WBlakeny

Oh how time flies when we're having fun.....
 
Ok.. got the shop back into shipyard mode and I'm working on the gunports.   I have to thin the frames down some (to 1/16" at the ports) so that their wide enough... Done!!!!
 
I then have to put in the sills, paying particular attention to the location at each end of the each sill.  I still check each one.  So far, 6 have been done.   I also check each one with check tool made from some yellowheart.  Actually not made.  Turns out the pen blank I bought as a sample to see what yellowheart looked like was about 1/64" inch too big.  A quick bit of sanding and it's perfect for the job.
 
I'm scratching my head as Hahn made most of his ships in 1:96 and just a few in bigger scales.  How the heck did thin the frames for the ports or get the level of detail he got, I'll never know.
 
Anyway.. the pic.  And like the rest of us, right now I'm hating the macro setting.       
 

As I am not working this weekend for a change,I have decided to concentrate on big structural stuff and leave the gratings for the limited time I have on weeknights.
After a thorough rub down of the poly on deck spirketing and gunports I have made a start on the deck beams.Incidentally,the varnished areas have now had nine coats of poly,'knocked back' every three coats.There will be another coat applied before using whichever treenailing method I employ,if any,flatted again and then the final coat.
For the deck beams,I have borrowed a method from Russian master Dimitry Shevelev.The beams slot through the sides of the hull.This allows the beams to be adjusted by shimming to ensure perfect deck alignment in relation to the gunports.Any adjustments become invisible when the final covering is applied inside and out.In addition to this,the deck structure can be built inside the hull and fine adjustment can be carried out to the hull sides before the beams are glued to the hull sides.
The plan is that all the plain beams are dry fitted,then removed to allow the deck clamps to be fitted inside the hull.The beam slots are then extended through the deck clamps to allow refitting of the beams.I know this joint will be historically incorrect,but would look identical from the outside although this area will be nigh on invisible on the assembled model.
I do anticipate that these beams will be fitted dry and removed several times,to allow the joints to be cut in them and to allow varnishing of the undersides before finally gluing in place.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Today I wanted to get the crappy part out of the way.  What a mess.  Fairing the outside of the hull before  I start putting in the port sills.
 
Lots  of saw dust.  You folks are very familiar with this.  Even with a smaller hull it took the whole day.  This is the single most important part of the project.  Unfortunately because its such a pain its easy to understand why people rush through it only to have issues later on.
 
At the bow is the usual "Bow filler piece"  and a few horizontal pieces which is where the forward port will reside.  Fairing the bow was challenging.  Whenever you think its done...its really not.  This is easy to spot using a batten.  I dont angle my rabbet for the planking until this stage.  And its important.  Most folks angle the rabbet before gluing the bulkheads into the former.  But I can never get the angles right.  Its easier for me to visualize when fairing the bow and inserting battens every now and again to see how they fit.
 
Before fairing
 

 
After a good start at fairing the bow.  Notice how the bulkhead former within the rabbet is faired to match the angle of the bow filler after its faired.  If you dont do this then the plank wont fit nicely into the rabbet and defeats the purpose of having one to begin with.  This is what takes lots of time.  Small chisels nd sanding sticks...the usual suspects to do it.  I am using the laser char on the bulkhead edges to check how the fairing is progressing as I work towards mid ship.  Then I switch around and work from the stern to midship again to complete the fairing.
 

 

 
Here are some battens added to check the run of the port sills.  There are laser reference marks on each bulkhead as is usually the case.  After some careful adjustments the top of the batten was marked off on each bulkhead edge to indicate the top of the port sills.  Notice how the batten fits into the rabbet and because of how its faired,  I didnt have to even pre bend this strip.  It lays in there perfectly and no pins are used to hold it in the rabbet.  That will make planking so much easier.....which would have been a fight if I didnt take my time with this fairing.  I am gald its all done,  but I can still see some spots...
 

 

 

 
Tomorrow I will add the port sills and port framing before starting on the stern framing.

That looks very good.  Well done.

Finally, i'm at the planking stage! 
 
I've never been able to do some nice planking without the need to conceal it with paint 
So, i decided i wanted to try out for the first time, to plank with the method Chuck described using the planking fan.
 
First prepare everything. 
 
I calculated the number of planks midships. It's something above 12 (don't mind the number on the calculator in the photo beneath, it's got the wrong calculation) So i'll have 4 belts of three planks. The garboard strake will be a bit larger than the normal planks.
 

 
In then took 3 pieces of a plank and glued them on a piece of paper. 
 

 
With that i marked the positions on the midships frame for each belt. Then i took some tape from which i cut off long strips. With one such strip i divided the hull in two, starting from the mark on the midships frame.
 

 
Afterwards i dived each belt again in two, making sure that there's never a space which is less then half the space i've got on the midships frame.
 

