Speedwell 1752 by dvm27 (Greg Herbert) - FINISHED - Ketch Rigged Sloop

[dvm27]

Speedwell, 1752, was a ketch rigged sloop of the Cruizer class. Designed by John Ward and Built by Thomas Slade after plans of the yacht Royal Caroline, known for her excellent sailing characteristics. Her keel was laid at Chatham 11.2.1752 and she was launched 21.10.1752 and coppered shortly thereafter. As befitting most ships of her size she patrolled the Channel and Home waters off England but did sail to North America in 1757. She was refitted as the fireship Spitfire in 1779 before decommissioning in 1780.

 

I am building Speedwell from the plans drafted by David Antscherl, who based his reconstruction on plans and documents in the NMM collection. A contemporary model of her is in the museum collection and may be viewed at 

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/mediaLib/317/media-317093/large.jpg

 

In order to accommodate the eight cannons the hull had to be pierced for gunports and some very interesting toptimber arrangements were drafted to accommodate these. A sample of the interesting shifts and casts are shown in the first photo. For now I am just posting photos of the construction process without text but will add it later if requested. Currently, I am fairing the inside of the hull, a tedious but satisfying part of the process.

[dvm27]

Building Board, Keel Assembly, Stem, Deadwood, Knee of the Head, Mounting

[druxey]

Welcome back to the new, improved MSW. It's always a pleasure looking at nice clean workmanship. Thanks, Greg!

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Welcome back, Greg. I'll follow your log as in MSW 1.0.

[mtaylor]

Greg,

Great to see your build back here.  I'm following and learning.  Now if I can just learn the "clean" part....

[BANYAN]

Great to see the log back Greg; this time I haven't missed it until quite late - will follow this with interest.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[lagrayjr]

Greg, glad to see you begin a new project and I will follow with interest. I am progressing well on construction of my Fly. I have finished the upper outer deck planking and the upper deck.beams. The fully rigged Warrior is finished. Laman

[Trussben]

Wow Greg,

 

Even more pics than the last time, very impressive work, I wish I could afford all those lovely tools you have

but over time you never know.

 

I am setting this log to e-mail me whenever its updated because I dont want to miss anything

 

ben

[WackoWolf]

Greg,

 

   Glad you made it back, I like others will be following this to the end so keep the post and pictures coming. I am learning by watching your build.

[cfn1803]

Greg,

 

Thanks for bringing back your build log.  

 

Regards,

 

Clay

[tlevine]

Beautiful craftsmanship as always, Greg.

[dvm27]

Bollard and Hawse Timbers

 

 

Thanks, all for your kind comments. A bit of serendipity with regards to the crash - many of us are putting up more photos than the first version. The ease of posting them and lack of file size restrictions make it a breeze.

 

The bollard and hawse timbers are among the most challenging to make on the model. As well, they are the first timbers made after the keel, and the learning curve hasn't had a chance to kick in yet. So it's important to take your time getting them right and redo them if necessary (as Ed T. has also pointed out in his excellent log). The last little filler piece has no real pattern. It's just cut over-sized and "massaged" into place.

 

The last photo illustrates the rather diminutive size of Speedwell as compared to an earlier discarded attempt at my Swan class model. The sixth rate looks gigantic compared to Speedwell. Yet they wood both look like longboats compared to a third rate or larger!

 

 

Edited February 21, 2013 by dvm27

[Trussben]

That looks awfully like a dewalt dw788 scroll saw?

[dvm27]

Bollard and hawse timbers continued...

[Trussben]

Hey Greg, I know that David was your Mentor, would you like an apprentice??

I would take the position with no pay tomorrow. Lol.

 

Ben

[bbrockel]

Greg, thank you for the insite to a real craftsman at work.  Great joinery and nice clear pictures of your work in progress.  You give us all something to strive for.

[Erik Nyren]

Beautiful Greg always a pleasure to watch the professionals.

 

I notice you use paper of some sort between the joints which results in a very clean fine black line.

could you in short terms describe the tecnique or point me towards a description somewhere

 

Regards

Erik

[Timothy Wood]

Outstanding doesn't come close to describing your work! I'll be following this bulid closely.

 

Tim

[michael mott]

Beautiful workmanship Greg.

 

Michael

[dvm27]

Thank you gentlemen! Erik, for the tarred joints I use acid free black paper (craft and artists supply stores have this) and white glue. Depending on the joint I'll use thicker or thinner paper and the edges are shaved clean with a blade. I would strongly suggest preparing a test wood/paper/wood sandwich first and applying the finish you prefer as a test to make sure the paper doesn't bleed onto the wood surface. Finally, I perforate the surface of the paper between joints with a pin to make sure glue adequately penetrates through to the other side. I also make sure to use treenails or fasteners in these joints. As yet haven't had a joint failure.

 

I've also used carpenters glue tinted with aniline dye powders. This works well too but is a holy mess.

 

[dvm27]

That's funny, Ben. Many years ago my wife asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday present. I told her I wanted to spend a few days in Harold Hahn's workshop. She thought I was kidding. I was not!

[Trussben]

I'm not kidding either!! Lol. :-))

 

Ben

[SJSoane]

 

Hi Greg,

 

I love to see your work. As crisp as it can get!

 

Mark

[Maury S]

Greg, I know you poste a pic. of Speedwell all framed up.  I can't locate it.  Can you provide a lnk or reference?

Thanks

Maury

[dvm27]

Here's photo of her prior to fairing the outside Maury. Lots of cast and shifted toptimbers!

[the learner]

Greg thats a piece of art in its self!

[the learner]

Greg,

 

I have used paper between the joints before but find them weaker that using blackened glue, however I likd the fact that you punch pin holes in the paper to allow the glue to penetrate. Do you use a hard paper or just regular art paper?

[dvm27]

The paper I use is thin, acid free paper. I'll see if I can thickness it later.

[archjofo]

Hi Greg,

this is an absolutely precise work.
This is a very excellent model.

[allanyed]

Greg,

I never tire of looking at your posts.  SUPER!

Allan