Armed Virginia Sloop Patrick Henry by DocBlake - FINISHED - Lauck Street Shipyard - Scale = 1/32 - POF Admiralty Style

[DocBlake]

I'm beginning my build log of the Lauck Street Shipyards POF kit of an Armed Virginia Sloop, an admiralty style kit in 1/32 scale.  The kit arrived in it's box and it is heavy!  The contents are high quality hardwoods (primarily cherry for deck beams, knees, carlings etc. and hard maple for the frames) with lots of strip wood of various species for planking, trim etc.  There are also a large number of 3-D printed parts; this being the first kit to offer them. There are 5 sheets of plans, each 36" X 24" included.  I may alter the kit, and add additional details and possibly substitute some different woods, but I'm basically going to build it out of the box.  Comments, criticisms and suggestions are welcome!

 

Here is the box, and some shots of the maple and cherry billets containing many of the parts.

Edited September 23, 2016 by DocBlake

[bear]

Hi

 

Did I see where this kit is now OOP?

Is it now out of production because Bob could not sell enough of them,or was it because the 3D parts could not be produced to a acceptable quality?

How are the 3D printed parts in the kit you received? 

 

I have his Halifax and Fair American kits. Have not started them yet. I was surprised that he chose this ship since there are other kits of this ship  being produced by others.

 

Keith

[DocBlake]

Hi Keith!

 

Bob's AVS is not technically out of production, but he won't manufacture a kit unless he has a lot of 8 orders and business has been slow.  He doesn't really advertise.  If you are interested, I believe he has one AVS in stock right now.  As to this Kit:  It's quite a bit different from the MS AVS.  The kit differs from Bob's previous kits in that the frames are beveled before installation, making the fairing of the hull, both inside and out, muck easier. The 3D parts are quite excellent.  The detail is amazing.  You'll have a hard time looking at typical MS, Amati, Corel Britannia metal castings and then using them.  Photo below of the 3-D printed parts.

 

PS:  If you're interested in selling "Halifax", I'll take it off your hands!

Edited May 17, 2018 by DocBlake

[DanO]

Dave,

 

I look forward to watching the progress of your build. Bob Hunt is a perfectionist, in my opinion and that is a goos thing.  Being limited in my building abilities I am a fan of his praticums, of which I have many, and would be lost without having them on hand for immediate answers.

 

This not however taking a shot at all of the expert advise and help which I find here.

 

Happy building

Dan

[DocBlake]

Thanks, Dan.

 

The first step in the build is to make the frames.  They come attached to the hardwood billets by two tabs.  I found the easiest was to remove them from the billet was to use a Dremel tool and a cutoff wheel.  In the photo, if you look carefully, you can see the burned area on the billet where the parts had been attached.  Each frame is made up of 9 or 10 parts.  The tabs are then cut off of each part, and the parts lightly sanded.  The first layer of parts is stuck to a template of the frame with double sided tape, and the second overlapping "sistered" layer of parts is glued to the first.  The photo gives an idea of scale

[jdbradford]

Can't wait to get started on mine Dave.  Mike has started the log of his on here, so if you want to see what he has done with the kit, especially the 3D parts, take a look at his here:  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/10886-patrick-henry-by-mrshanks-lauck-street-shipyard-scale-132-pof-admiralty-style/

 

Bob did say he has one kit left that is packaged and ready to ship.  His model and supplied practicum is nothing like the MS kit of the AVS.  I wish more folks would go and look at Bob's kits at Lauck Street Shipyard and support his manufacturing of these exceptional kits.  Because he may quit the business if there is not more interest.

 

Jeff

Edited July 18, 2015 by jdbradford

[DocBlake]

I agree, Jeff.  I built the MS AVS using Bob's practicum and these are two different kits, altogether.  The POF "Patrick Henry" is going to be worth every penny.

[jdbradford]

I went through my new kit, the Chris Watton designed Amati Revenge and am also very excited to start this one soon.

 

Jeff

[GuntherMT]

Hi Keith!

 

Bob's AVS is not technically out of production, but he won't manufacture a kit unless he has a lot of 8 orders and business has been slow.

