Bomb Vessel Granado 1742 by gjdale - FINISHED - 1/48 - Cross-Section

[mobbsie]

Looks good to me mate, go for it.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[DocBlake]

Beautiful work on the frames.  You've set a high bar!

 

Dave

[Canute]

Great work cutting all those 'ports. Very well done!

[Rustyj]

Hi Grant,

 

It looks like all the cut outs for the ports and sweeps line up really good.

 

I’d say it’s time to glue her up!   

[jeff1395]

Looking GREAT Grant.

 

Jeff

[gjdale]

Thanks David, Mobbsie, Dave, Canute, Rusty and Jeff, and all the "likes".

 

As everyone seems to agree that things look good to proceed, I've glued the first frame in place. This will be a fairly slow process as I will be installing some filler/spacer blocks as I go and waiting for each frame to set properly before moving on to the next. I'll post more pics when we get there.

 

Jeff - it's nice to have you looking in on all of us. Your drawings are a joy to work with.

[rtropp]

Grant,

I am enjoying the heck out of your build. I am considering this as potential for my next build.

 

Thanks for a thorough build log.

 

Richard

[Jack Panzeca]

Hi Grant,

 

Looks Great!  The progress is really amazing and the quality is just what we would expect.

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

[rdsaplala]

Those frames look great, Grant, beautiful and clean work, and amazingly fast too

[Trussben]

Very nice Grant, as you said - take your time glueing the frames and triple check positions and your gunport heights as you go.

 

Look forward to seeing more

 

Ben

[keelhauled]

Wow! What Beautiful work.  Gun port cuts are amazing.

 

Thanks for sharing your build with us!  I'm really enjoying it.

Marc

[Jack12477]

I think I will pull up a chair and watch also.

[gjdale]

Thanks very much Richard, Jack (P), Aldo (great to see you back my friend), Ben, Marc, and Jack12477 (welcome aboard Jack).

 

Well, the first really serious hurdle has hit.  Despite the care taken with cutting the gunport / sweep port cutouts, when I went to install the lower sills it became evident that a certain amount of adjustment was required.  I decided to re-mark all of the heights based on the waterline (set by the height of the top of the jig - and yes, that was checked all round first).  On one side of the ship all of the ports need to move up a little, and the other side they need to move down a little.  That in itself is no big deal - I just adjusted for each port as I installed all of the lower sills.  The problem is that where sills have been lowered, there is then some of the cutout in the side of the frame that would still show, even after planking.  And of course,  for the side where the lower sills were raised, although this is not a problem here, it will be for the upper sills on that side.

 

After consulting with my chief co-conspirator (Mobbsie) via Skype, I discovered that he had found the same problem.  We chewed it over for a while and have decided that the "fix" for this is either (1) start over completely;  or (2) remove some of the vertical part of the frame and insert a filling piece that will not be noticeable once the planking is in place later on.  While I have to confess to seriously considering Option 1, I decided to go with Option 2 (as has Mobbsie).

 

I haven't started that process as yet as I've just had to have some minor surgery and discovered long ago that serious pain meds and ship modelling do not mix well.  I'll probably start on that process this weekend.  No pics until the theory is proved!

 

Oh, and in the spirit of good sportsmanship, we decided that we would indeed warn Jack P of this particular pitfall BEFORE he got to that stage.  It was tempting though Jack...............................

Edited January 30, 2015 by gjdale

[augie]

Sorry about the sills ..... and the surgery.  Glad to hear you have a plan.

 

Feel better......

[mikec]

Fantastic craftsmanship Grant. 

[mtaylor]

I hope you can get back into the shop soon, Grant.   Is this a plans error somewhere? 

[gjdale]

Thanks Mark - was back in the shop today, but worked on the Runabout instead. I'm finding it useful to have the two, totally different, builds underway. When I need a break, or some thinking time, I just switch over and let things settle for a while.

 

I don't think the problem is a plans error. Probably one of those accumulated micro errors things. It would have been fine had I not pre-cut the gun ports/sweep ports. I'll start the "fix" tomorrow.

[Canute]

Grant, glad you feel up to the work, but be careful around power tools. One of my buds has had back issues for years and the drug he's on now makes him kind of loopy for a while after taking them. He can't drive for a while. He's an outstanding craftsman and his work on his model railroad has dropped off due to the pain meds.

 

Really glad Mobbsie and you have worked up some fixes. Looking forward to seeing them.

[Rustyj]

Hi Grant,

 

I hope you are doing well now. I also had to make some minor adjustments to the sills. I agree that it is

most likely our causing a creep than an error in the plans.

 

I’ve also been a fan of alternating between builds. It really helps me keep “fresh” during a build.

