HMS Winchelsea by cdrusn89 - FINISHED - 1/48th

[cdrusn89]

With the forward deck clamps clamped in place I followed a similar process to that used aft to assure myself that the deck beams are going to be perpendicular to the centerline.

 

I used the machinist blocks this time as they stand up much easier than the squares I used aft.

The beams loks good so it is time to secure the forward deck clamps.

 

 

 

 

 

[cdrusn89]

On Confederacy the Great Cabin floor was not provided as a laser cut assembly as it is on Winchelsea. I made the floor on Confederacy using Boxwood and Walnut.

 

As mentioned in the monograph this produced a pretty sharp contract between the blocks. Also, the Walnut (at least the Walnut I had) grain is pretty open and it tended to tear rather than cut cleanly in spite of the very fine toothed saw bland.

 

So for Winnie I thought I would try to make my own floor using Swiss Pear instead of Walnut and Boxwood.

 

I made a small test piece using some "scrap" Swiss Pear that has a very pronounced grain pattern. Hopefully I can find a piece with less prominent grain if I decide to actually make a floor.

 

FYI - the test piece has a coat of WoP while the kit provided floor does not.

[scrubbyj427]

That looks really nice and crisp. Well done!

[cdrusn89]

Thanks - for the "real" deck I used pieces a bit thicker than the 3/64" so I can use the thickness sander to remove any glue residue. Hopefully I will have the starting point for the Great Cabin deck fully glued up after Super Bowl. Then the real fun starts cutting the "new" strips and gluing them up with the correct "stagger".

[scrubbyj427]

1 hour ago, cdrusn89 said:

Thanks - for the "real" deck I used pieces a bit thicker than the 3/64" so I can use the thickness sander to remove any glue residue. Hopefully I will have the starting point for the Great Cabin deck fully glued up after Super Bowl. Then the real fun starts cutting the "new" strips and gluing them up with the correct "stagger".

I cut most of my wood thicker than 3/64, for almost the whole Winnie project and I did for the same reason, so I had lots of room to sand. It has bit me a few times but it’s helped more than hindered. It should produce a nice cabin floor when complete. I would recommend leaving the cabin floor just a bit high where the deck planks meet so you can sand it flush to the planks, or you could go the other way around and since you didn’t add paint like I did, you won’t have to worry about sanding too far.

[cdrusn89]

Interior bulwarks planking completed (except for the Great Cabin paneling.

 

I decided that maybe painting first was a better idea. I am sure it will be easier to keep paint off the paneling this way.

 

Bedsides I messed up two of the panels b y not watching what I was doing and the replacements will not be here for a few days soooo....

[scrubbyj427]

She’s looking good. One thing I see but can’t tell for sure, because of the angle, is your spirketting in the very front of the bow, it may be too far back from your fairing guide. I would jump ahead to chapter nine and print out the cap rails in the monograph and check to make sure everything is going to fit right. If not, then now is definitely the time to make corrections.

[cdrusn89]

First coat of Badger Windjammer Red applied.

 

I moved the hull into a foam cradle so I could set it on its side. I found painting much easier in that position.

 

Clearly (to me) there will have to a considerable amount of touch-up required once the hull is back in the building cradle. Especially on/around the gun port opening.

Another coat tomorrow then....

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Thanks for the "heads up".

 

I printed out the cap rail from Chapter 9 and cut out the starboard side to make sure the cap rail is going to fit and it looks "pretty good". Hopefully this is what you were referring to.

 

I did add some additional fillers at the bow since the false deck curvature did not match the curvature of my hull. The false deck ended about 1/8" back from the forward end of the hull structure. So my interior bulkheads (and spirketting) are "less vertical" than is probably shown in the plans. I did taper the additional filler to bring the interior planking to the existing cap rail.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by cdrusn89

[scrubbyj427]

Ok I can see it now. The previous photo looked like the spirketting was way too inboard but it was because of the elevation and angle of the photo. Glad you’re on track! She looks good.

[cdrusn89]

While waiting for paint/glue to dry are started assembling the hatch coamings.

 

Here are all five of the gun deck coamings in various states of assembly. The clamps are holding one coaming piece and a 3/64" strip of scrap to keep the coaming away from the side of the enclosure. The interlocking pieces at the corners extend slightly past even with the adjacent piece and would mess up the alignment if not allowed of fully join at the corner.

Edited February 14, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Three coats of Windjammer Red.

 

Hopefully the new Great Cabin panels will be here Wednesday.

