Pegasus 1776 by Chuck - 1:48 - Swan-class sloop cross-section

[Kurt Johnson]

Wow that was quick! I meant to the same level of visable detail as an Antscherl creation (I was trying to be sure I spelt his name correctly), if the builder.wants to take it there.

 

Kurt

[dvm27]

Positive frame registration top and bottom will make it very hard to screw up. This is a very innovative concept, Chuck! And how lucky to have a willing group of testors come to your house.

[Rustyj]

Very nice Chuck,

 

Trying to convince the Admiral that she would love to move to Jersey!

 

Signed, Envious in Upstate NY.   

[Tigersteve]

So much fun watching these projects during design and development.  

Steve

[paulsutcliffe]

Lovely work chuck, those frames look awesome showing all the floors and chocks etc

by the way received my rope rocket yesterday and played with it all day today, awesome thanks

regards

Paul

[Chuck]

Thank you and enjoy the ropewalk....I was playing with mine today also, LOL. 

[Chuck]

There will be a total of 20 frames in this cross section.  It is a pretty robust section of the hull.  Eleven of those frames are plain square frames, style one construction.  There will be five frames with shifted or bent top timbers...Style 2.  And finally four broken frames where the ports will be located.....style three.  Style 3 is shown below.  The concept seemed to work just fine.  You can see I didnt even finish sanding the inside of the frame or apply any finish to it yet.  I was just testing the concept.  Once the port sill and lintel are added the safety tabs on the inside of the hull can be cut away.  I dont think it will be too hard to do but given the tight space maybe but this will be better determined once I get that far.

 

 

Now that the three styles of frames have been tested and approved....I can slowly move forward with drafting the remaining 17 frames.   Its just busy work at this point.

 

Having said that,  this initial prototype will now be discarded and I will begin again with a new one after making a few minor tweaks.  And this is how I design and bring a new project forward.  This next rendition should be the final for all the framing so I will not be making yet a fourth iteration.  

 

In the meantime...have a look at one of Dennis' wonderful renderings of this cross section.  This time with a lot more trimmings and you can see what the final will look like.   Why build one when these renderings look so real????   Makes my actual wood version look kind of boring!!!

 

[Kurt Johnson]

That’s okay, I’d be willing to be bored with it.  I love Denis’ addition of the hammocks. Wouldn’t it be so cool to wander around Denis’ creation with a VR head set? Now that would be an interesting design aide.

 

Kurt

[Canute]

Sign me up for one of those. Gonna be a beauty.

[Cathead]

Yeah, I'm drooling. Thanks so much for taking the extra time to share this process with us. I'll certainly pay you back when this hits the market.

[mtaylor]

9 hours ago, Chuck said:

In the meantime...have a look at one of Dennis' wonderful renderings of this cross section.  This time with a lot more trimmings and you can see what the final will look like.   Why build one when these renderings look so real????   Makes my actual wood version look kind of boring!!!

 

 

That is some great work.  The problem is, it won't look right in a display case like your cross section will.  

[Cathead]

I dunno, Mark, buy a cheap tablet, prop it up, and set the display to rotate...

[dvm27]

Afraid not Azzoun. Those, like everything else in that photo, are computer renderings.

[fnkershner]

Chuck - This is a bit off topic. Recently I have gained access to a workshop which has both a CO2 & Diode Laser cutter as well as both CNC machines & laser printers. Can you tell me how you go from plans to Model? I.e. I have some plans I bought from the Smithsonian and now I want to create a design to cut on the laser cutter for Bulkheads/Frames.

[Chuck]

You need to trace them ina vector program like Corel Draw which is what I use.  You just cant scan them etc.  You need to use a drawing program or Cad program which when finished has vector lines.  Those vector drawings are then saved as DFX files and sent to the laser cutter.  But when you are tracing them and developing the part templates you must compensate for the kerf of the laser and char after its removed so once sanded the part is the correct size.  

 

So in most cases you are drafting slightly oversized.  

 

Most laser cutter companies like Boss laser have tutorials on their sites and so does Epilog.  They wont teach you corel draw but what they have is quite useful.

[fnkershner]

Thanks Chuck, I get the kerf issue. I have been taking laser cutting classes at my Maker Space. I have not had the chance to try wood. But we have been cutting Plexiglas. So I have the cutter. I also have the plans in a PDF. Now I need to do the tracing. I have also been teaching myself CAD Software. So my 2nd question - Since the drawings show the frames but not the thickness of the planking. I assume I need to subtract from the plans enough width to accommodate the planks.

[Chuck]

Not seeing teh plans it would be impossible to tell.  I dont think it will matter much either way in the final model.   

[alde]

It's sure coming along nicely Chuck. It looks great. That rendering is beautiful but I like your idea of leaving the frames exposed on one side. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

[yvesvidal]

Hello Chuck,

 

I was wondering if you have had any time, in your busy schedule, to make some progress on that future kit?

