catopower

More Hull Work

At the time I was planking the deck, I took some time to build up the structure for the main deck house. When the Saginaw was originally built, this included a pilot house at the forward end. For some reason, this was removed at the time of the 1863 refit. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough to be useful. Without the pilot house, the design was pretty simple, just a long rectangle with a half-round forward end. 

 

I had shaped the structure from thin plywood and basswood and cut a 1/2” diameter opening for the funnel. The outside was planked with thin, narrow, vertical strips of boxwood. Six doors would be added at a later stage.

 

 

About the same time, I also made a basic funnel from 1/2” brass tubing, about 3-1/2” long and cut a shallow hole in the deck to seat it in. I also drilled holes in the deck for the masts and cut to length the dowels I would need for the masts and spars.

 



 

Something I forgot to mention in my last post relates to those last two photos of that post. You’ll note that I added the channels at the same time as the main rail. Since the channels are in line with the rail, I went ahead and built them into the rail itself for added strength. An upper rail or hammock rail will go on top of this, so the channels should be quite sturdy. I’ll post one of the photos again here to illustrate.

 



 

At this stage, I also added scuppers, which were drilled through the bulwarks and then lined with thin walled brass tubing. I also added started work on the two large bits at the foremast. The plans show them to have what I assume to be iron rods run through them as cross-bitts. These bits might have actually been iron sheathed, but I chose to treat mine as wooden with a metal band that the rods are run through.

 

The next photo shows the upper rail nearly complete. At the bow, notches were cut for the catheads and the rail is still in progress. Gunports were lined and I had started working on the hawse pipes which I made from brass tubing. A small piece of sheet brass was soldered onto the end of the tube and then was filed to shape for the lips. I did something similar for the inboard end of the hawse pipes, though they are completely separate pieces.

 



 



 

 

Clare

The Saginaw had a non-collapsing type of funnel that is quite tall. I think this is a feature that make the ship really stand out to me. Something about that look on a ship with sails I found very appealing to the eye.

 

Luck had it that I the dimensions of the needed tubing was very simple. At 1/2” diameter, I could just pick up the brass tubing from the K&S stand at the local Ace Hardware. And, as it turned out, I could also get tubing 15/16” in diameter there which made a perfect fit inside the 1/2” tubing, making for a sleeve that could help me a little in construction.

 

The funnel tubing was cut 3-5/8” long with a slight angle at the base to accommodate the rake of the funnel. The length was measured for the funnel to sit atop the deck house. I used a length of 15/16” tubing to serve as an inner sleeve that would extend up into the funnel part way and down through the deck house and seat into a shallow hole in the deck.

 

The stack itself is supported by a pair of eye bands, one at the very top and one 15/16” below that. The top band has four eyebolts in it for support guys, the lower one has only three and are offset from the ones above and are centered aft.

The diagram shows the two eyebands and the locations of the eyebolts. 

 



 

I went through two funnels trying to attach the eyebands nicely. The first attempt was done by soldering the eyebands into place. However, I did such a poor soldering job that I had to do a lot of filing, which just resulted in a bad looking funnel.

 

On the second attempt, I ended up just using CA glue and that made a very clean attachment. Once in place I drilled out the eyebolt locations and ran the eyebolts into place. By running the eyebolts through the bands and into the funnel, it seems to help  further secure the eyebands from pulling out of position.

 



 

Finally, I sprayed the whole thing with primer and painted using a few coats of Testor’s semi-gloss black acrylic paint.

 

Clare

The Saginaw had a non-collapsing type of funnel that is quite tall. I think this is a feature that make the ship really stand out to me. Something about that look on a ship with sails I found very appealing to the eye.

 

Luck had it that I the dimensions of the needed tubing was very simple. At 1/2” diameter, I could just pick up the brass tubing from the K&S stand at the local Ace Hardware. And, as it turned out, I could also get tubing 15/16” in diameter there which made a perfect fit inside the 1/2” tubing, making for a sleeve that could help me a little in construction.

 

The funnel tubing was cut 3-5/8” long with a slight angle at the base to accommodate the rake of the funnel. The length was measured for the funnel to sit atop the deck house. I used a length of 15/16” tubing to serve as an inner sleeve that would extend up into the funnel part way and down through the deck house and seat into a shallow hole in the deck.

 

The stack itself is supported by a pair of eye bands, one at the very top and one 15/16” below that. The top band has four eyebolts in it for support guys, the lower one has only three and are offset from the ones above and are centered aft.

