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

[DocBlake]

I started work on the hawse timbers.  These will be the most difficult part of the framing.  Pictured is a basswood mockup I made.  It's roughly shaped to size.  The real timbers will be hard maple.  It took about 1 hour to fit the mockup.

[DocBlake]

Slow progress on the hawse timbers.  I did finish a building cradle for the model, which will be her home in the shipyard until she'd mounted on the display stand.

 

I was satisfied with the fit of the first hawse timbers in bass wood so I fitted the real maple ones and glued them in place.  I just finished the bass wood mockup for the second timber and fit it in place.  It turned out pretty well.  I feel confident in the technique I'm using to shape these complex timbers to the model, and the practice on the bass wood mockups helps a lot.  Once the third timbers are mounted, the hull will be faired.

[SkerryAmp]

Really like the look of the framed models, adds a whole new level of complexity and authenticity to.

 

Enjoying this build quite a bit!

 

nice work!

[DocBlake]

Thanks, Adam.  I appreciate your interest.

[DocBlake]

Two questions for the group:

 

1) My framing is in hard maple, with cherry for the deck framing.  I love the contrast!  The kit, however, supplies the wing transom, stern transom framing and counter framing as cherry.  While pretty as cherry, I think those parts should be hard maple to be consistent with the rest of the build.  I would be willing to make them over in maple.  What do you all think?

 

2)  I would like to substitute the bulwark planking, both inboard and outboard with different wood.  The kit supplies cherry, but I want to "customize my build a bit.  I'm thinking boxwood or yellowheart for the outboard planking down to the black strake/wales, and swiss pear for the inboard planking.  I'd also like some ideas for the transom and counter.  There's a build of the cutter Cheerful at MSW where the counter is planked in the same color as the inboard bulwarks: red.  I'd consider swiss pear for this, just like the inboard bulwarks.  the transom itself is planked as the outboard bulwarks: boxwood or yellow heart.  What do you think?

[DocBlake]

The hawse frames were completed and glued in place.  Overall I'm happy with the fit.  The first hawse frame is short, but that should be no problem because the kit was design with the hawse timbers and the first two cant frames long, so they can be custom cut for the model. Frame Q is also glued in place.  That's where the wing transom sits.  Next is fairing the hull.

Edited September 24, 2015 by DocBlake

[GuntherMT]

Looking good Dave!

[mtaylor]

Looking good, Dave.   

 

1)  Question back.. are the frames or transoms going to be visible?  It's your decision but if their visible, I'd do them in same wood.  If not visible, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

2) Test the woods together with some final finish. This really is a "Captain's Choice" thing as are all decisions.    I'd plank the transom and counter the same as the basic hull.. but that's me.   The stern area with the windows... toss a coin.  Some like the hull planking colors (or paint), others like the hull planking above the wales to match and then there's those who like ebony in that area.  

[DocBlake]

The transom framing and counter framing will be visible through the great cabin roof (poop deck) which will be partially planked.  The kit provided the hull planking in hard maple, but counter and transom planking is in cherry.  I just finished cutting out the components for this framing, including the wing transom, out of hard maple to match the general framing.  To add some contrast, I redid the transom itself.  The kit provides two pieces to form the transom.  There is the transom proper (TR1) and an "overlay" trim piece (TR2).  Both are made of cherry.  I took the outline of the transom piece and traced it on some 1/64" plywood and planked both inside and out with swiss pear.  I then remade the overlay piece out of boxwood to match the outer bulwark planking.  Once the transom is fit in place, the bottom will be trimmed off and the overlay fitted with a plank as shown in the photo. The second transom in the photo is the two kit parts. I like the color contrast between the boxwood and swiss pear.

Edited September 27, 2015 by DocBlake

[GuntherMT]

Looking forward to seeing how your modified wood selections work out Dave!

[DocBlake]

I decided to build the stern assembly off the model as Mike S. did.  This consists of the   transom proper, the wing transom, the counter and transom framing and the transom beams.  I built a jig to hold the parts securely while the glue dried.  The jig is just scrap plywood joined at a 104 degree angle (14 degrees from the vertical).  Fortunately I have a miter saw and it took just a few minutes to build.  While the glue was drying, I started removing the tabs from the foot of each frame, so the frame flows smoothly into the rabbet along it's length.  The hard maple is hard on blades too!.  I'm about half done and I've gone through four X-Acto blades already.  Once the tabs are removed and the hull gets it's final fairing, I'll glue the stern assembly in place.

Edited October 4, 2015 by DocBlake

[Canute]

Another good idea to store in your "bag of tricks."  Thanks, Dave.

[DocBlake]

I've been trimming the little tabs that were used to stabilize the frames when they were glued to the rising wood and deadwood.  There are three left to do!  You can see from the photo how each frame flows smoothly into the rabbet.  My next task is the final hull sanding and attaching the counter and transom.

