Beef Wellington

You need to define 'best'...the criteria for which will vary significantly given that every aspect of ship design is a trade off and ever country had different design priorities - e.g. Cruising endurance, cost, manning requirement, firepower, speed, stability, strength, longevity....etc etc etc

After spending some time away with family, I've returned and completed the deck framing. This consisted of two tasks: framing the midship portion of the deck, and filling in the spaces between all of the deck beams with inner hull planking. While I wondered if there would have been knees between the beams, neither the drawings nor the book photos show any, and I went with the planking. In any event, the perimeter of the decks will be covered by deck planking, which will conceal this detail.
 
As with the other deck segments, I used the laser cut pieces for the beams and ledges and boxwood strip for the carlings. Boxwood strip was used for the planking, which had to be cut and fitted for each individual space.
 
Next will be the planking of the inner bulwarks above the decks.
 
 
Bob

The rubbing strakes are on........
At the bow not a problem but at the stern, don't talk me about it.
But it is done.
I know that I have to do some modification on that but that wil be done when i finished the hull planking.
I also put the frames and gunport lids.
Now I can put het at every side that I want and has no fear to damage something.
Only the starboard side is done and now I will go to the port side.
After that planking again.
 
Sjors

That's all!
I tried to talk about my tricks and technologies.
As I said before, I do not have any special and secret techniques. I do not look like a wizard, all my tricks are ordinary and many people know them. I just take the workpiece, the tool and try to get the image I need, which hides inside the workpiece. In the end, I will show a few more photos, there is no point in commenting on them, everything is clear.
 


If suddenly my story about one of my works will help the others, then I will be very happy. If I wrote something incomprehensible and the meaning ran off during the translation, or I did not tell you about a particular reception, then ask your questions. I will try to answer them. All the warmest greetings!

For many years I did wood carving and always found the human form the hardest subject! Some people are just natural artists and you are definitely one. You are a true master. Please keep showing us your work. 
 
Regards,
 
Kurt

It's time to start making threads on the wings.
In this part of my story, I will describe one more approach in the work of the carver.
When an artist paints a picture or a picture, then he has a law - he draws the drawing gradually everywhere. They are small dashes that show where the main parts of the drawing will be and gradually the artist makes more and more refinements in different parts of the sheet of paper. When I was a student, my teachers told us: imagine that I suddenly tell you Stop! Set aside your pencils and I'll take back your drawings for evaluation. You do not know at what point I will give such a command. But when it does not happen your work should be literate, so that in any place of the sheet it was made gradually. If you have a final eye drawn and the rest of the sheet is empty and there are no other parts of the face at all, then I will consider your work to be wrong and I will give you a bad evaluation.
I hope I could properly explain the law, how the work should go. But in my thread I do not go this way. From the photos it is clear that I choose some zones and work only with them, and then I move on to the next zone and work there.
 


Why do I do this and how do I choose which zone to work for now, and which one to leave for another time? Everything is very simple. After I made a general rough image of the figure, I choose the zone that I think is the main one. And this face figures. I already wrote about this. Then I start looking for the following important parts, for example the body. And only when I like what it looks like I turn to clothes. If I did it differently, I could accidentally cut too many folds and it would seem that the clothes are not on the body, and beneath it there is some kind of hole. And if I make the folds of clothing parallel to the body, then I would have to time to remodel them. If you compare how the body looks now and in the photo of the early stages, you will notice that the angel looks thicker before. And he gradually becomes more slimmer and more correct. The same thing I would have to do with clothes. But when I became satisfied with the body, it became easier for me to understand how much material to cut in the folds. So it is easier and more convenient. There is one more reason why I try to make detailed refinements of individual zones. Each topic has its own rules and technique of execution. The hair has its own characteristics, the folds of clothing are different, the feathers are third. It is more convenient to occupy your brain with one topic than to move from one topic to another. For example, I left my hair and moved to another place. Then, when I return to my hair, I will forget what I wanted to do here. I'll sit and think, so what did I want to do last time. The hands are already weaned and we need to remember the technique again. Each zone is executed by its own tools. For hair, you need one kind and size of chisels, for the folds of clothing other chisels. It is more convenient to put one kind next to each other, rather than running around with one chisel, then another. That's why I work in some zones, in others.
I leave some parts for the end of the work. The whole figure is almost finished and some parts of the figure did not have any treatment at all. These are very small parts, or such elements that go far away from the total mass of the sculpture. In this work, such special areas include the wings and hand, which holds the pipes. I left them specially for the very end. The reason for this decision is very simple. The wings in the finished version must be very thin. On the tips there the thickness is less than 1 mm. If I made wings before, I risked that such subtle elements would break from sloppy traffic or if suddenly the figure fell to the floor. I kept the same law for thin spears in the angel's hand.

