Making the ships grates

[acaron41120]

I’m building the Mayflower by Billing Boats. I’m working on making the ships Grates because this is an older kit with plastic grates and I don’t like mixing plastic with wood. Plus I’m still what I call a semi-experienced builder but don’t have the $$$ to buy the expensive model tools I see in many of the build logs and NRG articles. So my question is what wood would you use to make the grates and outer frame around them? I have several basswood strips of various thickness. All the cutting I do is accomplished using a basic hand saw and/or Exacto knife. Thanks for any advice.

Edited July 13, 2022 by acaron41120

[John Fox III]

Greetings Allen.

Perhaps you would find the following useful:

just scroll down a bit and see how I made gratings using card stock. I've done similar gratings using maple veneer as well.

Anchor's A Weigh!

John Fox III

[Gregory]

Here are some pictures from Cheerful to show how relatively simple making frames ( coamings ) can be.

 

 

The thickness of the wood would depend on your scale.

 

As for the gratings, John Fox ' method with cardstock might be your best option.  Those gratings can be a real challenge without a small table saw.

However a hobby saw with the correct kerf, could be an option with an appropriate jig to keep everything square.

 

You need to end up with parts that look like this:

 

 

There might be several ways to make these.

This method by DocBlake is one way

 

While the pieces above an be interleaved, you can use such pieces for every other layer, and lay battens across them.

 

 

Doc Blake's example is large scale which would be easier than smaller scales..

 

 

[mtaylor]

Given the situation, you can do them yourself so try that first.  If it fails or is just too frustrating, many suppliers have grating kits of the wood ready to be assembled, but not the coamings.

[allanyed]

No matter the method you wind up using remember the gratings need to be solid on the periphery.  This sometimes ends giving slightly different overall dimensions than the plans, so make the gratings first, then make the head ledges and coamings to suit rather than trying to adjust the grating dimension to fit into the coaming.  Also, the battens should run fore and aft, not the ledges (not to be confused with the head ledges)

Allan

Edited July 14, 2022 by allanyed

[Jack12477]

I don't know what scale your kit is but @Chuck sells a very easy to use grating kit complete with jig that is suitable for 3/16" or 1/4" scale. It's available at his Syren Shipmodel Company website priced very reasonably.

[Jaager]

9 hours ago, acaron41120 said:

So my question is what wood would you use to make the grates and outer frame around them?

Maple, Beech, Birch, Holly*.  White Pine

 

Lime is really pushing it, but Basswood is too soft and fuzzy to provide a crisp look.

 

* I saw in the Wood Database that there is a European Holly.  This Holly is not the snow white color of American Holly.  It is actually a similar golden as is the first three above.  So, the use of the white Holly for deck planking is actually a misunderstanding.

[allanyed]

 

17 hours ago, acaron41120 said:

So my question is what wood would you use to make the grates and outer frame around them?

I have never had a problem using European boxwood, maple, or castello for the gratings, head ledges or coamings.  I have gone to Swiss pear for the coamings and head ledges in lieu of painting them red on several occasions.   

 

Allan