Elia

Ed on the contrary not confusing at all. I find that your explanations to be most educational. great pictures as well, and the finished work speaks for itself.
 
Michael

Thanks for the kind words.
 
Maury, I had to make the door a bit longer, but now you're mentioning it, I probably better put the extension above the door. It does look a bit strange now. I fear taking the door out will damage the pantry, let me think about that.
 
Fleas Druxey? I thought I was a step ahead of you by adding the palliasses and now your starting about fleas. Boy where does this end.....
 
Work moved to the outside of the hull. The knee of the head (made 1,5 years back) is now permanently fitted as I had to add the iron plates to the bottom of the hull.
 

 
I glued them temporarily in place to draw the outlines and then used a chisel to remove the wood so it fits flush to the hull. I'll remove them to prevent any damage to the plates.
 

 

 

 
This concludes TFFM Vol 1, a bit of a milestone, this took me 4,5 years to complete and still two volumes to go......... I hope everybody is patient enough to bear with me till the end (and throwing challenges at me will make the journey longer..)
 
Remco
 
 
 
 

Added a bed and a closet for one of the cabins. The palliasse, a straw filled matras, was made from sculpey. I found a picture on the internet and made one like it.
 

 

 

 

 
The pantry was made using the same technique as the sail room
 

 
Remco

I was never happy with Mr. Crispy Toes so I have made two new crew members.  Small items, like the head and feet, were added after the torso was baked and then epoxied in place.  The captain has prohibitted drinking in bed so I have my sailor sleeping with his hands behind his head.  His buddy up top is holding a mug of ale.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 51 – Port side ceiling continued
 
It has been about a week since the last post.  Seems longer.  Work has been progressing, but most of it is similar to work covered in earlier posts, so there has not been much of interest to add.  The first picture shows the bilge ceiling being installed under the lower deck clamp aft on the port side.
 

 
At this stage all of the iron strapping is in place on both sides, so now it’s a matter of keeping it undamaged until it is covered by the various internal planking and clamps.  The next picture shows some of the lower strakes of the thick bilge ceiling being installed.
 

 
A fair amount of clamping is required to pull these 8” x 8” timbers into place and hold them there while the glue dries.  The deck clamps have been extended concurrently with work on the ceiling.  This can be seen in the next picture, which shows the current state of the model.
 

 
Below is another view showing the open areas in the bilge ceiling.  Later, nine frames in each of these sections and an aft section will be removed up to the height of the middle deck clamps.
 

 
The entire bilge ceiling is complete in this picture.  The thinner floor ceiling planking has not yet begun on the port side.  The next picture shows a closer view of the central view port area.
 

 
All of the bilge ceiling has been leveled out and given a preliminary sanding to allow the remaining iron (copper wire)  bolts to be installed.  All of the bolts have been installed in the completed deck clamps.
 
The last picture shows the starboard lower hull. 
 

 
In this picture the protruding bolts installed thus far have been filed and sanded off.  There are many more to install as the inside work continues.  The bolts are relatively invisible at this stage but will be much more prominent when etched black. 
 
The next step is to plank the floor area on the port side.
 
Ed
 

Because of the server issue I went back and checked all of the photos in the build log.  It was necessary to repost  about a dozen pictures.
 
I have made and installed the hammock battens.  These are pieces of tooth shaped wood that attach to the beams just under the carlings.  Their function is to provide a hook to secure the hammocks.  I first made several strips of wood the correct dimension (2" x 3") and glued them together.  I set the height of the blade on the table saw to the depth of the notch and sawed all of the strips simultaneously.  The distance between the teeth is 12".  The piece was then put into a bottle of isopropanol and the individual pieces separated from each other after several minutes.  The interior and exterior edges were rounded off with files.  The nails attaching the batten to the beam were simulated with an awl highlighted with pencil.  I decided to only place these on the starboard side since I have not yet decided how much decking I will install on the port side.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I have also finished the upper row of planks for the aft bulkheads.  They now extend to just below the beams.
 

 
 

So now it’s time for the hawse holes and hawse pipes. 
 
