HMS Naiad 1797 by EdT - FINISHED - 1:60 - 38-gun frigate

[dvm27]

If you hadn't included the penny for scale I would have been impressed. It's inclusion make's the figures all the more remarkable!

[runner63]

Beautiful work as always Ed.  In fact ultra amazing work.

 

I to await vol 2 of your book.

 

runner63

[jaerschen]

I'm running out of words. What a outstanding craftsmanship Ed

 

Juergen

[EdT]

Thank you for all these comments. Believe me, they are well appreciated. I would love to get all these reposts done and put up some new stuff. Won't be long.

 

 

Ed

[cog]

Ed,

 

Looking at your build sometimes give me the feeling I only want to sit quietly in a corner of your workshop, and observe you at work ...

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 135– Constructing the Stern Galleries 1

Posted 5/30/12

 

Once I had gotten comfortable with the design for the stern decoration – and once the drawings and patterns were made – I could begin building the structure. The most important member in the stern structure is the taffrail or taferel. It was a large member about nine inches thick with carved figures in relief. Since I am not painting the model I had decided to do all the decoration using European boxwood to contrast with the underlying pear. Also, instead of hollowing out the lower curved areas of the taffrail, I decided to use a laminated construction – two 3” thick sections for the basic member and 3” relief carvings on the surface to make up the 9” overall thickness.

 

The first picture shows the two base pieces ready to be cut out from the 3” thick pear.

 

 

By this time I had decided to make the two stern chase ports elliptical in shape rather than rectangular, so they are shown on the patterns. The patterns also show the decorative beading that will be added later.

 

In the next picture the inside piece is being clamped and glued to the counter timbers.

 

 

 

When the outer piece is similarly glued to the first, the curve will be locked into the lamination, eliminating any significant residual stress. This is being installed in the next picture.

 

 

 

With this major member installed, the next step, shown below, was to attach the molded rail at the base of the windows.

 

 

This is an oddly shaped molding. It rests on the angled break of the touch of the upper counter. I installed a lower counter plank to found it on and then, to avoid the complex trapezoidal shape of a single molded strip, inserted a triangular boxwood section behind the molding so its top surface would be a horizontal ledge outside the window lights. The molding was formed using a scraper cut to the profile. The separation between the rail and the counters was carefully checked across the width. This is the point where careless work on the underlying structure comes home to roost. So far, so good.

 

The next picture shows this planking/molding reinforced with the first of the quarter gallery structural pieces.

 

 

I made this piece as a combined aft rim/commode. The hole is for the convenience of the captain. Making this in a single wide piece provided increased strength for these first pieces of the quarter gallery structure. The notch in the corner of the seat will form a mortise - when the outer rim pieces is installed - for the bottom of the quarter piece. The seat is pinned to the side with two hidden copper wire bolts.

 

The next picture shows work on the next parts of the quarter gallery.

 

 

 

The lower stool – the curved planked pear slab – was glued and pinned to both the top of the black strake at the side and on its aft side to the lower molding. It will be bolted to the side later with long bolts. The lower curved portion of the quarter post was glued in at the same time. This acts as a spacer and assures the proper slant to the lower stool, which should match the molding – and also the deck camber. I expect to make the quarter posts in multiple pieces. These will have figure carvings on their aft/outer sides.

 

The next picture shows the same construction proceeding on the unplanked port side.

 

 

 

Small sections of plank are installed to bed the structural members of the gallery. The length of pear planking represents part of the black strake and will bed the lower stool. The piece of box above it will support the forward end of the curved rim piece, which at this stage was merrily boiling away offsite.

 

This picture also shows an overlay sheet placed on top of the original base drawing. The overlay provides an alignment pattern for squaring up the parts of the quarter galleries. This detail was not included on the original base board plan.

 

The last picture is a view from astern, showing rails at the upper and lower counters installed.

 

 

 

Obtaining clean tight joint lines on both the upper and lower parts of the rails is involving a lot of flipping of the model upside down and back, so getting this done before installing the fragile quarterdeck detail was a good idea.

