HMS Winchelsea by jfhealy - Fred's W2

[jfhealey]

I have made so many mistakes on my Winchelsea - not big ones for the most part; but nevertheless leaving me thinking "I could/should have done better" – that I am going to start a new build. I don't aspire to match the standards of Chuck or Mike and others but I do hope to improve. 

 

For the first build ("W1") I took Chuck at his word as to the cost of buying the Syren bulkhead pack – well over £200 here in the UK with shipping and import duty – against buying a scroll saw and a sheet of plywood so the cost of starting again is pretty modest.

 

I will build W2 to the end of chapter 3 and then decide whether I am making a worthwhile improvement. I shall be disappointed if I don't give in all I have learned reading all the logs and from building W1. If I don't see a worthwhile improvement by the end of chapter 3 I may give up on W2. If I can see an improvement I will carry on building W1 ahead of W2 hopefully making all the mistakes on W1 and channelling all the learning and experience into W2. That's the plan.

 

I bought a Proxxon scroll saw for W1 and that seems to work pretty well. I bought some Baltic birch plywood for W1 which was a tough sand. I have used the same plywood for the bulkhead former for W2 but bought some plywood-lite for the bulkheads which I hope will be much easier to sand. I had no idea when starting W1 that there were different grades of plywood.

 

I have also purchased for W2 a Hobby Zone building slip. It's a handy bit of kit, up to a point, but could, I think, have been much better than it is. I would have preferred, for example, a polycarbonate or plastic base with an etched grid and the slide along gantry bit (which you assemble yourself) and which should be really helpful in squaring up the bulkheads is ever so slightly out of true – 90° on one side and about 88° or so on the other. That may well be down to incompetent assembly on my part but it surely would not have cost very much to include a pre--assembled plastic component.

 

Here are some pictures.

[jfhealey]

[jfhealey]

[bruce d]

44 minutes ago, jfhealey said:

"I could/should have done better" – that I am going to start a new build.

That is dedication. Well done.

[Thistle17]

I know the feeling jfhealy as I have not even attempted my Winchelsea until I have completed Cheerful. I made so many minor mistakes on Cheerful, only to rip them off and start again.

 

This passion we all have has been a pursuit of perfection and frustration given so many references on MSW of incredibly fine work.  I find in most anything I do the second time is the charm. For many reasons it seems to be so. So starting anew I am sure you will find it that way until you reach a new chapter and then it seems to start once again. The frustration that is. So for me I now do a practice run on a mock up or in your case maybe W1.

 

Nonetheless with your determination and persistence I think you will get there.

 

Joe 

[Jorge Diaz O]

wow Proxxon!!!!!very good

[jfhealey]

Thanks chaps. Joe, I entirely agree with you. I can't shake off the "could do it better second time round feeling" and the Wnchelsea is such a super project it warrants another go.

 

The Proxxon seems a really good bit of kit not that I have anything to compare it to. I have found the second set of bulkheads much easier to cut more accurately than the first. I think that is a combination of little more experience with the saw and using Plywood lite. I'm much more confident of a good outcome than I was at the equivalent stage with W1 but time will tell.

 

All the best everyone

Fred 

[scrubbyj427]

She’s looking good Fred, so much learned on chapters 1-2. What are you going to do with W1?

 

JJ

[Greg M]

Wow.  Looking great.  Really impressed with your perseverance to restart at the point you did.  I'll be watching with interest for lessons learned.

 

 

[jfhealey]

One of the problems with cutting your own bulkheads is, inevitably, and no matter how much care you take, that they will be less accurate then the superb laser cut frames from Syren.

I had real problems with the stern frames on W1. Here, I am trying a different route. The vertical board at the back may look a bit low tech but it is there to position the frames accurately one to the other and at the correct angle. There is a 1mm sliver of wood behind the outer frames to give the transom some curvature.

[jfhealey]

Here are the transom fillers added

[jfhealey]

And just as it all seemed to be going so well.......

That is the chapter 4 deck clamp. The transom fillers are way too high. The deck beam will cut across the window.

[jfhealey]

Here is the problem. I used the plan of the transom very carefully aligning the top of the stern frames to the plan. I should not have done. It is now clear to me that I should have aligned the "red line" with the sculpted part of the stern frames. Thus

[jfhealey]

W2 was supposed to eliminate the errors I made on W1 not introduce new ones I didn't make first time round. Still, the repair was pretty straightforward. I cut out the fillers with the razor saw, glued a 1mm strip on either side to replace the  saw cut and glued them back in. They have not come out badly at all. Here two are done.

