Elia

Tim,
 
She looks super! Looking forward to seeing some more photos of her.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Tim,
 
She looks super! Looking forward to seeing some more photos of her.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Tim,
 
She looks super! Looking forward to seeing some more photos of her.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Happy New Year to everyone!  
 
It's been six months since my last post and I have not been at the bench as much as I would have liked, but thats life.  Here is a  current photo of the 80' ELCO.  I must say she's very close to being completed.
 

 
Cheers,
Tim

Thanks all for the ideas or suggestions!
 
Jay, Frank,
 
That is what I originally had had in mind, and will try.  I think I need to make and finish one of the masts to get an idea of the colors, tones, and graining patterns. 
 
Russ,
 
What is that toner by Floquil for britannia?  Does it act as a primer?  I've used and like their gray enamel primer.  Or does it somehow alter the appearance (color, texture) of the britannia?
 
wefalck,
 
Thank you for the suggestions.  I don't have an airbrush and my experience with Floquil enamel spray cans was less than desired.  I could never get a nice, thin even coating.  It always yielded thick, almost orange peeled surfaces.  So I think I'm limited to just brush application.  I have a couple of cans of dullcote and could use that to protect any acrylic 'topcoat' over the base coloring.  As noted just before I think I need to finish a mast so as to get a basis for a proper block color.  I've been using Liquitex acrylics for the hull color and have burnt umber tubes around.
 
Brian,
 
The internally iron stropped blocks look visibly different than older era wooden blocks with external iron or rope stropping.  I may have made more trouble for myself with having to paint the blocks, but the shape/configuration of the blocks is right for Arethusa's age.  I had considered for some time making wooden blocks, but when I saw how many of the 3/32" long and 1/8" long blocks there were, and they would have had internal iron strops (think narrow, thin brash strips)....it hurt my head.  Without high precision machining capability I couldn't see how I would make the block elements.  There are quite a few excellent mass produced wooden blocks down to the 3/32" long size but they just aren't the right configuration for my ship. 
 
Barehook,
 
Interestingly - by Arethusa's time the iron components were galvanized - so that all of the 'ironwork' on the ship, save for the anchors, the deck pumps, and a few odds and ends, where a dull silver.  You'll see when I post update pictures the galvanized ironwork.  It appears quite different than black ironwork.  It has taken me a little time to warm up to the silver as I innately expect the ironwork to be black.  So blackening won't help this cause.  Thank you for the suggestion none the less.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

It has been some time since my last update and with a little time off of my feet I've been able to do little things here and there on Arethusa.
 
I have begun making masts....first time in oh, about 5 years!  I'm following my method I wrote about in the downloads section some years ago.
 
Here are some photos showing the major steps.  My only process change has been to use a plane to remove material instead of the rasp/file originally shown.




 
On the hull - I touched up the anti-fouling paint and hull sides, made some little scroll art at the bow names, and applied Dullcoat over the outer hull.  It is the first time I've used Dullcoat and I am happy with the results.  The shininess of the acrylic paint is gone and hull details are more clearly visible.  One odd and funny (to me!) aspect of the photos - you may see what looks like scupper run-off 'weathering'.  It isn't.  What you are seeing are reflections from clear, highly glossily packing tape I used to seal the 'work stand' box. 



 
On the deck I finished painting the checker boards.  I've deviated from my 'pristine' modeling approach by applying a semi-transparent paint layer to those details and the deck battens.  I think it gives appearance of worn painted boards and battens.  Also worked on were attached the windlass brakes and connecting links.  Luckily I hadn't glued those down yet - I found one of my soldered joints to have broken.




 
And a final photo showing the two lower masts.  The masts have been tapered and cut to length, only requiring flats and rebates where a host of spar related hardware goes.

 
Cheers,
 
Elia
 

Earlier than my steering wheel endeavor I had fabricated the cat heads and installed the chainplates. All of the deck furniture remains only temporarily placed for context.
 


 


 
Funny thing about the deadeyes - they don't want to stand upright, as in the photos. They lay over, free on their pivot pins...
 
And last, but not least, thank you to all those who've 'liked' my updates!
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

I've spent the past few weeks preparing for, and painting, the rails and hull.  For the most part it was turned quite acceptable to me.  There is one glaring exception, and I'll focus on that later.
 
Once the Monkey Rails were completed I proceeded to apply a sealer/primer to the rails, perform a light sanding, and then apply two coats of my white mix.  The only masking done was to protect previously painted deck and bulwarks.
 
