druxey

Nice going, as usual, Chuck. BTW, those are not pissdales, but the heads! I think one would want discharge tubes for sure....

Nice going, as usual, Chuck. BTW, those are not pissdales, but the heads! I think one would want discharge tubes for sure....

If it's not a gronicle,  then it's a thrupple nut.
 
Sorry, Bob; but Steel defines 'mast hoops' as follows (Rigging and Seamanship, 1794, Volume I, page 6):
 
HOOPS are strong circles of iron driven on masts and yards.
 
Hoops are also as Bob describes.

Coming along nicely. Keep your pencil mark-out lines as thin as possible; a thick line can lead to poor fitting joints. A harder lead (3H or higher) will keep a much sharper point. A clutch lead holder and sharpener such as below is ideal for this kind of work.
 

Eberhard; that is exactly why I never acquired a single roller rest!
 
Pat: I hope the right cocktail of beta blockers can be found for you.

Eberhard; that is exactly why I never acquired a single roller rest!
 
Pat: I hope the right cocktail of beta blockers can be found for you.

Does this help any:
 
https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/6/2/4/249624-30-instructions.pdf

There’s a bit of a rigging diagram.
 
Andy

Quite possibly the worst rigging diagram I have ever had to work with. Note that one end or the other end, sometimes both ends, of each line is not shown. And this is pretty much the only rigging diagram in the kit.
 

 
In photos, most of the bracing wires appear to be doubled. In some instances it looks like the pairs were wrapped in some kind of material. The upshot is that the cables look thicker. I will duplicate this effect by using wire for the rigging instead of EZ-Line. That means the technique will be a little different.
 
Here's the forest of struts mounted to the lower wing.
 

I got the cabane struts and their bracing done, so of course I had to give the top wing a trial fit.
 

Wing progress.
 

 

 
 

Hi Dan and druxey,
Your recent kind comments made me realize that I have not posted in a long time, and you inspired me to catch up a little.
 
I am still a little slow after my health issues, although things are definitely on the mend.
 
What has slowed me the most is that this stern is exceedingly complicated to construct, I have discovered. I have had to do more drawings to figure out how everyone will go together, and then fabricate a number of structural members that will eventually form the framing for the quarter galleries. This has involved cutting parts with a roundup like the decks, with a curve fore and aft, some with a slope matching the aft face of the quarter gallery and some others with a slope matching the outboard face of the quarter gallery, and then rabbets on these multi-curving surfaces for windows top and bottom. I have made many mistakes so far, keeping it all straight....
 
First, determining the location and widths of the quarter galleries relative to the hull. There are no original drawings of the Bellona stern, and only the most basic hint of the quarter gallery plan, showing the curvature of its outboard edge. So I had to reconstruct from photos of the models, and some geometry.
 

The key to reconstruction is that the stern windows to the upper deck are evenly spaced, and they all converge at a point some distance above the hull. In the drawing below, the 4th orange line to the right is the end of the hull itself, while the blue line is the outer edge of the quarter gallery window. Keeping the spacing of the windows the same, and on the correct angle, this then tells me the width of the quarter gallery at various levels:
 

Here are windows mocked up to determine the lengths of the stern mouldings forming the various levels of the stern:'
 

 

 
The following drawing shows some of the geometry involved in the structural parts. Nothing is true size in these, since they are bending and sloping. Everything will have to be measured on the hull itself, and parts fitted to previous parts.

 
Then I had to determine how to make the windows, and therefore how to frame for them. I mentioned before that Chuck has laser cut some beautiful prototypes for me, using my drawings. I have decided on .029" plastic, painted to match the boxwood of the hull. Using mica for the glass (.005" thick) means that I can build windows thin enough to bend to fit their curving surfaces. But to do that, I had to devise a way to trap the window frames and mica between the outer moulding and a rabbet in the structural frame behind.
 
You can see below how the structural frame behind the windows has a rabbet, and once the mica and window frame are put in, the moulding then presses the two tightly together. That is the plan, anyway! You can see in the drawing below how the structural frame (with the crossed lines) slants inward, and also of course bends from the outer edge of the quarter gallery at the stern, to hitting the hull further forward. The frames on the aft side of the quarter galleries also have to round up like the decks.
 
 

 
To make these curved and sloped parts, I made an adjustable angle table for my Foredom. I pre-cut each curve with a jeweler's saw, then sanded to the line making a sloped, curved, edge. I then refined these edges on an appropriately curved sanding stick.
 
 

I then set up a fence on the Foredom with the handle and bit turned upside down, to act as a router table with the bit coming up from underneath.
Below you can see the rabbet marked on the end of the structural piece (temporarily glued to the edge of a plywood handle, to keep my fingers away from the bit). The tops of the windows required an acute angle--made with a dovetail bit as below-- and the bottoms required an obtuse angle made with a straight bit.
 

 
 

And here is one set of frames (port and starboard) and moulding blanks for the sides of one level of the quarter gallery.
 

