rlb

Glad you are back at it, Ben!
Ron

Work has restarted on Chapter 7, all of the beam positions were checked again and numbered 1-30, #25 was permantly installed and I have started adjusting the bulkheads and doors into position, I really happy to be back building again.
 
ben

Happy Memorial Day all.  Here in Delaware it is, once again, raining.  A good excuse to plunge into my next project - the main deck hatch coaming. 
 
I haven't built anything like this before.  My Robert Hunt practicum shows 2 ways to make it- the default is with butt joints and looks straightforward.  Those with a bit more confidence could do mitered joints.  Hmmm...
 
But then I happened on a picture in Grant Walker's Volume 3 and it all went to heck.

Mitered half-lapped joints?   sweet.  The George Stockwell coamings above are lower, whereas the one I'm attempting to make are tall and tapering but I thought I could figure it out. 
 
Right from the outset I was having trouble visualizing what the joint pieces would look like.  My cartoons mostly confused me even more and looking at them now I realize I initially added an extra butt joint.  Even with revisions I was still not clearly visualizing the joints and especially how to make them.

The coaming is supposed to stick up 1/4" above the deck, and my deck planking will be 3/64" thick, so my wood stock will be 1/4" + 3/64" = whatever that adds up to.  I wanted some of the butt joint to be visible above the decking so I decided to extend it 7/64" high and start the taper a 64th above.  This was a lot of thinking and measuring with calipers and math.
 
Below is my first test pieces, made from the kit's limewood.  These were not measured and only served to help me visualize the shape of the joints.  I glued various pieces of stock wood together; there wasn't an exact match in the kit.  I also have the hand powered Ultimation Sander (which works very well) and I used it to make the 45 degree miters on the short pieces (left) below.  It can't be used for the long pieces (right) below as the butt joint part of the coaming stick out.

The practicum and the pictures in Grant Walker's book both show the endgrain of the butt joint being oriented fore-aft so thats what I did as well.
 
Miters are challenging at any scale; I needed to cheat, so I made some jigs.  The sections in David Anscherl's and Greg Herbert's various book about making lites was very helpful.  I am still making test pieces here and I didn't take pictures of every step but I will do a better job with the actual holly stock.
 
Below I glued 2 pieces of rectangular wood to my board and put 2 pieces of thin strip below the test stock to raise it up so exactly 7/64" stuck up out of the jig.  Some walnut wedges kept it from shifting.  I had used my smallest square and a scalpel previously to incise the edges of the butt joint; then I used the edge of my chisel held flat on the jig to incise a fine line on both sides which defined the rest of the butt joint.  Then I gradually chiseled out the waste.  This made a very square and flat joint.

As before these test pieces are made up of several glued up smaller pieces.
 
Below you can see my miter jig.  I clamped the long piece of coaming to the jig and holding a flat chisel against the jig used it to cut the miters.  I didn't take pics of this process but I will next time.
 

and here's another pic of the joint

All good so far.  I glued it together with yellow glue mixed with a little graphite, same as I have previously done on my scarf joints. 

And finally I drew some lines with my compass marking out the taper and first chiseled then refined the coaming's taper with sanding sticks.  The camera kept insisting my fingers were more interesting than the wood joint I was holding, sorry about that.
 

 
And there is my ever first mitered butt joint.  Next up is preparing my holly stock and doing it for real.
 
Thanks for reading
 
Cisco
 

Sounds like an epic trip, JJ!   Have fun.
Ron

Thanks for this timely tutorial, Toni.  It is exactly where I am at with my Oneida.

[The dates are going to be out of order for this and the next post.  I decided to group some common areas of the build together, even though they didn't happen in chronological order]
 
 
November 14, 2009
 
 
Remember those erroneous beech frames I had in my kit? It dawned on me that I could use them to build a small hull section model to test some finish ideas, try out the adjustments I'm thinking of to the sills and waterway to get the carronades to sit lower, and develop some of the other skills I'll need to finish the model--
 

 
 
I glued them up with some spacers. this doesn't have to be perfect, it won't be to show (except to you all!)--
 

 
 
Then I sanded one side--
 

 
 
I glued up the wale and some planking. I tried out an ebony stain on the wale. I thought this might be nicer than painting it opaque black, but I'm not sure. I think it at least needs another coat of stain--
 

 
 