A while ago, when planking the hull, I built an inverted stand for Arethusa, one that located the hull by the two mast holes and a number of contact points on the deck.  The stand allowed the inverted hull to located such that the waterline as horizontal, parallel to the surface it was placed upon.  This stand, very crude compared to some of the tools and stand folks here build for their models, came in quite useful a number of times.
 
I used the stand to mark the waterline with a pencil, a light line, on the hull.  I then applied two coats of the anti-fouling red/brown lower hull paint.  I purposefully carried the red paint up above the waterline mark.
 
After painting all of the rails white and the hull red, and allowing a couple of days for full drying, I masked the edges of the rails where the hull black and rail white meet.  I also remarked the waterline with my handy dandy stand, and then masked the edge of the black paint at the waterline.
 
I had previously used a draw plate/template to form the very narrow cove along the edge of the waist plank.  In full scale the cove is something like 3/8” wide, so one can image how narrow it is for a 1/48 scale model.  I was able to carve a fairly narrow cove into the plank, but it wasn’t very even.  In the process of scraping it into the plank I felt it wander, almost catching on the wood grain as it went.  I’ve looked at this detail for quite some time and had mixed feelings about it.  I was proud of having made such a narrow cove, but unhappy that is wasn’t straight and perfectly parallel to the plank edge. Herein lies the problem I encountered.  I painted the yellow of the cove, two coats, extending the paint above and below the cove to ensure the cove was fully painted.  Once that paint had cured I applied masking tape to the cove.  I had found 1/64” wide masking tape from an on-line modeling supplier and purchased it.  This stuff is rather amazing in it’s narrowness.  When I tried to apply the tape to the cove I found it very difficult to get the tape to nest down into the cove - it wanted to wander about in the cove...reminiscent of when I scraped the cove some time ago.  
 
I applied tape edge sealing coats of each of the three paint colors - white along the edge of the rails, red/brown along waterline, and yellow at the cove.  This was done to seal the edge of the tape and not allow the over-coat color to bleed under the tape.
 
Once those had dried I was clear to apply the upper hull black paint.  Two coats were applied.  The white/black edge along the rails worked quite well, as did the red/black edge at the waterline.  There were one or two very minor bleed spots, but all in all I think a good success.
 
Now....back to that yellow cove.  Once the black paint had dried I peeled back that 1/64” tape...and....not good.  The thinness of the yellow was excellent.  But, the masked sections wandered along the wandering cove.  And there was appreciable black paint bleed beneath the tape.  I am very disappointed in this and am stewing over ways to correct it. 
 
Following are a few photos of the painted hull, without and with deck furniture.  The quarterdeck of these schooners had a unique deck planking run - the planks were set parallel to the cabin, as that was a large cutout in the deck (a strength issue), to provide as much continuous planking strength as possible.  Thus, there is some unique nibbing of the outboard planks along the margin plank/waterway.  
 
The fish pens and dory skids are shown also.  The bait gurry isn't located quite properly, either.
 

Cheers,

Shipwrights

 

I’ve been puttering along, stealing a minute here and there to do small modeling tasks.  I painted the deck the darker gray, per the color previous investigated, fabricated some fish pens and dory skids, to be located athwartship the fore hatch, have worked on the rails, and am now in the process of painting the hull.  

 

I used some plans and photos of Arethusa to arrive at the fish pen and dory skid details and geometry.  I don’t have any handy photos of these, but will include them in the near future, once I begin adding deck furniture to the model.

I started on the rails, or more precisely, near the rails at the transom.  The fashion pieces on Arethusa have a peculiar shape to them.  I resorted to gluing extra wood pieces on and sanding them to shape.  It took me a couple of tries before I found them acceptable.  They are small, subtle details and I wanted them to be reasonably representative of those on the real ship.  Not exact, but close enough...

 

The main rail is composed of three strips of basswood on each side.  I learned of doing this from Charlie Cook, the Blue Jacket Shipcrafter’s on-call modeler (for customers).  When building Smuggler years ago I had many questions on modeling and he was quite helpful.  The thin strips allow for a nice continuous curve of the rail.  One of the nice benefits of using the three strips to build up the main rail is that placement of the chainplate holes through the rail is fairly easy, and they can be aligned with the cant of the chainplates readily without having to resort to drilling through the rail after it was complete.  



