Beef Wellington

Post Six
 
Stern and bow patterns.
 
I wasn’t too keen on working the bow and stern patterns off-model, particularly the stern.
As it happens, for the bow pattern the off-model option was removed; unlike the bow pattern bulkhead which wouldn’t shift after fitting the patterns.
It slid on ok and I was careful not to allow glue onto the keel, but move it would not and I had the nightmare vision of snapping the false keel which at only 3mm wide and quite long is very vulnerable at this stage.
 
So, on-model fairing it will be.
 
For preliminary fairing of the stern pattern I am using 10mm and 20mm Finger sanders, initially with coarse grade paper.
It is worth slipping a couple of lengths of waste strip from the keel fret between the stern patterns to support them during sanding, particularly parts 24.
One of mine fell off during sanding, probably due to insufficient glue used to avoid sticking it to the keel.

3816(2)
So, this is as far as I felt comfortable with off-model fairing.

3825(2)

3819(2)

3826(2)
All Bulkheads glued into place now.

3812
Only been four days and look at the state of my working area, think I need a general tidy up.
 
B.E.
28/08/21

Ancient vessels were built "shell-first" - either without frames or with frames added after the planking was completed, and the planks were held together with tenons in mortises within adjoining planks, pinned in place with dowels.

 
(from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_joints )
 
According to Prof John Pryor's book Age of the Dromon the waterline ram was designed to break the tenons so the planks separated, letting the water in. Later (mediaeval) ships were built frame-first, and it is believed this structure was too strong for the waterline ram to have the same effect, and the "ram" moved upward to become a "spur", which it is proposed was intended either to capsize the enemy vessel or break its oars (or perhaps both).
 
I suppose the test model(s) will be constructed the first way.
 
Steven 

That’s great work and a string of very educational posts Jason. Glad to see her back underway. 
The spreadsheet idea seems so obvious and is something I’ll store away for future. 
Coincidentally I’ve been fitting decking to a 1:1 scale sailing dinghy and spent a day working out tapers and spacing for a measly five planks. 

Thanks everyone as always for continued interest....
 
Jim - not going to be able to put canon rigging off much longer....ugghh
 
The area around and immediately aft of the pumps is really quite congested and requires some planning.  The main jeer and topsail sheet bitts were scratched, parts from the kit look a little oversize to my eye.  Pillars were made square in section after studying as many pictures as I could find, these seem to be a mix between square and round, but I don't think my turning skills are up to making round ones.  Side blocks and fake sheaves were also added. 
 
For the aftermost stanchions, I followed the AOTS diagrams which shows these to be of smaller dimension.  All of these items will require some final finishing.  The capstan step was cut out of a single piece of 2mm boxwood and 'joints' faked by scoring with a knife and filling with pencil lead.  This took a while with just hand tools and I couldn't help but think of a toilet seat from the end result!  These details will be visible but obscured so forcing myself not to be too fussy.  The base of the capstan itself as sanded back to the pawl rim which sits in the hole in the capstan step.  (This requires a lot more finishing to get the surface to be acceptable)
 
Pictures are hopefully self explanatory.  I've shaped some box for the elm tree pump shafts and I've placed an offcut just to get a sense for positioning....
 
And to mystery that's been puzzling me for a while (and Rob alludes to in his Ethalion log), how does the placement of the pump brakes reconcile in the this workspace in such close proximity to the capstan and companion? 
I seem to recall reading 'somewhere' that some stanchions were removeable which would explain the location around the capstan  - once both sets were removed this would make this workable.  In later ships, these seem to have been replaced by hinged iron columns which makes a lot of sense.  if anyone could corroborate that would be much appreciated! Lastly, given the pump brakes also extend to this area, these would really be a permanent accident waiting to happen at the foot of the ladder to the quarterdeck which must have received quite a bit of use.  I can't find any reference to this, bit I have to suspect that pump brakes were removeable, and unshipped when not in use.  On the Artios class, there is a set forward, and 2 sets aft - in normal seagoing routine I would speculate that not all banks would have been needed, but could easily have been placed in the event or expectation of an emergency.  The last photo below from Victory seems to show exactly this, and it also makes the square section joining each brake much more functional.  Again, if anyone can point me to sources would be much appreciated!  
 
 

Cheers Gents, appreciate the support, comments and likes...
 
