Bob Legge

We were following the plans for treenail locations.  The drawings were imported into CAD and used to guide the laser  etching which created the treenails.  I have seen the gun port planks handled both ways, on modern day as well as contemporary models.  I personally prefer the diagonal pattern at the gun ports.

I wiped poly on all the parts after pinning and gluing the support columns to the deck beams.  I used epoxy, and the joints are very strong.  The upper deck/column assembly will simply be glued to the deck clamp and lower deck.  The fit is perfect and no pinning is necessary.
 
The hatch grating is boxwood and laser cut.  The coaming is rosewood with half lap joints at the corners.  There is a small "shelf" under the coaming to support the grating.  It just drops into place.  Both have poly on them.

Don turned 6 support columns for each of us, and as it happened, we all chose a different design.  The extra one is insurance against our propensity to screw things up!  The first photo shows the three sets of blanks. 
 
I cut mine slightly (1/32") long so I could fine tune the fit to any irregularities in the upper deck beams or lower deck surface.  The dry fit worked out well.  the columns were then numbered on the bottom so they go back in the right place.  Each was trimmed/sanded so all 5 rested on the lower deck, and none were "suspended " in air!

I spent yesterday finishing up the framing of the upper deck.  the three of us had a lot of discussion as to the accuracy of the deck framing.  In general English framing, each deck beam has a lodging knee and a hanging knee, and all the lodging knees face the same way until amidships, where the knees start facing the opposite direction.  This corresponds to the point where the futtocks of the framing reverse, and the floors start facing the opposite direction.  The main mast should be located near here also.  We came to the conclusion that the framing of the upper deck on this model was stylized, and also altered to accommodate the two lower gun ports.  One of us objected to the lack of symmetry, and proposed the pattern you see on the photos.  I followed suit.  It really doesn't make any difference since the center of the upper deck will be planked over.  I've included the plan sheet for the upper deck framing with the other photos.

A little more progress!
I glued the remaining half frames above the gun ports into place and worked on planking the exterior.  The two channel wales and the great rail are swiss pear and the strake between them was supplied in both boxwood and holly.  I chose the holly.  The wale, black strake and two sheer strakes are ebony.  The remainder of the outboard planking is boxwood.  There will be a rosewood gunwale at the top of the bulwark.  There were pre-drilled holes for the gun port lid control lines, but these had to be drilled through the framing to emerge just above the upper deck clamp's upper edge.  With that done I completed the planking up to the sheer trim.  The piece of trim was provided with either a double bead or triple bead design.  I haven't decided which to use yet.  Work turns to the upper deck next as we fit the support columns, knees and remaining ledges.
I enclosed photos made indoors with incandescent light as well as outdoors in daylight.  Amazing how different the colors appear! 

I use black annealed wire to simulate smaller bolts - a 3 pounder cannon carriage in 1:48 scale.  At this scale the bolt head would be 2 scale inches in diameter (1/16").  It would be hard to fine the proper wire, and very tough to sand it down.  The toothpicks work easily!

Thanks for stopping by, Richard!
I use black Fiebing's Leather Dye.  Cut off the ends of a bunch of toothpicks and let them swim in a bath of the dye overnight.  The birch sucks up the dye, so when you cut off the little bolt level with the plank there is no white wood in the core!  Drill the appropriate holes for the bolts, touch the end of the dyed toothpick in some CA glue and push it in the hole.  Cut off flush and sand.  Simple.
The only thing to watch is that if your hole isn't deep enough (due to plank thickness, etc.) you may need to cut some of the tip of the toothpick piece so that there is a nice tight fit in the hole.

I started work on the upper deck clamp. The the lower edge of the clamp was fine, sitting squarely on the spirketing. The lower edge of the deck beams must be 2-1/4" above the lower deck surface. This is important so that the upper bulwark planking turns out correctly. The first thing I did was cut two blocks out of scrap, exactly 2-1/4" tall. These would be double sided taped to the lower deck and support the inboard end of the deck beams at that proper height. When I started to fit the upper deck clamp, and I ran into a problem. I thought I'd have to cut a little of the top of the clamp at an angle to accommodate the beams, and reach the "magic number" of 2-1/4". In my case, the beam sat on the clamp right at that number but there was no excess to cut on an angle to accommodate the beam resting on it. I needed a wider (taller) deck clamp. This happened because I may have been a little zealous sanding the inboard planking edges!  I determined that 17 degrees was the proper angle for my model, and cut an oversized deck clamp. I then cut it the the right height by "sneaking up" on the final measurement using my Byrnes saw and carbide blade. The "magic number" is now there, but the clamp is about 3/32" taller than it should be. Hopefully no one will notice! Also, the angle the clamp is cut to would probably be better at 18 degrees, but I'm just leaving it as is! Check the photos! I also drilled holes and placed the simulated bolts that  held the clamp in place.