I also tried my hand at treenails for the first time. I like the silver wire that some modelers use. But the jury is still out on this idea. The real ship used iron fasteners, so I don't want to use wood. Some type of black metal might be better. Is there a kind of wire that is black all the way through? [i never found any]--
 


 
I also tried out some finishes. First I used a wipe on polyurethane, and I wasn't sure I like it, so I sanded it off and put on some of the Formby'sTung oil finish (it's not real Tung oil) that I used on my last model. I think it looks better than the poly. (Sorry, I don't have a picture to compare the two.)--
 

 
 
Here's the hull section next to the unfinished wood of the full model--
 

 

 
 
[A multi-post discussion ensued about modeling treenails, real ship buidling materials circa 1810, and various considerations regarding making historically accurate models.  I ended up using bamboo treenails.]   
 
 
 
November 17, 2009
 
I've done some more work on the hull section mock-up. This time, I wanted to take a look at the carronade height adjustment.

To review my problem, the pieces in the kit are made to attach the carronades as shown below--
 

 
 
I've determined that this isn't really right, and that the front edge of the carronade slide should rest on the sill more like this--
 

 
 
That means some adjustment to the heights of many parts (sill, waterway, carronade parts) will be necessary to make this work.

For a first pass at it I: cut the sill height from 1/8th inch to 1/16th inch (6" to 3" in scale), cut the waterway from .2 inches to .18 inches (Too lazy to do the math for the scale sizes there), and as shown earlier in this log, adjusted the carronade lug
placement.

The result is not too bad. Keep in mind this is very rough, and the purpose is just to see the vertical height relationships. I will add a semicircular front to the carronade slides. For this mock-up I tried the deck planking with black construction paper for the caulking--


 

 

 
 
Looking at the photos really helps. I think I can shave a little more off the sill, and possibly off of those small wood supports for the carronade lugs. I think I can also shave some off the upper part of the carronade slide truck assembly to make it more level. The first photo shows it best--the rear is just a little high.
 
 
 
November 28, 2009
 
 
Hello all! Happy thanksgiving. I'm visiting my parents in Rochester, NY for the weekend, and I have brought Oneida and most of my modeling tools and supplies with me. While my mom works on making lace, I have been bending wire for hooks.

Here are 72 hooks that I will need for the carronade tackles--
 

 
 
After I bent these, I blackened them along with some other parts I had cut out of brass previously--


 
 
Here is the carronade carriage with an extension added, the "iron" piece glued on, then the extension filed round--
 

 
 
And I then assembled a prototype carronade. I think it's going to work out well--
 

 

 
 
I'm waiting for some supplies to do some more experimenting with staining the wale to look like ebony. I found a recipe on the internet and I'll try that in the next week or so.


Ron

November 8. 2009
 
 
I am gluing the wale planks on. I'm working both sides.

Here are some photos of some of the wale planks being glued on--
 

 
 
The bow planks I am boiling, clamping on the hull to dry, and then gluing--
 

 

 
 
The stern-most planks are very tricky--they need to twist a lot. Hard to tell what's happening in this photo, but there's a plank somewhere in that mess of tape and clamps that's being shaped--
 

 

 
 
 
November 8, 2009
 
 
This is a very funky stern wale piece. It's the one I had to tape down to get it to dry twisted--
 

 

 
 
Here's a piece glued on, but not a good enough fit--
 

 
 
I took it back off to work on some more. I adjusted the amount of bevel on the top--
 
 

 
 
It fits better here--
 

 
 
This shows how extreme the twisting is at the stern. This piece I didn't pretwist. The clamping did the job. Just above the clamped piece at the aft end is the small piece I showed at the top of this post. You can see two clamp marks (from when it was wet) on it. They'll get sanded off--
 

 
 
Here's a bow wale being clamped on wet to form the shape--
 

 
 
After it dried, here's the same piece being glued on--
 

 

 
 
Here's the current state of the starboard side. I've lightly sanded the wale, sawdust has filled in any minor gaps, and you can barely see the plank lines--
 

 
 
Those that know what they're looking for can spot a major goof up here. But to fix it would have meant recutting a bunch of the wale planks. I decided not to do that, which means I'll need to "cheat" a little on my treenail lines. 
 