[jfhealey]

All done

[jfhealey]

On W1 the frames were out side to side and I used a bucket full of of car body filler to get things straight. I can see now,looking at all the other super logs, that that's for chumps. This is looking much better. I've added frames bf3 and bf4 however.

The yellow tape follows the marks on the plan exactly and looks pretty good without any tweaking.

[jfhealey]

Finally can someone please tell me how, having uploaded a picture, you can continue text. I can't figure it out.

All the best everyone.

Fred

[scrubbyj427]

Hi Fred, she’s coming along nicely, looks really crisp and clean. However I have to say thanks, I’m reading this as I’m having my morning coffee and down stairs I run in a panic to check my transom fillers!  Little late in the game but got me wondering. Lol
 

Honestly I’m not quite sure how to post a photo and type underneath it... I just tried what I thought would work and no go.

 

JJ

 

[MEDDO]

I like the look of the repair.  Wood is so forgiving it is nice to be able to quickly repair/fix errors

 

3 hours ago, jfhealey said:

Finally can someone please tell me how, having uploaded a picture, you can continue text. I can't figure it out.

All the best everyone.

Fred

after I attach the picture in the log the courser will be at the right side edge of the picture but will not be blinking like it does as you type.   I always just hit the return button a time or two and it shows up under the picture again and can then type as normal

[Greg M]

Looking good and great recovery.  Adding extra bow fillers is a great idea.

 

Regarding pictures, I found that before I start doing anything in the post, hit enter about 10 times then you can just drag the pictures wherever you want and there a space for typing before and after each one.

[jfhealey]

Thanks chaps. I hope to finish planking the wales this weekend and then I will try inserting photos in text again.

[Rustyj]

13 hours ago, jfhealey said:

W2 was supposed to eliminate the errors I made on W1 not introduce new ones I didn't make first time round.

 

You're doing a good job Fred. Unfortunately we continue to bump our heads as we move along. The key is to find the errors (as you have done)

and correct them before they cause further problems. I continuously have to check, recheck and then check some more!   

 

[jfhealey]

W2 is coming along. For the most part I'm very pleased: it's certainly a big improvement on W1.

And I can finally mix text and pictures. Thank you Greg and Meddo.

 The planking is about half done on the starboard side and 2/3 done on the port.

 

[Chuck]

That looks excellent. 😃

[jfhealey]

The sheer on W1 didn't turn out well at all. I guess I miscut the bulkheads. I ended up with an unacceptable bulge just in front of the hance piece. The pictures above are W1.

It looks worse in reality than in the photo and was a significant factor in my decision to begin W2. The picture below is W2. The sheer is absolutely flat – which is much better than W1 but not correct. The plans show a slight upward curve towards the bollard timbers. I had not twigged the relationship between the sheer and the wales. I think if I were to build W3 (aaargh!....... see below) I would put a temporary capping piece along the sheer and crosscheck the run of the wales before fixing anything.

 

[scrubbyj427]

She’s looking good Fred. I think your sheet is good, as long as it’s angled up in the bow.

JJ

[jfhealey]

I am not convinced by the run off the planking. I wish I had lined the hull just as Ben (Trussben) has done. It looks okay on the side viewed head-on the planks  curve upwards uattractively.

 

I took a lot of care with the gunports which were untidy on W1 but I am sure there is a  far better way of doing it than working by eye. Still, they are not too bad. 

Here are W1 and W2 together

[jfhealey]

This was a disaster area on W1. It  has come out much better on W2

You can see I sanded the profile of the lowest plank of the lower counter incorrectly and had  to make good with a little wood filler – but that will be covered by the frieze in due course.

 

Thank you JJ for your thoughts about how to tackle this tricky area.

I did not put in the piece that attaches to the bottom of the stern frames and provides a glueing surface for the planks. I found it easier to heat bend the corkscrew curve into the planks so that they fitted without any pressure and then just cut a bevel before gluing to the lower counter. On W1 this area cost me several layers of skin off my fingertips struggling to get pieces to stay where I wanted them to go while the CA did its best. 

[jfhealey]

I am  quite well on with sanding the inside of the bulkheads. It is certainly a great deal easier with plywood lite than it was with the Baltic birch plywood I used on W1.

 

[scrubbyj427]

That counter looks really good Fred! Glad to see you back in action. Catching up to me and you’ve already built another one!