Young America 1853 by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper

[wyz]

Hi Ed,

 

     I have a question for you.  When you post photos of your work you often show some process where you are working with a tool in hand(s).  How do you take the pictures.  Does someone help you?  A timer with a tripod mount?

 

Tom

[EdT]

Thank you, everyone for the comments and likes.  I am running out of ways to express thanks.

 

Tom, I use a tripod and the 10 second timer on the camera.  This allows me to pose the picture, focus the camera and click the shutter, then return to work, stopping movement when the beeps accelerate before the shutter releases.  The tripod can be an annoyance since it is constantly present - and I have knocked it over once - at the cost of a new lens.  To support the books and the blog, I take between 150 and 300 photos per month.  I have taken 120 so far this month.   I also use them to critique the work and look for problems that the eye doesn't always see.  It is my constant companion - that and its battery charger.

 

Ed

[ianmajor]

Ed,

 

Excellent work on the boat - it has given me some useful guidance for one that I wish to make in the near future.

 

Like you I use photographs of my models to identify unseen errors.

 

Also when I am looking at monochrome source photos I like to use a photo edit package to produce a negative. The human eye/brain can easily differentiate small details in light areas but does not pick out detail in dark areas of a photo quite so easily. The negative makes the dark areas light resulting in all sorts of details revealing themselves.

 

Useful things these cameras and PCs!

Edited February 27, 2016 by ianmajor

[EdT]

Thank you, Ian, and thanks for the tip.  Making a b&w negative is easy enough to do in the image editing software.

 

Ed

[SawdustDave]

Thanking Ian for that tip as well.

[SawdustDave]

How many modelers would do that amount of incredible detail to the inboard structure of a boat that will be displayed upside down?

Hat's off to ya' Ed

 

 

[wyz]

Thanks for your responce Ed;  I was curious how you took those photos.

 

Tom

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 149 – Ship’s Boats 5

 

As longboat 1 was reaching completion, work progressed on #2.  In the first picture the port side is being planked.

 

 

The starboard side will be left unplanked, in frame.  At this size I am not able to layout the planking strakes or even use a planking gauge as described in earlier posts and in the posts on the POB model.  Instead, I install a full-width plank then trim its edges by eye so the planking lines will be fair and the last plank will just fit below the wale.  The next picture shows the first step in that trimming of an installed plank.

 

 

A paring chisel is being used to taper the plank.  This is followed by final fairing of the plank with a barette file as shown in the next picture.

 

 

Both these pictures show the half frames installed on the deadwood on the opposite side.  All the frames on that side will be left exposed.  The last picture shows the last plank below the wale being glued to the frames on the port side.

 

 

The boat is now ready for removal from the plug for final internal work.  In the next picture that has been done and the keelson is being glued to the frame floors.

 

 

In the next picture one of the bilge ceiling members is being glued to the frames.

 

 

The next picture shows the panel of grating below the stern seats and the supporting clamp for the seats on the near side. 

 

 

This will be the view of the framing and internals of this boat when it is mounted on the skid beams.  The open pear framing has been given an initial cleanup but more work is needed to remove glue remnants and polish up the woodwork.  Still to be added are seats and the mast step.  At this stage the port side of the boat was ready for painting.

 

The next picture shows both longboats positioned on the skid beams.

 

 

Only some minor work remains to be done on these before they can be tied down.  In the meantime work has been progressing on the first of the two cutters.

 

Ed

[michael mott]

 

 I am running out of ways to express thanks.

In the same way I am running out of ways to express what an amazing artist you are regarding this build. your attention to detail reminds me of the philosopher Ruskin who admonished that( I am paraphrasing here) "just because you cannot see a detail does not mean that you should neglect to do the same quality as that seen"

 

Michael

[paulsutcliffe]

Beautiful work Ed, I love the open frames on the boats, thanks for sharing now I know how to do the boats for my Syrius

[EdT]

Thank you everyone, and especially Micheal and Paul for their comments.  I hope to have something posted on the clinker-built cutter soon.

 

Ed

[steamschooner]

I am amazed every time I visit your build....

