HMS Atalanta 1775 by tlevine - FINISHED - 1:48 scale - from TFFM plans

[SawdustDave]

Hi Toni:

Just now finding this amazing build. Returning to my shop after a two year break, it just seems like the craft has been taken to a whole new level by artists such as yourself....or I was simply too busy with my own builds to browse around and see the great work of others. Either way, I am really enjoying it now, as never before.

Your joinery skills are superb. I love your work.

Dave

[SawdustDave]

Just WOW!

What beautiful work.

Thanks Toni

Dave

[pete48]

Beautifully Done Toni, the Craftsmanship is Outstanding

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[dgbot]

Toni, I saw a photo of you and your model in the clubs newsletter. When I was talking with Kurt he gave me good description. I wish I could have been there to really get a close up view. Since I have been away your work is getting better and better.

David B

[Remcohe]

The spirketting and the quick work look great Toni.

 

Remco

[AntonyUK]

Hi Toni.

That's one Excellent build you got going there.

Your workmanship is outstanding.

 

Regards Antony.

[gjdale]

Just lovely Toni. A real pleasure to watch this build growing.

[Martin W]

Beautiful, tight joints, Toni.  Simply stunning.

 

Martin

[tlevine]

Thanks everybody for the encouragement and thank you for all the likes.  I have started framing the stern. This is definitely one of the more difficult parts of the build.  I hope to have something to post next week.

[pete48]

Hi Toni,  The difficult parts of a build is where alot can be learned. I look forward to seeing it , I am sure it will look Amazing

 

Best Regards,

Pete

[Jim Lad]

Very nice cabinet work, Toni!

 

John

[Trussben]

Agree with all the others Toni, stunning as always.

 

Ben

[Dan Vadas]

Hi Toni,

 

Lovely work as always. Pity about the discoloration in the Holly planking - I almost used it for Vulture, but was a little put off by the "too white" color.

 

I have started framing the stern. This is definitely one of the more difficult parts of the build

 

 

Wait until you get to the Headworks - they make the stern framing look like a walk in the park   . Seriously, you'll get a lot of practice doing "3D" work, which will stand you in good stead later on. Fun though .

 

  Danny

[dvm27]

Excellent planking work, Toni! Just curious - were those holly striations visible befor the application of the finish? I've learned to look at my holly with a strong light before using it for just the same reason.

 

Good luck with the stern. It's like a 3-d puzzle with no reference points.

[tlevine]

Pete, John and Ben, thanks for your comments.  Danny and Greg, the striations were trivial in the unfinished wood.  My only option was to rip out all the decking.  Because the cannons will cause a visual break-up of the deck, I decided to leave it alone.  I will be very careful with holly in the future.  Danny, I have some holly from HobbyMill that is very white but I went with this older stock because it had a more muted tone.  

 

The stern is a lot of fun (not!).  Hope to have some pictures by the end of the week.  Danny, several years ago I actually abandoned a build (Amati's 1:60 Prince) because I could not figure out the headworks.  I'm past that now but every time I walk into the living room that model is there to remind me how I need to keep improving my skills.  

[tlevine]

Now it is time to move on to the counter timbers.  There are a pair of middle and inner counter timbers.  These timbers provide the framing for the stern and frame the stern lights.  They are canted towards the midline but the inner timbers have a different angle from the middle ones to allow for a pleasing appearance to the counter.  This is one of those things that is harder to describe than to illustrate; it becomes obvious as the framing is erected.  They are each made of two parts, just as the outer timbers were, with a scarf joint.  They decrease in thickness from bottom to top.  I made a rabbet in the transom to allow for a more secure seat for the timbers.  In order to do this, an additional 1" was added to the foot of the timber to compensate for the rabbet.

 

 

 

 

One of the tricky points is getting the angle of the counter timbers correct.  I accomplished this two ways.  First, I temporarily glued the timbers in place.  (I think I glued and unglued these pieces 4 times during the construction process.) Next, I measured the angle of the outer counter timbers with a protractor.  Although there is a curvature to the stern, the angle of the counter timbers remains constant.  This let me set the angle of the rest of the counter timbers.  

