HMS Bellona 1760 by SJSoane - Scale 1:64 - English 74-gun - as designed

[SJSoane]

druxey, I truly married up, but not enough to share sharpened chisels. A ding in an edge could challenge the best marriage...

[druxey]

I get it. Fortunately, my wife has a dread of sharp-edged or noisy tools.

[SJSoane]

I have spent a tedious weekend fairing up the lower edge of the upper two strakes of the wales. I had made each plank a bit oversize in width, concerned that the careful fitting of the hooked scarphs could throw off the outer edges slightly, and this proved to be the case. The upper edge is fair because of the batten, but the lower edge wavered a little from plank to plank. A simple matter to draw a line parallel to the top with the compass, and a not so simple matter of then fairing to the line. I had to use a coarse riffler in places, followed by a sanding block cut to the radius of the wale. For some reason, sanding was very slow, perhaps because I was not keen to use a coarser sandpaper and risk marring the lower edge.

 

Oh, well, who is in a hurry?

 

Mark

[druxey]

Your care is showing! Nice work, Mark.

[aviaamator]

Wow!

[SJSoane]

Thanks, everyone, for your support. I was taken away from the shop for a few days, to rig up a hoist for kayaks--real rigging.

 

I am starting on the lower two strakes of the wales. I originally cut the foremost planks at the round of the bow according to my CAD drawing. But when I spiled to the strakes already installed, I discovered that the upper curve was much more dramatic than my original piece. The photo below shows the original piece at the top, and the card with the spiled edge below, showing the difference in curvature. In hindsight, I realize that I assumed the wales would be dead straight vertical, since they are so at midships; not so at the bow or stern! I made xerox copies of the spiled card for port and starboard. A couple of more pieces for the mistake box.

 

I had spent a great of time on the first two strakes sanding and filing the edges of the planks. I did this freehand with shaped sanding blocks. The challenge was to keep the edge square, or tapered slightly where needed to tighten up the joint. It was a little hit and miss. So I am trying a little jig shown below, which clamps into my jeweler's vise block. The two hold downs secure the plank, and then I can run the sanding block against the edge, keeping it exactly perpendicular. When I need to angle the edge, I will slip a thin spacer under one edge of the plank to change its angle to the table.

 

Mark

 

[Hubac's Historian]

Hey Mark - cool technique and interesting insight into the intricacies of keeping a closed joint around the bow.  I’m still plastic-based, for now, so all of this is school-time for me.  I’m loving this build, so far!

[druxey]

Alas, there's no substitute for actual spiling! BTW, I just pop the plank in my vise and sand the edges that way. Your solution is far more elegant!

[SJSoane]

Away for a few days, to the annual Charlie Russell art auction in Great Falls, Montana. Some of the best Western traditional art in the US. I can't afford to buy any, just look and admire...

 

I am continuing with the wales. I fitted the foremost, lower two strakes before bending, using artist's transfer paper squeezed between the two pieces. This notes high points which are then lightly filed down, and the two are tested again. With patience, one can sneak up on a very tight joint. The second photo shows dry clamping for fit after the bending, and a closeup in the third photo. Interestingly, the plank was carefully spiled, but it still needed a fair amount of adjustment using the artist's transfer paper. I think it has to do with the constantly changing angle of the upper surface, since most of the high points were on the inner edge. Glue tomorrow!

 

Mark

 

[dvm27]

Hate to make a boring comment but really lovely work Mark!

[druxey]

Another boring comment, Mark: it's all looking excellent.

[Amalio]

PEFECT.

[SJSoane]

Thank you, Greg, druxey and montañes. Not boring comments to me, greatly appreciated!

 

I forgot to point out the challenge of clamping at the round of the bow. I had to cut angled blocks as seen in the previous photos, to match the angle of the wale at the clamping point. But the angle means it tries to slide off when tightened. I tried tying it back with string, as seen in the photo (gave me practice tying a bowline knot), but this was insufficient. In the end, a strong C-clamp right next to it was enough to keep it in place.

 

Mark

[dvm27]

I was wondering about that Mark, having just completed a similar process.  Did those parallel mini-clamps at the bow tend to lift the bottom edge of the lowest wale plank off the hull? Or perhaps your plank was so perfectly spiled that it fit in all directions?

[SJSoane]

Hi Greg,

 

Interesting you ask that. The upper planks definitely needed some clamping pressure onto the hull, not just up to the batten. But this one fit really well, and the clamping to the upper strakes seemed enough to hold it against the hull. I had to put the horizontal clamp at that particular place because it was bowing out just a bit.

 

When I first offered the plank up to the hull, it looked like the spiling had given it too much fore and aft bend, and I had to push the two ends up when I started fine tuning the joint. But after a while it just began to fit into place without much clamping pressure anywhere.

 

I had left this plank in the former after steaming for a couple of days, because I had gone out of town and just left it for when I got back. It had less spring-back than usual, which is perhaps why it fit a little better. I dread the thought that I have to leave pieces in the former for a few days. I will leave the equivalent port plank in the former for just a day, and see if this was an issue or not.

