold pillars  WALNUT  (2) 1/4 x 5/32 hatches  EBONY  (4) 1/8 x 3/16 wales (2) 1/16 x 1/8 trim (1) 3/8 x 1/16 fenders (2) 3/16 x 3/32 steps  BLOODWOOD  (2) 1/4 x 3/32 gundeck spirketting (1) 3/32 x 3/16 gangway clamp (3) 1/16 x 3/16 bulwarks (1) 3/16 x 3/8 gallows (1) 1/8 x 5/32 cross piece (2) 1/4 x 1/4 bitts  MAPLE  (23) 1/16 x 3/16 deck planking (3) 1/16 x 1/4 waterways (10) 1/16 x 5/32 gangway  ... so now I wait...

2. Plans and Jig
 
** So if I accomplish anything with this build log, I hope to lay out a somewhat easy to follow order of doing things and a "plan of action", because that is probably what scares me the most about this build. I'm someone who likes having a physical book or directions sitting in front of me. So maybe if there's anyone else like that out there, I can help a little. Unfortunately I build at a snails pace- so that person I can help may not be born yet.** 
  OK- the first thing I did once I got access to the plans was obviously check them out. There's quite a bit- a little intimidating. So I headed out to Target and picked up a some page holders and a binder. Then I started printing. I printed out all of them and double checked that the scale was correct- 1/4 inch per foot. I found that on my Epson, the printer automatically defaults to shrinking the page to 97%, so the first couple were a tad small. Once I figured that out, everything was cool. Now I have a nice binder with all the plans easily accessible and can be easily rearranged in the order I think I'll use them. I also printed out between 2-4 copies of each, depending on if I felt they will be "high usage.  My plan of action is try and set up a jig next following UweK'S tutorial (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/901-uwek-triton-build-re-post-by-mod/). I headed out to Lowes and picked up all the hardware- so hopefully this weekend I can give that a go.

1. Intro
 
I realized some time back that I'm just not liking the prospect of building kits forever. The fact that I would look over the ME and Bluejacket catalogs almost obsessively probably didn't help that much, since I've looked at just about every kit out there about 8 billion times. I also think that while working on my second (kit) model at an astonishingly slow pace (not for want of working on it, just the rest of life doing whatever it can to keep me away), I've found that it's just so much more satisfying to take the time and replace all the garbage castings and alot of wood that is supplied. I still have the box in the closet and it now contains about 3 times the amount of wood that originally came with it, since just about everything has been replaced with something nicer. 
So slowly but surely I've started to accept the fact that diving in to scratch building is the way to go, and the sooner the better. I'm still pretty young (29) and I now have a new home with a garage that is just begging me to fill it with power tools. Originally my first build was going to be the 42 foot longboat practicum that I ordered from ANCRE. Now not to get off topic, but it is a very nicely done practicum that I really can't wait to build. I was all set to go when I came to the realization that I really need more practice on my recently purchased scroll saw and table saw (the Dewalt scroll saw and the Byrnes table saw- both HIGHLY recommended..) before I tackle some of the cutting for the longboat. This is what brought me into the Triton forums...  I had checked out the Triton info before, and really never was that interested. Not that I didn't admire all the (free) work that had gone into the planning- that's something that goes on in very few places on the internet and just shows what an amazing sight this is. But once I really started digging into some of the build logs and seeing how everyone was making the build "their own" I became really interested. I also realized that the help would be there along the way as I get my feet wet in reading drawings and really planning just about every aspect of what I was gonna do. 

LOL... you remember me too well! I have been working on another build, but life has me in the thick of it with kids and such. At some point I'll start a build log for that, but I figure I have a good 10 years before I finish  !  -Chad