The transom rail (or taftrail), and stem seat, was shaped from a single piece of 1/16” thick basswood sheet.  For both the stem and transom rail seats I transferred the uppermost bulwark or transom plank edge onto heavy paper stock, then offset the desired amount to provide a slight overhang of the main rail and seats over the waist planks of the bulwark.  I then transferred those templates onto the sheet stock and cut them out.  After gluing them to the bulwark stanchions and planks, and then installing the main rail stripwood, I sanded them all flush to each other and in smooth, continuous curves.  A single edge razor was ground with a Dremel tool into the profile for the main and monkey rail inboard and outboard edges and used to finish the main rail off.  I’ve mentioned this before - I just struggle with this, both the grinding of the profile and getting a good edge on the receiving wood strip.  I’m in awe of modelers here, too many to mention, who do this regularly and whose drawn planks look like they’ve been milled by some miniature woodshop.  At times mine look like an angry beaver has just used my strip stock as a toothpick.

 

I then moved on to the Monkey Rail and Monkey Board.  The Monkey board is the vertical plank or boards (still formed into compound curvature in a plan view)which sits atop the main rail along the quarterdeck.  The Monkey Board around the transom was a challenge.  Instead of piecing it together with  three or more pieces that run along the rail periphery, as was traditionally done in Essex, MA, I made a three layer lamination of 1/16” thick basswood sheet.  I did this so that I could then cut and sand it to a profile while retaining some strength of the piece during handling.  Once the wood lamination was glued and dry I transferred the outboard transom seat edge to it, the scroll saw cut it to it plan view profile, leaving a little extra all around.  I then sanded it to its final shape, checking it constantly to the installed transom seat outer edge.  When that looked satisfactory I offset inner monkey board thickness and repeated the scroll sawing, then sanding, and check-check-checking.  When the monkey board profile was complete I sanded the lower surface of it to the transom seat, which had a slight curvature to it, fore-aft, by putting sanding paper on the seat surface and gently sanding the monkey board to it.  This allowed for a reasonably tight fit, and when glued it didn’t require a great force or preload to get it to bond to the transom seat.



The monkey board forward ends were also challenging due to the way the main mast chainplates were installed through the monkey rail and board on Arethusa.  On other schooners the chain plates pass through the monkey rail, just outboard of the monkey board, and typically the main rail outer edge is cut away to allow the chain plate to pass it.  On Arethusa the chainplates pass through the monkey board, through the main rail, and then exit on the outboard side of the bulwarks.  Here is a picture of Arethusa where the sun reflection and angle of the boat in the photo clearly show the main mast chainplates and how they pass through the monkey board and rail.  Eric Ronnberg Jr.’s model built for Thomas Hoyne also exhibit this detail, as do other photos of the ship.



After a little thought and contemplation on this I decided I would try to install the main mast chainplates in the proper manner for Arethusa. For the monkey board I chose to fabricate it from two strips of wood.  The outer one is 1/16” thick, whereas the inner one is 1/32” thick.  The 1/32” thick stuff is swiss pear I had purchased from the Hobby Mill years ago.  It was perfect for the task - really beautiful wood.  I transferred the chainplate holes in the main rail to the 1/16” monkey rail piece and used a square cross section fine file to “cut” the hole depth.  By doing this I was able to follow the orientation of each of the chainplates (from the plans I used).  I then glued the 1/32” thick piece onto the 1/16” thick piece and voile’ - a monkey board with internal passages for the main mast chainplates.  This ended up thicker than scale Monkey Board, but I’m satisfied that the extra thickness isn’t obvious, and it allowed a sound method of creating the slots for the main mast chainplates.  I’m sure there are other ways to do this, maybe easier, too.  It ‘appears’ to have worked out fine (yeah for small victories).  Time will tell...with the rigging of those chainplates and main mast shrouds.  

 

Here is a photo of the outer of the Monkey Board planks being glued in place atop the main rail.  One can see the thinner, darker Swiss Pear strip on the forward inboard side of the Monkey Board adjacent to the main mast chainplate locations.  I had glued those in place, locally, prior to gluing the Monkey board onto the main rail.



At the forward end of the main rail I’ve added some buffalo chocks and rail fillers at the location of the anchors - additional wooden fillers which were used to strengthen and protect the buffalo chock and main rail, and the thinner waist planks, from the anchor when raised, lowered, and stowed for passage.



I’ve also added small amidship waist plank reinforcements.  These were placed along the thinner bulwark planks in the region where the dories were onloaded and offloaded from the schooner.



Similarly I added strips just below the main rail just aft of the main mast chainplates...I assume to protect the main rail from damage during hauling fish and equipment up from the dories.



