harvey1847

So I worked on some support jigs today along with the forward frames. There are three total jigs that are placed on the structure, these will remain there until the planking is completed and all the frames are supported.
 
This is a large model with lengthy unsupported frames sticking up just asking to break off, I didn’t feel comfortable fairing and planking these without some major support through the process.

The first jig is forward, it will support a larger piece that will lock the frames together and the second is in the middle it will also support this piece, both of these are represented in orange.

Below you can see the forward frames in blue, I’ll cover these first since the forward jig is dependent on these.

The pieces below are for the port side, they have fairing lines etched in already, I just sanded them carefully and test fit until I was happy. The frame you see is the forward bulkhead and timber support, this will go in last.

I had already compleated the starboard ones and installed them with the fwd bulkhead frame, I did a little bit of fairing once installed and I’ll probably have to do a little more when I fair all the bulkheads.


All three jigs are a pretty tight fit but I want them to be sturdy and keep the frames true, so some sanding and filing may be required, the assembly of the first one is shown below



The two pieces above fit snug on the outboard side of the fairing frames on frames 1,2and 3, they are all marked with arrows facing forward so you get the direction right 


I should add that the flat piece on the center of each jig is there to attach the bulkhead jig to, I had intended to just screw it down to this piece but may glue it in and just break it out when it’s time to remove. all of this will come out once it serves its purpose.

The middle jig is similar and you can see below, it fits between frames 12 and 13. 






Once the jigs are complete, the large piece that stabilizes the bulkheads will go on, it also acts as a parts tree for the gunport frames as well as the gunport cutouts to help you get the frames installed at correct angles.

I will cover this in detail much more later as i still have to build the third jig which also supports the frames, unfortunately I forgot to cut some pieces and bring them back with me.

JJ
 
 

So after a week of waiting on some parts to show up that I had cut wrong prior, I was finally able to get back on track. 
I started by assembling the bulkhead former, this is in 3 pieces but I’m toying with switching to two or possibly even one if I can find a box large enough. This goes together pretty easy, I used wax paper and smashed it in a vise until the joint was dry and then repeated until complete. I also added a rabbet strip, this was just basswood I cut on my saw, it required slight heat on the bow to make the curve easier.
Next is the knee, at 1/48 the knee and the false keel parts are just shy of 5/16 which is great, it will leave you some room to sand the parts and that’s what I did, now all these parts are two pieces of 5/32 AYC glued together, cutting 5/16 in one shot just had too much angle to it, it made assembly pretty difficult, but I’m still working on trying to improve the laser cut, perhaps I’ll get it in one piece someday but not for this model.


As you can see i just etched some of the parts on to the main part of the knee, this is actually pretty convincing, I did however toss in a reference line for the paint and where the wales meet the knee, I don’t like it and probably won’t keep it there, but it will get painted over on this model anyway.





Once the knee and all the false keel parts were assembled I measured the width of the former and subtracted it from the cedar pieces, using this number, roughly 1/32, I layed the former down with the 1/32 spaced sheet underneath and glued the knee and keel parts onto the rabbet. This kept everything in line and centered very well. I carefully sanded the AYC with 100, 220 and finally 320 and gave it a quick bath in some WOP just to protect it from my filthy hands.

 
Next I assembled the stands and lined them all up with a level and glued them down, the next set I screwed down, otherwise I’d never be able to lift the model out. From here I just dry fit and tested all the bulkheads, some required a bit of filing from different laser settings, the production parts will not.


 
 
Tomorrow, if I have any time, I plan to start installing the longitudinal frames to lock it all together, from there I’ll build the new stern jig and start installing the frames.

JJ
 

Lol! I was up until 12:30 last night just finishing the knee, I’m tying to get  little more substantial progress before I make an update.
Here’s a teaser and it’s not the same one from  earlier this year, this is the AYC production version.
JJ
 

Happy new year JJ, enjoy this beautiful project. 

My laser control board was delivered this morning, I wasted no time installing and began cutting as soon as the machine was happy again. I made some headway in the structure, I do however have some fine tuning to do and tolerances need to be adjusted. 
Most everything is dry fitted with  zero slop to it, I need to increase the cuts by just a bit in the next model
I modified the design of the longitudinal stiffeners and reduced their size, they are now made up of two pieces and lock together In the middle. This helps with installation as you only have to manage half the bulkheads.
 