 
On the last belt at the stern at i'll have to insert a stealer or make a larger garboard strake. 
 

 
 
I then carefully copied the positions of each belt to the other side.
 

 
Still need to do some tweaking at the bow, but i'm almost there.
 

Time to put on the wales. I first glued the wale on one side.
 

 

 
I then copied the location of the wales with paper templates from the keel to the other side. 
And rechecked with an adjustable waterline marker between both sides.
 
Afterwards pins were pushed on the spots just beneath where the wale should come.
 

 
And installed the wale above those pins, using them as a guideline.  I made sure with the help of modified wooden clothing pegs (don't let the admiral know) that the wale is pushing against the pins.
 

I'm afraid that if i don't correct the counter, i'll always will look at the model for the place where i went wrong.
 
And since there's not a lot of work, I'll be rebuilding the stern.
 
I put the saw into my counter and transom. 

 
I removed the excess of wood still glued on.

 
I decided to remodel the stern with the use of MDF.
 

 
I used the dremel to shape the stern according to plan. 
Checking with paper templates.
 

 
Then i glued a new transon out of ply.
 

 
And sanded flush.
 

 
Afterwards replanked the whole stern.
 

I've made a serious mistake!!
 
When checking with a wooden plank, my plank goes over the counter instead of against.
 


 
After checking it with the plans, i noticed i have the angle of the counter all wrong.
I thought i had to follow the line according the plywood. 
Which now obviously isn't the case.

I want to add a filler block at the bow.
I first took some templates.
 

 
I then copied on the templates on a piece of MDF.
 


 
With the use of a dremel i sanded it to the right shape. (after checking it about a 1000 times  )
 

Time to prepare the wales and the planks.
 
Cutting the wales from a piece of Ebony.
 


 
And passing them through the thickness planer to get a smooth surface.
 

 
Setting up the width for the planks. 
 

 
And cutting them from Cherry of 1mm thick.
 

 
Planking the transom and the counter
 

 
After sanding.
 

Summer is gone, and all the summer chores done! Time to get back to my little corsair.
 
I've added some wooden blocks between the bulkheads for strength.
 


 
With the aid of a wooden strip i checked the bulkheads. 
There were some gaps i've needed to correct.
 
I used a left over strip of wood from an old kit and glued it to the bulkheads.
Afterwards i sanded it flush to the bulkheads. Gaps are all gone now.
 

Working on the midships bulkheads, those need to be hollowed out to form the inner cabin.
 
I first drilled some wholes in the bulkheads.
 

 
Those wholes permitted me to insert the saw of the scroll saw. I then sawed along the line of the cabin floor and the lines for the thickness of the frame. Leaving an upper beam for strength, it'll come off afterwards, when the planking will be done.
 

 
Afterwards i used the drum sander of my Dremel to roughly sand the inner contour of the cabin.
 

 
And finishing off with the file.
 

 
Dry fitted the finished midship bulkheads.
 

Starting to fair up the bulkheads.  With a sharp mini chisel i followed the inner line on the bulkheads to fair up.  
 

 
I only take off a little with the chisel, prefering to do the final fair up when the bulkheads are glued on the keel and i can check the flow with a plank.
 

 
A view from the stem with the bulkheads with the result of the preliminary fairing.
 

Finally, i'm at the planking stage! 
 
I've never been able to do some nice planking without the need to conceal it with paint 
So, i decided i wanted to try out for the first time, to plank with the method Chuck described using the planking fan.
 
First prepare everything. 
 
I calculated the number of planks midships. It's something above 12 (don't mind the number on the calculator in the photo beneath, it's got the wrong calculation) So i'll have 4 belts of three planks. The garboard strake will be a bit larger than the normal planks.
 

 
In then took 3 pieces of a plank and glued them on a piece of paper. 
 

 
With that i marked the positions on the midships frame for each belt. Then i took some tape from which i cut off long strips. With one such strip i divided the hull in two, starting from the mark on the midships frame.
 

 
Afterwards i dived each belt again in two, making sure that there's never a space which is less then half the space i've got on the midships frame.
 

 
On the last belt at the stern at i'll have to insert a stealer or make a larger garboard strake. 
 

 
 
I then carefully copied the positions of each belt to the other side.
 

 
Still need to do some tweaking at the bow, but i'm almost there.
 

Finally, i'm at the planking stage! 
 
I've never been able to do some nice planking without the need to conceal it with paint 
So, i decided i wanted to try out for the first time, to plank with the method Chuck described using the planking fan.
 
First prepare everything. 
 
I calculated the number of planks midships. It's something above 12 (don't mind the number on the calculator in the photo beneath, it's got the wrong calculation) So i'll have 4 belts of three planks. The garboard strake will be a bit larger than the normal planks.
 

 
In then took 3 pieces of a plank and glued them on a piece of paper. 
 

