Elia

Patrick,
 
Amazing work!  The layering and nesting of tiny, fine details requires lots of time to enjoy and comprehend.  I spent quite some time catching up on this thread and little jewel of a model over the weekend.  Beautiful work.
 
Cheers,
 
Elia

Part 54 – Rails
 
The components for the log rails and head rails were made last July, and the process for forming and drilling them was described in Part 29.  
 
The forward rails consist of a log rail that is doubled for most of the forward part, topped by a head rail held with 1.5” iron stanchions.
 
                       
 
The aft rails consist of a single log rail topped by two head rails. The stanchion arrangement is fairly complex.  There are 1.5” iron stanchions under the lower head rail that are spaced consistent with the forward stanchion spacing.  However, between these stanchions are 1” stanchions at the halfway mark between the larger stanchions.  The upper head rail is supported by 1.5” stanchions that are above and in line with the 1” stanchions.
 
                        
 
3/64 brass rod was used for the 1.5” stanchions supporting the forward head rail and the lower of the aft head rails.  1/32 brass rod was used for the 1” stanchions supporting the lower aft head rail.  3/64”brass tubing was used for the 1.5” stanchions supporting the upper aft head rail.
 
The rails were painted prior to construction, and the brass rod and tubing was primed at the same time.
 
                        
 
                        
 
Spacers were used to ensure that the rails were evenly spaced from the log rail.
 
                        
 
There is a solid block at the aft end of the forward head rail (and also at the forward end of the aft head rails).  These blocks support the mounting hardware for the dredge rollers. The installation of this block was the first step in installing the head rail.
 
                        
 
All of the mounting holes for the stanchions were pre-drilled in the log and head rail components, as covered in Part 29.  Glue was injected into the pre-drilled holes and the stanchions were installed.  The excess glue was wiped off with a wet brush, and when the glue was set the end of the stanchion was clipped off.
 
                        
 
                        
 
A rotary tool with a diamond cylinder was used to smooth and reduce the visible end of the stanchions.  The caps of the stanchions are apparent in the photos of Kathryn, so the stanchion ends were left protruding slightly on the model. 
 
                        
 
                        
 
                        
 
The head rails did not line up perfectly with the knightheads, since I did not sufficiently allow for the flare at the bow.  This was corrected by the use of wood filler and some reshaping of the forward part of the head rail.
 
                        
 
A brass strip was used as a form for the filler, to achieve a fair flow of the head rail.
 
                        
 
The space under the forward part of the head rail was very tight, so I made a sanding tool from brass strip .025 thick with adhesive backed sandpaper attached to one side.
 
                        
 
                        
 
After the final shaping, the head rail was painted where necessary.
 
                        
 
The construction of the forward head rail was fairly simple when compared to the aft head rails.  That will be the subject of the next post.
 
Thanks everyone!

Part 53 – Pre-Rigging Work
 
The next major activity in the Kathryn build will be the installation of the boat’s railings, which are fairly complex.  They will also be somewhat delicate, so there are a few items that should be completed before the railing work begins.
 
First is the Main Sheet Traveler.  This is a 15” iron bar inserted as an inverted “U” just in front of the aft railings, as in the following photo.
 
                        
 
It makes a lot more sense to install this traveler before the railing installation.  The rigging associated with the traveler needs to be completed before installation.
 
There is a double block attached to the traveler by a ring and a shackle.  On the other end, the sheet runs through a single block that will be hung from the boom by a hook that is attached to the block via a shackle.  The loose length of the sheet is held on a cleat attached to the steering box.
 
The blocks used are the ‘internally stropped’ blocks from Syren.  These blocks look very similar to the blocks currently in use on Kathryn.
 
The sheet was rigged through the blocks using the setup shown in the following photo.
 
                        
 
After rigging the blocks the traveler was run through the ring attached to the lower block.
 
                        
 
The traveler was then mounted through the deck planks in position behind the steering box.
 
                        
 
The large cleat for managing the sheet was made of wood and mounted on the steering box.
 
