druxey

Dan: I learned a great technique from a jeweller for silver soldering successive joints. She told me that, as well as using 'hard' (high melting point) for the first joint, 'medium' for the next and 'easy' for the third, you can protect previously soldered joints with yellow ochre. This is in powder form. Mix with a little water to a paste, then paint it over the joints you want protected. Heat will turn this red, but it will wash off when pickled. There is also now an 'extra easy' grade of silver solder available, but she doesn't recommend using it - it doesn't make a very good joint. Hope this is of some help.

Good digging, E & T!

Galley Cowl
 
Time for some more brass work. The Galley Cowl is 15" in diameter, which scales down to 8mm. The top piece is fitted at a slight angle upwards, about 95 degrees at the join.
 
I turned the outside diameter first from a piece of 10mm stock - the closest I had. Then I drilled the centre out to 7.5mm - in several steps starting with a 3mm pilot hole :
 

 
I made the piece about 5mm longer than needed to allow for a bit of final trimming. I cut the pipe using a fine hacksaw in a mitre box, and finessed the angle to 47.5 degrees on both pieces using my disc sander. I used a piece of scrap to hold the smaller piece - saves burning or sanding down fingers   :
 

 

 
The finished article after silver soldering ready for some small details. The assembly will be blackened when it's complete :
 

 

 
  Danny

HMS TERROR PLANS – UPDATED!!
 
As discussed in the previous post, here are the updated (hopefully complete?) plans for HMS Terror. Note that the Upper Deck Plan has been modified to include the accurate width of the propeller well, based on information gleaned from the engineer’s model. Also, I noticed that the model showed a narrow lip surrounding three sides of the well for the scuttle to rest on, so that has been included in the plans as well.
 

 

 

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been designing construction plans for my model (I hope to begin cutting wood next week). As I worked on individual stern components, I began to notice possible errors in my plans. Specifically, the original 1845 stern sheet (and the annotations on the 1836 sheet), on which my plans are based, only exist in profile and therefore don’t depicted all the necessary cross-sectional modifications to the stern that were required. The problem lies exclusively in the well that was constructed to ship and unship the auxiliary screw propeller. If the rudder post (also known as the “false sternpost” or “after sternpost”) was the same width as the sternpost depicted in Terror’s original 1813 plans, there simply would not be enough space for the propeller well positioned directly in front of it. I strongly suspected that the rudder post was thicker than I originally depicted in the body plan (and thicker than the keel), but there were no historical plans that confirmed this. Fortunately, an engineering model of the modified stern was produced for the Erebus and Terror ca. 1845.
 
As can be seen on the model, the upper part of the rudder post was indeed widened, apparently by adding two large bolsters on either side; it then tapered abruptly at the opening for the propeller (likely to prevent drag). The added width on the upper part of the rudder post provided the necessary space for the propeller well and I’ve now changed my body plan to reflect this. However, in scrutinizing the stern plans and annotations to solve the width problem, I also noticed some faint modifications that I missed in my initial tracing of the plans.
 
First, the opening for the propeller well apparently included two separate iron fittings which were bolted to the rudder post and the sternpost, respectively. Each fitting appears to have had a groove which accepted a smaller rectangular metal frame which held the propeller (e.g. Battersby and Carney 2011: 204; 208). Guided by the metal grooves, the propeller frame could be raised or lowered into position using standard ship’s tackle. A contemporary example of exactly this sort of removable propeller system is preserved in a model at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich (see here and here for similar designs).
 

My reconstruction of the propeller frame and chock system (profile and cross section).
The series of chocks were used to strengthen and protect the stern when the propeller was unshipped

 
 

The propeller frame as it would have been installed
 
Second, it appears that a unique u-shaped iron fitting, the same length as the propeller well, was used to secure the sternpost, keel, and rudder post to each other. Two or three large bolts secured a separate timber to each of the three faces of the fitting, effectively creating one solid structure. I suspect that this was a midline fitting which was protected and covered by a large fitted wooden chock, which itself was bolted to the surrounding wood, probably with as many as four bolts. Why this unique fitting was necessary has not been described in the historic literature, but is seems certain it was used to increase the strength of the sternpost near the keel (recall that Back’s voyage proved how vulnerable an unmodified stern could be to pack ice). How the ship’s stern timbers were attached to this structure is also not described, but it seems logical that the rudder post and sternpost would have been bolted to the two central stern timbers, with which the widened sternpost would have been contiguous. Contemporary models show that a sturdy rectangular frame enclosed similar contemporary propeller wells, and the sternpost and rudder post were also bolted to this frame.
 


