HMS Triton (1/64) by Aldo - POB

[rdsaplala]

Beautiful picture Aldo!

 

It really catch the effort you´ve done so far. I like the battens you have put on too. Now start the fun job for you!!

 

Best wishes.

 

 

Daniel.

 

Hi Daniel, thanks very much for dropping by and the kind words I understand that you're also finished with your frames so the planking fun will also begin very shortly with your build

[popeye the sailor]

the admiral would kill me if I started another build........I will have to live with seeing your build at the moment.  it is something to think about though 

 

what type of program are you using?

Edited August 1, 2013 by popeye the sailor

[rdsaplala]

Hi Popeye,

 

I'm using Inkscape for my drawings, it has a lot of limitations most important of which is it's lack of 3D capabilities, so I still have to check for fairness manually, using the halfbread and  profile, but I decided to settle for it mainly because

it's free :   http://inkscape.org/download/  

Edited August 2, 2013 by rdsaplala

[the learner]

Try Doublecad XT it has 3D capabilities, I think they are up to version 5 or 6 now but Its free  to download. I have version 3 but still learning to use it!

 

http://www.doublecad.com/

Edited August 3, 2013 by the learner

[rdsaplala]

Thank you so much for the link, Guy, I'll give it a try

[the learner]

My pleasure sir  

[riverboat]

HI Aldo.... just ck'n your progress, I'm lost when it comes to what you're doing....... very interesting build you've got going. Can't wait till you start planking , your planking technique is one of the best I've seen. Looking forward to it!!!

Frank

[rdsaplala]

HI Aldo.... just ck'n your progress, I'm lost when it comes to what you're doing....... very interesting build you've got going. Can't wait till you start planking , your planking technique is one of the best I've seen. Looking forward to it!!!

Frank

 

Hi Frank,

 

Thanks for dropping by and the kind words my  friend, they are much appreciated 

I too am excited to plank this "experimental" hull, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping that it still ends up looking like a ship when I'm done 

[mobbsie]

Hi Aldo,

 

Just double checking that you still have your sanity my friend, I cant profess to understand a single thing your doing but then I don't have to. You seem to have all the angles covered at the moment.

 

Well done for sorting your bulkheads out, but then again you are part of a very small band of true shipwrights, good on ya.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on something this lowly kit builder can understand.

 

Always your friend

 

mobbsie

[rdsaplala]

Thanks for the kind words, Mobbsie, I frankly am not sure if I deserve all those compliments as I am frankly struggling to understand all these shipwright stuff and have yet to see if my "experimental hull" turns out looking like a ship or a lump of sticks

 

Don't sell yourself short my friend, with the excellent job you're doing to Aggy and your beautiful work on your other ships, I'm sure you will have no problem with a project like this

[Sjors]

Don't bring Mobbsie into temptation Aldo       

You are still working on the drawings?

Or do I missed something….

 

[rdsaplala]

Hi Sjors,

 

You're just in time my friend, here are my latest updates 

 

 

While drawing my bulkheads, I've experienced some difficulties tracing the middle-most stations as they have incomplete lines (red boxes):

 

 

 

This caused some head-scratching for some time, until I recalled my previous findings:

 

1. The hull that I currently have has modified aft and fore bulkheads based on the "as proposed" Modified Mermaid Class Body Plan, which upon juxtaposing on CAD, is spot-on with the "as built" Triton Body Plan I am using now.

 

2. The deck levels and overall length of the MSW profile plan, which I used to create my centerboard were also pretty close to the as built plans.

 

To check for accuracy, I printed the fore and aft-most bulkheads that I drew on CAD and compared them with those on my current hull..... law and behold, they were very close indeed with a maximum difference of about 1mm in some areas.

 

These results, plus my hesitance to "guess" the shape of the middle-most bulkheads,prompted me to just continue working on my current hull, which is a mix of NMM-based fore and aft bulkheads and MSW-based bulkheads at the midship area.