I am sure there are a lot of people like me, hoping to read you soon.

 

Sincerely,

Yves

[Chuck]

Actually I have...I will see if I can post an update later tonight. 

[Chuck]

Here is what it looks today.  It may not look like much more was done but its very deceiving.  I have been making a great deal of progress by tweaking the drafts...refining the construction concepts etc.

 

In these pictures you can see I added a few more frames.  But more importantly I have faired the frames.  This was important for my design and needed to be done now to test that the chocks would not be sanded away.  Also to test the overall shape but I was pretty convinced that they were OK.  Everything worked out wonderful. What you might find interesting is the fact that none of these frames are glued into the keel....they are all just test fit together and this is also true of my initial test for the port framing.  All the pieces are just dry fit together.  The port sills are not faired yet as you can see.  The fit on all of the pieces and frames was surprisingly good which is what enabled me to fair the inside and out without too much difficulty, although you would/should not try this at this stage.  Its not recommended.

 

The port framing is purposely simplified as some of you know.  I believe they were called fish tail joints in actuality but these are just simplified squared off mortises which will be fine.  For those folks who have more experience and want to create the fish tail joints instead, that will be very easy to do with just a slight modification to the laser etched notches I am using in this kit.   

 

Remember, this is my throw-away test prototype.  I want to get two more frames done and see how the sweep port framing goes and how the scupper tubes fit.  Once that is done I will discard this mess and start over.   Not to mention that after a few tweaks in the concept and build sequence the next iteration will be much better.  I learned a great deal and its almost time for phase two...I will start posting more details at that time once I get this preliminary testing done.  

 

One quick note....I am well aware that other folks creating drafts and making kits dont do this kind of up front work.  Its just something I feel I have to do before releasing anything.  I am constantly making little tweaks that make everything hopefully just a little bit better. This is the cherry version by the way, but I am still going back and forth about using the new wood on the finished one which I will start in a few weeks.  Just a little more testing to do!!!

 

 

 

  

[paulsutcliffe]

Great idea with the notched strips at the top to keep it all lined up chuck

Nice work

Regards

Paul 

[Chuck]

Thanks Paul

 

It also creates a flat top so the entire model can be flipped to help with planking and fairing.   Something I noticed was a real pain when other folks were making their cross sections.

 

Chuck

[paulsutcliffe]

Presumably you could clamp against them as well when doing the planking etc, good thinking

Regards Paul 

[Kurt Johnson]

That’s coming long nicely. I wish I could’ve made to your place Saturday to see it in the flesh.

 

Kurt

[Rustyj]

Wonderful work Chuck!

Hopefully some of the "test" portions will make it to the Northeast Conference.

Huh huh pretty please!

[dvm27]

Great progress report Chuck! Technically, the upper sill mortises are angled cuts and the lower ones are called birdsmouth mortises (V-shaped like a beak). As they are only an inch or two deep and cause endless difficulties to everyone but David Antscherl I think your simple mortise solution is excellent. During the fairing process the joint itself becomes barely visible anyway. And any slight gaps are easily erased by placing some white glue in the space followed by light sanding.

[Chuck]

That is what I figured and noticed on other framed builds.  And it they are not filled nicely they do look bad.  So I will leave that up to the experts to bash.  This gives a nice clean appearance.  I am also thinking hard about the treenails on each frame.  Again not something a care too include on mine because they are nearly invisible.  And they sometimes look like mistakes or blemishes.  So I may just leave them out and if folks care to include them they can.

 

I will be bringing this to the joint clubs Rusty.....also some laser cut frames for folks to play with.   Greg sorry to hear you wont make it.   I was looking forward to seeing you and talking about the project.  

 

Chuck

[yvesvidal]

Chuck,

 

Thank you for detailing on the forum, your progress and ideas. I really love the modern and revolutionary way of building this cross-section. Obviously, you put a lot of thinking and energy into making it easy to realize even for neophytes. Kudos.

 

I can't wait to see and get the final kit.

 

Yves

[Chuck]

So...forgive me if parts of this repeats from earlier posts.  But after the tweaking and experimenting I have started on the final prototype version of the Pegasus cross section.   In the end I abandoned experiments with that new wood.  The reason being, the cross grain was just not working.  Whenever I applied any finish to the end grain of pieces they just turned very very dark.  Almost black actually.  This was a deal breaker.  So although much more expensive, I will be using Alaskan Yellow cedar for the cross section and also in the end offering it in cherry as well.  This is my cedar version from start to finish....a quick photo to show them both side by side first.  

 

Cedar is a beautiful wood and the only reason why I didnt use it to begin with was its slightly more expensive cost and lack of a reliable supplier.  But that situation has now been solved.  So its a win-win all around.