The "U" shaped bracket and series of bolts used to attach the rudder post and sternpost to each other and the keel.
 
 
References:
Battersby, William, and Carney, Peter
2011 Equipping HM Ships Erebus and Terror, 1845. International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology 81(2):192-211.
 
As always, please see my blog for better images.

Most collars have eyes spliced into their ends and these ends are lashed around the spar. Start with a longer length of line than needed and start seizing the various blocks/hearts/eyes into it. Then form the eye splices at the ends of the collar.

From 1:60 to 1:72 scale, Ed? Most of is tend to build to ever increasing scales as our eyesight becomes less than perfect! Looks like a terrific start.

Recently I was doing grating and would like to talk about a device that made my friend Sergey from Russia.
I think the principles of easy to see from the photos.
I myself could not do it out of iron, but I made out of wood and it works the same way.
I hope it will be useful to many.

Lines were rigged connected course yard to course yard the same distance from the center-line on each side of the model.  Lines that would serve as braces ran from the main course yard ends to the quarters of the hull and to the springs on the post, and then to the winch.  This way the winch would swing the main course yard and the connecting lines would move the fore and mizzen yards at the same time.  This is not how the model will eventually be rigged for running, but it would do for a test sail.
  Video of Brace Testing
 
The fids were pulled, the topmasts lowered, and batteries put on the chargers.

 
The next day, July 10th, 2011, the model and it's equipment and accessories, were stuffed into the Tahoe.

 
I took the model, and my lady who was to be the official videographer, supplied with camera and tripod, a quarter mile down the road to Sloop's Cove on Stoney Creek, where the neighborhood has a public pier and water access - such as it is.

 
At the site I raised the rig, bolted on the ballast, and tested the systems.

 
Getting her into the water, I placed the sandwich bags full of lead bird shot left over from the ballast torpedo and weighing about 12 pounds, into the hull and moved them about to trim her.  There still wasn't enough weight to get her down the the LWL and she stood about 1-1/2 inches high in the water.

 
Then off she sailed.

 
And some of the video...

 
It wasn't an unsuccessful day, but it was a bit disappointing.  The winds were too light and variable, and in the creek there, they swirled and eddied about.  The model never really got more than a few feet of any real sailing.  When it would puff strong for a bit, she handled it fine, then it would shift and catch her aback.  She also handled the occasional wakes from passing boats quite well.  Then, about an hour in, the battery died.  I later found it had failed completely and needed to be replaced.  The model was near the middle of the 100 yard wide creek and headed toward a boat dock about 50 feet away from me.  I went into the water and swam over to meet her.  She gently bumped her forestay against the dock and stayed there till I got to her.  I'm not much of a swimmer and quickly wished I had brought one of my floatation vests to make the job easier - but it was in the 90's and the water felt pretty good.  Next time I'll have some form of chase boat; a kayak, inflatable, or preferably a pram I'll build.
 
 
   
 
Note: That thing at the base of the mizzen is an on-board camera.  It took some incredibly boring video.  If I can get some editing software that will let me put it up split-screen fashion in sync with the other video, I'll post it somewhere.
 
Video of the Recovery or how the big bald ape rescued the model ship from certain doom without himself drowning.
 
Then it was out of the water, off with the ballast, down with the rig, and into the truck.
 

Channels, Quarter Galleries, and Paint
 
The channels were made from pine and their shape, position, and size were taken from the 1888 spar deck plan, as will be many other deck details.  The Archives listed an 1854 spar deck plan, but it was, and still is, missing from their files.
 
