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Finished the second planking, then removed pins then re-drilled re added pins for adding third planks.
 

 

This again worked well, now have all with three planks each side and pins removed to start last set of planks.
 

 

Thanks guys for looking in and the likes.
 
Regards
Richard 

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Its scary to note that my last update was 9 months ago, much has dragged me away from keeping current with other's builds on this wonderful site, and making progress myself.  While not much, this brings me up to date.
 
Head Grating:
This caused much pondering!  Like everything, this had to be scratch built. and wasn't quite sure whether I could pull of the gracefully curved gratings that grace many period models.  In the end, this turned out to be a highly enjoyable little project.  The main framing elements were built following the layout and dimensions of previously assembled components.  The outside angled edge follows the curve of the main headrail, and the inside a foreshortened version.  No real secret other than use of lots of templates and continual trial fitting.  The larger framing elements were joined with a simple box joint for strength, the battens were individually shaped and glued end on.  Once completed, the front of the seats of ease were attached to simplify final installation.

Catheads, fo'c'sl plansheer and breasthook:
With the gratings finalised, it was possible to install the catheads with some confidence.  The breasthook was cut following dimension estimates from contemporary models (as much as possible) Prior to that however, the fo'c'sl plansheer was finalised, which required the underside where the catheads are located to be slightly angled to allow for the upward slope of the cathead given the overlap of the plansheer, and to ensure it sits flat.

Timberheads:
It was necessary t get my head around how I was going shape the timberheads, and figure out what was possible, so that I could both get some practice in shaping these and maximise the chance that these could be kept consistent and of an acceptable appearance.  I did not want to have to redo the head rails as these had taken many hours to make.  After some experimentation, the following approach seemed to provide the most consistent results for me.  2x5mm pear was used.
 
From left to right:
Preventer cuts were carefully made using a jig and #12 Exacto blade The edges were cut back gently to roughly preform the shape.  I found the wood surface had a tendency to break off even with care so there were losses.  Wipe on poly was applied at the cuts at this stage to both prove better visibility for further shaping, and also to harden the edges that had been formed The sloped  faces were further refined, again carefully using a #12 Exacto blade, sanding sticks and microfiles.  The top is deliberately made a little overlong as it makes shaping easier The top is reduced to final dimension... The overall height is reduced to final dimensions (in this case 10mm) Finalisation and installation of the main rail and grating:
The main rail could now be finally dimension and shaped.  As identified in TFFM, it did prove necessary to shape for rear outside profile to ensure it fits nicely to the cathead.  I couldn't find much in the way of detail here, but the AOTS Diana book shows a slight wedge of wood sitting between the hull and the head rail.  I decided to add two small wedges to ensure the headrail is fully secured to the hull.  The plansheer also had to be nicked to allow it to sit properly.

And with everything finally installed...I am greatly relieved and pleased with the way this has turned out as this proved to be a most challenging, but ultimately satisfying, adventure.  The fore seats of ease have been made up and will ultimate slot into the grating, but these will not be installed until the placement of the boomkins is determined as everything is very tight in this small area.

April 8th: The new pivot gun tracks were primed, painted, glued down (had to order a bottle of CA), painted some more.  The guns barrels are painted, detailed, and clear-coated (no pic of that yet).  The carriages are primed, but not painted yet.  They'll be painted olive like the previous set of gun carriages.

The new field carriage for the boat-howitzer also got painted, and after some clear-coat, will go to it's home in the stern-sheets of the launch.
(sorry for the poor images)

With longer days, and warmer weather, progress has slowed down as my focus has shifted a bit to being outdoors more as spring arrives.  I do still work on Cheerful daily though.  I'm working on the chain plates.  As with the backstay plates, I cut strips out of a 6" x 12" brass sheet.  I then cut the 8 chain plates longer than needed.  Next I shaped the tops of all 8.  Being my first ship build, I had to do some research when I got to Chuck's instructions, "Assuming this isn't your first ship model, the angles for each chain plate were found in the usual way."  Glenn (glbarlow) had some good photos in his Cheerful build log that show how to rig a temporary mast to get the desired chain plate angles.  I made a jig to get the rake of the mast correct, when compared to the plans.  Then I secured the mast in place with temporary fore and aft stays.  The simulated shrouds are tied off at the correct height and spacing on the mast.  Knowing the chain plates are not exactly the same length this process was key to do before I cut them to length and drilled the lower 2 holes on each chain plate.  I have the port side chain plates finished more or less (they do still need a little tweaking).  Each one is marked on the back for which position it belongs in.
 