Welcome aboard Ian 🙂
 
A rather dreary rainy day precluded any other activities so as able get a decent amount of time in.  Spent most of the day completing the cannon carriages, these really are incredibly time consuming and seemingly never ending, but can now report are complete.  I did decide to cheat a little on those carriages that will be mostly obscured away from the waist.  Rather than continuing to use the  pins to simulate bolts which are incredibly fiddly, the carriage bolts were simulated using a fine tip black pen and then touch of dark iron paint to tone it down.  Pins have been used on all the carriages that will mount in or immediately about the waist.  The macro photo below shows the 'real' bolts in the foreground and the 'cheat' in the rear.  At real life viewing distance these are difficult to tell apart if you didn't know - the difference really being the lack of about 8hrs of cursing.
 
Experimentation with the cap squares and royal cyphers next...
 

Hi Wayne, embarrassed to say I've just stumbled across your log, curse this site for just having too much great content.  Hoping you've kept up the progress, the masts look fantastic, and Harrier is in a class of her own.  Cute dogs as well!  

Hi Folks,
 
Sadly been rather absent from both the shipyard and this site for some time.  I very much hope to catch up soon on everyone else's fine builds here soon.  Time to get a little more up to date, the cutter is pretty close to completion aside from a little fettling.
 
Frames were added to the interior using strips cut from some scrap 0.5mm pear wood.  These were soaked and pre-bent in situ prior to gluing with PVA:
 

 
The frames were further reduced down to the keel former to try and get a bit more depth the boat.  To my eye, applying planking to the false deck puts the board too high, especially as there is very little room to play with considering the various structural elements still to go on. A template for the footwaling was then made up to determine the shape.  Once the placement was determined, the rising plank was added (again cut from some 0.5mm pear sheet)
 
I wanted to try and allow the footwalling to have an element of curvature which would be natural on the real boat.  A relatively straightforward way to achieve this was to apply wood strip to thin card to match the template which maintains a lot of flexibility (Straight strip was used rather than the more complicated curved planking on the plan).  Once dry, the assembly was easily glued on top of the keel former, the footwaling then follows the interior curve naturally.  
 

 
With those element in place, it was possible to add the platform under the sternsheets.  The Diana plans show these as a grating, but to my eye again the kit supplied grating is too large, so plain boards were installed instead which also appear to be used.  After the main and fore mast steps, thwarts and ringbolts I assume would be used for hoisting the boat had been added, the bow was closed in using a cover as suggested on the plan - this also helped disguise the rudimentary construction at the bow.  The rowlocks were cut, interestingly these are not symetrical between port and starboard, and one seems to sit rather awkwardly in the sternsheets.

 
The sternsheets were made up and installed, again having used a template to finalise shape, together with all the other details including mast thwarts, gunwale and knees.

 
The colour scheme follows a slightly simplified version of that shown below which seems suitably utilitarian.  Looking at this, and comparing once the black was applied, suggests to me that I made a mistake in the tapering of the clinker planking.  The black area covers both the wash strake and upper strake, and judging from these pictures it appears that these are of somewhat consistent in width, especially toward the stem.  I had tapered these proportionally as well, hoping nobody else notices...
 

@mugje - just to be clear, the resin hull shown is an 'aftermarket' mini-kit supplied by caldercraft, its not included in the kit.  What I'm attempting to do is leverage the kit supplied items as best I can.
 
Cutter Progress: Part 2
 
Keel and bow section was cut out of some spare wood and glued in place, and once the basic hull was completed, a decision was needed on how to add a second layer of planking, kit instructions specify to use another layer of 0.5mm walnut.  I really wanted to try and replicate the clinker hull planking shown in the AOTS Diana book, and to do this a used some cardstock instead of wood to cut individual strakes.  Fist challenge was to determine the width of each plank on the hull.  This was done using 'tick strips' at about 10 points along the hull.  The lowest (non-clinkered) garboard strake was simply omitted.  The end of the cardstock strips were cut down (rather than truly tapered) to allow the planking to terminate smoothly at the front bow and stern which is how I believe the planking is done in practice.  Each strip was cut to about 2.5mm thickness, the benefit of cardstock is that when coated with dilute PVA glue it becomes very manageable and can simply be bent to shape rather than the spiling that would have been necessary if wood had been used.
 
Once the hull had been marked out to 'prove' the planking separation, these were not referenced again.  Once a strip had been installed, the lowest point of the next strip was placed using the tickstrips.  This process was simply repeated, with time allowed for the glue to dry sufficiently for the surface to harden.  Dilute PVA was used quite liberally to ensure a good bond between the wood and card as the hope is for this to add additional structural strength.
 