 

Actually I believe he most recently said he can do batches of 4, but I could be mistaken about that.  Regardless, he does have one in stock and needs 'hard' orders for at least 4 before starting the next batch.

[DocBlake]

I've started gluing up the frames. Frame 0 is amidships. The frame's number increases going forward from there. Frame A is just aft of Frame 0, and the frames proceed alphabetically moving aft from there. Frames 0, 1 2 and 3 are straightforward and require no beveling. The numbered frames forward of these (#4-11) require progressively more beveling as the bow is approached. The same is true for the lettered frames moving aft. The first couple after Frame 0, Frame A and Frame B, require little or no beveling. The remainder (C through Q) are beveled. I finished and glued up the first 4 frames, 0 through 3. I'll also begin gluing up the other frames, as well as constructing the building jig and keel. My frames are maple. The deadwood, rising wood, keel, stem and stern post are all cherry. I'll add a rosewood or ebony false keel. I will also blacken the joints of all the deadwood parts to simulate caulking. I think the contrast in woods will be nice!

 

Edited July 19, 2015 by DocBlake

[jdbradford]

Great start Dave.

 

And, I think you are correct Brian.  On my order Bob had originally been looking for 4 commitments before starting production.  Apparently, 1 person back out at the last minute, so he has one kit ready to go.

 

Jeff

[mrshanks]

I'm very happy to see another one of these builds getting started.  I'm rapidly closing in on 300 hours into mine and its been both challenging and very rewarding!!

 

Mike Shanks

[DocBlake]

I am playing around with the deadwood assembly for the keel. The deadwood is made up of 4 parts glued together. I plan to blacken the joints between all the parts to simulate caulking, but I also think that some of the component parts of the deadwood can be broken down further than in the kit. For instance, parts SD1 and SD2 were probably each made up of smaller parts on a real ship. I'll simulate this by scoring lines in the parts and darkening the scoring with a pencil to simulate caulking between the parts. Here's a shot from the practicum showing the deadwood, and my proposal to alter it's appearance . What do you think?

Edited July 19, 2015 by DocBlake

[GuntherMT]

I really like the effect you've done with the deadwood Doc.  Looks great!

[DocBlake]

The rising wood was carefully removed from the billet and all the appropriate frames were fitted to the slots.  The slots were squared up and the keel is ready to be glued up.  I went a little out of sequence here by fitting the frames to the rising wood before beveling them, but I don't think it makes any difference.  The strip of dark wood in the picture is rosewood, which I will use for the false keel

[mrshanks]

Looks like you are off to a great start Dave!

 

Mike

[Blue Pilot]

looking forward to watching this build. Thanks for starting a log.

[DocBlake]

I finally finished the keel.  The first step was to glue the stern deadwood in place.  The rosewood false keel was fitted and glued.  Next I cut the rabbet by adding a bevel to the top of the  keel and the bottom of the rising wood.  Then the rising wood was glued in place and the notches squared. Finally came the stem and the stem deadwood.  Once I finish beveling the frames, it'll be time to start framing the hull.

 

Dave

[dgbot]

The A.V.S. makes into a nice model. Have fun and enjoy yourself.

David B

[DocBlake]

All my frames are glued up.  The first 8 have been sanded and beveled as needed and are sitting on the keel assembly in the building jig.  My frames are hard maple, the keel assembly is cherry.  Final fairing of the maple by hand is not going to be too easy!

 

Dave

[mrshanks]

Looks outstanding so far Dave.  On mine, I didn't glue any frames to the keel until after all of them had been fitted and faired.  If you do a very meticulous job at fairing the frames individually before they are glued you will find that there is very little fairing left to do after you remove her from the jig!!!  That maple is going to really look nice!! 

 

Mike

[dgbot]

Looking good amigo.

David B

[DocBlake]

Not a lot going on in the shipyard recently.  The Admiral and I just got back from 5 days up in the Door peninsula of Wisconsin.  There's a nice collection of quaint waterside towns that remind me of New England seaside fishing villages, only these are in the Midwest!  We really enjoyed the little excursion. 