Erik

It's all just sitting there, nothing's glued down yet, until it's actually painted.  A pic with, and without flash.  I need to watch those white-balance videos someone posted here at MSW.

The slides for the new guns are shorter than what was on the model, so new tracks had to be modeled, printed, and reprinted a little.

The old tracks had to be removed and the scars sanded off the deck.  Then the finish reapplied.  Meantime the guns and tracks were primed.

Looking at the drawing I bought from the Fishing museum in Lunenburg it shows how the planks overlapped at the middle station, then at each end they butt up so to hold plank in place I drilled holes in the jig so that it would overlap in middle and butt up at ends, started with three wood posts which was not enough so added two more, then I broke the wood posts so change them to brass tube..
 


Shape was good so have cut all sixteen planks now started the production.
Got two glued and they have come out pretty good.




Have been using this glue on all my wood gluing and it works great.
 

 

 
Thanks for all the comments and likes, until next time.
 
Regards
Richard
 

I finished the 10 inch Dahlgren.  I didn't model the gun's breech as it was in Dahlgrens drawing.  It looked like he left the breech of the Columbiad from the Traverse Carriage drawing and made the rest of it look like his 10" gun.  I know Rodman guns were made with that sort of breech, but I can't find drawings of a Dahlgren like that.  Dahlgren's patent drawings don't show that sort of breech either.
The slide, while just like the one in the Mississippi plan, is shorter and wider; this will mean reworking the deck tracks on Constellation; but It also means it'll fits the space better, with more room for moving the gun about, as well as fitting on my hatches better.

The print came out great except for one wheel on the back-left of the slide.  I can replace that, and fix the pallet around it easily enough, so it's not a "failed print."
 
The second gun printed better, it didn't lose any wheels

Hello, pictures March 2013:
 
 

I started a "build log" just for this Naval Gun project, here as well as on my website, mainly to not clutter Constellation's log with all this non-pertinent gun stuff.
But one gun I'm working on brings me back here, as it may mean a change to the Constellation model.
 
I'm modeling a 10 inch Dahlgren on a pivot carriage and it got me thinking about Constellation's "10 inch guns on pivot carriages."
The Mississippi plan, dated June 23 1855 shows a 10" gun of 86cwt (8600 pounds).  The ship's restoration folks presume that Constellation got the same thing because they looked for a 10" pivot gun at the Archives, and that's the plan they found.

Constellation was launched on August 26 1854, and commissioned on July 28 1855.
Dahlgren's drawing, on-the-other-hand, is from July 31 1850, 5 years prior, and refers to the pivot gun simply as a "10 inch gun on pivot carriage."

Without any documentation stating exactly which 10 inch pivot gun the ship was issued, how do I know?
Furthermore, a 10 inch Dahlgren tube weighed 12,000 pounds, 3,400 pounds more than the Mississippi gun.  When the ship was leaving for the African Station on July 15 1859, her captain felt the pivot guns were too heavy, too high, and made the ship "crank," so had them taken off.  I can't help but think that would be a concern regarding a pair of 12,000 pound guns compared to a pair of 8,600 pound guns.

I'm trying to find out where any records regarding what guns were issued to what ships would be, and if I can access them, but at the moment, I'm personally leaning toward replacing Constellation's pivot guns with 10 inch Dahlgren pivots.
Here's the 3D models of the 10 inch Dahlgren (still a WIP), the Mississippi gun, and both together.
 

More progress on the eight fishing dories, using swiss pear which is very nice to work with, planks are .018" thick easily bendable with fingers.
Had a clamp which I glued bits of wood to, so that sanding to shape was easier. 

