Aussie048

Thanks for your advice. I went ahead with the masts before I read your message. I think I'm ok because I'm going to wait a day or two to see if the glue works. I drilled a hole in each of the masts and glued them together putting a piece of a round toothpick inside and wrapping brown/black thread around it to hold it tight. If that doesn't work, are there any suggestions? I'm excited and trying to be patient and work slowly. If you look under the front of the small boat, there is a square box that I suppose should have a cover. Would it be a lattice or the same cover as the other hatch? Hope I'm using the right terms. The only thing that seems to be missing from the deck are four groups of cannon balls and some belaying pins. It is a 1/64 model and as close as I can figure the belaying pins are 5 mm.

First thing I can tell you is that the lines DON'T cross over at the fore end of the bowsprit. You must have the flying jib line way too high.
 
Check out this pic of an overall side view - different ship, but the rigging is pretty well the same for any brig :
 

 
  Danny

I've reached a stopping point. None of the books or pictures of other ships or even the Wikipedia articles have not met
with what I have. First, I should say that I made some cannon balls (I only needed 12) out of modeling clay I had on hand and when it dried I painted them black, so now I'm working on the bowsprit area and trying to determine where the main mast and the foremast are secured. One diagram shows a line going from the tip of the bowsprit to the top of the foremast, then another from the same spot to the top of the mainmast which has a flying jib attached to it. Others don't agree. So my question is - how are the masts held up? Thanks for your kind words from all of you. Betty

Thank you mhegazi and Nils (I'm still not sure about how many sails I'll be fitting, if any).
 
Main Stay
 
Apart from the Anchor Hawse the Main Stay is the largest rope on the ship at 1.4mm diameter. It fits to the mast top in similar fashion to the mizzen stay, and is lashed to the stay collar at it's lower end. The upper end is served to a few scale feet below the mouse :
 

 

 

 
I'd forgotten to fit the Main Preventer Stay Collar before I'd permanently fitted the foremast. It made the job slightly more difficult. To prevent the collar from shifting upward two cleats are glued to the sides of the foremast :
 

 
  Danny

Today I performed the first rigging tuning. I tensioned up the various lines to align the masts. Once aligned I used half hitches on a number of each set of shrouds to hold the masts I will leave this for a few days to see if anything stretches or needs any tweaking before dressing them all.
 
Since I had already tensioned and dressed the mizzen futtock shrouds weeks ago, I started installing the ratlines. I plan on installing the futtock shroud ratlines before moving on to the running rigging. I will hold off on the lower ratlines until the majority of the running rigging is in place.
 
I used David Kump's fantastic Youtube video on how to tie the ratlines as the method I used. The only thing I did differently was I found at least for this set, my bent tweezers were the easiest to use to tie the knots. I found once I got into a rhythm, they moved pretty fast. I am SURE I will tire of making them before all is said and done, but I was pretty happy with the way the first set came out. As I tied them I would lock the end knots with CA once I was sure they were in the correct place and the line was not deforming the shrouds. Once I completed the entire set, I used the CA to set each of the knots.
 
A link to David's Youtube video is here. 
 
Here is a photo of my first set.
 
 

While I'm making deadeyes, chain plates and siezings....I installed the ship's bell. It's eight bells now, so I have to run.

I have been giving a great deal of thought as to how to proceed with this build. I have now completed the first planking up to the main deck level. To my immense relief, the planks are still straight, which means that each deck installed so far is exactly parallel with respect to the others.
 
Other builders of the RW on MSW have decided to continue the first planking upwards, but I am nervous about doing this. Any planking above the main deck is unsupported by frames, and thus potentially vulnerable if the ship is turned upside down.
 
I have therefore decided to start my second planking at the waterline and work downwards and upwards. These photos show that the waterline has been drawn with a thick black marker.
 
If you look closely, you will note that I am using pear strips which I bought from Jeff at Hobbymill for the planks above the waterline, and the Euromodel supplied strips below the waterline. The reason is to save cost by saving the expensive pear strips for planking which will actually be visible. The planks below the waterline will be hidden by white paint.
 

 

 
(EDIT) I forgot to mention - the 2013 edition of "SHIPWRIGHT" magazine has a feature by Mr. Yankovitch who scratchbuilt the 1:36 scale Royal William. It is well worth reading, he talks about his technique and how he overcame various problems. I bought my copy on Kindle. Amazon link is here:
 
http://www.amazon.com/Shipwright-2013-International-Maritime-Modelmaking-ebook/dp/B00GZ8EPPM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416144214&sr=1-1&keywords=shipwright+2013

Just another small update
 
I decided to dress up the exposed ribs with venere that is cut to imitate the original timbers.
 