The diagram shows the two eyebands and the locations of the eyebolts. 

 



 

I went through two funnels trying to attach the eyebands nicely. The first attempt was done by soldering the eyebands into place. However, I did such a poor soldering job that I had to do a lot of filing, which just resulted in a bad looking funnel.

 

On the second attempt, I ended up just using CA glue and that made a very clean attachment. Once in place I drilled out the eyebolt locations and ran the eyebolts into place. By running the eyebolts through the bands and into the funnel, it seems to help  further secure the eyebands from pulling out of position.

 



 

Finally, I sprayed the whole thing with primer and painted using a few coats of Testor’s semi-gloss black acrylic paint.

 

Clare

More Hull Work

At the time I was planking the deck, I took some time to build up the structure for the main deck house. When the Saginaw was originally built, this included a pilot house at the forward end. For some reason, this was removed at the time of the 1863 refit. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough to be useful. Without the pilot house, the design was pretty simple, just a long rectangle with a half-round forward end. 

 

I had shaped the structure from thin plywood and basswood and cut a 1/2” diameter opening for the funnel. The outside was planked with thin, narrow, vertical strips of boxwood. Six doors would be added at a later stage.

 

 

About the same time, I also made a basic funnel from 1/2” brass tubing, about 3-1/2” long and cut a shallow hole in the deck to seat it in. I also drilled holes in the deck for the masts and cut to length the dowels I would need for the masts and spars.

 



 

Something I forgot to mention in my last post relates to those last two photos of that post. You’ll note that I added the channels at the same time as the main rail. Since the channels are in line with the rail, I went ahead and built them into the rail itself for added strength. An upper rail or hammock rail will go on top of this, so the channels should be quite sturdy. I’ll post one of the photos again here to illustrate.

 



 

At this stage, I also added scuppers, which were drilled through the bulwarks and then lined with thin walled brass tubing. I also added started work on the two large bits at the foremast. The plans show them to have what I assume to be iron rods run through them as cross-bitts. These bits might have actually been iron sheathed, but I chose to treat mine as wooden with a metal band that the rods are run through.

 

The next photo shows the upper rail nearly complete. At the bow, notches were cut for the catheads and the rail is still in progress. Gunports were lined and I had started working on the hawse pipes which I made from brass tubing. A small piece of sheet brass was soldered onto the end of the tube and then was filed to shape for the lips. I did something similar for the inboard end of the hawse pipes, though they are completely separate pieces.

 



 



 

 

Clare

Hi Mark,
 
I agree the carriages were double-pinned and it seems pretty clear on the plans I have (the ones I posted here are pretty low-res) that those small circles are pivots as you pointed out. 
 
I gathered several reference photos including the one below which I got courtesy of Bill Emerson who wrote a couple great articles for Ships in Scale on his Civil War era gunboat models which are very similar to the Saginaw.
 

This is the USS Mississippi. Clearly, much larger than the Saginaw, but it does show the same double-pinned pivot carriage and also drop down panels for the forward gun ports.
 
 
The next thing I'm looking at is whether the forward gun port was one large panel that possibly drops down so it's horizontal or if it drops all the way down. In the only photo of the Saginaw, the gun port opening is apparent, but the configuration of the gun port cover/panel(s) is not. As far as I can tell, the insides of panels would have been painted white, like the inside of the bulwarks. If the port covers were panels that dropped down all the way, then there should be a light colored area under the gun port opening. If we're looking at a single panel that hinges down until it's horizontal, then we may be looking at it edge-on, which is what I'm assuming unless I can find some good info to the contrary.
 

From a photo I pulled off of Bluejacket's website some time ago. Bluejacket built this custom model for a client and went with the single hinged panel for the forward gun port. I'm considering going with this configuration, though the actual mechanics of hinging a slightly curved panel is a bit complicated and questionable.
 
As long as I'm studying photos here, I might as well mention the boat gun broadside mounts. There were four 24-pounders at this time. These will look pretty much like those in the following photo pulled from the web.
 

Porter shown aboard the USS Malvern next to the Dahlgren mount. The only issue I'll have is that the gun ports on the Saginaw are pretty low and I'm going to have to use a little creative modeling to make the guns fit. 
 
I'll also mention that I'm building the Saginaw with a Hurricane Deck, similar to that shown in the background of this photo. They are not shown on the plans, but I've found anecdotal references to one in George Reed's account of the loss of the Saginaw.
 