                        
 
The Jib Sheet Traveler has gone through some recent changes.  The following photo shows the traveler as it is today, similar to the Main Sheet Traveler – an inverted “U”. 
 
                        
 
However, at the time of the HAER survey the traveler was a bar that was mounted against the log rails on the bow sides.
 
                        
 
This configuration was still in place after the construction that was completed in 2015, as shown in the following photo from that time.
 
                        
 
The traveler on the model is configured as it was during the HAER survey.  The following photo shows the brass rod used for the traveler temporarily held in place by the mounting blocks for the traveller.
 
                        
 
The Jib Sheet is rigged using two double blocks.  From the deck level the sheet will be run through a block at the hounds and then back down to a cleat near the deck level, so a generous amount of rope was used for the sheet and coiled onto the deck for later use.  The work setup for this rigging was the same as for the Main Sheet.
 
                        
 
                        
 
The traveler was installed by clamping the mounting blocks while the glue cured.  (Any gluing that needed to be done over a painted surface was performed using Weldbond PVA, which provides a strong bond even on a painted surface.)
 
                        
 
                        
 
At this point in the construction it was also a good idea to mount the model on its permanent base, since waiting any longer for mounting would present a risk to the delicate work that will be done next.
 
                        
 
There are a couple of other minor items that I wanted to get out of the way before working on the railings, but I’ve wasted a few days trying to make some very small components and have decided to put that aside for later and to begin installation of the railings, which will be the topic of the next post.
 
Thanks everyone!

Work proceeds on the starboard wales, with only three planks--the most twisty of all--to go. While the uppermost one is steamed and clamped against the hull waiting to dry, here is an update.
 
I have decided to mock up a single gunport and adjacent wales, to see how I am going to manage controlling the red stain around the port, against the plain external planking and the black wales. Like the black wales, I am concerned about the red stain around the gunports running into the grain of the adjacent planks, and only a test will tell me.
 
I did have a little more success using the Transtint black dye mixed into the urethane clear finish. Rather than dealing with a watery liquid like shoe dye or ink, this allows me to pad on a tinted gel. And it has the same level of matt as the uncolored finish. 
 
I will also experiment with airbrushing the blue acrylic paint onto the stem, and also onto the upper works where the friezes will go. That should help me keep a clean line. I am thinking about ordering the Caldercraft Admiralty paint "French Blue", unless someone has had a bad experience with this paint, or thinks it is not the right color. They are supposed to match the colors around Nelson's time, which is almost a half century after the Bellona; I can only assume the blue color would not have changed, for lack of any further evidence. I have only the second Bellona model to go on, for a match.
 
Mark
 

Hi everyone,
 
Thank you, everyone, for the helpful suggestions. It turns out that it was spiled accurately but it had the opposite of spring-back from the steaming and bending; it was bent a trifle too much, so the middle was sitting about a 1/16" away from the hull in the longitudinal direction while the ends were touching the hull. Finger pressure was enough to get it in place.
 
So after trying a number of failed clamping ideas, I went with Greg's suggestion to use spots of cyano in between the carpenter's glue. After experimenting with a few spare pieces, I just went for it. It took rather longer than 90 seconds to grab, and I was able to get some vertical clamps in. And all held well. Nice to have that behind me, and I learned a new good trick.
 
I also took off the batten, because my clamps are too short to span the entire wale plus the batten. Without the batten, you can begin to see the true lines, as in the second photo.
 
Mark
 
 

After more careful fitting of the lowest, foremost plank, it bows in the center, keeping the two ends tight against the hull if I can just pull the center tight to the hull by about 1/16". I am contemplating a Spanish windlass, using a cord I managed to thread under the gundeck to a point on the port side opposite the line of force needed. If I smoked, I would smoke a pipe now while contemplating whether this would distort my hull or put creases in the hull where the cord is pulling tight. Since I don't smoke, I will try gently tightening to see whether things start creaking or not.
 
Mark

Greg, I think I now know the answer to your earlier question. The piece I just fitted is the longest plank in the wale, and it wraps so far around the bow that pulling it up tight towards its aft end tended to pull everything into place. The next lower piece, which I am showing in the first photo before beginning to fair it, is much shorter. And the vertical clamps pull it away from the hull, just as you asked about. I will need to clamp it in the fore and aft direction.
 