This created a very rigid structure with all the bulkheads being well behaved and equally spaced on each side

you can also see the two bow filler pieces that meet bulkhead 3 and overlap the longitudinal stiffener and help to tie the forward bulkheads in with the remaining ones, this keeps the forward part of the model square. The bow pieces all have reference lines for fairing as well. 


From the back side of the model you can see the reference lines for the wales as well as each deck, there are two sets of wales and three decks that will be built, each deck and wale is marked, I will explain more when I build the next model.

like the bow fillers, the lower stern frames also tie into the longitudinal stiffeners to help keep the stern square, there will also be a stern frame jig included as the stern frames are very long and delicate, this will assist in getting the frames properly placed and tied into other structure on the model. I will get this assembled and on the model tomorrow .
For tomorrow I plan to also get the longitudinal guides for the gun ports cut, these are going to be extremely tricky and complex, there will also be a continuation of the stern frame jig to help support all the upper frames when fairing, they are just too tall to leave unsupported.
Thanks for stoping by.
JJ

Hi Guys, 
So I’ve been developing HMS Portland for about two years now and I plan to offer it as a kit, it will be sold in parts or sections so you can build at whatever speed you wish or only purchase what you want and scratch build the rest. The project will
be in 1:48 scale and will be offered mainly in Alaskan yellow cedar and other various woods including boxwood for select parts and I’m leaning towards MDF structure but I will have to see how the initial prototype builds.
As a Winnie builder, I was inspired and blown away by Chucks incredible design work and flawless representation of the Winchelsea, so much that I purchased a laser machine and started designing. My aim is to offer a model as detailed and accurate as possible.
The model is designed to represent the dockyard style model of Portland as depicted in the Joseph Marshal paintings of 1774, as seen below. 
There are enough early drawings of Portland available to accurately represent her as initially designed, these drawings also match up well with the paintings of the contemporary model, she does differ from her closest sister, Bristol but the model could be modified to represent Bristol if desired. 

It will have all decks built and exposed down to the main gun deck showing all frames, guns and fittings.



currently the model is in its final stages of design/development, I will begin assembling the hull and proving the design as I go, I don’t plan to offer parts of the kit until I’m very very far into the build. Currently the sculptures are being finalized with the figurehead of Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting already being produced, I should be able to post updates on the stern carvings in a couple months.


I am going to try and offer both resin and boxwood sculptures for this project, I haven’t been able to determine the cost of the full set yet but it shouldn’t be outrageous.
 
At 1:48 the model comes in just under 43” long and about 10.5” in beam. So it’s not unmanageable,
unless of course you decide to rig it.



The design prototype shows half the model with exposed frames, as the contemporary model was built, I may offer a version like this but it will be very expensive and tricky to build, it will be a hybrid POF/POB if released. I will likely start a test portion of this alongside the prototype build.
 
Currently I have set up my new laser machine and I’m cutting some parts just for testing purposes, I took some photos next to my Winnie to give an idea of scale. I think the two will look great sitting next to eachother.
 
 

Completed.  
 
Sadly, all of the photos I took of the last stages of this build were lost.   Im still not sure how this happened, but as went to update this build log I noticed they are all gone.    Im supremely disappointed but happy to report that Ive completed my Triton.     What a project.   Im excited to have completed it, and looking forward to moving forward with a new project.   Thanks to everyone for your kind words, support and assistance through this project.  
 
A relative has kindly volunteered to make a case for it, a challenge I think they welcome and are looking forward to, so I won't be taking that piece on.    I did however make a temporary mount seen in the below photo and accompanying gallery.
 
GALLERY
 
Onward!
 

 

This past weekend I got the guns assembled and set in place.   It was a fiddly job, but I'm happy with the result.   In the first photo you can sort of see my process.   I used a couple of nails placed exactly the distance apart that the hooks would hang on the model and then set all that with a tiny bit of glue.   This way the lines don't fight themselves and will hold on the right distance.   Then I coiled the extra upside-down onto some blue tape and used some tiny bits of glue to hold the coil.   After flipping back over the whole thing was set.   Then everything was attached. 
 