 
 
 
November 12, 2009
 
 
I have one more piece to add to the starboard wale, and it will be done--
 

 
 
I had heated and curved the piece, now it just needs to be given a final trim and shape--
 

 
 
I trimmed the end, a little at a time--
 

 
 
Sanded a taper to the thickness--
 

 
 
And adjusted the angle--
 

 
 
Length good. Angles need more adjustment--
 

 
 
I also checked the overall width of the wale. The caliper is set to the dimension from the original drawings--not the  Lumberyard plans. Still need to take some off the width--


 
 
This is looking pretty good, but I think I can get it better--
 

 
 
Aghh! Too much! I still don't have the middle gap closed, and now the aft side is too narrow. This piece is trash--
 

 
 
I took another piece (which means now I have to cut a new one for the port side)--
 

 
 
Roughly trimmed it--
 

 
 
Boiled and clamped it to the hull. The curve is probably not exactly right where I have clamped it, but it'll get me close--
 

 
 
So I have to wait to finish the starboard side while that piece dries. Might as well glue another plank on the port side. This one's easy--
 

 
 
 
November 14, 2009
 
 
Here are the wales--


 
 
The hull is propped up under the bow to approximate the right amount of keel "drag"--
 

 

 

 
 
I could have done better on some of those joints at the stem, but I'm hoping they will be mostly covered by the head rails, rigging, etc. If it still bothers me at that point I"ll fill them in [Ha ha ha, right]--
 

 

 
That last picture really makes the wale look like it bends every which way!
 
 
Ron

Alexander,
Thank you for your kind words.  When I need inspiration, I don't have to look further than your own work!  
Ron
 

Dear Ron its with great interest that i visited Your page. Wonderful,  outstanding work. Thank You very much for sharing your technology,  i have found a lot of interesting for myself , which i would implement in my work in the future. Wish You inspiration in Your further work. My very best regards, Alexander

Hi photo Victory .
 

John and Dan, I enjoyed meeting and talking with you both.  Always nice to get to know someone beyond their profile photo and user name!
 
Mast collars:  I started by cutting a bunch of pieces with a 45 degree angle and gluing them together.   If I really wanted to get it right, I should have cut 22 1/2 degrees off each side of a piece, to have the wood grain radial.   I was satisfied with just showing that the collar is made of eight simulated "wedges"--

  
 
These were then sanded roughly round--

 
Next I drilled out the center, glued in a short piece of dowel, and turned the piece round.   After it was round, I drilled the dowel out--

 
Here you can see I've started roughing out the opening of the first one to fit the fore mast, and other has the dowel glued in--

 
I used my lathe, but lacking that I could have chucked the piece in a standard drill--


 
One difficulty was shaping the cut out to accommodate the rather sharp rake of the masts, especially the mainmast.   In addition, my shaping of the masts was not perfect, with some variation in the eight sides.   That and the rake made it so the collar will only fit on one way (hence the label "F"(forward) on each collar.   Each one broke apart at least once as I was chiseling it out.  That ended up being a good thing, as the joints became a little more pronounced after regluing.  One down, one to go--

 
Here are some photos of the masts with the collars dry fit on deck--




 
I believe that is now a wrap for the hull and deck.  I am not going to redo the gratings--the holes are only a tiny bit too large.  They should be no bigger than 2 3/4", and they are 3".   So with that, it's time to start making rope for the standing rigging.
 
All for now.
 
Ron

Thank you so much, Dowmer, Steve, Dave, Dan, and Martin for you words of condolence and encouragement.
 
Martin, you are so right.  These failures are a big part of model building, and I must remember they will never end!  Best of luck on your workshop drawers, you will get it right!
 
Dave and Dan, if I had thought about a heat sink (as I should have), it might have helped, though the tin alloy has a melting point MUCH lower than the silver.
 
A little surprising to me (and maybe a result of your encouragement), I am back at it today.
 
I decided to go back and correct the mold (thanks again Dowmer) before casting another anchor.
 
Here is the mold in question--
\
 
On the right half, you can see flaps of silicone at the bottom tip of the anchor that cause trouble with the casting.  As I mentioned before, the depth might also be suspect.
 
I took the left half, built a new mold box around it, placed the anchor, made a pour head, and cut new wires to fit in the air vents.  These were particularly difficult to match up with the mold, getting them to settle in correctly with all their irregular curvatures--

 
Here is more detailed description of the mold material mixing and pouring.  I use disposable cups because after my first trial, I discovered that the two parts before mixing are messy and not easy to clean.  Easier to just throw away the containers.  The center cup though, can be reused, since once cured, the remnants of mixed, cured material, can easily be removed.
 