 
First planking done now have to work out shape for the second plank.
 

 
Until next time,
Regards
Richard
 
 

This week I decided to mix things up a bit, taking a break between making the backstay plates and the chain plates.  I made the 22 eye bolts for the hull exterior and cap rail top.  While I have every manner of small diameter wire -  lead, brass, copper, phosphor bronze, steel - down to .002" diameter, I didn't have the type of wire best used by ship modelers for these types of things.  So after some research on this forum I ordered both 24 and 22 gauge Hillman Group dark annealed wire.  I must say, trying to make 22 identical eye bolts was more of a challenge than I thought it would be!  I never did get to a point where they were consistent.  That said, I selected groups that were close to identical to one another to fasten in the same area.  I figure if the port side eye bolts are slightly different than the starboard, a viewer would never know since you only see one side of the ship at a time.  I followed what Mike (Stuntflyer) had done in his Cheerful build log, and filed a little channel around the holes so the eye bolts snug down a bit.
 
I also drilled the scupper holes in the outside of the hull.  This was pretty straight forward, other than when I went to photograph the model I could see the bright wood on the inside of the bulwark.  I wound up taking a fine brush and painting the interior black, followed by running a pencil around the plank edge of the hole.
 
My next step will be to drill the scupper holes on the interior bulwark/deck area.  Does anyone have any advice or wisdom on that?  Am I drilling all the way through the interior planking?  I know I need to make the holes so they notch into the lip of the waterway at deck level.
 
Erik

Hi, Thomas. I hope life has allowed you some time to get back to this beautiful project?

A little bit of progress this week.  I'm new at metal working, so it took some trial and error to figure out how I am going to make the backstay plates and chain plates.  One of the main issues to getting the ball rolling was figuring out how I was going to make these without the availability of 1/64" x 3/32" brass strip.  It would appear that K & S has discontinued nearly its entire line of brass strip, and I couldn't locate any of the size I needed in my internet search.  Many years ago I had bought a package of various sizes of 6" x 12" brass shim stock (used to shim the plates when molding parts in plastic injection molding machines so that they align correctly) just in case I ever needed sheet brass.  These sheets came in thickness of .001", .0015", .002", .003", .004", .005", .006", .007", .008", .010", .012", and .015".  The .015" thickness is the decimal measurement of 1/64".  So I have my material.  I used a pair of ancient tin snips I have in my toolbox to cut 3/32" wide strips off the sheet.  I then had to flatten the strips since they curled both along the face and the edge.  Next I filed the sharp edges flat.  Then used flat pliers to eliminate the lengthwise cupping caused in cutting the strips off the sheet.  Now that I had my self-made strips ready, I then shaped the backstay plates following Chuck's instructions in his monograph.  Since the strips I created were rough and with blemishes, I polished the finished backstay plates with a fine file after shaping was complete, just because I'm a perfectionist, and that's how I roll!  Yes, I know they'll be painted black.  Haha.
 
Erik

Not a ton of progress this week.  I did finish fashioning and installing the boarding ladders and channels though.  I must say ripping the boards by hand out of sheet stock to make these parts is a bit of a pain in the rear.  lol.  Also, it was tough getting the pattern cut into the scraper to make the boarding ladder profile.  I think my limitation there was my lack of precise small files.  I deliberately made the filed notches in the channels that will house the chainplates narrower than they'll be.  I just wanted to get the notches placed correctly and the angles in, according to the plans.  I'll finish the notches up when I fit and attach the chainplates.
 
And lastly, I'm patting myself on the back.  My third photo below manages to capture the elusive and hard to photograph lower step of the Cheerful's boarding ladder (located on the wale and painted black).  Haha!
 
Erik

Coming back to a build table near me, my Enterprize will be continued as soon as Indy is completed, provided i can remember where i put her

As the weather has been nice over the last two weeks, I've swapped my little shipyard for my bike. As a result, I haven't got as far as I had planned.

