Pirate adam

I formed the knight heads on the top of the bollard timbers.  I just used chisels, files, etc.  The shape on my admiralty draught was relatively easy to form.  Next step will be to file in the opening for the bowsprit and its chock.  I hope not to encounter another piece on the ship as complicated as the bollards.
 

 
Adam

I just went through this process on my Crocodile build and will start with the bow cants soon. I used just about every tool imaginable. I will ask Druxey to close his ears when I say I did a ton of the fairing with a sanding disc tool (one that attaches perpendicular to the shaft via a clip on the back - not the drum shaped sander which guarantees disaster) on a Dremel tool equipped with a right angle attachment. Using a 120 grit disk at low speed allows to remove material at a reasonable pace without too much risk of disaster. Keep in mind I left a full 2mm inside the lines of the frames so plenty of wood to work with.   You do have to be careful so not to ruin frames. Then I switch to hand sanding with sandpaper glued to various pieces of plywood, thin battens, etc. it is something best done a little at a time over the course of days. I will still need to do some thinning of the frames later which I I’ll do entirely with hand sanding. It is a bit shocking to see how thin the frames are when you get to the prototype thickness which is 5.5” at the heads for my model.  The tiny size of the timber heads is one of the first things that jumped out seeing some of the dockyard models in person at the navy academy museum. 
 
Adam

The blocks look really good. I like the color. They look like ancient wood. They also look fun as an army of blue droids. 

The blocks look really good. I like the color. They look like ancient wood. They also look fun as an army of blue droids. 

The blocks look really good. I like the color. They look like ancient wood. They also look fun as an army of blue droids. 

Follow up on the DESMG Expo…

I Demonstrated building the Paddle Wheel for the Klondike and Displayed 6 of my completed models. It was a great 3 day Expo held in Bath Maine at Maine’s First Ship Museum. 

The hours drive up each day was well worth it. Transportation of the models was a bit sketchy but they all survived the trip. 

Everything is back home, now it’s time to get to work in the ship yard. 

Cheers 🍻 

I formed the knight heads on the top of the bollard timbers.  I just used chisels, files, etc.  The shape on my admiralty draught was relatively easy to form.  Next step will be to file in the opening for the bowsprit and its chock.  I hope not to encounter another piece on the ship as complicated as the bollards.
 

 
Adam

I then removed the frames from the model and pulled them apart.  This was super easy due to label paper on the frames.   I then cut down each frame using the mill to create the air gaps.  I won't even get into how many hawse timbers I made to get to this point before everything looked right and fits properly with the first cant frame.  Next I will file in the hawse holes per the instructions in the Swan practicum.  I also still need to do a bit of shaping of the bollards to get them to fit properly on the tapered stem, and then I will try to shape the knight heads.

Adam

Finally some progress on the pointy end.  I cut out the frames in the usual manner.  I printed out an extra set of frame drawing, so I could add them to both sides of the frames.  I did some pre-beveling, and then glued all the frames together into 2 stacks (not shown).  I then did some shaping on the inside and outside of the frames before temporarily attaching to the stem.  I marked the heights for the hawse holes and the level of the material that will remain when I cut the air gaps.
 

Looking amazing. The milling is tricky and you made it look easy. 
 
Adam

Looking amazing. The milling is tricky and you made it look easy. 
 
Adam

Thank you all, your support means a lot! ☺️

Deck framing preparations
Here is the "final" deck layout that I settled on. Knee shape is quite approximate and would be refined on the model, but the carlings are all in their final spots. Ledges are omitted for clarity, but they would be placed on the top and middle part of the deck, leaving the bottom one fully bare. Depending on the visuals I might add the bottom row of carlings later on.

If anyone can spot any mistake - please let me know before it is too late!
Always a difficult decision point for me - what colour scheme to use for the next phase of the build?
I want some contrast, but not too much. 
After hours of scrolling through amazing build logs here on MSW as well as photos of classical models - settled on the following palette:
Carlings: boxwood, same as the beams. Lighter boxwood would represent the "heavy" timbers of the deck.
Lodging knees: light pear, non-steamed.
Hanging knees, beam arms: Swiss pear, steamed (darker variety)
Ledges: have not decided yet, will try cherry. Something dark, but not black. Hope cherry is not too grainy for these tiny pieces.
Here are the wood sheets planed to thickness and sanded. I will likely keep it unfinished, and use finish only for the top decks that might be touched.

Next is milling the stock for carlings. It took too much effort for pillars, so trying to refine my technology.

Ideally I just need a proper thickness sander, but I don't have one (or a space/time for the DYI variety), so was curious if my Proxxon FET table saw can do if I treat it with some love and care? Any tool shines better if you actually spend time tuning it..  
At least the fence angle needs to be adjusted to avoid pushing wood into the blade (or away from it), it does make a difference!
First was trying a slitting blade with 1mm kerf and no set. It leaves a fairly smooth finish, but tends to burn the wood and is harder to control.
Switched over to the regular carbide tipped blade which has an effective kerf of almost 2mm. Sounds wasteful, but it is easier to control, so fewer planks would end up in the scrap bin.
No burning, but the blade marks are slightly more visible.
Close-up of test pear strips cut with both types of the blade, the surfaces are quite different:

I do not have a proper "thin strip jig" that acts as a bump stop on the other side of the blade, but this saw also has a micro-adjuster that I have never tried before. Fiddly to use, but once you get the hang of it - it actually allows to move the fence quite precisely. 