 
It was time now to repaint.  Painting up to this point has only been  a quick job of spray painting, now I was going to finish the gun stripes properly, and get into some nooks and crannies.
 
 
 
 
I don't know what these things are called, the only name I've seen is "drops," so, I made them of sheet balsa laminated into blocks which also meant the quarter galleries were finally and permanently affixed to the hull with epoxy and the screw that had held them since their beginnings.  The insides of the quarter galleries had been thickly painted in resin some time ago, in case any moisture managed to get inside.
 
 
The gun stripe now went through the head as it should, and the masts and tops also got some fresh paint.

 
Course Yard Trusses
 
Constellation's course yards are attached to the lower mast via a set of iron trusses.  These are really quite impressive items that will be as important in the operation of the model as they undoubtedly were on the ship itself.  Unlike the trusses on the clipper ships and most modern square-riggers; Constellation's pivot out further from the mast where the more common type pivot at the mast and hold the yard off on a post.  This allows the yard to be braced further over and allow the ship to sail closer on the wind.  Constellation's truss design also allows the top masts to lower through them without having to disturb the yard in any fashion - something that will help me lower the rig on the model for transporting.
<= Stad Amsterdam  <= Constellation
 
It's very fortunate to have the actual ship available to reference, and that so many of her original fittings survived the attempt to make her into a frigate - these trusses for instance.  Using a photo of a truss on the ground and my own photos taken from on deck, and using the diameter of the masts for proportion, I designed a set for the model.

 
I ordered a sheet of 1/8" thick aluminum online and began cutting out my parts on a band-saw with the narrowest blade I could get.  I'm not really set-up for working with metals, but I trudged along.
 
 
Cutting out the parts was tough enough, making the bows made that seem easy.  The bow's center bulge was vertical and swelled to as much as a 1/4" while the ends were horizontal.  I opted to get this shape by heating and twisting the ends.  First I drilled them, then I heated them, then carefully twisted the ends 90°.  Most of them worked out very well, but a couple broke and had to be remade.  With some filing you can see they're twisted at all.
 
 
 
 
The remaining part to make were the clevis'.  This was made from some aluminum rod, drilled, slotted, tapped, and shaped with files to match the iron clevis' of the real thing.
 
 
Here's a shot taken a bit later showing the top mast lowered through the truss:

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 3 – Scale vs. Framing
 
Instead of continuing with the historical narrative at this point as planned, I thought this would be a good place to insert some modeling content to break up the text that might be tedious to some.  Also, at this stage I am faced with two issues.  First, I need to resolve the question of scale.  Second, I need to begin lofting frames.  Since I am a strong believer that drawings exist to support the specific building process, I wanted to nail that process down before getting very far into creating patterns.  These two issues are closely related.
 
The question of scale
 
I have already decided that 1:72 is probably the largest scale for a rigged model of a ship this large that my workshop (or house) can comfortably support.  The question is whether an accurate fully framed model is feasible at this small scale.  I was concerned about this at 1:60 for Naiad, but that worked out very well, so I am encouraged about moving to 1:72.  To confirm this before investing too much time I decided to loft and make some test frames.
 
American Clipper Framing
 
Some description of the framing of American clippers is required at this point.  It differs from the 18th century Royal Navy model that many are familiar with.  First, every frame was paired.  There were no standalone frames as was the case my previous Naiad model.  Also, there were no air gaps between the paired sections and no chocks at the joints.  Every frame pair was bolted together on the frame or station line with offset futtock joints.  There were relatively few cant frames, but a large number of “half-frames”.  These were square to the keel but bolted to the sides of the keelson/deadwood – like cant frames.  These started at the fore and aft ends of the square framed midship area.  The starting point was begun when compass timber to shape the increasingly V-shaped floors ran out.  The cant frames began when the bevels of the half frames no longer permitted bolts holding the pairs together to be driven “normal” – that is, square – to the faces of the frames without breaking out into either the inboard or outboard faces.  Young America had a total of 80 frame pairs vs 60 for Naiad.
 
