HMS Winchelsea by James G (Jim) - 1:48

[James G]

On 5/18/2023 at 6:06 PM, Saburo said:

Again Jim, you're build is motivational/inspiring. I really should start my own build here and overcome my bashfulness. thanks' to you, Glenn, Rusty, John, Chuck and so many others in this forum. 

 

  Bill

Yes, by all means join the club Bill! I would love to follow your build.

 

On 5/19/2023 at 9:42 AM, glbarlow said:

How’s it coming Jim?

Hey Glenn! Thanks for checking in. All good, just on my normal pause that comes this time of year as the Michigan weather improves. I do a lot of cycling 🚴‍♀️ and sailing ⛵️ once the warm weather arrives and it’s here now. I’ll get back to the bench and when I do more Winnie updates will be coming. Loving the build, just have too many interests and not enough time. Hope you’re gearing up for a nice summer yourself!

 

[FrankWouts]

Hi Jim,

That's a very nice and clean build, simply beautiful and well executed!
I'll follow your build for sure!

Frank.

[James G]

 

Greetings! It’s been a while since my last update. I took the summer off from ship modeling to take advantage of the mild Michigan weather. The good weather season is short here so it’s wise to make the most of it. Good times catching up with family, friends, boating and lots of cycling 🚴‍♀️. Hope everyone reading this had a wonderful summer as well!

 

It’s turning colder so I jumped back into my Winnie project last week. I’ve been working on the stern frames. They’ve proven to be a bit of a challenge given my limited ship modeling experience.

 

They are not as perfectly symmetrical as I would like but I think they’ll end up being adequate. With lots of tweaking of course! I believe the slots in my home made bulkheads were the main culprit. I think Chuck’s laser is way more precise than my hand tools and questionable vision. I’ll forge ahead…great to be back at it. Thanks for taking a look!

 

[scrubbyj427]

Welcome back Jim, she’s lookin good. Did you place your stern window cut out against the frames and do a test fit?

[James G]

24 minutes ago, scrubbyj427 said:

Welcome back Jim, she’s lookin good. Did you place your stern window cut out against the frames and do a test fit?

Thanks JJ! Yes, I did. The windows line up well thanks to Chuck’s 1-5 window templates. However, the two circles in the upper sills are a bit off and will need some adjustment. Again, I see this as a symptom of how the stern frames were originally placed in my scratch-built bulkheads. Next time I’ll definitely purchase ones that have been laser cut. 😆

[scrubbyj427]

As long as the windows line up with your frames then you should be good to go. Modify the holes as needed. I may have had to move mine slightly, can’t remember. Definitely worth spending some time on that whole area of the model though.

[glbarlow]

17 hours ago, James G said:

the two circles in the upper sills are a bit off

Their placement and size comes into play when fitting the stern decorations, which are wonderful but a tight fit. If you don’t have them you may want to check against a cutout of the plans. A cutout of this framing of the quarter gallery also helps to confirm angles. A lot of what’s to come is made easier or harder based on the stern framing. Fun stuff. 

[James G]

11 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Their placement and size comes into play when fitting the stern decorations, which are wonderful but a tight fit. If you don’t have them you may want to check against a cutout of the plans. A cutout of this framing of the quarter gallery also helps to confirm angles. A lot of what’s to come is made easier or harder based on the stern framing. Fun stuff. 

Thanks Glenn! This was helpful. I did use the cutout and stern decorations to properly align and size the two holes. Worked great. I’m still making adjustments but I think I’m getting there.

[FrankWouts]

Hi Jim,

Very nice progress! Don’t forget to sand down the outer sides of the two outer stern frames until the dotted lines in the drawings…

Otherwise the two outer blinded toilet windows in the stern won’t fit.

Frank.

[James G]

20 hours ago, FrankWouts said:

Hi Jim,

Very nice progress! Don’t forget to sand down the outer sides of the two outer stern frames until the dotted lines in the drawings…

Otherwise the two outer blinded toilet windows in the stern won’t fit.

Frank.

Thanks Frank! I did sand down the outer stern frames as you mentioned. However, I’ve not yet sanded down along the dotted lines all the way down to the stern frames yet. Should I follow these dotted lines completely all the way down? I don’t want to over sand by mistake! Thanks for any thoughts you can offer.

[FrankWouts]

On 10/8/2023 at 4:06 PM, James G said:

Thanks Frank! I did sand down the outer stern frames as you mentioned. However, I’ve not yet sanded down along the dotted lines all the way down to the stern frames yet. Should I follow these dotted lines completely all the way down? I don’t want to over sand by mistake! Thanks for any thoughts you can offer.

Hi Jim,

Yes, they should be as thin as the other stern frames. Orherwise you’ll have trouble making an ‘edge’ to hold the outer two stern windows.

Frank

Edited October 10, 2023 by FrankWouts

[James G]

Thanks Frank! Extremely helpful. Your Winnie continues to be an inspiration for me. Appreciate your sharing.

[FrankWouts]

On 10/8/2023 at 9:25 PM, James G said:

Thanks Frank! Extremely helpful. Your Winnie continues to be an inspiration for me. Appreciate your sharing.

You're welcome anytime Jim!
Thanks, though I'm relatively new to building wooden ships, but trying to learn and adapt fast as the firebrigade...unfortunately that slows me down compared to more experienced builders...a lot...I have the same fears like you, sanding off too much or making unrecoverable errors...
I started a wooden ship 30 years ago, kept it all that time and wanted to finish it recently, Corel's Victory, but noticed I was too far off on various points, so maybe sometime I'll start another someday, maybe Amati's coming new one in 1:64 scale...if it ever comes into production..
Frank.

