Pirate 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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

Looking great so far!

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
 

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
 

Staring at the stern deadwood for a while made me realize it wasn't right.  I didn't leave enough wood on the forward portion of the deadwood to allow the last few square frames to sit properly and fair into the bearding line.  I'm not sure how I missed this in the other examples.  I adjusted my drawing and remade the deadwood.  I actually ended up making two more because I accidentally rounded off the portion on the second version in a way that would have interfered with the proper alignment with the underside of the wing transom.  I am happy with the final version.
 
I knew that this model would require so re-do's, as it is a big step up in complexity from the kits I have done as well as the Washington galley.  There is some additional complexity with using my own plans.  Things should be a bit more straightforward as I get to the frames.  The very nice thing is I now have a couple practice pieces for cutting the steps on the deadwood.
 
 
 
 
 

As I was cleaning up the outer profiles I was really pleased to see the thin perpendicular line indicating the joint between pieces 1 and 2. While this will soon be covered by another piece, it is gratifying to see the joint is tight front to back!

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'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

Picture with a bit more resolution.
 

With the transom shenanigans out of the way I am finally ready to start making frames.  Here I have marked out the blanks for the aft cant frames.  The black lines are the actual lines for the frames.  I added the green lines to make sure I have plenty of wood for fairing the cant frames as well as to make sure the frames are sufficiently tall.  Experience tells me that I just can't help myself when it comes to leaving enough wood otherwise.
 

Familiar sight for anyone who has built POF.
 

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'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

Picture with a bit more resolution.