 

I did some final tweaking to all my modified bulkheads using the cardboard cut outs of my CAD drawings then proceeded to drawing the stern frames. I decided to make only the innermost (green) and outermost timbers (blue)... a lazy shortcut I adapted from most of the kits I have built 

 

 

With the time consuming drawing-work finally done, it was time to make some wood dust in the workshop 

 

Of course, since this is an "experimental hull", I decided that I will double-plank her, starting with an initial layer of lime planks at the lower hull just to see how fair she would be.

Furthermore, since this is only the first planking, I will not strictly follow all the "planking rules" and just accept the "pointy" plank ends for now 

If the hull shapes up nicely, I will give it a decent second planking, if not.... well, let's just say that there will be a lot of extra wood for cooking barbecue 

 

As a review on why I went through all the above intricacies, here is the "bulge" in the lower hull that had me worried hence my decision to modify my bulkheads:

 

 

 

Here now is my "haphazard first planking" to show how the hull is shaping up... so far no bulge is rearing its head but I'll know for sure once I'm finished

 

 

I made the extensions of the bulkheads and stern frames thicker for strength... I will trim them down to proper size once I'm finished with the planking:

 

 

Here is my "kit-inspired" stern with only four stern timbers reminiscent of my Caldercraft and Amati kits..... note also my violation of planking rules giving rise to numerous "pointy" stealers 

 

 

 

 

Sigh... each time I see my NMM Plan alongside my model, I realize that I have a loooong way to go before she even starts to look like a ship

 

 

I thought I'd also make a size-comparison with my 1/64 Amati Pegasus Sloop:

 

They seem to be almost the same size.....

 

 

 

.... well, maybe not exactly the same size

 

 

 

That's it for now, my next update will be upon completion of the lower hull first planking, during which, I will decide if the hull shape is acceptable enough to warrant some decent second planking or if it is better suited as kindling for the barbecue grill

Edited August 24, 2013 by rdsaplala

[riverboat]

 Nice work Aldo,.......... I couldn't see the bulge you were talking about, but  I'm sure if  you say it's there , it's there.  

[Sjors]

I just keep watching and follow your build Aldo.

 

In my opinion, the planking looks great !

And the drawings? just a bit of art…...    

 

[rdsaplala]

Thanks for the good word, Sjors and Frank, they are much appreciated

 

Frank, I'm pleased to know you don't see any bulges, that was my exact goal for modifying my bulkheads 

[gjdale]

Hey Aldo,

 

Looks like you're making some good progress there. I don't see any barbecues in your near future though - no wood available!

[rdsaplala]

Thanks, Grant, I hope so too  I'm excited to try out some swiss pear and boxwood second planking on this baby if I get her hull shaped nicely 

[mtaylor]

Looking very good, Aldo.  No barbeque but a ship!!!!!   I'm just as impressed as I can be.   I hope the typhoon missed you. Apparently it was pretty rough in some areas.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Aldo,

 

your hull is looking excellent. Really nice progress.

 

After a longer break -real life is sometimes the enemy of the spare time- I work on my drawings again.

[rdsaplala]

Looking very good, Aldo.  No barbeque but a ship!!!!!   I'm just as impressed as I can be.   I hope the typhoon missed you. Apparently it was pretty rough in some areas.

 

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for the good words and the concern my friend, I appreciate it, our locality has been quite lucky as it was not hit hard by the typhoon 

[rdsaplala]

Aldo,

 

your hull is looking excellent. Really nice progress.

 

After a longer break -real life is sometimes the enemy of the spare time- I work on my drawings again.

 

Hi Christian,

 

I can fully empathize with you, my friend, life can often get in the way of our hobbies, I'm pleased to know you're back at the workshop/drawing board again. 

[src]

Aldo,

Just dropped in for a visit, thought I would be able to take a short stroll through your build. Now I see I am going to have to pull up a chair and hang out here for a while. Very nice wrk so far.

I have nicknamed the little model builders voice we all hear "The Gremlin", lately he has been whispering in my ear to try a scratch build one day. Right at the moment he is jumping up and down on my shoulder pointing at your build going "See! See! You too!" Thanks Aldo...... 