 

In the meantime I am keeping busy with the hatch coamings and the Great Cabin floor.

[cdrusn89]

Compared to some other kits I have built the hatch coamings here are ALMOST idiot proof.

 

I followed the instructions and successfully built four of the five coaming being careful to make sure the two halves would "go together" to form a rectangle.

 

I did not take into account that the one hatch with two intermediate members requires a bit more thought as the two halves are laid out. I had a 50/50 chance of dumb luck saving the day but alas...

 

Here are the four successfully assembled (and painted) hatches and the gratings for them. I made these boxwood gratings months ago as a break from assembling the hull structure. I did not measure I just built them bigger than needed based on the drawing. I have the quarterdeck hatch gratings ready as well in AYC.

 

I will have the fifth hatch done tomorrow (I hope).

[cdrusn89]

All of the hatch coaming, mast partners and capstan partner are "on deck (dry fit).

 

I have not detailed the partners yet but the coaming have two coats of flat black and are as ready as they are going to get.

 

I fabbed my own Great Cabin deck but am not sure I am going to use it. There are two small areas where the glue soaked through and try as I might I could not remove the residue (which turned black for some reason). This is with one coat of WoP and I fear it may get more noticeable the more WoP is applied. I can still use the kit provided deck and I put a coat of WoP on it as well to see how it will look.

And of course the areas of concern are more or less in the middle. I may try another fab starting with thicker stock so glue soaking through is less likely or...

 

Here are the partners and coamings in place.

 

 

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

After looking at the picture of the main mast partner above I saw that the hole in the false deck and in the partner did not line up. I thought initially it was just the camera angle or parallax but the closer I looked the more I saw that I had assembled the partner incorrectly. Another case of the kit being ALMOST idiot proof.

 

It is easy to identify the hole for the mast and the two side pieces. There are three other pieces, two roughly the same size and one considerably shorter (in the fore/aft dimension).

 

I put a big one on one end and a big one and the short one on the other end. From the drawing  see below it is not all that obvious (to me) that only the short one goes on one end and the two longer ones on the other.

 

So I took the main mast partner apart and re-glued it correctly.

 

Given that there are not even stub masts on the Winnie (if built per the instructions) I might never have noticed the error if not for the picture.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I am getting things a little out of order so am resorting to reading the instructions.

 

I downloaded the chapter 4 material onto my iPad which I now have "close at hand" when my enthusiasm gets ahead of my better judgement. I hope to continue this "tactic" going forward. My printer/software combo does not render the pictures in the Chapter sections correctly much of the time making them less useful so we will shift to electronic.

 

So I got all of the pieces that occupy the centerline completed and two coats of WoP on each. I almost forgot the little piece for the wheel ropes.

I bought both 20# and 15# fishing line (you get 300 yds - a triple lifetime supply for a 20 year old non-fisherman for about $8 on Amazon). I used the 20# on the capstan partner and the 15# on the mast partners and I added the holes for the eight eyebolts on the main partner. Hard to tell the 15# from the 20# at least with my eyes.

 

I decided to make a new attempt at a checkered floor. This time I started with 5/32" strips and did not thin it down until I had them in the checkerboard pattern. There are still a few areas that are not EXACTLY correct but it is better than my first attempt so I will use this one.

And having received the new Great Cabin paneling I have the major pieces on the port side glued up. I had to resort to using machinist blocks to press the bottoms of the panel near the stern to avoid trying to use the q-gallery as an anchor point for a clamp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chuck]

Its looking really good.  That is a good decision...just follow the instructions and you will have a smooth run of it.   

[cdrusn89]

I have the panels installed in the Great cabin. My spacing was not perfect on either side (which I suppose is better than only on one side). I had to add a very narrow "slice" to the pieces between gun ports 13 and 14 on each side. I also messed up the lower piece on stbd gun port 13 - it went crocked on me when I put the clamp on. Probably not worth trying to fix as the will be a gun right is front of it.

 

So here is the Great Cabin paneling:

I also planked the lower transom, added the margin plank across the stern and painted the upper inner transom red. I figured it was better now then with any more "stuff" to get paint on. Will probably have to touch it up later - along with everything else.

 

WoP for this area is next although I put three coats on the paneling before I installed it the margin plank and transom are "bare" at the moment.

 

 

 

[cdrusn89]

I have decided to plank the deck with boxwood instead of AYC.

 

The first thing that has to change are the margin planks and waterways.

