glbarlow

Those lamps are amazing. I’ve not been a fan of LED lighting on models but your authentic lamps are very appealing and give a whole new character to the model and something I’ve not seen before. It will look great sitting somewhere acting as a warm, soft light accent tone. Well done!

The templates Chuck shows in his photos were critical to me in lining up the stern windows and fillers, I could only do that working from behind the stern. The filler and sill alignment are critical for the rest of the build, the window templates make it easy, or at least easier, to line it all up to the template strips. Even at this early point I also had a cut-out of the galley framing to make sure those angles lined up to the template, and of course again as I did the galley framing. The "curve" of the transom is actually created just by placing the frames in the slots correctly, a rear guide as you built should just confirm the placement. As Chuck notes, I couldn't have done this working from the front or without the frame templates double-sided taped to the rear of the frames. The challenge is more in getting the right bevel on the transom fillers than the placement of the stern frames, at least for me it was. While balsa in the bow is a common step for many of us, there is a filler along the bottom of the stern frames that will come later. More critical now is fitting and shaping the cedar fillers along the stern post once the you have the the frames and sills set. The good news is many have gone before, in addition to Chuck's log there are many fine build logs to consult, almost every problem has been confronted and solved in a bounty of different ways to either emulate, learn from, or both. Or even if not helpful they at least show what it looks like complete.

The reason I cut a piece of wood in the shape of the ship using the plans is to avoid a bad fit. If you clamp, rubber band or whatever your gun port patterns (the correct name, bulwarks is confusing) to wood in the same pattern as the ship you’re naturally doing to have a better fit. You should be able to re-soak them, just not for too long and not too many times because delaminating is a risk. But having a bad fit of the gun port patterns is going to result in a troublesome model at the start. Some waviness is still likely and is fine, you’re going to plank over it. It is critical though to have a tight solid glued fit of the pattern at every bulkhead extension. Your photo shows them to be short at the stern, I don’t know why that is, lack of a tight fit down the sides…? People on this forum respond better to photos, long paragraphs to explain problems can be a lot shorter and easier to understand with photos, just a suggestion. Hang in there, you’ll get it sorted out. It’s wood, everything can be fixed.

Mini-me makes his first appearance on Winchelsea after supervising Cheerful’s build. His first reaction: ”These facilities are pretty tight, but it’s better than the open air head on Cheerful.” I’m plugging away on the galleries (and beating up the wales while I’m at it), a better post when I finish them. Lots of family distractions at the moment.

Excellent work, you’ve done a great job, very neat work.

Thanks Rusty, your log is a frequent reference for me and always fun to see your take on steps of the build.

I don’t agree with that all and will just leave it at that.

You’re over-thinking it. You need enough keel to attach planks to and enough keel to support the planking. You especially need enough to attach the stem to. Keep in mind you can sand the planking, both second and first, to get the widths required. From what I see you’ve taken more than enough. I highly recommend you use the search function to find other Lady Nelson build logs, including mine. You’ll find they answer a lot of your questions. It’s the best way to build your community. We’ve all done our first builds and happy to offer help.

No advice to offer, however I’m very impressed with your dedication to this complex project.

CD? Those are still around? 😂🤣🤣 Stream it on Spotify. Seriously though, your rigging looks great. The details are excellent, nice work!

I used a by frame cutout of the plans for both the stern from the rear and the gallery framing from the side rather than trust gauge placements. At this point I’d go option 2 provided you can clear those slots. I think there is some room for margin of error in elements of the build, maybe take a moment and consider how others managed. I know I have a hard time recognizing I am not perfect much to my surprise. 😊

I cut out the gallery framing side profile from the plans and held it up as an overlay to check and position the framing locations. It helped me knowing I matched up with the plans.

Following Chuck’s recommendation I re-painted the transom. I added a bit of Winsor & Newton Titanium White to the pure Cerulean Blue that was there before. The difference is subtle yet significant. It much more closely matches the shade of the friezes that will be added soon. So thanks Chuck, it is a definite improvement, on top of it matching it’s just a nicer color overall.

It does look pretty cool😊 Thank you Thanks Dave It’s all really fun, sometimes I get to do it over again for even more fun😂

Thanks Chuck, I’ll do that. It’s Winsor Newton from the tube thinned with water. I’ll add a little white to the paint jar.

I cut every plank on Winchelsea with my Chopper I. I also have a Chopper II but don’t use it much. I cut them a little long then turn to my Byrnes sander and sand it square, or beveled, or at an angle, or both at once to the measured line as needed. Fast and easy. I also have the cross cut sled for my Byrnes saw which I use for more intricate work.