 

 

 

To double check my work I drew a line on the plans from the baseline to the aft end of the timbers at the top rail and at the top of the quarter deck beams.  This height was then measured on the counter timbers.  I did this by wrapping an angle iron with masking tape and drawing the points on to the tape.

 

 

 

The timbers were raised and adjusted to get equal distances between them at the lights.  Later on I discovered that the rabbet for the inner timbers were not equidistant from the midline.  The error is approximately 1 mm (real measurement).

This is the disadvantage of the rabbet...  I was not able to correct this error without damaging the transom and so left it alone. 

 

 

 

[tlevine]

On the actual ship there would be iron straps extending down from the counter timbers and on to the inner surfaces of the lower transoms.  The TFFM construction sequence shows the counter timbers and quarter deck transom installed prior to building the upper deck.  I chose not to follow this sequence because I was afraid of damaging the stern framing during construction of the upper deck.  The downside is that It is now impossible for me to install these straps.  My compromise will be to insert bolts into the holes that I am using to position the counter timbers on the wing transom.  In retrospect, I should have fabricated the counter timbers, along with their straps before the deck was constructed and then left the straps attached to the lower transoms so that I could build the upper deck around them.  I am still happy that I left the stern open while building the upper deck as it gave me much better access to the inner hull.

Edited July 8, 2014 by tlevine

[dvm27]

The symmetry looks very good, Toni. Your should have a nice run of lights when you've completed this extremely challenging area.

[dgbot]

You have nothing to complain about.  It is better than I could probably do.

David B

[tlevine]

Thanks for the encouragement, Greg.

 

David, why don't you post pictures of something you have completed?  

[dgbot]

I wish I could Toni but they are all gone and the photos were on film. Which was damaged years ago.  The models that I have finished other than the cards are the America. Harvey, Cutty Sark, a Thames Barge and a few others that I have forgotten.   I was working on a Thermopalae with a warped hull that I found to improve my skills when my mentor Dana Mc Calip RIP told me to throw it out and do a fully scratch model.  I have been improving my skills ever since  That is the Latham at 1/96.  It is a learning model that I practice on.  As a result it can be rough and good.  I have the MS Whale Boat that I will be my next build. Out of the box if at my sisters and scratch using my own woods etc when I get home. 

David B

[Trussben]

That's really nice work on the stern framing, as Greg says they have really good symmetry.

 

Ben

[tlevine]

Thanks Ben.  And thanks everyone for the likes as well.

 

The next step was to make the quarter deck transom.  The first photo is a drawing of the transom from TFFM.  I used it as a starting point to develop a template, as seen in the second photo.  This piece is made extra thick to accommodate the roundup of the deck and the waterways. 

 

 

 

And then disaster struck!  As is obvious from the photo, the quarter deck clamps are not level.  

 

 

I went back and remeasured everything.  Luckily the port elevation was correct so I only had to adjust two planks rather than the entire run of planking on the finished side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MEDDO]

Nice recovery. It's always good when the "correction" doesn't take too much work.

[gjdale]

Nice catch and recover Toni

[dgbot]

Congats on a quick do over.  At least the error did not happen earlier in the build that would have been a nightmare to fix.  This unfortunately is a common error that can only be caught by constant and mind numbing checking.  At work when I had to make a template it was the same way.  Kudos.

David B

[Jim Lad]

I've said it before, Toni.  It's not so much how you work, as how you recover from the inevitable disasters that counts in the end.

 

John

[tlevine]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.  Hopefully this will be my last close call!

[mtaylor]

Good catch and good fix.   As for the last...one can hope.

[Dan Vadas]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.  Hopefully this will be my last close call!

 

Don't count on it Toni - there are a lot more tricky bits coming up later .

 

BTW - I had the exact same problem with the Deck Clamps on Vulture .... except mine were wrong on the OTHER side .

 

  Danny