Aussie048

Sam,
Believe it or not...it looks like the 10mm stuff took the curve!
 
The 5mm planks took the curve perfectly so I pinned and glued them on. Next, I have to shape those 10mm planks then pin & glue them.

Hi everyone, new guy here, my name is Joe. I've been lurking for about a month and thought it was time to post the build log of my 95% completed Model Shipways Prince De Neufchatel. This is my fourth wooden ship build, with MS "Elsie", Mamoli "Portsmouth" and Corel "Unicorn" being the others. 
 
I started this way back in 2000, and it has languished off and on in my attic while I've built plastic aircraft models and such. I've been re-energized to complete it and have accomplished a lot over the last few months. Since I haven't completed a build since 2000 my wooden ship skills are a bit rusty, but it's slowly coming back. 
 
I've made a number of changes, right or wrong to the kit, most obviously changing the kit carronade carriages out for scratch sleds; just think it looks better with carronades, and more likely as well...
 
I see a lot that I would do differently if I were starting over today, but that's all for the next build. 
 
Meanwhile, here are some photos of where she stands today. Standing rigging is nearly complete, with a few back-stays, and one side of the topmast ratlines to go. A few running lines are up. 
 
I'm really looking forward to being part of what seems like a great group here at MSW. 
 
 
 
 

I have decided to give myself a short break from the small fiddly stuff on my Caroline build and take up where I left off with this.I am continuing on with infilling the hull with limewood.The sections are cut from 20mm sheet.Not much to show,but work shall be continuing on over the next week or two.As I mentioned earlier the bulkheads have been altered to use 1.5mm single planking.The wales will be 3mm ebony,but I am considering splicing the planks at the waterline,ebony above and box below.I do not want to use holly or maple for the 'whitestuff' because I will already have pear,box and ebony and I personally feel that is enough colour variation,any more and it will be too much.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

making the tops

Progress
1.Bowfillers

2.Stern - I decided to complete this before fairing the hull, but am I going to pay for this later?

3.Lintels and sills going in

4.Checking the alignment against the future window placement

5.Fairing the hull on my fairing station

6.Lower decks are going in - the pencil line for caulking

 
Last Day of Summer here - could this mean more modelling time?
 

timo 4352: Thank you !
You can´t wait ? Here you go
 
Ships just got keels. I will continue with wales.
 
Jan

Here's a couple shots of the starting of lining off - and the sheet of plank shapes from the plans. I've glued it to poster board an I'll cut them out to see how they fit the boat. I don't know if any other kits include plank shapes like this? It seems like a nice touch, especially for a beginner.
I have taken all those pins out and cut them short and re-installed them to make working on the hull a little less cumbersome.
 

 

 

 

I got hooked by the carving bug and decided to try and make the small tritons sitting above the lion. The ones with red hats, my wife refered to them as Totem Santas and that's a good name to describe them.
 
First reference pics:


 
I used lime (ha thanks Nigel) and it was pretty small to carve and ended up quite fragile, so I wanted to mount it as soon as I could so I wouldn't break the fin.

 
I feel it was missing before, and I grew found of it´s quirky and odd design.
 
 
/Matti
 
 
 
 

Row I am already ahead of you there.
 
Before the crash of MSW 1.0 I had been documenting the build from the keel up and after I did not rebuild the log but just picked up where I had got too. I do have however hundreds of photographs of the entire build from the very begining.
 
this picture shows the curved brass tube to carry the steering wire to the tiller.
 

 
the first decking was white pine and the wires were set before the first planking was finished
 

 

 
the wire was to have a stop fixed so that it would move back and forth tracking beneath the cockpit
 

 
eventually I covered the first layer of planking with a layer of clear fir because I did not like the way the first layer looked plus there was the issue of the cover board and learning about the construction of the full sized practice as I was moving along.
 

 
after the fir was scraped and given a rub down with steel wool the steel exit holes are virtually invisible but they are still there as marked by the red circle in this picture.
 

 
Now this is a possibility that I am considering very seriously, and that is to not put any kind of radio in her at all but to sail it with the rigging set and cleated as if she was a classic pond yacht. the reason being, that the build is more important than the sailing of this model, My sailing will happen in Maria. the boat is set so that if I wanted to add the radio and other gear later I could do it.
 
I would rather spend my time though building the next boat than sailing a model, as long as I know it will sail that is all that matters at this point, so it will get to the water and it will be documented for sure.
 
And to answer you question about glue , I am using lepages carpenters glue and the cap will be varnished or oiled when finished.
 
michael

Nils, Bob, John, thanks for stopping by and your thoughts. Thanks for the likes.
 
Today I took a little time out from computer transfer to work on the cockpit cap rail.
 

 
The joints are small and a bit fiddly.
 

 

 
I have the corners all made now and the stern pieces glued together
 
Before finalizing I will add some dowel pins to locate the rails to the vertical boards.
 