I continue to publish a photo about working on an angel. This series shows how the face is gradually changing. Now this is a more subtle work, which I do with a subtle instrument. More often than not, I begin to do details with faces. Well, of course, if the conversation is about the figures of people. But I do the same with animals and start the details from their head. It's more comfortable for me. The head of any sculpture is the most important place, the most important thing. So I try to do it first.
 


I think this: if I suddenly make an irreparable mistake, I'll take another piece. But if I leave my face to the end, I'll make the whole sculpture and at the end I'll mess up  face, then I'll waste more time. So I'm doing the head fof sculpture first.
I also want to draw attention to other parts of the figure. There are places I do not pay attention to specially. Look at the look of the helmet and hair, as well as the bottom of the figure with clothes. In these places I do not work at all now. At this stage, I remove unnecessary material in these places only if it prevents me from approaching the instrument comfortably. If there is no interference, I do not pay attention to these zones. I feel so comfortable. I think so: now my task is this face person and I give all my attention to this topic. While I do not know exactly how I will do creases, so I better not touch them, so as not to accidentally remove excess material.
 

 

On these frames you can see what one small secret looks like. The sculpture has changed very much. It's not from other lighting. The fact is that these photos I made the next morning, after I covered the sculpture with oil. I covered him before going to bed, I left him to rest for the night, so that the oil would be absorbed into the tree. And these pictures were taken the next morning. See how much material has changed. The angel looks as if I have polished it for a long time. In fact, this effect gives an oil coating. It does wonders. After him, the figure not only looks different. Now the material is completely cut off. There are such places on the sculpture, where due to the arrangement of the fibers, the traces of the cut are very ugly. Such places are not smooth, but as if there was someone plowing on a tractor. Such a feeling that they worked with a tool without sharpening. After coating the oil, everything changes and is cut much better. The oil is not absorbed very deeply and if the depth of the material is removed more than 3-4 mm, then the wood that is wet from the oil will run out and the material in this place will become as it was without oil.
When I tried to make a carving with oil, I really liked this method and I used a lot of oil. For example, he immediately covered the entire figure. But over time, I realized that this method has drawbacks. And now I do not use oil the way I did it while working with this angel.
What are the cons?
1. When you hold the workpiece from your hands on the sculpture gets dirt.
 Wood with oil very quickly absorbs grease and dirt from the hands. And where there are convex places the tree becomes darker. And it's not very good. I tried to work with gloves. But I did not like it. In gloves, especially rubber, my hands sweat quickly and it's not pleasant. I tried to put on cotton gloves and again I did not like it. In them I do not feel the instrument well. It feels like I have to sew a garter and a thread in boxing gloves. I suffered from this. I thought that you need to wait, it will be a little time and I will get used to it. But one day there was a case after which I took off the gloves and did not take them anymore. I was wearing cotton gloves, I wanted to put the sculpture on the table, but with some thread the glove caught on the corner of the sculpture and it hung under the glove. And after a moment the sculpture fell off this thread and fell to the floor. I realized that if at that time my work would have come to the end, and the figure had small details, then they would have crashed from falling. So I realized that I do not like gloves at all. But back to oil.
2. Another disadvantage of oil is that it is impossible to glue anything to the treated wood. Only on cyanatrilate and such a compound will be brittle. This is bad. If during work I see that it is possible to glue a piece that has split off so that it is neat and not noticeable, then it's great. But with oil this will not work. Is that bad.
3. Oil very strongly attracts dust and small pieces of material. And in work it hinders. Especially when you need to work with small details. Garbage prevents you from seeing exactly where you need to cut it. And you have to work hard with a clean brush to sweep away such rubbish.
How to be, because oil has both pluses and ninus. Do I use it now? Yes. But not as before. If I see that I've got a place that hardly reacts to tools, then I smear butter only in this place. I do this almost dry brush and try to do it only where it is needed. I do not cover the whole figure while working. Only when the work is finished.
 

