Swallow 1779 by tlevine - FINISHED - 1:48 scale

[Jim Lad]

Looking good, Toni.  As Eric said, hope the 'issues' aren't too serious.

 

John

[jdbondy]

I have another deck planking "rules" question. How were the nibs of the planks laid out in the bow and stern? Are those specifically delineated in your plans, or are there once again "rules" as to when to end an edge plank and nib it into the adjacent plank? I can see that the adjacent inboard plank would have to be narrowed as you approach the nib, in order to end up with a full width plank at and beyond the nib.

[tlevine]

My "issues" are resolved.  These centered around driving cross country for the last few days.  Now that I am home, life can return to the new abnormal.  JD I will attempt to answer your question tomorrow.  The brain is still rattling from the road.  

[tlevine]

JD, the only plans I have are the plans from the RMG.  These would not typically show a planking layout for either the hull or the deck.  In this era, planks were not joggled into the waterway, they way they are on later vessels.  The basic rule is not to allow any plank to narrow by more than 50%.  At the bow and stern, that is accomplished with dropped planks (there is one on either side on this deck) and nibbed plank ends (four fore and two aft).  I could have also laid the deck with an additional dropped plank and fewer nibbed planks.  My biggest problem was that the outermost plank is too wide on the starboard side amidships.  As that will be camouflaged by a cannon, I am not going to risk damaging the rest of the deck and waterway by removing it.  I hope that answers your question. 

[jdbondy]

That's a big help, Toni. Eventually I will be confronted with the same issue on my current build.

[Balclutha75]

This is my first post outside the new member intro forum. I have never made a ship model. Now I’m (possibly) about to make a correction on this thread. 😳

 

In post 55 should the #75 drill bit be 0.021 diameter instead of 0.21?

 

 I don’t understand how you used bamboo to make the trunnels, but no matter, it looks fantastic to me. Thanks.

[druxey]

Balaclutha: bamboo is split into smaller sections using a knife. There are drawplates with diminishing sized holes specifically designed for shaving wood, as opposed to jewelers' drawplates for wire, which 'squeeze' the metal as it is drawn through. One can draw bamboo down to very fine diameters this way. With care one can get down to .016" diameter (decimal in the correct place!).

[tlevine]

Well, I am thrilled that you chose Swallow for your first post.  You picked up on my bad typing skills;  it should have been 0.021"  I use BBQ skewers and saw them into quarters on a Preac saw with a 0.016" slitting blade.  I then pull these through a Byrnes drawplate.  Since you are new to the hobby, the Preac is a small table saw which is no longer made.  I use it for fine work rather than a Byrnes saw.  Less likely to cut my fingers off!  This is a picture comparing the two saws that was taken from Mini Sourthern Millworks December 2014 blog.

 

 

[Balclutha75]

Toni,

 

Thanks much for the detailed explanations, really appreciate it. When I read the post either there was a typo or I was misunderstanding something, the latter being a distinct possibility. Now it all makes sense.

 

I just researched the power tools you mentioned and that fills in all the gaps. This page on the drawplate by Byrnes was informative and entertaining, "one of the very few hand tools to be in continuous use for a span of years measured in centuries"

https://www.byrnesmodelmachines.com/drawplate5.html

 

Not anything I have to aspire to immediately, but nice to know it's out there.

 

Thanks again,

Nelson

[tlevine]

It has been a long time since posting any real progress.  Sorry, but I would rather be in the garden than in a work room.

                                       

Over the last few months I have found myself replacing most of the inner and outer planking and a portion of the deck.  After the outer and inner bulwark planking was finished I realized that the bottom of the oar ports should run in the same line as the bottom of the gun ports.  As you can see from the following picture, they did not.  So the planking was removed where necessary and the oar ports were framed in the proper location, as seen in the second picture.  The paint on the decorative strip looks the worse for wear but this will be touched up towards the end of the build.

