Young America 1853 by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper

[realworkingsailor]

That last photo, I think, qualifies as the most stunning of the build so far. Absolutely amazing!

 

 

Andy

[michael mott]

 

That last photo, I think, qualifies as the most stunning of the build so far. Absolutely amazing!

 

My thoughts exactly!!

 

Michael

[dgbot]

I have to agree. It looks like a genuine hold ready to be filled

David B

[EdT]

Since that last view was popular, I will have to take some more. Without the use of mirrors or other micro devices this has to be done while the camera will still fit down in he hull. The picture was taken with a 2 1/2" x 4" Canon Powershot set down onthe keelson. The photo was then cropped. The Powershot is not the smallest of cameras, but it is a lot smaller than the slr I use for most of the pictures. The light from above plays tricks with the colors. I could have done a better job with the post-processing. The picture is a bit light. Here is a better version.

 

 

Ed

[newbuilder101]

Can't think of any other comment except "WOW"!!!

[alangr4]

Hmmmmm Ed. You have got me thinking on these shots. If you have managed to squeeze a PowerShot down the well, how I cannot imagine, I wonder how a Gopro would go?

 

You know you are almost singlehandedly lifting the US economy with your projects. You have had me investing in US wood, knurled brass, anodised steel, your books of course..... And now you have me thinking Gopros. All delivered by FedEx.

 

The Admiral is not going to be pleased.

 

Just keep those pictures coming. Great stuff but the wallet lightens every time I open up your logs!

 

Alan

Edited May 26, 2014 by alangr4

[jwvolz]

What a great photo Ed. Beautiful work. 

[gjdale]

Wonderful work Ed, and amazing photos.

 

Alan is right - you're costing me a small fortune!

[realworkingsailor]

To further my earlier remarks...

 

You have managed, far more than any other interior shot I've seen so far (on the entire MSW), to take us literally into the ship yard.

I like how the graceful sweep of the planks draws the viewers eyes towards the details around the mast step, and even though it's probably only a few inches in reality, it seems like a hundred feet. Without a sense of scale, you somehow manage to convey the massiveness of the timbers, the intricacies of the joinery, and moreover, the accuracy of your construction.

 

Incredibly well done. You really should get that one printed and framed.

 

Andy

[dgbot]

Fantastic shot.

David B

[usedtosail]

That shot would make an excellent book cover. Just saying...

[allanyed]

Super photo, super build!!!!

 

Allan

[EdT]

Thank you all for these comments, for all the "likes" and for your support in general. This is of immense help to me in keeping focused on the project - especially during the long periods of repetitive work - like now. When I am about to install a piece that isn't quite right, I find myself thinking, "What is that going to look like on the blog?"

 

Ed

[druxey]

"What will they think?" That's a pretty powerful motivator, Ed, especially when you've set our expectations so high! But you've never disappointed us yet.

[dgbot]

As far as I am concerned you are the master and we are the students.  Please continue to instruct us oh wise one.

David B

Edited May 28, 2014 by dgbot

[SawdustDave]

Two hours reading your build log this morning Ed....could not put it down. Will go back and read most of it a second time.

The GOOD....I learned more just reading these postings than I could expressing mere words, so I will not try.

The BAD....After nine scratch projects, and a couple of minor recognition awards from my Carolina peers, a lot of very nice friends had almost convinced me that I had become a "fair" artist/craftsman. That feeling now being replaced with the humbling urge to take a torch to all of my ships and begin with a new appreciation for extreme detail and accuracy.

The UGLY....Fact that I am now 71 years old and simply no longer have the physical / mental abilities achieve such levels of perfection. (I would say the same to jack Nicholas with regard to my golf game)

HOWEVER.....Your excellent work has inspired me, and so many others standing in awe, to be a little better.

Thank you sir.

Edited May 28, 2014 by SawdustDave

[EdT]

Thnks for these comments - always most welcome.

 

Druxey: I appreciate your vote of confidence - means a lot to me. Exposing faults - and there are many - to the world can be intimidating. Also, I do not often see them myself until they show up in the photo - especially when it is one of those frightening closeups.

