mij

Ok something in a way of an update.The infill has been faired although the final touches will be applied after fitting the false deck and bow/stern blocks.The deck stringers have been fitted.The two scrap pieces screwed down provide temporary clamping due to the sheer on these stringers.Next job is finishing the deck edge supports from amidships to bow and the bow/stern filler pieces.Not much more to add that the pics don't explain.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Before going too far I made sure that the sub assembly would line up with the existing parts of the model. To do this I had to drill the 2mm holes in the deck. The photo shews this done. The smaller hole in the deck is a 1mm pilot. There is another in the sub assembly base. I use these to align the sub assembly with the deck. When I am sure that all lines up I will open the pilot holes to take the lower end of the main mast.
 

 
The parts in place with a 1mm drill bit used to align the sub assembly.
 

Hi to all, and thanks for the comments and questions.  Please keep them coming.  Many eyes and brains will always spot problems that one set will not see until it is too late to easily correct them.
 
The last entry ended with the hull planked and the upper works painted as requested by the museum. 
 

 
The next task was to install all of the plank fastenings.  French practice at the time, as far as can be determined 300 years later, was to alternate wooden treenails with iron spikes.  That is, each time a plank crossed a frame there were two fasteners, one iron, one wood, set at a diagonal to each other.  At the neighboring frames to either side the pattern was flipped over, so if the first frame had a treenail at the top, the neighbor had a spike at the top.   Butt joints between planks were secured with four fasteners, two of each kind, also set diagonally.
 
Here is what the finished pattern looks like on the model.
 

 
The experiments that I did on the practice gun station led me to the following sequence, which got the thousands of fasteners done in a reasonable amount of time:
 
After installation, the planks were given a coat of pale stain, then a first clear coat to protect them from glue spots and dirt.  This coating also helped when it came time to remove the pencil lines that were drawn to indicate the frame locations under the planks.   Without it the graphite gets into the grain of the wood and is really hard to remove.
 
Next, the holes for all of the treenails were drilled.  I used the cordless Dremel 1000 which has a pistol shape.  It lets me simply point at the desired spot and just lean forward to make a 1/8” deep hole.  With some good music in the background and a repetitive chant under my breath, I would develop a rhythm that made the chore go pretty quickly.      
 
Multiple strips of treenail stock were cut from cherry veneer on the Preac.  They were 0.025” square, or about 0.035” on the diagonal.  The holes were drilled with a 0.0325” bit so that the strips could be inserted to the bottom of the hole with a friction fit and then clipped or snapped off.  Again, music made the task bearable.
 
Once all the holes were filled they were painted with heavily diluted white glue.  It was thin enough to wick down the sides of the strips to the bottom of the holes.  This not only secured the treenails to the planks and the hull, but it swelled the fibers so that the square strips now filled the entire round holes.  No lengthy, fiddly pulling through a drawplate was necessary.  This is a good thing, because I am really terrible at it.  I usually end up with more splinters on the floor than treenails in the cup.
 
Once the glue dried the stubs of the treenails were cut close to the plank surface using a small chisel, then they were sanded flush, which also removed the pencil lines.
 
Now the holes for the spikes could all be drilled, using the treenail locations as the guide.  This time the holes were only 0.025” diameter and were filled with 0.022” soft iron wire.  Clippers were used to cut them as close as possible to the plank surface.  Here I am filling the holes in the planks of the counter with the model turned upside down.
 

 
Once a large section of spikes were inserted they were peened or pressed into the hull until they were almost flush with the surface.  Then they were painted with a second clear coat of finish.  This not only secured the spikes from coming out, but darkened the tops of the treenails so the cherry stood out from the birch of the planking.
 
Even without doing the fasteners under the painted sections there are over 3,000 fasteners in the hull.  Using this sequence, the fasteners were done, start to finish, in three 6-hour workdays. 
 
With the planking done, the gunport linings were fitted using the square wooden tube as explained in the earlier log for the gun station.  Here is how it came out after staining to match the planking.
 

 
And here are two cannon protruding from their ports as they will be in the finished model.
 

 
As we all do, I use the photographs to check my work.  Some things seem to appear only under the light of a flash.  Here I am checking the symmetry of the bow.  It looks generally good, but there are two problems that I have to correct.
 

 
First, the thin molding just above the wale does not match, port to starboard.  The port side is about 1/16” low at the stem.  It will be pried up and relocated before re-gluing and final pinning with metal spikes.
 
The second problem is less clear.  The cap of the starboard bow is higher than its corresponding shape on the port side.  You can see it a bit better with the photo taken from a lower angle.
 

 
The cap molding will be removed, the shape adjusted, and the molding replaced.  Otherwise, I am happy with the symmetry of the hull both here at the bow, and here at the stern.
 

 
You can see that the two ports in the counter have been detailed.  Although the hull details will mostly be done later, it was easier to do this area while I could still turn the model over and work on it upside down.  
 