 

I traced the drawings onto a sheet of 3/64" thick boxwood and then cut/sanded to the drawings. Fitting them to the deck took another few hours of fine sanding to get them to fit then a few more hours cutting the joints.As it says in the instructions the joints will be mostly covered all the guns/lines on deck but...

 

Anyway here are the eight margin planks after a coat of WoP. I will put at least one more coat on before installing.

[cdrusn89]

Dry fit of Great Cabin flooring.

 

Will glue down when all the margin planks and waterways are done.

Edited February 19, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I got the margin planks completed and glued down the checkered flooring.

Waterway were more of a challenge. Instructions said to use 3/64 X 3/64 with the "edge angled on the inboard side or you can fashion it into the typical

quarter round molding shape". I used 1/16 X 1/16 boxwood and used the 2mm X 2mm molding cutter to fashion it into quarter round. Since 1/16 is a bit less than 2mm I think it yielded something close to the desired effect.

Now on to gluing down the centerline components and "lining off the deck".

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

Centerline components glued down and centerline 1/4 X 3/64 Boxwood strip installed. I also painted the mast holes flat black in case I decide to not add the stub masts.

 

Now the tick strips, planking fan, thin tape and all that fun. Probably should do a good "sweep down fore and aft" as they used to say in the USN before I start the planking preps.

 

For those who come later it is a good idea, before the centerline pieces are glued down to center a 1/4" wide plank and mark the outer edges so you will have a better idea where the short lengths of the centerline planking between the coamings are supposed to go. Once the plank is on the deck the centerline reference "disappears" and it is easy (for me) to get them slightly "off center". Also if you are using white or carpenters glue the piece can slide around when pressure is applied so check again after the pressure has been applied to make sure it didn't move. That will be much easier if you have lines on each side of the centerline to look at.

 

One other point "of order". As best I can tell the drawing (sheet four of four) does not show a centerline plank, but a plank on each side of the centerline. It would appear that the drawing is not going to be much help with the tabbed planks and such as there are an even number (6 or 😎 planks between the coamings on the drawing.

 

 

Am I missing something?

Edited February 20, 2023 by cdrusn89

[cdrusn89]

I looked at the drawing (sheet 4 of 4) again and it shows the planking done with 3/16" planks instead of the 1/4" called for in the instructions.

 

That accounts for the additional plank between the hatch coamings.  I checked with Chuck and he said it is my choice which width to use both are within the custom for this period (12" or 9" wide deck planks)

 

Since I am cutting the deck planks "as I go" it is just as easy to cut 3/16" as 1/4" and if I go with 3/16" then I can use the drawing to get plank widths (or at least check what the tick strips/planking fan produce).

 

So I pulled up the 1/4" planks and substituted 3/16" planks (one on each side of the centerline per the drawing). I find it easier to get them lined up correctly this way since you can see the centerline while placing the first one.

 

 

 

Now to fill in the areas between the coamings and then move on to lining off the deck.

[glbarlow]

The chapter 4 instructions are clear about a ¼ inch centerline plank. Have you downloaded the monograph. 

[cdrusn89]

Dry fit (except for the two center planks) of the decking forward of the triple hatchway.

 

So far so good tapering the outer planks on each side to match the outline on the false deck.

[cdrusn89]

Glenn,

 

Yes I have the monograph and have chosen to go with 3/16" planks instead of 1/4".

[cdrusn89]

No Winnie work for three weeks while I take a trip from Florida through the Panama Canal to Los Angles (and then fly back home).

 

 

[cdrusn89]

Back from trip through Panama Canal and back at work on Winnie decking.

 

I have the starboard side decking completed out to the first piece outboard of the hatchways/etc. I am using boxwood instead of AYC and ran a paint thinner rag over the decking just before taking the pictures.

 

A good deal of sanding and fitting required.

 

On to the port side and then the "real fun" begins - lining off the deck.

Edited March 16, 2023 by cdrusn89

[James G]

Coming along nicely Gary! My wife and I took a trip through the Panama Canal in 2016. Amazing to see and hard to believe that is was basically built by hand. Quite the engineering feat! Hope you had a good time.

[cdrusn89]

Thanks Jim - yes quite the operation. Narrator said our ship (Norwegian Bliss - 160,000 tons and 1080 ft long) paid $1.2M for the transit. I think I saw a steam shovel or two in pictures of the canal construction but most of the Culebra Cut (connecting Gatun Lake to the Pacific) was pretty much pick and shovel work (after the jungle was cleared out). Interesting that the canal runs also North/South with the Caribbean on the North side. I always got confused about which way was which (on the map).