Framing Process
 
After some work on the parts of a test frame, I quickly concluded that the 1:72 scale was feasible – a great relief – so I will not dwell on that.  However, the development and testing of the fabrication process may be more interesting.  Following is a brief overview.
 
Frame assembly can go faster without having to fit several chocks to each frame.  To eliminate the potential bottleneck of one assembly jig, the new process eliminates it.  Sections of the frame pair are aligned for assembly using predrilled pin holes on centers precisely placed on both the fore and aft patterns during the CAD lofting process.  The new process also provides for patterns to be left on the fore and aft faces of the assembled pair.  Since these patterns show the profiles for the fore and aft faces, the frames can be pretty well beveled inside and out before erection on the keel, eliminating a lot of post-framing fairing – especially difficult on the inside of a narrow hull with sharp entry and run aft.  To make this beveling accurate and to speed the assembly process, all the futtocks will be sided to the same size as the floors.  The reduced sidings of the upper futtocks will be milled off later, after beveling. 
 
The first image shows part of the pattern sheet for the forward section of half-frame 42.  This is the last half frame aft and the most highly beveled so it is a good test case.
 

 
The next image shows a close up of one of the futtocks on the pattern.  Note the placement of the bolt/pin hole centers.  These were placed with CAD objects of the two frames of the pair overlapped so the holes could be located in an aligned position on each frame.  Note that on this most beveled frame the hole circles on this aft frame face are right against the smaller forward (green) profile.  They are equally close to the outer edge of the forward face.  Frames aft of this will have to be canted.  The circles are larger than the bolt size.  The diameter includes an allowance for some clearance between the bolt and the profile edge.
 

 
 
The next picture shows the patterns pasted on to a piece of pear ready for cutting out.  Here I discovered that to have patterns left on the exposed faces, I had to use patterns from the other half of the frame.  It was also clear at this point that every piece needed to be labeled and that the Starboard and Port labels on the pattern needed to be clarified - some lessons for the final lofted pattern content.
 

 
The next picture shows an alignment/bolt hole being drilled.  This is the most error-prone and critical part of the process.  The holes need to be accurately located and square to the frame.
 

 
The next picture shows the beginning of frame assembly.  The frame segments are aligned by the pins and temporarily pinned to a copy of the pattern for a check. 
 

 
The segments are then glued together as shown below.  Considerable excess length was left at the top to support the frame during milling of the reduced sidings of the top members.  Because of frame curvature this approach did not work out so the sidings will have to be milled using spacers under the reduced parts of the milled face.
 

 
The pins with softwood blocks are hammered down into the fiberboard and act as clamps.  The completed - assembled and fully bevelled - port half frame 42 is shown below. 
 

 
The sidings of the upper futtocks have been reduced. The aft face is up.  Note that the toptimber on the forward frame is higher.  It goes up the the fancy rail on every frame pair.  The aft frame goes only to the planksheer – the height of the open deck.  The closer view below shows the bolt holes – a safe distance from the inside edge.  They are a similar distance from the outside edge on the  opposite face.
 

 
For this test I took the beveling almost to completion in this test frame – right to the green lines on the forward face and to the red lines on the aft face.  .  There is obviously no need to do that.  Leaving a slight amount for the final fairing may be safe bet.
 
I hope this explanation has not been too confusing.  Thinking about this or explaining it sometimes leaves me dizzy.
 
At this stage, I concluded that the process, with some minor tweaking, is feasible and efficient, so I will proceed with the lofting on this basis.
 
A milestone.
 
Ed
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 2 – Some Very Brief Background
 
 
The Extreme Clipper Era
 
The term clipper had been applied to fast sailing ships since the 18th century. The “clipper ship” was the larger full-rigged type that began to appear around 1840. The term “extreme” referred to a class of these ships that were designed with one overriding objective – speed. Carrying capacity, the traditional priority in the design of merchant ships, was virtually ignored in the “extreme” clipper designs.
 