Clare

More Hull Work

At the time I was planking the deck, I took some time to build up the structure for the main deck house. When the Saginaw was originally built, this included a pilot house at the forward end. For some reason, this was removed at the time of the 1863 refit. Perhaps it wasn’t high enough to be useful. Without the pilot house, the design was pretty simple, just a long rectangle with a half-round forward end. 

 

I had shaped the structure from thin plywood and basswood and cut a 1/2” diameter opening for the funnel. The outside was planked with thin, narrow, vertical strips of boxwood. Six doors would be added at a later stage.

 

 

About the same time, I also made a basic funnel from 1/2” brass tubing, about 3-1/2” long and cut a shallow hole in the deck to seat it in. I also drilled holes in the deck for the masts and cut to length the dowels I would need for the masts and spars.

 



 

Something I forgot to mention in my last post relates to those last two photos of that post. You’ll note that I added the channels at the same time as the main rail. Since the channels are in line with the rail, I went ahead and built them into the rail itself for added strength. An upper rail or hammock rail will go on top of this, so the channels should be quite sturdy. I’ll post one of the photos again here to illustrate.

 



 

At this stage, I also added scuppers, which were drilled through the bulwarks and then lined with thin walled brass tubing. I also added started work on the two large bits at the foremast. The plans show them to have what I assume to be iron rods run through them as cross-bitts. These bits might have actually been iron sheathed, but I chose to treat mine as wooden with a metal band that the rods are run through.

 

The next photo shows the upper rail nearly complete. At the bow, notches were cut for the catheads and the rail is still in progress. Gunports were lined and I had started working on the hawse pipes which I made from brass tubing. A small piece of sheet brass was soldered onto the end of the tube and then was filed to shape for the lips. I did something similar for the inboard end of the hawse pipes, though they are completely separate pieces.

 



 



 

 

Clare

Mark,
 
You may very well be correct about those panels running all the way around the stern. One of the reasons I didn't was the configuration of the tracks in the plans. It appears that these support the rear wheels when pivoting the gun. Since there are no tracks to support the gun being trained directly astern, I figured that the panels wouldn't have extended all the way around. 
 

 
One of the more confusing aspects of researching a subject is when you hit things like this sketch done by the Saginaw's captain showing life of the castaways on Ocean Island after the ship ran aground.
 
Maybe he just wasn't out to detail the ship as it was just a sketch, but the drawing shows no sign of a gun or tracks, but what looks like one small gunport. Could be one drop down panel open and the gun might have been hastily cast overboard in an effort to save the ship. Or, maybe he was just more focussed on the crew working to salvage what they could and survive.
 

 
Clare

Hull Details

 

At this point, port holes were added. I wasn’t originally sure how these were built at this time, but since the detail is a small one, I decided to simply drill 1/8” holes for them and line them with thin-walled brass tubing. This was to make sure they were perfectly round.

 

In actuality, on the wooden hull of the Saginaw, the metal frame would have been fastened to the inboard side of the planking, so on the outside all you would see is a hole with glass behind it. So, when the hull is painted, I’ll be painting the brass sleeves as well, so they won’t stand out too much.

 

At this stage, I hadn’t decided on how to make the glass, but for the time being, all I needed to do was drill out the port holes.

 

In addition to the port holes, I also cut openings for the pivot guns. The forward pivot ports were an easy call as they appear on the plans and the only photo of the Saginaw clearly shows them. However, the aft pivot gun ports was a bit of an issue. 

 

The plans give no clear distinction of how the stern gun ports were configured. My best guess was that they were simply drop down panels that allowed the aft pivot gun to fire broadside. One question was whether or not this ship would have had drop down panels all the way around the stern like the double-ended gunboats of the Civil War. My thinking was probably less clear that it is now, but I figured that since she was built for service accoss the Pacific, she might need to have stronger stern bulwarks to resist the waves of following seas. So, I decided to limit the drop down panels to the sides of the ship.

 

The main rail was added next, made from boxwood, but a hammock rail would go on top of this later. Boxwood channels were attached and, finally, I fashioned trail boards, again out of boxwood, and drilled out the hawse pipes.

 

 

Clare

Hull Details

 

At this point, port holes were added. I wasn’t originally sure how these were built at this time, but since the detail is a small one, I decided to simply drill 1/8” holes for them and line them with thin-walled brass tubing. This was to make sure they were perfectly round.

