Wintergreen

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 30 – Aft Square Frames 2
 
At this stage the first 15 full frames aft of 0 have been set.  The first picture shows frames 16, 17 and 18, right after inserting their bolts.  These are ready to be installed.
 

 
The next picture shows the hole being drilled for a pin on the port side of frame 16.  A bent pin in this hole will secure the top on this side of the frame to the ribband strip.
 

 
I mentioned earlier that a wood block is used to space the frame and the caliper to set the height of the ribband to the bottom of the planksheer rail.  That rail will be added much later.
 
The next picture was taken after frames 16 and 17 were erected. 
 

 
At this stage the ends of the temporary ribbands were reached.  The next picture shows work to extend the ribbands.  Setting frames using the ribbands has been a major time saver and helped get the frames into faired lines.
 

 
Connecting strips are being glued to the bottom of the existing ribbands.  The next picture shows the ribband extensions being glued on.  The “gantry” is being used to hold clamped guides the set the height and breadth of the ribbands at that position along the hull.
 

 
The gantry can be moved and the guides set at any given position.  The next picture shows another view of the hull with the extended ribbands.
 

 
In the last picture frame 18 has been installed and pinned to the ribband extensions.
 

 
The length of the hull – and the eventual size of the model are starting to become apparent.  It is really long and slender.  By way of comparison, Naiad was 147 feet long with a breadth of roughly 39 feet – an L/D ratio of roughly 3.7 to 1.  Young America had a length of 240 feet and a breadth of 43 feet – an L/D ratio of 5.6 to 1.
 
There are now 11 more full frames to install.  19, 20 and 21 are in fabrication.  22, 23 and 24 have been lofted.  After installing the last full frame - number 29 -  the keelson and aft deadwood assemblies will be completed to prepare for the half and cant frames.
 
Ed

Francis Pritt has taken another couple of small steps forward.  The basic beam for the stern framing has now been attached with its doublers across the rudder trunking and the first two after frames are ready for shaping.  Now she feels like she's about to become a ship!
 
I won't be in the museum again until New Years Day, but in the meantime I need to construct a building frame and get some more wood cut for the frames.
 
John
 

Your work is so precise it is scary...

A delayed thank you to Maurey and Pavel.  Druxey, the tracks are now installed and, like so many details that we add, are now almost invisible!  But we all know they are there...
 
Beam sets 9 and 10 are in place.  The only unusual items are the opposed lodging knees at the dead flat.  I did not have thick enough wood with me this week to make them, so they will be installed next week.  They will be identical to the ones on the lower deck.  Look at page 10 of this build to see how they are shaped.
 

 

 

Thanks Grant, about 3 on the main deck and a few small ones I think. No nightmares here
Danny, thanks for the compliment and pointing out my error, I made the battle station 3 years ago meanwhile I also learned  I shouldn't portray them run out  
 
Meanwhile knight to C4, bishop to C4, bishop takes knight........ I like Greg's metaphor that scratch building is like playing chess. And I was caught by my opponent. I forgot to cut the mortises in the curved beam and had to do them in situ, little nerve wrecking.....
 

 
So a little mile stone today, I finished all the beams, knees, carlings, ledges, opposing knees ands so on for the lower deck that I want to portray. After sanding the deck it came out really nice. On to the planking of the deck, I'll keep that to a minimum though to show as much of the details as possible. A waterway on both sides and just enough planks to support the bulkheads.
 

 

 
Remco

The framing plan is now almost done (bar some of the cants at the rudder end by the keel..
 

 
So basically I have got back to the stage I had reached when the site crashed... One difference you will note is that I have utilised the Foredeck bulwarks (allowing I have the terminology correct). Most of the paintings (definitely from the Lissa period at least) show her with these and my framing plan did include them though the sheer did not.
 
Next up is the fish plan (as I like to call it)
 
Joss

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 28 – "Pin-Indexing"
 
Next on the agenda is a long slog of repetitive work – making and setting the 29 full frames of the afterbody.  This will be followed by 13 pairs of half frames and 6 pairs of cants – then the eagerly anticipated circular stern
 
Essentially, this framing will be a repeat of the installation in the forebody.  I previously showed pictures and described the frame assembly using pin-indexed pieces.  This has greatly improved efficiency and accuracy in assembling the 13 pieces of each full frame pair.  This process can only be used if indexed bolt/pin holes are provided on the pattern sheets.  I thought it might be interesting to give a short overview of how that step in the lofting process was done.
 
