Beavers Prize 1777 by Mike Y - 1:48 - POF - Hahn style

[mtaylor]

That's interesting on the hawse timbers, Mike since the pictures in his "Ships of the American Revolution" show the timbers. On the Hahn plans I've seen, some are misnamed as "bollard timber" or just unnamed.   There's no cut-outs in the build board either.   I'm attaching a PDF of the one's I have scanned from my build.  

 

Hawse Timbers.pdf

 

 

This post, http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/5339-licorne-by-mtaylor-pof-316-french-frigate-hahn-version-20/page-27#entry244669  shows them in place.  They get stacked, glued together, shaped (close) and then into place on the hull... 

 

If there's no drawings, then do it Peter's way. Separation lines can always be scribed in.

[Mike Y]

Mark, thanks for the scan. No such thing in my plans, guess it is just something for builder to decide

It is not a blocking problem, pretty clear how to close that gap, need to select the best alternative and do it.

[Mike Y]

Symbolic milestone - all frames installed!

 

Now need to install that tricky transom frames and wings, something that will represent hawse timbers, and cut the gunports.

And then - start the magical process of fairing!

[dvm27]

Looks great, Mike. Personally, I find the fairing process the most satisfying part of the build as the smooth hull emerges amidst the sawdust. I start with 80 grit rubber cemented onto a variety of shaped sanding sticks.

[Mike Y]

Yep, I am eagerly waiting for it. Already have a stash of various sanding pads, papers, scrapers, discs, blocks, etc. Will see what is better!

[wyz]

Yes Mike, it is a milestone to get the framing done.  It's looking good.

Tom

[gjdale]

Congratulations on reaching a significant milestone Mike. You must be feeling very satisfied about now.

[mtaylor]

I wouldn't call that a symbolic milestone at all, Mike.  It's a real one and a big one..  Congratulations.

[Remcohe]

Congratulations Mike. 

 

Remco

[Omega1234]

Beautiful work, Mike.  Nicely done and congratulations!

[Canute]

Well done, Mike. your hull can't be anything but beautiful, thanks to all the work you've put in so far.

[Mike Y]

Thanks for likes and comments, it is very encouraging

 

Worked on transom wings today. Hahn plans do not have any lines for wings, except a very rough shape for the top one. So instead of a regular "cut-bevel-sand-apply poly-install" process, was using carboard templates to come up with a proper shape.

So far only top wing is installed, others needs to be better fitted. The bevels are small, proper beveling would be done on a hull - the shape is complex, it is difficult to pre-bevel. Thanks to TFFM and various build logs, all the nuances of transom installation are pretty well covered. However, I simplified the joints - instead of cutting slots, just glued wing flat to the last frame. Reinforced with treenails

The wing looks much brighter than the frames, strange. I was careful with the wood selection, probably it is due to light exposure of the frame. Hope it will get darker over time! 

 

Started cutting the gunports, first on the planked side.

The method is simple and is relatively fast, so will share. Sorry if it is too obvious.

 

1) Make cutoffs using xacto keyhole saw:

 

2) Remove wood with a sharp knife. It is easy because all cuts are following the grain

 

3) When close to desired width (in my case - I need to remove exactly half of the frame thickness) - continue with a sanding stick (it is like a file, but faster if using a coarser sand belt)

 

4) Gunport is ready to be finished with files (sill slots would be are also cut with files, and a square piece of wood helps aligning ports on both sides)

Edited October 11, 2015 by Mike Y

[mtaylor]

Aren't transoms with no plans fun?         It does make life interesting the philosophy of "that's for the modeler to figure out".  Same for the quarter galleries... which I'm not looking forward to on mine but getting a few ideas on how to do them.

 

Nice work on the gunports.   That is one of the benefits of Hahn's plans, the ports are half the frame thickness. 

[Mike Y]

Luckily I have David's "Comet" book and plans, galleries are pretty well covered there. But yes, skipping such "simple" things is a nice surprise for the modeller

[Omega1234]

Hi Mike

 

Gun ports...don't you just love cutting them out??? Seriously though, they've got to be right up with some of the toughest jobs when building hulls such as yours. You're doing brilliantly, without a doubt.

 

Nice!

