Beef Wellington

I like that jig Mark.  One question that come to mind that I've been trying to think through.  I would assume that the corner angles on the beams are not 90deg as the frames are effectively vertical but the deck has a curve.  Are you shaping that on the jig or are you planning to introduce the right line once installed so the deck runs smoothly?

I like that jig Mark.  One question that come to mind that I've been trying to think through.  I would assume that the corner angles on the beams are not 90deg as the frames are effectively vertical but the deck has a curve.  Are you shaping that on the jig or are you planning to introduce the right line once installed so the deck runs smoothly?

I thought I'd add a couple pictures of the sanding jig.  The dark brown curve is just a piece of wood the same dimensions and arc as the beam.   Currently it's set up for the top of the beam.  If I rotate it 180 degees, I'll be able to to the bottom of the beam.   The sanding drum is turning about 5000 rpm and barely touching the wood, but two passes and the wood is clean and the slight angle on the cut edge left by the laser cutter is removed.
 

 

After doing all of that hull planking, I felt like doing something very different. My choice was to do the stern. This work began with the wooden transom piece which was wet bent to shape and then glued in place. I then did the stern lights (windows), using the very nice kit PE pieces, which fit almost perfectly. I painted them using some old Floquil buff and glazed them with Micro Kristal Klear. After that, I cut in the counter vent ports and added their hinges, using the kit PE pieces, and their ringbolts. Then, I did  the final painting of the counter and added the moldings at the bottom of the transom and the bottom of the counter. These were done with boxwood strip, scraped to a simple double bead shape.
 
Next was the metal transom piece, which contains the stern decorations. Following the lead of Joe V, I decided to paint the background blue, with the decorations to look like natural wood. After bending the metal piece to shape, I did the painting. For the blue, I used Pollyscale B&M blue. For the wood color, I used the Floquil buff, followed by highlighting and shading done with Modelmaster wood color. The metal piece was then glued to the wooden transom piece, using medium CA.
 
The stern work was completed by making and installing the taffrail. This was done by wet bending a piece of holly strip to shape and painting it black before gluing it in place.
 
The next work will be the quarter deck area.
 
Bob

What a fascinating project Chuck, you also seem to be cruising through this.  Its amazing what can be accomplished with a laser cutter and some lateral thinking.  Any estimates on a potential release date?

What a fascinating project Chuck, you also seem to be cruising through this.  Its amazing what can be accomplished with a laser cutter and some lateral thinking.  Any estimates on a potential release date?

Thanks,  I removed the base holding the frames in position.  Each piece came free really nice with a little wiggle.  Then rather than throw it away....I used some scrap wood and now its a work-base.  I wont remove the frame centers until the transom is positioned.  But first I must carve the inside decoration.  This is the Queen Anne monogram that goes on the inboard side of the flying transom.  In the photo above you can also see the flying transom being temporarily tested.  It fits well.
 

 
Then I will glue it into position permanently.  The flying transom and decoration are made from boxwood.
 
The carving you see is just 1/32" thick.  Anything more would be too thick.  So we shall see how it goes.  I havent started carving it yet and just placing it on the flying transom it looks pretty good.  I hope I dont make a mess of it.
 
Chuck

Ship's Wheels - Reboot
 
Although I was quite happy with the ship's wheels that I'd created by hand SEEN HERE, when I got a look at the new ship wheel kit created by Chuck, I knew I had to get them for the Confederacy.
 
   Chuck's instructions for the wheel can be found HERE, so I won't go into full detail. But, the kit comes with 29 laser cut pieces that eventually come together to form the wheel, along with small "jig" used to help in the construction and measurements.
 

 
 First, the two sides of the halves of the jig are glued together to form slots that are precisely spaced. Small laser cut blocks are detached and sanded. However, as Chuck insists, the sides must remain precisely measured; so only the top and bottom are slightly sanded to get rid of the laster cut char and fit into the jig snug but not tightly.
 