 

I had originally made the thicker part of the inner bulwark planking one row.  Further research told me that this should be made two rows wide and therefore, after the inner bulwark planking was rebuilt after repositioning the oar ports, it was necessary to remove it all again to replace the lower row with two rows of planking.  

At this point I decided to construct the beams for the aft platform.  I discovered that I had misinterpreted the plans.  The model shows an aft platform with the tiller coming out from under the platform.  The plans, in retrospect, do not show a platform at all and the fore end of the tiller is shown to be almost four feet above the deck.  The lines which I thought represented the fore and top of the platform were in fact a decorative molding line and a station line.  I will simply say that when I discovered this situation I walked out of the work room and poured myself a stiff drink (maybe two).  I had to decide between the model and the plans.  So far, whenever there has been a conflict, I have gone with the plans.  This time I decided to use the model as my guide.  I had planked the deck "knowing" that the platform would extend almost to the last gun port.  In examining the model, the platform only extends to a few feet aft of the gun port.  Therefore it was necessary to remove and replace all of the decking aft of the capstan platform to compensate for the too-short deck.  (Back to that bottle, I'm afraid.)  I installed two beams to support the platform planking and planked the transom bulwark.  I was very lucky to match the color of the old and new decking.  The first picture shows the end of the planking initially.  The others are after the deck was elongated.  The notch on the bottom of the front beam is for the sweep of the tiller.

[James H]

Beautiful, clean work, and I love the colour of that timber.

[tlevine]

Time to direct attention to the counter and transom.  Swallow has a square stern.  The model shows these planks installed on the bias.  I used pear for these planks as that is what the hull will be planked with.  I left them long to allow for notching for the hull's clinker planking.  The counter and the transom are planked with costello.  Each plank is cut to shape, not edge bent.  In the third picture the length of the counter is best appreciated.  The transom will have a decorative treatment applied later.  It looks different because I chose not to apply a finish to it.  The gap between the transom and counter will be covered with a decorative molding.  The gap between the sternpost and the stern planking will need to be addressed.

This takes me to the sternpost.  As I was planking the stern it suddenly occurred to me that I had not installed the sternpost.  This is 13" wide at the top, tapering to 10" at the keel.  The aft edge is rounded over and the rebates for the gudgeons are cut in.  Since I did not want to remove the aft segment of keel, this was incredibly difficult to maneuver into place.  To my horror, the keel was 1/4" too short.  My only option was to remove the aft section of the keel and two sections of keelson and replace it with a longer piece.  I had not been pleased with the appearance of that section of the keel so this problem was a blessing in disguise.  The photo shows the old and new sections for comparison.

The shim under the keelson is to keep the ship level in the building board as there is a curve in the bow fore and aft.  The color difference will decrease after another coat of finish is applied.  The bulwarks are still a little high to prevent damage prior to installing the cap rail.  My biggest hope is that all of the serious problems are behind me!

[druxey]

Nice back yard, Toni. And a good recovery - both on your model and from the bottle! Swallow is beginning to look very ship-shape indeed. Sequence of construction is really important!

[tlevine]

Well, Druxey, there was not much in that bottle to begin with! This is the first time that I am building a model from plans I developed and without a specific sequence of construction.  I should have consistently followed the same sequence set down in TFFM.  But even though it is frustrating, I am learning an incredible amount from even my floundering. 

[druxey]

Learning never stops....

[Maury S]

Toni, It's looking very nice!  Re-doing an errant part is important (not that I have always done so). 

Maury

[tlevine]

Having learned my sequencing lesson, I decided to make the rudder while I would still have access to the area under where the platform will be built.  The shape of the rudder was taken off the plans except that it was shortened to just below the platform planking.

 

The rudder is made from three pieces: the main piece, the blade and the backing piece.  The plans did not show a sole piece.  The main and backing pieces were made with a simplified table joint and black paper was used to represent the felt between the two pieces.  The width of the main piece mirrored the width of the sternpost; the blade tapered to 3" aft.  The joints were initially all cut with a chisel but after making a mess of two blade blanks, I made the blade cuts on the mill.