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 150 – Ship’s Boats 6

 

In addition to the workhorse longboat(s), clippers carried smaller boats for convenience and for the safety of the crews.  Government regulations had begun to exist to aid in crew and passenger safety.  A variety of different types and sizes were used and it is most likely that boats on a given ship varied over time.  With Young America’s long, 30 year career I am sure there were replacements. I am still pondering the fourth boat, but the third is to be a 25 foot clinker built cutter that will rest inverted on the skid beams outside the longboat on the starboard side.  It is likely that the fourth boat – to be suspended from quarter davits - will be a somewhat smaller cutter.  So, on to the first cutter.

 

In the first picture, the sheer line at the top of the side is being scribed into the partially shaped pine plug.

 

 

The boat pattern can be seen pasted to the block.  This initial shape was formed using the disk sander.  In the next picture the plug has been fully shaped and the area below the topside given a coat of white shellac, sanded and well waxed.

 

 

The frames being formed in this picture are slightly smaller than the longboat frames.  They too, are pear and were left in water overnight before being placed as shown above.  They were about as flexible as string.  The process being used is the same as for the longboats, but thanks to the learning curve, it is still evolving and becoming more efficient.  In the next picture planking is well along.

 

 

Planking began after both halves of all the frames shown were fitted over the plug, the keel assembly installed on them and the topside guide strip nailed over the frames as shown above.  Frames at the ends were added later.

 

The clinker planking requires more work and care than the carvel planking used on the longboats.  First, because the planking lines will be very pronounced even after painting.  Also, the upper edges of each plank need to be beveled to bed the next plank, working up from the bottom.  The next picture shows the first step in that beveling using a paring chisel.

 

 

On the carvel hulls the planks were tapered at the ends to provide fair lines and to conform to the contraction of the planked area at the ends.  The same was done here before beveling the planks as shown above.  After the paring step, a flat file was used to smooth out the bevels along the plank.  The next planks were then overlapped and glued to both the plank above and the frames.  The next picture shows the topside plank above the wale being installed against the guide strip.

 

 

The next picture shows the planking nearing completion.

 

 

In the next picture, the boat has been removed from the plug and some internal members have been added.

 

 

As with the longboats, except for the unplanked boat, the internals are simplified on these upside-down boats.  The last picture shows the cutter in its position on the skid beams.

 

 

In this picture the boat has been given a first coat of white shellac primer, to be followed by the white acrylic.  The wales on this boat – and the one at the top – will then be installed.  The two longboats can then be secured, but this cutter will be left loose to provide access for rigging on the rail below, if needed.

 

Ed

[ianmajor]

A lovely little boat Ed. Excellent job.

[michael mott]

very clean workmanship Ed. I am enjoying watching these small craft evolve by your hand., A question regarding the pins through the small dowels which obviously also form a type of pin clamp. Are these "clamps " inserted by twisting them in with your fingers or are you tapping them "home" with a tiny hammer?

The pins also appear to be glued into the dowels, is this correct?

 

 

Michael 

[EdT]

Thank you, steamschooner, Ian and Micheal and all those who clicked the like button.

 

To answer your question Micheal, the "pin clamps" are either pushed in or tapped in with a small hammer.  The pins are epoxied into the dowels but the grip is tenuous and some of them slip loose making insertion more exasperating.  When the epoxy holds, they work very well - easy to push and tap in and easy to remove.  An improvement might be to roughen the pins with sand paper before gluing, or maybe use longer pins and bend them somehow, but it is so easy to make more that I have not worked too hard on improving them.

 

Ed

[michael mott]

Ed Thanks for the detailed explanation. I suppose some brass dowels and pins soldered in with soft solder would work very well to solve the slippage problem.... Hmmm

 

Michael

[EdT]

Yes, that would do it, or even just a brass disk soldered below the pin head then pushed through the dowel - to provide a softer end and avoid denting the  planking while still being large enough to push in - also, easier to drill just a disk.  These are very useful, so it might be worth some work.

 

Ed

[Capt.Bob]

Ed,

A very creative process, as usual.  Can I assume that the boat drawings will be included in Volume II?

Bob

[EdT]

Yes, Bob, good assumption.  Any drawings I use always go into the books.

 

Ed

[ggrieco]

I wish my hands were steady enough to bevel runs of planking so fair. Beautiful work!

 

Glenn

[archjofo]

Hi Ed,

indeed, a fantastic work,
and a very good reporting.