I glued the main deck beams and carlings together in my new steel squaring jig. Because the ledges were cut to size to fit the mortises in the carlings perfectly, sanding the char from the pieces made the fit too lax. i just cut some cherry stock, milled it to the proper thickness, and cut my own ledges that I custom fit to the deck and glued them all in place. The lodging knees, hanging knees and the remainder of the ledges outboard will be fitted later. Next up: Shaping and fitting the upper deck clamp

I turned my attention to the outboard planking.  The model is already exceptionally rigid and once some outboard planks are added, I could probably drop it from a second story window and not damage it!  The lower wale and black strake above it are ebony, measuring 1/4" and 3/16" thick respectively.  The outboard planking framing the gun ports is boxwood.  I included some detail shots on how the gun ports turned out and the ends of all the strakes at the exposed frames.

After I finished the waterway I installed the lowermost spirketing plank.  It is thicker than the others and required a slight bevel to fit snugly into the angle created by the deck and the hull frames.  The bulwark was planked with each plank require a bevel on both edges so that in profile they resembled parallelograms.  This was because of the hull's curvature.  After beveling the planks fit tight to each other and the frames.  The final strake is thinner than the others and defines the lower edge of the upper deck clamp.  The waterway was glued in place last.  All this planking is swiss pear.

The lower deck was installed next.  All the decking for the three kits was randomized so there was no discernible grain pattern in the finished deck on any of the three models.  The effect is much more realistic the a plain vanilla deck of holly would be...although we did consider holly for the decking!  Next is a fine finish sanding and some poly on the decking.

The frames are all glued in place except for the upper futtocks, above the gun ports.  I'll wait until the main deck clamp is installed.  Although most of the gun deck beams will be hidden by planking, the ends are plainly visible and the beams must be laid out exactly so the butt joints and treenails fall in the center of each beam.  Each kit was provided with different wood options for the channel wales, great wale, gun port control strake, sheer trim etc.  The fourth photo is a preview of my choices for finishing the outer hull.

I started gluing up the frames by attaching the two outermost ones to the buildboard and the deck clamp.  I built a quick little jig to ensure these were exactly perpendicular, and measured the same distance apart at the top as at the bottom.  the jig straddles the deck clamp and keeps the frames square to the buildboard.  
Because the planking is pre-cut and pre-treenailed, it's very important that the inside frames align with the three gun ports properly.

I trimmed the sills and finished sanded all the frame parts.  I also glued the support piece between the two deck beams that frame in the hatch.  I also test fit the deck beams on the build board.  There is a final beam that will be fitted once the deck beams are glued in to this point.

I applied multiple coats of wipe on poly to the board.  While waiting for it to dry, I went ahead and installed the sills that frame out the 3 gun ports at the bulwark.  The sills are a little oversize in thickness, so they need to be sanded down for a nice tight fit in the frame mortises.  Squaring up these assemblies is critical.  I used two try squares to get things aligned and some weights to hold the parts until dry.  Glue was Weldbond, with some CA applied to the joints later (drawn in by capillary action) for added strength.  The sills are proud of the frame surface and need to be trimmed with a sharp blade and then sanded flush with the frames themselves.

The most important part of the build is squaring up the frame from the bottom. The lower deck clamp must be parallel to the two inboard supports, and the ends of the supports must lie on the perpendicular of each end of the clamp. I drew a baseline, parallel to one edge. I then cut out a rectangle of those dimensions and used double-sided tape to stick the plywood template to the build board. The clamp was exactly as long as the template and the two supports lined up with the perpendiculars. I then glued all 3 parts in place, removing the template after the CA grabbed a bit. Before gluing the deck clamp in place the plans call for a slight bevel of the top surface to the outboard edge. One of us said it was "minuscule" and eyeballed it with his sanding block. Suffering from OCD myself, what I did was blow up the profile of the clamp on the plans, measure the actual angle (4 degrees!) and re-mill the clamp with a 4 degree bevel in the top!!! Will I ever learn??

