Aussie048

More updates today, was working on the masts and the fighting top, and I am here to tell you that I am apparently the slowest builder ever, thankfully this isn't a race or I would be pulled off the course after they close it down.
 
 
The top mast cap that came with the kit was no good, the holes were too large, without even shaping the top mast it would pass right through the square and the top gallant would just fall through the circle (don't know if they have terms for the holes or not) so I built a new one out of boxwood and with a little water color paint borrowed from the admiral it came together fairly well.
 

 
The trestle tree for the fighting top.
 


 
For the fighting top I roughly planked it using a number 2 pencil on one edge of each plank.  I didn't bother to measure the planks to length just put them on, waited for the glue to set then went around the edge with a sharp xacto knife and removed the excess. 
 


 
The shaping of the masts and finishing work took a lot longer then I expected but it's coming along, still need to do my work on the top gallant but I need to finish up the fighting top first.  After I finish up the masts I'm off to the races working on the yards and setting up all my eyes and blocks for the rigging.
 


 
It's all coming along nicely if I do say so myself.
 
 
 
 

Finally back to work on the ship.  I installed the second set of chain stays and deadeyes and began working on the masting.  I put it off for a while because I was unsure of how to start and was afraid of making a mistake with the kit wood.  I finally just bit the bullet and jumped in.  
 
For the shaping of the mast I put the dowel into a drill and using a heavy grit sand paper work it over the lower section of the mast to taper it.  To square the mast on the upper portion I used a hand plane, that was not as successful as I had hoped so I ended up taking the blade out of the plane and  just using the blade with no plane, it looks a little rough but it's serviceable.  When I went to square up the top mast section I used a tip from Mastini's book and put the dowel into a vice and filed it flat, rotated the piece 90 degrees and filed it flat and did that until I had a square, then I filed the edges to get more of the octagon shape.  In the future I will always use the second method of the file, quick and clean.
 
 
The second set of chain stays (sorry about the sideways pic)
 

 
The main mast dry fit
 

 
The main mast and the top mast dry fit, still working on the trestle trees
 

 

 
The cheeks that came with the kit were a little off so I cut new ones from some spare boxwood I had and used a little walnut stain to get them to the correct color.
 

View of the top deck with hammock netting and the belaying pin rack.
 

 
Chainstays and deadeyes
 

 
Side view of the overall
 

 
Close up of the chainstays and deadeyes
 

 
The chain stays were a pain to put in, hopefully they look ok.  The hammock netting went through a couple of iterations to get right, I think the best way to do it is put the netting in, weight it down then with the overlap on the top use a needle and thread to cinch it tight.  Using CA was so so.

Not much time this weekend, but I finished re-doing the chain links with the new wire.  I'm not super happy with the final result, but it will have to do.  Ripping them out again would probably do more damage than leaving them in.
 

 

 
Andy.

I finished treenailing all of the planks up to the lower deck clamps with bamboo treenails. A single coat of finish has also been applied to the planks. I really like how the poplar turned out for the planks. Hopefully I'll find some time to start on the lower deck frame tomorrow.
 
Anyways, here are a couple of pics for your viewing pleasure.

I got the treenailing completed on the starboard side and have started drilling the holes on the port side. Once the port side is done, I will sand all the planks smooth and apply some wipe on poly. Then it will be on to building the lower deck.


 
I am using bamboo for the treenails, and I guess they will stand out a lot better once the finish is applied.

I have finished planking the inside of the hull up to the lower deck clamps with poplar and am in the process of treenailing all the planks to the frames.  I also started the planking on the outside hull, but will wait until the inside is finished before finishing the outside.  I am using bamboo for the treenails.
 

Slowly but steady whe're moving on.  The VOC retourships had an average speed of 6 up to 8 or 10 knots - which is roughly 12 up to 18 kilometers per hour.
 
A man (or woman) riding a bicycle has about the same speed.
 
Imagine: traveling on your bike to the far east!  
 
After our modeller-meeting last saturday I had to go on with the standing rigging of the lower parts of the masts.  Besides that I have put a layer of patinated varnish (clear varnish with some drops of black and brown paint in it) on the upper part of the hull. This gives a nice "mature" look to the ship.
 
