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

[tlevine]

Thanks Greg and Dave and thank you everybody for the likes.  The beauty of styrofoam is it is very light weight but rigid. In addition, you can flip it over for the next build.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Congrats for reaching this milestone. Your model is looking really nice.

[tlevine]

Thanks for following this build, Christian.

 

Not much got done this weekend, between Fall cleanup and getting my Hannah cleaned up to take to the NRG meeting next week, there was not much time for building.  When I bought the styrofoam for the base, I found  a hobby-quality drafting table.  It elevates and tilts, important to me since I prefer to work standing up (I guess it's the surgeon in me). And at 30% off, what girl could say "no"?  A bungee cord across the base keeps everything in place, even at an angle.  And the casters allow me to follow the sun.

 

 

 

 

The second two rows of planking are almost completed.  When I return, I will start the planking below the wales.

 

 

 

[Maury S]

Toni, Nice table.  Where did you get it?

Maury

[Trussben]

Hey Toni,

 

Nice planking start. Quick question as I notice from the last upside down pic that your floor fillers are not there in the frame bends, did you do it this way for a reason? Am I missing something? I have been installing floor fillers between every frame and didn't see anything in TFFM.

 

Ben

[tlevine]

Maury, I got the table at Hobby Lobby.  They always have 30-40% off coupons on line.

Ben, I did not insert floor filler timbers where there were spacers (every fourth half-frame).  I honestly don't remember why I did it this way, it was so long ago.

[druxey]

Guess you wanted your model to have room to breathe, Toni! You probably left the fillers out because the spacers were in your way.

[Trussben]

Sorry to Hijack your log Toni!

 

Druxey - were the fillers between every frame or missing at frame bends? Everything I read says they were between every square frame to make a solid floor for water removal?

I don't want to add any more frames to Pegasus until I understand this.

Sorry again Toni.

 

 

Ben

[tlevine]

I went back to the build log and found the following:

 

May 23, 2012.  I have finished the filling pieces.  I used Swiss pear to give a little contrast with the boxwood.  In contrast to the pear that Danny is using in his Vulture build, this is less pink.  Maybe it is the age of the wood; these billets are 25 years old.  I initially installed port and starboard pieces simultaneously to prevent warping of the keel (thank you Danny for that lesson!) but once everything felt solid, I removed the hull from the building board and added them where ever they would fit.  I deliberately left out the filling pieces on the frames that had spacers for aesthetics and to allow a little light to enter the lower hull.  The pictures show them roughly faired in.  They will be finished after the gunports are completed.

 

There's your answer Ben.  Don't mind the hijacking at all.  We all learn from it and isn't that the point of MSW?

[Trussben]

Thanks for the clarification Toni.

 

ben

[tlevine]

Not much to show for the last few weeks.  Last week was devoted to the NRG meeting.  It was great to put faces to some new names.  Hope to see you again next year in Mystic.

 

I started the planking below the wales.  The first 6 rows of planking are anchor stock and the rest is standard planking.  The first strake is 3" thick at the wale, tapering down to 2".  The rest of the strakes are 2" thick.  I laid the first row of strakes full thickness and then tapered the lower edge after the second row of planking was completed.  The extreme fore and aft planks are dropped.  I marked out the landing spots for the planks terminating at the counter to prevent any uneven plank widths.  Holly is a pleasure to work with for the hull planking.  Gentle curves can bent by hand.  The extreme bends require a 30 minute soak in water and are pinned in place with clamps and planking screws.  After they are completely dry, final shaping is done and the plank is glued in place with almost no pressure.  I like to rough sand the planks every few rows to check for any problems.  It is a lot easier to pop one or two problem planks now rather than several planks after the hull is completed.  

 

The wale has gotten scuffed with handling and sanding.  It will get a re-paint  after all the planking has been installed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

Love that drop plank at the bow!

[Maury S]

Beautiful contrast with the Holly.

Maury

[tlevine]

Thank you, Druxey.  Maury, I wasn't too sure about the holly at the beginning.  I was afraid it would be too stark a contrast.  But now that there are a few strakes in place I really like the look.  The finish will also tone down the "whiteness".  Its handling characteristic is what I am surprised about.  It bends very nicely and keeps a good edge.  

[Trussben]

Very Very nice Toni,

 

That bend round the tuck of the stern must of been fun?

And the Holly really does look awesome as lower planking, I've seen a few modellers use it and I like the contrast against the framing, maybe on Pegasus. And I also love the hooked scarph at the bow, are you following the planking outlay of the Hornet? It's available on NMM again!

 

Ben

[tlevine]

Hi Ben.  Funny thing about the tuck of the stern...  It's wrong.  Druxey was kind enough to point out that there should be a filler piece between the outer wale and the first full plank.  This would result in a 45^o angle where the counter and the planking meet.  So I have debonded all of the planks aft of dead flat, remaking a few planks and hopefully salvaging the rest.  Unfortunately, I had already installed five rows of planking, not the three rows seen in the photos.  I did not know that the Hornet planking scheme was available.  I am using the one from TFFM.  For these six rows of planking, all you need are three measurements, the fore and aft width and the width at the widest spot.  One side is essentially straight and the other is two straight lines intersecting at the widest point.