 
At the risk of over-simplification, demand for ships of this type arose from some fundamental market forces that emerged in the 1840’s. The end of the East India Company monopoly in 1834 and later developments in the opening of trade with China, allowed a mass market for tea to grow in Britain. Demand for tea - and especially fresh leaves – became insatiable, driving prices skyward in the face of short supply. In America, the discovery of gold in California created an immense demand for food and supplies as the small subsistence village at San Francisco struggled to support sudden and huge population growth. A similar situation arose in Australia. High prices made fast fulfillment of demand the key to spectacular profits for merchants in London and New York, respectively. By 1850, shippers were demanding the fastest ships - without delay and without concern for capacity or cost. In addition, they demanded – and got – continuous hard-driving from their captains. Earnings from one or two voyages – a year’s sailing - were often enough to return the cost of a ship. Voyage times to or from China that typically took the leisurely East Indiamen 18 to 24 months dropped into the range of 3 months. A lot of people got very rich. It all ended when the Suez Canal opened in 1869. Steamships were then able to take a slice of the British eastern trade, creating a glut of fast-sailing clipper tonnage globally and ending the production of the extreme clippers.
 
 
The Extreme Clipper
 
Design for speed meant long sleek hulls with sharp entry at the bow and sharp run aft at the stern. Early versions emphasized more deadrise – less flatness across the floors – but this was moderated in the later years. The ships carried a huge spread of canvas. Very importantly, they had to be able to withstand continuous very hard driving in regular voyages that included the violent extreme southern latitudes. The long lengths of the ships (up to 240’ and more) and the reduced buoyancy at the ends due to the sharpness of the entry and run, introduced major hogging issues. All these factors put a new level of demand on the internal structures.
 
 
The American built clippers were essentially all wood. Seemingly inexhaustible timber resources and limited iron-making capacity prolonged the wooden ship era on this side of the Atlantic as the British increasingly adopted iron and composite structures. Part of the reason for Young America as a subject was to explore this last phase of wooden sailing ship development.
 
 
Some aspects of the structures of these ships can be seen in the much reduced jpg image below – one of the first group of drawings for the Young America Model. This drawing shows the centerline structure of the ship. There are a few things to note. First, the ship is quite long – about 240 feet. Typical of these ships, the height at the bow is quite a bit higher than the stern in a departure from earlier types. The keel/keelson structure is massive to help resist the hogging strains on the ends. In fact the keelson has become the main longitudinal member taking over that role from the keel. The keelson is 4 feet deep and consists of two levels of timber – called tiers. In another departure from earlier ships it also runs in a straight line from stem to stern – causing some interesting problems that will be discussed later. The keel itself is 31 inches deep and also in two tiers plus a shoe. These were by no means the largest keel and keelson structures employed. Webb was fairly sparing of timber. Some of McKay’s structures were much more substantial. Note also the regularity in the spacing of the deck beams and the heavily kneed pillars under every beam. Finally note the extremely small overhang at the stern counter – just enough to accommodate the helm directly over the rudder. This reduced the impact of following seas on the low stern – a problem of long standing.
 
 

 
 
A number of other interesting structural features were also employed. They will appear on other drawings and will be described later.
 
 
In the next posts I will further discuss Young America herself.
 
 
Cheers,
 
 
Ed

Steam Grating
 
I've made my first (and maybe ONLY) Grating - this goes over the stove. I'm a bit reluctant to make too many more (maybe some on the quarterdeck) as they hide too much detail beneath.
 
The grating stock is 0.79mm thick English Box, a fraction oversize (they should be 0.75mm) but I decided to make them the size of a 0.030" kerfed saw blade on the Byrnes saw using the Micrometer Stop.
 
My first job was to make a list of the spacings (i.e. the Micrometer stops) using a spreadsheet. This made it a lot easier to work out accurately than trying to remember and then calculate each one (especially if I'm interrupted   ) :
 

 
Then I set up a piece of 2mm thick stock and started cutting 18 slots halfway through using the micrometer to set up each one (I made a couple of spares "just in case" - I needed them too ):
 

 
Then I cut each strip off against the fence, again using the micrometer stop. The measurements are identical to the previous cuts :
 

 

 

 
Assembly is the same as using kit gratings (fiddly, but at least they were cut more accurately than most kit ones). I dipped the grating into diluted PVA and let it dry :
 

 
After sanding the grating to size and gluing it into place I sanded the roundup in. I've also fitted the Cowl Base :
 

 

 
  Danny

Fiberglass
 
With frames set in and the hull's shape stable, it was time to glass the outside.
 