Here I have poured the two halves, estimating the amount I need--

 
Now the 5 minute timer begins as I combine the halves--

 
I use a regular kitchen teaspoon to clean out each cup, not wanting to waste any of the material--

 
Using the same spoon, it is mixed in the cup--

 
And finally, poured into the mold--

 
My estimate was just a bit over, I didn't mean to fill right to the top.  But better a little too much than too little--

 
After an hour or so of curing, the mold can be separated.  First, peeling away the cardboard box--

 
Then peeling apart the mold.  This looks a little ugly here, past instances have been cleaner--

 
But it's not so bad.  There is a little bit of "overage" on the lower part of the anchor, but I think I can clean that up--

 
Here are the halves, cleaned up and powdered, ready to assemble and pour.  I'm not worried about the extra flaps of silicone on the air vents, that doesn't seem to affect things--

 
The result of the pour--

 
This looks fantastic, actually.  Much better than the old mold.   However, there was some funky stuff going on at the head of the anchor, with the pour cap, that made this unusable in the end.  But the basic mold was good, and I set about pouring some more, in this size, as well as the other sizes--  

 
Though I never got another one of that third size without any flash at the bottom (as in the previous photo), I now have a complete supply of good anchors; and unless I have another disaster, these should do me well--
 

Continuing with the pedestals--
 
I now cut two new paper templates using my card mock-ups as a guide, folding the paper in half and cutting them out so they were true mirrors.  Using the new paper templates, I then cut some scrap wood templates-
 

 
 
After cutting the keel slots, I could put these on the hull, and refine the cradle arms--
 

 
 
And importantly, check the keel drag--
 

 
 
Using the wood templates, I could support the hull right side up, and check the drag again, and the general look--
 

 
 
I checked for vertical plumbness.   I needed a shim under the port foot, and adjusted both the cradle arms, and sanded the pedestal bottom to correct this.  The clothes pins are just for some additional stability so the hull doesn't topple forward or aft--
 

 
 
Once satisfied with the scrap wood templates, I used these to cut out the final pedestals.   In adjusting the drag, and the vertical plumbness, the bottoms of the scrap wood no longer were exact matches to each other, and I tried to account for this in cutting out the final pedestals.  It may not be obvious, but looking at the scrap templates you can see the difference in the cradle arms to account for the port side of the hull being unplanked (the right side as we are looking at the templates)--
 

 
 
Any remaining differences I could easily sand away after clamping them together--
 

 
 
After sawing, chiseling, and filing the keel slots, I could then I set the hull on the pedestals, and refine the cradle arms--
 

 
 
Check the drag again--
 

 
 
These are now getting close to the final shape--
 

 
 
Some fine tuning of the cradle arms is still needed, and the pedestals themselves look just a bit chunky to me--not sure whether it's the sided thickness of the pedestals, or the thickness (molded dimension) of the cradle arms.   I will live with them for a while before making any changes, as I don't want to take too much off now and regret it.   Once I'm satisfied, or after another round of adjustments, I'll drill the holes for the mounting bolts, and ebonize the pedestals.
 
Ron 

As I was doing a cleaning and organizing of my workbench in preparation for the next phase.  I discovered the keel pedestal bolts and NUTS (which had been filed thinner to fit within the width of the keel).  I thought I had epoxied the nuts into the keel years ago!    
 
I felt underneath, and the holes were there, but no nuts.
 
Getting near the point of no return for being able to turn the hull upside down, it was clear this needed to be done now.
 
So--
 

 
 
Here are the bolts and their nuts--
 

 
 
I epoxied the nuts in place, taking care to keep epoxy out of the threads.   The bolts are in place, because the holes drilled into the frames and keelson keep the bolts (so also the nuts) in the proper alignment--
 

 

 
 
Since I have the hull upside down, this is also the perfect time to finally make a decision, and start making the base pedestals.  I've been undecided on this for the entire build!    What finally swung my decision was the worry for lateral stability, especially as the bolts are only in the false keel (though the screws do go deeper).   I've opted for some shaped cradle pieces, and started making templates for those--
 
 
 

 
 
These are VERY rough.  The fore pedestal needs to be just a bit taller (but not this much!) than the aft, due to the keel drag.   Many snips and iterations followed, sometimes lengthening the cradle 'arms', sometimes shortening them, adjusting the base curve, and making the two pedestals more consistent--
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
I ended up here, for now--
 

 

 
 
These will be made out of pear, probably about 3/8" wide, and ebonized-- 
 

 
 
Still a good deal of fine tuning to do, but I think these will do to start.
 