I put this post together a few days ago thinking I might post it.  The discussion on pre-beveling of frames prompted me to do so, since the lofting described is one of the enablers for that. 
 
This is an overview only of the pin/bolt hole placement on the patterns. I will not describe the entire frame lofting process here, except to say that profiles for the true fore and aft faces of each frame must added to the normal body plan and used for lofting beveled frames.  Using profiles from the next frame forward and aft does not provide sufficient accuracy for bolt placement in beveled frames. 
 
The first image shows the fore and aft half-pattern objects for forward frame R, created from the enhanced body plan. 
 
In each pattern green is used to show the forward profiles and red for the aft profiles.
 

 
Every frame “bend” on Young America is constructed with offset, sistered fore and aft timber segments. The segments are delineated by the cut lines on each pattern.  In this image no pin holes have yet been placed on either pattern, but the objects for the hole marks are scattered to the left of the forward pattern.
 
 
The two patterns are then aligned to their final relative positions as shown below.
 

 
This is a highly beveled frame pair, as can be seen in this image.
 
With the patterns aligned, the pin/bolt hole objects are placed on the combined patterns between the line for the forward outboard profile and the aft inboard profile.  This assures that they will not break through either the inboard or outboard faces – hence the need for accurate profiles.  The placement of some of these near the top of the frame is shown below.
 

 
In this highly beveled frame, these hole objects just fit between the lines.  The actual pin/bolt holes will be smaller than these objects.  Note that the top of the forward frame is higher since it includes the stanchion for the main rail.
 
With the holes placed, the aft frame pattern object is selected along with all of the hole objects.  This combination is then copied and pasted to the right in the next image.  The aft pattern is then deleted from its position atop the forward pattern leaving just the forward frame and the original hole objects in place.  The two pattern halves now have precisely indexed pin/bolt hole marks.
 

 
The two objects in this image are then mirrored and combined to form the full frame patterns shown below.  This same basic process is also used for the half and cant frames.
 

 
After cutting out the timber segments, the patterns can then be used to drill indexing pin holes to locate the timbers on a pattern sheet for assembly and later for insertion of model bolts.  This was described in previous posts.
 
Assembly accuracy is very dependent on accurate drilling, but that is another topic.  Besides the advantages in assembly time, the final frame emerges with patterns on both fore and aft faces – one of the important enablers for pre-beveling before erection.
 
I believe this process has reduced the frame assembly time to half of what I expected so far.  The above description is, of course, simply an overview, hardly a tutorial.
 
The jury is still out on whether this and the other process features will enable frames to be completely beveled before erection.
 
Sorry, no photos.  Next time.
 
Ed
 

Fellow ship builders. At last, I have started working on my Schooner again, feels great to be back. But rest assured, I have followed many builds in MSW during the last 6 months.
 
I can't help noticing that the forum has taken a turn to period ships during the last year or so. Don't get me wrong though, I really appreciate all the efforts and nice logs of such builds as well. Hopefully there are still a few of you left that will apprechiate my Schooner log.
 
Anyways, I have completed the bow spirit. It is now complete with rigging details and dry fitted to the ship. I shall wait to glue it in place for a while, since the model will be so much more fragile once the assembly is fitted. The most challenging parts in completing the bow spirit were achieving a nice and clean mask between the black and white paint, and furthermore getting those tiny rigging details in place. Furthermore, soldering the jibb boom wye was a real challenge, as decried in previous posts.
 
I am happy with the outcome, the assembly appears crisp and without any real visible flaws.
 
I have started planning my next major step, which is to mount the model to its brass stands to my display board. Am i right in thinking that the water line needs to be horizontal, and that the full length of the ship will be "covered" by the length of the display board? Are there any rules of thumb when it comes to the brass stands positioning relative to the masts?
 
Enough said, I hope you enjoy the following pictures.
 
Over and out
 
/Alfons

 

 

 

 

 

 
Note the small bolt head on the underside of the jibb boom end . There are two iron rings in the jibb boom wey, allowing for both foot ropes and jibb boom guys to be fitted to port and starboard sides.
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 27 – Forward Hull Sanding/Bolting
 
 
First, thanks everyone for the recent comments.  I hope all those who celebrate Thanksgiving Day had a good holiday.
 
The view from directly forward in the last post seemed popular so here is another from a slight angle.
 

 
All those unsightly wood spacers between frames are temporary and will be coming out at some point.
 