Update - 
  All the ratlines are now done. A real test of eyesight & patience. Next up will be the stays.
 

 

 

 
Mark
 
 

Skids installed!

 

 

Next up - I may return to the wales, which still need to be bolted along their length.

Arriving late I see, but, at least I'll see the finish.  Lovely boat Mobbsie and great artistic choice for the woods and colours.  Looks huge!

Arriving late I see, but, at least I'll see the finish.  Lovely boat Mobbsie and great artistic choice for the woods and colours.  Looks huge!

Arriving late I see, but, at least I'll see the finish.  Lovely boat Mobbsie and great artistic choice for the woods and colours.  Looks huge!

Arriving late I see, but, at least I'll see the finish.  Lovely boat Mobbsie and great artistic choice for the woods and colours.  Looks huge!

Arriving late I see, but, at least I'll see the finish.  Lovely boat Mobbsie and great artistic choice for the woods and colours.  Looks huge!

Count me in as well, great start!
I think you are referring to HMS Belfast, a Town class light cruiser which has a very storied history being also involved in the sinking of the Tirpitz.  Her largest guns are only 6in , so maybe 'big gun warship' is a little bit of a stretch 
 

Hello, Gaetan.
If memory does not fail, it seems in the first volume Budrio describes limber holl. There should also be a scheme with axonometry.

 
It shows how far these cuts should go. In the drawings in the top view it is difficult to disassemble, especially in the areas of the stems, where the desired line merges with the keel due to the bends of the frames and it is not clear how the limber holes should go. 

 
 
This is a very interesting system.

Especially when compared as a function of drainage was performed in different countries. 
The Dutch were very original. Here it is visible. 

They did not do the cuts, but made additional beams, which allowed the cladding to be fastened so that a slit was deposited to drain the water to the pumps.
If you read historical works, you can find very interesting stories about this system. During the Anglo-Dutch War, the British were greatly surprised that the captured Dutch ships had virtually no critical wood decay. This said that the  system drainage very good at its task.
Over time, the English have slightly modified the location of the limber canal. They began to make it close to the keel. This was justified, since the keel had the lowest point in the hold. Try to search in the works of Seppings, he describes this innovation. It's all a little lyrical digression.
During the construction of the seventy cannon ships, they had not yet guessed.
And again: you are not doing the right  a Recess. The channel must go perpendicular to the outer edge of the frame. Take a closer look, it's clearly visible on your own drawing. At you the propyl is made not absolutely truly. I tried to show this in your photo.
 

When I studied this element, I came to the conclusion that it is more convenient to do it a little later, when all the frames will be in place. Then, with the help of a thread, it will be possible to accurately mark the whole gagging immediately. And just saw through all the timbers at once. If done separately as you do now, you will not get a smooth line in the collection.

Very nice progress Sjors with the planking, and very brave to not do double planking!  So no stripes?  At the stern I wonder if you will need to do a little spiling or thinning to get the planks to sit properly around the sharp angle at the stern.  Otherwise the planks may become harder and harder to bend until its impossible, but of course it is difficult to judge with only seeing pictures.

