french 64-gunner LE FLEURON in scale 1:48 by Joachim

I read in a book, that they tried at the Fleuron the diagonal planking to achieve more strength. This procedure was however more complicated and expensive. Therefore, it has not prevailed, it was just an experiment.

January 2019: In the following I show you the advances in the interior planking, inside in the rear, there are four wood-pieces attached, which stabilize the rear beams and the overlying inner planking. These are not bent, but sawed and cut very precisely to fit in the bulge of the stern. That alone was a day's work, but it's holidays.


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It's Christmas holidays, every day I work at the Fleuron. The inside-planking up to the first cannon deck is now finished, I now dedicate myself to the outside. I set the large dark bars, the material is smoked oak. The overlays of the dark bars were sawed . Between the dark bars, I put pear beams, which rejuvenate at the stern and end in one part.

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... and now some pictures of the bow. The cannon hatches get their final appearance: the upper board in the hatch is now sanded, the lower one is fitted so that it pierces the outer pear wood or ends behind the dark plank.
I'm still busy with the outer planking, unfortunately the holidays are coming to an end

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And it continues. The exterior planking has made progress. For the top decks, I have now sawed out the cannon hatches and windows.

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And inside the Balkweger (I think, this is only a german word :) wear the deck beams) are set for the upper cannon deck and the deck above.

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Now the Balkweger are manufactured and installed for the Poop Deck. Indentations for the deck beams must be installed. They are not square, but rejuvenate inwards. First I mill the smallest diameter. Then I widen the openings inwards with my carving knife.
Temporary deck beams on the two Balkwegern of the left and right side allow precise adjustment with the IPhone water balance, my eyes have to control too :) .

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In march 2019 I started with the stern. I first studied the plans. Since the rear deck beams of the 2nd gun and poop deck are integrated in the construction of the stern, at first I took a look for the dimensions of the various deck beams. I found terms like Faux Baux and so on. On French websites, I saw that Faux Baux are deck beams still under the 1st cannon deck. Again, something learned.

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Now the rear frames were set correctly and glued. Next, a larger piece of wood is built around the passage for the rudder for the transom. I need 5 individual wood panels for this, the middle one in lighter wood. First, I am milling the surfaces of the plates with a cylindrical milling cutter. Then I glue them together under pressure. I stick the plan template on the wood.

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April 2019: Now iI begin with the wooden nails. From Frank Horschig, Berlin,I bought wooden strips 0.9 x 0.9 mm (pear). Using a drawing iron from Byrnes Model Machines, I pull the strips to a little less than 0.6 mm in diameter. It should be noted that the strips are drawn from the side without holes. With a pencil, I mark the spots on the planks, which are then drilled (0.6 mm). I press the wooden nails by hand into the planks. After that I press them a little deeper with a pair of pliers.

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Mai 2019: I continue to plank upwards and the first ornamental strip of boxwood is set. I made the round shape of the trim with razor blades. I sawed the right shape for the planer with the Proxxon microdrill and a diamond cutting disc attachment from Dremel. Trials with hacksaws or milling machines had failed. The saw did not go into the metal at all, the mill only pushed the razor blade away and broke it. Razor blades are probably hardened steel.

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End of May 2019: The second ornamental strip of boxwood is now also set. For pulling, however, I take a carpet knife. Razor blades was a slip of the tongue.

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In the ship's hull there are openings for ropes to operate the sails. In the frames I had already provided rectangular recesses. In the middle of a rectangular bar I drill at first a small hole. With a file, the opening is slightly enlarged and then brought into shape. This part will later protrude slightly out of the plank.

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Hallo my friend,
I am very happy that you started the building log and that you are showing us your interesting work here in the building log.
Very good and informative photos and descriptions - GREAT :cool:
 
At the rear I continue with the stanchins for the handrails. I have developed two methods for placing the stanchions: If there is a frame of sufficient width directly under the stanchion, I turn the end of the stanchion round with my lathe and drill a hole in the frame to countersink the stanchion. Sometimes the stanchion is also placed in a free space between the frames. Then I let the stanchion rectangular at the bottom. Sometimes some of the wood of the frame has to be removed from the frame with a carving knife so that the square stanchion can be properly fitted between the frames.

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Now I continue working at the railing of the balustrade. Sometimes the frames were still a bit too thick at the highest point. With the carving knife and emery paper I slimmed down the frames at the top so that the inside / outside planking plus the frame are not thicker than the handrail.

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The handrails are not simply glued on. Dowels sit in the frame and the corresponding recesses must be drilled in the handrail. To drill the holes in the right place, I painted white paint on the dowel and pressed the railing onto it. The blob of paint then marks the point where drilling with a 2 mm drill is 1 mm deep. I turned the dowels out of a stick to the correct diameter of approx. 1.7 mm.

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In August 19 I continued with the stern. After I have attached the cladding over the uppermost windows (strips previously bent slightly round), the lower end is made of boxwood as a decorative strip. For this I have again made my own drawing knife from a carpet knife blade.

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15 planks below the bottom rubbing strake are now laid on the port side. I carved indentations in the keel, into which the ends of the planks run and find support. The planks are tapering towards the bow and stern. I take the width from the construction plans, draw them on the plank with the ruler and then grinding with a disc sander. The most important machines I use are, in my opinion, a saw, a disc sander and then a mill/ lathe. Carving tools are also used regularly.

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6 more planks, then the side is finished
The trick at the end is that all the planks go through from bow to stern. So no fillers are used. In order to achieve this, I measure the distance between the last plank placed on top and the bottom of the keel (i.e. the width of the space not yet planked) on several frames. This distance is greatest at the rear and in the middle. I divide the greatest width of the unplanked room by the maximum width of a plank (e.g. 6 cm by 0.6 cm). In this example, I need 10 planks for the widest parts. I divide the remaining measured distances by 10. This gives me the width of the remaining 10 planks on different frames. I draw the different widths on the planks with a pencil, with the disc sander I grind the excess widths. If you pull the ends of the strips away from the grinder during sanding and thus bend the plank a little while sanding, you get very smooth transitions between different widths. This would not be possible with a saw or sanding by hand.

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