 

In actuality, on the wooden hull of the Saginaw, the metal frame would have been fastened to the inboard side of the planking, so on the outside all you would see is a hole with glass behind it. So, when the hull is painted, I’ll be painting the brass sleeves as well, so they won’t stand out too much.

 

At this stage, I hadn’t decided on how to make the glass, but for the time being, all I needed to do was drill out the port holes.

 

In addition to the port holes, I also cut openings for the pivot guns. The forward pivot ports were an easy call as they appear on the plans and the only photo of the Saginaw clearly shows them. However, the aft pivot gun ports was a bit of an issue. 

 

The plans give no clear distinction of how the stern gun ports were configured. My best guess was that they were simply drop down panels that allowed the aft pivot gun to fire broadside. One question was whether or not this ship would have had drop down panels all the way around the stern like the double-ended gunboats of the Civil War. My thinking was probably less clear that it is now, but I figured that since she was built for service accoss the Pacific, she might need to have stronger stern bulwarks to resist the waves of following seas. So, I decided to limit the drop down panels to the sides of the ship.

 

The main rail was added next, made from boxwood, but a hammock rail would go on top of this later. Boxwood channels were attached and, finally, I fashioned trail boards, again out of boxwood, and drilled out the hawse pipes.

 

 

Clare

Hull Planking
 
 
The next step in the Saginaw’s construction was to plank the hull. The thing I like about building a solid hull first is that you can spend time getting the shape of the hull as accurate and as perfect as you can, before planking it. When planking, you don’t end up introducing flat spots or bumps since you have the fully supporting hull, you just focus and getting a nice smooth run to the planks.
 
Getting a smooth run of planking is extremely easy when you’re working with a hull like that of the Saginaw. It’s long and narrow and has a nice sharp bow. Planks require only a small amount of shaping. Anyway, the hull is going to be coppered below the water line and as long as the upper hull planking is good, the lower planks can bear the brunt of mistakes since they’ll be covered.
 
 

 
 

 
 
As I mentioned last time, for planking material, I used holly, most of which I milled myself from a board I bought from The Lumberyard a while back. I cut into sheets on my large table saw, thickness sanded them on my Micromark thickness sander, then cut strips off the boards on the an old Jarmac table saw. Since the Jarmac is pretty old and has a lot of vibration now, I had to then take the strips and run them through a thicknessing setup I made from an AcraMill (This was all during my pre-Byrnes Machines saw days). This is just to even out the thickness of the planks since some variation is introduced from cutting the old Jarmac saw.
 
Again, before gluing planks on, I would give each a light sanding to round the edges slightly to make them stand well when painted over.
 
 
Clare
 
 

Note that the inner bulwarks have been planked and the broadside gun ports have been cut.

Planking the Deck

 

Before laying the day down, I planned out the thickness of the bulwarks and how I was going to attach that to the hull. The plan was to notch the hull to add 1/16” thick basswood strips that would effectively act as “timber heads”. Inboard of the this, I’d need 1/32” for the inner bulwarks planking and another 1/32” for the waterways.

 

So, as a guide, I glued a 1/16” square basswood strip along the edge of the hull. Then, I laid down another 1/16” square piece as a temporary spacer. The nibbing strake was then cut and shaped to fit along the inner edge of this spacer and glued into place. Afterwards the spacer was removed.

 

 



 

 

In the meantime, I measured out the smoke stack and lower masts and drilled holes in the deck for their placement. For the smoke stack, in order to make installation simple, I figured on make an inner sleeve that will eventually be glued to the deck. The outer sleeve represents that actual smokestack. This inner sleeve is 15/16” in diameter and the temporary stack you see in some of these photos is actually this temporary sleeve, cut to the full height of the stack.

 

For the deck planking, I used 1/16” wide by 1/32” thick boxwood. I often add or simulate treenails, but at 1/8” scale, I decided not to do it this time. Planks were laid starting along the centerline. To simulate caulking, I simply edged the planks with pencil. The planks were nibbed at the bow and near the stern where appropriate.

 

 



 

 



 

 

Coaling Ports

 

There were six ringed circles on the main deck plan of the Saginaw that were unlabeled and it was at this time that I managed to get some help on MSW 1.0 to identify and understand the construction of what appeared to be coaling ports. 

