Erebus and Terror

Thank you all very much.....got tired with the repetition of making cannon carriages today....soooo
 
 
I had prototype keel parts cut out for a while and they were staring at me.....so one project that is slowly getting started is a kit prototype for a Queen Anne style Admirals Barge or Shallop 1700ish.   I am testing some wood choices and here is a look at the keel assembly in cherry in comparison to the Cheerful for size...its 1:24 scale.
 

 

 
Now back to those carriages...sorry to digress but I had to get that out of my system ....it was bugging the heck out of me just looking at the parts sitting on the table.  
 
Chuck

Hello all,
 
Here is another update on my build.
 
Alexandru

Greg, I think it is better explained with pictures:

Thank you for the comments and likes.
Here is another update.
 
Alexandru

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 154 – Quarter Davits
 
It seems like a while since the last post.  Progress has been slowed by research, documentation and drafting for the rigging.  However, about a week ago the last of the four boats was completed and since then the quarter davits have been made and fitted.  The first picture shows the completed 22’ cutter that will be secured to the starboard davits.
 

 
The 6 sweeps were made from drawn bamboo flattened at one end.
 
The quarter davits were secured outside the hull just aft of the main channels.  The forward davits were supported by the channels.  The aft pair were held by iron brackets.  One of these and its bolt is shown in the next picture.
 

 
This is a top bracket – longer to account for the inward slope of the sides.  The lower brackets are shorter with a hole only in the top.  All were made from the brass rectangular section shown in the picture.  In the next picture a lower bracket is being installed.
 

 
The rails were mortised to fit these.  The next picture shows the top end of one of the davits in the lathe after cleanup of the solder and rounding of the top bearing.
 

 
The ends were fashioned by the method used for the poop handrail stanchions.  The next picture shows one of these shaped.
 

 
After cutting to size, this davit was fitted as shown in the next picture.
 

 
The next picture shows both starboard davits fitted with their hooks installed.
 

 
The last picture shows all four davits.
 

 
These will probably be blackened to simulate iron, but I have not decided.  They appear black in one of the photos.  I will probably put these into storage with the boat until later.  There is quite a bit of rigging to be installed along the rails that will best be done with maximum access.  The above picture shows a break in the belaying pins that extends almost the length of the boats.  Pins forward of the six at the forward end of the space will extend uninterrupted all the way to the cargo opening and virtually all will be used.  There were a lot of sails on one of these ships.  A half dozen square sails per mast, an equal number of studding sails on the forward masts, plus quite a few fore and aft sails.  While I do not intend to install sails, I do plan to install most of their rigging, excluding most of the studding sail rigging and other items like staysail sheets.  I expect access to be an issue.
 
Ed
 

Hello,
thank you very much for the very nice comments and of course for all likes.
The installation of the gratings in the bow is finished.

Furthermore, I drilled holes for the nails on the planks. These holes are later filled with furniture wax.

Thank you, Hakån. I now intend to use a toned rather than pure black. The latter would look too intense at this scale.
 
This morning I performed surgery successfully on the planking and frames in the coach section. The end patterns for the coach have also been cut and fitted. Elastic bands hold the model to the pedestals temporarily.
 
There was some hesitation on my part as to the completeness of the draught. The side windows showed no indication of panes. Were they open spaces? In the 1830's modern sheet glass techniques had not yet been invented. Only spun glass was available for glazing, limiting pane size. The height of these openings was 19". Most panes during this time period were only about 15" high at most. I finally found a reference to spun glass panes that said the maximum dimension of these was about 23". Therefore I have the confidence to install single, large panes along the sides of the coach. Of course, these would have been expensive, showing off the Commissioners' importance and rank.

Thanks again, folks. No further finish on the surface of the base is necessary, Tom.
 
The latest progress has been slow. Making and installing the gunwale was tricky. It is a scale 2½" wide by ¾" deep. That translates to about 3/64" by 1/64" full size. I cut this to shape from sheet Castello and carefully rounded the outer edge with fine sandpaper. The gunwale was carefully glued to the upper edge of the sheer strake and frame tops.
 
At the bow, where the fore deck is flush to the upper side of the gunwale, revision was needed. I sanded off the paint and applied a very narrow strip of Castello over the sheer strake to match the rest of the gunwale. As masking off the top accurately would be almost impossible, I scribed the line dividing the painted area and re-painted the deck. 

Thank you, everyone!
 
The next thing to tackle was the 'go faster' stripe along the sheer strake. Old paintings and extant ceremonial barges show either a green or scarlet strake. I opted for green, to contrast with the red paint. Securing the model on its side gently was a problem. Clamping was not an option! I decided to use a piece of dense styrofoam, which worked very well. I simply cut a slightly wedge-shaped piece out of the block and lowered the model into the gap. The masking used is Tamiya flexible tape.