And because my frames run only athwartships, I have no easy way to clamp fore and aft, or perpendicular to the wale on the diagonal to the hull.
 
My first thought is to construct a device, shown in the second drawing, that would slip a piece of plywood between the frames, and then use this to bolt a former that would tighten up against the wale. But it will need cut-outs, so I can still get the vertical clamps in place.
 
Looks like a long uphill project at this point in the day. Might look better tomorrow.
 
Mark

Away for a few days, to the annual Charlie Russell art auction in Great Falls, Montana. Some of the best Western traditional art in the US. I can't afford to buy any, just look and admire...
 
I am continuing with the wales. I fitted the foremost, lower two strakes before bending, using artist's transfer paper squeezed between the two pieces. This notes high points which are then lightly filed down, and the two are tested again. With patience, one can sneak up on a very tight joint. The second photo shows dry clamping for fit after the bending, and a closeup in the third photo. Interestingly, the plank was carefully spiled, but it still needed a fair amount of adjustment using the artist's transfer paper. I think it has to do with the constantly changing angle of the upper surface, since most of the high points were on the inner edge. Glue tomorrow!
 
Mark
 

Thanks, everyone, for your support. I was taken away from the shop for a few days, to rig up a hoist for kayaks--real rigging.
 
I am starting on the lower two strakes of the wales. I originally cut the foremost planks at the round of the bow according to my CAD drawing. But when I spiled to the strakes already installed, I discovered that the upper curve was much more dramatic than my original piece. The photo below shows the original piece at the top, and the card with the spiled edge below, showing the difference in curvature. In hindsight, I realize that I assumed the wales would be dead straight vertical, since they are so at midships; not so at the bow or stern! I made xerox copies of the spiled card for port and starboard. A couple of more pieces for the mistake box.
 
I had spent a great of time on the first two strakes sanding and filing the edges of the planks. I did this freehand with shaped sanding blocks. The challenge was to keep the edge square, or tapered slightly where needed to tighten up the joint. It was a little hit and miss. So I am trying a little jig shown below, which clamps into my jeweler's vise block. The two hold downs secure the plank, and then I can run the sanding block against the edge, keeping it exactly perpendicular. When I need to angle the edge, I will slip a thin spacer under one edge of the plank to change its angle to the table.
 
Mark
 

I have spent a tedious weekend fairing up the lower edge of the upper two strakes of the wales. I had made each plank a bit oversize in width, concerned that the careful fitting of the hooked scarphs could throw off the outer edges slightly, and this proved to be the case. The upper edge is fair because of the batten, but the lower edge wavered a little from plank to plank. A simple matter to draw a line parallel to the top with the compass, and a not so simple matter of then fairing to the line. I had to use a coarse riffler in places, followed by a sanding block cut to the radius of the wale. For some reason, sanding was very slow, perhaps because I was not keen to use a coarser sandpaper and risk marring the lower edge.
 
Oh, well, who is in a hurry?
 
Mark

Finished the last port plank in the upper two strakes. Now I need to trim up the lower edge before beginning the final two strakes.
 
I got this done just in time, because you can see in the third photo a lightning bolt is about to attack the ship from my wife's side of the shop...
 
Mark

Thanks, druxey and Ed, you have both caught me from mistakes in the past, and please keep checking up on me!
 
In this case, I followed the advice in the Naiad book and in David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model books, and planked the counter some time ago. Although it hasn't shown in my recent photos, I see. Here are photos from a few years ago when I planked the counter.
 
The photo from the port showing the wales underway does raise an interesting question on this, though. I had started to shape the wale to the counter on the starboard side, as you can see, but I quickly realized that I was likely to damage the counter because I could not see very well upside down. I assume I will have to turn the hull upside down again, and then shape the wales to the counter. And as long as I am at it, I wonder if it would be a good idea to color the wales upside down, where I can really see the critical painting edges between the lower edge of the wale and the hull (which remains unplanked in this model style), and between the wales and the counter.
 