 

It just goes to show that no matter how much I try to perfect a process, it always throws a new twist, both good and bad!

 

Mark

[SJSoane]

Greg, I think I now know the answer to your earlier question. The piece I just fitted is the longest plank in the wale, and it wraps so far around the bow that pulling it up tight towards its aft end tended to pull everything into place. The next lower piece, which I am showing in the first photo before beginning to fair it, is much shorter. And the vertical clamps pull it away from the hull, just as you asked about. I will need to clamp it in the fore and aft direction.

 

And because my frames run only athwartships, I have no easy way to clamp fore and aft, or perpendicular to the wale on the diagonal to the hull.

 

My first thought is to construct a device, shown in the second drawing, that would slip a piece of plywood between the frames, and then use this to bolt a former that would tighten up against the wale. But it will need cut-outs, so I can still get the vertical clamps in place.

 

Looks like a long uphill project at this point in the day. Might look better tomorrow.

 

Mark

[paulsutcliffe]

Hi mark

You could get some long clamps like this one that would reach from above with the clamps you have. also the ends come of those quick grip clamps that you have and you could slip them through the frames reattach the end inside and then close up to squeeze to the frames

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by paulsutcliffe

[SJSoane]

Hi Paul,

 

Do you have a source for those, or a brand name? They look handy.

 

A challenge I have with the lowest, foremost plank is that the gun deck is higher inside than the wale; so the inner side of the clamp cannot be aligned opposite the outer side of the clamp on the wale. It has to be made asymmetrical. But maybe there is a way to extend one of the arms.

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[Hubac's Historian]

Would it be possible to double-stick tape a temporary spacer, on the interior, next to the deck clamp so that the jaws of the clamp are equally supported?

[dvm27]

Yes, adding deck clamps and internal details makes clamping of the outside planks more difficult. What finally worked for me was to glue only the first 1/2" or so of the plank in place (also using a couple drops of cyanoacrylate on its edge at the rabbet). As no curves are involved here all that was needed was digital pressure for 90 seconds until the cyano and carpenters glue tacked. Then I used one of your horizontal clamps on this section and let it set for several hours. Once the fore end of the plank was secure on the hull it was relatively easy to glue in the rest of the plank, repeating the above technique every inch or so. This way you are only dealing with short sections of curves or twists at a time. It is time consuming but worked quite well for me.

[paulsutcliffe]

sorry mark it would have helped if I had put that in the post, they are from ebay and amazon, quite reasonably priced, they also do some ratchet models as well, very useful and have quite a reach.

Wolfcraft 3633000 pointed spring clamp MT 70 

regards

Paul

on my Sirius I actually did it like Greg suggests above at the bow and used these clamps along the sides, although I didn't have decks in the way at the time

Edited March 21, 2018 by paulsutcliffe

[druxey]

The closer you can bend the plank to its final shape, the easier the process will be. Greg's progressive gluing from the bow rabbet aft is another useful technique. Large rubber bands and shaped softwood blocks often work where clamps refuse to go.

[SJSoane]

Thanks, everyone, these are very helpful suggestions. In hindsight, I now know it would have been better to build the wales before building the gun deck. I was just very curious about what the gun deck would look like all those many years ago!

 

Greg, did you alternate cyanoacrylate with carpenter's glue, within each inch of your gluing process? Is there any problem if they interact or mix together?

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[dvm27]

I just apply a couple of small drops of cyano to the plank at the very tip. As for the yellow glue I apply it to the hull and edge of the plank. Probably the cyano sets on contact if it overlaps the yellow glue on the hull but I had no problems. As always, I clean the joints with a paint brush dipped in water before any squeeze out dries.

On my hull I used cyano every 4th or 5th frame with yellow glue on the rest. But I had spaces between the frames. Your wales gluing surface is continuous so I would just add a small pencil mark on the surface of the plank to be installed and the corresponding wale location for the location of the cyano drop. Needless to say you want to press that plank into position exactly where you want it as the cyano bites quickly! Think of it as an internal clamp.

[Stuntflyer]

14 hours ago, dvm27 said:

Once the fore end of the plank was secure on the hull it was relatively easy to glue in the rest of the plank, repeating the above technique every inch or so. This way you are only dealing with short sections of curves or twists at a time. It is time consuming but worked quite well for me.

Sounds familiar, Greg! Though I found it easy enough to hold the plank tip into the rabbet using carpenters glue, until set, instead of using CA.

 

Mike

[dvm27]

Just to clarify, Mike, I use only two small beads of CA at the extreme end of the plank to make sure the plank does not move while the carpenters glue sets. This was Harold Hahn's technique and it works quite well, ninety seconds of digital pressure (by the clock). This also works quite well for bleeding - five minutes of direct pressure by the clock.

[druxey]

That last sentence was maybe a little TMI, Greg!

[AON]

TMI?

 

I did not understand it.

[dvm27]

"Too much information". But accidents do happen in the workshop Druxey so we must be prepared!

[AON]

Sorry, I was unclear.

I did not understand the last sentence: "This also works quite well for bleeding - five minutes of direct pressure by the clock."