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

[SaltyScot]

19 hours ago, Some Idea said:

I find that a good layer of it rubberises much easier than a thin coat 

 

I wrote that one down, good tip.

[Some Idea]

Some more work completed this week - I've been getting on with the planking between the mouldings which will complete the stern planking.

I also caught up with quite a bit of nailing that required finishing

The ship really is starting to look solid now

Finally I made the decorative moulding for the first beam on the quarterdeck

I want to make the gratings next but I need to wait for Gerard to confirm whether I have read the drawings correctly or not.  It shouldn't take long for a reply and then I can make something I've not made before.

 

Mark

[Keith Black]

 Golly that's pretty. 

[JacquesCousteau]

Very nice work!

[SaltyScot]

Exquisite is what this is......

[Some Idea]

Guys thanks for the lovely comments 👍

 

I've made a start on the gratings which seem to be going ok but I'm not sure that they are correct so I do need a little help.

 

The gratings have a gap of 2.3mm between laths - every example I have seen of making gratings involves using a table saw to cut the slots.  Unfortunately I don't have a blade of that width and I also don't have an arbor where I can safely stack blades together.

 

The closest cutter I have is a 2mm end mill so thats what I used.  It took a while to mill it all out as each slot took 2 passes but I got there in the end

 

I then cut the parts to the required sizes and also cut the flat laths

I made a little jig to help with assembly which made the job very easy

My first grating squared off and its actually the correct size which surprised me

Now my question - looking at the underside I have the gaps shown in the picture below.  Is this correct or have a done something wrong or missed something out?  If someone could give me some advice it would be very welcome.

 

Thanks Mark

[AON]

Your grating looks damn good to me.

The spaces (gaps) should be there.

[Some Idea]

7 minutes ago, AON said:

Your grating looks damn good to me.

The spaces (gaps) should be there.

Hi Alan - thanks very much for the reply mate 

 

I was really unsure whether I had done something wrong - so in the meantime I've been referring to Bernard Frolich's book "The art of ship modelling".  I can see by his photos that yes the gaps should be there.  This now gives me the confidence to carry on and get the other 2 glued together.  Mind you I seem to have cut enough timber to make another 20 🤣  Every days a school day!

[AON]

Don't throw them away. They might get used down the road!  👍

[Dziadeczek]

You made them the right way.

Gratings consist of two different strips of wood. Thicker ledges ('toothed' ones) and thinner battens placed in these teeth. 

Important thing to remember is that the ledges should run athwartship (from bulwark to bulwark) and the battens should run parallel to the long axis of the hull, - as seen from the top, and not the opposite way.  Here is a short article on the topic:    Improving Basic Details – Getting the Gratings Right | Ship Modeler

I once took a pic of the underside of the USS Constitution's gratings, where you can clearly see this "gaps" you are referring to...

Thomas

Edited September 20 by Dziadeczek

[Some Idea]

3 minutes ago, Dziadeczek said:

You did them the right way.

Gratings consist of two different strips of wood. Thicker ledges ('toothed' ones) and thinner battens placed in these teeth. 

Important thing to remember is that the ledges should run athwartship (from bulwark to bulwark) and the battens should run parallel to the long axis of the hull, and not the opposite way.  Here is a short article on the topic:    Improving Basic Details – Getting the Gratings Right | Ship Modeler

I once took a pic of the underside of the USS Constitution's gratings, where you can clearly see this "gaps" you are referring to...

Thank you so much for this information and fantastic pictures  - Mark

[Tonphil1960]

Fantastic work. Kudos !! 

[Some Idea]

Moving forward with the gratings I knew that the top faces required a curve but what I had missed was that they did not just sit on top of the carlings and beams.  They are actually let into the carlings so that they sit within the beams.  This picture explains it far better.

So I cut the bevels into the carlings - I also discovered that I had set the 4th beam about 2mm too far forward so I had to cut into the beam too.

I sanded the curve on the gratings using a face sander with 320 grit paper.  This worked really well 

Then finally I drilled and fitted the 252 nails and fitted the gratings

Thanks for the advice and help in the making of these parts it was very much appreciated.  I'm going to have a go at making the rudder next.

 

Mark

 

[Some Idea]

The rudder - This is made of 2 quite substantial pieces of wood which are 11.8mm wide.  I hadn't really studied the drawings of it before but it became obvious very quickly that it was going to be harder to make than first thought.

The challenge was working out the cutting order in sequence as the rudder is tapered in 2 dimensions.  Once tapered holding down onto the mill becomes difficult so I worked out how many tool cuts I could do with both pieces still being square.  I also cut the 2 pieces individually rather than gluing them together first.

