ancre Le Rochefort by No Idea - 1/24th Scale - First POF Build

[No Idea]

I wasn't sure whether to put a build log on here as this is my first POF build and I'm not sure how it will go.  I keep on asking random questions about issues that I've had, and to me it would be better to put them all in one place.  So I've taken the plunge and I'll give it a go.

 

I'm building Le Rochefort using the Ancre Monogragh which in itself is a lovely piece of work.  I'm also using the book by Adrian Sorolla called Model Shipbuilding Dockyard Style.

 

So why Le Rochefort and also at 1/24th scale?  I chose this ship after having communicated with a few people on this forum as to what a good first ship would be.  I didn't want to start something that I would loose interest in due to my lack of skills and experience.  I only ever build one ship at a time and my last two boats have been POB builds at about the same size as the 1/24th scale version.  So building in this size will feel familiar to me and let's be honest we all like a big ship!

 

Time is one of my biggest issues as I'm a truck driver and my job takes me away from home all week, so I only get to work on it at the weekend which also has to fit in family time.  So thats an introduction of me and why I'm building this lovely ship so I believe its the right thing to put a bit of history on here too.

 

Le Rochefort 1787

 

This is the third ship of this name and was built in Rochefort France in 1787 on the plans of Hubert Penevert.  It was classed as a yacht and was designed to navigate the shallow waters of the Charente.  Its job was to carry powder from the safe port of Rochefort to the larger fighting ships that could not sail the Charente and as such had to wait in deeper water in the estuary.  Its design was very detailed such as specific instructions on how the hold must be fully planked and caulked and a floor above the keelson.  This details were all about keeping the powder dry.  One funny reference is to the ships kitchen and how it says that it may not be used with powder on board.

 

So I hope all of the above makes sense as I'm certain that I will need to ask many questions.  The good news is my kit has arrived in the form of Castello planks

 

Mark

[bruce d]

Hello Mark. well that is interesting. The plans and translation look inviting, I found I was being drawn in to the project just by reading and studying. In the end I chose Mediator but the attraction is still there.

Mind if I watch?

 

Bruce

[cog]

Nice ittle ship, good for a first build indeed, especially if you have little time. So far your workspace looks spic and span .. wonder how long that will take to change ;) Have fun building, Mark

[G.L.]

It will be a big model at scale 1/24, Marc. A very interesting project. I signed in to follow your log.
Wishing you success and a lot of modeling fun.

[No Idea]

Thanks for the interest   My workshop is my spare room as I like to work in the warm as its currently -4 outside.  My wife has no issues with me making a mess; its leaving that mess that would cause a problem so I always work as tidy as I can.  As far as I can remember the hull is about 900mm long without the bowsprit and thats the same size as the tug that I built last.

 

I decided to start building the forward frames first as these look relatively straight forward and within my abilities.  So checking the scantlings I needed to thickness some wood down to 7.90mm.  This leaves me a little bit on for final sanding of the faces

 

Next was to photocopy the plans for frames 15 - 5; get them coloured in - yellow for the floor frame and red for the half floor.  It turned out that 1 plank was the correct size for these 11 frames which was pure luck

[No Idea]

Next was to make a small piece of the rising wood so that I can glue the floor timber and the cross chock together. I would love to be able to say that my first frames went together with no issues - but no!  I had sanded them far too much and had to make them again.  Its not a problem I'm in no rush. 

[No Idea]

Assembled and bevelled forward frames which seem to have turned out OK.  They match the plans which is always a good sign but I guess I will only find out of they are good when I start assembling them.  I have to say that bevelling nearly 16mm wide frames means removing some serious wood!

[No Idea]

Next and to finish these frames for the time being was to make the bolts which help hold the frames together.  I needed 0.5mm bolts to make them scale and I tried to make them out of ebony following the instructions by Adrian Sorolla.  But I literally found my limit!!!  I just could not replicate what he amazingly does as I really need a lot of them too.  So I did the sensible thing and used 0.5mm carbon fibre rod instead which I think looks great.  The instructions are clear that there should be 3 bolts at every joint overlap so thats what I did.