Ron
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks, and you're welcome, JohnLea.  I hope that what I have here is useful for others.
 
With that in mind, more progress on the tops.
 
I had a very slight warp in one of the tops.  The front part curled upwards maybe a millimeter, or a bit less.   I've been keeping it under a weight most of the time, but that hasn't helped.  Getting the idea from Blue Ensign's log on HMS Indefatigable, I tried a heat gun on the piece.  I wasn't sure I used enough heat, I was a bit nervous about it.  But it seems to have worked, and it is flat now--

 
I cut a bunch of blanks for the radial cleats--

 
And glued them together with the barest bit of glue at each end, so they can be uniformly shaped--

 
They first needed to be sanded flat on one side, and the aligned ends squared-- 
 
Then, with knife, chisel, and file, I made a shallow notch on one end.  A good mill would have done this well, and though I sometimes use my rotary tool in the stand as a mill, I felt it was going to be too difficult to be as precise as I needed to be here.  The pieces are so lightly glued that they didn't stay together, and now I have four groups.  You can see how the notch fits over the rim of the top--
 
 
As I began to shape the tops of the cleats, one broke off, and I shaped this one individually, as a master to guide the rest--

 
My procedure ended up being to file the rounded part at the 'big' end first, and then chisel and file down the flatter part.  It's not exactly flat, it does have a slight taper to the end--

 
A few more groups broke apart, but here they are shaped and lined back up--

 
Into the bath of isopropyl alcohol--

 
I'm very impatient with this alcohol business.  I've never been able to wait until pieces just fall apart.  After a couple hours the glue was weakened enough that I could pry them apart with my fingers, without worrying about breaking them--
  
 
Out of the bath they dried quickly and they were test fit to the tops--

 
I did not anticipate that the severely skewed pieces along the back of the top, especially the corner ones, would need to be different, with the 'big' end lengthened (and/or the notch underneath cut farther back).   I'll see if these are salvageable, but I may have to remake a few cleats.
 
The big ends are just a bit taller than they will be when finished.  There are chocks that will need to be fit between each cleat, on top of the rim, and then when all is glued up, the rim will be finally sanded flat to the correct height.
 
Ron
 
 
 

The front border of top #1 was shaped, and the same procedure followed for top #2.  I did reduce the number of sections in the curve-
  
 
The light pencil line was traced from the BOTTOM side of the top, just as a check to make sure the pieces would fill in the curve correctly.  Next, it was glued to the floor along just the curved edge.  While that was weighted and drying, a paper template was placed on the floor within the rim of top #1, and the locations of the radial cleats was marked--

 
Here the front edge of top #2 has been sanded--
  
 
The line of the back edge has been drawn by eye in pencil, and the piece is scored lightly with a knife, repeated a few times, but not cut all the way through--
 
 
The waste is cut away with a chisel because I felt I had more control and didn't want to cut into the floor below, as I knew there would need to be some refinement of the shape.  There is no glue under the waste area, so once the chisel cuts through, the pieces detach easily--

 
The width was checked with a caliper, and further shaped where needed with sanding on the outside edge, or the knife and chisel on the inside edge.
 
Here is the current state of the two tops (one upside down)--

 
Oh, and I did today's pair of carronade tackle blocks.
 
Ron
 

I purchased Chuck's ropewalk a couple years ago.  I put it together at that time, but was too intimidated to use it (and I didn't have a pressing need for any line).  With my fresh shipbuilding vigor, I decided now is the time to take the plunge--
 
 
I figured I would have many failed attempts before I got the hang of it, but it worked out great!  Maybe beginner's luck, but on the first try I actually ended up with a decent rope--

 
I think it could have been a little tighter, and it's not any particular circumference or diameter that I need, but I'm confident now that I can make what I will need for Oneida's rigging.
 
 On to the top(s).  I cut and glued up the floor for the second top, and started on the piece that overhangs the edges.  No problem on the straight pieces, but the curved front is a challenge.  I don't have an easy way to make a piece large enough, at the thinness required (about 1" scale) to make it in one piece, so I thought I'd do it this way--

 
Very tedious, but I think this will work, if it doesn't disintegrate when I shave it down to match the curve of the top.  This (and the straight pieces) need to overhang the floor halfway--
 
 
I also completed another pair of carronade tackle blocks.  My goal is to do one pair a day.  If I can do that, they'll be done in another couple weeks!
 
