It’s been a while since I did an update but I have been moving along in the build. There has just been a lot of work that isn’t real photogenic. It took me a lot of work to figure out the color scheme I wanted on the outside of the ship. While the multicolor wood of the ship looks really nice on the prototype. I decided I wanted to tone down the number of different colors on the outside. Combine that with the cherry frames, instead of the maple like the prototype, and I decided to go with a generally darker wood color scheme on the outside.
I did get the lower counter area planked and finished.
After finally coming to a decision on colors, I decided I no longer liked the idea of having the rudder made from cherry. It seems kind of odd to have cherry framing with a walnut stern post and a cherry rudder. I could have just used the cherry sternpost I made but I do like the darker keel look. I decided instead to go ahead and make myself a walnut rudder. Mike S sent me the basic line work and I used my 3018 to make a new rudder. As you can see this is about as big a part as I can make.
And here it is put together with blackened glue. This was just rough sanded on the sides. There is a lot of shaping still needed before we’ll be ready for metal work.
That was all done before this last weekend, it just didn’t seem like it warranted an update.
This is basically the point where everyone else disappeared for a while and started working on the Parquetry Floor. I know this is pretty shocking but I decided I’m not going to use it. It is a striking feature of the prototype that I think looks awesome. However, I want my build to be different than the rest, and being as I wanted to have the lower forward deck with the stairs, and the partition in the main cabin, both of those mess up the layout of the Parquetry Floor. So, I went in a different direction.
In order for the lower deck, and guest quarters deck to work I had to go into design mode. It’s really easy when making significant modifications to change something that causes a bunch of later problems. The first item I realized would be a problem is the layout of the pillars below the great cabin and how they go through or interface with the new lower deck. This also brought up the mast step location and where the end of the great cabin deck should be. I decided the only way to get these correct is to assemble the subdeck portion of the great cabin with its beams.
I glued the clamps on for the great cabin and cut the beams to fit. In this first photo with the WTF Dude you can see there isn’t a lot of room down here.
In this pic you can see the beams I used cut to length. The kit included one more beam for the back of the deck that I didn’t use.
In order to construct a wall between the quarterdeck / guest room deck and the great cabin there needs to be a gap between the frames for the various decks. In order to achieve this, I had to cut the great cabin deck shorter. Being as it’s so far back, it’ll never be seen I decided to cut the back of the deck instead of the front. I had to cut 14mm off the deck to get it slid back to the proper location for my design. Fortunately, my framing is a little wide so I didn’t have to do much trimming on the sides of the deck.
I decided at this point to get the clamps for the various decks in place. The main reason is to make sure the differences between the decks was working out approximately correct. The ceiling heights are really import on all the decks because they are low by design. While it might not be unreasonable for a crew member to crouch down on the lower deck, that obviously won’t work for the King or his guests. In the great cabin and guest quarters, depending on the depth of the ceiling beams it’s slightly less than 6 feet based on the plan.
When I was preparing to locate the clamps for the quarterdeck I dropped and broke the bulkhead break for the main door. Fortunately, I had already decided to move the door and dome to the port side of the ship, so I was going to have to make a new one anyway. Mike had already sent me the line work so I could mirror the bulkhead. Here is the broken bulkhead being used to set the quarterdeck height. I forgot to take a photo, but I also sanded the top of the frames to match the design and form a nice smooth top at design level.
Qdeck pic
Here is the completed quarterdeck framing with the great cabin deck in place.
Qdeck 2
At this point I was able to use the in place great cabin deck to locate the mast step. Then install the mast step and limber board covers. I also double checked the clamp location for the guest deck framing and installed them.
Next, I cut the great cabin deck and added some framing by where it was cut. This is for the stairs going down from the guest quarters to the lower deck. These stairs ought to be fun to build. It’s kind of a spiral staircase along the frames. There will be an enclosure in this corner of the great cabin to provide headroom for the stairs. The great cabin clamp was left in place to support the wall that will be constructed in this location. A pillar will also be added at the now unsupported end of the beam.
In this photo you can see a piece of paper in the 1/8” gap between the front of the great cabin beam and the back of the quarterdeck and guest quarters clamp. This is where the wall will be. You can also see a portion of the sanded frame tops.
As a check, I printed a template of the wall and had been using it all along to make sure it was going to work before hacking the floor up etc. In the photo below I have the quarter deck framing setting where the guest quarter framing will be, just to show basically how it’ll look. I have the Fusion 360 models for the wall, stairs, door and quarter deck framing ready to go just have to machine the parts now. The left side will remain open so people can look back into the lower area. I’m planning on placing the included barrels and crates etc on the lower deck.
At this point I got to thinking about what I could do during the week. I still work full time but typically have a few hours in the evening I can do modeling. However, it’s dark out early now and I don’t do major sawdust creating work in the garage. So I switched gears and milled some wood for future use. There’s Cherry, Bloodwood, Red Heart, and African Blackwood here. I need the bloodwood for plans I have with the Fubbs. The others I might use and might not. I just figured I had the band saw and thickness sander out so the mess was already made, might as well do some extra. None of this has any finish on it. I am doing a test on the Red Heart with UV inhibitor to see how long I can keep it this color.
