17th Century Battle Station from HMS Mordaunt by DocBlake - FINISHED - 1:32

[DocBlake]

Thanks, guys.  The treenails are about 1-1/4 scale inches in diameter.  About .04" in actual measurement.

[DocBlake]

After I finished the waterway I installed the lowermost spirketing plank.  It is thicker than the others and required a slight bevel to fit snugly into the angle created by the deck and the hull frames.  The bulwark was planked with each plank require a bevel on both edges so that in profile they resembled parallelograms.  This was because of the hull's curvature.  After beveling the planks fit tight to each other and the frames.  The final strake is thinner than the others and defines the lower edge of the upper deck clamp.  The waterway was glued in place last.  All this planking is swiss pear.

[DocBlake]

I turned my attention to the outboard planking.  The model is already exceptionally rigid and once some outboard planks are added, I could probably drop it from a second story window and not damage it!  The lower wale and black strake above it are ebony, measuring 1/4" and 3/16" thick respectively.  The outboard planking framing the gun ports is boxwood.  I included some detail shots on how the gun ports turned out and the ends of all the strakes at the exposed frames.

[DocBlake]

 

I glued the main deck beams and carlings together in my new steel squaring jig. Because the ledges were cut to size to fit the mortises in the carlings perfectly, sanding the char from the pieces made the fit too lax. i just cut some cherry stock, milled it to the proper thickness, and cut my own ledges that I custom fit to the deck and glued them all in place. The lodging knees, hanging knees and the remainder of the ledges outboard will be fitted later. Next up: Shaping and fitting the upper deck clamp

Edited July 20, 2018 by DocBlake

[DocBlake]

I started work on the upper deck clamp. The the lower edge of the clamp was fine, sitting squarely on the spirketing. The lower edge of the deck beams must be 2-1/4" above the lower deck surface. This is important so that the upper bulwark planking turns out correctly. The first thing I did was cut two blocks out of scrap, exactly 2-1/4" tall. These would be double sided taped to the lower deck and support the inboard end of the deck beams at that proper height. When I started to fit the upper deck clamp, and I ran into a problem. I thought I'd have to cut a little of the top of the clamp at an angle to accommodate the beams, and reach the "magic number" of 2-1/4". In my case, the beam sat on the clamp right at that number but there was no excess to cut on an angle to accommodate the beam resting on it. I needed a wider (taller) deck clamp. This happened because I may have been a little zealous sanding the inboard planking edges!  I determined that 17 degrees was the proper angle for my model, and cut an oversized deck clamp. I then cut it the the right height by "sneaking up" on the final measurement using my Byrnes saw and carbide blade. The "magic number" is now there, but the clamp is about 3/32" taller than it should be. Hopefully no one will notice! Also, the angle the clamp is cut to would probably be better at 18 degrees, but I'm just leaving it as is! Check the photos! I also drilled holes and placed the simulated bolts that  held the clamp in place.

[Rpolson]

Nice work!

Curious as to what you are using to simulate the bolts.

 

Richard

[DocBlake]

Thanks for stopping by, Richard!

I use black Fiebing's Leather Dye.  Cut off the ends of a bunch of toothpicks and let them swim in a bath of the dye overnight.  The birch sucks up the dye, so when you cut off the little bolt level with the plank there is no white wood in the core!  Drill the appropriate holes for the bolts, touch the end of the dyed toothpick in some CA glue and push it in the hole.  Cut off flush and sand.  Simple.

The only thing to watch is that if your hole isn't deep enough (due to plank thickness, etc.) you may need to cut some of the tip of the toothpick piece so that there is a nice tight fit in the hole.

Edited July 22, 2018 by DocBlake

[Rpolson]

I was going to use appropriate size black annealed wire.  But your treenails would work too.

 

Thanks,

Richard

[DocBlake]

I use black annealed wire to simulate smaller bolts - a 3 pounder cannon carriage in 1:48 scale.  At this scale the bolt head would be 2 scale inches in diameter (1/16").  It would be hard to fine the proper wire, and very tough to sand it down.  The toothpicks work easily!

[Rpolson]

That would correspond to 14AWG wire size.  But, as you said, the toothpicks work easily!

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Richard

[DocBlake]

A little more progress!

