rlb

Yes, Allan, that is what I am doing.  Thanks for looking in!
 
Ron

Thanks to all who have taken a look, and those who have hit the like button.  Thank you, Dowmer.  It is very satisfying to have learned something new, and cast the anchors out of real metal, instead of making them painted wood.    
 
The first, smallest one, actually came out the best!  There are some minor problems with the molds, especially on the middle two sizes, having to do (I think) with not having the anchor forms securely and fully bedded in the first half of the mold before pouring the second, which resulted in the anchors coming out a sliver too "deep".  I'm not positive that's why because I thought I was being very careful on that point.  It's also possible there was some flexing in the mold with the way I held the halves together.  In any event, the anchors look good, and I am almost out of mold material, so I'm not going to try redoing the molds at this time.   
 
I want to blacken the anchors with the chain plates and links, so I need to continue on with those.
 
I have the binding links, toe links, and chain plates made, so all that is left are the middle links.  With tweezers I held a test deadeye and binding link in the chain plate, and pinned a toe link to it's location on the wale--

 
Then I bent a piece of wire to bridge between them--

 
Using this piece I then put two pins in some wood, to bend a link around-

 
I only made one, as a trial, and after removing the deadeye from the binding link, assembled all three links together, and soldered the middle link closed--

 
The safe way would have been to use higher melting solder on the binding and toe links, to avoid them coming unsoldered when heating the middle link.  I only have one type (I think it's the lowest type, or maybe middle) but I had no problems with the other links.  
 
I replaced the deadeye, and the assembly was then test fit.  On my first try the link was too long, so I shortened it by snipping it, trimming it, and re-soldering it.  This time I soldered it with the deadeye still in the binding link, as an experiment, and there was no damage (meaning I didn't burn it up), so if I have to make adjustments on the rest of the middle links after the fact, I should be able to do so without too much fear.  Here is the test chain link assembly--

 
And here it is test fit--

 
I made 20 or so more middle link loops, assembled them with the other links, and prepared to solder them--

 
I had a relatively large number of failed solder joints (six or seven).  Not the already soldered joints, but the new ones.   One link actually melted, and I had to replace it with one of the extra loops I had bent.  One link I had to re-solder three times before I got it right!  Eventually they were all solid joints.
 
I will temporarily put all the deadeyes in, and test fit them all before blackening.  Technically many of those middle links should be different lengths to account for the increasing angle of the shrouds.  Actually, I'm sure many of my toe links and middle links vary slightly, so I'm hoping I can match all the assemblies to the place they fit best.  And if I have to snip and redo some links, so be it.
 
On the left is the first test assembly that is pretty much bent "to spec".   The second is not finished; its binding link is only roughly to shape, and the middle link hasn't been "stretched" and straightened.  And of course the third hasn't even had the deadeye bent into place--

 
In the course of fitting the deadeyes (so far), I crushed one.   Its remnants are in the middle of the photo below.  To the left of it is my one remaining extra.  In the container to the left are the matching upper deadeyes that the shrouds will be attached to, and in the lid are the smaller topmast deadeyes and their binding loops.  Those may wait for a later time, though it would probably make more sense to do them now also--
 
I'll finish putting these together, then test fit and adjust them.  Somewhere in there I'll fabricate the iron stock on the larger of the two round arm anchors.  Then I can blacken everything.
 
Ron 
 

Thanks Dowmer, and captain_hook!
 
As soon as I got my coffee this morning, I started setting up on the kitchen stove to cast the anchor.  I heated the mold at 175 F degrees in the oven, while I waited for the metal to melt in the crucible on the stovetop.  When it looked ready, I took the mold out of the oven, set it on the counter (with a sheet of shopping bag paper for protection) and poured--"Don't pour too slowly--be intentional!"--I was advised.  As I practically dumped the metal in, it quickly spilled out over the top.  No metal emerged from the two air holes though, so I was worried that the metal didn't fully fill the mold.  I waited a while until the spilled metal was just warm to the touch, and then I opened the mold--

 
Sorry for the blurry images.   I took these without a tripod, so depth of field was very shallow.   But success!!   It looks good--

 
Bringing it back upstairs to my workshop, I could give it a closer look--

 
I separated the air vents with wire cutters, and the pour head with a saw--

 
There was just a bit of a ridge where the two mold halves came together, but it looked like it would clean up fine.  After doing that, I drilled the hole for the iron stock, and the ring--

 
I fit a piece of brass rod through the hole.  This will need to be cut and tapered at both ends, and a ring soldered near the middle of the stock, to "stop" it in the shank--