The backing piece with its felt were added and the mortises for the pintles were made.  A line was drawn on the fore end of the rudder, through the back of the pintle mortises; this is the bearding line.  The for end of the rudder was then tapered from the bearding line to the midline of the fore rudder.  This allowed the rudder to rotate freely with minimal gap between it and the sternpost.  Finally, a coat of finish was applied.

An egg-shaped opening was made in the counter to accommodate the rudder head through its arc of rotation.  I have also replaced some of the planks on the stern, eliminating the previous gap next to the sternpost.

 

 

[Jim Lad]

That's a very nice looking rudder, Toni!

 

John

[Gregory]

That's an interesting grain on the counter planking.. Looks similar to curly maple..

 

I like wood!

[tlevine]

Thanks John.  I agree Gregory that it is a unique appearance.  It is simply pear (not swiss pear) that I had been saving for several years.  I will be using the same wood for the hull planking.

[tlevine]

This is probably the last update for a few weeks.  There is always so much to accomplish when the weather is nice.  After the rudder was finished, I located where the tiller would have been inserted and made a square opening for it.  I could now finish the platform.  I viewed the platform as a lightweight structure which had no permanent fastenings.  Boards could be removed to get access to the rudder head and the whole assembly could be disassembled for extra deck space when in action.  For this reason I made the structure from box rather from the holly I was using as decking.  For the same reason, there are no treenails.  Later I will add ring bolts to facilitate removal of some of the boards.  The model shows two rows of planking on the platform bulkhead.  The lower row is thicker and I duplicated this here.  The center opening is for the sweep of the tiller.

 

 

[amateur]

Quite off-topic: what do you use for background in your last  pics?

 

Jan

[tlevine]

My very sophisticated background is a black fleece blanket!  It works nicely since it does not show wrinkles and is extremely portable.  I am thinking of buying a light grey one for a more neutral background.

[druxey]

That is an interesting thesis that the aft platform was portable. Do you have some reference that mentions this?

 

BTW 'Swiss pear' is simply regular pear that has been steamed. 

 

Nice neat work, Toni.

[tlevine]

I do not have any reference other than logic.  If the rudder needed to be unshipped, at least some of the platform decking would need to be removed to raise the rudder high enough to clear the pintles.  I am also guessing that it would be much easier to install the tiller if you could see the mortise in the rudder head, rather than blindly fishing around with a relatively heavy chunk of wood.  Also, on the photo of the model, the center planks are missing, exposing the rudder head.  Leaving only the center part of the platform unplanked was my original plan but as this is a POB model, the area looked too messy to leave open.

 

I much prefer the look of natural pear vs. swissed.  I find the latter too pink.  My understanding is that the steaming process makes the wood more stable but my billets are over 20 years old and show no cracking or warping.

[druxey]

Thanks for the explanation about the platform, Toni.

 

'Swiss' pear is natural pear that is steamed to ensure that there is no insect infestation - not to do with stability. Natural pear is fine, as you note. I've used it with no issues either, other than it is hard to find.

[tlevine]

Thanks for the information, druxey.  By any chance, would you know why pear is so susceptible to insect problems whereas other fruit woods (like apple) are not?

[bruce d]

36 minutes ago, tlevine said:

By any chance, would you know why pear is so susceptible to insect problems whereas other fruit woods (like apple) are not?

Good question, and is it the same everywhere?

[druxey]

I don't think susceptibility was the issue originally so much as xenophobic suspicion that bugs could be transmitted across borders (sound familiar?) I think someone saw the color change in the wood, thought 'That's neat!' and marketed it under a fancy name. Swiss Pear sounds more classy than steamed pear. When I was a kid in England there was a fish called Rock Salmon (note the Capital Letters). Sounds a good deal more appetising than what it actually was - dogfish!

[tlevine]

Then again, some people really like catfish!