Bill Hime
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
While waiting for my Byrnes thickness sander (which I used to mill the hull planking) I started on some of the deck furniture. I finished the hatches, and added one to lead the anchor lines below. I enlarged the companionway from the plan specs. I need to add iron ring pulls for the doors. The most important change was to fabricate a galley stack from brass. The plans actually call for a "smoke stack" made of walnut! Tha ship would have caught fire after serving the crew their first dinner aboard!
I still need to complete the binnacle, windlass, bits and ladders etc. The woods used are rosewood, boxwood and swiss pear.
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Bill Hime reacted to donrobinson in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
That would be a great idea, I'm sure it would be much appreciated
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Thanks, Don. I may put together a little tutorial with measurements and drawings on building the clamp It's really easy!
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I assembled my keel clamp. The first task was to drill the holes for the carriage bolts which form the pivot points. They are 5/16", except for the keel clamp itself which has four 1/4" carriage bolts. The two knuckles that form the 2 axes of rotation were glued and screwed together, and the lower axis piece was glued and screwed to the base. All the parts were given 3 coats of water-based polyurethane. There are washers between adjacent wooden parts and where the through star nuts tighten down. I had most of the hardware on hand, but if you went to purchase it, it would be about $20 as I've built it. If you substitute plain old metal thumb screws, the hardware should be under $5!
The clamp is very stable, even with a model in place due to the large base, but one might consider clamping it to the table top for safety. It is a little top-heavy!
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I'm getting ready to plank the hull. I need to establish the wales first, but before that I needed to plank the counter. I used 1/32" thick swiss pear, 7/32" wide. Because I need to establish a waterline for my "two-tone" planking of the hull, I decided I needed a keel clamp. Rather than buy one, I spent the afternoon today cutting out the parts out of some 1/2" hard maple I had on hand. I'll assemble it tomorrow. I have most of the hardware on hand, but you can build this for less than $5 if you have some 1/2' hardwood around. I'll post photos of the finished keel clamp tomorrow.
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Bill Hime reacted to mtaylor in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
It might be that the hawse lines were run down through the main hatch and then when disconnected from the anchors, coiled in hold. I'm not sure if a ship this small would have had a cable tier. If you're doing full sails, etc. I'd just leave the anchor hawses off and if anyone asks, "they're properly stowed below".
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Thanks for the input, guys!
Another problem is that this ship has a windlass, but the plans show the anchor lines coiled on the deck. Hahn's Hallifax plans also show no scuttle or hatch through which the lines could be led below deck. Given the very small size of this vessel, it would seem that reducing the clutter on deck would make sense and the anchor lines would be best below, out of the way. I'm proposing adding a hatch/grate just aft of the windlass for that purpose. I think it makes sense.
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Bill Hime reacted to CharlieZardoz in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Aye probably why these ships had 100% desertion rate (thats what the books say at least). Essentially they were seen as horrible cramped death traps only one had a long standing captain.
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Bill Hime reacted to GuntherMT in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Wild guess, but I would be surprised if they didn't rig ropes when rough weather was expected.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Yeah, that makes sense, Charlie. Yet you'd think they'd rig up some removable guard rail where the cargo holds were so that the crew didn't end up in the drink in rough seas. Can you imagine trying to make your way across the wet deck of Hallifax (or worse yet, Sultana) in a rolling sea without getting swept overboard?
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
With the stem, Keel and stern post installed I'm ready to start planking. I thought a little about the deck. Why were the bulwarks so low on these colonial schooners? The quarter deck and the poop deck had railings to prevent men from falling overboard. the bulwarks on the main deck and fo'c'sle were only about 2 feet high! Here's a picture of "Hallifax" from Chapelle's book with a man drawn on deck. Not too safe!
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I fitted the stem, keel and stern post to the model. The problem with AL kits is that adding those parts at this point makes clamping them in place correctly impossible! I decided to use small brads to hold the parts in place when the glue-up happens. I pre-drilled holes for the brads, used double-sided scotch tape to hold the stem and other parts in place and tapped the brads into the plywood central keel/profile former. Since I plan to fit a false keel of rosewood all of the nail holes on the keel will be hidden. The rudder will hide the 2 on the stern post so the only hole to be worried about is the one in the forward surface of the stem. Some pear sawdust mixed with white glue should make a putty that will make the repair inconspicuous.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I installed the inboard bulwark planking and cut out the gun ports and scuppers. Next is to install the stem, keel and sternpost.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
The bow of this boat is flat. There is no center keel sticking out to carve a rabbet into. I glued a piece of 1/8" wide stock, 1/32" thick (my hull planking will be 1/32" thick) to the inner curve of the built up stem to form a rabbet when it's glued in place. I will do the same for the keel and the stern post.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Naw, Brian. This is an AL kit. The plans are more "suggestions" than actual plans! I'll have to guess on the waterline. What do you think of the color scheme (holly with stem, keel, sternpost and rudder and planking below the wale to the waterline of pear)?