 
After soldering the ring on (I used two rings of different wire diameter, thinking maybe I can file them to look like a single tapered ring), and tapering the brass with a file, I heated the rod to soften it where the stock needs to make a sharp bend--

 
Then I bent the stock, put it on the anchor, and made the forked end that Petrejus shows on his drawing.  Well, my version isn't quite as elegant as his.  But it makes the stock wider than the hole in the shank, so now the stock can't slide out in either direction.  Now, there should be a slot in the stock opposite "stopper" ring, for a forelock, to lock the stock in position.  I will omit that detail!  I added the ring at the end of the shank, and this anchor is basically done--

 
The advantage of the iron stock is that the anchor can be stowed more compactly--

 
And for scale--

 
This is the smallest of the four anchors.  I figured if I can get this one cast successfully, I should be able to do the others.  I'll make all three of the remaining molds, and cast them all at once.  Then blacken them all, together with the chain plate links.
 
Ron

That's smart, Greg.  On this frame I'm using the paper copy underneath to make sure my frame keeps the right shape, and finessing the chock cut-out on the second futtock if the chock is slightly off.  I'll experiment with other methods as I go forward.
 
Ron

I was able to file the main mast partner piece to allow a greater rake, however, the mast step did not allow the heel tenon to slide forward enough.
 
Happy that I hadn't glued it in place, I was able to retrieve the mast step from inside the hull--

 
And I extended the tenon slot forward.  I also had to shorten the dimension of the mast tenon to allow even more forward play--

 
There is a deck stanchion that the mast step butts up against, which constrained the mast step, and even the heel of the mast.  You can see where I also had to file a bit of the heel flat, so it didn't project forward of the edge of the mast step--

 
This done, I could reinsert the step (where I think it will remain unglued)--

 
And check the rake.  Pretty close--

 
I used a different technique to sight the rake against the template, in which I put the template parallel to the mast but a bit offset.  This way I had room on the deck to put the bottom edge flat.  I think this is more accurate than what I was doing before in trying to hold the template right on the mast, and then having to angle the template around obstructions, or on top of deck hatches.  I rechecked the fore mast using this technique and found I had to increase the rake a little bit.  Fortunately there was enough play in the mast step to easily allow the adjustment--

 

 
Ron 
 

After cutting new channels to accommodate the topgallant backstays, here they are test fit to the hull.  On the foremast, the last channel, which accommodates the topmast backstays and topgallant backstays, is narrower.  I saw this detail on Glenn Greico's Jefferson model.  I was less sure what to do on the second channel for the mainmast, which has a foremast shroud, the topmast backstays, and the topgallant backstays.  In the end, I decided to notch it back, rather than taper it, reasoning that that way, the chainplate links for the topmast backstay deadeyes would be more consistent, and the deadeyes themselves would be straight in a row, parallel to the rail.   Perhaps a wrong guess there, but Glenn's photos didn't show a similar situation! 
 
Here they are test fit--

 
Next I made card templates to set the mast rake angles.  The bottom edge goes on deck, or at least parallel to it if there are hatches in the way.  The left edge is the rake of the mast--

 
My foremast was right on, so I attached a string at the height of the platform--

 
Then I marked the location and angle of the preventer plates on the wale--


When I got to the narrower channel with the topmast deadeyes, I realized I couldn't mark the chainplate links.  Those angles need to come from the crosstrees of the topmast!   So more mast building needs to happen, or at least something rigged up to the correct location to run a string.
 
I then checked the rake of the mainmast, and was surprised to see how far off it was.  I double checked the template, because it seems like a big difference--

 
I'll need to work on the mast partner piece, as it's a snug fit to the present angle of the mast with not that much play.   I may be able to file it to work, if not I'll need a new one of those.
 
Ron
 
 

After my mishap with the anchor casting mold, work continues on the channels.  I ordered some casting mold clay from Micro-mark on Apr 11th, but the order has not been filled yet, so I assume the coronavirus restrictions have that on hold.
 
 I measured the various channel pieces needed, and cut them out--

 
Holes drilled and wire inserted to make pins for temporary and permanent holding--

 
Holes were marked and drilled on the hull--

 
And the channels temporarily installed for marking the deadeye chainplates--

 
The second (aft) piece ended up a little too far aft, so it needs to be repositioned a bit.
 
At this point I became aware of a discrepancy between Chapelle's hull and sail plans.  I had been making my channels as shown on his hull plan, which is better drawn and more detailed.   For some unknown reason I took a look at the sail plan.
 