I drew up a plan
 

And started covering the ribs
 

And cut the covering from .5 x 5 mm rose wood, I will exaggerate the scarf joints with some pencil lines and I made the odd house shaped timber a darker wood for contrast. I will treenail with lots of small brass wire pieces, but the rest of the model will be treenailed with bamboo.
 

 
I still have the keel strip to cover to bring it up to the height of the new wood, these I will do in darker wood if I cannot figure a way to continue end grain.
 

 
 
Thanks for the help with the pumps I think I am going to go with the 'modern' version that came with the kit but I am still going to carry there drain system through to all deck levels.

Thank you Piet and Jason,
 
I was just trying to get an overview of how many sprit boom related lines I would Need to put on, and also to establish belaying Points for those.
The Little Hand scetch (pending changes ) helps me along with that and inspired by a recent pic of Danny`s Vulture, a Detail not shown in the Amati plan, I think the 8- hole saddle stradling the bow sprit will bring some better alignment and neatness to the many bow lines
 
Nils

Worked some more on the build over the last few days and thought I'd provide and update and possibly a few insights.
 
Being a novice to POB ship construction, this is a huge learning experience for me. It seems that I may have made somewhat of a mistake with my build in that I probably should have marked the reference lines and bearding lines on the false keel pieces BEFORE I assembled them. Apparently, that allows you to verify the that false keel pieces alight properly when you actually glue them together.
 
Well, I don't know if I just got lucky but, when I transferred the reference lines and bearding lines from the plans to the already assembled false keel, they all lined up perfectly. I may have been due to the way I assembled the false keel using my keel jig to align the piece. But, at the end of the day, all is well and I won't have to make any adjustments.
 
So, my next step was to cut the rabbet in the false keel. I know a lot of folks use a chisel. But, I just felt much more comfortable using my hobby knife. I have a No. 2 and a No. 11 knife. I decided to work with the No. 11 as the blade isn't quite as broad and has a little more flex to it. But, I think a No. 2 would have worked just as well. I used the knife taking off small slivers of wood at a time and worked alternately with the knife and a small sanding block to slowly form the rabbet.
 
When I finished cutting the rabbet, I went ahead and attached the stem and stern pieces to the false keel. I know this is probably out of the norm but, there's method to my madness. I am anticipating receiving some wood from the Constitution. If so, and if there is enough of it, I plan to fabricate the keel for my model of wood from the Constitution. In the interim, I test fit the keel pieces from the kit and made adjustments as necessary so that I can glue them up if Plan A falls through. I'll post a picture below of what it looks like at the moment.
 
After talking to Jeff at HobbyMill, I decided to place an order after all. I may be biting off more than I can chew but, I've decided to model a full gun deck. So, I order enough boxwood to do the gun deck and spar deck. I also ordered enough holly to plank the hull. It may sound crazy since the hull is going to be black and a good portion of it covered with copper. But, I think the holly has better bending properties than the basswood and I think it takes finish better than basswood. Only time will tell at this point.
 
So, I spent a lot of today finishing up my keel jig. Again, I'll post pictures below. I decide to construct a vertical support with a slot in it for the stem to slide in to. I built it so that when the false keel sits in it, it will be at a perfect 90° angle to the build board. I also install a couple of triangular pieces for the stern to sit in to keep the entire false keel in the same geometry.
 
I also started cleaning a few of the 24 lb. long guns that will go on the gun deck while killing some time today. I'm also waiting for some a carronade to come in that I hope will be an acceptable replacement for the carronades provided in the kit. As I pointed out in the update to my "era differences" post, there's nothing wrong with the carronades provided in the kit other than there aren't enough of them and more importantly, they aren't of the 1812 era.
 
Well, that's about all for today. Thanks for following. Oh, and by the way, everything contained in my posts (and more) is going into a detailed build journal which I will provide to the admins for posting at the end of the build. I think it should be very useful for POB novices like myself.
 
Fletch

Well, I actually started my build yesterday. It took me several days to get my work area set up. I'm not really happy with my work area but, it's the best I can do for now.
 
Like everyone who's done this build before me, I started by cutting out the bulkhead support pieces, keel, stem, and stern pieces and glued the halves together. Of course, I ran out of clamps and had to run out to the office supply store for binder clips.
 