I started with the transom

 
Then the portside
 
 
Once that had set-up, it was on to the starboard side

 
There, that wasn't so bad

 
Excess resin went into the bilges and on the lower frames.
 
 
After the glass set-up and was sanded, there were some blisters where the glass didn't lay and bond to the hull, these came off while sanding and were filled with auto-body putty.  More sanding and another coat of resin brushed on, then sanding again.  Some clean up and degreasing and it's...
 
Wale Ho!
 
On this model the wale isn't the structural member it is on a real ship, but I did want it done in an anchor-stock pattern as it would be visible on close inspection.
I started by cutting a block of white pine, as used for the rest of the planking, to the offset anchor-stock shape, then slicing off 1/8" thick planks.
 
 
I started on the starboard side by marking the positions of each plank on the hull from the bow aft, and actually started gluing them on amidships.  I used CA to attach them to the hull, and Titebond III to glue them to each other.
 
 
Clamping them to the hull took some thinking at places, as did clamping them to each other without lifting them off the hull.
 
 
At the bow the pieces needed to be precurved, so the SBJ (Sophisticated Bending Jig) was employed.  The pieces were wet, clamped in the jig, and left overnight.
 
 
It took a little over a week, but the starboard wale was done.  Now to the port side!

 
I took a slightly different approach this time.  Clamping the pieces to the hull was quite tedious, so I used the nails I used to hold the planking with during construction to hold the pieces onto the hull here.  This made things go much quicker and smoother.
Before starting though, I cut out a gunport just for fun.  I was afraid the hull would flex with the ports cut out, but I need them cut before I frame up the hull thickness behind them, because that framing sets into the gunport opening a bit.  Actually, the planking is set back creating a rabbet for the lid to close against.
 
 

 
My friend Mark was building a crabbing skiff at my place, and while he had the epoxy out, I stole a bit to give the wales a couple of coats
 
 
I then started carefully cutting out each gunport opening.  Once all the gun ports are cut out along the gun deck, the internal framing will go in around each one, making the hull the right thickness as seen through the gunports.  The focs'le and quarterdeck ports will be cut after they're framed and the external moldings have been installed.
 

A brace was installed under the quarterdeck level to hold the curve in the transom.

 
On Christmas day I found that St Nick hadn't sanded and resined the interior of the hull as I had hoped, so it fell to me to do it.  It  was sanded, cleaned, and given a couple of coats of poly resin.  Excess resin was poured into the bilges to fill any nooks and crannies so small parts, dirt, and water would have no where to hide.
 
 
A full size paper pattern of the gun ports, moldings, and other such hull details was made.  Care was taken to use the plan to make sure items that were on surfaces curved away on the profile were in their proper place, such as the bridle ports.  As I was cutting out the gunports on the pattern I realized I had formed a gunport lid; I couldn't resist doing them all that way. 

 
Macedonian is a little shorter than Constellation.  Constellation compares in length to the frigate United States so you get a little bit of an idea of the size relation between Macedonian and United States.

 
The build table was leveled, then the hull placed on it level port and starboard, and with the waterline marks  fore-n-aft at the same height from the table.  A pencil resting on a block of wood cut to the right length was used to mark the waterline.

 
Approximately every-other station used to make the hull was cut down to scale framing dimensions and reinstalled into the hull.  The reason for this is because the complex shape of the hull with it's tumble-home and counter tumble-home, was trying to flatten out.  These frames are glued into the hull with epoxy mixed with wood dust..  The rest of the interior from the gun deck up, will get framing and ceiling planking to make the hull the proper thickness.
 
 
Some idea of the size of the thing - 5 foot from tip-to-tip.