 

There is still a long way to go with this work.

 

 

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 136– Constructing the Stern Galleries 2

Posted 6/3/12

 

 

A lot of the work shown below was done concurrently so the pictures are not in strict chronological order. After installing curved blocks for the lower ends of the quarter pieces as shown on one side in the first picture, the next step was to make and install the rims.

 

 

The rims are curved structural rails that run from the athwartship rail at the top of the upper counter. It rests on top of the lower quarter piece and bolts to the side of the hull just aft of the last port. Pencil marks showing the position at the side are visible in the above picture. The curve of the rims was formed on a wider piece of pear on a form after boiling the piece. In the next picture, the well dried rails are being sliced off this piece using the circular saw.

 

 

This method assures that the rails on both sides will be the same. In the next picture the starboard rim has been mortised through for the lower stanchions and window mullions and is pinned in place.

 

 

With the rim positioned the spots for mortises in the lower stool were marked. With the rim removed they were then cut out using a small burr in a rotary tool, then squared a bit with a small chisel. The next picture shows the rim and lower stanchions installed.

 

 

 

These stanchions are very tiny pieces and cutting tenons on the ends was a challenge. The aft end of the rim forms the closing side of the mortise for the upper part of the quarter piece, which will attach at the top to the taffrail. The stanchions will be planked over after the counter planking is trimmed back. The counter rails will be cut off at an angle to match similar side rails that will fit over both the rim and the lower stool.

 

The next picture gives a better view of the curve of the rim.

 

 

This picture also shows the counter timbers boxed in to form the framing of the stern windows. After this, five of the lower window sills were fit into place. One is being glued and clamped in this picture.

 

The next picture shows the sills from above and trim across the front of the timbers.

 

 

 

The forward sides of the counter timbers will be boxed over to match the aft sides. This will be done with scored columns with small pediments. A wide bench will be constructed below this on top of the seat transom – the cross member just aft of the rudder.. Most of this finish woodwork was improvised based on the White and McKay books on Diana and Pandora.

 

The next picture shows the completed planking and the rails of the upper counter.

 

 

 

Naiad is almost ready for her name. Two strakes of lower counter planking were removed and need to be replaced. There is also a tuck rail to be installed on one side where the planking meets the wing transom. There is a lot of terminology associated with all this, so I hope my descriptions are intelligible.

 

The window top and side sills are not yet installed. The 9-pane window deadlights will be installed within those sills. The specifications call for deadlights, but if anyone can comment on whether sliding sash was used, the input would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 137– Constructing the Stern Galleries 3

Posted 6/10/12

 

 

A lot of work has been going on lately, but not too much to show yet. Carving ( and recarving) of the figures for the taffrail has been time consuming. I think I am approaching final versions but nothing to show yet. Sizing has been one issue. However, other work has been proceeding in parallel, but slowly.

 

The first picture shows the exterior decoration of the counter timbers between the windows.

 

 

 

The next picture is a closer view.

 

 

In addition to the columns, top and bottom sills were installed. The window units will fit into these openings.

 

The next picture shows planking of the lower counter being re-installed.

 

 

Two strakes of this had been removed to install the lower rail. The next picture shows the tuck rail on the staboard side being installed.

 

 

After forming, this was rabbeted top and bottom to fit over the planking. The lower rabbet is barely visible. This rail will only be installed on this side.

 

The next picture shows the rail and also the lower finishing shaped and fit under the lower stool of the starboard quarter gallery.

 

 

This picture also shows a cove rail with a bead fitted to the taffrail above the windows. This will be trimmed off at the ends to fit smaller cove rails at the ends. These will most likely be turned or milled using a rotary table – to avoid the sharp curvature needed.

 

The last picture shows the upper finishing being fit above the upper stool on the starboard side.

 

 

 

There is still some work to be done on this – shaping the slanted roof and cutting out the notch for the quarter piece. The quarter pieces on each side are large vertical members that are carved on the aft side. These slant back and in. A foot tenon fit in the mortise formed by the pieces at the aft end of the rim and its inside will butt against the taffrail end. I plan to make these in two pieces – the plain forward part installed first and the carved after section which will be attached later.