It is although quitte difficult to get the rigging nicely on film.
 

 

 

Thank you.
 
If you want to see her in real - this week saturday - the 19th - we have a modelbouw-meeting in het Dorpshuis in Duizel - near to Eindhoven, Netherlands. There - together with many other builders - we are showing our work.
 
Dorpshuis de Smis - Duizel 11.00 - 17.00 h - your very welcome - entrance is free.
 
 
This weekend I have painted the mermen in yellow ocre to let it look gold (no real gold - that was too expencive in the 17th century).
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Hiya Mike, I've dug out a few in-progress photo's of the various ships I have planked so you can see the general idea of how the planking is put together. They show the use of stealers/drop planks, tapering the planks at the bow/stern etc
 






 
 

Its too bad I don't have the text that accompanied the original log. There were quite a few problems with getting everything to line up. Much fudging and eyeballing happened here.
 



 
 

Moving right along...
 


 

More deck work...
 

Finally finished the deck planking. I used mahogany wood filler for the plank caulking and to fill in the holes. After it dried I used a scraper to scrape and smooth out the planks. Finished off with a coat of tung oil. I originally tried to smooth everything out with #0000 steel wool but it made a mess with little bits of steel wool caught on every nook and cranny. Cleaned that up and and finished with 800 grit sandpaper. Recoated with more tung oil. Thoroughly wiped off the excess.
 
Threw out all the original planks. Time to order more for the hull....
 




 
Some artistic liberty was used here for aesthetic reasons. Most decks would have been sun bleached and scrubbed white. If you're after an authentic look, ideally use holly instead of tanganyika. But what the heck.... in my world.... 
 

Well, as I promised, here are some pics. Hope to get to her as soon as possible - since this is what I did about a month ago.
 

Here I was on a start to make side rails and all.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the original plans from AL, there is no planks on the inside, as no stanchions to hold everything up. As my feelings said it wasn´t possible, I searched some pictures to confirm and see that´s all necessary - AL has being putting some wrong in our world I would say.
 
That´s all, for now. My main occupation now will be the doors to the cabin, since I want them to be functional. Already lost some time in that, since scale won´t help. Any ideas are always welcome ^^

First pic showing the keel in place along with the rudder and the hull painted. The rudder copper hinges all had to be made from a thin strip of copper, bent to conform and nailed to rudder and keel. I also wanted to show the stand, painted a hammered silver. There is a company out there that will not include that stand in the kit, you have to buy it separate and the kit itself is more money than what I paid.
 
Second pic showing both canons in place and all the kleets, pins, rings (70) all in place. The front canon shows two copper hold downs, I took them off after I shot the picture, didn't like how it looked, will do something else, maybe just paint them on?
 
Close up of bow canon
 
Close up of stern canon
 
Last pic, not sure if this is allowed, shows what else I do if I get a little tired of ship building. I always do a couple of different jobs at the same time when I build a ship. The starship is a rocket called the "Interceptor" and will fly over 1000ft. If the weather would warm up I could spray paint her up and decal it.

Just a shot showing that the hull from the waterline down to keel has been painted and some stain added from waterline up to certain planks of the ship
 
Top view, showing the stern with grating; a bit of a job, but accomplished.
 
Close up of the stern with grating, sorry the picture came out a bit fuzzy.

It took a while to do the deck planking as well as the hull planking as the strips being used are 3mm wide. I like to do hull planking to my own liking as my boats are only on display in my own home. I still have to touch up on the hull and then I will paint the waterline down to the keep white, lacquer the rest with a semi gloss. I still need lots of practice though when it comes to planking. I find it hard to figure out especially on this hull.
 
 
The top view pic shows the rowing benches with foot bars, deck planking,2mm wide, the bulwarks and the building of the stern extension with grating as the plan in the pic shows. Not much for step by step instruction, but it will be done.
 
A close up of the stern extension  being done. I cut out a jig according to plans for where the grating will eventually go, attached the end piece to the extensions, stuck the jig into place and squeezed with my fingers so that the extensions are snug to the jig piece, soaked in water so that the extensions will conform to the jig, wrapped with twine to hold and clamped the rope so that it doesn't come undone. Letting her dry overnight.

Hello Shipmates!
 