Today, when I went back to work again, I decided I'd set up a jig to hold the keel as so many have recommended. My initial thought was that I'd only put down one of jig pieces initially and use that as a guide to put the bulkhead supports against when I glued them together. I suddenly realized that both the table on which I was working and my build board were bowed. The table was 3/8" - 1/2"  lower in the middle than it was on the ends. And, my build board had apparently gotten wet on one end because 1/3 of one end of the board was thicker than the other. Had I started working with things the way they were, I'd have ended up with a real mess. So, I ended up cutting a support leg for the center of the table and swapped out to a slightly smaller build board (which is actually the board I had intended to use in the beginning).
 
Once I got all that straightened out, I put down one piece of the keel jig and put down wax paper next to the jig for gluing the bulkhead pieces. After I cleaned up the bulkhead support pieces, I put the first bulkhead piece down against the edge of the jig and puts brads in the alignment holes to hold the piece in position horizontally. I put glue on the middle support piece and put it into position again using brads to hold it in position. And, likewise with the back piece. Then of course, I put weights on top of the entire thing to hold it in position. I had not seen anyone do it quite this way but, I thought I'd give it a try just to see.
 
I've done wooden ship model builds before. However, I'm a novice to POB builds. So, I've come to realize just how different it is and how steep a learning curve I'm on. Consequently, in addition to this build log, I'm going to maintain a more detailed journal that will be more of a guide for POB novices like myself in future.

Thanks for the kind comments Ben, John, Sherry, Piet, David, George, Greg, Nils and Popeye - much appreciated .
 
 
Nils - the holes in the Tops are just large enough to slip over the shrouds.
 
Fore Mast Shrouds
 
With the completion of the Fore Mast ones I've finished fitting all the lower shrouds :
 

 

 

 

 

 
My apologies for the poor quality of the pics - it's very difficult to take good ones with the lighting and backgrounds in my caravan .
 
  Danny

Milestone reached! The standing rigging is completely installed. I still need to perform final tensioning and dressing. Of course the rat lines are not part of this. I do not plan on running the ratlines until the interior running lines are installed. The mast alignment is pretty close. I will need to tweak the tensioning a bit to perfectly align them but they are not far out so this should be easily accomplished.
 
I will be busy next week and will not be able to get to this, but a week for the lines to settle in will be fine as well. Sorry for the photo, The tools in the background make it difficult to see all the lines, but trust me there are there.
 
 

I completed the middle level of the standing rigging as well as all of the standing rigging for the mizzen. I hope to complete the standing rigging tomorrow. I still need to tension most of the lines and dress them. So progress is being made. She is getting big now. Funny how adding lines to the tops of the mast start to make her shape up.
 
 

Today I carved a mastcap for the topgallant using the undamaged one as a model. Then I made a cross tree and a new topgallant. The picture shows the undamaged one next to the one I made. Does it look right and in position? Betty

Hi Ken,
 
As of today that is the way my anchor ropes are running. I will have to do something with them eventually.
 
Here are pictures of my hanging anchors. I'm not sure how the real anchors hung, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this. You can also see the horrible job I did on the chain plates. I'm pretty embarrassed by them. I can't believe they came out so bad.
 
I also realized that I drilled the sheave holes on the catheads too close together.
 
I hope everybody out there is learning a lot from my mistakes. I'm blazing trails here.

This past week, Our Hero hath continued to work on the various detail items to be included.
And here, he hath madeth a list:

 
Indeed, just this very day he didst PhotoShop a tick unto the top o' the list upon his return from the faraway land of Nippon where he didst journey to learn the ancient secrets of sword forging.
 
“I shalt not repeateth myself here,” CaptainSteve was heard to mutter. “For I hath detailed in the Kit-Basher’s forum me method fer making these."
So, please, clicketh here to check it out.
 
Now, as we know, Mr Bligh was not the most personable of people. Indeed, ‘tis known that even amongst the loyalists in the Launch with him, only a handful of men could be relied upon. Thusly, Our Hero hast reasoned that Bligh would’ve been certain to keep all the weapons onboard within easy reach.
 
“Hence I shalt most probably be placing the four cutlasses (and two native spears) that hath been documented up Bligh’s end of the Launch,” CaptainSteve didst explain.
 
Re-visiting the tool-chest, for now, three of the cutlasses have been lazily placed inside.
 
“Thee final one couldst well be chopped into the edge of one of the rear benches,” our Hero didst suggest. “Mayhaps next to where ol’ Bligh hisself be sitting.”

