Young America by EdT - FINISHED - extreme clipper 1853

[EdT]

Thank you for this tip, Frank.  I will look for it.  It may be interesting to note that Young America holds the sailing ship record for passage from Liverpool to San Francisco - 96 days, set in 1872.  Were it not for severe calms encountered in the South Pacific leg, the voyage would have been even shorter.

 

Ed 

[newbuilder101]

Two things I find consistent in your log:

1) Your work is always absolutely beautiful, precise and educational.

2) I am never disappointed when I stop by!

[NHDave]

Finally caught up to date after recently discovering your build log, and I must say, your skill is most impressive. I would also like to extend my thanks to you for generously sharing your expertise. A very good source for the era of the medium clippers is BASIL lubbock's THE DOWN EASTERS. Frequent mention is made of crews being gathered up by the crimps and the bucko mates and hard case captains well into the end of the 19th century. And of course the big down easters continued to be built entirely of wood into the early 20th century. He also lists many impressive passages by these ships. Once again, thanks, and I'll be following your progress.

 

Dave

[EdT]

Thank you, Sherry.  By the way, I'm missing those San Felipe updates.

 

Welcome aboard Dave and thank you for your comment and the book tip.  I know of the book but have not read it.   I believe I have it on my wish list.

 

Ed

[EdT]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm afraid I have been sidetracked from the work on YA for the last several days by the need to upgrade my computer system.  Because of the numbers of large applications I use and the complexity of our home network, I dread this process.  I have been putting it off since Microsoft withdrew support for XP but could no longer avoid it.  I am now up on Win 7 and IE11.

 

I mention this here because some issues surfaced related to MSW and particularly this topic and perhaps others may have these problems.

 

First, when opening the YA blog I found that all text in my main postings was very large and bold like this.  This problem also occurred on other major sites like Amazon and Wikipedia.  This is caused by a font problem in Win 7 (at least my installation) that I have fixed.

 

The second issue is a larger one.  While I have had some annoying font inconsistencies on MSW posts with my previous XP/IE system, I was able to work around them.  I normally post formatted text from Word into the full-feature MSW editor rather than type them in directly.  This allows me to work on the a bit at a time and makes initial editing much easier.  Also, this was the reason I was able to completely restore the 185 Naiad posts so quickly after the great crash.  With Win7/IE11 I cannot paste any text into the full-featured editor and only unformatted plain text into the simple editor.  I cannot format any text - even what I enter manually -  using the editor features in either version of the editor.  After much online research and trying many things, it appears the the MSW editor - like some other blog editors - is incompatible with IE11 (and perhaps win7?).  To get around this problem I have installed Chrome and will use it for MSW only to allow me to continue to post.  I have not yet posted a YA part by this method yet, but am using it for this post.

 

I do not really want to start a dialogue on this subject under this topic, but wanted to mention it here in case others are experiencing this in my posts.  If others are having similar problems or have solved this, let me know and I will start another topic elsewhere on MSW.

 

I hope to be back in the Young America shipyard later today and to have part 94 up soon..

 

Ed

Edited November 12, 2014 by EdT

[Jack12477]

Ed, have you tried using Mozilla's Firefox?  I use it exclusively and have no problems. But them I'm a die-hard and am still on Windows XP. My Admiral has Windows 7 on her laptop with Mozilla Firefox and I had no problems accessing or posting to MSW  from her laptop (while my laptop was getting a new fan installed)

[CaptainSteve]

Ed,

A number of us have experienced the same thing.

In short, there appears to be a conflict between Windows7 and IE11.

A roll-back and/or different browser should solve the prob.

[Maury S]

Ed, I have used Firefox as a default browser on Win 7 and found no problems.

Maury

[cog]

L.s.

 

It's not windows 7 AND ie11, it's just ie11

[EdT]

Thank you, Steve, for letting me know others are having the problem and providing the link to the MSW topic on this.