Almost 3 full months since my last update!   Oh man...   this "return to normal" stuff has really caught up with me.   With the holidays, the new year, and a bunch of hiring, chess tournaments and the start of the basketball season (I am my daughters BBall coach) Ive had so little time to update.   I have, however, continued to steadily work on my Triton.   I think I'm starting to see the end game a little clearer and am starting to think about the case a little more earnestly, thanks to the encouragement in the above comments.  
 
Since my last update much of the detail work has started.   After planking the exterior and interior of the hull, along with the gun deck I chose to carry on with hull details.   I chose walnut as a contrasting material and haven't found the grain too distracting.   As Ive said prior, I take it as a point of pride to make something beautiful from relatively sustainable materials and have resisted a desire to use the more exotic (and likely more beautiful) hardwoods.  This being a first full scratch project for me, I also wanted to limit the damage to the pocketbook, knowing full well I was likely to burn through a lot of material on screw-ups!  
 
After wrapping-up the cannon carraiges:
 

 
The rail cap, fenders and trim were all made from this walnut, which was the same as used in the wales.  In the first photo you can see my paper mock-up used to template the fender shape.  A sharp eye might also note that I screwed-up in sequence and neglected to include the outboard trim as I was planking the exterior.  Thus I had to mount the trim over the planking.  A small error that I intend to make sure not to lose track of in future builds.   You'll also notice some weird sequencing as I decided to do one side in a slightly different order (caulking, details, etc).  One thing I learned again, having learned it earlier and then entirely forgotten, is that you must seal the wood prior to the caulking step otherwise the excess will not wipe away as cleanly.  

I then began work on caulking the gun deck planking, and started assembling the gun tackle per the plans.   Ive always enjoyed the process of preparing block and rigging so took some enjoyment in this step.   I decided it better to do only some of the gun prep and not mount them as it seemed much easier to complete the rest of details (gangways, ladders) prior to mounting and setting the guns and tackle.  I also opted to not treenail the interior gunwales despite having done so with lower decks as there is a concentration of detail in this area and I was worried it would end-up creating a cluttered look.  I'm still confident in this decision.   I also made a few ladders before settling on the below iteration.  I now know much more about this process and hopefully will have better luck with the gangway ladder later.
 
 


The last few weeks Ive been struggling through the brass work for the gangway supports.   I first made a set using the entirely wrong brass material and stumbled my way through an appropriate soldering technique.   My first attempts are in the first picture where it can be clearly seen that too much solder is being used, too much heat and just a generally poor construction method.   I then switched to strips I had to cut myself (as opposed to pre-milled brass stock) and dialed in my soldering until I got consistent and clean results. 
 


 
The gangway supports in place, I just cut and temporary set the skid-beams.   I'm starting to work on assembling the gun-tackle components now in preparation of final fitting.   Now that things in my life have settled a bit I'm hoping to be posting a bit more regularly and look forward to catching up on all the great builds Ive been missing!  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Shouldn't take too long.   The draw plate came in very quickly...    so Im just making treenails (Cherry) and testing the process on my dummy frame.  

The "Follow" button pressed! I´ll be here aswel learning...
 
Any pics of that laser cut machine. I am very interested on seeing it working. I mean the process. What software you use etc..
 
Best wishes!
 
 
Daniel.

Definitely not a filler but a sealer... You apply it with a brush and seales all the porous of the wood. I personally don't use it and rely on good sanding and leenseed oil. 
 
 
Beautiful work! Keep it up 😉

Hello Mark,
 
I have attached a pic that illustrate my question about the, I´m going to call it "blue jig". Can you post the pic about the clamp, how you put it into the board...etc.??
 
 
That is the one I´m wondering about. The blue rail one
 
 
Daniel.

JIG QUESTION.
 
Good Morning Mark!


Now that we´re all re-starting the logs can I ask you to explain how you built the second Jig.
 
The one made like Ed did.
 
If you could make a sketch on paper it would be fine. I am wondering about theclamps inside that blue aluminum rail. The bridge is a great to meassure distances, deck beams, gun ports...


Thanks.


 

Hello Mike and happy Sunday!
 
With that speed you should be thinking on your NEXT project... It amazed me the woodwork and the amount of info on your pics. Excellent log.
 
Best wishes!
 
 
Daniel.

Good morning Mike!
 
It´s amazing what a beautiful things can one achieve with good plans and ofcourse great modelling skill. I specially like the thick stuff. It looks really "thick" and symetrical.
 
