Stuntflyer

Great to see you building again Rusty. I've had a great time building Cheerful and I'm sure that you will too. Please keep those photos coming.
 
Mike

Hi
 
A small update. I have started on my Cheerful
 
First off joined the two false keel pieces taking care to get everything as straight as I could.
I used yellow wood glue.
 

 

 
After leaving it for a couple of hours for the glue to cure, I cleaned up the joint and did a test fit of the bulkheads.
 

 
I've made some cutouts in the false keel between bulkheads 6 and 14 and in bulkheads 8, 10 and 12 to make some space for the command cabin and the gun room.
The command cabin is under the skylight and the gun room is under the companionway.
I want to build my companionway with it's doors and top hatch open.
I'm not sure how much will be visible through the skylight and companionway so it might just be a planked deck or there might be some extra details, will still decide on it.
 

 

 
Cheers
 
Deon

Great to see you building again Rusty. I've had a great time building Cheerful and I'm sure that you will too. Please keep those photos coming.
 
Mike

A couple of quick grab shots.  I tested the smoothness of my fairing job by temporarily fastening a batten strip at various positions on the hull.  It's smooth!
 

 

 
Erik

I'm smiling too Mike. Nice fairing work!

This is definately a first for me Druxey. I have never had the pleasure of following any of your build logs. Let's just say that I'm very excited to see this one.
 
Mike

I finished the first rough fairing on the port side.  I've done a whole lot of sanding over the last week!!  There are spots I need to touch up, particularly at the bow, but I'll wait to address those until I do the fairing after I frame the gun ports.
 

 

 

 
Erik

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I'm smiling too Mike. Nice fairing work!

I'm smiling too Mike. Nice fairing work!

You got me smiling, Mike.  The fairing looks great.   I thought I was the only one who tried a plane on frames?   I also used it sparingly on the planks when I could.

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 136 – Capstans 4
 
This post will wrap up the work on the two capstans.  In the first picture 4 copper pawls have been added to the main deck capstan.
 

 
These are loosely bolted to the lower disk through the iron (i.e blackened copper) band.  At full scale these would drop easily into the baseplate groove.  At this scale they drop sometimes.  These were made to be reversible.  They could be flipped over to allow the capstan to work in the opposite rotation.  In the next picture the pawls have been blackened with liver of sulfur d and flipped.
 

 
In the next picture one of the baseplates has been removed to add four pawl stops. 
 
 

 
These are small (3” x 3” brass cubes.  the black dabs in the picture are solder/flux paste.  When the four cubes are fitted in place in contact with the paste the entire assembly was torched to flux the solder.  The next picture shows the forecastle capstan set on its blacked, finished baseplate.
 

 
Both the base plate and the wood base were still loose at this point.  The base plates were then epoxied into the wood bases.  In the next picture small wood stops are being glued to the spindle to hold this entire assembly together while allowing the capstan to rotate on the baseplate/wood base assembly.
 

 
When the wood bases are glued to the deck, the brass pins at the base of the spindles fit into holes previously driled in the steps on the deck below.  In the next two pictures the wood bases have been glued to the deck, completing the installation.
 

 

 
The two capstans rotate freely and are pretty reliably stopped when the rotation is reversed.
 
The next task is one I have been anticipating (and perhaps dreading) for some time – the bilge pumps.
 
Ed

This is definately a first for me Druxey. I have never had the pleasure of following any of your build logs. Let's just say that I'm very excited to see this one.
 
Mike

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

Finished the most risky part of the fairing - the outer surface of the side that would be opened.
Lesson for the future - if you add the bolt simulation - add another millimiter of margin to the frame lines, especially on the sides of the hull (it is unlikely that the bottom would be problematic).
 
Ended up with some really thin sides around the midship:

 
But overall - nothing is screwed up! Just some bolts that are too close to the edge of the frame, but they are not poking to the side!
No finish applied, and will sand with fine grits right before finishing - apparently, finger marks are very visible.
 

 

 
The transom wings required a lot of shaping! You can compare with the non-faired side on the right.