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

3. Wood Selection
 
 I got down to the business of deciding the What, Where, and What Size of the cross section. I started by figuring that I was going to buy most of my lumber pre-milled, since I have yet to buy a thickness sander and I'm still learning the ropes with my table saw and scroll saw. Next on the agenda was trying to decide what types of wood I'd use. Two things I figured into the equation were 1) I haven't worked with many types of wood outside of the ones that come with kits, so I would like to try diversifying a little, and 2) money wasn't going to be a hinderance. I remember a post somewhere a long time ago that if you divide the price of the supplies over the amount of time it take to finish a project, that the cost tends to be very small- so I'd rather pay a little more for the wood I want since in the end it's probably only pennies difference. 
  So trying to decide what I wanted to use was going to be tough since my wood knowledge is pretty shallow, so I hit up the gallery and came across Raul Guzman Jr.'s Oliver Cromwell*. I have seen this model before and absolutely love it, so I PM'ed him and he was nice enough to provide me a "who's who" of the types of wood used. I pretty much ended up using the same wood list since I liked it so much, and added a couple other types.  Once I knew what types I was going to use, I set out breaking everything down into sizes and types using the plans and came up with this list**. The only part (I think) that I missed was the gun carriages, but I'm going to wait and see how things play out and see what I would like to use. I've ordered everything from the Lumberyard and qty's in parenthesis are for 12 inch+ lengths- which will give me enough to screw up with and yet probably finish.    BOXWOOD  (2) 3/16 x 3" x 24" frames, lodging knees, sills, beam arms (13) 1/8 x 1/8 ledges (6) 3/16 x 3/16 carlings (3) 1/4 x 1/4 gun deck beams (3) 5/16 x 1/4 lower deck beams (1) 5/32 x 2" x 24 hanging knees, lintels  APPLE  (1) 13/32 x 5/16 keel (1) 5/16 x 5/16 keelson (1) 13/32 x 1/16 garboard strake (20) 3/16 x 1/16 planking (3) 1/4 x 1/16 broad strake (6) 7/32 x 3/32 lower deck spirk./gundeck clamps (2) 1/16 x 5/32 skid beams  INDIAN LAUREL  (1) 1/4 x 1/16 gangway ladder (1) 3/16 x 1/16 FWD ladder (1) 1/16 x 3/8 sheer rail (1) 3/8 x 3/32 gangway trim (1) 5/32 x 5/32 gundeck stanchions (2) 1/8 x 5/16 false keel  CHERRY  (6) 1/8 x 5/16 thick stuff (4) 3/32 x 1/4 planking 1 (2) 1/16 x 1/4 planking 2 (2) 1/16 x 3/16 planking 3 (2) 5/32 x 5/32 hold pillars  WALNUT  (2) 1/4 x 5/32 hatches  EBONY  (4) 1/8 x 3/16 wales (2) 1/16 x 1/8 trim (1) 3/8 x 1/16 fenders (2) 3/16 x 3/32 steps  BLOODWOOD  (2) 1/4 x 3/32 gundeck spirketting (1) 3/32 x 3/16 gangway clamp (3) 1/16 x 3/16 bulwarks (1) 3/16 x 3/8 gallows (1) 1/8 x 5/32 cross piece (2) 1/4 x 1/4 bitts  MAPLE  (23) 1/16 x 3/16 deck planking (3) 1/16 x 1/4 waterways (10) 1/16 x 5/32 gangway  ... so now I wait...