One of the old pictures is looking straight down the hawse holes and it is taken from the top of the sampson post.  I placed a yolk at the sampson post location and used it to guide the drill.  I enlarged the holes to accept a brass tube 9” scale diameter.  After flaring the outside, the tube was cut to length and an oval washer soldered to the inside.  The last two photos show the bow sprit temporarily in place.  I have to admit there was a problem the old picture was of the Lettie after the fore deck was raised.  But my model has the fore deck lowered.  So I drilled the hole in the wrong place and had to raise it to put it into the correct location.  All good now. 
 
Next the chain plates.
 
Bob
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone,
 
A little more progress. I used the jig to shape the quarterdeck transom, by gluing sandpaper on the upper surface of the jig to fair the transom to it. I also fitted three clamps to hold the transom in place while I marked the dovetails with the vertical counter timbers. The first photo shows the transom before dovetailing, set forward from the aft face of the counter timbers so the frames for the lights can fit flush between the vertical timbers. The original Bellona model shows this offset between counter timber and transom, and it  took me sometime to figure out; perhaps I'll do a drawing later to show this.
 
The second photo shows the counter timbers dovetailed into the quarterdeck transom. I only have to make the upper counter moulding, fair the faces of the counter timbers, and it is time to glue up! That will be another month at my current rate....
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
Quick update. I roughed in the helm port, which will be refined in size once I have a rudder to check against it. Getting this port shaped meant I could finally fit the center counter timber, which mortised into it. I don't know if this is the right joint here, but it made sense when I looked at it all. All pieces are now shaped and fitted. Time to cut the dovetails at the tops of the counter timbers, and fit the quarterdeck transom....
 
Mark

Hi everyone,
 
A quick update on the Bellona's stern. I don't get much time in the shop these days, so it is going very slowly.
 
Fitting the counter timbers is trickier than I ever would have imagined. The counters round back and up, and the vertical timbers taper to point some distance above the hull. But not all taper. The ones on either side of the stern post are vertical; and the ones on the outboard side of the gunports are vertical alongside the gunport and then crank to align with the taper of the others above the gunport. I have shown these cranked timbers in the first photo.
 
Everything is loosely fitted right now, and not yet sanded to final fairing. I haven't yet figured out the rudder port shape, so it is just a slab sitting in the place where chocks will have to go, with a penciled in shape of the port. I may build the rudder next to see what the shape of the port will be.
 
It is pretty thin construction here. I can see why a broadside raking the stern would devastate the decks.
 
Good thing I am not in a hurry, and don't have any raking broadsides coming my way yet...
 
Mark
 
 
 

John, thanks for checking out the progress.
 
I had a chance to make a second hawser fairing, this time I used copper, definitely a better choice of material, it is much more malleable I only needed 2 annealings.
 
I am tired so just a sequence of pictures using exactly the same process as the 1/8th diameter one, I will make the smaller ones out of 1/8th copper tube.
 

 
The most work forming was done with this tool
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The last picture is showing the difference between the 1/8th brass one and the 1/4 copper one. Also the four different tools for forming and some metal snips and file, the final polish was done with wire wool
 
 
 

 
Michael

Thanks for all the likes
 
Yes I'm definitely hooked.
 
Not wanting to clutter up Bob's Lettie build log, and needing to deal with the same basic issues of holes through the bulwark and because Bob was waiting for me to try this, I did here are my results for the holes in the cutter at least one side of the hole.
1 cut the holes then sand the angle and tubes the tubes have had the first annealing
 

 
2 the first forming using a spoon shaped modeling tool for working with sculpy (not the best)
 

 
3 after the second annealing and using some shaped steel rods, the point was trimmed with some flush cut side cutters.
 

 
4 The wood soft poplar snapped out but the wood block was still usable for forming here the end of the seel rod is almost hemispherical
 

 
5 next a slightly narrower tip followed by a third annealing
 

 
6 an even sharper tip used on the back side to flare out the tube a little more the block under it is hard Maple
 

 
7 a little polish with some steel wool
 

 
8a check with the eye laying on the cap rail above the hole that it will serve
 

 

 
So I will use this method for the rest of the holes both inside and out
 
Michael
 
 

I had a wonderful surprise this evening, I was looking through some family material looking for some information for my Brother who lives in BC when I found a letter that I had written to my mother and father in 1969 in it I was describing a boat that I was going to build, it was an interesting enough coincidence that I thought it worth sharing in this particular build log.
 