 
The ports have two half-lids with four hinge straps each and a lanyard to open the top half.  These were made in the same way as the hinge straps for the companionway that was shown in an earlier log.  I used my orthodontic pliers to bend 1/16” brass strips which were then drilled and chemically blackened before gluing and pinning with wire.  The four rings above the lower molding are for the preventer chains that will attach to the smaller rings on the sides of the rudder just above the white stuff.
 

 
The rudder itself is built up from two pieces of cherry which were cut, shaped and tapered according to the plans.  The gudgeons and pintles were bent up from 3/32” wide brass strips, blackened and drilled, then secured in the usual manner to the rudder and the hull.
 
At the transom you can see the paper pattern for the latest iteration of the stern gallery of windows.  This was originally taken from the Mercure plans, but heavily modified to fit the internal deck layout of the Advice Prize.  It was pushed, prodded, resized, and details were changed and changed back again in Photoshop before being printed out to test size and suitability against the spacing and layout of the hull moldings.  More changes will be made, I’m sure, before I am completely happy with it and can start cutting wood.
 
 I’m having to do a lot of testing like this to reconcile the shape and layout of the Advice Prize with the details from Le Mercure.  Here I have installed rough place-holders for the quarterdeck and forecastle deck so I can plan the layout in the waist.
 

 
The museum asked that one broadside of cannon be mounted through the ports with the lids opened.  The other side will have the guns “housed”.  But when I tested the layout of the guns with their muzzles hard against the bulwark it was clear that there would be no room for the ship’s boat on the centerline.  A check against the plans confirmed that this was so.
 

 
Instead, I suggested that the cannon not in use be housed fore and aft against the bulwark.  This is one way that it was done on the real ships.  Now, with the opposite cannon through the port, there is enough clearance for the boat and to work the guns.
 

 
And here is what the broadside looks like before the gunport lids and the rest of the hull details are installed.
 

 
Finally, lest you think that I work in a clean and orderly manner as implied in the heavily cropped photos in the log, here is our dining room table on a fairly neat day.   It looks much worse on a daily basis and for months at a time.
 

 
I can’t say enough about the forbearance and good humor of my wife.  Without her this would not be remotely possible.  I can only wish you all the same happiness with your spouse or significant other.
 
Be well
 
Dan

I was not happy with the carving of the first eagle, so I carved another one from Boxwood.
 
I cut out the shape of the eagle first, then started the carving.
 

 
I took Antony`s advice in putting a light stain on the carving to bring out the detail.
 
I used French polish and linseed oil.
 

 
Carving with the stain on.
 

 
Eagle fitted to the stern of the ship.
 

Port and Starboard Dolphins fitted.
 

 

 
Eagle fitted to stern.
 

 
I`m not certain if the carving of the Eagle is good enough.
I might take this one off, and re-carve another one.
 
mij

Cutting brass tube for rudder hinge.
 

 
Soldering tube to brass shim
 

 
Rudder hinge complete.
 

 
Blanks cut from Boxwood of Eagle and Dolphins.
 

 
Carvings of Eagle and Dolphins.
 

Blank piece of Boxwood cut out for figurehead.
 

 
Carved Eagle`s head for figurehead.
 

 

OK, if we’re through name calling we can go on.  So moving right along.  I want to do everything necessary to the hull before I finish the deck. I put down the seven planks that make up the king plank. Why it is raised above the other planks I do not know.  The bowsprit is mortised into the sampson post and just set in place.  I mounted the staples that nothing is attached to.  Also the bowsprit chain plates (is that the correct name?) have been mounted.
 

raised king planks.
 

 

 

The sampson post doubles as the crutch for the jib boom.
 

 

 

Hello, thanks to everyone for the kind comments.
 
Karl
 
 
Upper-Deck
prepared for the installation of the cannons.
 
 
 
 
T e i l  45

I was not happy with the carving of the first eagle, so I carved another one from Boxwood.
 
I cut out the shape of the eagle first, then started the carving.
 

 
I took Antony`s advice in putting a light stain on the carving to bring out the detail.
 
I used French polish and linseed oil.
 

 
Carving with the stain on.
 

 
Eagle fitted to the stern of the ship.
 

I was not happy with the carving of the first eagle, so I carved another one from Boxwood.
 
I cut out the shape of the eagle first, then started the carving.
 

 
I took Antony`s advice in putting a light stain on the carving to bring out the detail.
 
I used French polish and linseed oil.
 

 
Carving with the stain on.
 

 
Eagle fitted to the stern of the ship.
 

Carronades
 
The first photos show the first carronade fully rigged, next photos show the stages in which they have been rigged, I tied up all the tackles first and then just hooked them on and set them up, glued down the end of the rope and added the rope coils, they look a bit shiny in the photos but not in real life,they just need the paint touching up on the hooks and eyes, next I will add the nine pounders to complete the deck guns on one side of the quarter deck.
 