After gluing together the first few cuts are straightforward as I'm just bringing the wood down to size 

Next I cut the taper on the main body of the rudder - the rudder widens away from the stern.  It's not much of a taper; it transitions from 8mm wide at the stern post to 10mm.  I did this but cutting a series of steps into the rudder which can be sanded smooth later.

Sketchy machining warning  - now I can't just turn the piece over and repeat as it will no longer sit flat on the tooling plate.  So I used a couple of laths to level it out but as you can imagine you are not going to get a good work hold doing it this way.  Its just a case of giving it a go and holding your breath!

I wouldn't recommend it but I got lucky and nothing moved.  It was nice to see the taper so even considering my less than safe practice.

Next to be machined was the taper on the leading edge of the rudder.  I worked this out to be 51 degrees which worked out OK.  Once again gripping the rudder was a bit hit and miss due to the tapers.  Small cuts and taking your time helps enormously in these situations 

After a good clean up the finished (wooden part) of the rudder

I need to make the pintles next but I'm waiting on a delivery of brass and also some silver solder.  They also look like a good challenge.

 

Mark

 

[SaltyScot]

I want a mill just like yours!!

[dvm27]

I believe that 90% of milling is getting the correct setup. Congratulations on mastering both aspects of woodworking.

 

I hadn't notice that you changed your name from "No Idea" to "Some Idea". I believe you're ready for another change to "Many Idea(s)".

[Pirate adam]

Looking amazing. The milling is tricky and you made it look easy. 
 

Adam

[Some Idea]

6 hours ago, SaltyScot said:

I want a mill just like yours!!

Hi mate - mines a Sherline mill; its the manual metric version

6 hours ago, dvm27 said:

I believe that 90% of milling is getting the correct setup. Congratulations on mastering both aspects of woodworking.

 

I hadn't notice that you changed your name from "No Idea" to "Some Idea". I believe you're ready for another change to "Many Idea(s)".

Thanks Greg I did get a bit lucky with the piece not moving but I'll take it as a win.  Since looking at the pintles I've noticed that I need to cut a further relief into the rudder.  This is going to take some thought but I've plenty of time as I'm still waiting on my delivery of silver solder.  The name change 😀  well I think I've got a bit better since I started the build 🤣

5 hours ago, Pirate adam said:

Looking amazing. The milling is tricky and you made it look easy. 
 

Adam

Thanks Adam 👍

Edited Friday at 07:32 AM by Some Idea

[Some Idea]

So having discovered that I didn't cut the reliefs for the pintles I thought I'd give it a go.  This would have been so much easier when the piece was still square.

I got a good result and it needed to be done.  The pintles are made out of 1mm x 2.3mm brass so they need to sit flat as trying to force them into shape just will not work and damage the rudder.  You can see below the much better beds for them

I also have made the iron bands that reinforce the rudder around the tiller hole

Thanks for all of the comments and likes they really are inspiring.  I'm off to Malta for a week today so I'll catch up with you all when I get back

 

Mark

[Toolmaker]

I have managed to miss a couple of your updates Mark but enjoying catching up now. Glorious craftsmanship, really lovely. Those gratings look fab.

 

An additional method that can work for large radius requirements (like the top of the gratings) is to put a fly cutter in the mill and then kick the head over. One side of the radius sweep will give you a concave and the other side will give you a convex surface.

Just to mess with your head a little more, using a rotary table for the work piece, and then a fly cutter in a tilted head can produce convex/concave spheres.

 

As I said, brilliant work mate.

[cotrecerf]

Excellent workmanship

[Tonphil1960]

Looking great 👍 

[Some Idea]

On 10/3/2025 at 5:32 PM, Toolmaker said:

I have managed to miss a couple of your updates Mark but enjoying catching up now. Glorious craftsmanship, really lovely. Those gratings look fab.

 

An additional method that can work for large radius requirements (like the top of the gratings) is to put a fly cutter in the mill and then kick the head over. One side of the radius sweep will give you a concave and the other side will give you a convex surface.

Just to mess with your head a little more, using a rotary table for the work piece, and then a fly cutter in a tilted head can produce convex/concave spheres.

 

As I said, brilliant work mate.

Hi Paul thanks for the nice comments. Great idea using a fly cutter and rotary table I never would have thought of using them. Funnily enough I have both so that idea is going in the memory bank for later 👍

 

14 hours ago, cotrecerf said:

Excellent workmanship

Thanks cotrecerf 👍

 

11 hours ago, Tonphil1960 said:

Looking great 👍 

Thanks Tonyphil1960 👍

[Hubac's Historian]

You have really made a lot of progress, here, Mark.  Just beautiful work all around!