 
Once the blocks are fitted in the jig, they outer portion of the wheel is glued into place. This creates gaps in which the spokes will fit. 
 
Next up, the spokes - which are the most delicate part. Each spoke is laser cut with square edges. To round the edges, the spoke is mounted in my Dremel, which is in turn mounted vertically in a vise. Each spoke is just an inch or so tall and tapered from about a millimeter thick.
 

 
The Dremel serves as a lathe, and the spoke is shaped and ultimately detailed.  I decided to get a little creative and documented the process in this YouTube video.
 

 
The spokes are place and glued around the center core of the wheel, placed in the jig with the square portion of each spoke fitted in the slots created by the blocks.
 

 
Finally, the entire wheel is sanded and smoothed with 600 - 4000 grit sandpaper, then stained. Because the char lines and creases created by each piece made visible lines in the wheel, I chose a darker mahogany stain to cover that up as much as possible and make it less visible to the naked eye.
 

 
Because the wheels were now more ornate, I decided to give the base for the wheels a different treatment as well.  Using a scrap of wood left over from a penholder I acquired some time ago, I cut and sanded down two pieces of framing to whole the new wheels.
 

 
I'm not entire sure what kind of wood this is, but it's very dense and very hard, so although tedious it made for precision carving and sanding, and ultimately I believe looked pretty good as a complete assembly.  
 

Thanks Ed for your word,
 
and also all the "likes" for clicking the button....
 
Update....
 
the first promenade deck cabin section is so far complete....
 
the handrails worked out fine, was easier than I thought it to be......, and this time the railholders had flattened ends before bending the holding loop for the rail was bent, (thanks to suggestion of member "Reklein", Bill in Idaho )
 
Nils
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Hi all.
Just a thought before I continue - If anyone has thoughts about getting a Euromodel kit their web site is offering their kits at 20% off for a limited time. I have no connection to them - just a satisfied customer.
On with version 2 of the stern railings. I decided that my little scrolls did not look that great,so I decided to change them back to the kit supplied oval decorations with a little modification. The first picture shows the decoration as supplied. I modified them by carefully cutting out the recessed portions to produce a better 3D effect as shown in the second picture. After painting & gluing in place I am happy with them. Next,I will work on getting the lower wales in place before finishing the stern while I can still lay the ship on its side.
 

 

 

 

 
Mark

You don't think the green wood plates would have looked better?? Seriously, those homemade plates look fantastic.

Beautiful work as always Alexandru.

You don't think the green wood plates would have looked better?? Seriously, those homemade plates look fantastic.

So, the catheads were pretty straightforward given Chuck's instructions.  It did take a bit of fiddling of course, to match the sanded size of the catheads and then properly notch out the side of the ship for a snug fit.  There was a lot of delicate sanding and tiny bit at a time with varying sandpapers and files, then fit the cathead, then sand some more.  A patient process to be sure.
 


 
   
   Though I fitted the cathead with the wedge as outlined in the schematics, I ended up sanding it almost all the way down. This was a little challenging as the wood here is pretty soft.  But all in all it fit together pretty tightly.
 

 
   To make the sheaves, I filed down some boxwood then cut out ovals.  Although obviously they'd have been circles, the ovals made for a better fit and ultimately finalized look.
 

 
  Then the catheads in place.  Because the fore of the ship is not perfectly symmetrical, I did my level best to get the catheads to look as symmetrical as possible.  The discerning eye will notice they're not quite exact - however, I don't think it'll be noticeable for the most part.
 

Bug - just caught up after you assumed this honourable task.  You seem to have everything under control, so I'll pull up a seat.  Best of luck, know you're up to it.

Thanks Tim!
 