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I'm starting to rethink what I want to do in terms of hull planking. Originally, planking above the top wale was to be pear, between the top and bottom wale was boxwood, and planning below the bottom wale as well as the stem, keel and stern post were to be pear also. This is what Clare Hess did, and it makes for a handsome model (photo 1). In his practicum for a kit-bashed "Rattlesnake", Bob hunt shows a planking technique that simulates the white anti-fouling coating below the water line on these ships. One builder (photo 2) used pear above and holly below the waterline (photo 2). That's what I would like to do. I don't plan to show the framing as in photo 2, but I would like to use the pear and holly combination.
If I use the holly, can I still use pear for the stem, keel, sternpost and rudder, or do I need to switch to a more subdued wood like boxwood? I think the contrast between the holly and the pear would actually look cool, if not historically accurate.
How do I determine where the waterline falls? I've added a photo of the plans, and as you can see the keel slopes downward as it moves aft.
What do you all think?
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I glued the stem together. I still need to drill the hole for the bobstay and the gammoning hole.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Thanks, guys!
Mike: The hull is 17-1/4" long with a 5" beam. By contrast, the Lauck Street AVS Patrick Henry is 22" long with a 6-1/2" beam. This is a pretty big model of a pretty small boat!
Next I started in on replacing the stock stem, keel and stern post. Those parts are made of walnut in the kit and are shown in the first photo. They are OK, but I wanted the hull planking and those parts made of pear, so they needed to be redone. The stem was a single piece, and the keel is three sections, scarfed together. I traced the stem on a piece of paper. I'm not a naval architect, but the second photo shows my proposed layout for a built up stem. I think it looks OK and makes logical sense.
I cut out all the parts, shown in the the third photo. I need to fine-tune the fit, blacken the joints to simulate caulk, and glue the parts together. The kit has no false keel, but after thinking about it, I think I'll add one made of rosewood...just for the contrast in wood colors!
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Bill Hime reacted to KenW in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I agree that that metal transom belongs in the garbage. I can't wait to see what you use as its replacement. Are you going to carve a new transom?
Hope you include a lot of photos of your process.
Cheers.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I finally finished the first planking and sanded the hull smooth. The hull came out pretty well. There were only a few places where I really needed the wood putty! In a bright light, though a few more showed up so I'll patch them tomorrow. I painted the great cabin interior black because I'm going to totally redo the transom and put some real wooden lights back there. The ridiculous stamped metal transom supplied with the kit goes into the garbage.
The stem, Keel, sternpost and second planking are pear. The next task is to make a built-up stem piece and attach it to the model, along with the 3 part scarfed keel and the stern post.
The planking at the counter is a little odd. I think the counter should really start where I drew the red line. That means I need to smooth the plank below the line and bring the second layer of planking up to the red line. I say that because the model has a fashion piece a that sits on the wale (like the MS AVS). The wale is superimposed on the second plank down in the photo
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
Thanks, Mike. You're making me hungry! Jaeger (Hunter's) Schnitzel - that's veal in that delicious sauce with vegetables, mushrooms bacon...yum! We have a lot of German restaurants around here - Milwaukee is VERY German. There is a place about 3 miles from our house that makes a fabulous Jaeger Schnitzel. It's called Weissgerber's Gast Haus and it's run by the 4th generation of the Weissgerber family. Sadly, it's closing this month. They're going to tear it down and replace it with...ready for this?...a PANDA EXPRESS! There is no logic or sense in this world.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I decided to add stealers...and I may add a second pair. Not so much because I need them to fill more space on the hull back there, but rather to let the planks curve upward like they want to do. If the space gets too narrow, I'll just taper the aft part of the planks a little more.
BTW: Picked our first produce from the garden today! I'm cooking chicken and Andouille etouffee tonight!
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I'm making slow progress. We just returned from a couple of weeks out East and there are a lot of outside responsibilities this time of year. I've made some progress on the first hull planking. The hull shape is really weird. The hull is fairly uniform throughout most of it's length, with the typical narrowing at the bow, requiring tapered planks. The stern widens a bit, but not really that much, and only at the extreme aft end, around the last bulkhead. I still can't tell for sure if I'll need a stealer there.
John the margin plank and the nibbing are inspired by Clare Hess' "Independence" build.
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
6 strakes on each side. I cut a rabbet from the bearding line to the keel (where the keel will go). Now I need to fit the garboard strakes. A very weird shape due to the hull cross section, so I need to think about this a bit!
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Bill Hime reacted to DocBlake in Independence 1775 by DocBlake - Artesania Latina - 5/16" scale.
I installed the bulwark formers (plywood), bending them at the bow with a clothes iron. The scuppers bottoms need to line up with the top of the decking, The shear needs to rise gracefully toward the bow, and the top of the bulwark formers need to line up with the top of the poop deck planking. Lots of fiddly stuff, so I opted for one hour epoxy to glue the parts in place, along with the famous "little yellow nails". I got a nice flow for the shear line. I added the first 3 planks on each side to begin the first hull planking. These were full width. I'll now start tapering the next planks, fore and aft.
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