Swallow 1779 by tlevine - FINISHED - 1:48 scale

[tlevine]

That is part of the beauty of this craft (no pun intended).  There is always something more to learn.  My only regret is that the incorrect information will still be out there  for someone else to take at face value.

[shipmodel]

Hi Toni - 

 

It's always a delicate matter to raise what may (or may not) be a mistake by another modeler.  I usually hold my tongue unless the issue can be resolved quickly and relatively easily.  I am glad that you had not gone too far before changing direction.  I'm also happy that the final solution will actually be easier than before.

 

Looking back, you may have been confused between the look of bolts and clench nails.  Both were used in the construction of lapstrake hulls.  The clench nails had broad heads, went through the planking, were fitted with roves on the inside and were hammered from both sides like a rivet.  Bolts went through more substantial timbers and had washers on both sides to prevent overtightening.  The final exterior look of a bolt fitted this way is very much like a clench nail with a rove on the outside.

 

As well as the articles mentioned by Druxey and Greg, you might look at a thin booklet called "Clenched Lap or Clinker" by Eric McKee and published by the National Maritime Museum in England.  I'm pretty sure it is available for not a lot of money.

 

Great work nonetheless.

 

Be well

 

Dan

 

 

[tlevine]

Dan, never worry about pointing out an error.  The drawing in Goodwin's Alert is wrong...no confusion there.  Thanks for the reference.  I will try and get a copy.

[tlevine]

It has been a while since the last post.  Putting all the bolts in the planks is a right royal pain in the you-know-where.  At this point I am half-way through one side.  Once the side is done, I will put up some photos.

[JeffT]

Sometimes I wonder what drives us to do this hobby 😆

[mtaylor]

2 hours ago, JJT said:

Sometimes I wonder what drives us to do this hobby 😆

Methinks its some form of mild insanity, Jeff.  Not bad enough to get you locked away or some heavy medication, but enough to build model ships.

 

[tlevine]

Oh, we are all a little nuts.

[jdbondy]

My wife often refers to our ship-building hobby as a beautiful madness.

 

Speaking of madness, Toni, I hope you aren't going to go to the trouble of installing roves on the inboard (invisible) surface of the hull! 

[druxey]

Now, now, JD! Stop putting ideas into people's heads.

[jdbondy]

You could make a little bucking iron to hold on the outboard surface of the rivet, then use a tiny hammer to peen over the inboard end of the rivet...

[tlevine]

Bite your tongue, JD.  Maybe next time.  🤔

[kurtvd19]

Maybe Gus would loan you his trained rigging fleas to hold the buck for riveting.

[druxey]

There may be a hammer, JD, but it won't be tiny and will be heading at high speed directly at you. I understand Toni has good aim.

[tlevine]

I have finally finished installing the rivets on the port side.  As these would have been hand forged, I used square copper wire fit into a size 77 hole.  After all the wires were inserted, the hull looked like a porcupine on a bad hair day.  In the photos, I have started to flatten the heads using a flat file and rotary sanding disc on the Dremel.  Once all the heads were flattened, I finished up with 400 grit sandpaper.

 

Once the sanding and filing was completed, I put a coat of Watco's on the finished side.  After both sides are completed I will add a second coat and then paint the wale.  Over time, as the pear darkens, there will be more of a contrast between the castello above the wale and the hull below.

 

[Mike Y]

Monumental work on a clinker hull where you can't just smoothen everything with a gentle swipe of a sandpaper.. Amazing! 

[JeffT]

Looks excellent.

[druxey]

Pretty impressive, Toni! Well done. 

[dvm27]

Lovely work Toni. Those fashion pieces came out well and are probably trickier in a clinker planked hull.

Edited December 26, 2020 by dvm27

[tlevine]

Thanks for looking in everyone.  Yes, Greg, those fashion pieces gave me fits.  As I recall, I made them four times.  Hopefully the starboard side won't take as long!

[tlevine]

The coppering on the starboard side is now finished.  You can see the difference between the port side with a finish applied and the starboard with none.  I have decided to delay applying the finish until the wale has been redone.

While doing research for another project, I discovered that the coamings were built several inches too short (8 inches instead of 13).  You can see the difference in the picture below.  Time to rebuild them all.

 

[druxey]

My, but that planking looks great with the fastenings in place! Well done, Toni!

[tlevine]

Sometimes things look better in photographs; the fastenings look better in real life.  I was afraid it would be garish looking but the bolts are scale size (#77 drill bit) and so blend in nicely with the planking.

[Jim Lad]

Absolutely first class job with that clinker planking, Toni!

 

John

[michael mott]

Hi Tony, What a journey so far! My goodness all the redo s, but as you have discovered sometimes it takes a lot of solid determination to get things right after following a wrong path. What a beautiful job on a difficult task regarding the hull planking.

 

Michael

[JpR62]

Superb work on this clinker planking. What a beautiful hull.

[tlevine]

I cannot believe it has been over three months since I posted on Swallow.  I promise you, I have been busy on her and a few other things.  Take a peek at the Capstan Project.  Also, I was unhappy with the appearance of the upper planking.  It has all been removed and rebuilt.  Trunneling has started and pictures will be forthcoming soon.

 

 

[tlevine]

As mentioned earlier, I built the hatch coamings too short.  These have all been remade and the gratings installed.  I will not glue the gratin down over the hatches to allow one to see the lower deck.  The steam vent (in front of the fore hatch) is glued down.  In the middle photo you can appreciate the height difference.

At this point I noticed a problem.  Even though the holly I use is several years old, a crack started to develop between the main hatch and the ladderway.  Part of the problem was insufficient support for the deck because this was built plank on bulkhead without a subdeck.  I gave the deck more support by installing a "beam" just aft of the main mast.  This was accomplished by inserting the wood through the ladderway and holding is secure until dry.  I could not get a clamp with a deep enough throat to fit through the opening.  That part of the deck was resanded and the result is seen in the second picture.  Big improvement.  

 

 

[Chuck]

Lovely work Toni.

[tlevine]

I was unhappy with the appearance of the upper hull planking.  As was pointed out to me by Druxey, the decorative strip would have been applied on top of the planking, not between the planks.  They were also too wide.  The next two pictures show the planking before the last row of hull planking was installed.

I removed all of the upper planking and the decorative molding.  Instead of four rows of planking, there are five.  Much better.

The bowsprit step and riding bits were made next.  The bowsprit is offset on this ship, which is why the step is to the port-side of midline.  The size and location of the riding bitt was taken from the plan.  The primary wood is castello and the aft strip is pear for contrast.  Nothing will be glued down until all of the exterior work is completed.

[Kevin]

just so very nice