 

These rings are 7/32” diameter in the plans and I decided to use a 3/16” diameter brass rod inserted in a 7/32” diameter brass tube. I’d cut some little buttons from the these to represent the port covers. The brass was straight off the shelf from the K & S metals stand at the hardware store. It turned out that these particular sizes were readily available and fit perfectly. The same was true of 1/2” brass tube and 15/32” brass tube that I would use for the smoke stack.

 

 



 

 

7/32” holes were then drilled into the deck for the six coaling ports. It wasn’t until a little later that I saw a photo of an actual coaling port and noticed the deck work around it. So, I ended up modifying the openings to allow for the deck work. In hindsight, I realize that adding this detail creates a certain inconsistency since I did not do the same for other features where it might have been appropriate.

 
 

 
 

 
 
Clare

Hull Planking
 
 
The next step in the Saginaw’s construction was to plank the hull. The thing I like about building a solid hull first is that you can spend time getting the shape of the hull as accurate and as perfect as you can, before planking it. When planking, you don’t end up introducing flat spots or bumps since you have the fully supporting hull, you just focus and getting a nice smooth run to the planks.
 
Getting a smooth run of planking is extremely easy when you’re working with a hull like that of the Saginaw. It’s long and narrow and has a nice sharp bow. Planks require only a small amount of shaping. Anyway, the hull is going to be coppered below the water line and as long as the upper hull planking is good, the lower planks can bear the brunt of mistakes since they’ll be covered.
 
 

 
 

 
 
As I mentioned last time, for planking material, I used holly, most of which I milled myself from a board I bought from The Lumberyard a while back. I cut into sheets on my large table saw, thickness sanded them on my Micromark thickness sander, then cut strips off the boards on the an old Jarmac table saw. Since the Jarmac is pretty old and has a lot of vibration now, I had to then take the strips and run them through a thicknessing setup I made from an AcraMill (This was all during my pre-Byrnes Machines saw days). This is just to even out the thickness of the planks since some variation is introduced from cutting the old Jarmac saw.
 
Again, before gluing planks on, I would give each a light sanding to round the edges slightly to make them stand well when painted over.
 
 
Clare
 
 

Note that the inner bulwarks have been planked and the broadside gun ports have been cut.

Interior Details
 
 
Since the model is only at 1/8” scale, a viewer would see very little of the interior when peeking through the hatches. After all the hatches are only 1/2” wide openings and they’re going to be partially blocked with ladders. So, I decided to keep actual interior details very simple. I would include no furniture, just some deck details, partition walls and a couple doors where appropriate.
 
The crew compartment was the simplest. I just basically built a box. On the floor, I added the hatch for the forward hold and chain locker and also the chain pipes. The aft wall was a little unusual. It separates the crew compartment from the coal bunkers and it has a recessed section in the center that leans away from the compartment at just the right angle to allow for a ladder. 
 
I built the aft partition, planked it with vertical strips and painted it and the other walls white. All except for the forward wall, which I painted black since is doesn’t represent an actual wall.
 

 
 
 

 
 
I don’t have any good pictures of them, but I made four beam support stanchions. In trying to figure out how to mount these, I found that it worked best to build them into the cover, cutting holes for the stanchions, which I made a little overly long, and then mounted in the holes. With the cover in place, the stanchions stuck out just a little, allowing me to glue them in place, filing off the excess that stuck up.
 
 
 

 
Here’s the most anyone will be able to see of the interior of this compartment.
 
 
The officer’s wardroom and the captain’s cabin were next. I don’t have much in the way of photos of that – even less than the crew compartment. But, this section was just a little more elaborate. I had to make two walls to divide this section up into the Captain’s cabin aft, the wardroom forward, and the ladder way that separates the two.
 

 
 
This section required the creation of a few doors. I made a pair of paneled doors that would be open to the weather and then made two slotted doors for the inside of the wardroom, though by the time the skylights are in place, no one will ever be able to see them. Still, I know they’re there. Also, half of the doors I left slightly ajar so that you could see or think you could that there was something beyond the door. 
 
For the Captain’s cabin, I didn’t have very much space and this area is quite small. So, I tried to use a little forced perspective on the aft wall of the cabin to try to make it look a little like it extended back farther than it actually does. I don’t know how well this will work or if it will actually matter since the only way to see in here will be through a small round skylight. Probably, you’ll see nothing more than the color of the walls and floor.
 