 

I also appreciate the other comments.  As I said, I am aware the this is an IE problem and that other browsers do not have it.  I am not ready to switch all my browsing off IE at this stage for a number of reasons.  I will use Chrome to make the Word formatted YA posts, but I would much prefer to see a text editor on MSW that supports the most widely used desktop browser - i.e. IE - excuse the pun.  (Some stats for those interested:  Earlier this year Chrome combined with Android overtook IE on total US browsing use (desktop +mobile).  IE still holds the desktop lead - 43% vs. Chrome 31% and Firefox 12%.  Firefox usage has been dropping.  I would expect Chrome will continue to grow, reflecting MS's failure to make headway in the mobile area.  I use IE, Android and Chrome.

 

Since there is already a topic on this on MSW, I will get off the subject here, but would still like to know of anyone who is having the big font problem on my posts.

 

Ed

[NHDave]

I am using Win8 and had to switch to Chrome from IE just to get on this site when I joined.

 

Dave

[dgbot]

Chrome is my browser of choice for MSW.  For uploading photos and checking out various links.

David B

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 94 – Main Deck Framing 5

 

Because the main deck framing supports the mast partners, knees are installed as reinforcements at the partners.  I also installed them at the hatchway openings.  I made these as overlapping knees.  I did not go to this trouble for the lodging knees at the side because their fore and aft arms are not visible on the model.  I do not yet know if these central knees will be covered with decking or not.  The first picture shows some of these knees before installing.

 

 

The next picture shows a few installed at the main mast partners and at the hatch just aft of this.

 

 

I installed these central knees first before going on to the major task of setting all of the ten dozen or so lodging knees at the sides.   The next picture shows this lodging knee installation proceeding aft from the bow.

 

 

The next picture shows a closer view of this work. 

 

 

 

This is one type of lodging knee combination used on these ships and is the one I used on all of the decks.  It is the simplest – with the fore and aft arms simply butting.  They will be covered by the waterways in any case.  In the picture a knee is being marked so it can be cut to fit neatly between its partner and the beam.  Bolts are then installed, the knee is polished up and then glued in.

 

The next picture shows all of the main deck lodging knees installed.

 

 

And, finally, a picture of the full hull at this stage.

 

 

The next step will be to install the ledges between each of the beams to complete the framing of this deck.

 

Ed

[jaerschen]

Fantastic work as always Edward, that's a grand cinema.

[druxey]

You make it look so easy, as if you installed these knees at a rate of two per minute!

[Elia]

Exquisite work Ed.

 

Elia

[Remcohe]

Ed I admire how proficient you are with installing the knees. It takes me the better part of an evening to do maybe two, it looks like you did the whole deck in a fraction of that time.

 

Admirable work as always.

 

Remco

[kees de mol]

Very very impressive. Al those parts wich you have handcrafted. I am stunned

[dgbot]

At work there was a job we had to do not that big but several angles, holes and counter bores. It takes me awhile to do them.  Most of it is setup.  Tom, the lead man usually does it faster but he has been doing this job for a long time, as a result the setup is done in half the time.  Practice makes perfect.

Repetition. is everything.  I remember making brackets  after a couple hundred of them I made it look easy.  But getting the first 30 were a bear cat to do.

David B

[EdT]

Thanks, everyone for the comments and of course all the "likes."

 

The lodging knees did go fast.  Maybe not 2 per minute, as druxey suggests, but more like .2 per minute - thanks to the learning curve and the process.  Since the last posting. all of the ledges have been installed.  I will post some pictures soon.  With all of this deck framing completed, things should be getting more interesting.

 

Thanks, again. 

[the learner]

Ed, you continue to amaze and awe all of us! The build is looking fantastic.

 

Thanks

[EdT]

Thank you, Guy.

[EdT]

Young America - extreme clipper 1853
Part 95 – Main Deck Ledges, Planksheer

 

The first picture shows the last of the work on the main deck ledges.

 

 

The seats for the last row of ledges have been cut into the carlings and outside lodging knees.  The next picture shows the completed main deck framing.