Here is a closeup of the hull plan, showing the mainmast channels (ignore the pencil circles from when I was working out the locations of the deck scuppers)--

 
He shows the main shroud deadeyes, and the topmast backstay deadeyes, but something is missing, that I might have noticed had I rigged a ship before.  
 
Here is the same view of the sail plan--

 
He locates the topgallant backstays on longer channels.  Same thing with the foremast.  So these two sections of channel (four counting the port side) that I have cut need to be remade.  (I just noticed on this drawing he omitted a main shroud set of chainplate links!)
 
Ron 
 

Made a of set of cleat.  

In the end.

Thanks, JJ, druxey, Michel, and all those looking in, and liking.  I appreciate the encouragement.
 
I took a leap of faith and followed Ed Tosti's lead from his Naiad books to start permanently gluing (well, there's always Isopropanol) each transom as it is fit.  I really hate gluing anything until I feel confident about the whole assembly, but here goes--

 
The lowest transom is glued to the fashion timbers only, not to the sternpost, nor the fashion timbers to the deadwood--

 
I wasn't sure how the assembly would work as it's added to, but it's really quite simple.  Here's the next transom in place on the sternpost, and the previous transom and fashion pieces sitting on the deadwood below it--
 
 
The fashion pieces/transom are then just slid up the deadwood, the lower transom fitted into its spot on the sternpost, and the upper transom test fitted with it's tenons into the fashion pieces--

 
If all is satisfactory (and believe me it took many tests and refinements to the second transom piece before it was satisfactory), then it is now glued to the fashion pieces--
 

 
Now on to the third (from the bottom) transom.  This is the deck transom, and it must slope down and to the sides.  I'm on the third try with the piece pictured here--

 
I took a different approach shaping this one.  Instead of shaping it all over at the beginning, I just thinned it at the top (stern) and two lower forward ends, and made sure those fit, as they do in the photo above.   Here is the piece showing the bottom--

 
And the top--

 
Once this fit was good, I then tapered and smoothed the top and bottom before gluing it into place--

 
So far so good.  Remember the transoms are glued to the fashion pieces here, but not to the sternpost, and the transom/fashion piece assembly can be taken off .  There is an enormous amount of fairing that will need to take place on the transoms and fashion pieces once it's all together.  And I don't know how much of that I will do with it as a separate assembly, or glued finally to the deadwood and sternpost.  We'll see.  I am pleased so far with the general method.
 
All for now,
Ron
 
 

Thanks so much Allan.  
 
Incremental progress.   I'm now trying to put together the transoms and fashion pieces.  So far I've had to cut new transom pieces.  I had shortened them too much when fitting them to the sternpost earlier.  I cut a mortice in the fashion timbers, and tenons on the first transom, and here I have the lowest transom dry fit with the two aft fashion timbers resting in place--
 
 
The correct angle of the fashion timbers is verified with the squares--


 
I milled and chiseled out the next couple mortices in the timbers--

 
And am starting to fit the second transom--

 
This is all very slow going.   I've had to recut the third transom also.  It has a complex shape that needs to match the round up of the deck that it supports.  Though none of these pieces (transoms and fashion timbers) have been faired at all, that third transom needs a lot of shaping to get it to transition from the slot on the sternpost down to the mortices on the fashion timbers, which should be about five scale inches down.   All this seems to be going okay so far (apart from having to re-cut all the previously done transoms); hopefully I won't discover some egregious error that makes me start over, as with the bow timbers.
 
Ron
 
 
 

I made 4 card templates, and sanded the area of the deadwood below the bearding line.   In between sessions of doing that, I beveled the aft side of the sternpost-

 
After this was done, I glued the sternpost to the keel, and went back to sanding the deadwood.
 
When I was satisfied that I had done enough there, I cut two shallow mortices into the bottom of the deadwood assembly, and then glued in two small tenons.  These weren't meant to be historically accurate, but would add some strength, and help in keeping the piece aligned when gluing the deadwood to the keel and sternpost--

 
The tenons were filed down until they extended only about 1/32nd of an inch.  I then cut two shallow mortices in the keel and glued the deadwood to the keel and sternpost.   I had also morticed and tenoned the sternpost to the keel when I glued it to the keel earlier.   I did not tenon into the sternpost from the deadwood.
 
Here is the sternpost and deadwood glued to the keel.  You can see 4 pencil lines on the upper part of the deadwood (the fourth is barely visible) that had marked the locations for using the card templates--
  
 
Next will be work on the transoms, and fashion timbers.
 
