Stuntflyer

I just came back from the monthly SMSNJ meeting in Millburn, NJ. This was my first time there and I cannot say enough about how nice it was meeting some of its members there, including Chuck. Take my word for it, Chuck's build log photos as good as they are don't really show how beautiful this build really is.
 
Mike

All of the deck planking, waterways, stanchions and pre-planking are now finished.
 
It was more time consuming doing the upper deck this way. 1/32" edge joints are fragile. The only real advantage being that it's easier to sand the planking off the ship. Just something I wanted to try.
 

 
The deck planking glued to the false deck
 

 
The last 2 planks and those in front of the grating were installed and covered by the waterway.
 

 
Upper deck with stanchions, grating, hatch and pre-planking installed. The bulwark template has been thinned down gradually exposing the inboard planking at its top edge. This will make the bulwark 1/16" thick after the second layer planking is completed.
 

I just came back from the monthly SMSNJ meeting in Millburn, NJ. This was my first time there and I cannot say enough about how nice it was meeting some of its members there, including Chuck. Take my word for it, Chuck's build log photos as good as they are don't really show how beautiful this build really is.
 
Mike

Wow...you made it home pretty quick.  It was a pleasure to meet you in person Mike.  Thanks for the kind words. 

I just came back from the monthly SMSNJ meeting in Millburn, NJ. This was my first time there and I cannot say enough about how nice it was meeting some of its members there, including Chuck. Take my word for it, Chuck's build log photos as good as they are don't really show how beautiful this build really is.
 
Mike

I just came back from the monthly SMSNJ meeting in Millburn, NJ. This was my first time there and I cannot say enough about how nice it was meeting some of its members there, including Chuck. Take my word for it, Chuck's build log photos as good as they are don't really show how beautiful this build really is.
 
Mike

Thanks, bizibilder, I will try that on the gun carriages for the upper deck.
 
I managed to cast a plaster holder for my gun mould as recommended in David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model vol. II. I now see the wisdom of that approach, after having my first pour spill out of the mould when the rubber bands burst. After the plaster dries, time to try melting some metal again.
 
I also built a little jig for assembling the gun carriages. I haven't decided yet if I will stain each piece and then assemble, or assemble and then stain. Masking each part for separate staining in tedious, and I have no place to hold each piece when staining it all over, without putting my fingers in the fresh stain. But it is also difficult to get the stain into each nook and cranny when it is already assembled. I already tried it the first way, and I'll try it the second way tomorrow, and see what happens.
 
Mark
 
 
 

Have finally made some headway on getting the rails installed.  I'm working from stern to stem so we began with the quarterdeck and stern rails:
 

 
All of the rails are 3/16 x 1/16 boxwood and are faced on the hull side with 1/16 x 1/16 basswood molding which was beaded using a scraper.  The camera is simply not picking this up due to the black color but it's there.  It will be more distinct on the forward railings where the molding will be natural.
 
Then stern rail was a bit of a challenge as it's a compound curve which was made by a combination of lateral and edge bending.  It would definitely be easier to fabricate from wider stock (thereby eliminating the edge bend).  But I love a challenge and needed more wood in my scrap box  .
 
Will be moving forward now as Confed competes with the great outdoors and it's associated activities.
 
 

All of the deck planking, waterways, stanchions and pre-planking are now finished.
 
It was more time consuming doing the upper deck this way. 1/32" edge joints are fragile. The only real advantage being that it's easier to sand the planking off the ship. Just something I wanted to try.
 

 
The deck planking glued to the false deck
 

 
The last 2 planks and those in front of the grating were installed and covered by the waterway.
 

 
Upper deck with stanchions, grating, hatch and pre-planking installed. The bulwark template has been thinned down gradually exposing the inboard planking at its top edge. This will make the bulwark 1/16" thick after the second layer planking is completed.
 

Chuck your planking work is outstanding! I hope I am able to get closer to this standard on my next hull.
 
Michael

Measurements to determine the placement of the stern frames:
The horizontal spacing is straight forward from the stern framing plan. 
Vertical spacing is a bit more of a challenge.  The height above the building board to either the frame knuckles or top of stern frames are the obvious points of reference.
Since the keel is curved I needed to find a line from the bottom of the keel (BOK) at the dead flat to the BOK from the stern frame.  I cut out the stern frame plan and re-positioned it next to the end of the frame side elevation.  See picture.  By aligning it horizontally  with the top of stern frames or top of bulkhead extension at BH #16 and taping in place, you will see the BOK is lower than the BOK at BH #16.  I ran a line from the BOK at dead flat to BOK on the repositioned stern plan. 
At the aft end of the keel, the BOK is about 3/32" above the line just drawn.  That's the amount of curve in the keel.  I made a shim 3/32" and stuck it to the BOK at BH #16.
With the skeleton back on the building board, and clamped down on the shim (and at dead flat) and plumb, I can accurately measure from the building board to the knuckles of the stern frames (about 4- 5/16").
To make sure the outer stern frames (Z) are tilting in per plan, I ran a line parallel to the inner-most frame to the line described above.  See second picture.  I measured from center line to the angled-line intersection and marked that on the building board.  Holding my steel rule to the inside of the frame, touching the building board shows if any tilt adjustment needs to be made....or you can just eye-ball all of the above.  It took more time to write this than do the measurements.
Maury
 

● Bulwark Stanchions Upper Deck: Upper Deck stanchions are now completed and the Bulwark template has been gradually thinned in this area as was done on the Poop Deck.
 