If I need 4.0mm piece - I move the wheel to 6.0mm and with a blade kerf of almost 2mm I do get consistent 4.1mm thickness (with, say, +/- 0.05 tolerance). Not too bad for a saw that is not really designed for that kind of precision!

They are 0.2mm oversized, leaving just 0.1 on each side to remove saw marks and any imperfections
Boxwood carling blanks straight out of that saw, with no touch-up / sanding / scraping:

Then some very careful planing in my thicknessing jig, taking care to not take too much material. 

I was worried that strips would fall on a side and I will end up with parallelograms instead of squares, but with the narrow face of 2.5mm and a crisp edge it was not an issue, they were standing upright.
Now I have a bunch of blanks ready. They are straight, smooth and satisfyingly square in all directions and with dimensions down to +/-0.02mm! I did not expect to enjoy it that much   

After getting through a multitude of terribly sunny, warm and blue sky days where I just had to force myself to sit out on the back patio, then having yet another health issue I am dealing with, I finally got down to the shop today.

I have my lower guides spot glued and clamped so I’ll be ready to go.

I have all but one of the main wale pieces dry fitted on the bench. The one piece needs to be remade. It is not perfect, but I am aware of my capabilities/limitations and can recognize when my “good enough” has been reached.
 
Now to get that last set remade and start getting them on the model!

I formed the knight heads on the top of the bollard timbers.  I just used chisels, files, etc.  The shape on my admiralty draught was relatively easy to form.  Next step will be to file in the opening for the bowsprit and its chock.  I hope not to encounter another piece on the ship as complicated as the bollards.
 

 
Adam

I formed the knight heads on the top of the bollard timbers.  I just used chisels, files, etc.  The shape on my admiralty draught was relatively easy to form.  Next step will be to file in the opening for the bowsprit and its chock.  I hope not to encounter another piece on the ship as complicated as the bollards.
 

 
Adam

I then removed the frames from the model and pulled them apart.  This was super easy due to label paper on the frames.   I then cut down each frame using the mill to create the air gaps.  I won't even get into how many hawse timbers I made to get to this point before everything looked right and fits properly with the first cant frame.  Next I will file in the hawse holes per the instructions in the Swan practicum.  I also still need to do a bit of shaping of the bollards to get them to fit properly on the tapered stem, and then I will try to shape the knight heads.

Adam

Finally some progress on the pointy end.  I cut out the frames in the usual manner.  I printed out an extra set of frame drawing, so I could add them to both sides of the frames.  I did some pre-beveling, and then glued all the frames together into 2 stacks (not shown).  I then did some shaping on the inside and outside of the frames before temporarily attaching to the stem.  I marked the heights for the hawse holes and the level of the material that will remain when I cut the air gaps.
 

Stern cant frames all installed.  Working on some progressive fairing and then on to the bow.
 
 

Port side aft cant frames complete.  On to the other side.
 

Adam

Slowly but surely moving ahead with stern cant frames.  I'm doing a bit of progressive fairing as I go while trying not to go too crazy.  I'm pretty happy with the look of the chocks.  Just a tiny bit of contrast due to the grain direction, but still pretty subtle.  
 

Adam
 

I've started attaching the aft cant frames.  No more until I add some basswood spacers at the top of the frames.  Soon I will also start fairing the internal part of the stern before too much more gets in the way.
 

 
Adam

I finished gluing up the aft cant frames.  My plan is to simulate the frame bolts with copper wire and blacken any exposed bolts on the model with liver of sulfur after fairing.  I used wire labeled 0.019" diameter to simulate scale bolts 7/8" diameter.  There are 2 types of joints on the cant frames.  One type uses chocks and the other a simple scarph joint.  I wanted to save some time laying out the bolt patterns on the frames, so I printed up some guides on label paper.  I found that to work great.  I drilled the holes using a micro drilling accessory on the Sherline lathe.  I broke my last drill bit, so no more holes until I find some more.
 

 

Adam

Cutting of frames for the chocks.  I cut these using the Sherline mill.  I simplified the chocks a bit by not beveling them.  I only cut to the depth of what would be the shallower side so as to not expose the nose of the chock when the frames are faired.  The chocks are a bit funny looking now due to the excess wood outside the actual frame lines.  One side of the chock will be a bit off after fairing, but I don't think they will be especially visible when the frames are glued up anyway.  I used regular scarph joints for the top timbers.  I will pin them later with copper wire to simulate bolts.
 

Here are two sample frames.
 

With a bit of alcohol just to highlight the joints.  I'm pretty happy with the look so far.
 

 
There are 117 frames to do in total counting the hawse timbers, but the nice thing is they are a great project to work on just a bit a day after work.
 
Adam

I forgot to show my high tech gluing setup.  I glue them on a small plate of glass and weigh them down with a flashlight.