Royal William by pirozzi - FINISHED - Euromodels - 1/70

[DenPink]

Hi Vince

 

Very nice colour my friend well done.

 

Denis.

[edmay]

hello Vince,You really do nice work,color is rich ,combining research, your knowledge is working towards a masterpiece ,thanks Edwin

[pirozzi]

Before placing the false quarterdeck, it is necessary to fabricate a breast beam similar to the one under the aft end of the forecastle. The quarterdeck extends considerably forward of the supporting bulkheads and therefore needs this supporting beam. Unlike the forecastle, I recessed the beam slightly under the quarterdeck to make clearance for the main deck guns placed just at the forward end of the quarterdeck. I used scrap pieces of plywood stock left over from the bulkheads to construct the beam.

 

Next up is to place the main deck and forecastle waterways.

 

Vince P.

[Keith_W]

That's great, keep the updates coming!

[pirozzi]

The main and forecastle deck waterways have been added. They are just raised strips of wood running along the bulwarks where they join the deck. Walnut 2x2mm strips were used. The plans don't really show these because they are covered by the railings when looking down on the decks, but in plan sheet #8 there are what looks to be waterways in the hull cross section views.

 

Also, if you are going to full rig the deck guns as I am, the last gun aft in the open on the main deck on each side will pretty much be coveed by the quarterdeck, so the eyebolts on the bulwarks for the rigging need to be placed now. There ar 4 eyebolts per gun. The upper ones can be added later, but the holes should be drilled now. The lower ones should be placed now.

 

Next up is placing the false quarterdeck.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The false quarterdeck has been placed. As you can see, that lovely staircase and fancy painted bulkhead are all but covered up now. If you wanted to take shortcuts, you could eliminate the staircase and fancy bulkhead. The kit allows you to add or skip as much detail as you would like. If you do add the details as outlined in the plans though, you have to supply your own materials. I plan to add as much detail as possible.

 

Next up is to plank the quarterdeck.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The quarterdeck has been planked.

Next up is to add the double first layer of planking to the quarterdeck bulwarks.

 

Vince P.

[Vivian Galad]

Hi, Vince. I´ve gone through your log and add my claps to MSW crew. Great ship to build and a fantastic job you´ve been doing so far. That stair got a lot of attention, mine included . I´ll take a place and follow your build with interest - Euromodel do have a kit I want (or the plans for one of my next ships).

[pirozzi]

There is a huge difference in the dimensions of the grating opening on the quarterdeck, between the plans and the cutout provided in the false deck. As you can see by the photos, the cutout is much shorter than the frame I installed. The frame matches the size in the plans, which I chose to follow. The grating will be seperated into 3 equal sections. I also noted that the grating on the upper quaterdeck has the same issue.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Before making the gunport cutouts on the quarterdeck and forecastle, it is necessary to make up at least one deck gun in order to get the correct height of the ports off the deck. You can not just use the plans, although they were right on at 11.5mm from the deck to the center of the ports.

These guns are smaller than the main deck guns and somewhat of a challenge to construct. If you are going for detail such as the cotter pins in the trucks, drilling such small holes without splitting the wood was a fun project. I used the pieces of brass pin cut off the eye bolts, as they were a perfect size (0.5mm) diameter. The drill size was a #76.

 

Next up is to make the gunport cutouts.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

I have put my gun carriages on my disc sander to remove the outer thickness of the wood a tiny bit, they are a bit chunky for my liking.

Hi Brian,

You can't see it in the photos, but I tapered the carriages along the length and at the front like the real thing.

 

Vince

[pirozzi]

The quarterdeck is complete with gratings, waterways, and gunport cutouts. The bulkhead to support the upper quarterdeck is also painted and installed.

Next up is the upper quarterdeck.

In this area and further in is where things get a little foggy with this build. There are many discrepancies between the plan drawings and the parts supplied. It is going to take some research to figure it all out. Then comes the dreaded "Round Staircase". There are so many versions out there and all very difficult to construct. I am working on a plan as we speak.

 

Oh, I got a promotion! I am now a Lieutenant Commander. Not sure what I did, but I must deserve it.   

 

Vince P.