 
Next: Fiberglass!

Some blocking was added forward to reenforce and brace the stem

 
The counters were planked and as the side planking proceeded, the counters were trimmed.
 
 
Planking continued until it reached the counters and could be attached then the transom was planked.  Blocking was added to the bottom of the counter to catch the plank ends.
 
 
At the bow, blocking was added to give more surface for attaching the plank ends here.

 
Planking continued around the turn of the bilge.  Now the planks had to make a hard bend up to tuck onto the counter.  To prebend tthe planks I wet them and clamped them into a jig.
   
 
A brace was added to support the top of the transom and prevent it's loosing it's curve.

 
A set of wide garboard planks was also installed to rigidify everything a bit.
 
 
As the planking continued on up to the sternpost, and with the garboards in place, the keel and sternpost were fitted.

 
A template for the forefoot and stem were made and the forefoot fitted.
 
 
The hull was rigid enough to remove from the build board, see it right-side up, and look inside.
 
 
A stem and gammon knee were cut out and fitted

 
and before long it was time to put in the shutter plank.

 
The hull was completely planked.  It took from November 12th, to December 19th to plank the five foot hull, 37 days.

 
A couple of days later the stem head and stern post were permanently attached with 6p finish nails reenforcing all of it to the hull.  Some of the forms were removed as well; they require a light tap with a block of wood to be knocked loose.  Some of them would be cut down and reinstalled as permanent frames.  A stand was built to hold the model as she's being worked on.
 
 
The entire surface of the hull was filled with Water Putty and sanding commenced.

Hi Karl, notches are on 2 sides.

If well sealed and then well stirred, enamel paints will last a while. I have some tinlets (Humbrol, in this instance) from 1986 that are still good and being used now! A squirt from a can of inert gas on top to displace air before sealing will also extend paint life.

If well sealed and then well stirred, enamel paints will last a while. I have some tinlets (Humbrol, in this instance) from 1986 that are still good and being used now! A squirt from a can of inert gas on top to displace air before sealing will also extend paint life.

Oh, Man...... Here we go. Madame Anja is going to throw my butt so far off the site after this post that I'll be lucky to be building ships from walnut shells, plasticine, and toothpicks..... All that follows is opinion, needless to say, with the odd fact creeping in. First, I HATE acrylic artist paints. I hate the colors, texture, dry time, smell, feel, taste, and everything else about them. For some genetic reason, I was born to play with oils-- paint it, wipe it, smear it, lick it, snort it, shoot it--- whatever it takes. The colors are infinitely better, there are dozens of interesting media, and they give you time to adjust color, shading, highlights, etc.
OK,OK--- my kink. But there are some principles that apply, regardless of paint type. As Brian says, choosing colors needs care, and will require mixing, more than likely. Those bulwark reds and Nelson Fashion ochers, ie., need a lot of thought to look right, and as is being spoken-of in the weathering thread, all colors change with time and weather--- quite dramatically. All kinds of fading and patination occur quickly in the marine environment--- do we want to show that, or not? Black ain't black and white ain't white, and all stops in between..... Second, this business of gloss stumps me, as well. In my brief spate of film work, there was a guiding rule---no gloss. If you intend to photograph your model in any serious way, gloss is ruinous. Also, it's understood that gloss makes a model look smaller. Eggshell is as glossy as it should get.  Even you guys who polish the hell out of your coppering--- I don't get that at all. But, as always, different strokes...... What I want to see is a piece of craftsmanship that crosses over into art--- I want the model to say something, not just sit there as an ornament on a shelf. I want the viewer to be sucked into a story, a dream of another time and place, a world within a world. I mean, we work our asses off on these filthy things for years at a time--- don't we finally want them to have a life of their own, greater than the sum of their parts?? Greater than their creators??? There is a magic that is possible to achieve in this avocation. In the 60's, I worked one summer for a ship modeler in Laguna Beach, Ca, named Ed Sims. He could be cranky, and generally treated his potential customers like idiots, but there is a ship of his for sale on line, and when I look at it with its blue green copper and carefully faded paint, I think what a great man Ed was. These are legacies of beauty, folks.
 
