HMS Vulture 1776 by Dan Vadas - FINISHED - 1:48 scale - 16-gun Swan-class sloop from TFFM plans

[Dan Vadas]

Toptimber Aligning and External Fairing

 

The Toptimbers needed to be aligned next. I glued several pieces of planking to the tops of them, using clamps to pull the top parts together. These planks will be removed later as the real planks are fitted.

 

The first pic shows the Toptimbers before final straightening commenced :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairing the outer side of the hull started with a drum sander in a Dremel. A delicate touch was needed :

 

 

 

 

 

A sanding block with 80 grit paper was used next to get the hull nicely Faired. 180 grit paper finished the open Starboard side :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Treenailing Frames

 

I used 0.024" bamboo (pulled through a Jim Byrnes Drawplate) to Treenail the Chocks.

 

 

 

 

Copper wire was used to simulate the bolts in the Keel joints :

 

 

 

 

The treenails after sanding down flush :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Keelson

 

The Keelson is made from five sections which are all Hook Scarfed together :

 

 

 

The Keelson glued into the hull on top of the Keel :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Pump Recesses

 

Recesses for the Pump Intakes were cut into the frames adjacent the keelson with modified Xacto chisels. The keelson was only partly fitted at this point to facilitate the cutting :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Stemson

 

The Stemson is an extension of the Keelson, and was made and fitted in a similar fashion :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Fillings

 

The Fillings fill the gaps between frames in the lower part of the hold to strengthen the lower part of the frames and facilitate drainage. They have varying thicknesses depending on the spacing between frames.

 

I only fitted the Fillings to the open Starboard side, as the Port side will be covered completely - this was a BAD mistake.

I took the hull off the building board for this step. When I'd finished fitting all the fillings I attempted to remount the hull on the board, but it wouldn't fit   . See the whole story HERE .

 

 

 

 

The Fillings were Faired in similar fashion to the hull frames :

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Harpins

 

The Harpins and Ribbands were temporary Strakes used to hold the frames in position before the planking was fitted. They were progressively removed as construction continued on the real ship.

The Harpins were sawn from wide timbers to accommodate the shape of the hull at the bow. They have a "toe" where they are nailed to the stem :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Ribbands

 

The Ribbands are a continuation of the Harpins and run the full length of the hull. They are approximately 30 feet long and are scarf-jointed together. There were five of them on the real ship, but I am only fitting three as there will be some planking added to the mainly open Starboard side. Nails will be added later in the build - one through each frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Limber Strakes

 

The first planking to be done on the inside of the hull is the Limber Strakes. There are two "runs" of these each side, consisting of two Inner Limber Strakes and three Outer ones per side.

 

The innermost edges of the Inner Strakes are rebated to accept the Limber Boards.

 

 

 

 

 

The Inner Strakes are finished off with wedge shaped pieces of planking both Fore and Aft :

 

 

 

 

The Pump Intake Recesses continue into the limber strakes :

 

 

 

 

 

The Outer Limber Strakes are now fitted :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Floorhead Thickstuff and Treenails

 

Next planks are the Floorhead Thickstuff - three planks thicker than the regular Ceiling planks. The innermost and outermost are a scale 3" thick, while the middle one is 4 1/2" thick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Thickstuff is treenailed using bamboo.

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Mast Steps

 

The Mast Steps are made from Australian Cherry Ballart, as it was the only timber I had that was thick enough for the job. The color contrasts nicely with the Swiss Pear used for the frames.

 

This is the Main Mast Step :

 

 

 

 

 

The Foremast Step, a very tricky part to shape :

 

 

 

 

 

Blackened Brass wire was used to simulate the bolts :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Aft Crutch and Lower Breasthook

 

As I did with the Mast Steps, I used Cherry Ballart again for the Crutch and Breasthook. Card templates were used to transfer the shape of the hull to the undersides, and the top sides were taken from the patterns in TFFM.

 

These two pics are the Aft Crutch :

 

 

 

 

 

Blackened Brass wire bolts again :

 

 

 

 

The Lower Breasthook in the bow :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Limber Boards

 

Limber Boards cover the channels to prevent them from being blocked.

