olliechristo

Thanks John.that explains a lot, I will
Start laying my margin planks.. It would be good to add them but maybes too hard.. They would be rather small I gather, I may just dummy them on the painted side..Regards. Ollie

Tom, the model itself is 590mm long and 450mm tall.. In real life she was only a small vessel,  just 18 metres long, with a beam
5.48 metres wide and measuring 84 gross register tons.   Read this pdf if your keen - http://www.anmm.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Signals86_Mermaid.pdf  
Sailor1234, Thanks for joining in, She is only two cannons, two culverins, anything but a war ship,, Built for hydrological surveys,, just a bit of self defence I think...
 
Aliluke, thanks for your compliments ans thoughts, I appreciate it.. will do some searches... Thanks all..  Ollie

Thanks Augie! I cheated with the rugs - found some photos of 17th century rugs and printed them out in high resolution - voila!

Forgot to mention that he was carved almost entirely using a scalpel.

I finally have a small update!
It's been very busy...brother had a heart attack, daughter broke her foot...and that was just one day!
Anyway, things have settled down now and I have a chance to work on my San Felipe!
 
Even though I was "coping" well and not "fretting" too much with my hand sawing...I now have a scroll saw!
The first picture shows the brand new saw that lasted about 3 1/2 minutes...until the plastic bearing collar broke and parts flew!
The second picture shows the used scroll saw that I replaced it with (all metal, 22 inch). It works like a charm!
 

 

 
This is the finished knee of the head/keel parts that I fine tuned until they fit properly.
 

 
Next up was the building slip and attached false keel.
 

 

 
 

Jaws
 
I just hated the idea of installing the brass "crab jaws" that the kit provided so I began crafting wooden replacements. To get all the jaws for the spars to be at least close in size and shape I glued two pieces of solid mahogany with spray adhesive and traced a pattern on top. Before gluing them together like this, I drilled a hole in the centre of the piece and then sawed through the centre of the hole. I kept these two pieces together for all the rough cuts and shaping. I followed diagrams in Mastini and Lever for the pattern but, wouldn't you know it, the day after gluing the jaws in place on the boom I was checking out Longridge and The Anatomy of a Ship book, "The Cutter Alert" for details about the parrels and trucks and realized that I probably made a mistake on the shape and length of the jaws. Ah well, it's at least better than what AL had in my opinion.
 



 
 
I drilled holes for the thread that will hold the parrel trucks, which ended up being a bit premature because...
 
I still wasn't happy with the bulky look of the jaws on the spars so I brought out the file once again. After shaping the jaws a bit more I realized that I had just wrecked the location of a couple of the holes I had just drilled! Nuts! A bit more drilling fixed a couple of the holes but I ended up having to patch one hole and drill it again.
 
In my research on the jaws I read that they would usually be lined with leather to prevent damage from friction. Not exactly sure how this looked I did a quick search on the web and found several images. To simulate the leather I painted different shades of brown onto tracing paper. I chose tracing paper because it was very thin and would suit the scale of the ship better. After the glue dried on oversized strips of the painted paper I trimmed them back to size.
 

 
And speaking of trimming...I decided to sand the spars down a bit more. I brushed on some varethane and ran some thread through the holes in the jaws to make sure they weren't clogged. I tried out the beads I bought for the trucks.

Hi All,
 
Another small udate. after making a water line marking jig, pics below.
 

 

 
I marked the water line onto the hull at the distance stated in the plans which is 70 mm from the bottom of the hull which is to me seems a strange way of doing ti as all the other measurements are taken from the bottom of the keel  
 

 
I set the hull up in my keel clamping vice with the bottom of the hull firmly against the steel top plates and then made sure the hull was level fore and aft and athwart ships then I dedcuted the  keel  length from the bottom of the hull  from the distance from the top of the vice to the table, added 70mm to this and checked it on both rules to make sure the hull was even on the table
 

 
I then marked the water line on both sides of the hull
 

 
I also marked the position of the wales using the jig , bearing in mind that the lines for the wales are a guide only and the wales will follow the line of gunports
 

 

 
I have run into a slight problem and have been trying to overcome it this afternoon and that is how to mark a gore line for the copper plateing, as it is only a bow section I don't have a centre of a ship to go off,but i have been looking at some logs and Longridge has a nice plan of the coppering in his book.But any suggestions on how to go about it would be most welcome.
My lastest idea is to come down about 7 or 8 tiles form the keel at the back and then lay a plank along that line and see how it looks . I think it might be a case of trial and hopefully not to many errors
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas
 
 
 
 

Ollie,
 
The painting shows her with conventional painted dummy gunports.  The scuppers would be metal (probably lead) lined holes drilled through the bulwarks.  You could easily leaving them off without spoiling the model in any way.
 
