druxey

Yes; Christian is absolutely correct: Whenever possible, run the grain along a piece, not across it. Avoid cross-grain! As you had it is weak and prone to snap.

The piece shrank???

The diagonal joint is great when there will be a lot of stress on the finished item. In your case I suspect the load will be minimal!

The shrouds were installed next.  The starboard shroud is always placed first and are they are installed from fore to aft.  Because this ship has an odd number of shrouds, the first shroud is single; the rest are double.  The first shroud is served its entire length, protecting it from the lower sail.  The starboard and port first shrouds are secured to each other with a cut splice, just as was done with the pendant tackle. 


The remaining paired shrouds are served where they could be chafed: the center 20-25%, based on the ship being rigged.  I cut a two foot piece of line and marked the midpoint and 10% the length of the shroud on either side of the midpoint, in this case 1.2”.  This is the area that was served.  The doubled shrouds were secured with a throat seizing tight to the mast head.  The lower ends of the served portion of the shrouds should be level when they are installed.  This means that the throat seizing is not exactly in the middle of the served section, but offset enough to allow this to occur.  You can see this in the next picture.  The aft shroud seizing is slightly longer than the fore.

The shrouds were installed, alternating starboard and port, taking care to stack them neatly.  The topmast is temporarily installed in the following pictures.
 
The next step was to attach the upper deadeyes to the shrouds.  The distance between the upper and lower deadeyes is a constant.  The easiest way to ensure this is to make a spacer jig.  You will actually need ten, five for each side.  The picture shows two jigs.  The one on the left is made by soldering the two wires together.  The other one uses twisted wire.  The prongs go through the two inner deadeye holes.
 

I started by inserting the prongs through the upper holes of the lower deadeye and bent the wire around the back of the deadeye to prevent it from coming out.  Next, I wrapped the shroud around the upper deadeye and adjusted the shroud length so that the upper deadeye could be threaded onto the jig.  These shrouds are cable laid (left twist), so the short end of the shroud went on the aft side of the shroud.  If the shrouds were rope (right twist), the short end would be on the fore side.  I secured the shrouds to the deadeyes with alligator clips.  I find it important to leave the model alone for several hours at this point.  This allows the rope to stretch and helps prevent sagging in the future.

The upper deadeyes are secured with three seizings.  A cross seizing was placed where the shroud crossed over itself next to the deadeye.  I  marked the location of the cross seizing on both sides of the shroud and removed the deadeye.  If left in, the loop is too big.  After making the cross seizing, the deadeye was reinserted and the middle and end round seizings were added.  The drawing shows a round seizing. 

And the picture illustrates the relative location of the seizings, using white thread to make it easier for you to see.

Brown paint was used to represent the leather cap at the end of the shroud.

The shroud lanyards were installed next.  They are considered running rigging and are not tarred.  A knot was tied at the end of the lanyard and it was inserted through the back of the upper deadeye in the foremost hole.  After reeving it through the deadeye, excess line was kept for tying off.  Once they were done, the lanyards were gradually tightened, making sure the mast was straight.  Just like with the shrouds, I gave it a few hours to allow the line to stretch.  To tie off the lanyard, the rope was passed between the shroud and the deadeye (below left) and looped under the last line of the lanyard (below right).  The lanyard was wrapped around the shroud a few times and finished by inserting it under the last loop.

It’s just a pre- announcement of a ‘copy’ being pieced together now by some Chinese hack. 😳
 
I just read it as well (as a guest, I was kicked out long ago). Interesting how some members are complimentary while the staff and admins work hard to disparage Chuck at every turn. This comment by a member “ I emailed Chuck with updates and progress pictures and found him to be very personable, interested and encouraging. A much more personal investment of his time and interest than one might otherwise expect from the head of a commercial venture.“ must have really hurt.
 

Well, if you are a fool (and I don't think that you are), you are a consistent one at least! That hull does look very sleek now.

Looking much better. And I agree: G1 needs to be rotated more.

I agree with Pitan's observations; Nelson was not a weight-lifter! The revised figure is more convincing, but perhaps still tall for the size of his head.

steps.....
 






 

Angel,
It looks like your prop is in the wrong place or the diameter is too large.  Is it possible to relocate the propellor shaft or go with a smaller diameter prop?  Also, you can add a piece similar to the sketch below although it is probably not a good solution.  If the ship had a wooden keel then this would work well and could also take a false keel across the entire length of the ship as well.  
Can you tell us which vessel this is?
Thanks
Allan

There is an excellent explanation of a common/easy method of making wooden blocks with hand tools as well as their proportional dimensions in The Fully Framed Model  Volume IV pp. 61-63.  For tiny blocks (1.5mm and smaller) McCaffery goes into some detail in his book Ships in Miniature on making punches for making paper blocks.
Allan

The piece shrank???

I've always found buttock lines and diagonals more helpful than waterlines at the stern, frankly.

Well, Chris, you are mastering a number of basic techniques that you can apply to more complex models later. As for the thwarts, it's much easier to trim them down to fit than to stretch them! You did a particularly nice job at the bow transitioning from clinker to flush at the stem. Well done.

Hello everyone,
the deck is finished and has all the iron nails in place, now it's time for the bulwark planks.
 

 

 

 
 

Thank you druxey, suggestion taken, keep them coming... much appreciated..
 
 

Did you guys find it extremely hard working in a shop while the weather is nice and sunny? I don't have an option to open shop doors so have to make a choice...
A bit of a progress... corrected position of few keel parts to follow the wood grans as best as possible.. still don't like G1 position...will make another copy of that part and glue it differently, then will cut both parts and see how they work..
 

 
Few frames were glued to the board.... first adding glue to the paper frame part and put them on the board, second picture is adding a small amount of glue to the board first, then arranging frames...
 
Since I am testing, no harm to see what ending up results will be ..
 

 

 
Happy modelling..
 

Ha! I think he's almost got it. There appears to be a small suspect area remaining just below the corner of the wing transom. The outermost buttock line looks as if the bend there is a bit too sharp. You might want to review that. Full marks for persistence, Alan.

This framing photo shows you how the wing transom is shaped at the outer corners. (This model is of a sixth rate, so is smaller and has less transoms than a 74, but is essentially similar.) Note the smooth run of the filling transoms' surfaces up to the margin line. There is no sharp turn or bend, which appears on your frame grab.

Good point, Greg. I hope you are doing well, dear pal.
Tom

Out of curiosity I visited the pirates forum and read the article about Chuck's Speedwell. I had a really good laugh at the comment by one of their admin wallahs. "Luckily we have same quality kits from Chinese manufacturers at one third of the price". Quality ???? What planet is that guy on ? Keep up the good work Chuck,I enjoy following your build. Sorry I wont be building your Speedwell as I've started rigging my 1/48th POB version after 5 years of work .  
 
Dave 

Thanks for saying....

I think you are doing more than an outstanding job with this kit beauty or for the ship modeling world. Everyone may know my opinion for that matter! 🙂

Tom, I like Chuck's method because it incorporates the round up. That might be possible on the mill but it's above my pay grade.

Yeah, but he'd be a lot faster making the next 50. 😉