Great work! Keep going!
 
Daniel.

Hello Mike!
 
Even dry fitted on the keel plus the rising wood and that "ribband method" the whole set look fair and true. On my next project I´ll do it that way. Rising wood and the ribband... No jigs with iron bolts and sewers.
 
Are you going to fill the space between the frames to make the water go to the limber?
 
Beautyful work!
 
 
Daniel.

So after being hammered down by C for 3 weeks, I am back !! 
 
Thanks everyone for the thumbs up and nice words. 

In answer how I made the laders for the mast. ? 
I made them out of evergreen strips, that I place on strip with painters tape (blue) 
build them like a puzzle together, and then apply super glue with a micro glue application tool (kind of needle), after the glue is cured, polish it with 600 sandpaper, and spray paint them carful with a filling primer (tamiya) takes some practice, but it is quite simple to do.
 
 
Finished more or less all the points that I wrote on a to do list during this build 
 
one of the last points on it was placing the flags, (done) 
 
Last point on the list, finishing the display case and stand  (still open) 
 
Still working on the last part. 
 
but below a few pictures of the model. 
 
 

 
 
 

thanks everyone for responses, thumbs up and looking. 
 
Rigging and antennas are ready, after some searching, thinking and studying of various photos, I made the antennas as follows.
 
Only the rigging for the davits of the auxiliary boats, the gangways and the necessary small details remain.
 
And then, finally, the flags can be placed.
 
We are almost there but not quite.
 

Thanks for the thumbs up and looking 
 
and we continue a little bit 
 
below some pictures 
 
 

Thanks everyone for the comments , thumbs up and watching. 
 
Continued with the aft mast, made the stays and further rigging, also made the navigation buoys. 
 
Now we can start Now we can start with the antennas and the remaining navigation lights in the masts and lines for the signal flags.
 
below some pictures. 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Thanks everyone for the positive comments and thumbs up. 
And we are going a bit further, 
Made a start with the foremast, this is now definitively placed, made the stays, also made a start with the navigation lights.
 
below some pictures 

Definitely not a filler but a sealer... You apply it with a brush and seales all the porous of the wood. I personally don't use it and rely on good sanding and leenseed oil. 
 
 
Beautiful work! Keep it up 😉

The pdf´s attached are only the progress till now.
 
I have drawn 16 water lines separate 3 feet parallel to the top of the keel so I have 16 points to check on every frame. One frame takes me about two hours and when I get bored I draw other parts of the sheer plan.
 
The widths and moulded widths are from the 1784 Joseph Romero Fernandez De Landa vademecum. It also includes all the different pieces necessary to build ships of 100, 74, 64 and frigates of 34, minor frigates and boats and more. This vademecum is quite cheap (12€) and “rough”. It has no half breadth plan or sheer plan nor a general body plan for the different types of ships. So… you have to kind of “invent” how the hek all the pieces were fixed together. You have also to decide the scarfs on the pieces.
 
The book was intended to show the pieces to be cut on the forest with extra wood to drag them to the shipyard, especially huge pieces like the stem.
 
I am also using the book “The ship of 68 guns from 1752” (Isidro Rivera 2012 ISBN 13: 978-84-615-3821-8 (Spanish, no English edition). Pretty useful in order to follow a hypothesis of construction, for example the keel. This book shows how a ship is built following the rules of the English shipwrights. Retamosa follows the rules of the French but I can “extrapolate” some concepts. I have contacted with the author to see if he can clarify me lots of doubts about. Hope to meet him in a month or so…  
 
For example the scarfs on the keel were horizontal not vertical like on the HMS Triton or the HMS Victory. It has also 2 shoe keels. Slightly differences that have to be checked to end with a true model from that period.
 
If any of you have some info about the keel or the things I have wrote do not hesitate and post it here. Would be very apreciate it.
 
Enjoy the week!
 
 
Daniel.
pdf_30_10_14_cant fr.pdf
pdf_30_10_14_cant fr HB.pdf

JIG QUESTION.
 
Good Morning Mark!


Now that we´re all re-starting the logs can I ask you to explain how you built the second Jig.
 
The one made like Ed did.
 
If you could make a sketch on paper it would be fine. I am wondering about theclamps inside that blue aluminum rail. The bridge is a great to meassure distances, deck beams, gun ports...


Thanks.