 

 
The final 2 strakes were completed with one wider strip as the uppermost strake is non-clinkered and would not be visible.  Extra height was added for safety as this can be easily cut back once glue has dried.
 

 
Once both sides had been completed, each was  given a few more coats of dilute PVA for added insurance....why not?!  With the exterior planking work completed, attention could be turned to the interior and the potentially catastrophic step of removing the frames.  This actually went smoothly, but has to be approached with patience and a light hand.  The kit base was removed as well as the actual flooring should be a little lower I feel.  The frames were cut back a little more than is perhaps necessary, but this will allow flexibility as to where the floor is, and hopefully prevent them from being seen.  Practically, it also allowed the interior planking to be sanded more effectively.  The hull in this state clearly needs a light hand, but is surprisingly robust despite my fears.
 
Once an initial sanding had been completed, some light wood filler was used to fill imperfections and deal with some of the slight clinkering of the topmost walnut strips.  Once sanded back, dilute PVA was once again brushed on....yes, paranoia perhaps, but can't hurt.
 

 
Finally I was able to add an initial coat of white point to the hull to get a better idea of how this turned out (In this case Valejo 'off white' as it was all I could get from Amazon in a reasonable timeframe).  This highlighted that some finish work will be required in some areas where the eye is drawn to surface imperfections, but one thing I've learned is that the cardstock planks can be effectively sanded, probably due to the application of dilute PVA glue.  Definitely some fine tuning still needed and far from perfect, but its hard not to be pleased with the result for a first attempt.
 

go on then, another one...
The ominous torpedo ballast keel is visible when in the pool, unlike local lakes etc. I'm interested to see whether Enterprise's greater hull capacity and bouyancy will allow a bit more internal ballast and something that will be less yacht-like underneath her. 

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

Is there anything that suggests this shows anything other than a simple dual coaming structure, the steam scuttle above stove, and the adjoining forward one for the chimney structure.  The dotted line just seem to represent the beam separating these (?).  There seem to be many slightly different representations on models of the chimney surround being a wooden or iron structure sitting in the coaming.

A few days away again, this time in Kent for a bit of bird watching but mainly to visit Chatham Dockyard. The talk and tour of the ropery was fascinating. In the early days, before the process was mechanised, how they twisted the initial yarn by hand from a coil of fibre wrapped around the waist is remarkable. It seems that it was fairly late on in the 19th century that rope making caught up with the the textile industry where mechanisation of similar spinning processes had begun to be used nearly 100 years earlier.
 
A few other pieces completed between continuing with the stern galleries.
I had some trouble with the steps getting the spacing to appear correct. On the first attempt I didn’t like the arrangement so removed them and tried again. I’m much happier with the new alignment and also made some attempt to allow for the tumblehome and shape of the wales.
 

 
I have also made the riders. Although only the two amidships will be visible, I have also made the three that go along the aft section but which will be hidden by the quarter deck. They are shaped and painted ready to be fitted.
 

 
The kit-supplied rudder no longer fits because of the new stern post replacement. I cut another from boxwood sheet using a template taken from AotS Diana. A bit more tapering is required but generally I’m happy with the overall look.
 


 
Back to the quarter galleries. I glazed the lights using the polyester film supplied and then backed the false lights with black card before glueing the frame to the top and bottom patterns. This gave me the base from which to shape the lower finishing pieces. These are made from 7mm boxwood sheet and a piece of 2mm walnut taken from the kit. I have tried to follow the general shape illustrated in the AotS. The starboard gallery is finished for the moment, with just the drop to make, but I expect that a small amount of further work will be needed when they come to be fitted permanently
 

 
The port quarter gallery will follow the same pattern and will probably take the rest of the weekend... 
 

The Trumpeter kit for uses the netting in 2 pieces and some ridiculous flimsy arms to hold them, and Eduard provides something better with really **** poor instructions, 

the net needs to be bent to about 80degrees

then it needs a rivet strip among side the top to reflect the real things. 

Starboard side plated....
 
A few more in progress shots, then the finished starboard side.
 

 

 

 

 

 
The keen-eyed among you will spot a patch where I did a bit of cleaning of one of the plates... It should blend in again over time.

Ensign...conclusion:
A tiny bit of steam was used to soften the ensign while various "rounded implements" with different radii (dowel, metal file shafts etc.) were used to try and introduce various folds.  I'd love to be able to describe a reproduceable scientific process, but thats not what happened.  It was really just a continual serious of tweaks, leaving to dry and most importantly trying not to introduce creases.  Steam worked fine to initially soften and allow the structural folds to be introduced, but isn't really a good ongoing solution as it tends to undo any previous work.  Real care is also needed to not 'over wet' the painted flag, not sure I was completely successful here.  Final tweaking was done by wetting very gently any tools used and trying to hold in position while it dried and the fold takes.

