Echo by Maury S - FINISHED - Cross-Section

[Maury S]

Greg,

When do I start thinking about sanding sealer or poly fininsh?  Do I finish the between sides of the frames now or wait til after the faring?  Also, when I was sanding the openings for the gunport sills, there was enough vibration to loosen the piece a bit from the building board.  I don't want to tear up the threads in the keel.  Is it OK to take it off the board for sanding?

Maury

[druxey]

I think most folk remove their models for fairing up. Kind of hard on the knuckles near the keel otherwise, I would think....

 

Sanding sealer can be used any time. It does not seem to affect glue adhesion later on. Poly finish could be an issue.

[Maury S]

Installing the frame extensions on top of the gunport sill.  They are fiddy things since you have to cut part off the bottom and part off the top from the pieces saved when installing the 2-a and 3-f frames.  Then you have to get the bottom sanded for the proper cant to the part.  The "O" mark indicates it's the outer side of the piece.  The braces / spacers (out of focus ends) are the same thickness as material used as spacers below.  That insures a plumb installation.  One side at a time and then I'll remove the braces and cut pieces off for the temporary spacers.  Careful checking of the plan reveals that a good 1/8" will have to be cut or sanded off the frame tops (see thin pencil line on ajacent frames) so I'm trying to keep the extensions close to that height.  They are delicate so rough cutting or sanding has to be limited.

Maury

[dvm27]

I'm afraid I did mine in a much simpler fashion, Maury. I simply placed a small billet of the correct sided dimension on top of the sill and traced the pattern from the adjacent toptimber. This way the bottom is guaranteed to sit flush on the sill. The accompanying photo shows the short toptimber after being cut with the scrollsaw. 

Edited March 22, 2013 by dvm27

[TomShipModel]

Great Maury.  I still have my Echo in the box.  I'll get to it at some point and your build certainly will help.  I really appreciate the jigs and fixtures that you've set up.  I still have two frames from the Baltimore seminar last fall but, they are now object lessons (we start over).  Thanks for posting this.

[Maury S]

I've started roughly fairing up the frames.  Sanding with 80 grit, then 120 grit.  I clamped a piece of 1x2 to the workbench, extending out about 8".  It provides a very stable base for sanding by putting resistance on the opposite side I'm working on.  Vibration is still a problem.  The glue for the spacer at the top of frame 5-aft has broken loose a couple of times.  I've had to build up a few low spots by cutting a piece of the same thickness material to match a frame curve, cutting it thinly on the scroll saw then glue in place.  Almost impossible to find after sanding.

I'm really surprised at the amount of high and low areas considering how close (I thought) I was on the framing plans.

Maury

[dvm27]

I know what you mean Maury. I just finished fairing the starboard side of my Speedwell model and it took me almost five days. I actually start with 60 grit paper.  Keep applying those pencil marks to show the low spots. I find that I can actually hear when she's faired.

[Maury S]

Thanks Greg.  There is a sound to the faired section when all is right.

Maury

[druxey]

The sound you hear is a sigh of satisfaction that it all worked out! Seriously, I go by the pencil marks just disappearing, then fine sand to finish.

[Maury S]

More rough fairing.  The glue on the spacers  of some frames has popped loose a few times.  Delays things while new glue dries.  So far I'm mostly faired down to 120 or 150 grit.  Next round is 220 then 320.  I'm thinking about how I'm going to trim the tops of the frames to the final level.  Rough sanding creates too much vibration.  After I re-mount it on the building board and mark the proper lines of the tops of frames, I'm leaning to my razor saw, then finish sand.  Maybe that should wait 'til there are some battens installled up high?

Maury

Edited March 30, 2013 by Maurys

[Rustyj]

Hi Maury, She's looking great.

I'm thinking about how I'm going to trim the tops of the frames to the final level. Rough sanding creates too much vibration. After I re-mount it on the building board and mark the proper lines of the tops of frames, I'm leaning to my razor saw, then finish sand. Maybe that should wait 'til there are some battens installled up high?

That's the way I'm thinking of doing it when I get to that point.

 

 Keep up the good work!

[Maury S]

After sanding and sanding I finally got rid of all the pencil marks.  Some filler pieces cut, other high spots sanded down.  Final result seems that some sections of the frames seem very thin.  Finish sanding with 220 grit, then 320.  Keelson sanded to 12" x 12", and top corners sanded to a 45 degree angle.  The center at every other frame was marked, tapped with an awl and drilled wtih 0.002 drill (#75?) for the bolts.  The bolts are actually 0.0018" black monofilament line (thanks to EdT). 

Limber strakes sanded to 4" and boards cut to 12".  The rabbet had to be cut...blade on my Proxxon saw set to just about 1" (@ sacle) and then the piece run thru.  Good result.  The other top corner sanded to a 45 degree angle (how do you type the little 0 forthe degree symbol?).  Spacers cut to 11" and the limber strakes sanded to 320 and glued in place.  The dark marks under the ends of the keeson and strakes are shadows from a very slight overhang that needs to be sanded down.  The entire model has taken a very rigid setting...not nearly as flimsey as it was before the lastest additions.