 

I also cut out the rebates for the lower chocks which space out the frames.  Later once the hull is faired I can cut in the limber slots into them.

[G.L.]

Very nice frames, Mark. And such a sharp cuts. What kind of machinery do you use to make such a clean notches?

[No Idea]

Hi G.L. and thanks very much   I think that they are OK as these are the first frames I've ever made and I'm learning every time I make another.  To make the cuts I have a Proxxon ML70 mill which is a nice little machine.  Its tiny but it does a pretty good job.

[tkay11]

Great to see another Rochefort build. You've made a lovely start. I'll be following with much interest. There are very good builds on one of the French modelling fora. Most show a lot of self-explanatory pictures.

 

Tony

[No Idea]

I've had a go at building the first of the 4 forward rising frames.  This is frame number one and it needs to be spot on as all of the hawse timbers are attached to it later.  I think if I get this one wrong it will have a lot of knock on consequences later in the build.  Just out of interest what do you all think is a good wood to make tree nails from to complement Castello?  Bear in mind that I will need to source it in the UK and I quite like the subtle look.  I do have quite a good stock of pear and mahogany but I would very much appreciate any advice.

 

I used a photocopy of the plans to workout and check the angle where the frame meets the rising wood.  There's also a lot of material to remove too to get the bevel.  I must also thank Barkeater as he helped me to understand the drawings of the rising frames as I just couldn't see them until he explained - cheers mate!

 

 

[mtaylor]

For tree nails, many use bamboo chopsticks that are split down and then put through a drawplate.  Do a search on "tree nails" and another on "trunnels".   

[No Idea]

12 hours ago, mtaylor said:

For tree nails, many use bamboo chopsticks that are split down and then put through a drawplate.  Do a search on "tree nails" and another on "trunnels".   

Thanks Mark much appreciated

[tkay11]

You can also fill the holes with a Liberon wax filler stick which has the right colour. Very effective, simple to apply, little work!

 

Tony

[No Idea]

10 minutes ago, tkay11 said:

You can also fill the holes with a Liberon wax filler stick which has the right colour. Very effective, simple to apply, little work!

 

Tony

Thanks Tony thats a good suggestion - As this is my first POF build I really want to do things the right way as much as possible.  I want to hopefully make a nice job of it and learn as much as I can for future builds.  Well if I survive this one

[No Idea]

I've managed to get some more done.  I've now completed the 4 forward rising frames but not without a problem.  I found an error in the frame that I made above so it had to be made again.  No big deal as I would rather it be right to save problems later.

[No Idea]

I'm now getting on putting in all of the bolts into these 15 frames - all 900 of them.  I've already used 4 metres of 0.5mm carbon rod so I'm glad its really cheap to buy!  Also a picture of the frames so far not quite lined up correctly.  I just need now to get these bolts finished and clean up the frames.  I guess I can then start on the rear frames.

 

 

[tkay11]

Just as a matter of interest, where did you get the castello cut into such nice-sized planks? I bought a nice 2-foot chunk some time ago, and certainly like its qualities for small parts, but it does look a nice thing to use for framing.

 

Tony

[No Idea]

Hi Tony I get all of my wood from here

 

https://shop.exotichardwoods.co.uk/boxwoods/page/4/

 

Although you can buy these pieces that are already cut, if you give them a call they will cut you pieces to your own sizes for a small charge.  I simply worked out what I needed and gave them a call.  The frames on this build are 7.90mm thick so I ordered the wood to be just over 8mm.  I then just cut the planks into three to make them more manageable and then ran them through a thickness sander.

 

Mark

[bruce d]

37 minutes ago, No Idea said:

Hi Tony I get all of my wood from here

 

https://shop.exotichardwoods.co.uk/boxwoods/page/4/

 

 

Ditto. They are very helpful and you will find they actually care about getting it right. They also stock tools and more to the point: they know about using the tools they sell. I'm a member of their fan club.