As I wrote in the last part, I want to try a different technique for the after deadwood, especially to avoid milling on both sides. Firstly, the individual components of the deadwood are milled once with the correct side and once mirrored. In order to be able to glue the two sides together later, recesses are milled into which fitting pieces are glued before gluing them together.

The next picture shows the components removed from the board and trimmed.

Before gluing them together, a few small curves that inevitably result from the milling cutter must be removed. I do this with my little Proxxon.

The last picture shows the individual components after gluing them together.

A weak point became apparent when machining the parts. The direction of the wood grain of the tabs, which are used to position the finished component on the keel, follows the overall part. It would have been better to mill the tabs separately and rotate the grain by 90°. This would have made the components much less susceptible to breakage.

In the next part of the report, both sides of the deadwood parts will be milled and the deadwood glued together.

To those who have bought a Sherbourne kit, I have just noticed an issue with one in every eight laser etched decks.
 
If you have the deck on the left of the picture, with the bitt square hole not aligned like it is on the right of the picture, please contact me so that I can arrange a replacement deck.
 
 

Just an update on what I am doing right now, and what is planned for the next year.

I did mean to have a couple of weeks off after Sherbourne and Adder, but cannot help myself, so started designs for the 17th kit. The next two kits will be medium size. The one I am working on now, once designed and plans drawn, will be built by Jim, along photos and text for manual. This then frees me up to concentrate on the 18th medium kit – so after a very large kit like Indy, there will have been 3 mediums and 3 smaller kits done. After this, the 19th kit will be large, and hopefully, we will have moved to larger premises by then, as space is a major issue now – so another very large kit like Indy is out of the question until we have more space.
 
Also slowly building back up my stock of materials, pear sheet especially, and photo etched sheets for each of the kits.

Finally, I already mentioned this, I would like to commission someone to produce more 3-d printed boat files for me – if you feel you can/want do this, let me know.
 

I had a question in "Discussion for a ships deck furniture, Guns, Boats and other fittings" regarding where do they take the dimension of 15'-0" fishing dory, and the answer was from the bottom.
So now I have started to scratch build eight of these as per the plans 3/16"=1'-0" this would be 2.8125" or 71.43mm long on the bottom, they do have plywood laser cut pieces to make the shape but I want to have overlapped planks showing.
 
Started by printing out the plans so that I could make a plug, but before that I made eight bottoms from three planks glued together.
 

On the drawing they only had three lines of outside of planking, I needed six, so made some more copies and proceeded to work out the other three. 
 

Taking a piece of wood I laid out the station, machined a 1/32" slot in five of the stations, cut out the five inside planking shapes, then proceeded to glue shapes into slots.
shaped the bottom planks then checked the bottom planking to jig, also made the stem/false stem together 
 
I found the stations not stable enough, I could have put a piece of 1/32 plywood in between but decided to fill with solid wood, carving the shape.
 

 

To help laying the planks I made the jig so that I could turn either way so I could lay the planks easier, and at the same time drilled holes in bottom so that it would nold to plug. 

I have cut the first planking for both sides, started to file them to the shape then proceed to glue the first planks bottom, stem and stern.
Took it out of the jig/plug and so far its working as I intended, have a few guys thinking what's next.

Will make all eight to this stage before making the next row of planking, here is number 2 ready for first planks.
 

Until next time,
Regards
Richard
 
 
 
 
 

Hi John,
You could ask Chris at VM and see if he will sell the fishing figures again?
Regarding the question on magnification I have a prescription glasses so that I can see clearly 6" away from my face  also I like light, last year I got a examination light for veterinarian clinic from a Canadian company which really helps and also have a good table light.
 

 

 
Regards
Richard
 

Greetings to everyone, despite the many professional obligations the shipyard continues its work all this time, I will be with you soon with several photos from the completion of the ship after a long time, thank you

Hard to believe, but once again it has been ages since I last did anything with this build.  Last time I actively worked on this was 2018. Six years gone.
 
That has not stopped me from thinking ahead and planning the next steps. though.  Part of what I have been planning has been an upgrade to my little shipyard/workspace.
Let me tell you a story.
 