 

 
hopefully I can finish the shaping tomorrow.
 
Michael
 
 
 
 

I have finally completed and fitted the screen bulkhead assembly. The 'glass' turned out well.  The two pillars closest to the sides need to be trimmed a little (about 1/2mm ech ) to fit which was a bit awkward.
 
Incidentally I have found Super Glue Gel (CA) is ideal for positioning pieces of decoration. It doesn't run, and a few small drops applied by a pin gives you time to position the piece. In Australia you can get it at Bunnings (Selleys Quick Fix in a small green tube) or ZAP Gel at hobby shops.  For most other things I now use slow setting (it's still fairly quick) CA (either ZAP or Delta with the yellow labels).
 
I have now decided to paint the hull before coppering the bottom.  I will follow Arthur's method in layng the plates with the vertical nail impressions towards the stern and the horizontal impression towards the bottom.
 

 

I have finally got around to finishing the second layer of planking, the wales and the decorative strips.The next few pictures show the steps and the decorative strips. I am not all that happy with the steps.  Looking at the plan (too late) I realised the steps are superimposed on the decorative strips.  With hindsight I should have cut the strips leaving space for the steps.Here are the quarter galleries.  They need a couple more coats of matt paint.I have decided to try Kristal Klear for the windows.  The windows pictured show some in the process of drying (showing white).  Once dry, they become completely clear. It takes a bit of time to get the knack, but the results seem to be really good (so far).

It's certainly a shame that all of the data has been lost.  It was a wonderful resource.  I still have some of the photos of my progress on the Vanguard and I will try to put these up now. I have just competed the wales and the first of the decorative strips (above the top wale) and I will post these when I get a chance.
 
I have just looked at this post and the photos have apparently gone up in reverse order. As well I was only able to load 9 files to the post, rather than the 10 that was advised elsewhere. The new format will take some getting used to. I hope my next attempt will be a bit less chaotic.
 
I have tried to add some more photos with comments and have tried to preview the added post. I'm afraid it looks like a dogs breakfast.  I'm going to submit it and see what turns up. It is VERY frustrating.
 
 
This photo and the two below show my solution to the placement of the last timber strip to the main wale.
 
Here is the stern view of the completed main wale.
 
Starting the top wale.  I first soak the first strip for a couple of hours, then clamp it in the correct position, leaving it overnight. This gives the correct curvature,  I then glue it to the model complete and then cut the holes for the gunports. The remaining strip can then fitted easily below the first. 

I just glued the last of the toprail trim & support to the aft portion of the ship. Next will be the forward section if I can get that 2mm x 10mm stuff to curve.

I have another picture this one is all the bulkheads in place. I used epoxy on every part of the hull because water will not affect it and I find epoxy much stronger and faster than glue.

I copied some plans of the Greek Bireme from a fellow modeller and made my own templates. This build is not going to be accurate as far as scale goes my main focus is the mechanics that operate the oars. To do this I require a boat to put it in and the Greek Bireme seems like the simplest multi oar build I could find. The plan is to have the oars and sail controlled by RC too. The radio will be a twelve channel Futaba with a fourteen channel receiver which I believe should be more than enough channels. Lets start with the boat shall we. The two pictures you see are the start with the keel and bulkheads.

Finally able to do some light work on my ship. Slowly working on the masts - foremast finished.Not perfect but neither is the rest of the build.Had to make new mast caps as the kit ones were ugly plywood & didn`t show the metal bands holding the upper sections to the caps.The dowels for the masts are walnut so they are probably a little darker than they should be.Got some of Chuck`s blocks - super nice.
 

 

 
Mark

Finished up making the wire strops for the top deadeys, usual pins and excess wood making up the jig.  Went with a slightly shorter version than my first mock up as some hooks from a 'Badger' photo-etch kit I'd ordered last year were used (unfortunately none of the supplied PE strops fitted the 3mm deadeyes).  Once bent a spot of CA was used to close any remaining gaps and a coat of paint applied.  These were then epoxied into the tops so the top mast shroud tensions don't cause any knock-on complications.  Completed one set of futtock shrouds to see if everything would work OK before continuing, and pretty happy with the results.
 
Given that I'm planning on taking Snake to the Connecticut model ship show, I'm only going to finish up the other futtock shrouds and various small repair/touch-up jobs for now.  Am planning to start on the various spars once thats complete and get these finished before installing any of the top and topgallant masts as these would be an accident waiting to happen I suspect.
 

Ferit, Eamon, B.E., Timmo - cheers guys!
 
Still proceeding at a snails pace.  Following picture for the benefit of other Snake builders.  The block on the foremast for the maintopmast preventer stay could very easily interfere with catharpins on foremast shrouds, felt a bit lucky that I didn't run afoul of this, the positioning of the futtock stave is important as the block couldn't move any higher because of the mast cheeks.  One more catharpin to go on foremast (which I'm remaking again because it didn't fit....)
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 52 – Port side ceiling continued
 
The planking of the floor on the port side continues – dull work, but with some interesting quirks as the planking approaches the keelson.
 