I also need to try a few samples of coloring, which at this point will include Fiebing Leather Dye, Speedball ink, or possibly airbrushing with diluted acrylic paint. I am looking for something revealing the wood grain slightly, but I don't want to mess with a top coat of tung oil which I see has caused some problems for others in the past. As Ed well advises, I will test extensively off the model first!
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Two pieces to go. I discovered, when recutting the upper, sternmost plank of the wale, that leaving it much longer than necessary helped with steaming to the correct shape. Having a little extra length reduced the springback and gave a better purchase when gluing. Sometimes, as in the case of my first failed blank here, cutting rough blanks too close to final size is "penny wise and pound foolish". New lessons learned all the time.
 
Mark

calling all clamps, calling all clamps, report to the port side...
 
After going off in a huff and recovering my composure, I got going again. Just four more planks to install on the port side, upper two strakes (blanks are next to the screwdriver in the photo below). This is a big step, because it locks in the two sides longitudinally at about the same level of humidity.
 
Good days for working in the shop here in Montana. We hit minus 11 degrees fahrenheit last night, the town of Butte about 180 miles away hit minus 24 degrees, the lowest in the lower 48 states, and the wind chill factor on the eastern plains hit minus 36 degrees. Not much point in going outside.
 
I can only begin to appreciate how cold it got on a winter North Atlantic station, or rounding the horn, taking in sail.
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

I cut and cut, and it was still too short...
 
There went a morning's work, with a piece pre-trimmed too short to meet the gunport edges. I tried the board stretcher, but it just could not quite manage the task.🙂
All of the pieces from this point to the stern are just a smidgeon too short, so I have to remake them all. My CAD drawing slightly underestimated the length of the wale when it was turned into a true projection, and so I cut the blanks at the stern with too little to spare. I had cut them long enough oversize on the starboard side to adjust when put to their true location, but for some reason I failed to do so on the port side. Just when you think you have got a process down, the demons jump up and grab you.
 
Time to go do something else!
 
Mark

Thanks, druxey.
 
When I started working this morning, I noticed that where I left off last night shows just how much the hooked scarphs interlock. I was initially skeptical that those relatively small hooks would make a difference, but modeling the joint has shown me the exceptional strength this joint has created.
 
Mark

Thanks, John, your comment means a great deal to me. 
 
Work proceeds on the port wales, using the old clamps at midships to grab from below where the deck is too high relative to the wale for a clamp from above. The second photo shows hanging the clamps on the starboard side to keep them level when tightening.
 
And a view of both wales from the bow, although the lower two strakes are not yet installed and the battens are not yet removed.
 
Mark

Hi druxey,
 
A few years ago in Denver, I put a humidifier in the shop and it didn't seem to make a huge difference. But I did manage to start rust on tools, so I quit. Moving to Montana certainly has helped with higher humidity. Maybe the Admiralty models did not have this problem because it is more reliably damp in London more of the time.🙂
 
My posted picture raises a new question that I have not yet faced on this project. This plank is cut by the gunport. I started filing to fit before installation, and then it occurred to me that I ought to be using the gunport itself as a guide for filing the piece to final fit after it is glued in. This will be the same situation with all of the planking when it hits the sides of the ports. Are there any best practices for filing to the port without accidentally filing the side of the port itself? Masking tape on the inside faces of the ports?
 
Mark
 
 

Hi Greg,
 
I am like an aging film star; no closeups, soft filters on the lens required!
 
But in a Hollywood-like expose, here to reveal all, is a closeup of the plank I just glued one, before sanding. You can see all my dark secrets.  The re-drilling of the temporary batten, the stain on the hull that has been there for 10 years and I have no idea where it came from, and most important, the seams opening up between frames in places.
 
These seams open up in the winter, with the lower humidity, and close in the summer. This is a classic problem of cross grain construction, where the wood expands and contracts much more at right angles to the grain than it does lengthwise. I measured this seasonal change at 3/16" to ¼" over the length of the hull. Good wood construction argues for avoiding this, or using slotted screw holes on wood at right angles to the grain; otherwise, the construction can tear itself apart.
 