The baseboard has now been completed and the pedestals installed. The model has been temporarily mounted and the rudder hung.

Hello,
thanks for the very nice reactions.
Here is a small continuation:

Hello,
thanks to all for your great feedback.
This is pure motivation.
After a short break I do with the cutters on.
Among other things, I have the mast gate arrangements still make.
Look at the pictures:

 

 

 

 

Hello,
thanks for the encouragement, one and all!
Here is the continuation:
 
The first image shows all installation parts of the cutters.

 
On the next two images all built boats can be seen that I have built for the French corvette.
Only thing missing is the gig.

 

Thanks again, folks.
 
Now for a change of pace. To complete the outside of the hull, the rudder needs to be made and hung. To avoid damage, the base had to be made now. I decided on a nice burl veneer for this purpose - except that I had none on hand. Drawing on my experience of faux finishing, I painted the burl on ply using the three colors shown. The outer edges will be trimmed using brown stained and polished wood (at top). All these elements can be seen in the photo.
 
Assembly will be done tomorrow.

Another minor update:
 
The underwater hull has been refined and the gudgeons added. The lower gudgeon is conventional, but the upper one on the transom is a small eyebolt. This was often the case with open boats. I looked at photographs of extant ceremonial barges and noticed that the transoms were invariably painted. It was an awkward job to do at this stage of the build, but I was successful using a 00 sable brush. 
 
The mounting of the model now needed to be considered. I decided to make a simple pair of pedestals in clear acrylic. These were turned, then polished. I was filing the keel slot in the second of these when one side cracked off. I had to repeat the set-up to produce a duplicate piece. Grrr!

Thank you again, all, for visiting this log and for your comments. 
 
A small update. The corner seats forward of the coach have been made and installed. These were some trouble, and I made three sets before I was satisfied. Running the moulding along the edges where the grain direction changed was difficult, as there was a tendency for tear-out.
 
Instead of wooden standards uniting the thwarts and sides, there are iron straps. On Prince Frederick's barge, the arm of the strap that runs across the thwart is inset flush to the thwart's surface. The side arm is bent as appropriate over the inner sides of the planking. This detail completes the structures in the rowing section.
 
While the model is invertible without risk, I shall be cleaning up the outer sides of the planking and softening the edges of the laps. It is also time to make and fit the gudgeons.

Continuation
 
We have seen in few post an height adjustable table. It is particularly interesting when work while standing. An height adjustable chair is also helping.
 
Taking pictures also helps to see errors we would not note otherwise as in the last picture  which shows that there are still some adjustments to be made in the lenght of some parts.

I Started this build 15 years ago thinking it would be easy to make a fully framed model like you see in museums, how wrong was I, unfortunately then life, moving house etc, took over and the centre part of the hull sat in the garage for 14 years get more broken up and generally ruined, in march last year I thought it was time to resurrect the build and it took me two months to work out the puzzle of broken pieces, straighten them out and get to a place where I could start building again, now nearly a year later this is the current state of the HMS Syrius.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 153 – Ship’s Boats 9
 
Well, time is passing quickly and work on YA’s small boats has been going slowly – much too slowly for someone with my temperament, but the end is in sight.  I am sure that many, like me, will be glad to something new after all these small boat pictures.  This post should just about do it.  In the first picture, the last of the small boats, the 22’ cutter that will later hang from quarter davits, is getting its keelson installed.
 

 
Since this boat will be hung upright, the internals will be visible.  In the next picture some grating that will be used for a floor under the stern seats is being assembled on a spacing template.
 

 
The members of this grating are less than 1½” wide (.020”) on <3” spacing, made from Castelo.  The assembled section is shown below, before sizing and framing.
 

 
The grating was made, for the most part, as shown in earlier posts, or perhaps in Naiad posts, using the milling machine for precision and in this case to slit the milled strips without damage.  The grated flooring can be seen in the next picture where one of the thwarts is being installed.
 

 
In the next picture the boat is ready for painting. 
 

 
The missing wales will be added after both they and the hull are painted.  The next picture shows the almost completed boat.
 

 
All that remains is to add the lettering, the oars, the rudder and some iron hardware.
 
I have not been happy with the grated platforms at the helm, seen in earlier posts, so I took the opportunity to replace them with some grating of the smaller size, as shown in the last picture
 
.
 
Ed

Well, you'll all have to wait a bit yet. 
 
The forward deck/platforms are made and fitted. The same card template strategy was used as for the footwaling and aft platforms. There are a few more details on the thwarts to take care of: iron strap standards that attach them to the side. Then there are small corner benches to make and fit just forward of the coach (cabin).