John

Nice start!! This is going to be so cool!!
 
May I ask weird question #43??   What are the basic dim's of the ship?
I would like to get a feel for it.  Thanks!
 
Tom

Thanks so much Jeff and ZyXuz.  I appreciate it...  I only use basic tools and a keen eye.
 
I am well into scratch building the barrels for under floor.. It s been 3 hours at least over 2 evenings..
 
I cut strips at angles and made them all in one tube.. because the lengths are wedges, when i sand the curve at ends of barrel it gives the appearance of planks narrowing and in fact they do, just not as they really woud, but working at this size you cant build like you would a fulll size item, so one has to improvise a little.
 
I used "sika" super glue. it is good quality, then i filled tube with an expanding glue that helped hold the small bits together.. These are not going to be seen from alll angles so i thought better not get too carried away,, i tend to do that..
 
The bands i'm not 100% sure on yet, i made prototypes out of hammered soldering wire but think i need a thinner guage,, the effect is great.. and very nice to bend around two angles
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

John, this hobby should have come with warnings.. I can see myself wanting to build the Endeavour from scratch or something else completely outrageous and infinitely time consuming.. 
 
SO I have worked out my plank length and they are to be 125mm which equates to 6 metres or about 19.7 feet, The red lines are the 4 Butt pattern im going to be following, the previous were the 3 butt spacing...
 
I have made my margin planks, it took some doing....    I have decided on 4 butt shift pattern as it works better with my margin plank lengths (100mm) so both land on beams which are 25mm apart...
 
I am wondering about scuppers... 
                                                     - should they get cut in before margin plank to avoid damage and how many to put in?
 
Is this first painting of the mermaid showing scuppers?
                                                             
                                                            
Regards ollie
 
 

Looking good. I like that cutout idea. Looks great.

I did most of the work, obviously, but they where happy to help The planking of the deck was one of the parts where they where able to work on a lot. Also panting stuff is something they can do also.

Continuing the journey then. Once the Stern re-build was complete, it was on to the rigging, starting with the bowsprit.
 
Here's a couple of pics of items various and overall bowsprit rigging:
 

 

 

 
I picked up a few tips and tricks from others here.  This is a picture of some Mast wedges, made according to advice from Danny (they are turned from Castello boxwood, with lines scored to represent the wedges):
 

 
When it came to attaching shrouds and getting the distance between upper and lower deadeyes even, I borrowed an idea from EdT, which I found in his most excellent Victory build log:
 

 
For adding mice (or is that "mouses") to the stays, I followed advice from David Antscherl in his TFFM books, and turned them from wood.  Here is a picture of some mice and the snaking between the Main Stay and the Main Preventer Stay. ('tis to be hoped the snake does not eat the mice! ):
 

 
Somewhere around this time, Mobbsie drew my attention to the deteriorating state of the workshop. The Admiral agreed with Mobbsie and I was dispatched (with funds) to procure some better storage and thence to clean up the shipyard.  Here is the clean version, under the watchful supervision of the site foreman, Sam the chocolate labrador:
 

 
After much procrastinating, it was time to tackle the ratlines    We had quite a discussion again over colour.  There many differing opinions on this, but in the end I settled on black ratlines.  To help get them at the right interval and parallel, I used a card template - here's one in use on the Mizzen:
 

 
This is an early shot of ratlines in progress (actually the Foremast):
 

 
Since then, I've been slowly but surely continuing to tie ratlines.  I've now completed all three lower masts on the port side and am ready to start on the starboard side.  To finish this post and bring the log completely up to date, here are a few progress photos taken tonight.  I might add, that I had my own mini-disaster while taking these.   As I was trying to get a better camera angle, I knocked over a glass of red wine - all over the several modelling books I had been using for reference (not to mention the carpet!)   Fortunately, not too much damage was done, but it was a bloody waste of some very good red wine!
 

 

 

 

 

 
That's me up to date folks.  Thank you to all of you who have contributed to my previous log and for advice, assistance and encouragement along the way.  If I've left anything major out of the story to date, let me know and I'll see if I've got some photos.
 
Cheers,
Grant
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks so much all of you..!!!  You are keeping me very enthusiastic about my build..
 
I have spent another 3 hours on windlass. It has been a challenge, but all in all, not that hard.. I just need to work out the ratchet and release mechanism now.. I like the one on the 'Harriet' and you may notice that i basically copied my windlass by eye.. I like the little bell on top of the post, i would like to know what it is for and if it was common.. I gather it has something to do with the anchor procedures..
 