[Trussben]

Well there you go Toni, I opened my trap too quickly.

As for the planking scheme, David stated in TFFM that the plan had been lost by NMM but it appears that they found it again as I ordered a copy and it arrived with no problem.

 

Ben

[druxey]

That is great news that the Hornet planking scheme is once more available! It is truly authentic.

[TomShipModel]

Toni,

 

I'm not sure that I am visualizing the filler piece.  Also, what is the Hornet scheme?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

[tlevine]

Tom, you'll see the filler piece in a few days.  I have attached the Hornet planking scheme from the NMM.  It is plan ZAZ5119.

 

 

 

 

[druxey]

There it is! The black lines are external planking and the red the internal. It's hard to sort them out at such a small size, but much easier to distinguish at 1:48 scale. This drawing was actually done in the shipyard as the ship was being built!

[Landlubber Mike]

Hi Toni, using holly for the lower planking is a really nice touch.  I was planning on planking my Lyme fully in pear, but I might switch to holly under the wales.  Hmm….

[EdT]

Toni,

 

I may be off base here but something doesn't look quite right.  Aside from the need for a triangular filler between the wale and the first plank, shouldn't the planks end on the wing transom with the lower counter fully planked cross wise down to the wing transom?  With the fore and aft planking terminated at the wing transom, I believe the first plank can be made to follow the upper plank of the wale to bed neatly on the wing transom without difficulty.  I do not have the Swan drawings but I believe what I described was normal practice - probably to avoid the extreme bends necessary to wrap around the butt ends of the wale.

 

Ed

[tlevine]

I may be misinterpreting what you are saying, and if so feel free to correct me.  The horizontal planking on the counter does go down to the wing transom.  I went back to the plans as well as to some photos of other Swan class models. In a lot of ships the lower edge of the main wale is close to or at the same elevation at the inferior edge of the wing transom.  And in fact, Hahn's model of Kingfisher is built just this way.  On Atalanta, the inferior edge of the wing transom bisects the main wale so there is going to be some moderate bending of the plank as it comes up the stern.  This is seen in the contemporary model of Atalanta at the NMM.  In that model it appears that the filler has been painted black to simulate the upwards sweep of the main wale. I am including a link to the model.  http://collections.rmg.co.uk/mediaLib/317/media-317109/large.jpg I have just installed a new plank (pictures this weekend) and with a filler piece there is only a gentle bend required.

[isali]

I am working on the rattlesnake and have found your photos incredibly helpful. Thank you for putting them back.

[EdT]

Toni,
 
Sorry if my comment was confusing.  What attracted my attention and what seemed incorrect to me was that the bottom planking extended up past the wing transom, instead of ending on that member with the crosswise counter planking filling the area above (below in the picture of the inverted hull).  (I do note that I carelessly said upper plank of the wale in line 3 instead of lower plank.)
 
I understand that the wing transom lies between the lower and upper lines of the wale on this class.  I checked that on (a very small) image of  the as-built sheer draft for Fly.   Depending on how the wale on your model was planked that may well require a triangular filler.  I cannot comment on that, but would assume that filler to be part of the wale.  I would also expect all of the wale planking to extend just past the last cant frame (after fashion piece) so the ends of the counter planking butt into that excess length. 
 
In the picture you posted it looks like the lower strake of your wale beds on or slightly above the wing transom, but with the black paint it is hard to tell.  In any event my  comment was primarily  concerned with the overextension of the bottom planking below the wale beyond the wing transom.  Sorry if this was not clear.
 
Ed

Edited October 29, 2014 by EdT

[dgbot]

Nicely done Toni,  Those planks at the stern must have started nightmares.  Your model is so clean and crisp it is beautiful.  I wish I was at the meeting so I could take  pic for posterity.

David B

[jaerschen]

Much thanks for the planking scheme Toni. I didn't know that such schemes exits. This is very interest for me.

[tlevine]

Ed, thanks for clarifying.  The most inferior row of lower counter planking extends to the margin line of the wing transom, so the bottom planking ends below that point.  The black paint (and marginal photography) does obscure some detail.  The other thing is that I have left the aft end of the wale long until I am happy with how things look.  I do draw the line at replanking the wale!  It may not end up perfect but it will look ship-shape.

 

Good to see you posting again David.

 

Juergen, I am happy Ben alerted us that it has been found.  It is interesting to see what items are shown and which are omitted.  For example, the only scupper shown is the large one for pump discharge.

 

I was looking at a contemporary model of Atalanta in the NMM collection and noticed that the friezes have a red background, not the blue I had expected to see.  How common was this color palette?  I certainly want to be true to the original ship but I find the red to be cheap looking and ugly.  Any direction would be helpful.

[TomShipModel]

Toni,

 

Thank you for the response.  I was a little confused as to which Hornet we were discussing (as in Hornet and Wasp in 1807).  A very well done model.  You work very efficiently.

 

Tom R