 

 
 
In any case, with these interiors done, I went ahead and glued down the covers and was ready to begin planking the deck. But first, I added the keel, stern and stem posts. Not too much to say about these. I’ve gotten into the habit of using beech wood since it’s very hard. I’ve dented too many keels, but haven’t had the problem since – or perhaps I’ve just learned to be more carful.
 
 

 
 
Clare

Shaping the Hull
 
 
With the lifts cut, getting the final shape was pretty easy, and a relatively small amount of wood had to be removed. 
 
It’s important to note that the lines on these plans are drawn to the inside of the planking. If I was going to make this a straight solid hull model, I would have had to redraw all the lines of the plans. Fortunately for me, I like the looks of planks and I plank my solid hull models. So, this worked out really well.
 
Using the profile templates I made earlier, I regularly checked my work and started on the hull by carving away most of the extra wood. Carving saved myself a lot of extra sanding, but required a bit of care so as not to cut away too much, which is very easy to do. Of course, that’s what wood filler is for, so a mistake here isn’t the end of the world.
 
The hardest areas to carve are the concave areas of the hull up under the stern. Since the hull lifts were held together with screws, it was possible to separate them, and this made it easier to access those hollows.
 
Also, if you look at my photos, you might note that the upper most lift has been omitted. I didn’t add this piece in until the rest of the hull was pretty much cut to shape. The main reason was to allow easier shaping of the hollow under the stern.
 
You may also notice from the photos that the ends of the hull look squared off. I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep lifts properly aligned, getting a good straight line for the keel and stern and stem posts, if I made all the lifts the same length. So, the shape of each lift was extended. Once all the other shaping was done, I used another profile template to shape the stern and stem posts.
 
The last thing I did was to measure the shear of the deck and mark the upper most lift to the height of the centerline of the deck, minus the planking – Since I planned to use 1/32” thick deck planks, I made sure to allow for that. 
 
A bench top belt sander made quick work of the deck shear, but it’s important to slow down when getting anywhere close to the shear line so as not to cut away too much. Once the deck shear is cut, the deck camber can be added. I added this by simply drawing the height of the deck at the edge on both sides of the hull. Then, I cut a curved piece of wood the shape of the camber as a guide and sanded the deck carefully to match the guide.
 
With that, the basic hull shape was essentially done and pretty much what you would get if you went out and purchased a solid hull ship model kit (minus all the plans and fittings, of course).
 
 
Clare
   
 

Some of the station profile templates I made

Shaping the Hull
 
 
With the lifts cut, getting the final shape was pretty easy, and a relatively small amount of wood had to be removed. 
 
It’s important to note that the lines on these plans are drawn to the inside of the planking. If I was going to make this a straight solid hull model, I would have had to redraw all the lines of the plans. Fortunately for me, I like the looks of planks and I plank my solid hull models. So, this worked out really well.
 
Using the profile templates I made earlier, I regularly checked my work and started on the hull by carving away most of the extra wood. Carving saved myself a lot of extra sanding, but required a bit of care so as not to cut away too much, which is very easy to do. Of course, that’s what wood filler is for, so a mistake here isn’t the end of the world.
 
The hardest areas to carve are the concave areas of the hull up under the stern. Since the hull lifts were held together with screws, it was possible to separate them, and this made it easier to access those hollows.
 
Also, if you look at my photos, you might note that the upper most lift has been omitted. I didn’t add this piece in until the rest of the hull was pretty much cut to shape. The main reason was to allow easier shaping of the hollow under the stern.
 
You may also notice from the photos that the ends of the hull look squared off. I’ve found that it’s much easier to keep lifts properly aligned, getting a good straight line for the keel and stern and stem posts, if I made all the lifts the same length. So, the shape of each lift was extended. Once all the other shaping was done, I used another profile template to shape the stern and stem posts.
 
The last thing I did was to measure the shear of the deck and mark the upper most lift to the height of the centerline of the deck, minus the planking – Since I planned to use 1/32” thick deck planks, I made sure to allow for that. 
 
A bench top belt sander made quick work of the deck shear, but it’s important to slow down when getting anywhere close to the shear line so as not to cut away too much. Once the deck shear is cut, the deck camber can be added. I added this by simply drawing the height of the deck at the edge on both sides of the hull. Then, I cut a curved piece of wood the shape of the camber as a guide and sanded the deck carefully to match the guide.
 
With that, the basic hull shape was essentially done and pretty much what you would get if you went out and purchased a solid hull ship model kit (minus all the plans and fittings, of course).
 