All of the sides are now complete. I am now working on the structural frames on the aft end of the quarter galleries.
Maybe someday I will be able to start putting some of this together!
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Welcome back! An interesting approach, that. I've only seen single roller file guides. I can see the value of a double.

Coming along nicely. Keep your pencil mark-out lines as thin as possible; a thick line can lead to poor fitting joints. A harder lead (3H or higher) will keep a much sharper point. A clutch lead holder and sharpener such as below is ideal for this kind of work.
 

Coming along nicely. Keep your pencil mark-out lines as thin as possible; a thick line can lead to poor fitting joints. A harder lead (3H or higher) will keep a much sharper point. A clutch lead holder and sharpener such as below is ideal for this kind of work.
 

Coming along nicely. Keep your pencil mark-out lines as thin as possible; a thick line can lead to poor fitting joints. A harder lead (3H or higher) will keep a much sharper point. A clutch lead holder and sharpener such as below is ideal for this kind of work.
 

Coming along nicely. Keep your pencil mark-out lines as thin as possible; a thick line can lead to poor fitting joints. A harder lead (3H or higher) will keep a much sharper point. A clutch lead holder and sharpener such as below is ideal for this kind of work.
 

Coming along nicely. Keep your pencil mark-out lines as thin as possible; a thick line can lead to poor fitting joints. A harder lead (3H or higher) will keep a much sharper point. A clutch lead holder and sharpener such as below is ideal for this kind of work.
 

Work has been continuing on the aft deadwood, the inner stern post and the sternpost.
 
I firstly cut out the rabbet on the sternpost using the mill. They are 3" deep. I also milled some very slight rebates on the aft side of the sternpost where the gudgeons will eventually sit. There are also two 'notches' on the inner sternpost where the ends of the fashion pieces sit but because the fashion pieces aren't the same height on both sides one notch needs to be slightly longer than the other.  Here are all three pieces just sitting roughly in place on the keel.

I then moved on to tidying up the steps on the aft deadwood. I realised that one step was slightly undersize on one side compared to its opposite number and so I added a small sliver of wood to build that up a little. I also made the steps nice and crisp and marked out the curve for the area under the bearding line on the base and rear sides of the aft deadwood to give me a guide when sanding this area.

The initial sanding was done with a dremel sanding band initially and then I moved on to a variety of curved sanding shapes using 240# grit paper.

I didn't sand all the way down to the final shape at this time as I thought it would be easier to achieve the desired curve once the inner sternpost was attached to the deadwood. I started some initial sanding on the inner sternpost before gluing and pinning both pieces together. 

Further sanding then helped to blend the curve across the two pieces. It was at this point that I realised that during the sanding process I had somehow managed to break off parts of the foremost step on each side of the deadwood. As mentioned previously these are very small and delicate pieces and I should have no doubt taken more care with them! I decided that a repair could be effected by cutting out a small section of the base of the deadwood on both sides and gluing two thin pieces of wood there extending out to each side. These were then cut to size to represent those two foremost steps. I think if I was to make the deadwood again I would refrain from milling in these foremost steps until the rest of the shaping of the piece had been completed, thereby avoiding the danger of damaging them. 
 
I was also slightly over zealous in sanding one side of the inner sternpost - it ended up a bit thinner on one side when compared to the depth of the rabbet on the sternpost. I don't believe this will be an issue later on as further sanding will be required when fairing the frames, but I have not yet attached the sternpost to the inner sternpost just in case I decide to change it. Finally at this stage I cut out a piece of 15" wide wood for the rising wood. This was made in two pieces with a scarph joint and the positions of the main station lines were marked on it.

 

Welcome back! An interesting approach, that. I've only seen single roller file guides. I can see the value of a double.

Welcome back! An interesting approach, that. I've only seen single roller file guides. I can see the value of a double.

Welcome back! An interesting approach, that. I've only seen single roller file guides. I can see the value of a double.

I agree all of us oldies need a futtock truss band. Wearing mine is a constant relief.😕

Fantastic work Pat…….. so good to see you back in the shipyard. I pray all is well. 

Thanks, John, Eberhard, Steven, Glen and Keith (A and B).  Appreciate the generous feedback guys.  I'll continue on with these as I contemplate the jig for putting the tops together.  I need to make the futtock/truss band and futtock rods before that though.  The rods will help support the crosstrees which are only 1mm wide and about 0.2mm thick - the slightest knock (or heavy breath) will bend them so will need the support of the rods immediately after the top is fitted.
WRT the crosstrees, the real deal had roller fairleads in them but that is impossible at this scale, so I am simply going to drill a hole and bend the upper ends of the futtocks rods to fit them, then solder in p[lace.  This at least will give some added strength to them while I am rigging the upper masts.
cheers
Pat

Great idea Pat - must make one. 
 
Glad to hear you are feeling better Pat and I am pleased to see you back at work.