Ron

Thanks, Ed, for the encouragement.  I can't predict when the urge to work takes me, but it's on for the moment!
 
I continued on with the top.  Both the main and fore top will be the same.  I ended up using a very small chisel to pare down the glued up sections of the top, so they would interlock as Petrejus described--


 
The photo below shows that I have some more work to do before the overlap sits flush--

 
Once I was satisfied, I glued the pieces together--

 
After the floor of the top was one piece and the straight areas trimmed, I rubber cemented the pattern to it, to sand down the curved areas--

 
After sanding the curved area--

 
This is about 1mm thick--

 
Just a note on the color of these pear wood strips.  For the first time, I've cut my own strip wood.  The darker streaks are burn marks from the saw blade.  Another learning curve to master.  The tops are going to be stained black in the end, so it's okay.  In fact, once it's stained I don't think you'll be able to see that there are 20 individual pieces making up this floor.  Petrejus says there are 65 pieces in the finished top. 
 
I didn't make any more carronade tackle blocks!
 
Ron
 
 

Thank you cisco.  Thank you, Johann--your model is extraordinary, and I can only aspire to the accuracy and detail that you are able to accomplish!
 
I have been working--very slowly.
 
First, I realized that I need to remove the carronades to make the breeching ropes.  Unfortunately, I had glued them to the deck!!  Fortune smiled though, and the upper part of the carriages were NOT glued to the lower bed (except for one), and I was able to remove the carronades--
 
 
Here they are, with breeching ropes partly done.  They need to have the correct knot and iron ring attached to each end of the rope.  The first five (including the one carronade that I had to forcibly remove from the deck) are done.  Beyond those are the rest which have the first end done, then the line threaded through the breeching ring, and the beginning loop of the second knot lightly glued to hold it for seizing--

 
This is my method for completing the breeching knot after the first seizing is done.  Using a short piece of line, and tweezers, form a simple overhand knot--
 

Get it oriented correctly--

Position it at the right spot and pull it tighter--

Finish up by giving it a good tug--

 
The loose ends are then wrapped a turn around, and glued with a dab of white glue.  After dry, the ends are snipped close.  It's a shortcut, I know, but looks fine.
 
Now the carronades can be reinstalled, and the eyelets glued into predrilled holes (done many years ago now!!) in the bulwarks--
 



 
Next, I will need to make about 30 more of these training tackles--

 
Closing with a couple photos of Oneida--


 
Ron
 
 
 

Thanks all for looking in, comments, and hitting the like.  
 
Continuing with the rudder work, here are the rudder chains, and tiller parts--
 

 
 
The chains are test for the length and drape--
 

 
 
And after blackening, attached--
 

 
 
I cringe at the poor planking of the transom (some shrinkage gaps), and my less-than-precise painting!
 
After gluing the tiller to the rudder head, I realized I need to drill some holes for eyebolts for the tiller rope.  Of course, this should have been done before gluing the tiller on--
 

 
 
Here are the eyebolts and tiller ropes attached--
 

 
 
Then threaded through the blocks on the bulwarks, and back through the blocks on the tiller--
 

 
 
Ah, but what to do with the loose ends?   In the Charles G. Davis illustration that I followed for this, the ropes go to a ship's wheel.  But there is no wheel in this case.  I reasoned that there should be cleats on the bulwarks to fasten the ropes to.  These had to be added--
 

 
 
I'm not sure why Lieutenant Woolsey decided to take a nap during this work.  Maybe he overindulged last night.
 
After tying the rope off to the cleat, a rough coil was made by wrapping the rope (wet with diluted PVA) around a drill bit--
 

 
 
This was draped over the cleat, with much massaging and rewetting, to try and get it to hang sort of realistically--
 

 

 
 
After finishing this (of course), I remembered that one of Bernard Frolich's brig models with a tiller may have shown me what to do here.   I checked, and yes, there are cleats on the bulwarks.  However, the arrangement of the blocks and rope is a little different, and it looks functionally superior to what I did.    
 
Here is yours truly working--
 

 
 
Ron

Thank you, Roger.
 
Some activity in the shipyard!!
 
Euryalus has left my living room and has come upstairs to join Oneida in the workshop.  This displaces Oneida to a smaller area, but I think that will be okay--
 

 
 
The carronades have been glued in place--
 

 

 

 
 
Next, they will all be "stowage rigged" as the one third from the right on the starboard side in the photo.  I just have to remember how I did that one--about 10 years ago.
 