All for now,
Ron
 
 

Hello 2024!  Time to work some more on Euryalus!
 
In preparation for assembling the stern framing and aft cant frames, the deadwood assembly piece needs a great deal of shaping, which I had started before my long hiatus, and I now continue--
 
 
Perhaps I am 75% done.  The goal is to get close to the correct concavity in the area between the bearding line and the keel and sternpost, so that a minimum of additional fairing need be done when the frames are on--

.   
 
All for now,
Ron

Thanks druxey.  I would love to go back in time to visit one of those shipyards!
 
In between sessions of fairing the interior of the bow section, I am preparing the sternpost, deadwood, and transoms.
 
I hadn't cut the rabbet in the sternpost, or tapered the inner post, before gluing them together, so doing that work now is likely more difficult than it needed to be, but many shavings later, it's just about there--

 
The fashion timbers are cut out, and shaping of the deadwood below the bearding line has begun--

 
The transoms are cut.  Test fitting, and rough shaping is underway.  The complex warped shape of the number IV Deck transom is tricky.  That's the one without the paper pattern, in the photo.  I haven't started the wing transom yet--
 
 
Ron

Thanks everyone for the comments, likes, etc.!
 
I adjusted about a quarter of the frames which were slightly out of alignment, ungluing and regluing them.  Those starboard hawse timbers that gave me so much trouble needed to be disassembled and adjusted as well.  I'm using my bottle of isopropyl alcohol quite a bit, but hopefully now everything is good to go.  
 
Fairing the interior has begun--

 
I'm also starting to cut out the aft cant frames, with the ongoing puzzle of laying out frame pieces as efficiently as I can manage--

 
Finally for today, a near eye-level view, with a scale figure.  He's holding a modern-day 2x4 to help give some idea of the size of the massive timbers that went into these ships--

 
Ron 

Thanks Allan and botra.
 
After getting all the cant frames cut and glued up, I glued the first rising wood piece in preparation for erecting the first pair of square frames, which will be a starting guide for the cant frames--

 
That first pair in place, and the cant frames ready to go--

 
I didn't get far before realizing that I also needed that horizontal piece at the top, to fix the width of each set of cant frames.  So I would take a measurement from the frame drawing, and after lightly gluing a pair of cant frames in place, I would check the width with the horizontal cross piece, and if okay, then glue the cross piece in place to hold everything together.
 
This seemed to be going fine--

 
However, as I moved farther forward, I began noticing that in order to make the right width, my frames needed adjusting to the bottom vertical bevel that joins the deadwood.  I thought, well, my initial cutting of that bevel must not have been accurate.  Curiously, each frame needed the same adjustment, but I soldiered on.   It also started to seem improbable that the bow would narrow enough to meet the hawse timbers--

 
At this point, when I held up the next frame as I had cut it out, the disparity in width was growing extreme.  The frame looked just right when I set it on the frame drawing, but holding it in place, the location compared to the previous frame (which I had adjusted as I thought it needed to be) looked alarming.  Something was obviously wrong--

 
I went back to a frame drawing (I chose Za, the frame next to the hawse timbers) and measured the width on the forward face at the "Reference Line".  Just a hair over 3 and 3/4 inches--

 
Taking this same measurement on the framing guide on the build board the measurement here was almost exactly 3 inches even.  How could this be?

 
I knew what was wrong now, though I couldn't understand why, for a while.  But it did mean that everything back to the square frames had to be undone.  Fortunately (anticipating that I might screw up at some point), I had only very lightly glued everything.  It came apart easily--

 
I now realize WHY taking the width measurement from the frame drawing was incorrect (though it works for the square frames).  Painfully obvious in hindsight.  I now measure the width at the reference line from the build board and compare it to markings on the lightly positioned frames before gluing the top horizontal piece.   I'm just about back to where I was when I learned of my mistake--

 
Of course, it's all coming together much better now.  Previously my one gunport width had been about a 32nd inch or so too wide, and now it's exactly right, which makes sense as the frames haven't splayed out quite so much.  There is a slight gap on the bottom of the bevel at the foot of the frames now where they rest on the shelf of the lower apron, because I had taken some wood off in my folly.  It will be completely hidden though.  Going forward they'll sit the way they are supposed to.  It also looks more like the cant frames will turn in enough to meet the hawse timbers.  We'll still have to see on that.
 
 
Ron
 
 
 

Thanks JohnLea, Ed, botra, druxey and Ben!
 