Once all of the rails and things were shaped and installed I applied a white sealer/filler, sanded the roughness smooth, and applied the white rail finish paint.  As noted earlier I’m now painting the hull - bulwark white is complete, the anti-fouling red/brown is on, the thin yellow cove has been initially painted, and following some masking, the hull black goes on.  Then she’ll really resemble a proper Gloucester fishing schooner and I’ll post more photos.

 

[folks - this method of weaving in pictures is new to me...it doesn't look right in the editor/preview...so my fingers are crossed that it looks OK posted]...{I've tried Padeen's suggestion and it appears to have been just the ticket - thank you Padeen}

Cheers!

...more....

Last fall I began tinkering with making a dory for my schooner with the idea of casting them in resin. The reasoning for casting them was that I didn’t think my build precision and tolerances could yield a stack of dories (5-6) in which the nested dories would resemble real stacks of dories which pack together fairly tightly.

I used a plan for a 15 foot (measured along the bottom of the dory) version. This is representative of the dories used during Arethusa’s era, and the length of dory used for halibut, cod, and other larger dory trawling fishing.

The first photo shows the plans I used.
The second photo shows the bulkheads aligned on a small build board. The transom and stem were extended to the build board and glued in place. Later on they were judiciously cut off the build board once the planking was complete.


The third photo shows the strakes used on the sides of the hull. The largest width strakes could have been left straight; I chose to pre-cut the lower edge to aid in alignment with the bottom plank. Take note that the upper strakes are purely straight planks with no in-plane spiling. This was very common.


The fourth photo shows the bottom surface glued and secured in place. The bottom has a slight rocker or camber (fore-aft) to it.


The fifth photo shows the second strake glued in place. The lap strake assembly method presented slight challenges to me. I tried applying the very small bevel to the mating surfaces of the adjoining strakes. When assembling it was difficult to get the strakes to stay in the correct spot as the bevels and the clamps (applying force - to the beveled surfaces) resulted in the upper strake/plank moving.


The sixth photo shows the dory with planking complete and cut off the build board. You can see the extended stem and transom in this photo.


The seventh photo shows the dory upside down.


I’ve done a little clean up on the dory, having trimmed down the stem and transom and will add the rail strips. I received a starter resin casting set for my birthday and my casting attempts will follow shortly.

Cheers,

Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 127 – Main Fife Rail
 
The completed main fife is shown in the first picture.  It consists of two fore and aft rails, joined by a long athwartship rail.  All are supported on turned pillars and are drilled for belaying pins. The ends of the fore and aft rails are set in slots in the topsail sheet bitts and secured with wire bolts. The pillars also are secured top and bottom with wire bolts. The fore and aft extensions aft will eventually support the bearings for the bilge pump.
 

 
When making and fitting the sheet bitts, I neglected to cut the slots for the rails,  so these had to be cut in place.  I would normally do this with the serrated edge of a flat file, but none that I had would fit between the bulwarks, so I used a piece of hacksaw blade, sharpened up a bit to cut cleanly.  This is shown in the next picture.
 

 
The blade is supported on a sized pine block to ensure parallel cuts at the correct height.  It was also rounded to match the deck, and although not shown in this picture, it was fitted with a stop block between the bitts to keep it in place.  It would have been much easier to do this before setting the bitts, but doing it this way I can at least be assured that the rails will be at the same height.
 
In the next picture, one of the rails is being test fitted on one of the pillars.  The block used to guide the saw also proved useful in sizing the pillars.
 

 
The pillars were turned by the method used on the deck beam pillars – shown in an earlier post.  In the next picture, one of these has been turned and awaits final sanding/polishing.
 

 
The pillar is held on center by a brass tube in the tailstock chuck and the depth of cut is controlled by the larger brass tube fitted over the cross feed rail below the tool.  The next picture shows the two fore and aft rails fitted temporarily.
 

 
In the next picture the athwartship rail is set down on its wire bolts and the rails below are being marked for the lap joints that join the rails.
 

 
The rails were then removed to cut the joints.  In the last picture the completed assembly has been installed and polished.
 

 
The rail assembly was glued down and to the bitts using medium viscosity CA.  I was not confident that all these endgrain joints would stand the pressures of rigging using wood glue.  The structure is quite strong.
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 37 – Forecastle Deck Beams 3
 
In the first picture, all the forecastle beams have been installed and a template has been used to cut the outside line of the margin plank at the bow.
 