 
● Bulwark Stanchions Quarter Deck: Instructions say to cut a 1/16" thick waterway around the stanchions before the Quarter Deck is planked. To be honest, I didn't think that I would be able to get a tight fit around each stanchion. Some stanchions are at slightly different angles and they extend almost to the edge of the waterway which would make it very fragile. My solution was to split the stanchions at each location into two parts. One half below the false deck now and the other half on top of the waterway once the planking is completed. I had to start on the "After Cubbridge Head" in order to determine the length of each stanchion. The false beam, which was later removed, shows how I determined the length of each stanchion below the false deck.The correct spacing was maintained for the stanchions so they will match the location of the stanchions on top of the waterway.
 

Cheers   .  Can't wait to see how you handle the cant frames.  I have enough trouble building things that are (almost) straight!

● After Cubbridge Head: The After Cubbridge Head and false deck were completed with stanchions below the false deck in place. The false deck has a strip of boxwood glued to its forward edge to maintain uniformity.
 

 

Russ, Nils, thanks for your comments and all the likes!
 
I just started using Chuck's method of applying Wipe-on Poly. He uses the Satin finish and it's applied with a soft, lint-free cloth and immediately buffed before it dries. Since I haven't been wiping it off immediately it has a bit too much gloss. I've been using Dullcote Spray Lacquer on top of it to flatten the finish. Problem is that it prevents you from applying more W-O-P if needed. However, I can see places where using Dullcote would still be useful.

Russ, Nils, thanks for your comments and all the likes!
 
I just started using Chuck's method of applying Wipe-on Poly. He uses the Satin finish and it's applied with a soft, lint-free cloth and immediately buffed before it dries. Since I haven't been wiping it off immediately it has a bit too much gloss. I've been using Dullcote Spray Lacquer on top of it to flatten the finish. Problem is that it prevents you from applying more W-O-P if needed. However, I can see places where using Dullcote would still be useful.

● After Cubbridge Head: The After Cubbridge Head and false deck were completed with stanchions below the false deck in place. The false deck has a strip of boxwood glued to its forward edge to maintain uniformity.
 

 

● After Cubbridge Head: The After Cubbridge Head and false deck were completed with stanchions below the false deck in place. The false deck has a strip of boxwood glued to its forward edge to maintain uniformity.
 

 

Very nice build Mike,
 
its going to be a beautiful ship
 
Nils

● Bulwark Stanchions Upper Deck: Upper Deck stanchions are now completed and the Bulwark template has been gradually thinned in this area as was done on the Poop Deck.
 

 
● Bulwark Stanchions Quarter Deck: Instructions say to cut a 1/16" thick waterway around the stanchions before the Quarter Deck is planked. To be honest, I didn't think that I would be able to get a tight fit around each stanchion. Some stanchions are at slightly different angles and they extend almost to the edge of the waterway which would make it very fragile. My solution was to split the stanchions at each location into two parts. One half below the false deck now and the other half on top of the waterway once the planking is completed. I had to start on the "After Cubbridge Head" in order to determine the length of each stanchion. The false beam, which was later removed, shows how I determined the length of each stanchion below the false deck.The correct spacing was maintained for the stanchions so they will match the location of the stanchions on top of the waterway.
 

● Finishing The Stern: I scanned the stern windows from the plans and imported the file into CorelDraw. I made a drawing of the windows using the scanned image as a guide. The file was then printed and trimmed to fit on the stern. I closed the 3 holes in bulkhead YY with some scrap balsa and adhered the windows using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. The remainder of the stern was completed as per the instructions. The four laser cut knees were replaced with boxwood. These were made by hand from a single piece of wood. Laser cut knees were glued to each end and used as a guide for shaping. 1/16" wide pieces were ripped using the table saw.
 
Photo of window drawing

 

 

● Great Cabin Bulkhead: I managed to get this one done today.
 

● Forward Cubbridge Head Bulkhead: Now that the Byrnes table saw has arrived I'm finally able to finish this bulkhead. The kit supplied ladders, although not too bad, were replaced with ones made from boxwood. There was only a tiny area in which to glue the ladders and the PVA glue I first tried did not hold well enough. I switched to 5 minute epoxy applied with a needle and that worked out very well. Any excess glue was easily removed minutes later with a sharp #11 blade.
 

 

● Pumps: The pumps were made according to the kit instructions with one change. When I tried making the main cylinder from 3/16" dowel the diameter ended up too small according to the plan. I was successful when I used 3/16" square strip and a "V" groove jig to hold the strip in place while forming the eight sides. The black bands were made from card stock.
 
I glued the tiny spouts to a piece of scrap wood with PVA glue to hold it while sanding them with my newly acquired "True Sander". I dipped the spout into boiling water to release the glue.
 

 
This photo shows how small the spouts are.
 

 
Finished pumps with a coat of Wipe-on Poly.
 

● Forecastle Deck:
 
I started the deck planking today using a #2b pencil to simulate the tarred seams. All of the deck planking will be done using boxwood. I applied a coat of Wipe-On Poly to bring out the color.