Been a busy man the past week.  I have a carved whale to get done (Sperm Whale,)  three pieces of scrimshaw to get pictures of for the gallery, and another magazine article.
 
However I am having such a hoot with this little boat!  This is nothing compared to the outstanding work I see on here! You Ladies and Gents are some top shelf sons and daughters of Neptune!
 
OK here is what I have done.  I have the paint just about the way I want. Still more weathering I want to do since this was a working vessel.  I fitted the Anchor Cat.  I have the anchor primed and ready to finish painting. Tonight I finished both capstans.  Tons left to do, but she is starting to take shape. Also have the jib boom in place for a fitting.
 
Thanks for all the nice comments. Hey but if you see any gross errors let me know.
 
Thanks
 
Chief
 
Oh and I am using oak, bass, and cherry, and a pop sickle stick or two.
 
  

I am determined to see this to some sort of completion.  I have modeled now for 30 years however this is my first ever wooden ship from scratch.
 
I choose the Anchor Hoy for a few reasons. 1. Looks Strange. 2. Easy to Build, (I hope.) 3. This little ship has more meaning than just being a ship.  Think about it. All the Clippers, Men-O-War, Whalers all rely on the unsung small boats that day in and day out did and still do most of the work. 4. I wanted to see if a quality model can be made in small scale. I have seen in kit instructions and other places where something is "too small to be considered do-able."
 
I also wanted this project to show that a nice looking wooden ship model can be produced for under $50.
 
I am using the plans from AMERICAN SHIP MODELS AND HOW TO BUILD THEM.  I began by transferring the profile and station lines to tracing paper and the n using transfer paper, I drew the lines for the hull on a 8"X6"X2" basswood block.  The station lines were drawn on thick plastic stock and cut using a #11 Blade.
 
With the lines drawn I sawed the profile on my small band saw. Once that was done I remarked the station lines and carved and sanded the hull to shape using the plastic templates I made.
 
Careful if you are building tiny models. One little slip of the file or even sandpaper means lots of "Do it Again."
 
I attempted to add the Keel, Stem and Rudderpost using thin bass wood. Well that was a disaster as the thin weak wood went to pieces if you looked at it wrong.  I tried about every wood I had, but it either broke to easy or I could not bring myself to painting fine wood.  So, I have used plastic card for the stem, and keel.  Not my favorite option, but now I have some strength in this important part.
I now used the same thin basswood sheet to make the deck.  Boy did I sweat this one!  I drew the deck out and then scribed the lines.  Holy Cow! That process took forever and by the end I was exhausted.  I looked at my work and went "I sure did a great job. Too bad you can't see the lines.  So I read through the forums and consulted books on how to make the lines visible and accurate. In a moment of "Oh well what have I got lose," I sprinkled Vallejo Burnt Umber Pigment on the deck and rubbed it in.  Hoping against hope I brushed the excess off and then with 0000 steel wool rubbed out the rest. I was very impressed.  As this is a working vessel doing work with greasy chains, mud, tar, and whatever else I made the deck used and dirty. I then went over the entire with three light coats of Danish Oil which was then buffed with the same 0000 steel wool.
 
I made hatch covers and coming in basswood and they look 100% US Grade A Terrible. So they had to go and will be replaced by hatches of plastic card. The companion way is made of reclaimed cherry, and still needs a bit of detailing done.  The transom and support knees are right from the plans and made of basswood and card.
 
The one thing I most dreaded were the low Bulwarks.  I cut my 2mm strips of basswood and boiled those for 5 minutes. I then wrapped them around a can and secured them with rubber bands.  When dry I was surprised that they fit perfectly and glued in with not one bit of trouble.
 
I have given the hull a Yellow Ochre coat to find any flaws.  Oh and I found a bunch that need some attention.
 
So, onward I march.  More later shipmates.
 
Don
 
Author of OF ICE AND STEEL and EPITAPH                  
 
       

Plenty of progress. Plenty of obstacles overcome (hopefully). And I'm sure plenty more to come.
 