Maury

[druxey]

Looks like you are well along your way there. Maury. And it is surprising how rigid the structure becomes as you add longitudinal elements.

[AnobiumPunctatum]

Great progress. Your section looks absolut fantastic.

[Trussben]

Nice Progress Maury - Nice to hear that it has started to be less delicate, that worries me for when I get to that point with my hands.

 

ben

[dvm27]

Everything is looking perfect Maury. Now is the time to decide how you are going to finish her. Fully planked insideand out? Planked on one side only? Interesting questions.

[Maury S]

Greg,

I'm going to fully plank one side only.  I just have not yet determined which side (imperfections).  Is measuring up from the building board to the top of the thick stuff, clamps, etc. the proper way to determine the positioning of those parts?  I think that just filling in planking is going to end up in distortions.  Any comments on how much interim planking looks best on the side not fully planked?

Maury

Edited April 1, 2013 by Maurys

[jml1083]

Hi Maury,

 

Really impressive progress!

 

To answer your question about typing the ° (degree) symbol, it depends. On a regular keyboard press the <ALT> key and while holding it down press the 2 then press the 4 and then press the 8 key on the keypad on the right side of the keyboard. When you finish typing the 8 the ° symbol will appear.

 

I haven't figured it out yet on a laptop as there is no keypad (just the numbers over the letters) and using the same key strokes on a laptop keyboard don't work. If you have a full size keyboard plugged into a laptop it should work but I don't know that for a fact.

 

Hope this helps.

[dvm27]

Maury,

 

On the port side I just added the clamps and a couple longitudinals. On the starboard side I've added all the planking. The updated text file on the Admiralty Models website has a few photos of this. I would add the upper and lower clamps first as their placement is crucial, then add the filling planks.

[Rustyj]

Hi Maury. I just caught up and that's a wonderful job you've done.

I can't wait to see how you are going to finish her off.

 

Well done!

[Boccherini]

Maury,

just went through your log, that is a good looking job so far. Congratulations.

 

Regards,

Grant.

[Maury S]

Greg,

For the tree nails on all the internal planking, did you use the regular procedure (bamboo tree nails) or just drill holes and use a filler?

Maury

[dvm27]

I used bamboo treenails for all, Maury. There aren't that many on the cross-section. Plus, I had one frame break at the chock joint while fairing. The treenails were still intact and served as perfect guides for the futtock relocation.

[Maury S]

Adding the thickstuff.  The upper and lower pieces are centered on the cross chocks.  I cut and sanded them to proper sizes, lined them up in place and marked them for treenails.  I then drilled all the holes off the model and glued and clamped them back in place.  There is no way to get a power drill inside to drill the holes once installed and I don't want to spend weeks twisting my pin vise.  Double checking the measurements for the top of the clamp.  This will be critical to get just right.  The instructions confused me a bit so I getting help from Greg to make sure I don't mess this up.  Progress seems faster after weeks of working on frames.

Maury

[Rustyj]

It's looking very nice Maury. Thanks for leading the way!  

[druxey]

Three cheers for alcohol, applied externally!

[Maury S]

More work on the intermediate "thickstuff".  I added the pieces on either side of the lower thick strake.  Sanded to 3" with a bevel sanded on one edge only. Holes for treenails pre-drilled.  While waiting for glue to dry, I cut the strips for the limber boards.  I didn't want to sand a piece from 8" down to 2"  so I grabbed a piece of 1/16 Bass, cut an angle on one side and then trimmed to proper width (about 13").  Then I ran it thru the sander (narrow side up!) to bring it to the final 2" thickness.  Perfect fit.  Now I have to decide whether to use the bass piece to finish the board segments or grind off a bunch of boxwood.  Still deciding which side gets fully planked.

Maury

 

[Trussben]

Really nice work Maury.

 

Ben

[Boccherini]

Maury,

you are doing a really great job. I spent some time 'twisting my pin vice' on the internal planking (Triton x-section), it was the least satisfying part of the build. Smart solution on your part.

 

Regards,

Grant.

[Maury S]

Thanks Grant.  It's important to line up the holes properly, but beyond that, it sure is easier than doing it after installation.

 

I spent more time going over the positioning of the lower deck clamps.  Third re-measure.  The change in the plan sheet with the 14" keel (vs the 12" keel on the original plan ) creates a minor challenge.  As it turns out, the crucial measurement seems to be from the top of the gunport sill down to the top of the clamp.  Measuring from the sill to the building board and subtracting the sill to top of clamp gives the new adjusted board to top of clamp.  This also fixes any slight variation in the height of the gun port as built (Mine was off by about 1/32" -- 1.5" to scale).  I'm still adding the 2 1/2"  in height from dead-flat to frame 5 aft per the instructions.

Maury