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

[James G]

@westwood, Dusan, thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts. I’ve been following your build log and the recent pictures of your planking are spectacular. The wop does gives your hull a rich appearance. I’m still weighing what direction I ultimately want to go. I do like the rich, dark finish of the linseed oil. My concern is it may be a bit too much on a model as large as the Winnie. Perhaps too much of a good thing! I’ll figure it out…fun to weigh options. At the end of the day I guess it boils down to personal preference. Thanks again!

 

Best,

Jim

[James G]

After some backtracking I’m now ready to begin installing the bulkheads. My second attempt cutting the bulkhead former now matches Chuck’s plan prints. I also wasn’t satisfied with my first attempt building the stem and knee. The margins just weren’t tight enough. So I debonded everything and started over. Many thanks to Greg @dvm27 for his tips on building on a lighted drawing board using 5x magnification. This really helped me to improve the appearance of the stem, knee and false keel. Below are shots of the copper treenails I installed in the false keel, version 2.0 of the stem and knee and finally the bulkhead former in my building board ready for bulkheads. I guess sometimes you have to take a few steps back to get a running start. Thank you for checking in on my progress…gradual as it may seem!

 

Best,

Jim

[scrubbyj427]

Looks very clean and crisp, well done!

[James G]

A quick update. After three days of gluing the bulkheads are in. @Chuck really wasn’t kidding about there being more bulkheads than normal! At times as I was placing it almost felt like a POF build. 😆I can see how with proper fairing the planking will lay down nicely. My bride offered some encouragement by saying it’s actually starting to look a bit like a ship. I’ll take that over the pile of plywood I’ve been sanding and shuffling around over the last few weeks. Thank you all for your views, likes and encouraging comments. They really do help! With a new bottle of Advil in the house let the fairing festivities begin. Take care all.

 

Best,

Jim

[glbarlow]

Nice start, looks ready for those port sills. Well done!

[scrubbyj427]

That looks really good Jim, she will probably fair out pretty easily. 

[Chuck]

Looking lovely.

[James G]

As a new ship modeler I’ve been gradually building my tool arsenal. At this stage of skill development I’m trying to add tools that can truly enhance the precision of my builds. On previous ship models I’ve been frustrated by the lack of sharpness I’ve been able to achieve on curved edges. The old Dremel simply couldn’t deliver the crispness I was looking for. Thanks to a recommendation from @Greg Davis I purchased a Wen spindle sander (Model 6524) from Amazon. The price was fantastic and the results it delivers are exactly what I was hoping for. Below the sander is pictured along with a test curve I did with a machinist’s square demonstrating the edge precision. Highly recommend this product if you’re in the market. Many thanks to Greg for the recommendation!

 

Best,

Jim

[James G]

After a number of hours and days I’ve finished fairing the bulkheads. You Winnie veterans weren’t kidding! This is quite the elbow grease marathon! I found that when I grew bored with the sanding it was best to walk away for a while. I didn’t want to shortcut this step as I’ve learned the hard way that poor fairing can make planking a real nightmare that you just can’t wake up from. The bulkheads seem to be angled properly but I m sure some tweaking will be needed once I begin planking. 
 

Thank you to @Chuck for his binder clip and L bracket idea on the risers. The clips held firmly and no breakage occurred throughout the sanding process. Thanks also to @glbarlow Glen for his idea using polyethylene foam sheets to create a jig to lay the hull on for fairing the bottom. I purchased these through Amazon for $23 and am sure I’ll continue to use them throughout the build.

 

I appreciate you all looking along with your likes and comments. I’m VERY happy to be moving on from this step and am excited to start adding the port sills. Take care all!

 

Best,

Jim

[glbarlow]

Welcome to the “I Faired a Winnie” club. You’ve won a large bottle of Advil and a trip to the chiropractor🤣

[Saburo]

You're build is motivational Jim.  Thank you,

 

    Bill

[James G]

A bit of a tedious exercise but the lower port sills are installed. Adding all of these really added a lot of stability to the framework. It definitely was worthwhile to add them between every bulkhead. I also found it worthwhile to pull out the protractor and miter the sills between two additional bulkheads at the bow and one at the stern. After 54 of these I’m ready for something different! Now on to the lintels and port uprights. Amazed at how excited 😜 I am about this. Thanks for stopping by and your ongoing encouragement!

 

Best,

Jim

 

[scrubbyj427]

Looks really good. Nice and fair. This will pay off when you plank and reveal your gunports. The laser cut pieces Chuck gives you should ensure you get perfect port openings. Just to be extra careful definitely use the square dowel between both sides to make sure upper sills are parallel. 

[James G]

@scrubbyj427 JJ, thank you for your kind words. Yes, I hear you on the need for a square dowel to act as a spacer on the gun ports. Made a trip to Home Depot today for just that purpose. The first lintel just went in. Finally, your Winnie is truly beautiful!

