HMS Discovery 1789 by Don Case - 1:48

[Casi]

Good job, this model is interesting.

[Don Case]

Thank you Casi. There is very little info about the Discovery and that makes it tough for a newby. I'm having to learn faster than I build. Sometimes it doesn't work and I have to back up.

[Justin P.]

Its looking really good, must be satisfying to see it come together in the form of a real ship!   Can I ask what you inevitably did about the McKay drawings?   Did you find a source?  Are you using them?

[Don Case]

He said he only did the 3, an oblique(I think that's what it's called0 and two side profiles. The others on VMM where actually plans for a display in the museum. They are no use for construction but they may be helpful for things like what goes where. I'm assuming that any info that isn't on the bomb conversion drawing is stuff that comes from his experience in drawing. He did do some research because he does include the greenhouse that was built on he quarterdeck for Menzies.

[Don Case]

I did some semi good fairing yesterday. I don't want to glue anything until I get the inside and outside fairly close. The tops of my frames are moulded to 1/8" so I set up the thickness sander to 1/8" and ran the top inch or so of all the frames into the sander. I needed a consistent thickness so I could grab a bunch of them with a clamp. I cut a stick the width of the rising wood to line up the bottom of the frames. Then I clamped up 6 single frames and grabbed them in the vice and started sanding with a 2" drum in my drill. I don't know if anyone else does this but I thought I'd give it a shot. It worked pretty well but it made a lot of dust. Spent all morning today cleaning the shop. Opened all the doors and attacked the place with a leaf blower. It's semi clean now.

I'll still have to fair the cant frames in place but at least all the square frames a close.

[Don Case]

I glued some planks to the fop of the frames to tie them all together and then made up the keelson and clamped it temporarily in place. This tied everything together so I could pull it out of the jig and look at it. I figured I could do a little fairing but any lengthwise sanding with a sanding stich was out as the frames moved sideways to much. I drum on my drill worked but the drill kept getting in the way. I bought a couple of 4 1/2 x 1 1/2" 80 grit drums and made a center out of a 2 x 2"on my lathe. I bored a 3/8" hole though it and drove I an 18" shaft. I drilled a hole in a stick to act as a steady handle for the free end. I clamped a piece of heavy packing foam to my table saw and it holds the ship nice and steady. It works a treat. Outside. With a fan on. When I'm satisfied I can take it all apart and see if any frames have gotten too skinny. Then I have to decide if I'm going to put chocks(6 per frame) in all the second batch of frames

[Don Case]

OK reasonably happy with this. It's pretty fair and fair got me through high school😉

[Justin P.]

3 hours ago, Don Case said:

It's pretty fair and fair got me through high school

Ha!   Looking great.   Did I miss what wood choice you've made for the frames?

[Don Case]

It's all Hazel so far. I may use Pacific Ninebark  for the wales if I can find a straight enough piece. It has has dark heartwood.

[Don Case]

I'm busy gluing on the frames. One every hour or so goes pretty slow🙂 So as a side project I thought I would investigate the boats. All I know is from Capt. Vancouver's book. In various spot through the book he mentions a launch, a cutter and a yawl. I imagine there was one or more longboats. The available deck space is something less that 30'. In my searching I found some really nice drawings of a 26' yawl on Wikipedia but nothing for the other two. Is there any place I can find the likely length of the various boats? Were boats always stored lengthwise? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Don Case

[Justin P.]

19 hours ago, Don Case said:

Is there any place I can find the likely length of the various boats?

I did some work on this as well some time ago.   I ended up contacting the Center for Wooden Boats who run a full size "replica" of Peter Pugets launch.   They told me at the time that there were no definitive resources available for the actual design of the Discovery's boats and instead used lines taken from plans available for HMS Bounty's launch and then modified the look and fitting out based on contemporary accounts by Puget and Vancouver.  

 

https://www.cwb.org/program-boats/discovery

 

[Don Case]

Thanks Justin. I can pick a few details from that. The transom looks interesting. I have been toying with using Bounty boats.  Capt. George mentions the Bounty incident in his book so I knew they were contemporary.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Don Case

[Don Case]

OK, it's all glued together. Hope the framing is right. It's too late if it isn't. The inside is very close to fair. Just some minor sanding. I decided to install the gun ports later. Good frame locations are within 1/16" of where the drawing says the ports should be.

Is there any reason not to get rid of the elevated jig? It's kind of in the way for marking deck clamp locations. I would replace it with stem and stern post jigs.

[Justin P.]