I was 21 years old at the time.
 

 
I definitely see a resemblance it has taken a while so far and it is a lot smaller than my original idea that i had completely forgotten, but it was obviously lurking there in the back of my mind somewhere.
 
Michael

Sherry, thanks for those kind words.
 
While waiting for glue to dry on the cockpit.
 

 
I worked on the Boxwood blocks for the main sheet. the block parts were stuck to the block of poplar with some double sided carpet tape.
 

 
After drilling the 1/32 holes I dropped in some brass 1/32 rod to give the blocks a bit of assurance against the shear forces of the 5/32 end mill made from a snapped off (on purpose) drill bit.
 

 
The next task was one that I did have a little concern over because I did not use a centre drill to ensure that the start did not wander. The Boxwood has such a fine grain that I felt confident that the drilling would be Ok. I used 4 rods of 1/32 brass to assemble the stack of partsI was happy that they slid down nicely.
 

 
Because the wood is quite hard and fine I did not want to sand the excess off the assembly and opted to use the trusty jewelers saw , plus the off cuts can be used later on something else. the first task was to trace the shape from the elliptical pieces to the spacers with a sharp pencil.
 

 

 

 

 
Next I will drill the centre hole through the rest of the parts at the same time as the brass parts.
 

 
To be continued.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Thanks for all the likes.
"It really is amazing what we can find lurking in the wood isn't it?"
 
Steve yes it happens when one is open to options.
 
Bob Had I been more conservative I would have cut a shorter piece of the end of the small log and would have also missed it.
 
Daniel, thanks.
 
Today was a good day for clamping.
 
The inside cover was glued first and now the task of adding the layers one piece at a time.
 

 
After the rest are glued up then I will shape the profile
 

 
 
Michael

Thank you all for the "likes"
 
Sailor, thanks for the compliment.
 
Denis, Thanks, I really do enjoy working with Metal, although it does have its quirks.
 
today I unclamped the strips for the cockpit cap and began to think about the next steps which led me to cut a wider strip of a slightly thinner piece measuring .259 high x .040 inches thick which will be glued to the inside first to act as a lip for the top strips which are .190 x .050 inches. I did try using a curling iron but it was a bit too big in diameter, the Admiral was at work (shhh) I ended up plugging in the soldering station dialing back the temperature to about the half way point on the dial. slowly moved it back and forth whilst applying pressure to the strip to freehand the curves. It was then clamped into the cockpit to dry.
 

 
While it was drying I cut a short 2 1/2 inch section off the 3 inch diameter log of English Boxwood  Buxus sempervirens to make some larger blocks for the boom and the main sheet the top one will be a triple and the lower a double both 8 inches in scale. after squaring it up I cut some pieces which are 3/4 x 1/8 inches by 2 1/2 inches long laying out the ovals for the blocks, it occurred to me that I would end up with a larger more useful offcut if I drew the ovals at each end of the wood.
 

 
As I was fretting the ovals out it dawned on me that there were two cleats just hidden there waiting to be found, I think seeing Doris' wood cleats must have been lurking there in my subconscious.
 

 
I was happy to make this discovery and now I will have a few cleats to shape up as well.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Sailor I checked out the net , what a great bunch of images for shackles.
 
Used to sail, Thanks.
 
Nils thanks, I need quite a few it seems.
 
Today I did some work on the cockpit cap, I soaked some spruce for an hour or so while I made a former to bend the wood.
 
I will be using 5 strips to create the rough form once they are prepared I will glue them together.
 
I used a sheet of 6 mm aircraft ply to make the basic shape and bolted it to a sheet of 6mm plex
 

 
The sharp corners were not easy and I think that I will need to bend up a few more strips I did these first ones cold but I will use some hot pieces for the next strips I clamped them using some drop in pegs and wedges.
 

 

 
Michael
 
 
 

Bob, Thank you for your compliment I really appreciate it.
 
Doris, thank you very much for your kindness I continue to draw some of my inspiration from the very high standards that you are setting.
 