[DocBlake]

I added the black strake and three boxwood strakes above it.  The practicum calls for adding a 4th strake and then framing in the gun ports.  The ports are then opened up by drilling holes at the corners, and connecting the holes with an X-Acto knife.  The better way is to cut the ports BEFORE adding the 4th strake!  I used a razor saw and cut down using the hull frames as a guide.  The bottom of the port is formed by using a #10  X-Acto to define the line and then sawing through the half frame that needs to be removed with a #13 blade.  A file cleans up the edges.  As you can see they are crisp and straight.  Once the last strake is added to the top off the port, the top edge is defined again with an X-Acto.  Please excuse the planking.  It hasn't been sanded so the grit, glue stains and unevenness show up well.  It WILL look better when done!

Edited October 20, 2015 by DocBlake

[dgbot]

Dave you are doing great.  Your planking is spot on.

David B

[DocBlake]

I've added the shear strake and completed framing the gun ports.  After the glue is cured I will cut away the shear strake to the top of the port frame to define the upper edge of the gun port.  On the old MS model of the Armed Virginia Sloop, many builders painted the shear strake to add a little decoration.  I decided to make mine out of purpleheart and not paint it.

[GuntherMT]

Purpleheart is an interesting look.  Looking forward to how it looks with everything finished.

[jdbradford]

Hey Dave,

 

I have not looked in on your build in a while, but it looks great.

 

Hope all is well with you and yours.

 

Jeff

[DocBlake]

Thanks for the comments and the "likes", guys!

[hamilton]

Hi Dave - just discovered this log. I haven't had time to read through the whole thing (too busy with work!!) but at some point soon I hope to wade in more deeply. Just wanted to say that she looks great and this seems like a really nice kit. When I first started modelling I joined the LSS forum through my build of the Model Shipways AVS. By that time, Bob had stopped actively marketing his kits, and it was my understanding that they were largely unavailable - though it seems that those who built them spoke very highly of their quality, and it seems that he's updated them with some 3D printed materials - very interesting!

 

Anyways, once I free up some time from work I'll definitely be following along here with great interest

hamilton

[donrobinson]

Hi Dave, I think your choice of purpleheart is great. It is a good looking wood, I know it is a little hard to work with. How thick of a piece did you use and did you have problems making it bend around the hull?

[DocBlake]

Thanks for looking in, Hamilton.

 

Don:  Purpleheart is a very brittle wood and hard to work with.  The grain is strong so you have to be very careful cutting with an X-Acto blade.  I'm glad I only had 2 strakes to contend with.  I did have a lot of practice on my MS AVS because I used bloodwood to plank the inboard bulwarks.  Very similar characteristics.

 

I bent the wood using a steam iron.  it worked pretty well, but took awhile.  After gluing the strakes in place, I cut the upper edge of the gun ports into the purpleheart.  Here's a photo.

[DocBlake]

Scuppers and sweep ports cut into the port side.  The scuppers are bigger than they should be because when drilling the pilot hole to cut out one of them, the drill came out too high on the plank above the black strake.  All the scuppers had to be bigger to compensate.  Still, I think it looks OK.  It's just one of those things that the builder notices, but no one else usually does on the finished model

[donrobinson]

Scuppers look ok to me and that purpleheart is real nice. And you are right about bloodwood and purpleheart being similar, although, at this scale the slivers aren't near as big or as painful.

[hamilton]

Such beautiful tones in that wood - excellent work - a real beauty!

hamilton

[jbshan]

Scuppers have always seemed to me to be too small.  :-)

Also, there's no reason they have to be drilled all the way through.  A half depth hole from each side should work.  My Niagara/Lawrence (Model Shipways) model has them lined up under the midships carronades, so I just did them from the outside.

[jdbradford]

If the hole does not go all the way through the bulkhead, how does the water drain?

 

Jeff

[DocBlake]

Thanks, guys.

 

Jeff:  On the real ship the scuppers have to go through the bulkhead to drain.  On a model, you can simulate this by drilling from either side and not all the way through.  The MS AVS uses that technique.  In this scale, though, through-scuppers are probably necessary

 

Does anyone know how bulwark planking was treenailed to the hawse timbers?  Because of the plank width on this ship,either one or two treenails per frame could be used.  Which would look better?  I don't want it to be too "busy".  Would there have been treenails in each of the three hawse frames?

Edited October 23, 2015 by DocBlake

[Jimz66]

Looks great Doc. Keep it going. 

[DocBlake]

The keelson is glued to the frame floors using Weldbond.  The black bands are nylon electrical cable ties acting as clamps to hold the keelson to the assembly while the glue dries.