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 138–Stern Galleries 4 –Quarter Piece Figures

Posted 6/18/12

 

The ratio of hours spent per cubic inch of wood has been skyrocketing lately. The work is still being driven by the necessary construction sequence. As I mentioned earlier, I want to finish all the work that requires the hull to be upside down before returning to the detailing of the quarterdeck, so this meant doing all the stern detailing earlier than expected.

 

The first picture shows the stools and rim for the port quarter galleries being installed.

 

 

 

The next required timbers are the quarter pieces, which need to be in place before the quarter gallery windows are done. To do the quarter pieces I wanted to have the quarter piece figures carved so all this could be fit up together.

 

The next picture shows the final (I think) design for the quarter piece figures.

 

 

Several versions of these figures have been developed and some carved and fit up. In this picture, patterns for the figures for both sides have been pasted to pieces of European boxwood and the shapes cut out on the scroll saw.

 

There is no decoration plan for Naiad, so these figures are speculative. Naiads were fresh water nymphs so I wanted the figures to appear young and graceful. I looked at a lot of 19th century romantic artwork featuring mythological nymphs before settling on a design. In a previous post I showed an early version of the figures to be used toward the center of the taffrail. Those will be redone.

 

In the next picture these have been glued to a wood block with a layer of paper in between to allow them to be removed easily. Carving has begun. The plan was to carve these together to assure that they were at least similar.

 

 

This approach worked well. I had also made rough mockups of the taffrail figures using epoxy modeling compound. This was helpful in determining the amount of relief needed in various places on the figures. For the final carvings I started with the faces and if they looked Ok moved on to areas that needed to be deep. Both rotary tools and small carving tools were used.

 

The next picture shows one of the figures pasted in place temporarily on the starboard quarter piece to check for fit.

 

 

The figure is not finished, but the back has been sanded back to fit against the taffrail and post. The next picture was taken at the same time.

 

 

This picture helps give an idea of the proportions. I resized these a couple of times. There is a cap rail to be fitted on top of the taffrail. The figures hand will rest on this. The next picture shows the figure on the other side being fit in the same way.

 

 

 

The next picture shows the stern with both figures further along and pasted in place again. There was a lot of this back and forth.

 

 

In the last picture the figures have again been returned to the wood block for more detailing and polishing.

 

 

 

Hopefully the final refinements on these will get them to a finished state.

 

Once these are installed I will probably move on to all the windows. I’d like to do all these at once – rear and sides.

 

 

Ed

[dafi]

Love it :-)

 

Daniel

[Mcdood]

One word Ed,  "Sublime"

 

Martin.

[aykutansin]

extreme working

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Your young lady is looking really sweet

[lamarvalley]

Beautiful work... as usual.

[jaerschen]

An excellent step by step instruction to build such a stern, it's very interesting.

Very clean work as ever Ed.

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 139–Stern Galleries 5 –Quarter Galleries/Trim

Posted 6/24/12

 

The quarter galleries and some trim needed to be installed before moving on to the windows. Before doing that I set the model up on the shipway for some dimensional checks. This is always a good idea, but in this case it was a very good idea, because I found that the upper stools on the quarter galleries were set over a foot too low. So the stools and the construction on top of them had to be removed and scrapped. This also explained why the pieces cut from the patterns did not quite fit in the original installation. I spent some time with the drawings , unsuccessfully trying to solve this mystery.

 

In the first picture the new stools have been installed at the correct height. This was done on both sides

 

 

 

This picture also shows the two lower rails and the planking between them installed on the starboard side. The port side will be left unplanked with only the main structural members modeled.

 

In the next picture the window mullions and lower sills have been installed and the upper rail and capping of the lower sills is being glued and clamped in place.

 

 

The clamping of all these parts was quite awkward. The alignment and spacing of the three window mullions has to be precise or the windows will look odd. This could not be done accurately using the mortises for these previously cut into the lower sill, so after aligning and end gluing the mullions to the stools, they were bolted through the top stool and secured at the bottom by the sills between them and the outer capping being installed here..