My last post concerned my preparation for putting on the main deck. My problem was that my frame tips were out of whack. Some too high, some too low. I decided to ignore the specs/plans and just work to create the contour for the deck in the easiest and safest way. I really didn't want to take a saw to any frames (remember, these are ribs, not bulwarks)or do much rough filing and sanding. As it turned out I was able to shim up all the low frames, a little here a little more there and produce the sloping I wanted. For shims I just cut already measured thickness wood and laminated one or two together and made the heights of these frame tips what I needed. For each tip that was raised in this way I also had to put in a shim on the notch that would hold the beam.
 
Then I decided to deviate a bit from the sequence of steps the instructions gave and install the stairways below deck before putting on the deck. I had finally found where the fifth step would go and this was both good news and bad. Good that I knew where it went, bad that the stringer for that fifth set of stairs had been destroyed getting it out of its template. So I had to rebuild the stringer. That was actually fun and in the end not disappointing. I used my Dremel scroll saw to cut the stringer's notches. I wasn't completely accurate, a couple steps came out pretty cockeyed but sanding them down made them almost look level. I need to find a better way to apply CA glue....I just dripped it directly from the squeeze bottle and obviously way too much comes out. I've been researching applicators and will try the sewing needle with the end snipped off next. Also maybe a sewing basting pin that has a little round ball at the end. Anyway, the pics show my work. And I still don't know how to insert pictures between paragraphs, so they are all at the end of this post I guess.
 
Getting that broken stairway in place and making it stay was another trip. Since my Bounty doesn't have planking over the bilge there was nothing to glue to at the bottom. Its supposed to just hang there, resting on the keel and propped up against the lower deck. Not much glue surface. So I added a little cross piece at the head of the stairs between the stringers, enabling me to glue across an inch or so instead of just the two little stringer tips. With the repair work I'd done to these stairs, they weren't precisely parallel stringers I guess and so they sat askew on the keel. I killed two birds with one stone by filing a little notch in the keel into which the left hand stringer fit, leveling the stairs and making the install more secure.
 
The other stairs from the lower deck down to the holding platform was a piece of cake cause it wasn't broken to begin with and cause it had a deck to sit on. So easy that I decided to embellish it and the lower stairs with the same type of railings that I made for the previous stairs installed a few years (it seems) ago.
 
With that I'm going to end this post and start a new one.

Finally finished with the planking.  Think it took about a month to do.  Not bad for my first real planking job but not a good as some of the ones I've seen on the site.  Oh well, hopefully painting will hide some of my errors.  Pics below.  Don't really have any good tips for the people following along.  As I've said, things went a little sideways in the planking process and I'm not sure why or where.  I could guess though.  Once I got everyting sanded thought it looks pretty good.
 

Nothing sanded yet.  Just happy to finally be done. Yeah, I had to do stealers, and the two different plank insertion methods listed in the instructions.  Was hoping to avoid that but nope.  Well, it was a good learning experience never the less.
 

Took me about 1 hour to sand each side.  Started out with 120 grit then moved onto 320 for that final smoothness
 

Yeah, the transform / stern was not fun to glue down.  Used my clamps alot with a small piece of wood to add some cushion between the wet soft wood and the clamp.  Big help with this whole planking thing was wetting the wood in boiled water.
 

Yeah, you can see some of the different insert I had to add and a few "beauty" marks.  LOL  Well, no denying she's my ship.

Dear ship build log.
Making progress on the planking.  Tried the plank insert today.  Forgot what it's really called.  Think I did okay.  Slowly working on getting the first Rattlesnake planks in line with my new guide. Maybe one more plank and another insert.  Good thing I'm painting the hull. LOL

 
Also repainted the inside of the gunwales today.  I used a lighter red over the rust.  I like the color.

As you can see the "teeth" for the starboard side are now made and installed.  I decided that I preferred the uniformity of having the same barrels all the way down the side, not historically accurate, but for me more aesthetically pleasing. 

Now the fun begins. Step 7 "go ahead and plank the hull".  The hull is single planked with extremely brittle and thick strips of 2mm x 5mm Mahogany/Sapelly which were a real b***h to try and bend.
 

 
Wasn't really happy about the deck planking. Need to think about that so lets move on and practice bending a few of these mahagony planks for the hull just for fun and a relaxing change of pace.
 

 
Steam usually works.
 

 
Okay next... paint stripper... maybe blow torch....
 

 
Do not release the vice grips or....