FILE FASTENERS (and BAND-AIDS) – To make 1/16 scale cutlasses as detail for my Bounty Launch, I used some file fasteners, plus a few other common items.

 
You will need: File Fastener; Piece of brass strip; Piece of tubing (plastic/metal); A small, metal bead; Strip of aluminium foil; A band-aid (cloth variety).

 
Flatten the file fastener. I put mine between two metal rulers and then hammered along the length. With the ones I used, there was a brand indentation which could not be completely hammered out.
(At a casual glance, it almost looks like a Royal Crest !!).

 
Cut out the rough shape of your sword. Bear in mind to leave enough for the “Tang”. This is the part extending back from the blade which will later form the interior of the handle.

 

 
The Dremel tool makes the shaping process a little easier …

 
Cut a short piece of tubing to become the Grip. This fits over the Tang. It needs to be approx. 3mm shorter, allowing the tip of the Tang to stick out …


 
This part is entirely optional, but I chose to dry brush my blades with, first, a metallic chrome, and then a matt gloss.

 
Cut short pieces of the brass strip to make the Hand Guard. This piece will need to be approx. twice the length of the Tang. Drill a hole at each end (approx 0.5cm in), and then round them off, using the Dremel.
(A tip: clip the corners with nail-trimmers first.)
 
Next up, bend the brass strips over a suitable tool (I used my hand-drill) to form the Guard.
 
Here are all the pieces set out and almost ready to begin …

 
But first, make some strips of aluminium foil. Fold them over onto themselves a few times, to give them extra strength. These strips will become the Rain Guards on your swords (but, more importantly, they will serve to make the join between hilt and blade look much tidier).

 
WARNING: It can be a bit fiddly putting everything together. Test-fitting of pieces before applying glue is highly recommended to ensure that nothing breaks and needs to be re-made.
 
Apply small amount of Epoxy glue to the Tang and top part of blade. Thread Tang through hole in one end of the Guard. Slide the Grip into place. Make sure the Tang protrudes from the other end, and then poke it through the top hole of the Guard.
I used a pair of pliers to grip the two ends of the Guard together whilst the glue dries. You will want to apply just enough force to keep the Guard flush against the ends of the Grip piece.
 
Quickly, before the glue can dry, place the small bead onto the end of the Tang, now protruding through the top of the Guard. This becomes the Pommel (or Peen Block), holding everything together.
 
It should look something like this …

 
Wrap an aluminium strip around your blade (two turns is enough), sliding it up against the bottom of the Guard to ensure it is flush ...

 
Once the epoxy has set, take the cloth band-aid. Cut a short strip to the length of the Grip. Carefully wrap this around the tubing piece.
(NOTE: Originally, I was going to wrap cotton around the Grip. But, I have been desperately trying to find an excuse to feature Band-Aids in Kit-Basher’s.)
 
And here they are, together with the drawing which inspired them …

 
EDIT: The rain guards are most probably NOT historically accurate for basic cutlasses. 

Well time for an update
 
Things been progressing along, I have finished plans for the orlop deck beams that I will attempt with nothing more than a sharp knife, a razor saw and some files.
Other decks will be similar, but the knees are angled down the walls on those decks and not in the floor itself as they are in this deck.
 
I started construction of the hull It went quiet smoothly
 

 
Most of this will be hidden by planking of some sort so I did not concern myself with finish too much, just checked for square often, but easy method to keep square as the frames are all the same.
 

 
 
I did try to put the gun ports in as I built the whole frame (they can be see installed on the next photo), but I latter removed these as they were not even or square enough.
 

 
 
Next I used the trusty razor saw to remove the sides of the hull to make space for the gangway, and a change of level for the rail.
And I cut gunports for the upper deck, these I want to line with framing timbers after the hull planking is installed.
 

 
 
Next I made a redementry jigs that were held in place with small wedges, I lined them up by measuring the height with a rule and lined them up by eye
I used these to glue in the timber using the sides of the small jigs to keep them square to each other.
 

 
They came out fairly strait and at the right height, I can still adjust them after I have planked both sides of the hull.
 

 
 
That is where I am up to at the moment I have cleaned up some of the white metal parts with files, And played around with most of the other parts to see what I want to replace or add to, (Lots of extra buckets/tool boxes/chairs/stools/etc.)
 