 

They are bevelled on each edge to fit the rebates in the limber strakes :

 

 

 

 

Each board has a different width and taper to follow the line of the strakes. There are semi-circular holes at each end to enable them to be lifted out to clean the channels of debris :

 

 

 

 

 

I am fitting all of them to the port side, but only a few to starboard to show the channels :

 

 

 

 

The limber boards sit on about a 45 degree angle :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Lower Well and Shot Locker

 

The Well contains the lower ends of the Pump Tubes and prevents any cargo from damaging or blocking them.

 

Construction started by making card templates of the lower boards. Corner braces were cut to oversize lengths and the planks were glued to them. The edges of these were sanded flush after the glue dried :

 

 

 

 

 

Much dry-fitting was needed to get the well to sit flush with the various timbers under it :

 

 

 

 

 

The Shot Locker is a part of the forward end of the well :

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lids were made and glued on. I'm adding the hinges etc later :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Chain Pump Inlets

 

The Chain Pump Tubes sit in "Cast Iron" Inlets in the bottom of the well.

 

I made the sides of these from the Photo-Etched parts supplied by Admiralty Models. I also made the bottoms from thin sheet brass, as none came with the PE set. These had to be drilled and filed :

 

 

 

 

To simulate the nuts I used 0.8mm brass tubing cut into pieces with an Xacto knife. I first inserted a 0.5mm drill into the tubing to prevent it from crushing and rolled the tubing under the knife blade until it cut through :

 

 

 

 

This was my first attempt at Silver Soldering, and I was very happy with the way it turned out . I used medium temperature Silver Solder Paste and a small Butane torch, about the size of a thick pen. I held the assembly in my vise while performing the operation :

 

 

 

 

One of the Inlets after it was soldered and not yet cleaned up :

 

 

 

 

After a pickling bath in vinegar to remove the scale and flux the part was cleaned again in Acetone and Blackened with Birchwood-Casey Brass Black diluted 1:8 with water :

 

 

 

 

The Inlets in position in the well. They will completely disappear from view later, but are a good base for the Tubes to sit into :

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Pump Tubes

 

The Pump Tubes are Octagonal in shape, and taper from top to bottom. I made these from Holly and cut the tapers on the Byrnes saw using the Taper Jig :

 

 

 

 

Then I sanded the octagonal shape into them using a sanding block and a simple jig to hold them :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Chain Pump Sprocket

 

Whilst I was "in the groove" with my hew-found Silver Soldering skills I thought I would make a Chain Pump Sprocket. I only need one of these as the other will be hidden from view under the Cistern.

 

This was made in similar fashion to the Pump Inlets using the PE side parts and 0.8mm brass wire for the bolts :

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Lower Deck Clamps

 

Deck Clamps bolt to the hull through each frame and support the Deck Beams. There are two of them each side, an upper and a lower. They are "worked" in "Top and Butt" fashion (also sometimes known as "Anchor Stock planking"). They are quite substantial boards - 4" thick at the top and tapering to 3" thick at the bottom of the lower strake. The top edges of the strakes are parallel to the waterline athwartships.

 

Correct placement of these is crucial. I used my internal height gauge to mark their positions from the plans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The foremost end of the lower strake is cut for a Drop Plank :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Footwaling

 

Footwaling is the "normal" timbers between the Deck Clamps and Thickstuff. It is 2" thick.

 

 

 

 

 

Drop Planks are used in various locations to allow for the narrowing of the planks :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Internal Treenailing

 

Bamboo Treenails are inserted to each frame. The Butts of the internal planking fall on different frames than the external planks for added strength.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Aft Platform

 

A card template was used to get the shape of the hull at the height of the Aft Platform :

 

 

 

 

The Beams were cut and tapered at their extremities to follow the angle of the planking. Lodging Knees were traced from the diagram in TFFM and modified to suit the actual shape of the hull. The assembly was glued together :

 

 

 

 

Then the outer edges of the knees were sanded fair :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Aft Platform Carlings and Ledges

 

The Ledge mortices in the Carlings were marked and cut into a length of (scale) 4" x 3" stock. This method worked OK for the Platforms, but came back to bite me when I tried the same technique on the Lower Deck later on. The Carlings were also morticed into the Beams :

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ledge mortices in the Lodging Knees were cut in with a narrowed Xacto chisel blade and the 3" x 2" Ledges were glued in :

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Aft Platform Bulkheads and Spirit Room Hatch

 

There are two bulkheads beneath the fore and aft floor of the aft platform. I made these to go a little past the centre line of the hull. Card templates were once again used to get their shapes :

 

 

 

 

An Edging piece finishes the fore edge of the platform. The Spirit Room (or Fish Room) hatch has been fitted to the port side, and one brass hinge has been placed into position for the purposes of this picture :

 

 

 

 

The hinges were made from brass sheet, filed to shape, a small "pin" soldered to the top and finally blackened before being epoxied on :

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Lower Deck Beams

 

Occasionally one needs to jump a fair way ahead of the section being worked on at the moment. Some of the Lower Deck Beams needed to be made now in order to shape the tops of the bulkheads that are the next things to be built. It was just as easy to make ALL the Beams while I was set up for it.