 
A dummy bowsprit has been inserted to assure the final fit.  The beams have been set down into the main rail so the deck planking at the side will be flush with the tops of the outboard planks.  As mentioned earlier, there was no attempt to create authentic framing for this since all will be hidden by the deck.  Note also that the mooring bitts have been installed.  Square holes were cut into the main deck planking to insert these and glue them to a pine supporting member beneath.  They are mortised to fit over the forecastle deck beam.
 
In the next picture the margin plank has been installed at the bow and the starboard section is being glued to the beams.
 

 
Deck planking was started at the center as with the main deck.  In the next picture the port margin plank is being fitted.
 

 
Planking continued concurrently with the margin plank work.  Clamping required some thought.  To keep the appearance of this deck consistent with the other decks, I did not want to drill the planks for pins as was done on the framed model, but the method used for the other planking on this model (pin clamps) could not be used on the light, hardwood beams.  The clamps used in the picture were made using drawing pins.  These are shown in the next picture.
 

 
The pin clamps that could not be used on this decking are shown at the lower left.  The drawing pin screw clamps were made by cutting crude threads on the drawing pins with a jewelers die plate, then screwing them into holes in pear blocks as shown.  The blocks could then be slipped under the beams and the pins tightened over the glued planks.  The next picture shows some of this work.
 

 
In this picture the ends of the planks were joggled into the margin plank after the angle of the butted ends reached about 60 degrees. To be correct, the margin plank joint shown in this picture could have been made as a hook scarph.  Most of it will be covered by the capping fancy rail.  The next picture shows the decking flush with the top of the side and also the finished hawse holes and linings.
 

 
Note that the outboard part of the main rail is still missing and was not added until after painting.  The last picture shows the completed forecastle deck.  
 

 
The billet under the bowsprit has also been installed.  The triangular spaces between the margin plank and the knightheads would be covered by the capping rail later. This was the state of the model at the end of August.
 
Next, the channels and pin rails.
 
 
Ed

continued...

continued....

The build log reconstruction begins...
 