 
Clare
   
 

Some of the station profile templates I made

I built 3 AL kits early on and enjoyed building them all. The thing I like about their kits is that they're fairly easy to build and they build into nice "decorative" models. That is, they may not be the most accurate kits on the market, but they make neat "classic" ship models for your living room or den. In general, I've found that they're designed to go together pretty easily and their design seems to work – At least it did for me.
 
Of course, if you start to kit bash and upgrade, adding details and all, the amount of time it takes to build one of these will increase along with the difficulty level. So, you may not see much benefit in building their kits at that point and might find a more sophisticated manufacturer/kit.
 
With the experience I have with ship modeling now, I probably wouldn't pick one of their kits for my own build today. But, I enjoyed them and I think they're perfectly good kits. It just depends on what you're looking for.
 
Clare

1) End mill will do it no problem
2) Any rotary burr will work
3) you can often buy used dental drills (mini end mills sorta) on Ebay a bag at a time for cheap
 
3) My preferred method would just drill a hole at the end of each prospective slot and use a jeweler's saw to connect it into a slot

My gorgeous Byrnes Table Saw arrived this afternoon and after locating where it will reside in the shop and reading through the instructions I noted that Jim suggests applying a coat of good car wax to the table top. After searching for a can of Carnauba Car Wax I thought I had, with no luck, I pulled a can of Briwax 2000 natural which contains Beeswax and Carnauba out of the locker and applied that. Think it should be OK but maybe I should have waited until Monday when I plan on e-mailing Donna with a question about the zero-clearance inserts. I’m getting a twist in my knickers thinking about running a slitter blade through each insert and wondering if I will ruin the blade?
 
Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow for my familiarization and shake-down cruise. I know the first project I want to try and will need to have the .040 kerf slitter blade installed.
 
What a beautiful piece of equipment! Thank you Donna and Jim.     

Charlie:
Welcome aboard.
 
Spiling is not mandatory. It simply follows, to some degree, how ships were actually planked. Ship's planking was actually spiled on one edge and tapered on the other. The extent to which this was done would depend on the kind of hull being planked. Some hull's required different methods depending on its shape.
 
In most kits, the supplied planking strips are not wide enough to allow for proper spiling and tapering so modelers have developed alternative methods for hull planking. It gets the job done and can be made to look very neat.
 
How one planks a model hull is up to the modeler. Some will want to spile and taper their planking and others will prefer to use other methods.
 
Russ

Added the friezes.  Still have the trim piece to install below the frieze and the hull will be complete.  I used the friezes downloaded from this forum.  The smallest one fit my hull perfectly.  The ones supplied in the kit were way too large.
 
   Bob R.

If you're doing a French ship from the 1700's this book is a "must have".  Even if you're not building a French ship, his techniques are worth the price.  It's available in several languages.  I have no connection to ANCRE other than being a happy customer.
 
From the ANCRE website:
DESCRIPTION Bernard Frölich has always been a builder of ship's models. As a geographical engineer, he discovered Jean Boudriot's books and monographs in the late 70s. He fell in love with the beauty of sailing ships of the classic period and since then has dedicated all his free time to building historical navy models.
This practical experience made him a genuine authority in that field. He has published numerous articles on that subject over the past years. At our request, he has gathered, edited and significantly enriched these articles in order to produce his book.
L'ART DU MODELISME describes the author's experience and methods in 300 pages abundantly illustrated with numerous drawings, sketchs and more than 600 commentated photos. In this book, Frölich describes in detail all the crafts that a shipmodeler must master : he must be in turn a shipwright; a carpenter; a cabinetmaker; a marqueter; a blacksmith; a ropemaker and a sailmaker. He shows that any beginner, if he is industrious and persevering, can master this art. This fact becomes all the more evident since we can see the tremendous progress made by the author himself through the use of photographs of his own work. This book itself is a tremendous learning experience. In the first twenty pages Frölich describes his studio, his tools and equipment and his library. He then devotes about one hundred pages to the timbers of a 1730 merchant vessel , the Mercure, and to M.de Tourville 's three-decker vessel of 1680, L'Ambitieux. In the next one hundred twenty pages, the author discusses the equipment, fittings, guns, decoration and sculptures, ship's boats and rigging. The final sixty pages offer a description of Frölich's own models (all at 1:48 scale ) : the schooner Jacinthe; the lugger Coureur; the brig Cyclope; the bomb ketch Salamandre; the 12-pdr frigate Belle Poule; the merchant vessel Mercure and the xebec Requin. The unfinished model of L'Ambitieux - the Chevalier de Tourville's three-decker vessel - is abundantly described in the chapter on framework.
Although the author denies it, this book is a genuine treatise on historical naval shipmodeling. The photographs included show that the skills of today 's shipmodelers match the talent of the creators of the period model pieces preserved and displayed in our museums.