Those pictures are very helpful. I'm interested to see that you put the top band of plates on early in the process - I normally work up to that point from aft forward and then run the top band along to cover the ends of the lower plates. I personally don't mind the look of the bare copper, shiny as it may be. And your addition of the rivets brings a lot to it. I think your more economical approach must also pay off, since you can essentially lay 3 bands at once, whereas I'm making individual plates, which means I can manipulate the bands more easily but it takes FOREVER! To give you a sense of this, I started off by making about 500 copper plates. I've now used all of them and am not even half way through the plating!! I'll make several hundred more this afternoon while my son is napping and then back to it tonight.....
hamilton

The deck is now finished.
Treenails were done with holes drilled and filled with putty with the excess scraped off. I didn't want them to be overpowering so went with fairly small holes and a light coloured filler. They disappear from sight at a distance and certain angle and reappear when you change your view. It adds nice interest.
 

 
The varnish has turned the grey card caulking blacker than I would have liked but waterproofed it all nicely. I'm happy with it.

 
The join in the margin plank was a little too close to one of the plank nibs for aesthetic purposes but it'll be covered by a carronade so problem solved. Next task is adding the spirketting and scuppers and then the gratings.

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Bit of a diversion while I continue to wait for some more Limewood from CMB.
 
I had planned to replace the plywood false keel stem with boxwood, originally I was going to simply cut out the replacement shape.  However, I though this would be a good opportunity to do a little 'scratch' building to give me a flavour for it.  I followed the diagrams in the AOTS book, although simplified them slightly (using enlarged scans as pseudo plans while reconciling key dimensions back to the kit to ensure things stay in line).  Took quite a  few days to do (a full framed ship would clearly be out of the question for me!), its certainly not up to Chuck's standard but overall I was really happy with the result for a first attempt.  I lightly used a pencil to highlight the seams to a small degree without wanting to overdo this.  Unfortunately, I suspect I will be painting over 75% of this, but it was great experience.  
 
I rounded of and tapered the knee of the head using approximate guidance from the FFM book 1.  I think this should be tapered more, but I stopped where I did because it resulted in a nice snug fit for the figurehead I plan to use, any more would have resulted in gaps.  I rounded the leading edge, and will wait to cut the gammoning slot until I'm confident of the placement of the head rail features.  You can see the comparison below between the supplied Diana figurehead which is clearly made to straddle a 5mm knee and result in gaps.  I purchased the figure head from Syren when I bought the kit.
 

 
Everything in place (dry fitted for now). Took some adjustment to ensure I the bowsprit would sit correctly and clear the figurehead.
 

 
Also have addressed the lower counter at the stern.  I got quite aggressive and cut back the transition between the lower counter and the planking to ensure this drops and sweeps forward as it appears to in the AOTS book.  I'm only going to use 1 set of the lower counter shapers
 

 
Premade a lower counter sheet which I though might work better than simple planking.  Looks like some adjustment will be needed as the keel former extends into the hole for the rudder.  I've got my approach laid out for the upper counter and stern fascia which will probably deviate from what the kit suggests...but thats a story for a future post 
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?
 

Dockyard is still the victim of an ongoing labour dispute.  Little bit of detail added onto the main deck, tried to simulate the deck clamps and the sheave blocks.  The clamps were cut from a sheet of pear using a sharp blade and a ruler which seemed to work OK.  The standards have also been added.  Glad now I added in the sweep ports as it adds a nice touch of background detail with the deck on.  Think I need to get on with the coppering, but do have some questions...
 
Range cleats:  The kit provides a huge 'block' for these which seem way over scale and don't look like a cleat (see bottom picture).  The photo at the bottom shows these side by side with one of Chucks cleats (12mm).  The FFM indicates the range cleats are 2' 9" which translates to about 13mm in real money at scale, very similar to Chucks.  Would the size of these vary considerably between ships of different sizes. Thoughts?  I'm leaning toward Chucks. Copper plates: Amati are very clear in providing left and right sided copper plates.  I thought that British ships were coppered from the stern, forward and up which would suggest the visible edge nails would be on the aft and lower edges on the starboard side.  Is that correct?