Upgrading the Shipyard
Several years ago, I knocked together a workspace to use for ship modeling as well as home office use.  It consisted of two 2-drawer filing cabinets and a six-foot wood work surface laid over the top. It sufficed for many years, but it had several short-comings. There was a certain lack of stability, no way to level the surface, cable management was a problem, and various pieces of equipment and electronics ended up on the floor of the knee hole or on the floor behind the workstation.  In addition, the computer monitor, printer, and other items took up valuable work area in an already very small workspace. The cheap edge banding I had applied to the original work top had also begun to peel off. I also did not like the way the keyboard tray was mounted. When pushed all the way in the front edge protruded further from the front of the top allowing stuff to fall down from the worktop directly into the keyboard.

A few months ago, a part of my Dremel tool broke. Instead of buying the replacement part I decided to splurge for an upgrade. I purchased a Foredom Tx flexible shaft motor and handpiece.  I took the opportunity, while my Soliel Royal model was entered into this year’s model show, to do the work to upgrade the shipyard.
 
Step one was to connect the two file cabinets into a proper rigid desk base.  This was accomplished by fastening a piece of quarter inch plywood as a back and fitting a shelf between the cabinets to hold all the electronic equipment that used to be on the floor.  Adjustable levelling feet were added to each filing cabinet.  The ¾ inch shelf rests on a cleat attached to the back board and a bracket on each cabinet. The back board was pierced with 2-inch holes for cable management. Notice in the pictures the jury-rigged clamps. There was a slight bow in the plywood backboard which caused the front of the cabinets to splay out wider in the front. I had to draw them back in to fit the shelf properly and I did not have a clamp that was long enough.



Step two dealt with the work surface. The old edge banding was stripped off and a 1 x 3 poplar board was applied to the back edge to act as a back stop preventing stuff from rolling off the back edge of the table into the mysterious parts black hole that seems to form in every modeler’s workspace. The top was also pierced with 2-inch cable management holes and new better quality edge banding was applied to the front and sides.  I had been using a 12 x 12 sample granite tile as a sort of heat shield when I did my soldering.  When not in use the tile lived under the desk.  I decided this upgrade would include insetting the tile into the surface of the work top so that it would be flush with the top.  A cavity was routed into the desktop to take the 3/8 inch tile. I also cut a 2-inch hole up from underneath the desk into this cavity to be able to push the stone up from the bottom for removal when required.  It all seemed to be working out perfectly until the stone cracked while trying to fit it the first time.  So, another trip to the tile store where an identical sized marble tile was found to replace it.  Both tiles only cost some smiles and friendly conversation. You know…schmoozing.
 

Step three consisted of constructing a new printer stand/table to free up valuable worktop real estate. The table is made from poplar. I bought three 6-foot boards; 1 x 3, 1 x 4, and 1 x 10. and a length of 2 x 2 poplar for the legs. The 1 x 10 was rough cut into three parts and edge jointed and glued up for the top. The 1 x 4 was used to make the aprons and the 1 x 3 went into the stretchers for the legs. Construction of the printer table took 2 days: one for the cutting, assembly and rough sanding, and the second for finish sanding, stain, and polyurethane top coats. This is nowhere near fine furniture grade stuff.
 

The final act was assembly.  Wooden cleats were fastened under the desktop to position and hold the desktop in place on the file cabinets. Plastic cable management grommets were placed into their holes. A power strip was mounted on to the base back board. The Ethernet hub was mounted on the left file cabinet and a USB hub was mounted on the right file cabinet. The network storage drive and the speaker system were placed on the under-desk shelf.  A new swing arm wall monitor mount was mounted above the left side of the desk.  The stand for the Foredom drill is mounted to the top of the desk.  This stand also includes as an add on feature a light kit that turns on by swinging the light down from vertical to horizontal.  The printer was moved to its new home on the printer stand to complete the project.
 



And there you have it.  I just brought the build back home today from the model show and I am feeling inspired to continue along on this build.
 
Thanks for looking in.
 
Regards,
Henry