 

The next picture shows this construction after removal of the clamps and pins.

 

 

At this stage the upper finishing was fit and installed on top of the upper stool. The next picture shows this in place and the roof shingles over it being installed.

 

 

 

These were sliced off of a shaped, cross-grain strip with a razor blade. There are three rows as shown in the next picture.

 

 

 

In this picture the top and an integral outside molding is being fitted. There will be some fretwork placed on top of this but that will be done much later after completion of the side planking.

 

Trim cove pieces to fit over the quarter gallery windows below the taffrail were made by machining a circular section of molding as shown in the next picture.

 

 

This could have been turned on the lathe, but the milling machine was used instead with a rotary table. This allowed the same round cutter to be used that was used to make the larger central section of this molding. The next picture shows these two end pieces added to the taffrail.

 

 

The diameter of these end moldings was determined from the drawing showing the true view of the taffrail. This view was used to make the patterns for cutting out the outer taffrail, so the curved pieces fit almost perfectly – a slight bit of clamping pressure helped on one of them.

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 140–Stern Galleries 6–Quarter Galleries/Trim

Posted 6/26/12

 

 

Comments on the last part convinced me that my shingled roof over the quarter gallery needed to be reworked. I still do not know how these were constructed on the original ships – they may have been lead sheet – but the way they were handled on contemporary models is clear. I decided to mimic that, but still using individual shingles. The new shingles are paper thin and wider. The next picture shows these. There is still a bit of work to do on the front tiles.

 

 

The decked area above the shingled finishing piece is only pinned at this stage, pending the final cleanup of the shingles. This picture also shows the cap molding fitted to the top of the taffrail and also the permanent attachment of one of the Naiads.

 

The next picture shows another view of the shingles – and the starboard quarter piece Naiad.

 

 

 

And one more for good measure.

 

 

 

This picture also shows the central stern window installed and more of the taffrail cap molding.

 

The next picture shows another view of the window, the entire cap molding, and both quarter piece Naiad figures.

 

 

 

With the figures glued on, the fingers of their raised hands can be carved. Although I tried to give the arms some strength by running the wood grain from the outside foot to the hand, I didn’t want to risk an arm fracture so the detailing of the hands was deferred until the they were fixed in place on the rail.

 

This first window, although glued in, is a test. The window parts were milled so the grid parts interlock and also fit into mortises in the sides, tops and bottom frame pieces. The grid mullions are 1 ¾” square (.028”), so all the notches were dadoed with a .028” thick circular blade on the mill with the pane size and the notch depth set with the mill’s calibrating wheels. The frame was made slightly oversize and custom fit into the windw opening.

 

The window has a thin piece of clear plastic sandwiched between two grids. This can be seen in the next picture.

 

 

 

The grids have to be matched. They are also beveled after assembly on the side away from the glass to avoid a squared appearance. The sandwich construction allows them to appear correct when viewed from both sides – but it doubles the work.

 

I can only deal with the fitting of these tiny window parts in small doses, so I am splitting time between that and some of the other work to keep my sanity.

 

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 141–Stern Galleries 7–Quarter pieces/Stern lights

Posted 7/11/12

 

With all the excitement over the shingles, which were corrected in the last post, I was evidently distracted enough to install the quarter piece figures incorrectly. I posted the incorrect installation in the last post before realizing that I had installed them on the quarter pieces instead of making them appear as an integral part of the quarter pieces - as I had intended. Senility may be approaching. So, the first picture shows the corrected installation on the starboaed side.

 

 

In this picture the quarter piece has been beveled off and the figure installed as if it were part of the piece. This was the original plan. The next picture shows another view.

 

 

 

In addition to being more correct, the figures look better. They appear to be more upright (as designed) and not falling forward so much due to the angle of the stern.

 

After some redesign and some process development (with some suggestions and help from Keith), I returned to the work on the stern lights. The next picture shows work on the window grilles assembly.