[NMBROOK]

Your build is coming on fabulously Vince I can foresee it being a couple of years before I reach this stage

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[maggsl_01]

Hi Vince,

 

thats a great build you show us. I like to see and follow the progress your Royal William takes. Everything look so much in place... just as it has to be

 

btw: you sure deserve to be Lieutenant Commander now

 

best wishes

 

Max

[DenPink]

Hi Vince

 

You are doing a fantastic build of the "RW".

 

Yes you deserve Lieutenant Commander and more.

 

Denis.

[pirozzi]

Ok, here is what I mean by differences between the plan drawings and the provided parts. The first photo shows the false upper quarterdeck laying in place with the piece cut off of it to match the plans.

I trimmed the side edges so it makes a clean fit along the bulwarks and placed the mizzen mast to make sure it is positioned through the hole properly with the correct cant.

The deck is just laying on the frames at this point. According to the plans, the bottom of the forward edge needs to be 23.5mm from the top of the quarterdeck below. A breast beam needs to be fabricated and placed just aft of the edge to support the deck and secure the correct height.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The upper false quarterdeck is secured in place. Before planking it, the bulwarks that run partially on this deck need to be cut back substantially because the forward end actually falls slightly below the deck surface itself.

This is where you really have to pay attention to the plan drawings. Sheet #17 shows the run of the decks and the hull detail in scale. Making careful measurements off the drawing is needed to mark the bulwarks for cutting.

The first photo shows the bulwark before and the second after cutting back.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Working on and finishing the last deck, the poop deck. This was by far the most difficult part of the build so far. Unlike all of the other decks that are supported by the bulkhead frames, this deck has no real support. The kit comes with 2 small pieces of plywood made from the same wood as the false decks. These are to be glued in a vertical position on the upper quarterdeck to support the poop. That to me was not a satisfactory option, as it offered little support to the deck.

I constructed a bulkhead for the aft end and side supports to link the forward metal bulkhead and aft bulkhead . When I planked the hull at the aft end at the level of the upper quarterdeck and above, I should have extended the planks past the last hull bulkhead by at about 100mm. I cut them off flush with the last bulkhead, which meant I had to extend them aft to support the poop that hangs over the aft edge of the upper quarterdeck for most of its length. Oh well, you live and learn.

The exact horizontal location of the deck, its height from the upper quarterdeck below, the vertical slope, and the camber all required considerable measurements between plan sheets 2 and 17. These sheets do not exactly agree, so a compromise had to be made, and I hope I guessed correctly.

The false deck and the metal forward bulkhead had to be modified considerably in length, height, and shape. Once the false deck was placed on the frame, it had to be bent considerably at both ends to provide the heavy camber and required some serious clamping.

 

Also on another note: If you are planning on using the larger dimensions for the deck gratings as the plans show and not the smaller sizes as per the cutouts on the decks, you will not have enough grating pieces. There are enough to do the decks, but not to do the quarterdeck overhang and the heads at the bow. More will have to be aquired.

 

Next up is to prepare the hull for the finish layer of second planking. Since the finish layer is only going up to the bottom edge of the metal hull decorations from bow to stern, all of the pieces have to be placed temporarily in their exact locations to mark the upper boundary for the planking layer.

 

Vince P.

Edited October 3, 2014 by Vince P.

[pirozzi]

looks great Vince. Do you have any plans to modify the rear stern galley windows or are you just going to paint them ?

Hi Brian,

I really don't like the way the windows look in the metal castings and would like to make them better since they will really show on the stern galleries. As I recall, you cut them out and filled them with a clear plastic filler. I was thinking of doing the same but placing a clear plastic sheet behind them like used in bubble wraps. How did you cut the openings out? I am not sure I have the proper tools to do it cleanly. When you cut them out, did you leave the window frames and just cut out the panes? That would seem to be quite a chore.

 

Thanks,

Vince

[Keith_W]

Hi Vince, it looks as if my message yesterday never made it to the board. You are doing great work!

 

I was wondering why you decided to construct the poop deck first? I was planning to build the stern from the bottom up, that way I can be sure that I don't extend the poop deck too far aft.

 

Brian, as for Vince inspiring you ... you could do with a good dose of that right now! I would love to see you restart your build log!

