H.M.S Triton Cross Section by MarcusB_

[MarcusB_]

Hello everyone,

 

Building this will be my first ever model build, and I see a lot of mistakes and learning up ahead. Reading all of the excellent build logs of others who have done this project before me will be very helpful and I look forward to getting on with it. I first got the idea to start this build waaay back, and got access to the plans, bought the wood that I needed and then life kind of got in the way of getting started and I never started my build log. Now things have kind of settled down and I found myself with some spare time and an itch to do something, and the idea of doing this build popped right back up.

 

I have a pretty limited selection of tools available, and since my budget is pretty small and I'm living in an apartment where noise and dust is a bit of a problem, I might struggle to buy everything I might want. I will make the best of it, and see what needs pop up along the way.

 

Since I bought the wood in the dimensions I needed, using the timber list I found here, making the false keel, keel, and keelson was just a matter of cutting the parts to length and cutting the rabbet for the keel. I made the rabbet by scraping the keel with a hacksaw blade that I cut to the correct profile using a Dremel like multitool, since this method seemed most likely to give me a consistent result. The finished pieces can be seen here.

 

 

I then moved on to cutting out the pieces for the first double frame (C). This was done by hand using a coping saw and clamping the wood to my desk as can be seen here:

 

Doing this I quickly learned what I had already read from others, that it is a very good idea to leave some extra "meat" when cutting out the pieces since it is very easy to cut away too much. After gluing the separate pieces together everything seemed to be working out OK. This was until I glued the two frames together to form a double frame... One side looks just fine, but the other has a lot of overlap between the pieces even though there should be none. I think this is caused by some issue with the joints between some of the futtocks. I had a really hard time keeping them square and at the correct angles. I tried using files, sand paper, and sawing as close to the line as I dared, but nothing really seemed to work really well. Both the filing and sand paper methods seemed to round over the end really easily. This is something I will have to work out how to do accurately moving forward. The overlap can be seen in the following picture (it is just as bad on the other side if you flip it over).

 

 

I have just roughly cut out the frame pieces for the next frame B, and I'm now contemplating how to move forward. I think I will just very roughly smooth out the pieces on the sides and then I have to figure out how to accurately get them cut to line on the joining ends. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be very welcome.

 

So far I've figured out that this is going to be a really hard, really fun project and that taking good pictures is a lot harder than it looks.

 

- Marcus

 

Edited August 14, 2018 by MarcusB_

[mtaylor]

Marcus,

If you can, leave the plan on what will be the top of the frame for now until after it's glued up.  Cut outside the line (about 1mm should work).   Then sand and fit the pieces together using the assembly drawing for the frame.  When you're happy, glue it up.  There is a learning curve and it looks like you're getting there.   I must say that your first frame looks a lot better than my first attempts.

[ChadB]

Welcome Marcus! Looks like you are off to a pretty good start! I agree with Mark in that I think it is worth keeping the pattern on your frames until after they are rough sanded and maybe even longer (I kept mine on until I had them dry fitted to the keel). I also remember having a tough time sanding the ends of the frame pieces flat and ended up buying a disc sander. Since you are on a budget, it might be worth forgetting sanding the edges and go with a hobby saw and miter box- something like the link below. I think that will give you a cleaner edge, especially if you are working with (what looks like) swiss pear.

 

https://www.micromark.com/Easy-Miter-Box-Deluxe?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIxJSVgOj03AIVBLvsCh0NEgdzEAQYBSABEgJWXfD_BwE 

 

Chad

Edited August 17, 2018 by ChadB

[MarcusB_]

Thank you very much for the replies and good advice. I will definately try to keep the patterns on for longer. I guess my eagerness to see what I had made got the better of me this time.

 

I have also looked at maybe getting a disc sander, and I think that might be the best and easiest way to get consistent nice ends on the frame parts for now. It will also help with other sanding jobs down the road. The two versions from Proxxon look like good alternatives and they seem to be available fairly easily here. I'm also looking into getting a draw plate in order to be able to make treenails later  on.

 

For now I think the next step will be to saw out all the remaining frame pieces with a healthy margin of at least 1mm from the lines, while I figure out the tools that I need for the next steps. Hopefully I will be able to make pretty good progress during the weekend.

 

- Marcus

[ChadB]

I definitely understand how hard it is to try to hold off on doing things because of excitement! Building your first frames and starting to see actual parts take shape is a great feeling!

If you can find the room in your budget and think you may end up building more in the future, then a disc sander is definitely a good investment. Like many of the power tools you can acquire, they are by no means necessary but will make life much easier. In my personal opinion, I would skip the Proxxon and the $200+ pricetag and go with something cheaper (for instance the link below). I had a cheap disc sander for my Triton cross section build and it did everything I needed seeing as we're not really pushing them very hard with the amount of material we are sanding. I have since upgraded to the Byrnes disc sander and while it is beautiful tool, in hindsight I wish I had saved the money and put it towards something else that would make a bigger difference. I found the exact opposite to be true with drawplates- I had a cheap one from an online hobby store that I thought was ok, but then i bought the Jim Byrnes drawplate and it made everything incredibly easier. 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-6515-Belt-Sander-Sanding/dp/B01M68YKST/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1534608436&sr=8-4&keywords=wen+sander&dpID=41lg-BrSjAL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

Chad

Edited August 18, 2018 by ChadB