 

 

 

The lapped joints were cut with a .028” slotting saw blade on the milling machine, using the calibration wheels to size the 10” X 9” panes, so the mullions are about 2” square. The horizontal mullions are being fixed to the frames first in this picture because the tight fit helps hold the assembly together better initially than the lapped corners would do. The angles of the central five windows could be achieved by angling the frames while the glue was soft. The outer windows and the quarter gallery windows will have their parts milled at an angle.

 

The central window installation is shown in the next picture.

 

 

 

The outer grilles were installed first. The frames were sanded to get a tight fit. A thin sheet of plastic was then inserted on the inside and the inside grille fastened over it, so the plastic itself is not glued. (The glass is still hard to keep clean.) The quarter gallery windows will have to be completely installed from the outside – inside grilles first. This picture also shows a pattern fragment pasted to the taffrail to facilitate cutting the chase ports.

 

The next picture shows the windows from a different angle and also the figure on the port quarter piece.

 

 

 

The last picture shows the windows from the inside.

 

 

Ed

[newbuilder101]

Absolutely beautiful......absolute precision! Your work continues to amaze and inspire!

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 142–Stern Galleries 8–Quarter Gallery Windows

Posted 7/16/12

 

There were some comments on milling the windows. Milling these small pieces, for me at least, was the easiest part of the job – compared to assembling these and fitting them into the window openings. These later steps require a steady hand and that is a problem. The first picture shows the milling setup used to notch the pieces

.

 

 

The slotting saw blade is about 2” thick (.028”). The only one I had of this size was 4” in diameter, hence the oversize blade in the picture. Two-inch thick stock is held down in the jig with two screws with large round heads. The angle is set to the angle of the windows, in this case the quarter gallery windows. A small strip helps keep the wood tight to the jig, but many of the cuts required holding down the piece. Once set up the cutting of the slots was easy using the calibrated wheels to match the 9” x 10” size of the panes.

 

The next step is a bit more fun. The next picture shows a window being assembled.

 

 

 

In the next picture an inside grille is being fit into its frame.

 

 

 

 

 

This was done by sanding the frames until they just fit. The inside grilles were installed deep enough in the frame to allow a second grille to be fit over the glass – a piece of transparency film.

 

In the next picture the forward window with its glass and outer grille has been installed.

 

 

The outer grille of the second window is fit into place and slight differences between the inner and outer matching grilles are being filed out. Also, a slight bevel was put on the outer mullions at this stage. The outer grille was then removed, the glass fitted and the grille glued back in over it.

 

The last picture shows the finished quarter gallery windows.

 

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 143–Stern Galleries 9–

Taffrail Figures Cont.

Posted 7/16/12

 

The work on the stern galleries continues. Progress seems slow. There has been a lot of rework. In the first picture the holes for the two chase ports are finally getting cut.

 

 

 

After drilling holes as shown, the rough opening was cut using a jeweler’s saw and the holes were refined to the line on the pattern with files followed by a sanding dowel.

 

The next picture shows the beading for one of the holes

 

 

These were turned on the lathe from a piece of flat stock glued to a chucked piece with paper between the pieces. The inner diameter was turned first to match the opening and the outer diameter turned to give the width of the bead.

 

At the same time work on the two figures over the stern windows was completed. The two are shown in the next picture picture as they near completion.

 

 

These are a later version of the same pose shown in an earlier post - with more relief – but they are still friezes, not fully sculpted figure like the quarter posts. They were carved stepwise together to help keep the similar.

 

The next picture shows the second figure being glued to the taffrail.

 

 

Before this step and after removal from the carving block the carvings were sanded on the back surface to a thinner depth and the back of the figures carved to add some relief. Starting with a thicker carving blank allows for some error and some flexibility in the amount of relief of each part of the pose. This can be seen in the next picture..

 

 

The back sides of the head, arm and leg in this view can be seen to be carved back where the meet the taffrail.

 

The next picture shows the inverted model at its current stage.

 

 

The aft windows of the quarter galleries have be reworked to incorporate a solid panel behind the simulated window grid. This seems to have been the most common practice for these windows.

 

The last picture is another view of the stern at present.