It has been a long time since I’ve started a new sailing ship build, with my sailing ship model (Oneida) taking about 4 years to complete.  Ever since building Smuggler, an 1870’s mackerel seiner from Gloucester, I’ve been smitten by 19th and 20th century American fishing schooners.  There are a number builds, both in progress and completed, that have been inspiring to me – Bluenose builds, a couple of Ben Lathams, a scratch build of Columbia, and even a few of the “yachty” Americas.  Jim Lefever, who’s impressive Benjamin Latham build was a great inspiration for me, provided me with a list of great reading references on American fishing schooners.  After receiving a number of them as gifts, and reading through them, I knew my next build would have to be another fishing schooner.  I have to admit right up front that Arethusa, an early 1900s fishing schooner and the topic of this build, was never called the “Goddess of Gloucester”.  She was a goddess in Greek mythology.  The schooner was named after one of Thomas McManus's daughters.  I just thought that 'Goddess of Gloucester' fit to her will and made for a catchy name for this log.  Arethusa, the schooner, was big, beautiful, and had a colorful history – sounds interesting to me.  Enough about my motivations and ramblings….let’s get on with the ship.     Arethusa was designed by Thomas F. McManus in 1907 and built by James and Tarr in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1909.  She was what is termed a knockabout schooner.  Unlike traditional schooners, with bowsprits (and jibbooms, and flying jibbooms), knockabout schooners had an extended bow and no bowsprit.  The extended bow essentially placed the fore topmast stay at the same position as on a traditional schooner.  With that configuration of stay location the crew wouldn’t be required to climb out on the typically poorly maintained footropes aside the bowsprit in order to perform tasks involving the sails and rigging.  This was a Thomas McManus innovation, based on his observations and discussions with fisherman and owners, and was meant to reduce sailing crew injuries and deaths.   I am using Howard I. Chapelle’s lines drawing and sail plan of Arethusa from his “American Fishing Schooners”, plate 120 and figure 30.  “American Fishing Schooners” (AFS) has a great deal of detail in it’s appendix on most of the features of late 19th century and early 20th century schooners, and it is these I will use to build the details of the model.  If anyone knows of more details about Arethusa I would be most grateful to learn of them.  I have contacted Mystic Seaport Museum about their collection but found that while Arethusa is listed in their collection they don’t have any more information than that (little) which is shown in AFS.   Following are some excerpts from “Thomas F. McManus and the American Fishing Schooners”, by W.M.P. Dunne, on Arethusa: James and Tarr “...completed her on 25 September 1907.  Fifteen feet longer than the Pontiac, the Arethusa was, nevertheless, a deep, short ended knockabout, with the typically knuckled straight run of the keel (although with less drag), that Tom favored in this class, and more tumblehome.  Once again he experimented with the rig.  He stepped the foremast farther forward with the masts further apart.  Right from the start, the big fisherman earned a reputation as a speedster.  Captain Clayton Morrisey, the Arethusa’s first skipper waxed poetic: “She’s the slickest bit of wood that ever went down to Bay of Islands.  Nothing can touch her and an eight-year-old girl’s little finger is stout enough to spin the wheel no matter how fresh it breezes.”  “Can she sail?” exclaimed Captain Morrisey, opening his eyes as if he didn’t quite believe his ears.  “Why, when we were coming up from the herring grounds she cut out her 13 knots an hour for six consecutive hours.”     “We’d see a blotch of smoke away ahead on the horizon and in a little while would make out a tramp steamer bound our way.  Pretty soon the Arethusa was kiting alongside the tramp and then we’d lose sight of her astern.  She did that trick a number of times.”     In fact, with Clayt Morrissey at the helm in 1912, the Arethusa would easily outrun the Canadian Dominion fisheries’ patrol steamer Fiona, “whose commander opined the Arethusa was violating the three-mile limit.”           “At the beginning of 1921, soon after the new [prohibition] law was in place, Captain William F. “Bill” McCoy, a sometime Daytona Beach, Florida, boatbuilder, guided his fully-laden McManus schooner, the Henry L. Marshall, past the Tybee Lighthouse and up the river to Savannah, where, in the dark of the night, he discharged not fish, but 1,500 cases of illicit liquor.  With the proceeds, McCoy replaced himself with a new skipper on board the Marshall and went to Gloucester in search of the boat of his dreams, Tom’s speedy Arethusa.  Although McCoy had fished the Marshall legitimately until after the Eighteenth Amendment dried out the country, he had always thirsted for Arethusa.  With Gloucester feeling the effect of postwar economic contraction, the owners of the fourteen-year-old schooner…..sold her to McCoy in April 1921.  The Arethusa became a rum runner, a fast freighter of bootleg spirits.  McCoy renamed her Tomoka, added a bowsprit so she could carry two jibs, jumbo and jib topsail-and a lot of liquor (she had the capacity of 6,000 cases of illegal alcohol).     He brought the Tomoka to anchor just outside the then three mile limit of United States waters, but well within site of the beach.  He soon began a thriving business with New York and New Jersey bootleggers…. “  [this is where the term ‘the real McCoy’ came from]   Arethusa later returned to fishing, and was lost off Halifax in November 1929.  Her particulars are:   Designer                Thomas F. McManus Builder                    Tarr and James Launch date                25 September 1907 Gross tonnage                157 tons Molded length at caprail of        127’ – 3”     Molded beam                25’ – 0” Molded depth                13’ – 2” Registered dimensions        114.0’ x 25.6’ x 12.5’

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 36 – Forecastle Deck Beams 2
 
Before setting the forecastle deck beams some under-deck work had to be completed.  In the first picture the main decking under the forecastle has been completed, the opening for the bowsprit has been sized and a large knee has been fitted to the forward side of the Samson post.
 

 
On this model the bowsprit will step on the plywood bulkhead at the aft side of the opening.  A dowel into holes in both the bowsprit and the bulkhead would probably be the simplest method.  Next, the carrick bits that will support the windlass shaft were cut out.  In the next picture, blanks for two bits were pasted together with one pattern and are about to be cut out on the scroll saw.
 

 
These two bits needed to be identical and also carefully fit so the windlass will be horizontal and will clear the deck and breast beam.   I left the bottom edge with some excess so the bits could be tailored to fit the actual space with the correct height above the deck for the holes that will take the windlass axle.
 
These bits also provide central support for the forecastle breast beam, so that beam needed to be positioned before fitting the bits.  In the next picture that beam has been cut to length and its height is being set at the side using a strip of deck plank.
 

 
The deck planking needs to be flush with the top of the side. The height along the top of the side was well checked much earlier.   I set the deck beams on the top of the main rail, since this is at a convenient height.  Either the beam could be cut back or the rail notched to get the beams at the correct height.  All of this structure will be hidden by the deck, so any deck knees can be ignored.
 
