Frame faces

[SaturnV]

For POF model hulls, the individual frames as they approach the stem (and stern for that matter) begin to twist to follow the final shape of the hull. For a POB, all bulkheads are at 90 degrees to the keel and when faired the faces of these bulkheads are all facing the same direction. Is this also true for POF? Would all of the faces of each frame be 90 degrees to the keel from stem to stern or would the faces twist with the rest of the frame?

It is one thing to make a frame flat and then just fair it on the outside and inside edges but it is another if the face of the frame has to turn so that it remains 90 degrees to the inside and outside edges as they twist to follow the curve of the hull. That is a lot more difficult to do. What is the real life practice when building a ship?

Any help with this question would be much appreciated.

 

Richard

 

 

[russ]

The only time that the face of the frame would not be perpendicular to the keel is in the case of a cant frame. These were used on real ships. You can check out some of the scratch builds here to see them in use. Ed Tosti's Naiad frigate build is an excellent example, but there are several others as well.  

 

Russ

[allanyed]

Richard,

 

Russ has given good advice.  The cant frames indeed lie at an angle, and each cant frame lies at a different angle.  They are beveled inboard and outboard to allow the planking to fay completely against the frames as it bends around.  These are the most challenging frames to make and to set in place. 

 

I usually make a set of card stock templates, one for each angle, then use these to set the table of my sander before sanding the part of the frame that is secured to the deadwood.  This  assures that the angle on the frame is correct.  To chisel or sand the angle  by hand is not easy to be as accurate.  In the photo it is marked 28 forward and aft which are the two frames at station 28 which was at the aft deadwood.

 

Allan

 

[druxey]

Russ and Allan offer good advice. There are a number of books that cover this subject as well: Ed Tosti, Allan Yedlinsky and David Antscherl (at SeaWatch Books, one of MSW's sponsors) have all written extensively on the subject of framing, as well as others.

[SaturnV]

Thank you all for the replies. Follow-up question: For the cant frames, if you laid them down on a table they would lie flat from the top of the frame to the bottom of the frame where it attaches to the deadwood, correct? The side view drawings make these frames look curved and twisted but I think that is just an illusion because of the angle of the frame in the drawing.

 

 

Richard

[allanyed]

Richard,

 

Yes they should lie flat on the table unless the futtocks  are stepped or tapered  in width as they rise.  Even so they would  probably be  

"flat" on one  side.

 

Allan

[SaturnV]

Thank you Allen! That is a load off of my mind. I have been trying to figure out how to do those curves for several weeks but now it appears that I do not have to - just an illusion because of the drawing angle.

 

So many frames, so little time, but loving every minute of it.   :-)

 

Richard