Yes, once again the learning curve made a fool of me.  It won't be the last time!  I don't have a problem showing my mistakes, hopefully they give others the idea that we aren't perfect, but we can achieve good results working through the failures.
 
Today was a good day.
 
As before, everything is very lightly glued, and I will have to make adjustments to many of the frames--fine tuning the spacing, mostly-- before committing to permanently gluing them in place (well, with isopropyl nothing is permanent), but I am now confident that I've got the bow under control--

 
Ron
 
 

Thanks everyone for looking in, commenting, and liking!   
 
It's been a while since my last posting, but I have been spending time in the shipyard.   I have been slowly cutting out and gluing up the first full frame pair,Q-(f)orward and (a)ft, and all the rest of the pairs of forward cant frames.  Z was already done so that's R through Y (f and a for each).   
 
The last two are here.  They just happen to be Uf and Sa.  I did them mostly in order, but these were a couple of stragglers.  Their chocks are cut and ready to glue in--

 
And the backsides, as the chocks are being glued.  The slight angle on the clamping of the clothespins works well with the angle of the chocks since they don't sit square in the frames--

 
Here's the stack of frames.  After gluing the chocks in, each frame was given a rough inner and outer bevel, still leaving them plenty full, to allow for some minor inaccuracy in the shape of the frames, and for fairing.  The chocks have been sanded down almost flush.  The angle to the deadwood has been sanded in, which is different for almost all of them.  Next, the paper needs to be removed from the frames, the frames marked for identification, and then the canted chocks sanded flush with the faces of the frames--

 
And here is the forwardmost full frame, and the forward cant frames with paper removed (still some bits around some of the chocks); chocks ready to be sanded smooth--


 
This is an exciting point for me!   Soon I'll be ready to put the forward frames on the keel, including the bollard/hawse timbers, and see the bow take shape.
 
Ron

Greg,
Yes, that was humbling.  I think I understand what you did, but I'm not sure.  In any event, though I have a Byrne's saw now, I never would have thought to use it for the air spaces; so much to learn!  I'm sure it was much more precise and uniform than my hand filing.
Ron

Unfortunately, I mismeasured the location of the gaps, and didn't realize it until I had filed them into one set of timbers.  On to the third try.  I felt like I wasted precious wood, with the way they are curved, and as they are some of the largest timbers on the ship.  The most disheartening was re-making the Bollard timber, as that has to have a concave taper to match the stem.  It was not fun to make that timber 3 times.  I hope I've got it now, though I won't be 100% sure until I have more of the cant frames mocked up, and I finalize the rabbet.  The rabbet seems to need extra shaping to transition to the foot of the Bollard timber and the bearding line.   We will see. 
 
The rejected timbers are in front, and the temporarily glued together Bollard and Hawse timbers (with their gaps) sitting in place between the first cant frame and the stem--


 
 
The masking tape is just holding the group of timbers against the stem.   The timbers still need a lot of fairing, and some adjustments to the length of some of the upper gaps.  The isopropyl alcohol in the background was heavily used over the last couple weeks, as the timbers were glued together for rough shaping, unglued to make the gaps, and glued back together, unglued to make fixes, reglued again, etc.
 
Ron 

Thanks Hakan, you are welcome to pull up a chair, though not much is happening at the moment!   This is going to be a real learning experience for me--hope to make some more progress soon.  
Ron

Allan,
Yes, I am watching Matiz!   Stunning progress!   His log is (and will be) a great resource.  Also Clay (cfn1803) looks like he may be working on his again.
Ron

Mark,
 
Congratulations on the initial casting, it looks great!   I have been silently following your cannon saga (and entire build since you've been on the site).  
 
Ron

I found some time for the artillery. I oil coated it, and installed the parts of the corronades lafets.

Thanks Håkan and bigcreekdad!
 
I was sure my main top wouldn't have enough room on the aft side to have the trymast come up through it the way it is supposed to do.  I was pleasantly surprised that there was enough room, just barely.  I filed a hole in the middle of the aft end for the trymast.  (I also spy a deadeye that didn't get completely blackened).  The top looks pretty dusty!--

 
The seat for the trymast is just about done.  I may do some further shaping.  Here it is pinned temporarily to the main mast--

 
And fitting the top in place--


 
There is supposed to be a fid through the trymast into the trestle trees, and possibly a spacer block between the trymast and the mast just under the trestle trees.  I'm not sure I'm going to elect to show those.
 


 
All for now,
Ron