I finished up the build board.  I had some beautiful curly bird'seye maple so I cut off a piece and framed it with some rounded over 1/2" X 1/2" east Indian rosewood.  It turned out pretty nice!

Most of the framing including the hull and deck framing is made of cherry. It's too bad that so much of it will be covered up, but it isn't expensive and it was just easier to cut the parts all at the same time from a limited number of billets, seen or not! The hull framing is 3/4" thick, actually 3/4" WIDE on the model. After CNC cutting, you can see that each piece is held in the 3/4" billet by 2 tiny triangular tabs (arrows). Very easy to remove and clean up the frames. I worked on those while the build board was drying (I glued a rosewood border around a beautiful piece of curly bird's eye maple I had). I also scribed scarfs in the two end frames as well as simulated bolts. I then gave these two a wipe of boiled linseed oil to even out the color.

After a lot of prep work getting the plans into a form CNC and laser could utilize, a prototype was built of basswood and poplar.  The point here wasn't to have a perfect model, but rather to proof the plans and our dimensions and make sure the pieces all fit!  We will obviously clean up the laser char on the finished models.  The hull frames were CNC cut from 3/4" stock.  The treenails are surface etched, but deep enough to allow finish sanding and still be visible.  We plan to leave the laser char in between planks to simulate tar.

This will be my build log for a 17th century Royal Navy Battle Station.  The station is loosely modeled after a 4th rate ship of the line, HMS Mordaunt, launched in 1681.  It is based on the excellent plans drawn by Jeff Staudt, and the model kit itself is one of three produced in collaboration with two modeling friends.
I'll be adding  background information and details on research and development of the kits is as the build proceeds.   Here is a reprint of the message I posted when I received my kit: 
 
 
 
 
 

I finished assembling the gun carriage.  I added the transom, and the stool bed with it's support.  The forward end of the bed is drilled through for the ling horizontal bolt that supports it.  The trucks and their linch pins were installed.  Last, I carved the quoin's handle out of boxwood and assembled the quoin.  All the rings and eyebolts are completed.  I'll fashion the cap squares after the cannon is turned.  That's the next job!

I carefully attached the axles to the carriage base with double sided tape.  I then drilled through the base into the axels.  Two 3d nail "bolts" hold each axle to the carriage base, but I did cut them short.  The axles are glued into place.  Next is the stool bed and support, the transom and mounting the trucks. 

The carriage is held together with long bolts.  I settled on 3d finish nails as the simulated bolts.  The heads are about 3/32" in diameter - about right at this scale.  I cleaned them up and blackened the heads.  The brackets are inset from the edge of the base by 1/16".  I used double sided tape to tape some 1/16" planking to the brackets to maintain this spacing.  The brackets were double sided taped to the base  Then I drilled up into each bracket through the base.  The simulate bolts were cut short but still function like real bolts in holding the structure together as the glue dries.

The plans for the gun and carriage print on standard 8-1/2" X 11" paper so the next step was to decide on the wood species and start cutting!  I chose swiss pear for the carriage body and axles, and boxwood for the trucks.  As mentioned, I'll turn the cannon out of hard maple.  The parts were cut out on the table saw and scroll saw and carefully sanded.  I used my Byrnes saw and a thin kerf blade to cut shallow grooves to simulate the brackets being build in 2 pieces as well as the base.  I cut the trucks using a circle cutting bit on my drill press.  This left a 1/4" hole in the center of each truck, which I widened to the 5/16" I need.  I wanted to add the bolts the held to two halves of the trucks together, but I'd already widened the hole for the axles, so laying out the 6 bolt locations would be tricky.  Since I'm trying to learn TurboCad, what I did was design the trucks in the CAD program, with the locations of the bolts noted.  I printed these out and rubber cemented them to some 1/8" thick plywood.  These were cut out out and sanded, and holes drilled at the appropriate points for the bolts.  These 2 templates let me transfer the bolt locations to the boxwood trucks.  The bolts themselves are toothpicks dyed black.  The dollar bill in the photo gives a sense of scale.