3. Wood Selection
 
 I got down to the business of deciding the What, Where, and What Size of the cross section. I started by figuring that I was going to buy most of my lumber pre-milled, since I have yet to buy a thickness sander and I'm still learning the ropes with my table saw and scroll saw. Next on the agenda was trying to decide what types of wood I'd use. Two things I figured into the equation were 1) I haven't worked with many types of wood outside of the ones that come with kits, so I would like to try diversifying a little, and 2) money wasn't going to be a hinderance. I remember a post somewhere a long time ago that if you divide the price of the supplies over the amount of time it take to finish a project, that the cost tends to be very small- so I'd rather pay a little more for the wood I want since in the end it's probably only pennies difference. 
  So trying to decide what I wanted to use was going to be tough since my wood knowledge is pretty shallow, so I hit up the gallery and came across Raul Guzman Jr.'s Oliver Cromwell*. I have seen this model before and absolutely love it, so I PM'ed him and he was nice enough to provide me a "who's who" of the types of wood used. I pretty much ended up using the same wood list since I liked it so much, and added a couple other types.  Once I knew what types I was going to use, I set out breaking everything down into sizes and types using the plans and came up with this list**. The only part (I think) that I missed was the gun carriages, but I'm going to wait and see how things play out and see what I would like to use. I've ordered everything from the Lumberyard and qty's in parenthesis are for 12 inch+ lengths- which will give me enough to screw up with and yet probably finish.    BOXWOOD  (2) 3/16 x 3" x 24" frames, lodging knees, sills, beam arms (13) 1/8 x 1/8 ledges (6) 3/16 x 3/16 carlings (3) 1/4 x 1/4 gun deck beams (3) 5/16 x 1/4 lower deck beams (1) 5/32 x 2" x 24 hanging knees, lintels  APPLE  (1) 13/32 x 5/16 keel (1) 5/16 x 5/16 keelson (1) 13/32 x 1/16 garboard strake (20) 3/16 x 1/16 planking (3) 1/4 x 1/16 broad strake (6) 7/32 x 3/32 lower deck spirk./gundeck clamps (2) 1/16 x 5/32 skid beams  INDIAN LAUREL  (1) 1/4 x 1/16 gangway ladder (1) 3/16 x 1/16 FWD ladder (1) 1/16 x 3/8 sheer rail (1) 3/8 x 3/32 gangway trim (1) 5/32 x 5/32 gundeck stanchions (2) 1/8 x 5/16 false keel  CHERRY  (6) 1/8 x 5/16 thick stuff (4) 3/32 x 1/4 planking 1 (2) 1/16 x 1/4 planking 2 (2) 1/16 x 3/16 planking 3 (2) 5/32 x 5/32 hold pillars  WALNUT  (2) 1/4 x 5/32 hatches  EBONY  (4) 1/8 x 3/16 wales (2) 1/16 x 1/8 trim (1) 3/8 x 1/16 fenders (2) 3/16 x 3/32 steps  BLOODWOOD  (2) 1/4 x 3/32 gundeck spirketting (1) 3/32 x 3/16 gangway clamp (3) 1/16 x 3/16 bulwarks (1) 3/16 x 3/8 gallows (1) 1/8 x 5/32 cross piece (2) 1/4 x 1/4 bitts  MAPLE  (23) 1/16 x 3/16 deck planking (3) 1/16 x 1/4 waterways (10) 1/16 x 5/32 gangway  ... so now I wait...

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad 
 

 

 

 

 

1. Intro
 
I realized some time back that I'm just not liking the prospect of building kits forever. The fact that I would look over the ME and Bluejacket catalogs almost obsessively probably didn't help that much, since I've looked at just about every kit out there about 8 billion times. I also think that while working on my second (kit) model at an astonishingly slow pace (not for want of working on it, just the rest of life doing whatever it can to keep me away), I've found that it's just so much more satisfying to take the time and replace all the garbage castings and alot of wood that is supplied. I still have the box in the closet and it now contains about 3 times the amount of wood that originally came with it, since just about everything has been replaced with something nicer. 
So slowly but surely I've started to accept the fact that diving in to scratch building is the way to go, and the sooner the better. I'm still pretty young (29) and I now have a new home with a garage that is just begging me to fill it with power tools. Originally my first build was going to be the 42 foot longboat practicum that I ordered from ANCRE. Now not to get off topic, but it is a very nicely done practicum that I really can't wait to build. I was all set to go when I came to the realization that I really need more practice on my recently purchased scroll saw and table saw (the Dewalt scroll saw and the Byrnes table saw- both HIGHLY recommended..) before I tackle some of the cutting for the longboat. This is what brought me into the Triton forums...  I had checked out the Triton info before, and really never was that interested. Not that I didn't admire all the (free) work that had gone into the planning- that's something that goes on in very few places on the internet and just shows what an amazing sight this is. But once I really started digging into some of the build logs and seeing how everyone was making the build "their own" I became really interested. I also realized that the help would be there along the way as I get my feet wet in reading drawings and really planning just about every aspect of what I was gonna do. 

2. Plans and Jig
 
** So if I accomplish anything with this build log, I hope to lay out a somewhat easy to follow order of doing things and a "plan of action", because that is probably what scares me the most about this build. I'm someone who likes having a physical book or directions sitting in front of me. So maybe if there's anyone else like that out there, I can help a little. Unfortunately I build at a snails pace- so that person I can help may not be born yet.** 
  OK- the first thing I did once I got access to the plans was obviously check them out. There's quite a bit- a little intimidating. So I headed out to Target and picked up a some page holders and a binder. Then I started printing. I printed out all of them and double checked that the scale was correct- 1/4 inch per foot. I found that on my Epson, the printer automatically defaults to shrinking the page to 97%, so the first couple were a tad small. Once I figured that out, everything was cool. Now I have a nice binder with all the plans easily accessible and can be easily rearranged in the order I think I'll use them. I also printed out between 2-4 copies of each, depending on if I felt they will be "high usage.  My plan of action is try and set up a jig next following UweK'S tutorial (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/901-uwek-triton-build-re-post-by-mod/). I headed out to Lowes and picked up all the hardware- so hopefully this weekend I can give that a go.

