AON

19 AUG 2016 Completed the shaping of the stem assembly. Chiselled in along the lower/middle/upper stem post to get the relief depth then sanded to shape. Then did the same to the knee of the head and extension as it is narrower yet again. Did a little damage on the edge of the filler pieces with the last step. A little cleanup to be done on her... a few passes with finer grade paper and a tack cloth. I have yet to add the cutwater strip to the stem assembly and the last pieces of the rising wood on top of the keel. Then I will start building at the stern, adding the transom pieces.

... and the pine tree paper air freshener cutouts dangling from a string overhead

Thank you jbshan for the idea. As the stem assembly has yet to be sanded to thickness any edge bevelling would be lost. I wonder if I can scrape something in after the re-shaping is complete? Will consider it when I get that part done. Robin... It scares me too. Part of why I jumped into the deep end!

I share your pain. Making any joint match almost flawlessly is a talent that seems to elude me. I find that I should cut out one half then fit it on top of the other half and mark the matching outline with a very fine pencil. I then cut (scroll saw and/or chisel), file and sand (in that order) to fit. Leave the "nose" end extended a bit. The pencil outline will be just outside where I need to be. If I can get that to match it allows me to bring (sand or chisel) the nose in a little bit for the final fit. I still cannot make them perfect and tight but the real build was not. It will take a lot more practice for me to "get it". Alan

I added the remainder, Lower Apron, etc... and then the Knee of the Head and the Extension.

I used my light table for the dry fitting and had to suffer through holding it over head to the florescent light for the final fit, Some are quite brutal (for me) as I am not skilled enough as yet. Practise makes perfect... or makes one more frustrated. I have been collecting the sawdust so I hope to fix the worst of it up after shaping the thickness reveals more things that aren't visible presently... or I might be pleasantly surprised.

17 Aug 2016 Summer has kept me otherwise occupied and I haven't gotten much progress on my build in over a month... however on the plus side it hasn't rained much so the grass didn't grow and so did not require mowing! (But the flower gardens needed watering and my water bill was enormous). Earlier this month we went to see the live musical thriller Sweeney Todd at the Shaw in Niagara on the Lake ( http://www.shawfest.com/playbill/sweeney-todd/) ... not quite enough blood in the show but we enjoyed it non the less. Regarding my build. I must say sanding two curved pieces to mate near seamless is a art I've yet to master. I am much better now than I was a month ago but there still is much room for improvement. I suppose my frames will make or break me. I managed to get the aft most keelson piece (over the deadwood knee) sanded to match fairly well. Then I work, and re-worked and re-re-worked the stem assembly. In the end I had all pieces dry fitted to what I thought was acceptable. Then I started gluing to the keel and upwards.... re-re-re-sanding one more time to as imperfect as I could possibly manage. I don't necessarily want it to be seamless as the actual builds weren't but I do want it to be a little better than where I am. The problem is that until you've mastered it you end up chasing your tail and eventually screw up totally and find you've just made more scrap. Knowing when to say enough is enough is another talent I'm working on developing. Here is my progress to date.

I confess I was originally not a fan of the light coloured chocks... but as the ship grows I have changed my mind. I think the developing pattern has triggered my CDO switch ON

Thanks Don All I need now is some bad weather so I can lock myself downstairs with the ship and not feel like I am missing another beautiful day.

Although embarrassing it is human error, mine and the original draughtsman. I never thought to blame the measuring tape. I have to say your suggestion to make rulers to my build scale has been unbelievable worthwhile!

Sunday 02 July 2016 Some time has passed since my last posting here because I had revealed yet another issue. Druxey had commented that I should assure I get the wing transom set at the proper angle or everything would be thrown off. When setting the angle something seemed amiss. Upon studying the original sheer and timber plans from NMM it became obvious they did not agree with regards to the placement of the transom pieces. To add to this my stern post was short by almost two feet (my error). After considerable reflection I marked the proper heights on a piece of stiff cardboard. I cut off the top of my stern post to be flush with the upper side of the wing transom and then grafted an extension to my stern post to be the correct height. This has yet to be sanded. I then had to adjust the height "shelf" of my inner post and nipped off all those wonderful pocket extensions. I am concerned for the adjacent frame templates now as they may be out of alignment. I'll be double checking this before I make these aft frame timbers. I've rough cut all the transom pieces and will fit them after I have the stem post assembly made and attached. I'll be working on the stem post next.