[James G]

I spent the last couple of days framing the quarter gallery. As a birthday gift this year my better half gave me a Byrnes Disc Sander. She is the best!  This was a tremendous aid in this step. The tilt table really made achieving the combination of angles easier to allow tight margins on the various framing contact points. As a self-check I used a cutout from the blueprint to ensure the framing was properly aligned. I’m relatively satisfied with how both port and starboard sides have turned out. Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

 

[FrankWouts]

That looks like a perfect angle for the stern and Q-galleries Jim! Well done!

I envy you on the Byrnes Disc Sander and such a nice wife though...😉
Cheers,

Frank.

[glbarlow]

The disc sander is great for managing small angles, I’d be lost without mine, as are the plan cutouts satisfying confirmation. 

[James G]

Couldn’t agree more Glenn. I noticed you used a cutout on your qdeck framing. Thought it was a great idea to borrow. Thanks for adding it into your log!

[Chuck]

Really nice work.   Well done.

[scrubbyj427]

Looking good Jim. Time to start making some dust and then toss some wood on the sides! 

[James G]

21 hours ago, Chuck said:

Really nice work.   Well done.

Thank you Chuck! I’m really enjoying the build. Your design and instructions are incredible. Since I’m new to ship modeling I work pretty slow. However, I’m more concerned with quality results rather than speed. I kind of feel like a turtle 🐢. Slow and steady should hopefully win the race.

 

21 hours ago, scrubbyj427 said:

Looking good Jim. Time to start making some dust and then toss some wood on the sides! 

Thanks JJ! I’m getting ready to place my order for the planking package from Chuck’s vendor. Excited to start chapter 2 and the planking journey!

[FrankWouts]

It’s the same with me Jim, the turtle feeling… Check my startdate…I spent over a full week practicing scraping the different fancy molding strips and making the profile on redundant old hobby knives with the 0.15mm thick diamond cutter disks. But it’s like you say, quality over speed. And now I’ve got the hang of things I learned here like sideways bending, scraping, I can put them to work in future builds, hopefully with a little more speed…but with the same quality…at least…

Nice progress on your build, you’re going slow but steady, and that’s a good thing!

It will be longer in your living room and beyond perhaps in your family than the time you build it, so slow and steady isn’t a problem when contemplating like that.

Frank.

Edited October 27, 2023 by FrankWouts

[James G]

23 hours ago, FrankWouts said:

It’s the same with me Jim, the turtle feeling… Check my startdate…I spent over a full week practicing scraping the difcerent fancy molding strips and making the profile on redundant old hobby knives with the 0.15mm thick diamond cutter disks. But it’s like you say, quality over speed. And now I’ve got the hang of things I learned here like sideways bending, scraping, I can put them to work in future builds, hopefully with a little more speed…but with the same quality…at least…

Nice progress on your build, you’re going slow but steady, and that’s a good thing!

It will be longer in your living room and beyond perhaps in your family than the time you build it, so slow and steady isn’t a problem when contemplating like that.

Frank.

Frank, thank you for the words of encouragement. Given the beauty of your Winnie your approach seems to certainly be working! I plan to continue in a similar fashion. Nothing worse than staring at a model with a glaring error. It just screams at you. I don’t want that feeling with a model as well designed as the Winnie. 

[James G]

I spent the last few days adding spacers in the transom, the framing on top of the bulkheads as well as installing and fairing the hance pieces.

 

The spacers were based on Chuck’s and @Stuntflyer build logs. Hopefully, these will ensure a clean planking transition in the stern.

 

 

With the framing on top of the bulkheads I headed Chuck’s advice and took a lot of measurements. I used the blueprint to ensure that my bulkhead framing mirrored what was shown on the print. You can see the measurements I took on various bulkheads below. I really wanted to be sure both port and starboard sides mirrored each other. Got pretty close.

 

Finally, I added and faired the hance pieces. Three out of four went in pretty easily. However, I did run into a bit of an alignment issue with the rear hance on the port side. I ended up adding a filler piece and faired appropriately. Amazing the difference a millimeter or two can make in bulkhead alignment. 😆 I think I’ll be ok.

 

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and all the wonderful encouragement!

[Chuck]

Nicely done…

[glbarlow]

Looking good!  So important to get this part right or you’re chasing errors later. Taking your time really pays off. Those hance pieces are a bit tricky, you’ve handled them nicely. 

[James G]

The bollard timbers were an interesting challenge. I’ve never done much carving or whittling. I did a couple of practice runs to get a hang of the process Chuck outlines in Chapter 1. He really broke it down into easy steps that even an amateur like myself can follow. They’re not perfect but I’m hoping after they’re painted black the imperfections I see will disappear.

 

This wraps up Chapter 1 for me. I’m so excited to start planking! I decided to order the planking package offered by Modelers Sawmill. I considered cutting and milling my own but in the end just didn’t want to spend my time on that. The order has been placed and is supposed to arrive the first week of November.

 

Thanks for checking in!

[James G]

Hey guys, quick question. Here are a few pics of the batten marking the run of the wales. Does this placement look accurate? I know this is a critical step and want to ensure this is where it should be. Thank you!

 

 

[scrubbyj427]

Yes that looks good, as long as the curve is fair and follows the reference lines. But if I remember correctly the whales start just above that.

[Chuck]

Looks good to my eye.

[glbarlow]

Looks good, seems like excellent work on the fairing. One suggestion if you haven’t already done it.  Make a copy and cut out the transom diagram and check your fairing, especially the lower counter where the curve meets the wales.  It doesn’t have to be exact but it should be close, almost a reverse C.