Bill Hime
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thank you, gentlemen all.
Finally had some quality time on the model. The first garboard plank is now spiled, cut, shaped and fitted. The stock is thin enough to cut with a sharp scalpel blade. The twist was achieved by cold wet bending and holding in place using rubber bands until dry. Castello takes more persuasion to bend than holly. Once the plank was dry, it was glued in place. I needed to cut back the plug more at the bow to allow the plank to land nicely in the bow rabbet.
One plank down, many more to go!
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
A small update: Before waxing the plug, I drew in the overlaps of the clinker planking. I made them 1" wide and are seen as dashed lines on the plug. Two coats of Clapham's beeswax polish were used over the mark-out.
Leaves of ¾" thick Castello have now been prepared for the planking. They were cut a little over-thick and then taken down almost to spec on a thickness sander. Finer grades of sandpaper on sanding blocks produced a smooth surface. Hopefully there will be time to commence planking soon.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Well, there's been a little progress made between other projects. I decided to revise the scheme of planking butts and I'm happier with the new layout. The plug has been cut back along the central spine (arrowed) to ensure that it will not become accidentally glued to the plug while planking. The tiny transom has also been added and bevelled to conform to the plug's contours. The overall photo shows six small brass pins in place to secure the keel while installing the garboard strakes.
Next up will be to wax the plug, then cut some very thin planking stock to ¾" thickness.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
After some re-working of the planking runs, I've devised a scheme for the shift of the butts and marked these on the plug.
Now that the 'non-boat' work is almost complete, it's time to get back to the actual model. I needed to devise a method of keeping the keel straight on the plug. If not stabilized, it will deflect as I fit the garboard strake. My solution is to drill small holes at intervals along the plug, then set sharp-ended pieces of hard brass wire, points uppermost. The keel will be pressed down onto these points. The resulting holes will be hidden under the keelson later on.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thanks, Siggi. The barge is displayed much better than it used to be years ago. Fortunately the Greenwich Hospital barge has nowhere nearly as much carved work!
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Bill Hime reacted to Siggi52 in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
So here they are. I'm very interested how that goes on, it's new to me to build a ship this way.
Regards,
Siggi
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thanks, Siggi. I do have some photos of that barge, but if you have some you'd like to share....
Update: I had to rework the forward hull, as I'd omitted to remember that the sheer strake narrows almost to a point at the bow. Both sides of the plug are now lined out to my satisfaction and have been checked by viewing from all angles. It always surprises me that lines that look sweet from one angle look awful when viewed from another! Several re-works were required before arriving at what you see in the photos. I may spot more minor adjustments to make before committing myself to the plan.
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Bill Hime reacted to Mark P in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Greetings Druxey;
I have some photos of the stern, with mermaids holding dolphins, and other carving details, but unfortunately none of the rowing benches. I do remember that they had the typical central plank joining all the thwarts, and parallel to the keel. However, I will be back at the NMM before too long, and I will take some more pictures for you.
In the meantime, I am posting those I have already taken. For anyone else interested in the details of the carving, I will also post these on the contemporary models gallery.
All the best,
Mark P
The first two (they were last when I uploaded them!) are of the interior of the cabin, and taken through the glass. It takes a few moments to realise what is inside the glass, and what is a reflection.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
The second strake is in on the port side. One can see the gain at the bow and stern, as well as how the boat keeps its shape when taken off the plug. From here on it is simply a matter of spiling and shaping each plank as I work up (down!) to the sheer strake. All one need do is make sure to conform to the mark-out on the plug.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Mark: if you have detail photos of the interior of the forward part of that vessel and near the tiller, posting those would be very helpful. Thanks for the kind offer.
Yes, these crafts were very lightly built but surprisingly strong. Think of them as predecessors of today's 'eights' rowing shells.
These two photos show how the lap disappears into the rabbet at the bow. The second strake also has a rolling bevel that fits the one on the edge of the first strake. You can also see that there is no gap along the lap, as the bevel that was sanded in takes care if this. PVA glue was applied with a very small brush and any excess cleaned up immediately.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Here are a couple of photographs of the land - the bevel - being sanded on the edge of the garboard and of the gain at the end of the rabbet (arrowed). The gain is basically a rolling bevel. It ends at 45 degrees so that the next plank will come in flush at the rabbet. Essentially clinker becomes carvel over the last 9" or 12" of the strake.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
As Oscar Wilde said, "You will, you will," Michael!
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Bill Hime reacted to michael mott in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Having the sanding block the same width as the next strake is brilliant, I wish I had thought of that.