All right, all right---- I feel the hot breath of the dominatrix Anja and her cat-o-nine, ready to turn my quivering flesh into strawberry jam. Set up the grating, boys!!
john

After a further investigation I have decided my gunport approach. I checked my own copy of steel and as Druxey states the provided port sizes are as follows (for the upper deck)
 
Size            38     36     32
Deep          30''   29''   28''
Fore & aft   34''   34''   30''
 
Now I then re-measured all plans with gunports on (class amphion, amphion actual,framing plan) using the smallest possible width and the size came too for the framing plan
 
34'' wide and 29'' deep
 
other plans
 
33'' wide and 28.5'' deep
 
Now as the lines on the 'other plans' tend to be thicker this means the ship average is close enough to 34 by 29 which as seen above is the Steel width for 36 gun ships as opposed to 32.
 
Considering the ships history I do not think this is difficult to explain. Firstly Steel is providing generalities over decades of ship building and not hard and fast rules and secondly if you look at the 32 gun ships as a whole they mainly tend to be 12 pdrs or less. The Amphion class was rare in that it is a 18pdr 32 gun ship so it makes sense to me for it to have ports equivalent in size with the 36 class which also mainly carried 18 pdrs. Otherwise the armament would be constrained
compared to equivalent armed ships. 
 
Even if this assumption is incorrect my basic rule is that the ship plans are right and other data resources such as the contract or Steel can help confirm things but should not be taken in preference to consistent plan measurements without exceptionally good reason.
 
Anyway that done back to the plans. Looking over my options I am using the frame as my default but rather than favour the bow side line of the stern side I am taking the midpoint and spreading the 34 inches over that. Equally for the horizontal sides I am taking the midpoint, splitting and then reapplying the correct angle. 
 

 

 
Once the sides have been marked I then added the sills using 6'' for the lower and 5'' for the upper before (in this case) adding some decrease in siding to match the original plan structure to cope with the new sized gunport. 
 

 
I will  now start the long process of repeating this for all the other square frame gun ports.
 
Cheers all,
 
Joss

Thanks Aldo, Kevin and Toni .
 
Steam Grating Coamings
 
There are two Steam Gratings and a Cowl Cover over the galley stove. These are shown in a different configuration to most of the other Swans, as Vulture's stove is facing the opposite way to them.
 
I constructed the coamings the same way I did all the previous ones, so there is no point showing that again. The only thing of note is the much larger "roundup" on the athwartships head ledges :
 

 

 
  Danny

Thanks Grant and Mark.
 
Sort of got tired of working on the cannons so decided to work on something different and this time the rudder. I built a rudder earlier from a plan I got from the NMM and unlike the TFFM rudder this one is a little different. I sort of built two of them and this is the second one. The first one I ended up having a knot in, which the main piece is made of boxwood and figure that the knot would end up in the waste, at least that's what I thought. ( O well, it was fun making another one. Have finally got a chance to really use my little smith torch and it's a blessing to have it. Don,t believe that soft solder would have stood up to the abuse of all the cutting, filing and twisting that it took to finally come out with the finally braces. Still have some clean up to do, due to the metal work. Funny how even small metal work makes a mess. Any way hope you enjoy the photo's. I didn't add any small planks under neith the braces and to me it doesn't look to bad.
 
Gary


 
 
 
 
 
 

Things are progressing nicely and I am currently on the 'smart' plans. I wont upload the keel/false keel parts plan as that is quite simple and thus not that exciting. Here though is the smart sheer plan. I have also finally worked out how to get a viewable image out of turbocad. Save as a pdf. Open in pdf reader and screenshot it..
 

 
Next week I plan on starting on the framing plan.
 
Joss

Without further ado here is the keel master. As before I am utilising EdT's plan styles because they are just so stylish.
 

 
and since I cannot appear to get turbo cad to save it in a readable format for the web
 

 

 
 
As stated before onto the construction plans for the keel/false keel next
 
Joss