Also any reccomendations on the deck planking would be great... Should this cutter's deck have a margin plank around it?
 
Happy crafting all.

Oh God ........Your right!!!  And scratch building is soooo fun!!  And your right there is no cure!!
 
Tom

Oh dear, oh dear, Ollie.  You're just working on your first build and it looks like you're already starting to drift towards the 'Dark Side' of scratch building.  Once that starts, I'm afraid there's no cure!
 
John

Thanks Jeff, It came up really beautiful your Norfolk..  And lots of great pics for me to gather from..
 
Thanks Brian, I appreciate it, trying to make her a bit unique.. 
 
So I realised that joining two planks looked kinda average, and not how it would be done realistically..  so i set about coming up with a solution and i am going to put in the extra effort.. ... 
 
I found the closest match of timber i could in the shed, it's a bit darker but i think that will look okay.. I set the table saw (its a rough one) to its minimal cut (about1mm) .. Then i made up a simple jig that anyone could whip up.. Consists of two hardened pieces of metal on a very flat surface, In this case 'stanley' blades, stainless would work good also..   So then file or sand and you cannot go too far beyond your desired thickness you have setup...  I have made a couple and they measure 7.5mm wide (thats what the stock was) wide by 0.6mm thickness . the calipers are a bit worn, but i know that so i accommodate for it..  Thanks so much mates.. 

Hi All,
 
A bit longer than I expected, due to work issues   but the stem planking is complete and sanded.The two holes drilled at the front edge of the stem are for the bobstays, I was going to drill the hole for the mainmast stay collar but seeing as there wont be one fitted I omitted it
 
Some pics follow
 

 

 

 

 
The next job is to mark the water line and the position of the wales and then to make and fit the wales

Thanks Jeff, It came up really beautiful your Norfolk..  And lots of great pics for me to gather from..
 
Thanks Brian, I appreciate it, trying to make her a bit unique.. 
 
So I realised that joining two planks looked kinda average, and not how it would be done realistically..  so i set about coming up with a solution and i am going to put in the extra effort.. ... 
 
I found the closest match of timber i could in the shed, it's a bit darker but i think that will look okay.. I set the table saw (its a rough one) to its minimal cut (about1mm) .. Then i made up a simple jig that anyone could whip up.. Consists of two hardened pieces of metal on a very flat surface, In this case 'stanley' blades, stainless would work good also..   So then file or sand and you cannot go too far beyond your desired thickness you have setup...  I have made a couple and they measure 7.5mm wide (thats what the stock was) wide by 0.6mm thickness . the calipers are a bit worn, but i know that so i accommodate for it..  Thanks so much mates.. 

Thanks Jeff, It came up really beautiful your Norfolk..  And lots of great pics for me to gather from..
 
Thanks Brian, I appreciate it, trying to make her a bit unique.. 
 
So I realised that joining two planks looked kinda average, and not how it would be done realistically..  so i set about coming up with a solution and i am going to put in the extra effort.. ... 
 
I found the closest match of timber i could in the shed, it's a bit darker but i think that will look okay.. I set the table saw (its a rough one) to its minimal cut (about1mm) .. Then i made up a simple jig that anyone could whip up.. Consists of two hardened pieces of metal on a very flat surface, In this case 'stanley' blades, stainless would work good also..   So then file or sand and you cannot go too far beyond your desired thickness you have setup...  I have made a couple and they measure 7.5mm wide (thats what the stock was) wide by 0.6mm thickness . the calipers are a bit worn, but i know that so i accommodate for it..  Thanks so much mates.. 

Ok well i thought i better use some initiative and joined two planks side by side with glue and sanded.. This is all i could think of to do and once caulking is added i don't the eye will really notice it..
 
Turning some corners today..  Also when I got home early today I was feeling brave and in the mood to cut out my side of hull for the 'revealing' side of the ship..  Regards   Ollie

Hi Ollie,
 
You are corrrect  I made my margin planks for the Norfolk  from 10 x 1.5mm limewood and used three pieces on each side of the hull and then joggled the deck planks into them
I would say what John sends you will be a very good pattern on how to plank the decks with a magin plank fitted 
 
The cutaway area looks fantastic

Ok well i thought i better use some initiative and joined two planks side by side with glue and sanded.. This is all i could think of to do and once caulking is added i don't the eye will really notice it..
 
Turning some corners today..  Also when I got home early today I was feeling brave and in the mood to cut out my side of hull for the 'revealing' side of the ship..  Regards   Ollie

Jim..............That would be a wonderful idea to show what decks look like Jogaling the planks is difficult but I don't think it would be beyond Ollie at all.
 
Tom
 
That interior looks just dynamite!!!!!!!!