Sloop Speedwell 1752 by Stuntflyer (Mike) - Ketch Rigged Sloop - POF

[Rustyj]

Very well executed Mike

[Katsumoto]

Hi Mike,

Your ability to make a great kit looks even better is very impressive. Your building skills, eye for details and also your photographic skills are just out of this world.
Love the work so far. With pleasure and interest I'll follow your log. 

 

 

[Stuntflyer]

I now have five frames completed along with scratch built sweep ports.

 

I added Yellow Cedar above the ports as filler pieces which extend to the sheer. To save some milling operations, that will be hidden later, I used Chuck's 5/32" laser cut top timbers. This nonuniform area will be covered up later with the upper hull planking. The five frames are mostly faired and the outer faces sanded close to the half breadth. Of course, there will be more work needed for final fairing which includes getting the sheer to a width of 5/32”.

The height gauge makes it much easier to find the proper height of the sweep port. Measurements for this are taken directly from the plan. The 4.66" height is well within my .005" margin of error.

I still need to reverse the tilt table on the mill in order to make it possible to do a scarph joint on one side of those long one piece floors. The setup doesn't take all that long to do, though I wouldn't want to make the change for every frame. With that in mind, I'm going to work the frames in larger groups rather than individually.

 

Mike

[Chuck]

Looking great Mike!!!

[Rustyj]

Great work Mike!

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Really wonderful pogress, Mike

[FrankWouts]

Great, beautiful work and another very fine example to follow and being inspired...again...

Frank.

Edited June 7, 2023 by FrankWouts

[Mic_Nao]

Very nice work. It will be a nice model.

[Stuntflyer]

Thanks, guys!

[Stuntflyer]

Hi guy's! A little over a month and 15 more frames added. Fairing continues after every 5-6 frames. I can't stress how important it is to fair as you go along. The hull shape is constantly changing, so the previously faired section needs additional work in order to match the newly faired section. Additional supports were added above the gun ports.

Mike

Edited June 30, 2023 by Stuntflyer

[Mirabell61]

Very nice accurate work Mike,

 

Nils

[Rustyj]

As expected, your cutting and assembling of the frames is exceptional!

[JeffT]

Nice. Looks absolutely flawless.

[scrubbyj427]

Very nice progress Mike! She’s looking great!

[TomShipModel]

Excellent Mike, and very clean.  Even the building jig is just perfect.

[Stuntflyer]

Cant frames (fore)

Happy 4th everyone! 🎆

 

I started on the cant framing over the weekend. The first frames to go in are cant #1. They will also hold the front of the top jig in place.  I made a slight adjustment to the foot of each cant in order to get a snug fit into the deadwood. While using a machinist square, I moved the frames outward a wee bit beyond the etched line on the strips in order to clear the bearding line. Not much, maybe 1/64" or even less. That was it. I was very surprised to see that the cants went in square to the build board.

The paper template comes in handy as a double check on what you are doing. I actually prefer using it over just relying on the build board plan. The front of the template is at the aft edge of the rabbet as seen from above.

Only ten more to go. Oh, yes I accidentally hit the top of the gammoning knee. Luckily it came off clean for easy replacement later on. Much later on!

Mike

Edited October 17, 2023 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

Keeping the cants vertical is really important. When the spacing started to get tight, I simply angled the machinist square to clear the frame already installed. A strip was used to hold the frame against the machinist square while the glue set. It was easy enough to get the right strip thickness by adding layers of painters tape. At the top of each frame, I added boxwood wedges to fill the gap between the frame and the numbered support strip. This ties everything together and should give a lot more support when fairing the cants.

It's hard to see the true run of the cant footing since some of these cants are further away from the keel than others. Actually, the square frames where the same way, giving me the false impression that they would not fair in properly. I'm sure that things will work out okay for the cants as well.

Mike

 

[Rustyj]

That looks fantastic Mike. So clean and precise! 

[Stuntflyer]

Adding the forward cant frames went rather quickly. Fairing them took me about three days, maybe more. Transitioning the deadwood into each cant frame had to be done carefully. I'm always finding the need to refine the previous fairing work after new frames are added, though less each time.

 

I added the 3/64" P1 and P2 filler pieces to each side of the stem as well.

Mike

[FrankWouts]

Very beautiful, crisp, precise and clean work again Mike. Again an inspirational & reference build log for our own build of Speedwell in the future! Keep up your high level of standards admired by and an inspiration for us all.

Frank.

[Stuntflyer]

Thank you all for the kind words and for likes!

[Stuntflyer]

Bollard timbers

More progress with the completion of the bollard timbers. I scratched these with the ongoing feeling that they might not work out for one reason or another. I did have to pull one along with the P1 filler piece, but luckily the glue hadn't set. What I found was that as meaty as these are at 9/32" that the wood would still develop a slight curl when using PVA. There was no good way to clamp pieces together. Generally I like to have some time to maneuver which the PVA allows for. In the end I went with slow cure CA.

 

The paper template seen in the photo was stiffened with card stock. I flipped it back over the cant frames when I faired the curve of the top timbers, as seen from above. I can't stress enough how important it is to use it. It really does take the guesswork out of getting each side of the hull symmetrical.

 

There is always more fairing to do though I think I'm close.

Mike

Edited October 17, 2023 by Stuntflyer

[AlainB]

Great, it looks like 3D!

[druxey]

Mike: if you are using PVA or similar for thinner pieces, wet the back of the piece first to eliminate curling. This will even out the moisture that causes the curl.

[Stuntflyer]

druxey, thanks for the tip!

[bdgiantman2]

Thank you for the great pieces of advice you're sharing with all of us and this beautifuly made model ship. Your hawse timbers look perfect.

 

Brian D

[Stuntflyer]

Square frames (pt. 2)

Hi guys,

 

Moving ahead I decided to cut out the remaining square frames from sheet and mill all 140 scarph joints. A real exercise in patience, like doing guns.

Mike

Edited October 17, 2023 by Stuntflyer

[bdgiantman2]

Thank you for the great picture of your collection of rib frame pieces. I had been curious about how you and Chuck as well as many better model builders were making your hull ribs.  Been struggling with making better frames and making those wedge parts looked so fiddly and asking for fractures. Keep up your great skills and I am enjoying this read.

 

Brian D.

[Stuntflyer]

Oh, something I almost forgot to mention. A while back Tom (TBlack) asked me a question about the angle gauge on the tilt table attachment for the mill. He said> "Interesting setup, but you do have to trust the angle gauge to be accurate Any way to double check the angle?" See post 46 & 48.

 

At the time I said that I trusted the gauge. As it turns out, Tom was on to something. The gauge is accurate as long as the pointer is positioned perfectly. That is not always possible and in fact it's a bit fiddly to work with. I discovered that my eyes could do a better job by using the uncut area of the milling bit to sight the lines on the frame drawing.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Stuntflyer

[Stuntflyer]

The last of the square frames were installed over the weekend. A little over six months for all the frames so far. Now the fun begins. Time to grease the elbows and start fairing. I'll be working mostly aft from the vertical support jig which is attached to the build board. Also I made tick marks on of a few of the cant frames that are in need of a bit more work.

Mike