Yesterday and today I spent most of the days working on some new shackles, I mentioned the cone cup centre, the first picture shows getting the blanks ready for necking down by machining the 60 degree bevel on both ends.
 

 
With the cone centre set in the tailstock and the blank clamped in the three jaw chuck the first step down is started in the middle of the 3/16 free machining brass blank and the form tool cuts down to the finished diameter in 2 passes the tool is prevented from running into the chuck by an adjustable stop that engages with the carriage.
 

 
The stock is removed from the three jaw and end for ended and re clamped in the three jaw without moving the cone centre, this ensures that the ends are machined to the same length (mostly)
 

 

 
the next picture shows the centre with one of the blanks after the first stage of the machining the outer ends are then shaped with the same form tool to round them off
 

 
After the second stage with the ends rounded
 

 
Next they set up on a heat sink so that both ends could be annealed prior to squashing flat.
 

 
The flattening was done with the Milling machine vice.
 

 
A pin was machined from the 1/8 hex stock threaded 2x56 and then flattened for the finger pad finally drilled and cleaned up with the wire wheel.
 
The bending was done in the same manner as the previous shackles with the round nosed pliers.
 
The next picture shows 3 slightly different sizes hung up ready for service,
 

 
Michael
 
 
 
 

Mark, It was much easier making the giant rule ;~)
 
B.E. Thank you I am glad it is useful.
 
Sailor, That sounds a lot easier said than done. I will see what I can do.
 
Earlier when I was making the bowsprit stays and creating some eyes with the shrink tube I did give the tapering some thought, and I did serve the whole area to cover the shrink tube on one of the eyes.
 
In the following picture the shrink has been served but I did not taper the strands.
 

 
The eye on the right toward the end of the bowsprit still needs to be served to cover the shrink.
 

 
One of the reasons for learning how to make the real splice is because one of the shrink eyes did come loose early on, it could be seized and only a short piece of shrink used then served and it would look Ok but it would not be as strong.
 
Michael
 
 

Thank you Crackers, after all it was Doris that got me into the whole model boat building caper.
 
Thanks Bob, My hope is to improve both the look and the time it takes to do it.
 
Denis I take it you have experience the terrible twos?
 
Greg Thanks , and I can see why it takes a few times to get it right.
 
John I don't think my finger would take to kindly to getting skewered with fine wires.
 
Mark thanks, your commendation is greatly appreciated.
 
Texxn5 thank you for looking in and your kind remark.
 
I have been "practicing" today and made some sequential pics of this splice here.
 

 
Now all I have to do is learn how to taper the splice make some better thimbles. and make more shackles and blocks
 
Michael
 

Thank you all for your nice remarks and for all the likes.
 
Today I did do the eye-splice for the topping lift it was harder to do than I expected.
 

 

 
I eneded up gluing the ends of the three strands to create a stiff end to thread under the lay.
 

 
I found that it was a bit easier to have the rope clamped to the bench and then be able to pull on it while doing the threading
 

 
Looped over the boom
 

 

 

 

 
I also sanded the top of the cockpit walls ready to start on the cap.
 

 
The first piece of wood for the boat it was 2 years ago this month that I began building this cutter, this first picture of one of the frames was taken on March 9th 2012,  it seems like it was both yesterday and years ago at the same time.
 
Michael
 

Garry, Nils, and John, thank you for following along with the encouraging remarks.
 
I worked at building the boom rest at the base of the mast today. I began by reshaping a stick of very fine grained spruce firewood. I stuck it to a piece of fir with some carpet tape so that I could clamp it in the vice to plane it to shape.
 

 
Using just the block plane to start I rough shaped the stick to a sort of pear-drop type shape
 

 
Then switching to my long small chisel I cut the recess below the curve.
 

 
This was followed by a small gouge to completed the shaping, I decided not to sand the surface but to just leave the cut surface.

 
Another piece of the same firewood was used to make the top ring to fit around the mast, I glued the sections together 2 at a time without clamps but by rubbing the two surfaced together , I find this works just as well as clamping if not better in some cases.
 