 

The Lower Deck Beams are 8" wide and 6" deep in section. They have a 3" roundup over their length.

 

I made these ones as per instructions in TFFM by cutting blanks that were 8" thick and 9" deep, chiselling and sanding the top edge to the shape of the roundup, and finally thicknessing them in the Mill :

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this method rather wasteful of timber, not to mention time, and later used a different method which had virtually no waste and was much quicker. This method is shown in the Upper Deck Beams post.

 

The beams are set 1" into the clamps. The easiest way to achieve this is to take the 1" off the ends of the beams themselves - the final result looks exactly the same. This avoids a LOT of VERY careful measuring and cutting into the clamps themselves - I'm not THAT good at something like that .

 

 

 

 

 

All the lower deck beams temporarily glued into place :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Fore Platform and Bulkheads

 

There are three separate Fore Platform floors - the fore and aft floors are on a similar line, but the central one (the Coal Hole) is 1 foot lower. Note that there are two parts to the fore floor. It is intersected by the Foremast Step.

 

These were made in similar fashion to the Aft Platform :

 

 

 

 

 

Notches have been cut into the aft ends of the planks to accept the Riding Bitts and bulkhead stanchions :

 

 

 

 

 

The Bulkheads are made by first using card templates to get the hull shape, then edge gluing as many planks together as necessary, gluing on the stanchions and sanding their bottom ends to shape, and finally fitting a lower rail. Much dry-fitting involved here :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Lower Deck Hook

 

The Lower Deck Hook is a slightly modified version of the diagram in TFFM. It has two Hooked Scarph joints :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Block Room and Tar Room Bulkheads

 

The Block Room occupies the port side of the aftmost fore platform, and the Tar Room is on the starboard side.

 

I spot-glued the doors into the bulkheads to check their fit and sanded them slightly where needed :

 

 

 

 

 

Then I removed the doors again and fitted the hardware. I've left the Block Room one fully open and the Tar Room one slightly ajar for aesthetic reasons :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Magazine Bulkheads and Mizzen Boxing

 

The Magazine in the aft end has an athwartships bulkhead at each end. These were made in similar fashion to the other bulkheads, except that the outer end of the forward one is filled with "mortar" to help prevent any flame or spark from entering the magazine. I used a light colored wood filler to simulate this :

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mizzen Mast has a Boxing surrounding it inside the magazine. The pics should be fairly self-explanatory as to it's construction :

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Lightroom

 

It was considered to be not a very good idea to have candles or lanterns inside the magazine (with good reason ) so a separate Light Room was fitted for illumination. This held a lantern accessible from outside the magazine itself, and was completely sealed off from it.

 

This was a very enjoyable part of the ship to build despite it's complexity (or perhaps BECAUSE of it  ).

 

 

 

 

 

The glazing in the windows is clear Sellotape which has a coating of PVA on both sides to seal it. It simulates the rather frosted appearance of glass of the time quite well :

 

 

 

 

[Dan Vadas]

Finishing the Magazine

 

The shelf for the Lightroom lantern - it is covered with aluminium foil to simulate the polished surface of the inside of the room which helped reflect light into the magazine. The Bread Room door is on the port side - this was more like a "crawl-through" door, being only 18" high :

 

 

 

 

 

 

The door to the Magazine is very substantial in thickness - 6" - but very small otherwise ... 1' 9" wide and 3' 6" high. It is also filled with mortar in the real ship. No iron fittings were used anywhere near the magazine - all hinges and door locks etc were made of either brass or copper to prevent sparks.

 

 

 

 

The floors of the magazine and passageway were sheathed in lead for two reasons - to keep out damp from the bilge, and to make cleaning up spilt powder easier. This sheathing extended up the walls by 5".

 

I used thin paper painted grey to simulate the lead :