Sloop Speedwell 1752 by Chuck - Ketch Rigged Sloop - POF - prototype build

[SZKUTNIK]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:17 PM, TBlack said:

beautiful result. I wish these were in 1:48 scale. As it is not, I'll have to figure out how to carve them myself!

We can do it in scale 1/48  - no problems 🙂

[glbarlow]

Wow, it looks so nice with the top jigs removed. 

[TBlack]

2 hours ago, SZKUTNIK said:

We can do it in scale 1/48  - no problems 🙂

Maybe after I take Greg and David’s class this October?

[Rustyj]

She's looking really great.

[dvm27]

Congratulations Chuck on achieving this milestone! For fairing the toptimber line the sanding sticks are invaluable to insure the line is fair both at the top and athwartships. It's very hard to far the line when just working on one side at a time. I use 8 inch or so sanding sticks with 120 and 180 grit glued on and sand across the ship keeping a careful line on the toptimber line on each side as I go. I use much smaller widths near the hances.

[druxey]

For a smooth sheer line, use sanding sticks at least 1" or more wide here.

[Chuck]

I agree.  Here you can see my long sanding stick.  Its about an inch wife and 15” long.  It has 120 grit sandpaper.  
 

I will create a smooth sheer line with it that marches the top of the template.

 

Then i will add the fairing cap.  Pictures of that to follow…

 

[TBlack]

Do you apply it side to side or longitudinally?

[bdgiantman2]

2 hours ago, TBlack said:

Do you apply it side to side or longitudinally?

You can do it either way, honestly, but you actually want to work the sanding stick in the direction that goes with the grain of the wood. You go against the grain of the wood and the surface will look all scratched up.

[dvm27]

3 hours ago, TBlack said:

Do you apply it side to side or longitudinally?

I do it mostly side to side. This keeps both sides parallel athwartships and prevents gouging on one side. It is essential that the tops of the frames are parallel or the plankshears (top rails) will cant in or out. Until I get very close to final dimension I usually pin one side of the sanding stick with my thumb and swivel sand the opposite side over a couple of inches. Then repeat in reverse.  Sneak up to the line with 120 grit then finish with 180 grit. You'll notice that the char is gone on Chucks forecastle and QD toptimbers and this is a pretty good indication that it is fair.

[Chuck]

Once I shaped the and sanded the proper sheer it was time to add the fairing cap.   I did in fact sand the top of the sheer as Greg describes.  Either a side to side sanding with the stick posted in the last update or by holding the stick on one side as a pivot.  Then sanding on the opposite side with the stick moving it in an arch fore and aft.  

 

The fairing cap will now be added.  This serves two purposes and I discovered with the Winnie project that this is a great design element to help me when fairing inboard.

 

First it establishes a consistent width along the entire sheer.  It will be hard to screw that up as long as I dont sand into the strip.  The fairing cap is 5/32" wide.

 

In addition,  the fairing cap is glued to the top of each frame which really strengthens the hull.  There is no wiggle in any of the frames as you fair inboard or out.

 

There are 2 sections of fairing cap for the waist.   I added the forward piece first (#1)...then the aft section (#2).   These must be added first because a hance piece sits on top of the forward length.  We will add that later.  These are labeled #1 and #2 on the laser cut sheet.  When gluing these on the outside edge is flush with the outboard framing which should already be faired.  You can see below what remains inboard to be faired.  The only fairing I have done inboard up to this point is whatever I managed to get done progressively after raising a half dozen frames.  I had reached inside under those cross jigs to at least get rid of the heavy stuff.  But the cant frames are virtually untouched.

 

The qdeck fairing cap (#3) needs to be beveled on the aft end to sit flush against the transom.   The bow section of fairing cap is self explanatory.   Just make sure its flush with the outboard framing for all four of these pieces.   Then you will know exactly how much material you need to remove inboard.   

 

In this photo after the fairing cap was added,  the two hance pieces were added at the bow.  You can see how it sits on top of the waist fairing cap.  Also check out the framing plan for clarity.  Its at the break in the waist up to the fcastle sheer.   A scroll will be added much later after we finish planking everything.

 

I originally thought that I would need to wait until all the outboard planking was completed before I could fair inboard.  But the hull seems so strong with the fairing caps glued on so I just decided to go for it.

 

The gull has now been completely faired inboard...or about 98% there.   There are still some areas that will require some "noodling".  But I really wanted to get this done because it makes so much dust and its a pain in the butt.  I started with 60 grit sandpaper to get rid of the heavy steps from frame to frame.  Then I switched to 150 grit and then to 120 grit.  Remember when you are doing this NOT to reduce the fairing cap.  Its inevitable that you may hit it from time to time and you may remove the laser char but try and keep the width of the sheer as consistent as you can.   The fairing cap helps you do this.  Here is a picture after finishing up the inboard fairing.  Now I can return to the outboard planking with a much cleaner hull. Although I am compelled to add the keelson first just to make the inboard area even cleaner.   Its nice NOT to have to look at all that unkempt framing and laser char.  It cleaned up rather well dont you think?  

 

[tlevine]

Love the fairing cap concept.  Definitely something I will steal for my next build.  

[gjdale]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

It cleaned up rather well dont you think? 

 

Master of the understatement!

[Chuck]

38 minutes ago, tlevine said:

Love the fairing cap concept.  Definitely something I will steal for my next build.  

It works well Toni

 

You just have to remember to lower the tops of your frames or bulkheads by the thickness of your fairing cap when designing or cutting them out.  In this case it is 1/16” thick so all of my top timbers are 1/16” shorter than the sheer.