 

Dave: Thanks for taking the tme to go through the log and for your comments. I have seen your work. You are being way too modest.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 66 – Lower deck framing continued

 

For those not yet exhausted by pictures of the inching along of the lower deck framing, here are some photos showing the latest progress.  In the first picture bolts have been installed in the tops of most of the forward beams.

 

 

The bolts represent fastenings for the hanging knees and the knees at the tops of the pillars.  There is also a bolt down through the beam into each pillar itself.  The next picture is a closer view of the bolts.

 

 

The glue – epoxy or CA – has not yet been sanded off in this picture.  The next picture shows bolting on the beams just ahead of the mizzenmast.  In this picture most of the glue has been sanded off.

 

 

The black bolts are dummies of black monofilament glued in with CA.  The shiny copper wire bolts are functional.  That is, they are epoxied through the beam into the members below and are lending strength to the glue joints of the hanging knees, the pillars and the beams themselves to the clamps.  The top of the framing will get a final leveling and final sanding after the ledges are installed.

 

The next picture is another view of this area.

 

 

The next picture shows the framing forward of the mainmast. 

 

 

Carlings have been installed back to the last beam with a pillar installed.  All of the lodging knees have been installed.  Hanging knees have been fitted to the two beams lying on the deck.  They will be the last to be installed.  At that point there will be no room for fitting the knees under the installed beams.  In the next picture almost all of the ledges have been installed in the aft section.

 

 

Note the irregular pattern of central ledges over the mizzenmast step.  Apparently these ships had supporting partners only at the main deck, so the mast opening is just framed on this deck.

 

The last picture shows another view of the forward framing.

 

 

The remaining framework gets more interesting.  There are a lot of half-beams and double pillars astride the main mast, main hatch and the water tanks.

 

 Ed

[alangr4]

Ed

 

I am running out of superlatives. This is a stunning build!.

 

I need to check out the chemical plants that you spent 25 years designing and building. Were they as stunning as this and Naiad and Victory?

 

One question if I may, how many hrs a day do you devote to this? I can't get over your industry and how quickly you have got to this stage.

 

Thanks for sharing your build it truly is inspirational!

 

Alan

[EdT]

Thank you, Alan.  The ship itself is what I find stunning - the size, the massive timbers, the structural symmetry, the sleek lines.... I could go on.  Its a challenge doing her justice.

 

I'm afraid that chemical plants are not too stunning unless you have a thing for complexity and acres of steelwork, pipes, distillation columns etc.  However, as projects they are like having the world's largest erector (aka mechano, aka lego, aka tinker toy) set to play with for a few years - with lots of helpers..

 

I would say that I average maybe 3 hours per day on the model - some days not at all, somedays more.  This excludes drawings and research.  Retirement helps.

 

Thanks for your interest in the build.

 

Ed

[albert]

Ed Fantastic work.

[SJSoane]

 

Hi Ed,

 

It continues to be fascinating comparing this construction to the 18th C British warships. I see the lodging knees are slightly held back from the top surface of the beams, which I assume is to help with avoiding rot. Is this also the case on the upper decks?

 

Mark

[druxey]

Superb work, Ed - but now you've made me run out of superlatives!

[EdT]

Again, thanks for the comments, "likes" and especially the superlatives - even though overly generous.

 

Mark, the short answer to your question is yes - the space would help thwart rot in this very rot-prone area.  The sectional views of typical construction in my prime source on American clippers (Crothers) shows the top surface of the lodging knees below the tops of the beams on all decks.  The lodging knees sidings are typically a couple of inches less than the depth of the beams in most of the documented scantling lists.  On the lower deck, my beams are 14" deep and the lodging knees sided 12".  Considering snaping of the beam ends ,and say, 1" scores in the clamps, this does not leave a lot of room for space if the tops of the lodging knees are parallel with the beam.  However, I did not score the beams, at least on this lower deck where the detail is invisible.   I snaped the beams just enough to get them to rest nicely on the dubbed off clamps.  With the knees  set hard down on the clamps, I probably have about  1" or more of space between the tops of the lodging knees and the tops of the beams on this deck.  This was set by eye when gluing in the knees.   They may have actually been bolted down into the clamps - I don't know.