After this picture was taken the model was inverted for fairing and sanding.  There is not much to say about this, since it turned out to be less work than anticipated.  Below is a picture of part of the bottom after sanding.
 

 
Not much fairing was needed – nothing like the work I had to do on Naiad, where very little pre-beveling of frames was done.  On this model almost all of the beveling was done before the frames were set, so the sanding was mostly for cleanup and finishing.
 
The next picture shows an area slightly forward.
 

 
This picture shows some of the bolts – inserted after sanding – to secure the half frames to the keelson/deadwood.  These are copper wire, epoxied deep into the holes to give strength to the model joints.  These frames are end-grain glued to the keelson/deadwood, so the joints are not strong.  These bolts were iron so they will be blackened before the lower hull is finished.
 
I am considering installing the garboard strakes – at least – later on both sides.  On these ships the garboards had an important structural role.  They were quite thick (7”) and were edge bolted through the keel and face bolted to the frames.   This reinforced the attachment of the frames to the keel and will serve that purpose on the model as well.  You will recall that the frame floors are merely glued and pinned to the top of the keel – not notched to fit over a rising wood as in 18C ships – and some clippers.  This is not a strong joint.
 
While the model was inverted the remaining forward bolts were installed.  The bolts through the stem can be seen in the next picture.  These were long copper bolts.
 

 
Eventually, the forward side of the stem – actually the false stem – will be tapered down to about 4 or 6 inches in `breadth.
 
The last picture shows the iron bolts securing the hawse timbers to the stem/apron.  Like the cant frame bolts, these are black monofilament.  All these bolts were riveted flush.
 

 
The model has now been re-aligned on the shipway so the afterbody framing can begin.
 
 
Ed
 
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 26 – Forward Half Frames/Ribbands
 
To provide space for work on the forward cant frames, I deferred setting of the remaining half frames.  In the first picture that work is proceeding.
 

 
The next picture shows all of the forward frames installed.
 

 
The sleek forward hull shape is really visible at this stage.  The next picture shows a different perspective.
 

 
And another view.
 

 
At this stage the alignment and spacing of the frames are set by the softwood spacers between each frame about midway between the keel and topside.  More strength is needed for final fairing of the lower hull.  Also, as the above photo shows, there is some irregularity in the line of the toptimbers that needs to be corrected before final fairing.
 
I decided to fair the forward hull before proceeding to the aft frames.  To provide additional strength and align the frame tops I installed temporary “ribbands” on both sides at the height of the planksheer.  I found this a very useful device in constructing Naiad.
 
The next picture shows the starboard ribband being fitted.
 

 
These were made from single 3/16” strips of clear white pine.  One end was boiled to set the curvature and in the above picture is being clamped for drying.  In the next picture installation is proceeding.
 

 
The strips are secured to every frame by short pins through drilled holes.  These are bent over on the inside to pull every frame tightly into the fair line of the ribband.  I cut off the points of the pins before bending to avoid all the scratches I got from these while working inside Naiad.  The holes in the frames will later be used for sheer strake bolts.  The tops of the strips are set at the height of the bottom of the planksheer rail, so these can be used to trim off the tops of the aft upper futtocks.
 
The next picture was taken from above after the strips were installed.
 

 
The center marks on the cross-spales cannot be seen under the thread line.  This is a good thing.  In addition to this centering check, the outside of the ribband was also checked by squaring up from the base drawing.
 
In the next picture I cleared all the clutter from the shipway to focus on the lines of the very sharp forward entry.
 

 
At this stage the frames have only been given the bevel described earlier before they were set.  Some additional sanding to refine the fairness is needed.
 
The model can now be removed from the base and upended for sanding and also for installation of quite a few bolts, especially those holding the half-frames to the deadwood.  These joints are quite weak so the model bolts will have to provide strength.  I will cover this in the next post.
 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
 
 
Ed

Another small update.
 
Yesterday I was able to get the planking rabbet cut on both sides plus some shallow grooves forward to locate the cant frames.  Unfortunately our friendly electrician at the museum has done so well in providing extra lighting at the model makers desk that I found it impossible to get good shadow across the model to show up the rabbet line properly, but you can see it at the stern if you look for it.
 
I really must try and find some additional time for the Pritt or it will take the next decade to get anywhere.
 
John
 

Progress has been slow, other pressing commitments and two weeks spent in Venezuela.  Over some years with the model in storage, the stern part of the keel was warped, not badly but an irritation nevertheless.  Used the primitive caveman's approach - hot water, steam and controlled violence.
 