[gjdale]

Thanks Ken - rest assured I'm off the pain meds now! I make it a rule not to try anything at all on modelling while "under the influence" - aside from the obvious safety issues, it invariably ends up in re-work......

 

Rusty - it's reassuring to know that you also had to make adjustments to the sills!

[gjdale]

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, when fitting the lower sills, it became apparent that there was a problem with the pre-cut gun ports and sweep ports.  On one side the lower sill had to be lowered a couple of mm, while on the other side it had to be raised.  Here is a close up of the lowered sills, illustrating the  resultant problem (ie gap in the inside face of the port). 

 

 

Having thought about this for a couple of days, decided that the solution was to file out the ports to the edge of the lower sill, and then install fillers/shims on each side.  Tools used for this job included the Proxxon Pen Sander, a file, and the good old sanding stick.  The latter proved to be the most useful for the larger gunport, while the file was the "weapon of choice" for the sweep ports. 

 

 

Here is how it looked after the first two frames were adjusted: 

 

 

 

Frame Four was problematic in that the fix was going to leave a particularly narrow piece of the original frame - just asking to be snapped off.  So before filing this frame out, I added a separate filler piece between the frames to give more “meat” to support the vulnerable area. The filler is on the right hand side of the frame in the centre of this picture. 

 

 

All frames have now been opened up.  Next task will be to add the fillets to the sides of the ports, and then install the top sills / filling lintels.  It looks like this fix will work.

 

 

 

 

 

[mobbsie]

It's getting there mate, pity about the extra work but isn't that what this hobby is about, it either keeps you young or you get old bl--dy quickly.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how a series of unnoticed, minor errors can build up.

 

It's fun coming up with a solution though, I love it.

 

Jack / Lou be warned.

 

Be Good

 

mobbsie

[scratch]

Pity about the redo Grant but you have it all under control . What would be the best way to avoid this for those of us who plan on attempting this build.

 

 

David

[gjdale]

Thanks David,

 

The answer is to not pre-cut the port openings, but to do these only after all the frame are assembled into the building jig. I've suggested to Jack P that he try this approach. We'll see how he goes.

[Trussben]

Hey Grant,

 

This is a common problem when trying to precut ports, the only way round it I found with Druxeys help was that each frame gets temporarily installed making sure it's height is absolutely correct, then marking the positions and then removing it again to cut the sill mouths, and then reinstalling. Take a look at comments in my Pegasus build from Druxey, Greg and Toni when we were discussing how to do this.

 

Good luck mate

 

Ben

[gjdale]

Thanks Ben,

 

That's a great solution and it seems really obvious once I read it! Wish I'd thought of that before.

 

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing! Now that you mention it, I do recall reading of this in your log - pity I didn't remember it at the time.

[gjdale]

Repairs Complete!

 

Fillets were fitted to all of the gunport and sweep ports previously opened up and cleaned up.  To make the task a little easier, a standard size of fillet was used, and the opening adjusted accordingly.  To ensure that the ports remained centred in the openings, two simple sizing jigs were made (one each for gun ports and sweep ports).  These were simply a block of stock sized to the internal dimensions of the ports.

 

The triangular shaped filling lintels above the sweep ports look tricky, but were surprisingly easy to make.  I simply placed a piece of sticky label paper behind the opening and traced around the outside of the opening onto the paper.  This was transferred to a piece of 3/16” Pear stock, ensuring the grain was running vertically, rough cut and then sanded to the left and right side lines on the Byrnes disc sander.  The length was left slightly long and then gradually reduced on the sander until a snug fit was obtained.

 

Once all filling lintels had been installed and given overnight for the glue to fully cure, it was time to start sanding……..and sanding……..and sanding………and yet more sanding.

 

The outside of the hull was faired above the waterline using 80 grit sandpaper.  As this whole section above the waterline will be completely planked, I decided not to go any finer with the sandpaper (at least for now) as this will give a good “tooth” for the subsequent glue. I also found that some of the spacers were starting to come loose, so didn’t want to push my luck with these, at least not until there is something more substantial holding the frames together!

 

The inside above the waterline was sanded in similar fashion, while below the waterline was further sanded with 120, and then 180 grit.  There will be sections below the waterline that will remain unplanked, so I wanted to get that down to a smoother surface.  I’m still contemplating whether to go further with the finish sanding here.

 

I have deliberately not cut the height down to final size at this stage.

 

Any way, here’s a few photos of progress to date:

 

 

 

 

 

[WackoWolf]

Nice and clean. Your doing an excellent job, keep the pictures coming.

[Blue Ensign]

Fine work Grant, you certainly seem to have taken to this scratch build  business.

 

B.E.

[rafine]

What repairs? It looks great Grant.

 

Bob