 

All the full frames for the sloop have been beveled and fit in place.  I laid a plank across the framing both inboard and outboard and it looks like there will be very little fairing to be done because of the pre-beveling of the frames before installation.  That's a relief!

 

The only mistake so far:  I installed frame H backwards, with the floor facing forward instead of aft.  The beveling is all correct...I just got a little confused when laying out the bevel pattern. I'm not rebuilding the frame, because I'm neither entering this ship in a contest, nor expecting my build to be examined by an expert in historic naval architecture. 

[GuntherMT]

Looking good Dave!

[DocBlake]

I'm ready to do a little more ship modeling now that we're into September.  I completed the frames and treenailed every futtock.  Over 800 treenails on the frames alone!   I used birch toothpicks and a #57 drill for them,  making them a scale 1-1/2" in diameter.  Maybe slightly large, but I like the effect anyway.   Each frame was then trimmed and sanded to fit the jig.  The 8 filler pieces (which define the sweep ports and the scuppers were beveled and sanded to fit between the frames.  You can see the paper templates glued to the most forward filler pieces.  these were used to accurately sand the rather acute bevel needed to fit these parts where the bow curves the most.  The others I did by hand, without using the templates provided.  Next is the glue-up.  Notice the compound angles that have to be formed to fit the forward cant frames

[GuntherMT]

Nice to see an update Dave, I really like the treenails.

[DocBlake]

All of the frames are glued to the rising wood and the deadwood except the last two, P and Q.  I had to remake the two pair of forward cant frames, because I didn't like the way they fit.  They are much better now, and the fairing of the hull will be easier.  I did rum into trouble with frame P, the next to the last one.  Basically the kit pieces made for a  set of frames that tended to "curl in" rather than line up with the upper futtocks of the frames that come before.  The size of the finished frame doesn't leave enough excess wood to fair frame P into the same plane as the frames before.  So I used the beveling template to make a new pair of frames, and beveled them to fit the hull curves at that station.  Cutting out the futtocks and gluing them together is easy...fitting the frame in place without an accurate beveling template is hard.  It took me a couple of hours to fit the new frames, but I like the end result.

 

The first photo shows the old frame P.  It is the first one.  Notice how the upper futtock is rotated inward.  The second and third photos shows the new frame P before beveling. The forward edge of the frame is high compared to the frame in front, and the uppermost  parts need to be shaped.  The last three photos are of the final pair of frames P in position in the jig.  The uppermost part flows more smoothly and the inside and outside surfaces are fair compared with the frame before.  A great improvement.  Once the poly is dry I'll glue this frame in place, fair the upper hull and install temporary ribbands to the frame tops.  The model will be ready to come out of the jig,

Edited September 9, 2015 by DocBlake

[jbshan]

Very nice clean work, Sir.  Those severe angles forward were a reason to redesign how the cant frames met the other frames so they could be cut from less wasteful shapes of timber.  Basically the forwardmost cant frames and hawse pieces came down onto other frames and were more square to the side of the ship than to the keel.  This is in the late 1700s as large compass timber became less accessible and more expensive in England.  No doubt the practice began here somewhat later.

[DocBlake]

Thanks, Joel.

 

Progress report: All the frames are now glued in place except for frame Q, per the practicum. I've started fairing the upper parts of the frame before installing the temporary battens. I decided to use my Dremel tool to thin down the filler pieces, which stand proud of the frames by a lot on the inboard side. It makes the work go quicker. Anyway, not much to see, so no photos. As for fairing the inside of the model, Bob Hunt's  lofting was quite good. The center-most frames require virtually no sanding at all, except to get them cosmetically smooth. Moving forward, the biggest area that needs sanding is the transition from the full frames to the cant frames. Moving aft, the sanding needs to start as the frames begin rising on the deadwood...around frame J. I'm not implying massive wood removal, either. It's mainly getting the edges of the frames to line up so planking flows smoothly, not removing large amounts of wood. Bob's lofting was very accurate.

[DocBlake]

The inside of the ship was faired, as was the outside down to the jig.  I installed the temporary battens and removed the ship from the jig.   Next up:  Fitting the hawse timbers and fairing the outside.