 
Continued on with the infill between the bulwarks, until material ran out.  This work is boring, but after double planking The Bounty, I prefer this method as it provides a solid surface allowing the planking to be marked out.
 

 
While waiting to get more infill material from the craft shop, I started on the windows/gallery structure at the stern.  The minimal information/instructions provided by Billings Boats seemed to indicate that the lower support structure should be assembled to the hull before planking, with the remaining components attached after planking is completed.  The curvature of the supports was not shown and so a test fit of the lower support and window was used to determine this.
 

 
It appears that with the most recent issues of this kit that Billings has eliminated the curvature of the supports and windows.
 
Following a dry test of the remaining components, it became clear that the window/gallery structure would overshoot the stern upper deck by about 5 mm.  Probably not good.
 

 
Closer examination of the section drawings reveals that the window and support material supplied is twice the thickness shown on the drawings.  Also true of the deck material, but less important.  So now I will carefully remove the assembled lower support and reduce all the gallery support components to the required thickness.
 
Having looked at photos of several completed Norske Love models, I have found one (Tall Ship Models) that has a higher and more raked upper stern deck, that might have resulted from using thicker material.  All other photos indicate that the thickness shown on the Billings drawings was used.
 
Now have sufficient material to finish infilling the hull up to the stage where the lower deck gun placements must be completed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Continuing with the pumps--
 
Here are the pieces blackened--
 

 
 
I didn't have particularly good luck on this batch, though I followed my usual procedure:  wash the pieces in soap, and then rinse well, use about an 1:8 solution of Blacken-it and water,  wait a while!
 
I did the rocker arm and one of the pump tubes twice, but still some "light" areas.
 
 
Two holes were bored in the deck (and lower deck on the starboard side)--
 

 
 
To the right you can see a mark, and two pin starter holes where I nearly drilled!!   That would have been a pain to fix.  I think I can take care of the small holes by filling them with sawdust paste so they don't show.
 
 
Here are the pieces dry fit--
 

 

 
 
And here they are glued--
 

 
 
The only difference in appearance between the dry fit photos and these, is the small wire pins to hold the plunger rods to the rocker arm.   I still need to trim those, and then I will glue the rocker arm in this horizontal position.   The valve stirrups are too fragile (they've been filed dangerously thin to make sure the valves slide in the tube) to take a chance on them breaking if the pump is "worked".
 

 

 
 
I will probably make small washers for the main pin in the rocker arm pivot and support stanchion--it looks like it needs them.   I won't do that on the small pins though, they'll just need a spot of glue so they don't fall out.
 
 
One more overall photo--
 

 
 
Ron

Today, I did a lot of brass work, and soldering, in working on the pumps.
 
My basis-of-design is from Charles G. Davis in "The Built-up-Ship Model"--
 

 
 
Here are most of the pieces needed, various diameters of brass tubing, rod, and bar stock-- 
 

 
 
First I soldered some bent rod to scores cut in the barrel of the upper valve pieces--
 

 
 
These were then filed back to the diameter of the tubing--
 

 
 
So that the valve would slide into the pump chamber--
 

 
 
Loops were made at the end of lengths of brass rod, for the plunger pieces--
 

 
 
Out of bar stock, the rocker arm was rough cut, and filed--
 

 
 
Here are the pieces, just about all assembled--
 

 
 
The "sockets" on the ends of the rocker arm are some square tube that I hammered down a little to make it rectangular, and then soldered to the rocker arm.
 
 
After determining the correct length of the plunger rods, I soldered u-shaped attachments.  I had to do this three times before I got a solder joint that held--
 

 
 
I also had to redo the flange pieces for the tubes.  I ended up hammering down a ring cut from a larger size tube, and then, since it wasn't perfectly round after the hammering, I filed it inside and out so it would fit the tube and be round--it looks much better than what I had before--
 
 
 
 
Next will be blackening and assembling the pumps.
 
 
 
Ron

Hi Remco. Thank you very much sir. Am glad you like the cannons sir and seems that your statement is just a little modest but I do thank you. Here are some more photo's of the gun deck with a few more details. Am not sure if I will leave the curve planking which is due to the curve of were the back of the cannon truck's land. May just plank one side for cannon's and leave the other side alone. Reason is that I just don't want to cover all of the detail up and am sort of stuck on the do I want to or not decision. :mellow: Gary

Just a little progress report. I had to chuck away all my previous square frames work and start those again. In the process learnt some more turbo  cad lessons. Rather than carry straight on to the quaterdeck barricades, preparing a 'filled' framing plan and starting the hawse pieces I thought it would be better to run back over those lessons before i forgot them.
 
