druxey

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

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.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

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.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

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.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

Those look terrific, Chuck.
 
I'm sorry to read that Troll City over at SOS is still alive and bitching.... I suppose that trolls have to live somewhere.

That would be so nice but it probably would put the builder at risk of being abused.
 
Anyway....those gratings
 
You will basically get all of the laser cut parts in this chapter.  There are only four hatches with gratings.  They are not very large.   Here are all of the elements needed.  You will get two layers for the jig.   The two layers are glued together to form the jig.
 
You also get a right angle jig which is 3/64" thick.  The thickness is very important.
 
Lets get started.
 

Start with the coamings.   They are laser cut and 1/8" thick.
 
The fore and aft sides are already shaped with the round-up of the deck....or camber as usually described but is an inaccurate term.
 
Use the right angle jig to glue two sides together...dont worry about the laser char just yet.   Then glue the remaining two sides together using the same jig to make a nice right angle.
 

Glue the two right angles together to form the coaming.  Sand the sides clean which are left a bit longer as you can see in order to remove the char and leave a nice bright smooth surface.   Also sand the top sides to clean the char.  You can see the cleaned coaming below.
 
Then you can start working on the grating.  Again just like my other smaller scale grating kits.
 
Insert the laser cut grating strips in the slotted jig.  NO GLUE of course!!!   This is just for alignment.
 
Then start adding the cross battens.  These are glued in position.  They may be too tight as you want a press fit.  So just run the small strips 1/16" x 1/16" through your fingers with some fine sandpaper.  Not much.  Just enough so the battens fit into the slots. see below.  There are seven batten strips and seven laser cut grating strips for three of the hatches.  The fourth is made the same way but is much smaller on the fcastle.
 

When all the strips are glued in position,  remove the grating from the jig.  Snip off the edges as shown below.  Then sand all four edges clean.  Try and not distort the perfect square shape.  In the photo two sides have the ends snipped off.   The smaller hatchway will have fewer battens and more to snip away.  Also sand the top surface clean and smooth.  Once again try and maintain the proper shape with the round-up.  You will know when its all done when the char is cleaned from the laser cut grating strip squares.

The photo below shows the top of the grating and sides all clean and nice and smooth.  It makes a nice grating.  The holes are 1/16" or 2" on the real ship and perfectly in scale.

You should but dont have to sand the bottom side as well.   Here is a look.  The battens are clearly less thick than the grating strips and these are pretty close to actual construction methods.  Or at least the impression of it.
 

And almost done...you will see how nice and tight the grating fits in the coaming.   Dont over sand the edges and you should test the grating in the coaming as you sand the edges.   In fact, the coaming normally has ledges on the port and starboard sides inside the coaming.  These create a ledge that the grating sits on so it doesnt fall through.  You can add those if you like.  But in my case the gratings fit so snug that they were not required.  I simply glued the gratings into the coamings making sure the top of the coaming was flush with the grating.  I sanded it smooth with some 400 grit paper.

The four corners of the coaming are very sharp at this point.  You dont want that.  They should be rounded off.  But they are only rounded off down to the deck level.   That is when you take that same right angle jig and use it.
 
The jig is the same thickness as the planking.   So you can place the coaming into the corner and use a sharp #11 blade to slice away the corner.  Slice it down to the top of the jig only.   You can make a stop cut at the jig level before slicing off the corner.  Then just round off the corner.
 
 
Dont slice off too much.   Just a little bit to round off each corner.
 
To finish it off I drilled three holes with a #76 bit.  I used 20lb black fishing line to simulate the bolts on the top of the coamings.  Three on each side.   They cut flush with the top of the coamings with a sharp blade.
 
All done!!!
 
 
 

Yes, another forum but seriously most already know what they are like...thats why I wanted to post publicly for everyone not to take the bait.   Its just not worth it.    Just stay clear of the whole bunch.
 
Chuck

I am just about to post an update with those...LOL
 
The gratings for Speedwell are different but the same basic concept.  They are a different scale to reflect the larger size needed.  They will have 1/16" square openings which at 3/8" scale would be a 2" hole.  Just right and exactly the same number of holes as the contemporary model.
 
These will all be included in the chapter along with the jig needed.
 
I will have construction pics really soon.
 
I have been distracted lately with the topic on the SOS where the staff and admin are trashing this project relentlessly....but its a lot fun to watch.   Many of you guys have sent me messages alerting me about it.
 
I have to thank Ben however for being a brave soul to have something nice to say about it knowing he will get the wrath for it.   I must be the worst kit designer in the world if you read some of that stuff over there.  But seriously...dont put yourself out there because if you do say anything positive about Syren or any of my projects on SOS they will lambaste you.  So no worries.   Dont put yourself in that position.  Its not worth it.   Most folks know its all nonsense.  And I am well aware.  But thanks for the positive notes of private support.
 
Anyway...back to building gratings.

Have a look at the wood grain for the chocks. In your pictures it has the wrong direction. You should turn the template by 90 degrees.

Thanks for the tip Christian! This process is not intuitive for me, and I appreciate the guidance!
hamilton

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.

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.

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.

That's better
 

Chris, this looks as though it was taken from Nelson's statue at Trafalgar Square?

There will be some distortion on the statue, due to the original sculptor exaggerating the top of the figure to compensate for perspective.
It is worth checking paintings made during Nelson's life, to make a more balanced form.

If I remember Nelson's biography, he had a relatively slight figure for much of his life.
He did, for a while, bulk up, but lost the extra weight during an illness (possibly malaria, though may have been some tuberculosis).

The raised beakhead platform was so that there is no step between this and the head gratings. It is the result of the headwork of the ship being designed higher than in earlier ships. You will notice that the platform is in line with the main rail of the head. This layout is also seen on Victory today: her headwork was raised during one of her many refits.

Welcome back, mini-me, to minier-me!
 
Nice to read a good-news story for a change! Thanks, Chuck.

Looking very ship-shape, Chuck.
 
Have a great weekend. Wish I was there!