Pirate adam

I think it would be a shame to paint it black. The wood is beautiful. Adam

I love this. Great work Greg

It is pretty straightforward. Dividing the circumference in inches by 3.14 will give you the diameter in inches. Then just divide by 48 to get the scale diameter in inches. example: 6 circumference rope. Divide by 3.14 gives 1.91" diameter rope. Divide by 48 to get 0.0398" diameter in real life for 1/48 scale. Adam

I can verify that the Anatomy of the Ship Armed Transport Bounty book has tables of the various ropes in the rigging. It would make a nice reference for anyone building a model. Adam

This seems like a very sensible plan for the long term. Getting away from the need to source large quantities of wood should simplify things immensely. I was able to see the 3D printed Syren blocks for the first time at the Northeast clubs show and was pretty blown away. Looking forward to seeing some of the other parts you come up with now that you have mastered the printing technology. Cool thing about moving away from the kits is we will likely see a much bigger variety of models being created by people using Syren parts. Adam

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned that you may already have based on your comments on well equipped wood shop. I would recommend a good set of wood chisels and the means to keep them extremely sharp. I use a set that is nothing fancy with sizes between about 1/8” up to about 1/2”. These are super handy for all sorts of work and well worth the investment. Another thing that I have recently added that I don’t know how I lived without is a small jewelers saw and various blades. They are relatively inexpensive online and incredibly useful for cutting out tiny shapes that aren’t so easy to do with a coping saw or scroll saw. Adam

No posts for a while, but I have been very busy over the winter revising some drafting before I cut out the remaining cant frames. I'm finally feeling good about the framing layout, so back to cutting wood. I will have some actual progress soon. The drawing below is where I netted out on the framing layout. I had originally intended to use the framing plan from the AOT Pandora book, but moved away from that based on the other references available. There wasn't a complete framing drawing available from the NMM for Crocodile or any of the other Porcupine class ships, but there are partial framing plans available from for sister ships Siren and Hyena. There is also a full framing plan available for the Sphinx of 1775, which is a smaller, but similar ship. I used those along with the scantlings for the 24 gun ship from Steel combined with the assumptions below to arrive at my final layout. There is some guessing involved, but I don't suspect anyone will ever look at the finished model and tell me convincingly that it is wrong. I am satisfied with the result. Assumptions used in frame layout: 1) All floors equally spaced and following both the dimensions and room and space from Steel 2) Frames aligned in line with all the frames shown on the partial framing diagram for Siren 1779 3) Minimal use of cast and shifted frames to assure frames were aligned with each gunport 4) Maximum use of top timbers to align with the timber heads shown on the plan. 5) Cant frame angles adjusted to line up with both gunport and top timbers whenever possible. The assumptions above actually resulted in a layout very similar to the one for Sphinx which I actually only came across when I was 90% done with drafting.

I would do the deck beams in pear to match the lower platform and the deck with the boxwood matching the inner planking. I don’t think you can go wrong either way. Adam

It is amazing to see some of the things that are becoming possible as people are learning to make full realization of the capabilities of 3D printing. I’m looking forward to seeing what the carvings look like when painted. Adam

Slowly but surely. I managed to break the top timbers off both of the aft frames while wrestling with the filler pieces. Two lessons learned the hard way despite all the helpful hints in people's books and build logs. 1) the direction of the grain of the chocks matters 2) I will wait until I have a few more cant frames ready to stick to the deadwood, so that I can glue spacers at the top to provide a bit more strength. In the meantime I am making tree nails. I must say as much frustration as this portion of the model has caused the results are very satisfying. Adam

I love the display. Adam

Washington galley is a great project. I think you will like it. Adam

Mark, I can certainly verify the accuracy of that statement. Adam

Christian, Yes, I made the plans myself. I bought the drawings from the NMM, and then re-drew them in Turbocad largely following the article by Wayne Kempson as well as the Swan and Naiad books. It has been a really interesting learning process and to be honest a bit humbling. It is safe to say that drafting a set of POF ship model plans is an exercise that “builds character.” I have a whole new level of appreciation for the authors of the various monographs. I’m finally feeling good enough about the frame plans to be close to starting to cut out and assemble the cant frames. Adam

Transoms cut out and in place.