[glbarlow]

Just remember that ultimately the ports aren’t square as they follow the sheer. This gets to be fun planking above the wales. 

[James G]

Thanks @glbarlow Glenn! That’s a great 👍 tip. I can see how important that is as I look at the model now. Moving forward I’ll use two spacers in the gun ports as I place the lintels to ensure they reflect the slope of the sheer. I appreciate you sparing me potential problems down the road. By the way, I’ve been referring to your log a lot as I’ve been installing the port sills. Your documentation of this important step was excellent and has been quite helpful. 

[scrubbyj427]

3 hours ago, James G said:

Thanks @glbarlow Glenn! That’s a great 👍 tip. I can see how important that is as I look at the model now. Moving forward I’ll use two spacers in the gun ports as I place the lintels to ensure they reflect the slope of the sheer. I appreciate you sparing me potential problems down the road. By the way, I’ve been referring to your log a lot as I’ve been installing the port sills. Your documentation of this important step was excellent and has been quite helpful. 

Jim,

sorry I should have mentioned that the ports follow the deck, if you use the square dowel for the upper sills, it should keep them parallel to the lowers but it will do you no good to use it on the vertical sills. Thanks @glbarlow for correcting me.

[James G]

@scrubbyj427 JJ, I’m planning on using the port upright jigs that Chuck provides in his chapter 1 kit. I’m using the square dowels only to place the lintels at the correct height. Thanks for your input!

[glbarlow]

1 hour ago, scrubbyj427 said:

Thanks @glbarlow for correcting me.

Not correcting JJ, just amplifying, the square stock is indeed useful for leveling and keep the respective sides lined up, it takes a village.

 

4 hours ago, James G said:

been referring to your log

Glad it’s helpful, I refer to JJ’s and others all the time. It takes a village, oh I already said that 😊

[James G]

19 hours ago, glbarlow said:

Glad it’s helpful, I refer to JJ’s and others all the time. It takes a village, oh I already said that 😊

@glbarlow Glenn & @scrubbyj427 JJ, it does indeed take a village! That’s one of the many things I’m enjoying about building the Winnie. The camaraderie of kind model ship builders like you two and many others on MSW really adds to the fun. I appreciate the friendly support and experienced suggestions that both of you offer. Really helps!

[James G]

A quick update and question. The port lintels are all installed. A bit of debonding needed in a few instances but not too bad.

Regarding this filler space pictured below. Does it also need to be filled inside the bulwarks before faring to create a flush surface between bulkheads K and I and 1 and 3 both inside and outside the ship? I’m assuming yes but just want to confirm. Thanks! 
 

Now on to the port sides. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Best,

Jim

[scrubbyj427]

1 hour ago, James G said:

A quick update and question. The port lintels are all installed. A bit of debonding needed in a few instances but not too bad.

Regarding this filler space pictured below. Does it also need to be filled inside the bulwarks before faring to create a flush surface between bulkheads K and I and 1 and 3 both inside and outside the ship? I’m assuming yes but just want to confirm. Thanks! 
 

Now on to the port sides. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Best,

Jim

Yes, if I remember correctly that does require filling. You will be adding the sheaves there soon, before you begin planking. The sheaves will show on both sides. 

[scrubbyj427]

A quick look back at my model shows that I did fill both sides. Soon you will see in the monograph that the sheaves will go on soon. Place on the outside then drill through to locate the inside.

[glbarlow]

As JJ notes it must be flush on both sides for the sheaves to be mounted 

[James G]

After a few weeks I’ve finally wrapped up installing and fairing all of the port framing. I kept asking myself along the way why this step seemed to be taking so much time. Finally, I counted up how many individual pieces are required to complete all of the framing. Works out to be a total of 136 separate parts for this step! Wow 😮…now I know why it took a bit of time. Below are a few pictures of the completed framing. I’m including some extras that may serve as additional reference for future Winnie builders. I am finding extra shots like these helpful myself as I’m moving forward and simply hope to add to what others have shared previously. Now, on to the Stern Frames! Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

 

Best,

Jim

 

[Rustyj]

8 hours ago, James G said:

I kept asking myself along the way why this step seemed to be taking so much time. Finally, I counted up how many individual pieces are required to complete all of the framing. Works out to be a total of 136 separate parts for this step! Wow 😮…now I know why it took a bit of time.

 

Well done. With this build it always seems like "why did that step take so long?" then I'd go back and look at how much work it actually took and it always amazed me.

 

Just wait for the hull planking!  

[glbarlow]

It took so long because you clearly took the time to do it right. Everything In chapters 1-2 are foundational to what follows, more completely so than with a typical kit, so well done! I’m still wondering how I missed there was a port upright jig.

 

‘Took so long’ will take on new meaning when you start planking, it becomes a way of life. 😁

[scrubbyj427]

Very Nice work Jim. Time for some strip wood!

[Saburo]

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

[glbarlow]

How’s it coming Jim?