Sam

[augie]

EXTREMELY  nice progress here, Aldo.  I see only sawdust in your future ---- not BBQ's !!!!

[rdsaplala]

Aldo,

Just dropped in for a visit, thought I would be able to take a short stroll through your build. Now I see I am going to have to pull up a chair and hang out here for a while. Very nice wrk so far.

I have nicknamed the little model builders voice we all hear "The Gremlin", lately he has been whispering in my ear to try a scratch build one day. Right at the moment he is jumping up and down on my shoulder pointing at your build going "See! See! You too!" Thanks Aldo...... 

Sam

Hi Sam,

 

Thanks for the kind words, I'm pleased to know you are also planning on building this beautiful ship, come jump right in, I've seen the beautiful scratch-building you've done to your Enterprise so I'm sure you will do an excellent work with Triton

[rdsaplala]

EXTREMELY  nice progress here, Aldo.  I see only sawdust in your future ---- not BBQ's !!!!

Thanks for the good word, Augie, I appreciate it  I've been carefully reviewing how you, Syren- and Confederacy-builders frame your gunports as this seems to be the approach that I need to take with Triton, it's something completely new to me as I've been spoiled by my previous kits' pre-cut gunports

Edited August 24, 2013 by rdsaplala

[Mirabell61]

Aldo

very nice and clean planking on your Triton

 

Nils

[rdsaplala]

Thanks for dropping by, as well as the kind words, Nils, if I can get my second planking to look half as good as yours, I'll be a very happy man.

[flyer]

Hi Aldo

 

Echoing mtaylors thoughts, I say you plunged very deep into the darkness but you are shining so bright there that you are actually in danger to become a star!

 

Looking at your post #102 I notice something like a kink where the planks bend over the aftermost bulkhead, transferring from side to stern. I noticed a similar kink in kits and have, so far, always tried to eliminate it, by adjusting bulkheads and first planking. Now I’m asking myself if ships were built with such kinks – perhaps to get as much inside space as possible-, or if they happen if you have not enough bulkheads to build a smooth curve. Anyway, I think the original planks wouldn’t like to be bent into such kinks and would react with braking, or at least threaten to do so when you stretch and distort the wood fibers that much. What do you think?

 

Greetings from the bright side

Peter

[rdsaplala]

thats coming along very nicely, Aldo. 

Thanks for the good word, Brian

[rdsaplala]

Hi Peter,

 

Thanks for dropping by as well as the kind words

...Looking at your post #102 I notice something like a kink where the planks bend over the aftermost bulkhead, transferring from side to stern. I noticed a similar kink in kits and have, so far, always tried to eliminate it, by adjusting bulkheads and first planking. Now I’m asking myself if ships were built with such kinks – perhaps to get as much inside space as possible-, or if they happen if you have not enough bulkheads to build a smooth curve. Anyway, I think the original planks wouldn’t like to be bent into such kinks and would react with braking, or at least threaten to do so when you stretch and distort the wood fibers that much. What do you think?

 

That was my exact sentiment since the first time that I built a model ship , my friend   

It seems that in most cases, no matter how much you fair the aftmost bulkhead, the planks tend to curve sharply at the aftmost area.

 

I don't think it's due to lack of bulkheads because even contemporary models built in "bread and butter fashion" seem to show the same sharp curve of the planks as they attach to the wing transom (see pics below):

 

 

 

 

Modern models (both kits and expertly scratchbuilt ones) also seem to show this particular feature:

 

 

 

 

 

If I remember correctly, I read somewhere (either Goodwin's "Construction and Fitting" or Lavery's "Arming and Fitting") that there is a particular timber called "compass oak", which has curved grain, and is carved and used for curved portions of the ship. My guess is that the planks in this portion use compass oak, which may have been carved to follow the sharp curvature of the wing transom. 

It would be impossible to force-bend real planks to conform to such a sharp curve so they were most probably carved to shape.

Of course that is just my guess so I'll have to dig deeper for an explanation one of these days