Michael
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
A little more time was spent on completing the starboard garboard strake. The next step is to shape the lands for the second strake of planking. If one were to omit this step, the second strake would not have any gluing surface and there would be a gap under the strake, A. Obviously, a bevel is required. It varies in angle along the strake according to hull curvature, B. To cut this accurately, I took some scrap wood the width of a strake and rubber cemented some 220 grit sandpaper along one edge, C. Keeping the 'safe' corner of this along the mark-out of the second strake's far edge, it is easy to shape the correct bevel along the installed strake. The next instalment will show this completed.
A note: I found the short pins under the keel not very effective in holding the keel straight, as the keel kept popping off. On a another long narrow hull I would drill the pins all the way through the keel.
A digression: One side effect of modelling an open boat at this small scale is the amount of wood required to build it. Very little is needed, making this a very economic exercise in materials, but not in time.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Further progress. The garboard is in on the port side and the forward plank on the starboard. The interesting thing is that, at any point in planking, provided one has spiled and shaped the plank to lie without stress, one can remove the model from the plug and it will retain its shape.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Time for a progress report. The planking has slowly been spiled, cut, bent and hung as far as below the sheer strake. The first picture (arrowed) demonstrates the bevel for the land of the next strake. This was formed using the sanding stick mentioned earlier. Note that the bevel alters - and disappears - as the hull form changes.
The second photo shows the transition of the strakes at the stern from hooding into the stern post rabbet to running out over the tiny transom. Only two strakes end on the transom. Forming the junction of these two strakes neatly was tricky.
The last photograph shows off the elegance of the hull form. At this stage I bevelled the stem so that the planking appears to flow out of it. After the sheer strake is added there will be clean-up and minor adjustments to make.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Five strakes a side are completed now. Note that I had to pare back the extreme ends of the plug so that the planks would run smoothly into the rabbet fore and aft. With this hull form the spiled planks are only slightly curved, except at the stern.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
Steven: I've used this method with carvel construction, but with one difference: frames first. You can either file grooves in the plug for the frames and bend them in, or form the plug to inside of frame. I use the first method. In both cases the plug is made deeper and extends above the sheer line. (You can see this set back area in shadow in the photograph.) This area is used to spot-glue the frames to. Just make sure everything is well waxed to prevent sticking! The boat looks a little rough when first taken off the plug, but cleans up nicely as you can see.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Next is to cut stock a scale ¾" square. This is next to impossible without a zero-clearance table and a slitting saw blade. So I made an insert of aluminum sheet and raised the saw blade through this, as shown (upper left). Note that, on this saw, I have an Accuriser II fence. I attached a secondary scale measuring in inches at 1/48 scale. This avoids having to translate from thousandths of an inch (actual) to scale inches.
I cut several sheets of 1/64" Castello stock and rubber cemented them to a sacrificial piece of softwood. In this case it was simply a paint stir-stick (upper right). This was then run through the saw and the pieces separated and cleaned up, giving the 1/64" square section required for the frames (below).
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thanks, Michael. I use white PVA, slightly thinned, applied with a small watercolour brush. The outside is washed down with a damp brush immediately, and the inside is cleaned up afterwards with a dental elevator (looks like a bent mini-chisel). If there is a stubborn bit of glue, a drop of water on a brush does the trick. Should a little of the joint give way, I run more dilute glue into the crack and clamp it shut with one or more of those mini-clips. This rarely happens, as the bevelled land creates a tight joint.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Finally the shell has been completed. It is quite delicate right now, as the last half strake is only edge-glued to the strake below. However, the pink stern is quite strong, even at this stage.
Next will be installing the keelson, followed by bending in the frames. The plug, as you can see, has been beaten up quite a bit in the process of planking.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thanks again for the likes and comments, everyone. And yes, Ed, I too am mortal!
The sequence of construction needs to be carefully considered. Before adding the keelson (making replacement on the plug impossible) a last half-strake needed to be cut and fitted. This will carry all the ornamental scrollwork aft. It has a sinuous S-curve in plan, and required the entire elastic band brigade to damp-shape it into position.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Aft frames are now in, with some fine adjustment still required. A ruler is included in the photos as requested.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Started bending in the frames today. They are spaced at 18" intervals and, as previously mentioned, are ¾" square. In the real boat, there were floors and futtocks united by a side overlap. However, as this will be completely invisible in the finished boat, I will omit this detail.
As I have other work on hand, the next update will be a few days away.
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Bill Hime reacted to druxey in Greenwich Hospital barge of 1832 by druxey - FINISHED - 1:48 scale
Thanks so much, everyone.
A footnote: I fully expected the shell and frames to have spread until the internal members such as thwarts are fitted. This has proved not to be the case so far: the hull is 'on spec', with an overall beam of 6' 1½" (6' 0" moulded, plus 1½" for the planking). We'll see if this is stable when I come back to the model.
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