[tkay11]

Ha! That's where I got my original block. I didn't know they'd also cut to size. So thanks very much!

 

Tony

[No Idea]

I've now finished all of the bolts in the forward frames and there's nothing else I can do with these until they get installed.  I've now packed them away for sometime in the near future.  So I've made a start on the aft frames - I'm starting with the 12 standard frames (Is that the right terminology?) that are not rising.  I ran the wood through the thickness sander and made the templates as before.  This time though I used 100gm paper and I have found it to be much better than the standard 80gm photocopy paper for the templates.  It holds its shape far better and is just stronger when it's glued to the wood.

 

Since then it's just been a case of hours of cutting, sanding, milling and filing the 133 parts which is where I'm at now.  Next up is to start gluing the frames together and then get sanding again.

 

 

[clogger]

Very impressed with  your work.  Very precise neat and tidy.  In fact  I have the same plans but aim to build to the 1/36 scale, and using Cherry wood. Looking forward to more updates.  Would love to see  more of the tools and techiniques  you use and as many close up pics as possible.

[No Idea]

2 hours ago, clogger said:

Very impressed with  your work.  Very precise neat and tidy.  In fact  I have the same plans but aim to build to the 1/36 scale, and using Cherry wood. Looking forward to more updates.  Would love to see  more of the tools and techiniques  you use and as many close up pics as possible.

Hi Clogger and thanks for the nice comments

 

I cut out the parts using a bandsaw but I stay away from the finished line.  I then sand them down using a Dremel and a face sander before gluing them together.  If you don't already have it I would recommend Adrian Sorolla's book called "An introduction to model ship building dockyard style".  Its a full blown build of this model and I am using it as guide as this is my first POF build.

 

What I do though is to make sure that when I sand the bevels the surfaces are sanded all of the way across.  I think that this will make the assembly of the frames and final fairing a bit easier.  I do this by simply using pencil witness marks on the piece.  Just colour it in and you can see where you are sanding and also when you have achieved the flat face too.  A few pictures below to explain.  I use a file to do this work

 

 

[No Idea]

Another small milestone achieved today.  I've now completed frames 16 - 27 and I'm definitely getting better at making them.  Practice really does make perfect!  I still need to cut the slots for the frame spacers and also drill and fit all of the bolts.  I really do need to work on my butt joints though as I have a few which are really visible.  They look OK when I'm gluing them up but a bit more precision on my part is required.

 

 

[clogger]

Hi No Idea

For Le Rochefort

I'm confused as to which lines to follow when it comes to cutting out the fore and after frames, particularly for the frames 2,3(Ivar),4,5 and 25,29(IVar) and 30 which have timbers that pass beyond the line of the framework. 

Which frame is taller than the other frame? The foreframe or stern frame?

From the photo attached the frames 2-5 the upper timbers vary fore and aft.

I know solid lines represent one half, and dotted lines represent the other half, but it still seems very confusing at the upper ends of the framexplains.  Obviously the dotted lines also represent ares to be shaved back for flaring.  I've attached a photo to try to illustrate my point.

[tkay11]

I can't quite understand the problem, so maybe I've got it wrong. It seems to me you're talking about the tops that will act as the anchor bollards, as per the illustration on the cover of Sorolla's book on the construction. So, as per the plans, the taller ones face each other on either side of the frames.

 

Does that make sense to you?

 

Tony

[clogger]

Does that mean the frame with cuts 1 and 2 ,as marked in red, lead to the taller frame? And the dotted line cuts 3 and 4 lead to the shorter frame?

[No Idea]

Hi Clogger - On frame 2 the floor side of the frame is the tallest.  All of the floor side cuts have a solid line and this marks out the individual pieces.  Similarly the dotted lines mark out the half floor side and this is the same for all of the frames.  I'm sorry that I've not posted anything but our heating system at home has been causing us major issues.  I've had to cut holes in the drywall to find a problem and its taking up a lot of my time to get it sorted out.  Attached are a couple of pictures of frame 2 for you.