This is obviously not possible in this project, with deck clamps, wales, spirketting, planking all glued on at right angles to the frames. But several centuries of this construction methods seems to have worked, and I hope it will work for me. The humidity shifts are not nearly as severe here in Montana as they were in Colorado, so  I see less annual movement already. And cross fingers, the planking above the wales still to come should cover up my other dark secrets...
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 

I am making steady progress on the wales. My old clamps are proving quite serviceable for this; I have started to run them through gunports as I get further astern and they no longer reach from below. The last photo shows why Gary's idea of a batten is such a good one. There are numerous little pieces around the pierced gunports, and I can see they will easily go astray without a constant guide from stem to stern including going over the gunports.
 
Mark

Thank you, Marc, for your words of encouragement, and I enjoyed your tag line of "we are all works in progress, all of the time." Applies to us and our models.
 
Once I rounded the bows and began placing planks further aft, I realized that the wale dips below the lower gundeck at midships; and therefore, my clamps from above would no longer work. So I rummaged through my box of old tools, and recovered the clamps I had made almost 20 years ago to clamp up the growing sandwich of frames in the admiralty framing system.
 
I ran these through the open frames athwartships, and they worked perfectly to clamp from below. I just have to be very careful not to nick the frames when I pass the threaded rod through. I wrapped them in tape to help avoid the worst damage.
 
Mark
 
 

The first planks of the wales are on, so far, so good. They are a little oversize in thickness to allow for leveling later, but the hooked joints are tight. These were the most challenging pieces I have installed so far on this project, with compound curves and tight tolerances on the hooked joints.

Mark
 

After recalibrating my gantry for measuring off the sheer drawing, I decided it would be prudent to re-plot the wales, just in case things went astray during the move.
While I was at it, I re-thought how to attach the batten above the wale, for more accuracy. I had previously plotted points the thickness of the batten above the wale, so I could see the points from above while attaching the batten (too hard to look for points under the batten, in the shadow). But this proved to be inaccurate; the batten itself was not completely the same width along its length, and I had now plotted more points against other points, allowing errors to creep in.
 
So, instead, I drilled holes at the plotted points at the top of the wales, which I could see clearly without the battens in the way. And I then put small nails into the holes, using these as stops against which I could very accurately hold the batten while drilling and fastening it.
 
This was a reminder to me that--at least for me--registering one piece against another is going to be more reliable than free-handing.
 
Mark

Mark I think your reference could be a bad reference because it is a partial planking. A fully planked model is a better reference.
 
Here is what I think the modeler did with this model. He took the highway of the facility. He did represent 3 rows of a wale only. The 3 rows are made  full width planks. If he would have continued his work without tapering extremities of the planks he would face some planks tapering to 0 and this we do not want for the simple reason that we cannot put a nail at the end of a plank finishing at 0 inch.
 
Tapering the end of a plank means thatthe end of the next plank will come higher taking a part of the space of the upper plank.
 
It is very difficult to start to the first plank at the good angle with the good curvature. It is also difficult to photograph  the direction of the plank. Following your work, I returned to mine, observing that I did even worst.
 
I think a good way to verify the regularity of the curve is to take 3 pictures : 1 front, 1 at 90  degrees of the middle of the strake and 1 side. I did repeat the process 3 times and corrected the end each time. The lower line was before, the upper is now which seems to look better. Still needs some adjustments but I think that if the results  is smooth on the 3 photos, then the result can be good. Also I think that taking pictures after doing the work has the same result as usual, The camera has no pity of our work.
 

Good morning Mark,
 
it's good to see you back at the work bench. In the question of the double curve of the wales I think that there is no double curve. Also, if you want to see, at the Bellona model. Look also at the upper wales. Here some pictures I made last year in Greenwich and Chatham.
 
First the Centurion of 1732, Model made 1745
 

 
then a 60 gunner of 1745
 

 
and Balchen's Victory
 

 
and two pictures from the NMM website, the Victory and Thunderer