[pirozzi]

Hi Vince, it looks as if my message yesterday never made it to the board. You are doing great work!

 

I was wondering why you decided to construct the poop deck first? I was planning to build the stern from the bottom up, that way I can be sure that I don't extend the poop deck too far aft.

 

Brian, as for Vince inspiring you ... you could do with a good dose of that right now! I would love to see you restart your build log!

Hi Keith,

Both Peter in his shop notes and Keith Julier did the poop deck prior to the second planking. It seemed like a good idea to me too, so I did it. The plans give you a pretty good idea about where to locate the poop, but I hope I don't regret doing it this way.

 

Vince

[pirozzi]

I taped all of the decorative metal pieces on the starboard side to get a run on the hull. It took much jugling to get all of them in the proper locations and required a lot of measuring from plan sheets 2 and 17. I then drew a line along the bottom edge from stern to bow and removed the pieces. This line deliniates the top border of the second finish layer of planking. I will now do the same to the port side.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

its moving along nicely mate. Are you using the walnut and Tanganyika rom the kit ?

Hi Brian,

Yes I am using the planking supplied by Euromodel. The wood seems to be a good quality.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

Vince,

I know its a bit down the track, but are you cutting the planks to scale lengths for the second planking and using treenails ?

Hi Brian,

I don't think the scale would be supportive of trenails. They would have to be extremely small in diameter. As far as using scale length planks, since this model does not have scale hull frames, it would be difficult to space out the plank butt joints correctly especially when using joggleplanks and stealers, which will be necessary for this hull. I do not however use full length planks from stem to stern, since it is too difficult to taper planks at both ends where needed. I cut the planks into 2 halves and stagger the joints in a 3 plank shift. I will simulate trenails with small holes at all of the joints. This is what I did on the deck planks at the butt joints.

 

Vince

[pirozzi]

Outlining the hull for the finish second layer of planking.

I have a specific method I use which works for me. There are many methods that work well. I did not invent this method, just like it better and copied it from another builder who was kind enough to publish an article in a magazine.

 

1. Invert the hull.

 

2. Divide the hull into 5 plank wide bands by taping 5 short pieces of planking wood side by side and starting from the keel, tape them to the hull midships where the planks will run parallel to the keel and at full width. Draw a pencil line at the lower edge.

 

3. Place the taped short strips on the pencil line and repeat all the way down the hull. Depending on the size of the hull, you may have as many as 6 or more bands.

 

4. Place a full length plank on the bottom of each line and tape it in a natural run so as not to twist it or bend it .

 

5. Draw a pencil line  along the top from stem to stern.

 

6. Repeat for each short pencil line.

 

You can now see how the planks run and where they will need tapering and where they will need filling in between them at the stern. By mearuring between the lines at any point along a band and dividing by 5 will give you the width of each plank at that point.

 

Vince P.

[maggsl_01]

Hi Vince

 

I agree with Gary: When I can see, how something works I understand it much quicker than just with words... So thank you for this lesson to second planking. I will try it out with my next model.

 

Cheerio

 

Max

[Landlubber Mike]

Very nice work Vince.  I like the dark walnut for the hatch coamings.  

[pirozzi]

Hi Vince

 

I agree with Gary: When I can see, how something works I understand it much quicker than just with words... So thank you for this lesson to second planking. I will try it out with my next model.

 

Cheerio

 

Max

Hi Max,

As soon as I plank the first 2 or 3 bands, I will post more photos showing how joggleplanks and stealers are constructed and used. This particular hull is very complex and requires their usage in many places.

 

Vince P.

[pirozzi]

The metal castings that make up the gallery windows are OK, but the windows don't look good even when painted. I decided to cut out the window panes and will fill them in with a clear film that should look like real windows. I don't have a fancy milling machine, so I will cut them out by hand. There are literally about 100 windows, so this should take a long time.    The second photo just shows the rear windows and not all of the side windows.

 

Vince P.

[DenPink]

Hi Vince

 

Looks like you have your work cut out with the windows.

 

But you have done a good job on the first one well done.

 

The window glass that I have is Micro Kristal Klear .

 

Denis.