 

 

 

The planksheer was the next order of business.  This rail caps and seals off the tops of the frames at the weather deck - the main deck.  On the outside it defines the sheer line of the ship.  Internally it rests on the 11” deep main deck waterway.  It would seem to make sense to install the waterways first, but to facilitate painting I decided to install the planksheer then slip the waterway underneath it later.  In the next picture a strip of pine representing the waterway is being used to check the height of the upper futtocks prior to setting the planksheer.

 

 

The cutoff heights of the upper futtocks were checked earlier and trimmed to match the lower edge of the planksheer rail.  However, since the heights of the deck beams at the side evolved somewhat independently when the deck clamps were set, there was certainly room for discrepancies.  After a fair amount of measuring, remeasuring and some adjustments, the first section of rail was ready to be installed.  This is shown below.

 

 

The 6" rail is a molded section with three beads.  The lower two are half the diameter of the upper.  The rail was formed with a simple scraper.  The real planksheer was installed in one of two ways.  It could be mortised to fit over the toptimbers or it could be made in two halves each notched to fit around the toptimbers from either side.  To avoid all of this precision notching or mortising, I install the rail on one side, then fit blocks between the timbers, and then fit the opposite side – trying to make the joints relatively invisible.  This will all be painted so there is no issue in this case.  The next picture shows some blocks installed between frames.

 

 

These also strengthen the joint between the frames and the inner rail.  After the glue had dried these were sanded flush to the side.  The tops were filed off horizontal and flush with the top of the inside rail. 

The next picture shows part of the starboard planksheer at this stage.

 

 

The last step is to install and finish off the exterior rail as shown in the next picture.

 

 

There is a similar rail a few feet up – the main rail – and then another capping rail – the fancy rail – fitted to the tops of the toptimbers.

 

 

Ed

[dgbot]

Is that a hull or a work of art?  I would put that in a museum the way it is.  I am surprised your hands did not cramp up during the installation.  

David B

[jaerschen]

It's always a pleasure to see this model Ed, outstanding

[SJSoane]

 

Beautiful work, Ed. I  notice that with the ledges almost as large as the carlings, the mortises into the carlings take out a big bite of wood!

 

By the way, I have been following your CAD instructions in your Naiad book, concerning the construction of the body plan. Thanks very much for the help on deciphering Steel's instructions. I like it when he says "...Next, by drawing curves passing from the back of the upper-breadth sweeps so as to intersect the top timber half-breadths, the timbers will be formed from the keel to the top of the side." Not much guidance on how these uppermost sweeps were formed. Once one finds out that their radius is the same as the upper-breadth sweeps, which are all the same radius, it is pretty easy. Perhaps all of the apprentice shipwrights reading Steel's book already knew that.... 

 

Best wishes,

 

Mark

[michael mott]

Beautiful workmanship Ed, I now know how you manage to get so much accomplished, I see that in picture six you are still working at break neck speed even as the photograph is being taken;>)

 

Michael

[alangr4]

 

Stunning Ed absolutely stunning.

 

Can we expect masts and rigging?

 

Great stuff as always

 

Alan

[EdT]

Thank you, everyone.

 

No hand cramps, David, but an occasional brain cramp - usually when I am checking height measurements.

 

Mark, those reverse curves at topside had me wondering for a long time until I concluded what you have said.  Either everyone knew the secret or it was just not important and left to discretion.   It also took me quite a while to decipher that the reconciling sweep was easy to set using a point on one of the diagonals - 3rd?, 4th? can't remember.  Without that point there are an infinite number of possibilities - with it only one.  TurboCad has a made-to-order function.

 

Micheal, I thought someone might make the comment on the blur.  I cannot claim high speed of movement and attribute the appearance of it to the 1/4 second shutter speed - and being in the way.

 

Yes, Alan, my intention is to rig the model - something I did not expect to repeat after Victory, but so much of the beauty of these ships was in the rigging that I cannot resist.

 

Thanks again, everyone.  I am glad to have your interest.

 

Ed

[NHDave]

Glad to hear your position on the rigging. My thoughts exactly. With your level of skill, I can only imagine what's to come.

 

Dave