 
 
 

Ahoy Mick
 
This is what I would do.
 
Get some enamel thinner and a small brush and strip them back down to the metal.
 
Use a file and or sandpaper to clean them up. Use thick CA (super glue) to fill any voids.
 
Clean them with soap (must not have any hand softener, check ingredients for lanolin, Ajax dishwashing soap is my choice)
 
Let dry.
 
Cut the end off a round toothpick and using thick CA tack the flat side (cut) to the under side of the parts. You will want to snap the toothpick off when you are done so don't go crazy with the glue. This will allow you to paint them without touching them. Just put it somewhere that you will not see. Get something to stick the toothpicks into. A piece of heavy cardboard or foam works well.
 
Prime them. The guys are right, Tamiya is very good, better is Mr. Hobby, but really many other products will work. Just make sure it is a primer for metal. Testors is another excellent choice and so is Krylon if you want to spray. If you do spray, shake the can for no less then 10 minutes placing it in a container of warm water before using. (Not hot)
 
Check them and repair anything that shows up now (last chance), wet sand and re-prime any repairs. Let dry for 24 hours.
 
If you used enamel thinner to strip them, I would use enamel paint. It is more durable and does not have to have a clear coat. Acrylics should be protected with a clear coat.
 
Thin the paint. I would take the paint out of the jar. Drying inside the jar contaminates the paint leading to lumps and other undesirable effects. Use a straw, your stirring stick (did I mention to stir the paint really good. Do not shake, stir) and pull out a few drops. Use a tile, Aluminum foil, glass but not a paper product to put your paint on. Only bring out enough paint for a few minutes of painting. Add thinner. The paint should be slightly translucent but not so thin it runs all over. When you paint, you should see the brush strokes dissolve into the paint right after your stroke. Practice if you need it but not on your work. Start with the hard to reach areas, do the big area staring you in the face last. Try not to go over your fresh paint either, work away from the fresh paint. Plan the job. If you cannot get it now, get it on the next coat first. If you beefcake something let it go and move on. Once the paint dries wet sand it out. (wait 24 hours to fix mistakes) Plan to do no less the two coats, more is better. The paint needs to dry between coats.  If the paint covers in one coat, it is too thick and you will lose details. When you do a second coat over your first, the medium in the paint will reactivate the first coat. Do not work the paint (back and forth strokes). One stroke and move on, remember it is faster to come back with another coat then to do a repair.
 
When done put them in a box or somewhere where they are covered. I use a second shelf. This is the hardest part. “Leave them alone”. Once dry (48 hours) snap off toothpicks.
 
The furniture is a perfect choice to start with. Do not rush. You will be much happier later with the results if it takes a few days then rushing to get it done.
 
Good luck and have fun.  

Starting the Hull
 
With the drawing done, I did some copy and paste work in Photoshop to make a full-hull waterlines plan. I made enough copies of this to cut patterns for each of the waterlines needed. I did the same thing with the body plan, making templates to check progress and accuracy when shaping the hull.
 
At 1/8” scale, the waterlines came out exactly 1/4” apart, so I bought some 1/4” basswood to use for the lifts that would make up the hull. 
 
From past experience, I found that it was handy to be able to pull the lifts apart when shaping the hull, so I drilled holes in the lifts before shaping them and held them together with wood screws. Another set of holes allowed my to screw the whole assembly down onto a building board marked with station lines.
 
The building board was extremely useful and allowed me to hold the hull very steady while carving and sanding, gave me a solid surface with clearly marked station lines for the proper alignment of the hull templates, and also made the whole thing easier to store. 
 
After the hull is shaped, drilling a couple holes in the bottom of the hull allows the hull to sit upright securely so I can more easily shape the deck.
 
 
 
Clare
 
One of my favorite aspects of solid hull modeling is to be able to sit outside and carve wood. Very relaxing.     Shaping the lifts
  More shaping of lifts
  Now attached right-side-up so I can shape the deck