...and with that milestone, I'm declaring this build FINISHED!  
 
This was my first wooden ship build, and first model I've built for over 30 years.  Its taken probably 8 years to get this far off an on (probably 7 years more than it should), but I have to say I'm glad I was able to finish her.  I've come to realize that I enjoy the journey more than the destination, and I certainly experienced moments when I could easily have put her aside permanently, mainly due to me recognizing unfixable mistakes or compromises that that could so easily been enhanced had I known more at the time.  Given the length of time taken to complete, this progression in knowledge and execution is very apparent to me, but I hope is less apparent to others.  All in all, this was a most enjoyable project that exposed me to the necessary knowledge and techniques that I hope build on and leverage in the future.  I still need to make up a protective case, and will probably continue to see needed fixes and touchups before she (hopefully) is put in a place of rest.  I would like to thank this entire community for the ongoing help, support and encouragement - without which I would not have reached this point.
 
Few pictures to celebrate, apologies that these aren't exactly studio quality.

 

Congratulations!  Nicely done!

Ensign...conclusion:
A tiny bit of steam was used to soften the ensign while various "rounded implements" with different radii (dowel, metal file shafts etc.) were used to try and introduce various folds.  I'd love to be able to describe a reproduceable scientific process, but thats not what happened.  It was really just a continual serious of tweaks, leaving to dry and most importantly trying not to introduce creases.  Steam worked fine to initially soften and allow the structural folds to be introduced, but isn't really a good ongoing solution as it tends to undo any previous work.  Real care is also needed to not 'over wet' the painted flag, not sure I was completely successful here.  Final tweaking was done by wetting very gently any tools used and trying to hold in position while it dried and the fold takes.

...and with that milestone, I'm declaring this build FINISHED!  
 
This was my first wooden ship build, and first model I've built for over 30 years.  Its taken probably 8 years to get this far off an on (probably 7 years more than it should), but I have to say I'm glad I was able to finish her.  I've come to realize that I enjoy the journey more than the destination, and I certainly experienced moments when I could easily have put her aside permanently, mainly due to me recognizing unfixable mistakes or compromises that that could so easily been enhanced had I known more at the time.  Given the length of time taken to complete, this progression in knowledge and execution is very apparent to me, but I hope is less apparent to others.  All in all, this was a most enjoyable project that exposed me to the necessary knowledge and techniques that I hope build on and leverage in the future.  I still need to make up a protective case, and will probably continue to see needed fixes and touchups before she (hopefully) is put in a place of rest.  I would like to thank this entire community for the ongoing help, support and encouragement - without which I would not have reached this point.
 
Few pictures to celebrate, apologies that these aren't exactly studio quality.

 

Post Four
Creating a Ladderway
 
This post involves modifying things to create a Fore hatch ladderway on the Lower deck down to the Fore Platform.
This is not for the faint hearted as it involves cutting Bulkhead 4 in half and trimming the false keel.

3716
The bulkhead is halved, and the centre section is removed.

3718
The short keel piece sticking up in the centre will also be removed.

3719
A test check of the Ladderway with the lower deck in place.

3723
Bulkhead 5 is glued into place along with the Fore Platform.

3722
The lower deck is temporarily refitted to hold the bulkhead in place until the glue sets.

3753
Bulkhead 4 halves are glued into place against the False keel and forward connections of the Platform.

3747
Bracing blocks are glued to the lower part of the bulkhead and the keel.

3725
The Lower deck was again put back to square the bulkheads.

3755
The completed area opened up.

3735

3752
A ladder can now be installed once the hatchway coamings are fitted.
 
Onto the stern Ladderway and Aft Platform, which is a less  dramatic modification.
 
B.E.
26/08/21
 

Deck glued on 

Thats very nice indeed

Lovely to see such refined patient progress.  Keep it up, Jason.
 
Mike
 

Great planking job you’re doing there Jason. 👍
 
B.E.

Jason,
 
What beautiful work you're doing on the quarterdeck. Any captain would be proud to wear those planks thin by pacing them on the weather-side!  
 
Rob

Nice work Peter, I found the rigging and configuration of the martingale to be one of the harder things to figure out, even with Lees as as reference, so glad you have a plan.