I am still confused about the pumps, I find some models with chain type pumps and a cistern assembly on the gun deck next to main mast, but the real ship has the same pumps as was supplied with the kit.
Is it possible that it had chain pumps in it's early life and the type that are fitted now/supplied with the kit were added later, if so do the pumps that are fitted now have drains/pipes that carry through to the lower decks, 
The pumps in plans supplied with the kit are on gun deck but do not carry through to lower decks to collect water, I believe they were connected to the scuppers when in use but I am not sure how they were connected at all.
 
Here is the pumps fitted now
 

 
Thanks for photo Bob
 
Anyway I will keep log informed as to my progress
 
Back to building.

My kit came in tonight.  Here are a couple of shots of the contents.  I'm going to be studying the intructions and plans tonight, and then tomorrow I hope to get to the hardware store to get the stuff I need to get my work area properly set up. 
 

 
 
And of course, as soon as I got things laid out for a better view, the cat had to plop down in the middle of it...
 

 
I'll post some more pics once I get things underway. 

Battle of the Stern - Opening Salvos
 
Reread the plans at least 10 times and compared them to the salvaged stern section from V 1.0...  realized I can do a lot better and also figured out where the errors crept in.  Then reviewed Hahn's article from the NRJ on her.  The pictures were unclear and perhaps I missed something first time through.  So... scanned the article and adjusted the pics... yep.  whiffed it.  Scan of a a scan of a printed magazine with retouched photos...  <hangs head since he knows better>
 
So, I started with some deconstruction by removing the stern post.  That done, took some basswood and worked on the filler piece.  The pics seem to show one curve (which I used for V 1.0) and plans show a different curve.  Originally, I figured Hahn found something and did the filler differently then the drawing and I followed that.  Wrong!!!!  It was the pic. I followed the drawing this time.  Much happier.
 
Also, worked on the first transom frame.  A lot happier even though it took the second try to get it right.  
 
These are "rough faired" for now.  I'll go back and finish shaping when the second transom is installed.
 

Lesson learned. When I was installing the channels I focused on where the front edges of the channels mounted according to the plans. What I should have been focused on was where the notches in the channels were and aligned according to those along with the cannon ports. As a result of this, the aft most channels were installed about ⅝" to far forward. This resulted in the rear canons being obstructed by the rigging. This became especially apparent after I ran the additional stays to the channels. 
 
I thought about this overnight and what could be done. If there had been room in the channels I could have cut new slots for the shrouds but there was not. There were only two possibilities. I live with this and hope no one notices. This would have been assisted by the whaleboats since they would have been mounted over the obstructed cannons, thus not easy to see unless you look down on the level of the cannon, or 2nd, I tear off the channel and move them in to the correct position. I chose the later. 
 
To remove the channels, I unlaced all the lanyards and taped the shrouds to keep them untangled. I took an exacto knife and cut along the hull at the rear of the channel to keep the paint from chipping. Then I took a pair of needle nose and carefully bent the channel up and down until it came free. I used a wood chisel to remove the forward part of channel support since it would no longer be under the channel, then I epoxied the channels back in their new position. Luckily I only had to remove one of the chain plates and move it aft on each side.
 
I touched up the paint and let everything harden for a couple of hours. Then I replaced the shrouds and stays. Below are photos of one of the channels after removing it, and after the repair.

Today I added the mid-level forestays and backstays on the Mizzen. Tomorrow I will continue to work my way forward on the mid level stays. I did notice that the next to last cannon ports are blocked by the stays. I will look at seem adjustment but this is something I may have to live with. This may go back to how the chain plates channels were attached. I thought they were aligned according to the plans. I will look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow.

You're welcome Robin .
 
Main Lower Shrouds and Burton Pendants
 
I've fitted all the Main Lower Shrouds. The foremost one is served all over, and the others are served for the uppermost quarter.
 
The Burton Pendants are slipped over the mast head before fitting any of the Shrouds. These are used for heavy lifting of any cargo, in conjunction with other rigging on the yards. They have a Thimble spliced into their lower ends, and are made up as a pair with a Cut Splice around the mast :
 

 

 
The foremost shroud is a single and also uses a cut splice to connect the port and starboard shrouds :
 

 
The rest of the shrouds are paired on each side as were the mizzen shrouds. This pic shows all the shrouds fitted around the mast head :
 

 
The deadeyes and lanyards :
 

 
An overall pic of the rigging so far :
 

 
  Danny

I completed the fore stay Bentinck shrouds today. I have started the alignment of the masts but not yet cinched the lower side shrouds permanently. The masts are close. I will start adding the upper forehand back stays tomorrow and start locking the lower shrouds in and dress the lines as I do.