Had some time today to rig the carriage tackles.   I used 1/8" single blocks and .012 light brown rope.  I also used my 3mm hooks.   These were all made off the model and took some considerable time to make.   They fixed in position and the end of the tackle glue to the deck.  Then a small rope coil was glued on top of that.
 
I also took the time to experiment with a few rope coils for the pin rails.  I wanted to improve my abilities here and there is no time better than now.  With no rigging in the way I can experiment with different lengths and techniques and see how they will look.  I think these look pretty good.   I tried about a dozen different sizes and configurations.  The goal of course is to make them look somewhat natural without making my crew get in trouble for being so sloppy and undisciplined.  
 
Now to go through the whole process again on the other side.  Yikes.
 

 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 151 – Ship’s Boats 7
 
Thank you for the comments and likes since the last post.  I am looking forward to completing the work on these small (3 to 4”) long boats!
 
After the last post I made some modifications to the 25’ clinker built cutter.  I took some advice from my good friend Druxey that the lapstrake planking needed to converge to a carvel form as it approached the stem and stern rabbets.  This is well illustrated in his posting on the Greenwich barge.  I applied a cosmetic fix to the installed planking as shown in the first picture to remove the overlapping at the ends.
 

 
The clinker style overlap at the rabbets would cause a complication in sealing and that is probably the reason for bringing the planks flush at those points.  Anyway, because of this, I decided to lapstrake the 4th boat using the correct process.  I had intended to make this carvel planked, but decided I needed to do one more clinker to fully understand the correct planking process.  The next picture shows another view of the current state of the first three boats.
 

 
You will notice that eyebolts have been installed in the skid beams and the boat sterns have been lettered.  The next picture shows the plug for the 4th boat, a 22’ cutter that will be suspended from the starboard quarter davits.
 

 
I reused the 25’ cutter plug as a starting point for this, hence the pinholes.  The plug has been primed in the picture – not very photogenic I’m afraid.  In the next picture the frames have been bent over the plug.
 

 
They of course need to be aligned.  The first step in securing them is shown in the next picture. 
 

 
A temporary guide and holding strip has been nailed to the plug over the frames at the boats topside height.  A hole for an additional nail is being drilled in the picture.  With the frames secured topside the stem piece is being fitted in the next picture.
 

 
This piece was then pinned to the plug and glued to the first few frames.  The keel was then fitted and glued to the frame floors as shown below.
 

 
The last step before planking was to add the stern deadwood as shown below.
 

 
This is glued to the keel.  The connections are all pretty fragile at this point, but the addition of the garboard strakes will strengthen it significantly. 
 
Ed

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 152 – Ship’s Boats 8
 
I am almost there with the boats and looking forward to getting on with something different.  In the last part the frames and keel assembly for the 22’ cutter were fitted to the plug.  This boat will hang from quarter davits on the finished model.  In the first picture the rabbet if the stem is being roughed out with a V-gouge.
 

 
In the next picture the rabbet is being pared out at the stern. 
 

 
This was followed by some filing and cutting of the rabbet along the keel.  The starboard garboard strake is being installed in the next picture.
 

 
Additional planking has been installed in the next picture and the last installed strake is being beveled at the stern.
 

 
The angle of the bevel becomes more perpendicular to the side at the ends of the boat to allow the lapstraked planking to blend flush at both ends.  The planks also need to be tapered to fit fairly and come out right at the top.  In the next picture the planking is complete except the the wale strake that will be fitted after painting.
 

 
After some cleanup and dressing the planking lines, the boat will be removed from the plug for internal work and finishing.  In the meantime the other boats have been completed and one of the longboats is shown chained down to the skid beams in the next picture.
 

 
The chains have been fitted with covering to protect the boats.  One end of the chain is hooked to an eyebolt and the other is lashed to another eyebolt on the other side.  In the next picture the boat on the port side has been secured and wood chocks have been installed on the beams to restrain movement of the boats.
 

 
The last picture shows the 25’ cutter temporarily in place and complete except for the rudder hinges.
 

 
This boat will be held in storage and secured later after rigging is belayed between it and the rail.
 
 
Ed

Hello druxey,
 
I just want to mention how much I've been enjoying this build. I don't get a chance to check in as much as I like - when I get home from work, my daughter is usually hogging my iPad to play my little pony. I do look forward to the weekends when I can get a chance to check on your progress. It is amazing!!
 
Glenn

Thank you for your positive comments and encouragement, everyone.
 
Test made the joint required for the thwarts. A little tricky, but not impossible. The critical thing will be to have all the longitudinal pieces line up nicely!