[Mirabell61]

Hi Ed,

 

I love that beautiful lapstrake planked cutter, what a sight !!  

Also the tip to solder a small brass plate to the pin and then glueing it to the dowel, thanks for sharing this (more glue area to hold)

 

Nils

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 151 – Ship’s Boats 7

 

Thank you for the comments and likes since the last post.  I am looking forward to completing the work on these small (3 to 4”) long boats!

 

After the last post I made some modifications to the 25’ clinker built cutter.  I took some advice from my good friend Druxey that the lapstrake planking needed to converge to a carvel form as it approached the stem and stern rabbets.  This is well illustrated in his posting on the Greenwich barge.  I applied a cosmetic fix to the installed planking as shown in the first picture to remove the overlapping at the ends.

 

 

The clinker style overlap at the rabbets would cause a complication in sealing and that is probably the reason for bringing the planks flush at those points.  Anyway, because of this, I decided to lapstrake the 4^th boat using the correct process.  I had intended to make this carvel planked, but decided I needed to do one more clinker to fully understand the correct planking process.  The next picture shows another view of the current state of the first three boats.

 

 

You will notice that eyebolts have been installed in the skid beams and the boat sterns have been lettered.  The next picture shows the plug for the 4^th boat, a 22’ cutter that will be suspended from the starboard quarter davits.

 

 

I reused the 25’ cutter plug as a starting point for this, hence the pinholes.  The plug has been primed in the picture – not very photogenic I’m afraid.  In the next picture the frames have been bent over the plug.

 

 

They of course need to be aligned.  The first step in securing them is shown in the next picture. 

 

 

A temporary guide and holding strip has been nailed to the plug over the frames at the boats topside height.  A hole for an additional nail is being drilled in the picture.  With the frames secured topside the stem piece is being fitted in the next picture.

 

 

This piece was then pinned to the plug and glued to the first few frames.  The keel was then fitted and glued to the frame floors as shown below.

 

 

The last step before planking was to add the stern deadwood as shown below.

 

 

This is glued to the keel.  The connections are all pretty fragile at this point, but the addition of the garboard strakes will strengthen it significantly. 

 

Ed

[Capt.Bob]

Hi Ed,

Your PM account is full.  I left you a note on the book forum.

Bob

[paulsutcliffe]

Hi Ed, I hope this helps as druxey said the planks come in flush at the stem and stern using a small rabbet on the top of each plank to accept the plank above

 

 

[EdT]

Thank you, Paul. This is very helpful.

 

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 152 – Ship’s Boats 8

 

I am almost there with the boats and looking forward to getting on with something different.  In the last part the frames and keel assembly for the 22’ cutter were fitted to the plug.  This boat will hang from quarter davits on the finished model.  In the first picture the rabbet if the stem is being roughed out with a V-gouge.

 

 

In the next picture the rabbet is being pared out at the stern. 

 

 

This was followed by some filing and cutting of the rabbet along the keel.  The starboard garboard strake is being installed in the next picture.

 

 

Additional planking has been installed in the next picture and the last installed strake is being beveled at the stern.

 

 

The angle of the bevel becomes more perpendicular to the side at the ends of the boat to allow the lapstraked planking to blend flush at both ends.  The planks also need to be tapered to fit fairly and come out right at the top.  In the next picture the planking is complete except the the wale strake that will be fitted after painting.

 

 

After some cleanup and dressing the planking lines, the boat will be removed from the plug for internal work and finishing.  In the meantime the other boats have been completed and one of the longboats is shown chained down to the skid beams in the next picture.

 

 

The chains have been fitted with covering to protect the boats.  One end of the chain is hooked to an eyebolt and the other is lashed to another eyebolt on the other side.  In the next picture the boat on the port side has been secured and wood chocks have been installed on the beams to restrain movement of the boats.

 

 

The last picture shows the 25’ cutter temporarily in place and complete except for the rudder hinges.

 

 

This boat will be held in storage and secured later after rigging is belayed between it and the rail.

 

 

Ed

[md1400cs]

Ed,

 

Whatever this is for YOU WIN (:-)

 

MIchael

 

[Mahuna]

Incredible detail Ed, this will be a very complete model.