 

Otherwise your hull will be too tall.

[Rustyj]

She's looking so smooth and graceful!

[druxey]

Alternatively the cap could be temporary and the frames designed height....

[Chuck]

I added the keelson today.  This is made up from 4 laser cut lengths.   There are probably many ways to attack this.  But I decided to assemble all 4 pieces first.  There are scarph joints between each length.   Then I sanded it clean of laser char.   It may be hard to see below but I also drew a reference line down the center of the keelson.   This is where the bolts will go.  It was easier to mark the center of this 3/8" wide keelson now instead of when its on the model.  I used a compass opened to 3/16" with a pencil on one side.  I handy tool to have around.

 

I test fit it on the model.  The shape is so specific to each model after inboard that yes I had to tweak the bottom of the keelson and the bottom of the hull inboard to get a good fit in places.  I used various riflers and sanding sticks to match the curve and shape of the keelson as closely as possible.  Then the bolts were added.  I used 30 pound black fishing line.   One bolt goes every other frame.  This is except for the scarph joints which get two bolts.  Now the inboard side of the hull is completed for now.  Its nice and clean.   I can now return to planking the outboard side of the hull.

 

[JeffT]

Very nice!

[Tossedman]

So good! I'm in awe of the craftsmanship on this site.

[Chuck]

Thank you very much folks....Hopefully I can find time to get some planking done outboard this week.  But first I must add the sweep port lids and fixed blocks.  So that is next up on the list.

 

But today sadly is a rope day....all day a rope day.

 

Chuck

[Chuck]

Continuation with planking above the wales.  I am trying to complete the five 7/32" wide strakes above the wales.   I had two of them completed,  but before I move further up towards the shear,  I needed to add the sweep port lids and fixed block shells on the outboard side.

 

This is just like on the Winnie and all other projects I build.  These must be added so we can plank around them neatly.  Use the template to find there locations.  Below you can see how the plank directly below the sweep ports needed to be cut around each and every port.  I basically followed the template.  This does take some time to do but if you just go slow it will all turn out fine.  I made sure I had a very sharp blade as I was cutting the plank around the sweep ports and gunports.  One wrong move or if impatient and you can remove too much from the plank and you will have to start over.  Thank goodness there are only six gunports but there are plenty of sweep ports to carefully cut around.  I have one more 7/32" strake to go which will need to be cut around the tops of the sweep orts next.

 

You may notice that I am also leaving a 1/64 to 1/32" rabbet around the bottom and sides of each gun port.   Even though this sloop didnt have gun port lids, they may have used bucklers during heavy seas and bad weather.  Its just a guess but it seemed like the way to go.  You could omit this and simply cut to the edge of your port openings if you like.  Its hard to tell on the contemporary model if they have this rabbet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BANYAN]

You have certainly mastered the art of planking Chuck; such clean, crisp joints and edges - a delight to see.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[dvm27]

I have several hi-def photos of the NMM model and they don't appear to have the port stops. Or if present they are only an inch wide. So either way is probably fine. Beautiful planking job.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Hello Chuck,

on the last pictures it seems that the planks and the wales have the same thickness. Do you put a second layer on the wales or have I missunderstood something in your description?

 

I love how accurate you do the planking job.

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by AnobiumPunctatum

[Chuck]

Yea there will be a second layer for the wales.  I just prefer to build that way.  But it would be easy enough to make them thicker from the start.    But it does look a bit odd at this stage.  Adding them in a second layer has some distinct advantages. 
 

 

I will also be treenailing before I add that second layer of wales.  
 

Thank you all for the kind words.

 

Chuck

[Chuck]

Planking continues.

 

I have been busy carefully cutting the planks so they fit around the sweep ports and gun ports.   Its really important to go slow.  The last thing I want to have happen is me cutting all of these opening perfectly after about 30 minutes only to screw up on the last one.   That would mean tossing in the scrap bin and starting over.  Here a look at one of the longer planks that need to be made.  I am just using a sharp #11 blade and a small file to neaten up my openings.

 

I have managed to get the starboard side done up to a 3/32" strake.  This is actually the first layer of fancy molding that will be added much later.   I will pause here on the starboard side and not go any higher for the moment.  Above this molding the outboard planking is covered with a frieze or painted.   There will not be any treenails visible above this point.  So this is the optimal time to pause and add treenails to all the planking I have done so far.  This is optimal now for two reasons.

 

- First, I can still see where the hull framing is above and below this planked area.  This will make it super easy to run some tape down the hull to define exactly where the treenails should go.  I will post an update on that soon.

 

 

- In addition,  the second layer of wales has not been added yet.  On the Speedwell, there is an upper and lower wale strake.  These stand proud of a planking strake between them and it will be so much easier to treenail that strake without worrying I would damage the edges of the wales above it and below it.

 

 

I also want to point out that for the quarter badge window,  a laser etched square is on the framing piece.  You must trim each plank around this so you can insert the laser cut window later.  Here is a picture of that opening with the laser cut window inserted.  There will be acetate placed in the opening first and then this window.

 

 

 

Then the quarter bade will be added over this making for a very neat and tidy presentation.  This will be done later and these are only temporarily positioned.

 

 

I will complete the planking to this point on the port side next and begin treenailing the hull.

 

 

[JeffT]

the details on the quarter badge are excellent.

[scrubbyj427]

Beautiful work! That QG looks just excellent!

[No Idea]

Whether a kit or scratch builder this is the quality of work to aspire too.  Chuck that is amazing!

[Chuck]

Thank you for the kind words.