Unlike all the main and lower deck beams, the forecastle deck beams are not set on the frame lines.  To mark the beam locations, measurements were taken from frame lines on the plan drawing for the forecastle and transferred to the shipway plan using dividers.  In the next picture a deck beam location is being transferred from the plan up to the rail using a square.
 

 
The line drawn at the beam location can be seen at the base of the square.  With the first two beams positioned, the carrick bits and the Samson post knee could be trimmed to provide support for the beams.  All these parts have been fitted in the next picture.
 

 
In this picture the carrick bits are pinned in place.  They have been positioned with a temporary windlass axle installed so they would be aligned when pinned.  The height of this axle was set using a gauge block cut to the correct height when the bottoms of the carrick bits were trimmed before setting.  In the next picture the axle has been removed and the bits glued to the deck.
 

 
In this picture the breast beam has also been glued at the rails and to the carrick bits.  All pins were later replaced with copper wire bolts.  Before going any further the hawse holes needed to be drilled out and lined.  In the next picture the main hole on the port side is being drilled to final size by hand using a pin vise to hold the drill.
 

 
Small pilot holes were drilled first by eye after locating the inside and outside centers – before enlarging the holes to final size.  The locating method was described in one of the posts on the framed model and in detail in the book.  It is basically a matter of locating the fore and aft positions and the heights on the sheer plan and transferring those to the hull using a height gauge.  The centers at the inside are at the waterway where intersected by keel-parallel lines from the centers of the chain tubes.
 
The last picture shows the brass lining inserted into the sized hole.
 

 
All four hawse holes were installed in this manner. The linings were the filed off flush on the outside.  Work on the forecastle deck will continue in the next part.
 
 
Ed
 
 

I suppose the best way is to post on the book topic, but I do not mind either way.  More people may see it here, but on the other hand if readers of the book get in the habit of keeping up with the book topic, I can use that not only for corrections but for other supplementary information as well.  The book topics are a bit buried in the website, however, so I am of mixed mind on this.  I will definitely post all Addenda on the book topic, but will also respond here.
 
Either way, I appreciate your pointing these out.  I hope there will not be very many of these.  However, with several hundred complex drawings between the full sized prints and the CD - and only me to review and correct them as the build proceeds - there will be some.  I will make every effort to make and post corrections to these as soon as they are detected - by me or readers.
 
As a matter of interest and for some insight into the issue, I am currently working on the windlass - a complex piece of machinery with a number of small machined brass and wood parts.  The windlass construction is shown on a single letter-sized drawing, one of many that will go on the Volume II CD.  This drawing has been revised 7 times so far as the work proceeds and is due for at least a few more changes to reach its final state - at which point it should be usable by readers.  I normally make sure the drawings reflect the as-built model and also the learnings from the process - not always perfectly for sure.
 
So, thanks again.
 
Ed

Hi Dimitris,
 
I am fine. Thanks for asking. This past summer I took on a number of home projects - rewiring my shop (now grounded outlets and lights!), solved some basement plumbing problems, and I demolished and rebuilt a crumbling stone walkway and stairs. Those took some time; the walkway and stairs are now done, with just a little cleanup remaining. Couple that to running the kids to sport practices, school work, etc and I haven't found time for modeling. I hope to get some modeling in during the holidays.
 
I pop in every so often to MSW to see some modeling - always inspiring and keeps the modeling embers lit.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

You're doing fine.  Last time I moved it took nine months to get back to modeling.
 
Bob

Glad to hear it Elia!! Kids tell me about it...lol . School, tennis , piano, English etc.... Nice to hear from you!!!
 
Kind regards
Dimitris

Hi Dimitris,
 
I am fine. Thanks for asking. This past summer I took on a number of home projects - rewiring my shop (now grounded outlets and lights!), solved some basement plumbing problems, and I demolished and rebuilt a crumbling stone walkway and stairs. Those took some time; the walkway and stairs are now done, with just a little cleanup remaining. Couple that to running the kids to sport practices, school work, etc and I haven't found time for modeling. I hope to get some modeling in during the holidays.
 
I pop in every so often to MSW to see some modeling - always inspiring and keeps the modeling embers lit.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Hi Dimitris,
 
I am fine. Thanks for asking. This past summer I took on a number of home projects - rewiring my shop (now grounded outlets and lights!), solved some basement plumbing problems, and I demolished and rebuilt a crumbling stone walkway and stairs. Those took some time; the walkway and stairs are now done, with just a little cleanup remaining. Couple that to running the kids to sport practices, school work, etc and I haven't found time for modeling. I hope to get some modeling in during the holidays.
 
