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Fair American 1780 by DocBlake - Lauck Street Shipyard - 1/48 scale - POF


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This will be the build log for my second Lauck Street Shipyard kit, "Fair American".  As with my AVS "Patrick Henry" I plan to substitute some of the kit's wood.  My kit is #116 and I purchased it about 2 years ago.  It does contain a wood package from Hobby mill with an ebony wales kit as well as Swiss pear and holly planking stock.  I'll also find a way to use boxwood.  This kit will be more practice before I go on two my two big goals:  The Lauck Street Shipyards "Kingfisher" and a scratch-built "Hannah" in 1/24 scale.

 

The first step is to unpack, and then start work on the keel.

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Edited by DocBlake
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Thanks, Don.

 

In addition to the excellent practicum that comes with the kit, I'll be using Dr. Clayton Feldman's book and Mike Lonnecker's article in the NRJ as resources.  I'm planning on fitting out the interior of the ship as Mike did.  Here's a link to his article:  http://www.thenrg.org/resources/59-3%20NRJ%20%20Building%20Fair%20American%201789.pdf

 

I started work on the keel.  The keel, stem, deadwood and framing are all in cherry.

 

In order to create a consistent rabbet in the keel, it is built up of 6 separate parts.  After gluing them all up I cleaned up the notches where the frames will sit with a #11 X-Acto blade and sanded the part.  There was some distortion of the parts as I added each seperate piece.  They are quite thin.  This led to the keel curving a bit and causing heartburn!  By the time all 6 pieces were added, though, and the keel dried overnight it was straight as an arrow when I took the clamps off.  Next I'll add the stem and the beakhead

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Looking great as usual Dave.  We are moved into our new house on the farm.  Construction of the detached shop starts in a couple weeks.  It will probably be January before I am back to full production.  For the moment, I am satisfying my craving for modeling by building some Lego Technics kits (no glue, no paint, no tools)... 

Mike Shanks

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I completed the keel and deadwood assembly.  All the parts are cherry, except the false keel which is rosewood.  There are 27 individual parts making up this assembly.  Next is gluing up the frames.  The hull will be framed Hahn style, and the frames themselves are sistered - just as they were in the "Patrick Henry".  There are 37 frames in all:  19 full frames, 9 pairs of half frames and 9 pairs of cant frames.

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Edited by DocBlake
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Good Morning Dave!

Love the materials list. Cherry is one of my favorites, it holds a nice edge/details. At 1:48 scale, what are the dimensions of this build? 

 

Looks like a great start! I'll be watching with interest :)

 

Perhaps a visit to see you soon since our harbors are so close ;)!

 

 

Bill

Passion is Patience...and I am a carpenter in any scale.

 

 

Current build;  Endurance - 1:70 scale, Occre

 

Current build;    H.M.S. Surprise - 1796, 1:48 A L

                                    

 

 

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Think I'll follow along, too, Dave. I have an MS version in the stash, so hope to pick up some tips along the way.

Ken

Started: MS Bounty Longboat,

On Hold:  Heinkel USS Choctaw paper

Down the road: Shipyard HMC Alert 1/96 paper, Mamoli Constitution Cross, MS USN Picket Boat #1

Scratchbuild: Echo Cross Section

 

Member Nautical Research Guild

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Hi Dave, I have one of these about 75% complete, but now seeing Mike Lonnecker's full rig build I think I may have to add rigging as well... I am sure you are going to do an outstanding build here, I think I will tag along and maybe even start a log on my own completion..... This really is a nice kit, I really enjoyed building this one, really nice materials and Bob did a great job on the practicum as well. I almost feel like I could do a POF scratch build using these techniques. Great start!!

 

Lou

Edited by ASAT
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I finished seven of the full frames, including 2 pairs of gunport frames.  They have a recess for framing the ports in.  The frames on the Lauck Street AVS :Patrick Henry", which I just finished, had bevel lines on the frame drawing that you rubber cemented to the glued up frame.  A Dremel tool made quick work of beveling the frames off the model.  The final fairing of the hull was pretty easy, both inside and out.  The Fair American has no bevel lines.  My plan is to smooth the inner surface of the frames pretty well before installing them, while leaving the smoothing of the outside surface to happen as the outer hull is faired.

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Dave, I started my build log, it's here: topic/14394-fair-american-by-asat-lauck-street-shipyard-148-scale-craftseman-kit-with-full-rigging/ Thanks again for the motivational spark that got me going again, I'm excited to do another log on MSW....

 

Lou

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've completed the first 25 frames.  This is by far my least favorite part of the build.  The frames are made up of as many as 14 parts per frame.  each one has to be cut from the billet, have the tabs that held it in place trimmed off with a #11 blade and have the edges sanded smooth.  The parts are then glued together on a template drawing.  Very time-consuming and tedious work - but necessary!  Only 12 more frames to go!

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Edited by DocBlake
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  • 3 weeks later...

Lots going on in our life, so slow progress on my projects.  I'm just finishing the last of the frames, and completed the Hahn-style jig last night.  The frames have not been faired or sanded in any way.  Just to test the fit, I set the whole frames in the jig.  i was surprised that the tops of the frames fit snugly and accurately into the notches on the jig with no trimming or adjusting!  Very well designed.  Once I finish the last frames I'll need to check them against the plans and trim/shim so they match exactly.  If that part isn't done right, fitting the keel on the frames will be impossible.

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Thanks for looking in, Don!  The frames are glued to the jig as well as the keel.  The practicum suggests 5 minute epoxy as the glue of choice.  The reason is to give the hull a rock-hard solidness it needs to survive the sanding when fairing the outside.  The inside will be partially smoothed before glue up so there will be less stress in sanding once the model is freed from the jig and inboard fairing begins.

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Yep, Don!  The difference is that with the Hahn jig, the hull is constructed upside down, and the long extensions of the tops of the frames are cut to free the hull from the jig after fairing.  With the Patrick henry, the hull is constructed right side up (as  a real ship would be) and there is no cutting to free the hull.  Each frames is held in place by a tight stretched rubber band. Both jigs get pitched after one use.

Edited by DocBlake
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  • 4 weeks later...
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  • 2 weeks later...

Back at it with Christmas now past.  Not much to see, but I completed the glue-up of all the frames.  Next is sanding the inboard edges, matching each frame to the plans and either shimming or trimming so they fit exactly, and then prepare the notches which hold the frame to the keel.  More photos after a little more progress.

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  • 2 months later...

Started back on this project. I'm currently sanding the inboard surfaces of the frames before gluing them to the keel.  There isn't much room to sand inside the model once the frames are glued in place.

 

I own a oscillating spindle sander, but I found the revolving speed was sanding too aggressively.  I have a rheostat, but it didn't work on the spindle sander.  Fortunately, my full size drill press has an induction motor which allowed the rheostat to control the speed of the revolution.  I slowed it down and got a speed where I could control  how much stock I was removing more  easily.  No pictures here...kind of boring work.

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Hi Dave -- Glad to hear you're back at it.  I've tried speeding up the tedious job of sanding in one way or another, but almost always find any power sander to be far too aggressive.  I almost took the quarterdeck of my Rattlesnake just by using a Proxxon detail sander!

 

Cant' wait to see the frames lining up in place!

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

Current Build:  HMS FLY 1776

 

Previous Builds:  Rattlesnake 1781

                        Prince de Neufchatel

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