First up progress (which looks remarkably like some of the previous shots)
 

 
In order of importance the lessons learnt were
 
A) Use the turbocad ;lock ability. At a guess at some point I had accidentally selected all of a layer/group of layers and then hit a key to move it slightly or adjust its stretch/shrink. When reviewing work done against the plans I had noticed the gunports seemed to be in the wrong location. When I looked further I found many other layers were slightly out if sync as well. In the end I gave up trying and found one of my previous saves that was correct (prior to all the frames going on) and utilised that. The little padlock in turbo cad prevents adjustments, whether deliberate or accidental, of the layer in question so it makes sense to have 90% of your layers locked and work to occur just on editing ones.
 
I had been unhappy with the start point of my lines for the cant frames. I had originally started them at their start point but due to the nature of some of the turbo cad curves this meant a more pronounced curve often occurred at the start than I liked. So for the redraw I started the curve at the keel and then cut the 'excess' once the curve was in place.
 
Now the difference is miniscule but I wanted something I was happier with so
 
Previous
 

 
Current
 

 
There was also so funky work with what appeared to be a vertical frame extended from one of the cants
 

 
 
 
Anyway I will probably complete the remaining frame sections at bow and stern then the barricade type thingys before updating again.
 
 
Joss

It's been a few months since I've posted an update to my build log of Speedwell. All four platforms are now in place, as are the shot locker and galley stove. Besides the wales, there will be very little external planking in order not to cover those wacky, fun to make shifted and cast toptimbers.
 

The single wale was made of holly and stained with Fiebings black leather dye (off the model).
 

The two completed fore platforms
 
The very small shot lockers accommodate the three pound cannon balls
 

The very small shot lockers accommodate the three pound cannon balls
   
The galley stove was made of brass over a holly plug

Some closeup of the gunnel and deadeyes...

The sixth beam set is relatively straight forward.  The aft bulkhead for the boatswain's cabin was temporarily removed to make installation easier.  The pillar is supposed to go through the hatch coaming.  I cheated and it is simply glued to the surface of the coaming.  There is a tenon on the superior aspect of the pillar with a mortise on the under surface of the beam.
 

 

 

 

Gun Carriages (scratch-built) - continued
 
Assembly of the carriages is underway.  Placement of the brackets on the axles is aided by a typical jig on a copy of the plans.
 

 
 

 
 
Though not really visible, I used copper wire blackened with liver of sulphur instead of brass (taking a cue from Ed Tosti), for the rods that support the carriage beds.  I also plan to use copper and LOS for the carriage bolts, eyebolts, and rings.
 
 

 
 
Trucks are being added.  Axle pins are Swiss pear drawn through the smallest hole on the Byrnes draw plate.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
These are proving to be very time consuming items to make – fortunately there are only eighteen!  The process continues …
 
Robert

Go for it guy's make lots and lots of pins  They are key to position parts temporarily, I don't exaggerate but I think any particular beam in this build is taken in and out at least 100 times to position parts, mark mortices etc etc. 
 
So today I did a little detailing of the gratings. I simulated the pins that were used by making small holes with a needle and then taking the same needle tip loaded with graphite to enhance the holes. This really takes your mind off-line  after a busy day 
 

 

 

 
For comparison, the 'big' bolts on the corners are 0,4 mm
 
Remco
 

Thanks guys.
Greg the pins are easy to make, I think they rank amongst the top 10 most used tools in my build.
Ben, with my scroll saw they were relative easy to make and there were no remakes :-) 
 
I couldn't find an appropriated sized piece of brass for the iron knee so I made it from boxwood and tinted it black with Fiebing's leather paint
I'm also doing lot's of mortice cutting for the remaining carlings and ledges.
 


 
A little off topic, but it was time to make a better storage for my chisels. They used to wander over my bench  with the tip protected by a little piece of isolation foam. This was a nice little project, keeps them safe and organized  
 

 
 
 
Remco
 

Pause over... 

I think I'll just put my head down on the workbench and whimper.  

Then of course Dan, you could build something for yourself in between and not always on commission...
then you could enjoy the journey as well as the final result.
 
Mij, I too know the feeling of putting a lot of hours in the scrap bin...just to remake and be happy. You have our support anyway!