 
The form piece was cut to short lengths to act as support blocks under the ring, their sides were hand sanded using the shooting board with a block of wood with sandpaper glued to it which acted like an sanding plane
 
The blocks and the two halves of the ring were then glued to the mast.
 
.
 
Walter's viewpoint
 

 
Tomorrow some parrel beads and then some more tackle. perhaps I will have a go at making the topping lift eye splice.
 
 
Michael

Sherry, thank you for your comment.
 
Bob don't sell yourself short your work is anything but.
 
John, not only long sleeves, but I had to put on some long pants my knees were gettin cold.
 
Denis, yes I do like making sawdust, it is good to be back at it.
 
S.os, Thanks for the compliment.
 
Greg, thanks there are so many here that keep raising the bar it is hard to keep up. I have nothing against the Joneses mind you.
 
Mark, thanks for your kind thoughts, and yes the wind is the kicker with these low temps, they were warning about serious wind chills about the Province some as low as -49 wind chill.
 
I finished the other reef comb and dropped in the sheaves they are 3/8th diameter and ebony.
 

 
The next picture shows the Lignum vitae sheave for the clew out-haul at the end of the boom. It has a 3/8 x 1/8 ball race.
 

 

 
The last one shows the rope that will be used for the adjustment I also notched the end of the boom for the Topping lift which will have a spliced eye to snug over the end of the boom.
 

 
Michael
 

Thanks all for the kind comments.
 
 
I did, at 1200 dpi it managed to keep the font readable. A couple of years back this wouldn't be possible on a home printer.
 
So back to the more mundane cabin building. The doors have louvered openings, the rest is pretty straight forward but involved a lot of testfitting. alle the bulkheads are assembled off the model as this was easier to build. 
 

 

 

 
It's getting pretty crowded on the deck and there is more to come, a pantry, the bitt's and pump's
 

 
Remco

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 49 – Hull cleanup, Port side ceiling
 
Before moving to the interior of the port side, I wanted to remove the protruding bilge ceiling bolts on the starboard side of the hull.  There will be many more of these to be added but the installed wires are a hazard.  The first picture shows the epoxied through-bolts being clipped off.
 

 
The remaining bolt stubs and epoxy were then filed off as shown below.  A fine cut file works best for this because it doesn’t “grab” on the wire.
 

 
The next picture shows the lower hull sanded after removal of the bolt heads.
 

 
The next picture is a close up showing how the iron strapping will appear between the frames.  Most of the strapping on the inside will be covered with planking.
 

 
The copper wire bolts are bright in this picture and will be blackened later, just before applying finish to the hull.
 
The next picture shows the start of work on the port side with the installation of the first strip of bilge ceiling near midship.
 

 
This first strip is installed just below the heads of the first futtocks.  This sets the line of the bilge ceiling that the other strakes will follow.  There are four more thick strakes below this.  Above it, thick members extend up to the lower deck clamp as on the starboard side.  It may seem odd to install this before the strapping, but I did it for two reasons.  First, I wanted a very secure joint with the frames, especially on this side where a number of frames will be removed above this joint and below the middle deck clamp – to provide view ports into the hull.  Secondly, the pins shown in this picture were used to correct any irregular spacing between the frames.  This had to be done before strapping.  After gluing and before removing the clamps, most of these pins were replaced by copper bolts.
 
The next picture shows the first section of lower deck clamp being installed.
 

 
In this picture and the one that follows, the frames marked “X” will be cut out between the lower futtock heads and the middle deck clamp to provide the view ports.
 
The next picture shows the strapping covering all but the forward view port area.  There will be three of these view ports, one at each mast.
 

 
Sections of the deck clamps have also been added.  The lower deck clamp is not glued or bolted to the “X” frames, but the frames are securely bolted to the clamps above.  Note from the “X’s” that there are three groups of three frames to be cut out. This will be done much later when the structure has been well reinforced by additional members.
 
The last picture shows the strake of bilge ceiling extended forward along the lower futtock heads to intersect with the lower deck clamp.
 

 
All of these members are being epoxy bolted through the frames as they are installed to provide the primary strength to the joints with the frames.  Glue alone is not enough, especially where there is strapping.
 
 
Ed