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

Edited November 9, 2015 by Omega1234

[tlevine]

Congratulation on your milestone.  The hull looks great.  Be careful when sanding the port openings to keep the top and bottom parallel to the keel.  In your last picture it looks like the bottom of the sill is angled up (perpendicular to the frame).  

[Mike Y]

Toni, thanks for the heads up. Yes, the gunports are fine tuned with the file before installing the sills.

[Erik W]

Mike,

 

I had lost track of this build for a while .  It's looking great!  You're making good progress.

 

Erik

[Mike Y]

Finished the transom wings. It is an interesting area of the hull, a lot of fine tuning and shaping

Left the wings slightly oversized and with rough corners (too square), will properly shape them while fairing the hull. 

As usual, ignore the right side of the photo - it will be fully planked, so it is less accurate

 

 

 

Now starting the gunports.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Mike Y

[albert]

Hi Mike beautiful work.

[mtaylor]

Looks sweet, Mike. 

[Omega1234]

Hi Mark

 

Now that's some pretty speccie work, you've done there! Can't wait to see your next update.

 

Cheers

 

Patrick

[Mike Y]

Thanks for likes and comments, they help to move forward!

First made a bow sander and started to smoothen the lines of the transom wings:

 

Looks much better now. But the final shaping would be done later anyway, when I will fair the hull:

 

Now to the gunports.

I seriously underestimated efforts required. It took around 4-5 hours to make the first pair 

 

Square block of wood was used as a guide to ensure squareness and parallelism of the port sills. 

It also helped to file the edges of the ports on a proper angle. I struggled to find a proper working position - too low if you sit, too high if you stand. Ended up with this setup:

 

Careful sanding / filing took an enormous time, no way to use chisel for it (too tight, cross grain, might split).

Also, on exposed side sills were done in a semi-correct way - with angled joints, correct thickness of the lower sill, but the upper sill had the same thickness as the lower one (comparing to a fully correct way, when the upper sill is thicker). Making that angled joints was fun!

 

End result. Too early to say, the joint accuracy would be visible only after the fairing, which I can't do now - will sand away a lot of pencil marks on the nearby frames

 

Sorry for the mess, I hate to show all that glue stains, poly stains, rough edges - but too early to fair. It would be nicer, I promise!

 

Overall build status:

 

Hope that next gunports will be quicker - will measure better to reduce the sanding/filing time.

Would appreciate any hints or tricks. But I doubt there is any silver bullet - I was just totally wrong in a time estimate. With a speed of one gunport per week, I might not finish it before Christmas..

Edited November 8, 2015 by Mike Y

[mtaylor]

Nice work on the gunports, Mike.  They are a pain to do.  And a little mess (or a lot in my case) is seemingly normal.

 

What I did was cut on the lines for the waste and and then soak a bit with some rubbing alcohol.  The wood separated at the joint and the waste removed. A clamp at top and bottom and let it dry.  The glue re-grabs and holds.  Then it's just a little cleanup.  If you were using spacer blocks between the ports and completely planking, you could mark the ports and do this before mounting the frames.

[Mike Y]

Mark, thanks for the idea. I remember it from your log.

But it's faster to just quickly cut away the wood you want to remove, takes just 10min or so. Requires some sharp knife though

What takes significantly more time is sanding / filing / scraping / polishing the cutoffs to install the sills on a proper angle and without gaps.

But maybe it will come with practice.

[mtaylor]

Mike,

 

I use an X-acto saw blade.. there's several types and one that worked great is the one that looks like a #11 blade.  That is the time saver.  The filing and trimming is the time killer but that's part of the job, I guess.   I didn't need to worry about an exact fit on the sills as I'm fully planking.  I found that I got faster after a doing a couple of them.  Still, it's not a project that can be rushed.

[Mike Y]

John, that makes sense, thanks for the photo!

 

Mark, I also have such xacto saw, but afraid of cutting too close - it might snap and scratch the frame, or I might end up with a wrong angle. So I am cutting a bit far away and then file to a proper size. Will try to change that process.

[AON]

Mike

The installation of your gun port sills are masterful!

Somehow I cannot imagine it getting better with practice... you will likely shave the time down to do them!

Great job.

(Watching and learning)

Alan

[mtaylor]

MIke,

 

Go with what you're comfortable with. Alan's right... youi'll get better and probably faster the more you do. 

[PriceMachine&Design]

Mike that's looking amazing!