 
 
I tried lots of different tools for fairing, but ended up with this set:

 
Cork block shaped to be round on one side, and remains flat on another. Sandpaper - Mirka 120 grit.
Semi-flexible yellow thingy was very useful when sanding the bow and transom. Right the exact flex! Grit 90.
French curve scraper helped to level the frames, especially in the tight areas. In another areas, miniature chisel was used for that.
Surprisingly, block plane was very useful to quickly even out the frames, to later finish it with the sanding block.

So fantastic to see this log.....I cant wait to see the decorative work and small fiddly bits take shape.  
 
Chuck

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

I started lining off the deck today. . .
 
Using a tick strip, the deck beam reference line on the fore side of the main hatch was divided into equal segments. Mine needed eleven, each segment being slightly under 3/16". I divided the eleven spaces into two belts seven inner and four outer. 
 
To establish the two belts down the length of the hull I decided to get the initial curve from the plan and adjust it later if needed on the deck itself. I had already made a copy of the plan sheet showing the deck. I made a few changes to the plan to correspond to the actual build. I placed a thin sheet of glass over the plan and used a ships curve and a fine line marking pen to draw the curve. Once I was satisfied with the run of the curve I placed 1/8" tape along the line directly to the glass.
 

 
A photo was taken and printed so the curve could be glued to card stock. Placing the curve on the deck showed that only a slight adjustment was needed at the location of the tick mark which divides the two belts. With the curve redrawn and a line transferred to both sides of the deck, I was ready to complete the remaining tick marks. Connecting the tick marks really helps to see what the run of planks will look like. In a few places I included the planks tab into the measurments and that was enough to throw off the even flow of planks down the hull. If I had not connected the tick marks it would have been very difficult to spot these errors.
 

 

Mike
 

The margin planks are done. .
 
The only way that I could get the four sections of planks located between the stern frames at the same angle was to add shims onto the false deck. You can see where I placed them between the stern frames on the port side. The shims taper across the deck from 1/64" to less than 1/32". Without them the two sections on the port side would have dropped too much. Prior to installing these four pieces I could see where the false deck was slightly lower on the port side near the counter.
 
The scarph joints were made with a #11 blade and some needle files. I went slowly, spending time trying to get a close fit. I also had to figure out the proper length of each section so the joints would center between the gun ports. The three long sections on each side were joined, sanded and given a coat of W-O-P off the ship prior to placing them into the hull.
 
I decided to soften the inside edge of the caprail. It's a small thing but it does make the overall appearance better, I think. I'm also refining the paint work around the fashion pieces as you can see. I'm not in any hurry to finish painting around the caprail since other parts have to be installed on top, which would only require more sanding and painting.
 

 

Planking the deck is not exactly what I would call a milestone though it does feel like I'm moving along. . .
 
Though not very scientific, I did come up with a way to get those center planks in a straight line. After setting the first plank at the stern I used a card template at each location along the deck to keep the planks straight. To confirm alignment, I marked the center of the plank at its forward edge as well as the aft edge of the deck structure. After pulling the plank to the card template I could see whether or not two marks matched closely
 

 
The four remaining planks (two on each side of center plank) where then installed using PVA and clamps. I was careful not to glue anywhere close to the red deck structures. Scrap strips were used between the clamp and the deck planking to avoid any dents that might be caused from tightening of the clamps. I don't have any of those high-tech wooden clamps like those used by EdT though the ones from Dewalt (found at Home Depot) worked well enough. The clamp's protective covers were removed in order to get a better grip on the planks. The Irwin Quick-Grips have a more rounded shape underneath the covers and tend to slip off too easily.
 

 
My deck planks are approximately 3/16" wide and in various locations will have a small tab. These have to be made using a wider strip. I tried making one that would have been 7/32" at its widest point using a 7/32" strip. Guess what, it didn't work. There wasn't enough room to allow for adjustments to the shape. I decided to go with a 1/4" strip, which worked quite well. Once the shape was completed it was only a matter of reducing the width to 3/16" outside of the tab location. This is an important step if you want to maintain consistency to the overall look of the planking.
 
This is the plank which goes on either side of the "ventilation scuttle grating", just behind the skylight.
 

 
Once the first five rows were completed, excess glue was removed and the planks were lightly sanded. I will hold off doing the final sanding until all of the remaining planks are in.