 
With that i marked the positions on the midships frame for each belt. Then i took some tape from which i cut off long strips. With one such strip i divided the hull in two, starting from the mark on the midships frame.
 

 
Afterwards i dived each belt again in two, making sure that there's never a space which is less then half the space i've got on the midships frame.
 

 
On the last belt at the stern at i'll have to insert a stealer or make a larger garboard strake. 
 

 
 
I then carefully copied the positions of each belt to the other side.
 

 
Still need to do some tweaking at the bow, but i'm almost there.
 

Hrs 871-873
 
Jib boom and bowsprit. So according to the book, the jib-boom is .41 of the length of the mainmast. Looking at the diagram, if drawn to scale there is a 40% overlap with the bowsprit. So 30 inches x .41 is 12 inches. 12 x .4 is 4.8 inches overlap. Seems long, but this is my first ship so...we'll see how she looks.
 
So added a screw to end to make the bowsprit distance perfect coming out of hull. WIll epoxy in when ready. 
 
Looking at the HMS Victory, there appears to be some metal plates on the joint where the dolphin boom hangs down. So I did it in copper and will cover with black paint. Added iron rings to simulate attachment to the cap.
 

 
First, the flag pole 6 cm and 3 mm in diameter, tapered. Added a costume pearl from an old lost earring to the top. Might gold leaf it later?

Can see dolphin boom attached and hanging down. Added 2 trenails to reinforce the dolphin boom attachment o the cap.
 
Off for a few days on a business trip. Then the jibboom...

Looking good!!!

Hi all my mates and friends
 
Ist time for a update. I did the cannon rigging completely, but I think I will have to redo some of them guns. I am not satisfied with all rigging so perhaps two or three ropes well be renewed. But all in all I say - for the first time with no instructions within the instruction sheet in the kit it Looks quite good. Thew next time I have some expierence and can avoid mistakes that happend now.
 
Next will be to install the stairs to the foredeck, the pumps and to cover the hull with semi-gloss lacquer. With my first build, the Half Moon, I use ordinary stuff from the DIY-market and was very very satisfied. So I will not Change the procedure for the Caroline. This I will do agftere the Weekend ( I will spend my weekend with my father in Switzerland).
 
CU all - and as always: Comments are welcome.
 
Thx to all for all the fantastic "likes" I get :D
 
Cheerio
 
Max

Gratings Mk 4 part 2
 
1.5mm wide battens were glued into the grouves and allowed to dry.I used alaphatic applied with a cocktail stick and excess was vigilently removed with a wet brush.When dry,the back was sanded off and the battens flushed off.I used a small disc in the Proxxon IBE to do this.Before final trimming and profiling I am going to apply two coats of heavily thinned matt poly to prevent any splintering.Mr Frolich does mention this in his book and seems like a good insurance policy.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Time to put on the wales. I first glued the wale on one side.
 

 

 
I then copied the location of the wales with paper templates from the keel to the other side. 
And rechecked with an adjustable waterline marker between both sides.
 
Afterwards pins were pushed on the spots just beneath where the wale should come.
 

 
And installed the wale above those pins, using them as a guideline.  I made sure with the help of modified wooden clothing pegs (don't let the admiral know) that the wale is pushing against the pins.
 

Time to put on the wales. I first glued the wale on one side.
 

 

 
I then copied the location of the wales with paper templates from the keel to the other side. 
And rechecked with an adjustable waterline marker between both sides.
 
Afterwards pins were pushed on the spots just beneath where the wale should come.
 

 
And installed the wale above those pins, using them as a guideline.  I made sure with the help of modified wooden clothing pegs (don't let the admiral know) that the wale is pushing against the pins.
 

Time to put on the wales. I first glued the wale on one side.
 

 

 
I then copied the location of the wales with paper templates from the keel to the other side. 
And rechecked with an adjustable waterline marker between both sides.
 
Afterwards pins were pushed on the spots just beneath where the wale should come.
 

 
And installed the wale above those pins, using them as a guideline.  I made sure with the help of modified wooden clothing pegs (don't let the admiral know) that the wale is pushing against the pins.
 

In an attempt to address the poor picture quality above,I post a better quality example .Half of the nails fitted in one grating and trimmed flush(although the keen eyed will note I have one to redo as the copper was not inserted properly and dislodged whilst trimming).I have ordered some liver of sulphur gel,but I am sat on the fence as to whether to use it on these fixings.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Have just received the ordered 1 mm diam  line I`m going to use for the bolt ropes and am starting with trial sail sewing on my wife`s sewing machine.
 
to begin with I  trust the spanker sail  is the relatively easy one
 
 
Nils

Michael Mott: I just glue the rope on the edge of sails. It is the best way how to do it in this scale ( in my opinion ) Mike.
 
 
I didn´t a lot since my last post, just to sew sails on yards ( I don´t have a lot of time now ). Here is the result.
 
Jan