 

 

The central figure for the taffrail has not yet been added. There is also some additional “gingerbread” in the form of water lily carvings to be added, perhaps some additional bead rails and the name board.

 

Ed

[EdT]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 144–Stern Galleries 10 – Taffrail Figures Cont.

Posted 7/23/12

 

Work continues on the taffrail figures. The first picture shows the almost complete central figure temporarily pasted in place. The others were permanently installed last week.

 

 

 

The next picture is a closer view of the central figure, a naiad in a pool of water surrounded by water lilies.

 

 

There is no finish on these figures so the relief is still somewhat obscured by the sanding dust. These actually look better in real life – not always the case with the Naiad model photos. I may do something with the finish to accentuate the relief. Perhaps the wax will suffice but I may go to Tung oil. We’ll see. First some tests. Fortunately there are lots of first draft figures to practice on.

 

The next picture shows the taffrail with the additional groupings of water lilies added.

 

 

 

These are just pasted on. Some more fitting of all the last parts is needed to integrate them into the taffrail.

The last picture shows a view from below the starboard quarter. The angled lighting helps with the relief in this photo.

 

 

 

Ed

[Mcdood]

Hi Ed, I am assuming that the figures would have been coloured originally (not a road you are going down ?). But I really like the contrasts of the woods.

Regards

Martin. 

[druxey]

Love the tafferel carvings, Ed. Those blank areas are crying out for some ornamentation, though: a spray of bulrushes or reeds, perhaps? Or even a weeping willow.....

[EdT]

Martin, I do not intend to paint anything. We do not know what the original decoration was so this is all speculative. We do know that at the time, the Admiralty was cracking down on decorative carving and trying (we don't know how successfully) to eliminate it.

 

Yes Druxey, I agree on the open space. A few months ago I added some more water lilies. If I were doing these figures again, I believe I would also extend the arms of the figures just outside the ports up to the cap rail as in the original painting. I don't have the heart for that at this stage, although I may include a pattern for that pose in Vol2.

 

Attached photo taken in February.

 

Ed

Edited May 11, 2013 by EdT

[druxey]

Well played, sir!

[Ferit]

...Impeccable...

[the learner]

EdT your build is progressing nicely, I look foward to the next edition

[the learner]

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797

Part 142–Stern Galleries 8–Quarter Gallery Windows

Posted 7/16/12

 

There were some comments on milling the windows. Milling these small pieces, for me at least, was the easiest part of the job – compared to assembling these and fitting them into the window openings. These later steps require a steady hand and that is a problem. The first picture shows the milling setup used to notch the pieces

.

 

N142 04.jpg

 

The slotting saw blade is about 2” thick (.028”). The only one I had of this size was 4” in diameter, hence the oversize blade in the picture. Two-inch thick stock is held down in the jig with two screws with large round heads. The angle is set to the angle of the windows, in this case the quarter gallery windows. A small strip helps keep the wood tight to the jig, but many of the cuts required holding down the piece. Once set up the cutting of the slots was easy using the calibrated wheels to match the 9” x 10” size of the panes.

 

The next step is a bit more fun. The next picture shows a window being assembled.

 

 

N142 05.jpg

 

In the next picture an inside grille is being fit into its frame.

 

 

 

 

N142 06.jpg

 

This was done by sanding the frames until they just fit. The inside grilles were installed deep enough in the frame to allow a second grille to be fit over the glass – a piece of transparency film.

 

In the next picture the forward window with its glass and outer grille has been installed.

 

N142 07.jpg

 

The outer grille of the second window is fit into place and slight differences between the inner and outer matching grilles are being filed out. Also, a slight bevel was put on the outer mullions at this stage. The outer grille was then removed, the glass fitted and the grille glued back in over it.

 

The last picture shows the finished quarter gallery windows.

 

N142 08.jpg

 

Ed

 

Nice technique Ed, I like the layers with the glass between. You do not actually glue the wood to the glass?

[EdT]

Hi, Guy.

 

No, I do not glue the frames to the glass, just around the outside with wood glue.

 

Ed