 

Now, at the risk of opening up a can of worms, I think space may have been deliberately left on 18thC RN ships as well.  I don't know.  Some expert comment is welcomed (Gary?  Druxey?).  Lodging knees on these ships were normaly a few inches (4" on a 74?) less in siding than the beam depths, meaning there had to be some space left between the knee and the clamp or between the knee and the top of the beam.  Virtually every cross-section in Steel's plates shows the top of the knee horizontal and therefore departing from the rounded up beam top toward midship - leaving a space.  On my Naiad, the the tops of the lodging knees at the ends of the arms are about an inch lower than the the top of the beam at that point.  The differences in sizes were less - for example on the lower deck the beams are 10" deep and the lodging knees sided 8".  With the beam snaping and the clamp scores the tops are virtually flush at the side - but perhaps an inch lower at the inboard ends.  All this is highly academic to be sure.  It cannot even be seen on the Naiad's lower decks, and I can barely discern it on the higher decks.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 67 – Lower deck framing continued

 

I had my small camera in the shop so I took this first picture with it.  It shows one of my more important tools.  No one would design this contraption this way from scratch.  It was first just a simple fixture to allow me to take overhead sequential shots during Naiad’s magazine construction.  It has since evolved into the adjustable mount shown below.  You can get seasick looking at some of the pictures taken with this but they can easily be rotated in post processing.  I take very many pictures including lots of in-hull close-ups and could not do without this thing. 

 

 

I take all the photos in available light using aperture priority so the camera is stopped down to increase depth of field.  Thus, the shutter speeds are quite slow requiring a mount.  Most of the pictures are still taken using an almost-normal tripod.

 

Pardon the digression, but I thought it might be of interest, since we cannot build ships any more without photography.

 

Back to the work.  In the next picture the beams are progressing forward.

 

 

The large opening is for the larger of the two rectangular, vertical fresh water tanks.  The half-beams and headers are pinned in place at this point.  The next picture shows a hanging knee glued to one of the half-beams. 

 

 

This knee was fit before the knee on the beam forward was in the way, but it will be glued in after that beam is installed.  The difficulty in holding these knees under the beams for fitting dictates some preplanning.

 

In the next picture all is installed on the starboard side and a pillar assembly is being marked for sizing under the beam.

 

 

In the next picture both pillars with their knees have been installed on the starboard side.

 

 

Next is a picture of the same area from further back.

 

 

In the next picture the beam forward of the smaller water tank has been glued in and the headers on either side are being installed with the help of a clamp.. 

 

 

The pillars on the port side have also been installed in this picture.  These last three beams all require lodging knees and ledges.  The last picture shows the current status of the framing.

 

 

Two full beams and two pair of half-beams remain to be installed to fill the void.

 

 

 Ed

[alangr4]

Now Ed you really are killing me.

 

You might want to check out The Really Right Stuff web site. They have a brace of camera brackets, rails etc etc which are really right up your alley.

 

Indeed you might want to talk to them as there really is a niche for what you have come up with.

 

Very clever Ed well done.

 

Alan

[dgbot]

You make installing look easy.  But with my ham fists I would have to use tweazers to put everything in.

David B

[Omega1234]

Absolutely amazing!!!

[bhermann]

Ed

 

Finally something i can comment on!  AV priority is my favorite photo mode for just about everything (except astrophotography).  I love getting photos with decent depth of field and that is the best way to do it.  Is that a remote shutter release I see?  If the camera has a shutter release delay setting and mirror lockup (assuming it is a DLSR), sometimes you can use those features to eliminate camera shake when releasing the shutter.

 

By the way, the ship construction is just fascinating to me.  I love seeing the details of everything that goes into one of these behemoths.  Combine that with the amazingly graceful lines of the clippers and you have a combination that can't be beat.  Thanks for sharing to the level you do - it is a real inspiration for me.

 

Bob

[EdT]

Bob,  that is a remote shutter release and the camera is a DSLR - a Nikon D3100.  It has mirror lock-up but seems to be used only for cleaning.  I have not used it.  I normally use the release timer.  Is that what you meant by delayed release? There does not seem to be any other delay feature.

 

Ed