The Beginning of a Transom Normally I dread building out the transom on a model, it seems to me commercial manufactures just throw whatever on the back of the ship and move on. Not the case with Winchelsea just as it wasn’t with Cheerful. This is much more complex, much more fun, and will look great if I can pull it off. It much more complex, oh wait I said that already. The first step, adding the transom itself, was a bit anti-climatic, so much so I forgot to take any photos. I had this part when I was building out the stern frames, I also had the windows - I spent a long time back then making sure I had the right fit and alignment of the frames to properly fit the windows. I marked the transom accordingly and put it away until now. Of course I rechecked all those measurements before I glued it on. I pre-painted the transom Cerulean Blue (I later painted the area between the windows, just didn't have a photo) knowing I’d be touching it up a lot - I didn’t want paint on the inside of the window frames, it was easier for me to make that happen now. I also widened the two ports to match the fillers and painted it the same Crimson red the deck area will be and the cannon ports are now. I like this RED color. With that done I added the three 7/32 planks for the upper counter. I felt a little guilty not including pencil marks between planks, but this soon will be covered by the ships name frieze. Looking at it and the lower counter really demonstrates the difference a little #2 pencil can make. I did have to make adjustments to get the fit I wanted, once again proving I was far from perfect building out the frame no matter how careful I was at the time. Good news, it’s wood. The adjustments weren’t difficult to make, just took some time. I left room for additional sanding once I get to that point of adding the frieze and molding. I guess I should have faired more of the stern frames way back when, I had very little room to fit in the quarter gallery stern window piece. All I needed was enough to fit the frame properly, so with lots and lots of sand, test, sand, test I got the fit. I faired the frames at the time to match a cut-out from the plans, still the variance here is only about 1-2mm, so I guess I should have faired the upper frames a little more. In my defense my focus at the time was not under-sizing the lower counter to match the plan template, which it does so… This was fun. I elected to use my jeweler’s saw to cut the upper counter excess to fit. I had made the counter extra long knowing it would be easier to cut with this saw. I just stayed well outside the line and sanded it to the line after cutting. I’ll have to admit to being a bit skeptical about the bending properties of a 1/64th strip of wood - sure Chuck can do it, but could I. It turned out deceptively easy to bend, though it took me more than the required nine pieces (I’m not saying how many) to get a fit I liked. Once complete it looks exceptionally nice, a perfect design to finish off the top of the transom. Per the monograph I painted the top of the rail and stern frames black where it eventually will meet up with the side railings and left outside of that bright. I added the frames, windows and back fillers, sanded it flush and added a coat of WOP. I elected to fill the seam on the outside edge and paint it blue. Though it is covered by a carving and won’t show much I didn’t like the seam and I thought the blue would highlight the carving. Time will tell. I could have mixed a little white into my flat black paint for the stern view of the galley windows, but where is the fun in that, instead I brushed on a little white weathering powder from my Doc O’Brien set. The frames are centered, just a trick of shadows and lighting making it appear a bit off. I also checked with the other windows in place to make sure it had a consistent look. I did not sand the window frames, at all, way to fragile for me. I did though lightly brush on a coat of WOP. Frankly I think the light laser char gives them more depth and character. The transom looks a little beat-up at this point, there is a lot of molding and carving to add in addition to the upper and lower counter friezes. It’s prepped for when that time comes. Until then I turn my attention to the fascinating challenge of building the two galleries, did I mention its all very complex. Thanks as always for your likes and comments and for stopping by to take a look.

That’s some nice planking, we’ll done. Congratulations, I know great it feels when that last plank goes on.

Much ado about nothing. MSW is an extremely well run site, fast, both in response time and uploading large files, and is an amazing community of people. Facebook is a widely accepted social media platform and all that’s needed for any offline messages. Those that don’t want to follow MSW on Facebook, like those that do, need only patience to wait for the site to return during extremely rare times the site is down. I also received notice from NRG, another good reason to become a member there. I’m sure there won’t be another 2013, and even if there is I, like others, create my build logs offline and post them, ensuring they won’t be lost like my long detailed Pegasus log. I can count on one hand the number of times the site has been down. The impressive availability of the site doesn’t require or benefit from any changes to the IT structure, nor the expense that would go with it. MSW is not free to run. I’d encourage everyone to click on the donations tab on the upper right of the home page a periodically make a contribution to keep the site we all love up and running with the latest technology. Thank you admins!

Well done Joe, you’re on your way now. JJ’s suggestion is a good one, the next challenge is to get a good fit for the lower counter with the fairing on those outer frames. Also a good flow for the transition from counter to stern post with fairing the stern fillers.

Really well done! All your extra touches, especially the friezes, headworks, and your deft touch on the scroll work really make this version of Sphinx stand out above all others. Consistent with your usual outstanding work your result and the well defined and detailed log you've provided will be the preeminent guide all others can follow. Very impressive!

That’s one great looking transom! Nice work on the cannon carriages, you must have hours in on removing char so well, do you have a secret method😊?

I first learned, then quickly purchased, about Quad hands from @Delf. Another nice thing for those interested is there are several models and sizes, all are available on Amazon. It is indeed a great tool. Another option for weathering powders is Doc O’Briens Weathering Powders, I got mine from MicroMart. I Have a dedicated brush set for application. I agree with Ron, both are excellent additions, whichever option, to the workshop. Appreciate his sharing their versatility with his excellent build.

Well done, your spars, masts, rigging and seizings are all very tight and crisp. Excellent photography as well!

Great looking model Rusty. Very crisp and tight!