I find owning a house and summer time provide all the necessary distractions to avoid boredum. The grass continues to grow and cries to be cut. The sun shines beckoning me outside. More importantly..... the fish are jumping! When I finally get downstairs to find myself emersed with the model for hours everything is fresh and new again.

gorgeous netting

I know that "Oh sh...oot!" moment oh so well and I feel for you.

Being in mechanical engineering I found this last exchange quite intriguing! Thank you Druxey for explaining why (some or most) knees we installed with bolts in sheer as until you stated the obvious "ease of repair" reason I was swayed to the logical "mechanical strength of design" explanation. I hesitated to respond earlier because you are no rookie... even though all the evidence was stacking up against you (photos and figures and mechanical design logic). Now I understand why they were installed on the side in most builds... and as in life some will be different (diversity) for whatever reason.

misprint.... been there, done that!

Good morning Don, As an old (old OLD) draughtsman I have almost a complete set of leads for my really ancient mechanical pencils. The hard leads do keep a point longer but they were meant for light line work (layout work not object lines) and, for me, do not always leave a easily visible line on wood. The softer lead does leave an easily visible line without gouging (engraving into) the wood. I believe I mentioned this before... I am naturally very heavy with my pencil work so must be conscious when using one so I do not leave a permanent dent behind. The softer lead works better for me personally. The newer thin lead mechanical pencils do not like me so much... the lead keeps snapping off (breaking) due to my natural tendency to put to much pressure on them! Alan

Understood. I've been thinking about building an adjustable device to allow me to set the transom (height) in position when gluing. I'll keep your advice in mind.

It was brought to my attention that my Wing Transom might not be set at the proper angle. It was above horizontal (rising) inboard. Thank you Druxey. You can see from the snip below that they wing transom should be ever so slightly below horizontal inboard on the top surface. The lower surface is tapered. The next two below it are also to be set so the top surface is lower inboard. I made a small corrected the relief cut in the stern post to fix the issue. Presently the (upper most) Wing Transom is now horizontal. Another ever so tiny correction is in order, then I must correct the Filler Transom. The next two lower transom template pieces are glued and ready for cutting.

June 11 2016 I cut the frame steps into the port side of the aft deadwood and installed two more sections of the rising wood... and yes those are the two upper most transom pieces dry fitted into place. The Wing Transom and the Filler Transom. I intend to cut the other transom pieces but will not be fixing them in place permanently until I get the Stem Post (at the pointy end as my darling wife refers to it) in place.

The lighting certainly changed things considerably! Might be just my bad eye sight but the bamboo doesn't seem quite right does it. The top middle castello looks nice.

Good morning Druxey! I had tried a very thin lead mechanical pencil, running it along the edge of the paper template but it did not work very well. So I used a regular old fashion wooden HB pencil with a dull point and ran it over the paper template and edge. I figured it would leave a crisp line at the edge of the paper and I would cut the step along the top edge of the line. My hand wasn't that steady but none the less I was quite happy with my first ever attempt. A.

Thank you all for the likes and comments. I slept on it and decided to do the other side exactly the same. "Two wrongs do not make a right" but in this case they will simplify the task as cutting the small relief notches in the sides for the (upper) transoms would very likely have resulted in one or more of them chipping off. My original plan was to leave them out completely. l likely would have tried anyway just because they are supposed to be there and so may have subconsciously did what I did as a result... more excuses! Decision made.

Worked on the aft frame steps in the deadwood and stern post. Finished one side with an error realised at the end... I went too high up on the stern post. (I thought I was being so careful) Now I must sleep on how to fix it... I have a couple ideas in mind.

June 5 2016 I marked off the various transom steps into the stern post. Sawed down to the reasonably proper depth (3/32" or 6") then made a number of cuts between, chiselled out the pieces and filed flat and square. I then cut out a template of the stern frames in side view and laid it over the dry assembly of the deadwood and stern post. Some guide pencil marks were made on the wood but I did trace the wood assembly onto the template so I can properly lay it over again and trace the steps onto the wood. The taper was marked onto the deadwood and the stern post was sanded to the line while the deadwood assembly was sanded down to just outside the line. Presently all is glued together to the keel and set to dry. Once dry I will finish the sanding and trace the step locations onto both sides of the deadwood then cut this in.