3. Wood Selection
 
 I got down to the business of deciding the What, Where, and What Size of the cross section. I started by figuring that I was going to buy most of my lumber pre-milled, since I have yet to buy a thickness sander and I'm still learning the ropes with my table saw and scroll saw. Next on the agenda was trying to decide what types of wood I'd use. Two things I figured into the equation were 1) I haven't worked with many types of wood outside of the ones that come with kits, so I would like to try diversifying a little, and 2) money wasn't going to be a hinderance. I remember a post somewhere a long time ago that if you divide the price of the supplies over the amount of time it take to finish a project, that the cost tends to be very small- so I'd rather pay a little more for the wood I want since in the end it's probably only pennies difference. 
  So trying to decide what I wanted to use was going to be tough since my wood knowledge is pretty shallow, so I hit up the gallery and came across Raul Guzman Jr.'s Oliver Cromwell*. I have seen this model before and absolutely love it, so I PM'ed him and he was nice enough to provide me a "who's who" of the types of wood used. I pretty much ended up using the same wood list since I liked it so much, and added a couple other types.  Once I knew what types I was going to use, I set out breaking everything down into sizes and types using the plans and came up with this list**. The only part (I think) that I missed was the gun carriages, but I'm going to wait and see how things play out and see what I would like to use. I've ordered everything from the Lumberyard and qty's in parenthesis are for 12 inch+ lengths- which will give me enough to screw up with and yet probably finish.    BOXWOOD  (2) 3/16 x 3" x 24" frames, lodging knees, sills, beam arms (13) 1/8 x 1/8 ledges (6) 3/16 x 3/16 carlings (3) 1/4 x 1/4 gun deck beams (3) 5/16 x 1/4 lower deck beams (1) 5/32 x 2" x 24 hanging knees, lintels  APPLE  (1) 13/32 x 5/16 keel (1) 5/16 x 5/16 keelson (1) 13/32 x 1/16 garboard strake (20) 3/16 x 1/16 planking (3) 1/4 x 1/16 broad strake (6) 7/32 x 3/32 lower deck spirk./gundeck clamps (2) 1/16 x 5/32 skid beams  INDIAN LAUREL  (1) 1/4 x 1/16 gangway ladder (1) 3/16 x 1/16 FWD ladder (1) 1/16 x 3/8 sheer rail (1) 3/8 x 3/32 gangway trim (1) 5/32 x 5/32 gundeck stanchions (2) 1/8 x 5/16 false keel  CHERRY  (6) 1/8 x 5/16 thick stuff (4) 3/32 x 1/4 planking 1 (2) 1/16 x 1/4 planking 2 (2) 1/16 x 3/16 planking 3 (2) 5/32 x 5/32 hold pillars  WALNUT  (2) 1/4 x 5/32 hatches  EBONY  (4) 1/8 x 3/16 wales (2) 1/16 x 1/8 trim (1) 3/8 x 1/16 fenders (2) 3/16 x 3/32 steps  BLOODWOOD  (2) 1/4 x 3/32 gundeck spirketting (1) 3/32 x 3/16 gangway clamp (3) 1/16 x 3/16 bulwarks (1) 3/16 x 3/8 gallows (1) 1/8 x 5/32 cross piece (2) 1/4 x 1/4 bitts  MAPLE  (23) 1/16 x 3/16 deck planking (3) 1/16 x 1/4 waterways (10) 1/16 x 5/32 gangway  ... so now I wait...

Back before the "Great Crash" of MSW I had built the Triton cross section. I had a pretty robust build log to go along with it where I detailed just about every little step of my build. As it turns out, a friend of mine had actually saved about 95% of it and it has been sitting on my hard drive for quite some time. I haven't been on here much at all the last couple years but I saw my wood list made it's way on here and has hopefully helped a few people. It got me thinking that I would be good to get the build log out there to help others, also. I am going to try to start parsing it out in posts over time starting from the beginning going step by step, but I also have no problem giving out the .xps file to anyone currently building who doesn't want to wait (just be warned it is 180 pages long and includes a lot of fluff you would have to wade through!).

-Chad