The rudder has been glued on--
 

 

 
 
 
That's all for now,
Ron

John and Dan, I enjoyed meeting and talking with you both.  Always nice to get to know someone beyond their profile photo and user name!
 
Mast collars:  I started by cutting a bunch of pieces with a 45 degree angle and gluing them together.   If I really wanted to get it right, I should have cut 22 1/2 degrees off each side of a piece, to have the wood grain radial.   I was satisfied with just showing that the collar is made of eight simulated "wedges"--

  
 
These were then sanded roughly round--

 
Next I drilled out the center, glued in a short piece of dowel, and turned the piece round.   After it was round, I drilled the dowel out--

 
Here you can see I've started roughing out the opening of the first one to fit the fore mast, and other has the dowel glued in--

 
I used my lathe, but lacking that I could have chucked the piece in a standard drill--


 
One difficulty was shaping the cut out to accommodate the rather sharp rake of the masts, especially the mainmast.   In addition, my shaping of the masts was not perfect, with some variation in the eight sides.   That and the rake made it so the collar will only fit on one way (hence the label "F"(forward) on each collar.   Each one broke apart at least once as I was chiseling it out.  That ended up being a good thing, as the joints became a little more pronounced after regluing.  One down, one to go--

 
Here are some photos of the masts with the collars dry fit on deck--




 
I believe that is now a wrap for the hull and deck.  I am not going to redo the gratings--the holes are only a tiny bit too large.  They should be no bigger than 2 3/4", and they are 3".   So with that, it's time to start making rope for the standing rigging.
 
All for now.
 
Ron

Boarding steps--


 
I would have made the steps the full width of the hammock opening, but the carronade position wouldn't allow it.   The hammock position corresponds to Chappelle's sail plan drawing and also the location of the outboard boarding steps shown on the hull plan, but a little foresight may have warranted shifting the steps and opening just a bit.
 
Ron
 

Thanks Joe, and all looking in.
 
The hammock cranes and cloth are done.   It was more work than I anticipated, but I think it was worth it.  I got some practice making jigs and drilling small holes on the mill, and I learned about Silkspan.
 
Here one side is done, and the other has been "strung".  I was tempted to leave it this way, but elected to complete both sides--

 
Done.   Work on the capstan bars continues--

 
Knotted boarding ropes hang over the boarding steps.  I don't know why Lieutenant Woolsey is falling all over the deck in the previous photos, but he's found his feet here.  I'll secure the ropes with a dot of glue on one of the lower steps, but for now the clips make them hang straight and give the idea--

 
I am reminded of something I read about Oneida being reported by an early crew member (I think) as being a "warm cozy" ship.  They were probably talking about below deck, but the more enclosed and protected feeling with the hammocks in place on the rails does give me that impression--
   

 
All for now,
Ron

More hammock crane work.
 
I decided I needed a better way to make the modeling clay form for the hammock covering cloth.   I had just kind of rolled it out and mashed it into rough shape, but it was a little TOO rough and varied in height and thickness.  So I made a mold out of scrap wood.  This is the length I need for the forward sections.  The previous clay form and removed covering paper are above it--

 
Then I mashed the clay into one side of the mold--
 
And clamped the outer mold piece against it.  There are spacers at the end to make the right thickness, and I used my calipers to make sure it was the same width at the middle.  They also worked as a clamp.  I mashed additional clay into the top where needed--

 
Then scraped the top smooth--

 
This gave me a piece of clay that was uniform in height and thickness--


 
I ran a finger along each side of the top to round and smooth it--

 
New pieces of Silkspan were moistened and folded around it--

 
When this dried, I tucked and glued the loose ends at the bottom, and let that dry--

 
Here it is fit into place--


 
 
I am much happier with this attempt.   It may be more uniform than it really should be, but it will be easy to go back and make it a little "lumpy" if I decide it needs it.  Here's a view from inboard--

 
As I finish up the hammocks I'm adding the capstan bars to the capstan.   It's always one of the things on a model that catches your eye, and I've been waiting a long time to add this touch!   I cut some blanks, and test fit a few times to get the length I thought was appropriate.  They look pretty chunky, but they haven't been tapered or rounded yet, hence they are also not glued to the capstan yet--

 
I numbered each hole and bar on the underside just in case it matters which one goes where--

 
As the afternoon light starts to fade--

 
That's all for now.
 
Ron