The first one being set up

 
The first Carronade rigged


 
The second one being rigged




 
 
 
 
 
 

The nine pound carriage guns were made up in the same way as were the eighteen pounders. The caronades were made up in stages as shown in the photos, I first looked for the tackle arrangement and used the one that seems most common, the issue was the fixing of the front carriage pin it shows it pinned through the bulwark on the bottom of the gun port, the problem with this would be, in lowering the bottom of the port to keep the cartridge level, it would be to low and look wrong, so I looked at every photo of caronades I could find, on models, and as mounted on H M S Victory, and most had the front swivel pin going through a block mounted on the deck in front of the port, so that is how I built mine.I am just starting to rig them in place.
 
Carriage parts

 
assembling carriages


Carriages built up minus barrels and some rigging eyes

Extra rigging brackets from spruce and 3mm rings

Made up and painted

On deck working out how the rigging will run

I was not happy with the carving of the first eagle, so I carved another one from Boxwood.
 
I cut out the shape of the eagle first, then started the carving.
 

 
I took Antony`s advice in putting a light stain on the carving to bring out the detail.
 
I used French polish and linseed oil.
 

 
Carving with the stain on.
 

 
Eagle fitted to the stern of the ship.
 

Nice eagle.
 
Bob

I was not happy with the carving of the first eagle, so I carved another one from Boxwood.
 
I cut out the shape of the eagle first, then started the carving.
 

 
I took Antony`s advice in putting a light stain on the carving to bring out the detail.
 
I used French polish and linseed oil.
 

 
Carving with the stain on.
 

 
Eagle fitted to the stern of the ship.
 

I was not happy with the carving of the first eagle, so I carved another one from Boxwood.
 
I cut out the shape of the eagle first, then started the carving.
 

 
I took Antony`s advice in putting a light stain on the carving to bring out the detail.
 
I used French polish and linseed oil.
 

 
Carving with the stain on.
 

 
Eagle fitted to the stern of the ship.
 

Hello Pat,
you are doing a very very good work, very clean.
usually I don't make any comment on the build logs, since I prefer to simply watch.
But since you, as I did in the past, are making a kit bashed Endeavour, I want to warn you about the boomkins problem.
Following the drawings of the book, I installed the boomkins, with related rigging.
Unfortunately, the rigging of the boomkin don't allows a "free" movement of the anchor.
The anchor is "trapped" between the boomkin rigging.
The final result is rather "false" if evaluated by an expert sailor.
I didn't find a good solution, since it was too late to make modifications on the boomkins, as you can see in the photos made during the model making.
Probably a different bending angle was needed or a different lenght of the boomkin.
 
So, since you are still in time, check the theoretical rigging position of the boomkins!
Beware of the boomkins! they are tricky!
 

I just could not find the time to make an update of my log as intended, whenever I started there was something more urgent to be done and so time went by.
Whatever, I will try now to catch up and to bring the log to the current status by reposting the Pictures with only a few words.

Steering gear: I intend to make a working steeering gear (don't know yet if I will succeed)

 the making the whipstaff rowle and the rowle inserted in it's place in the hull:
 
Klaus
 
PS: for whatever reason the inserting of the pictures did not work as it should, I could not place the pics at selected positions in the text. After clicking on "Add to post" no attachment code was visible at the selected positions and all pics were shown after my post

Thank you Mark and John,
 
have worked further, and finished the bulkhead.
 

 

 

 

 
Alex

timo 4352: Thank you !
You can´t wait ? Here you go
 
Ships just got keels. I will continue with wales.
 
Jan

I started with imitation of wooden planking by strips of foil ( This is Dorisis´  method of planking - I learned it from her years ago  )
The patination of planking will follow.
 
Jan

I have decided to give myself a short break from the small fiddly stuff on my Caroline build and take up where I left off with this.I am continuing on with infilling the hull with limewood.The sections are cut from 20mm sheet.Not much to show,but work shall be continuing on over the next week or two.As I mentioned earlier the bulkheads have been altered to use 1.5mm single planking.The wales will be 3mm ebony,but I am considering splicing the planks at the waterline,ebony above and box below.I do not want to use holly or maple for the 'whitestuff' because I will already have pear,box and ebony and I personally feel that is enough colour variation,any more and it will be too much.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Cutting brass tube for rudder hinge.
 

 
Soldering tube to brass shim
 

 
Rudder hinge complete.
 

 
Blanks cut from Boxwood of Eagle and Dolphins.
 

 
Carvings of Eagle and Dolphins.
 

I shall be using cherry for the hull planking (single plank), sycamore for the decks and pear for the gratings.
 
Cutting the 6x1.5mm cherry hull planking.
 

 
Cutting the pear for the gratings
 
 
 

 

 
Grating complete