On 5/5/2021 at 7:43 AM, Don Case said:

The transom looks interesting.

Indeed.   So far as I can tell, the transom matches the primary source for Bounty's launch drawings that I have seen.   Curious why Model Shipways version of the Bounty Launch omits this design element. My only thought is that one design is the "launch" and the other the "longboat," with various sources using the terms interchangeably.   

[mtaylor]

Looks good.  Hang onto the jig just in case you find a need for it later.   I've learned not toss any jigs until the project is done or beyond the point where they would be useful.

[Don Case]

I did some sanding and fairing on the inside. I needed some ribbands so I made a bunch of clamps to hold them. First picture( this was the hand drilled prototype, the rest were squarer). They were a PITA to use so I'm working on a Mk 2 but I did get the ribbands on. Then I made the keelson and stemson and glued them on. The keelson, and actually the whole ship looks bent but it's not. Next was the limber strakes. They needed a rebate. That had me awake a lot last night designing a jig for my mill. It took an hour or so to make this morning and it worked quite well. I used a metal cutting end mill and I think it should be turning faster but I'll play with it. So next is installing the limber strakes.

Edited May 9, 2021 by Don Case

[Don Case]

First two limber strakes installed.

[Don Case]

I put on some ribbands to pull the tops of the frames into line. Finished up the limber strakes. Did the port floorhead thickstuff and now working on the starboard FT. The weather has turned nice so it's glue something and go out and work in the yard until the glue dries. Sometimes I don't get back in. I'll take some better pictures when I'm done this bit.

[Don Case]

Limber and timberhead strakes are in. The transition from forward cant frames to hawes pieces is a little abrupt but it's done. I wasn't sure where/how the timberhead strakes should end at the stern so I just ran them out. Onward to mast steps maybe.

[gak1965]

Looking great!

[Don Case]

I'm working on the mast steps. I have the main mast done and have started on the foremast. The main step is just wide enough to cover the limber strakes but the fore and mizzen steps are right across to the timberhead strakes. Is there a reason that the main step is so small? I'm basing a lot of my build on the Swan series. I've done a bunch of looking and can't seem to find any other pictures of mast steps to compare. Any help please.

[Don Case]

Made the breast and deck hooks and mast steps. Tried bending the deck clamps with just wet wood. Soaked them for 20 min or so and clamped them in place. Left them overnight with a fan blowing on them. Worked great. They never moved when I unclamped them.

[Don Case]

I didn't like the way the deck clamp lapped over the strakes so I peeled the strakes back about 6" and repositioned them. Starboard side went well but I've had to replace one plank so far on the port side. Picture shows the starboard side done. Now I'm probably going to have to put a drop plank in the footwaling. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by Don Case
Changed stealer to drop plank

[Don Case]

Just about finished the ceiling planking. Made the shot locker while the glue was drying. Had to do my first drop plank. You can just make it out in the bottom left(starboard bow).

[Don Case]

I have the lower deck clamps in. I had to unglue about 1/4 of both upper clamps as I got a bit of a peak where the clamps joined and the second one wouldn't lay right. IPA loosens Aleene's tacky glue thankfully. The aft end is a bit strange compared to other ships I've seen. The clamp takes a hard turn before it gets to the transom. I managed but it was tricky.  Spile and soak and bend. Are some other ships like this or have I done something wrong. Now I can plank up to the clamps I believe. Planking is fun because I get to see my mistakes disappear row by row. Sometimes they get replaced rather than disappear.

[druxey]

No, Don, ships of that era had that turn of the clamp aft just as you have it. That is correct, strange as it may look!

[Don Case]

Whew, thanks Druxey

[Don Case]

I got the interior planked up to the lower deck clamps. Big job. I drew up a rough plan but that only lasted a bit. Seven drop planks on each side. A lot of long slow tapers.  I don't get a nice pattern. A lot of the butts seem to bunch up in spots but I think I only made one butt spacing mistake. This practice will help a lot when it comes time to do the exterior. There's a little filler in there but no where near as much as I'd be willing to use🙂

Edited June 8, 2021 by Don Case

[mtaylor]

Good work on the planking.  The experience here will serve you well when it's time to do the exterior.

[Don Case]

I've been making parts and pieces. Nothing is glued in yet. I improved my "tablesaw" so now I can adjust the blade height(actually the table height) and I made a slide for it. Tried making my first ever grating. The spacing isn't right but it was just a test to see if I could even do one. Cutting out the parts isn't too bad but assembling it is tough. I need to come up with a jig or steady hands or something.