I glued the remaining half frames above the gun ports into place and worked on planking the exterior.  The two channel wales and the great rail are swiss pear and the strake between them was supplied in both boxwood and holly.  I chose the holly.  The wale, black strake and two sheer strakes are ebony.  The remainder of the outboard planking is boxwood.  There will be a rosewood gunwale at the top of the bulwark.  There were pre-drilled holes for the gun port lid control lines, but these had to be drilled through the framing to emerge just above the upper deck clamp's upper edge.  With that done I completed the planking up to the sheer trim.  The piece of trim was provided with either a double bead or triple bead design.  I haven't decided which to use yet.  Work turns to the upper deck next as we fit the support columns, knees and remaining ledges.

I enclosed photos made indoors with incandescent light as well as outdoors in daylight.  Amazing how different the colors appear! 

[JpR62]

How to get colors by playing on the different essence of the woods. 

Superb result !

[DocBlake]

Thanks. Jean Paul , and all the “likes”.

[DocBlake]

I spent yesterday finishing up the framing of the upper deck.  the three of us had a lot of discussion as to the accuracy of the deck framing.  In general English framing, each deck beam has a lodging knee and a hanging knee, and all the lodging knees face the same way until amidships, where the knees start facing the opposite direction.  This corresponds to the point where the futtocks of the framing reverse, and the floors start facing the opposite direction.  The main mast should be located near here also.  We came to the conclusion that the framing of the upper deck on this model was stylized, and also altered to accommodate the two lower gun ports.  One of us objected to the lack of symmetry, and proposed the pattern you see on the photos.  I followed suit.  It really doesn't make any difference since the center of the upper deck will be planked over.  I've included the plan sheet for the upper deck framing with the other photos.

[aviaamator]

   How high the progress has reached! And , stupid me,with my own hands all these details were cut! I build that!

[DocBlake]

Awesome work!  Well done.

[DocBlake]

Today I cut and custom fit the hanging knees.  There are just three:  one each at the two end deck beams and one at the center one.  To fit them, they must bear against the hull planking and the deck beam, and the must be notched out for the lodging knees and the deck clamp.  I made a template, traced the final result onto my hanging knee blanks, cut out the notches on my scroll saw, and final-fit them with a sanding stick and some files.

[rafine]

Beautiful, precise work Dave.

 

Bob

[DocBlake]

Don turned 6 support columns for each of us, and as it happened, we all chose a different design.  The extra one is insurance against our propensity to screw things up!  The first photo shows the three sets of blanks. 

 

I cut mine slightly (1/32") long so I could fine tune the fit to any irregularities in the upper deck beams or lower deck surface.  The dry fit worked out well.  the columns were then numbered on the bottom so they go back in the right place.  Each was trimmed/sanded so all 5 rested on the lower deck, and none were "suspended " in air!

[MEDDO]

Those look really nice with a great fit.

[DocBlake]

I wiped poly on all the parts after pinning and gluing the support columns to the deck beams.  I used epoxy, and the joints are very strong.  The upper deck/column assembly will simply be glued to the deck clamp and lower deck.  The fit is perfect and no pinning is necessary.

 

The hatch grating is boxwood and laser cut.  The coaming is rosewood with half lap joints at the corners.  There is a small "shelf" under the coaming to support the grating.  It just drops into place.  Both have poly on them.

[yvesvidal]

Superb work. I like the finish of Poly as it makes any wood shine and glow.

 

Yves

[MEDDO]

Dave this looks really great especially with the contrasting colours.  

[DocBlake]

Thanks Yves and Michael, and for all the “likes”!

[aviaamator]

Hey, Doc! You'll have to redo everything!!! Nails near edge of a Board of a covering should be each over the other! Not diagonally, alas...

[DocBlake]

No!  Since this is a cross section, it is as if one "cut out" a section of the ship.  If the plank truly ended at the edge of the slice, then yes. the treenails should be above each other as they are on all the butt joints on the model.  The planks actually continue on beyond the cross section, so the diagonal orientation is appropriate.  It is how it would be on the whole model.

[aviaamator]

I'm talking about the ends of the boards near the gun ports. And, however, I will show my work when my hands reach it!

[DocBlake]

We were following the plans for treenail locations.  The drawings were imported into CAD and used to guide the laser  etching which created the treenails.  I have seen the gun port planks handled both ways, on modern day as well as contemporary models.  I personally prefer the diagonal pattern at the gun ports.

[aviaamator]

Yes! And I naively believed that shipbuilders follow the rules of architecture of shipbuilding...

[EJ_L]

I'm a bit late to the build but wow! A lot of very nice detail and great information. I'll definitely stick around to see the rest of the build!