I pop in every so often to MSW to see some modeling - always inspiring and keeps the modeling embers lit.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 126 – The Wheel
 
I had hoped to make the wheel by the same methods used for the larger wheels on Naiad, but do to the smaller size of this wheel and the material, I found that some compromises would be necessary.  They are described later, below.
 
I wanted to use a darker wood for the wheel and decided to use cherry.  This is less hard and strong than the European Boxwood I used on the Naiad wheel.  In the first picture the outer diameter of the wheel has been turned in the lathe and the 39” (.54” act.) diameter is being checked.
 

 
The square cherry block in the four-jawed, self-centering chuck has its grain running perpendicular to the centerline of the lathe.  This would permit using a cross-grain lamination to strengthen the final assembly.  The 1/16” hole in the center of the turning was centered carefully using a center drill in the tailstock, before boring the final hole that will eventually receive the wheel axle.  In the next picture, slots for the 10 spokes are being milled in the face of the turning.
 

 
For this work the chuck was removed from the lathe to the rotating table on the mill without removing the turned piece.  The saw was then centered on the turning and brought down into contact with the face.  The blade here is .032” thick and it was lowered into the work to make a slot about 2.5” inches square.  After each cut across the face of the piece, the table was rotated 36 degrees and repeated to make all the cuts for the 10 square spokes.
 
In the next picture the piece has been returned to the lathe and a laminating piece is being glued on with the grain at 90 degrees to that of the turned piece.  The drill chuck in the tailstock is being used to clamp the glue joint.
 

 
This single cross grain lamination is already a much simpler construction than the multi-layer pentagonal assembly of the two Naiad wheels.
 
After the glue had dried the added piece was turned to the rim diameter and its entire face trimmed off to the final thickness.  The next step was to remove the area between the rim and the hub.  This leaves an integral rim/hub turning that will ensure centering of the hub.  The 10 square spokes were then slipped into the piece as shown in the next picture.
 

 
I had intended to insert these temporarily, to be replaced with the final turned spokes later – one-by-one as was done on the Naiad wheels.  However, I decided this would be impractical on this small wheel.  Apart from the difficulty expected in turning these very small cherry spindles, the amount of gluing surface at the hub was too small without the spokes.  For these reasons I decided to glue these square spokes in at the hub and round the handles by hand.
 
The next picture shows the inside face of the rim being turned through to the hub.  Once the cut passed through the ID of the rim, only the spokes held the assembly together – as with the real wheel..
 

 
In the next picture the wheel has been parted off and is ready for final sizing and shaping of the handles.
 

 
The next picture shows the handles being shaped using diamond grit files – very carefully, since the glued-in spokes may not be replaced if one is broken,
 

 
 
The last picture shows the finished wheel mounted on the helm enclosure.
 

 
The enclosure is still removable and I expect it will spend the next many months stored away somewhere, safe from damage during the remaining construction and rigging of the model.
 
Ed

Young America 1853 – POB 1:96
Part 35 – Forecastle Deck Beams
 
The POB model has some real deck beams to install – not many – just enough to introduce the method used on the framed model to POB builders. The method I used to make the forecastle beams – as well as the breast beam at the poop shown earlier – was very similar to that used on the framed model, but somewhat simpler.  It begins with a template for the round up of the beams.  In the first picture, a copy of one of the bulkhead patterns has been pasted to plywood and the curve of the deck is being sanded on the edge.
 

 
Since the round up radius is the same for every frame and every deck, any one of the patterns could be used.  The template was then used to trace the round up on to a piece of maple.  The curve was then sanded on to this piece as shown below.
 

 
Using a compass the depth of the forecastle beams was then drawn along the curve.  A blank that will be sliced into several beams was then cut off along this line, allowing some excess for sanding.
 

 
I then used the thickness sander to impart the final thickness on the underside of the beams as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The thickness sander does a great job with this.  The depth is uniform and parallel to the top face.  It is also very fast.  Without a thickness sander, I would have cut very close the line with the scroll saw, then sanded the underside by hand – not too arduous a task.  The individual beams were then ripped off –top side down! – on the circular saw as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The last picture shows the six maple beams and the breast beam, for which pear was used since it will be exposed and not painted.
 

 
As can be seen, I made these beams long before they were needed - before the planking of the main deck.  Cutting and fitting of the beams will be described in the next part.
 
Ed