The first picture shows some planking strips sawed off of a wide blank of Castelo – a substitute for real European boxwood.  I am using Castelo wherever hard or yellow pine would have been used on the original.
 

 
These planks are 8” wide and slightly over the 4” thick specification.  This allows some extra thickness for leveling out and sanding the installed planking.  The 4” strips are cut from the 8” thick blank to the left that has been painted with two coats of dark brown acrylic latex paint – ordinary hardware store variety – to simulate the caulked joints between planks.
 
The next picture shows a strake of this planking being installed.
 

 
After the plank is cut and fit, yellow glue is applied to the top of each frame.  Dark glue is then applied to the painted edge of the plank and the butt end.  The plank is then held in place at each frame, drilled and pinned. The pins fit tightly and need to be forced into the smaller holes with pliers to hold the piece until dry.  The holes will later be used for treenails and iron blunts at the butts.  Water is immediately used to brush off excess glue.
 
Because the line of these strakes is closer to the keelson at the fore and aft ends, a number of planks need to be “dropped” so the planking will finish parallel to the keelson at the limber channel.  I started dropping planks after a few of the initial strakes were installed over the full length.  The next few pictures show – very briefly – how the number and positions of the dropped planks were determined,
 

 
The process is conceptually simple but can get confusing in practice.  I will not try to describe it completely here.  As shown in the above picture, the widths of the planks are marked off on a slip of card and numbered from the end.  The number of full strakes to the keelson can then be determined and marked at each point along the hull using the marks on the card.  The distance between the marks can then be used to set the taper from two planks down to one – thus dropping a plank toward the ends.
 
The next picture shows the marks being used to set the point where the next plank will be dropped.  I normally do not drop more than one or two planks in a single strake.
 

 
The plank has already been tapered to half-width at “6”.  It will be notched at the point marked “7”, cut halfway through at that point, then tapered up to full width at the point being marked at  “8”.  The next picture shows the plank that is being marked above being filed to shape – on the unpainted side.
 

 
In the next picture this plank is being installed.
 

 
I hold the plank tight to its neighbor using the pliers as shown in the above picture.  The pin hole location is then center-marked and drilled.  The pliers are then used to push in a pin and secure the plank.
 
In the next picture the aftermost piece in this strake has been tapered to the “drop” point and is being fit into position
 

 
The last picture shows the floor after the installation of this strake.  A few more planks will need to be dropped before getting to the limber strake next to the keelson.  This method was used on the finished starboard side.
 
 

 
I usually recheck remark the drop points after each strake is installed.  I expect the divergence to be fully corrected before installing the last two strakes.
 
I hope this brief explanation has not been to confusing.
 
Ed
 
 

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 51 – Port side ceiling continued
 
It has been about a week since the last post.  Seems longer.  Work has been progressing, but most of it is similar to work covered in earlier posts, so there has not been much of interest to add.  The first picture shows the bilge ceiling being installed under the lower deck clamp aft on the port side.
 

 
At this stage all of the iron strapping is in place on both sides, so now it’s a matter of keeping it undamaged until it is covered by the various internal planking and clamps.  The next picture shows some of the lower strakes of the thick bilge ceiling being installed.
 

 
A fair amount of clamping is required to pull these 8” x 8” timbers into place and hold them there while the glue dries.  The deck clamps have been extended concurrently with work on the ceiling.  This can be seen in the next picture, which shows the current state of the model.
 

 
Below is another view showing the open areas in the bilge ceiling.  Later, nine frames in each of these sections and an aft section will be removed up to the height of the middle deck clamps.
 

 
The entire bilge ceiling is complete in this picture.  The thinner floor ceiling planking has not yet begun on the port side.  The next picture shows a closer view of the central view port area.
 

 
All of the bilge ceiling has been leveled out and given a preliminary sanding to allow the remaining iron (copper wire)  bolts to be installed.  All of the bolts have been installed in the completed deck clamps.
 
The last picture shows the starboard lower hull. 
 

 
In this picture the protruding bolts installed thus far have been filed and sanded off.  There are many more to install as the inside work continues.  The bolts are relatively invisible at this stage but will be much more prominent when etched black. 
 
The next step is to plank the floor area on the port side.
 
Ed
 

Looking great Stergios.  If you're not planning to already, I'd suggest getting the staghorns and bulwark cleats installed sooner rather than later as this will get trickier as the deck fills up, the ones near the aft platform are probably the most challenging.  Forgive me for posting the photo below, but shows what I'm talking about.
 

All the 18 carronades in place...
I've placed the additional couple of the cannons temporarily in front of the most anterior openings just to have a general idea..
My plan is to continue (and finish) with the tackling of the carronades & cannons and leave the deck fittings fixing (ladders, capstan, companionway, pumps) for later ...

Some pics from my recent work...

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