Count me in as well, great start!
I think you are referring to HMS Belfast, a Town class light cruiser which has a very storied history being also involved in the sinking of the Tirpitz.  Her largest guns are only 6in , so maybe 'big gun warship' is a little bit of a stretch 
 

Thank you very much guys...
Moving right along I added the syren figures at the stern.   You can see how I dont have the acanthus leaves carved for the port side yet.   Not enough time in teh day !!!  I am gonna try and get the bust of queen Anne done next which goes on the outside of the tombstone transom.  These two Syren figures were the smallest I have made to date.  I could only merely suggest the details and hopefully your imagination will fill in the blanks.  At least that is what I hear is supposed to happen.  
 
Almost forgot...these are once again resin castings.  I will keep my sculpted originals as masters.
 
Chuck

 

 

Deck plan finalized
 
After looking over the snake plans and a few other brig deck plans it seems the beams were not equally spaced apart.  For sanity sake I just chose to have 3cm spacing with a four butt planking layout so I can cut 15cm planks.  some day when I'm scratch building I'll go all the way I promise.
 

 
Chamfering
 
I started fairing the bulkheads and I've found some spots that need shims.  I'm going to take my time and make sure I have a nice run for every plank.  You can see that No13 bulkhead was raised 1.5mm to fit properly and No12 still needs the shims.  interesting.
 

 
The plan is to fill in the first two bulkheads with basswood but without power tools it will be a lot of work.  You can see where I added some lime wood strip on the top of the keel to aid positioning of the bulwark strips.  It can come off after second planking if it gets in the way. 
 


 
Lots of sanding to be done!

Cheers Guys for your input and support, I think I did go down the right route for the treenails 
@ Steve, I didn't see the treenails on Chuck's build before I magnified the pics on his log, and as he didn't mention them in his blurb I assumed they weren't there.
On with the build.
The internal planking is completed, I used Boxwood strip.

9811
The Capping rails were cut out of Boxwood Sheet on the Scroll saw.

9817
No real problems here, it's just a question of sand, trial fit, sand, and when the size is close enough glue it on and finish the final sanding.

9822
At this point the paintwork required a further rub down and re-coat, once again the parts to be left natural were taped over.
The knee at the bow was also fashioned out of a bit of Boxwood and glued into place.
 Chuck makes reference to a 'fancy profile moulding along the edge of the cap rail'  I thought I would give it a go.

9831
Using a single edged razor blade I filed the profile which is a mere 1.7mm overall, basically two narrow slits close together with a fine point in the middle. The one on the right is the one used.

9852
Not sure how well this would work using the provided Limewood , too soft to get a clean line.

9846
I also made the thwart support stanchions out of some 1.5mm Boxwood square stuff.

9841

9842
Not quite got down to the elegance of Cap rail as demonstrated by Chuck, but move on we must.

9844
A little more fettlin' of the interior flaws that keep catching my eye before I move onto that tricky business of the panelwork.
B.E.
 
 

Great result.  In my opinion the fact that they are difficult to see, yet subtlely apparent, means that you've achieved just the right balance if the photo is anything to go by.  That side view shows your planking off really well.

Great result.  In my opinion the fact that they are difficult to see, yet subtlely apparent, means that you've achieved just the right balance if the photo is anything to go by.  That side view shows your planking off really well.

Hello all!
 
The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated!
 
Its been a busy year with wedding, honeymoon and then Christmas and a new job. Most of my free time has been absorbed in working on our garden, which is getting an extensive landscaping, and we still have stuff everywhere after well over a year in the new house!
 
Got round to having a tidy up of the kitchen table and made some room to work. The Hood is so large that it needs a fair amount of room!
 
I've started to lay down the 7" armour band using polyethylene sheet on the port side of the ship.
 
Also glued in place two sheets of brass etch on the super structure.
 
I'll try and ensure some better progress going forward.
 
Still looking for issue 119 btw....
 

Slowly moving aft and getting more carvings completed.   Actually I am concentrating on the sculpted parts now and I will finish the carvings once they are all completed.  Rather than use my master boxwood carvings for the model, I am using resin castings instead.  So all of the carving details you see below are resin. I will keep the original carvings as masters for when the molds wear out.
Chuck