After that I worked on constructing the lower deck. I didn’t get real fancy with it being as it isn’t going to be really visible once everything is done. I decided to use an N-scale train trick where you just build enough to trick the viewer into feeling like it’s the way it should be. If you put a few multicolored blocks inside a building it isn’t a nice interior, but to someone looking at the layout it registers as an interior in their mind. People will notice that the empty space feels a little wrong. They typically won’t notice the minor details like what is actually in a building or wood joints back in a forest of pieces. It’s noticeable when looking at a photo like this, but after it’s enclosed with the walls pillars knees etc., I don’t expect it’ll be noticeable.
One thing I am on the fence on is whether or not to plank the rest of the deck on the left or leave it as is. Seems to go with the half planked, half wall, open upper deck theme this way. With the guest deck framing, pillars in the center, some hanging knees etc I think this will look good.
These decks are all just sitting in place none of them are glued in. My plan is to finish these parts off of the model as much as possible. Concerned about damaging the inside working on the outside or the other way around. Hopefully, I can get most of the inner assemblies ready to go, then do the outer planking before putting it all together. That might be a real challenge with the stairs and pillars etc. but that’s my plan so far.
I did get the lower counter area planked and finished.
After finally coming to a decision on colors, I decided I no longer liked the idea of having the rudder made from cherry. It seems kind of odd to have cherry framing with a walnut stern post and a cherry rudder. I could have just used the cherry sternpost I made but I do like the darker keel look. I decided instead to go ahead and make myself a walnut rudder. Mike S sent me the basic line work and I used my 3018 to make a new rudder. As you can see this is about as big a part as I can make.
And here it is put together with blackened glue. This was just rough sanded on the sides. There is a lot of shaping still needed before we’ll be ready for metal work.
That was all done before this last weekend, it just didn’t seem like it warranted an update.
This is basically the point where everyone else disappeared for a while and started working on the Parquetry Floor. I know this is pretty shocking but I decided I’m not going to use it. It is a striking feature of the prototype that I think looks awesome. However, I want my build to be different than the rest, and being as I wanted to have the lower forward deck with the stairs, and the partition in the main cabin, both of those mess up the layout of the Parquetry Floor. So, I went in a different direction.
In order for the lower deck, and guest quarters deck to work I had to go into design mode. It’s really easy when making significant modifications to change something that causes a bunch of later problems. The first item I realized would be a problem is the layout of the pillars below the great cabin and how they go through or interface with the new lower deck. This also brought up the mast step location and where the end of the great cabin deck should be. I decided the only way to get these correct is to assemble the subdeck portion of the great cabin with its beams.
I glued the clamps on for the great cabin and cut the beams to fit. In this first photo with the WTF Dude you can see there isn’t a lot of room down here.
In this pic you can see the beams I used cut to length. The kit included one more beam for the back of the deck that I didn’t use.
In order to construct a wall between the quarterdeck / guest room deck and the great cabin there needs to be a gap between the frames for the various decks. In order to achieve this, I had to cut the great cabin deck shorter. Being as it’s so far back, it’ll never be seen I decided to cut the back of the deck instead of the front. I had to cut 14mm off the deck to get it slid back to the proper location for my design. Fortunately, my framing is a little wide so I didn’t have to do much trimming on the sides of the deck.
I decided at this point to get the clamps for the various decks in place. The main reason is to make sure the differences between the decks was working out approximately correct. The ceiling heights are really import on all the decks because they are low by design. While it might not be unreasonable for a crew member to crouch down on the lower deck, that obviously won’t work for the King or his guests. In the great cabin and guest quarters, depending on the depth of the ceiling beams it’s slightly less than 6 feet based on the plan.
When I was preparing to locate the clamps for the quarterdeck I dropped and broke the bulkhead break for the main door. Fortunately, I had already decided to move the door and dome to the port side of the ship, so I was going to have to make a new one anyway. Mike had already sent me the line work so I could mirror the bulkhead. Here is the broken bulkhead being used to set the quarterdeck height. I forgot to take a photo, but I also sanded the top of the frames to match the design and form a nice smooth top at design level.
Here is the completed quarterdeck framing with the great cabin deck in place.
At this point I was able to use the in place great cabin deck to locate the mast step. Then install the mast step and limber board covers. I also double checked the clamp location for the guest deck framing and installed them.
Next, I cut the great cabin deck and added some framing by where it was cut. This is for the stairs going down from the guest quarters to the lower deck. These stairs ought to be fun to build. It’s kind of a spiral staircase along the frames. There will be an enclosure in this corner of the great cabin to provide headroom for the stairs. The great cabin clamp was left in place to support the wall that will be constructed in this location. A pillar will also be added at the now unsupported end of the beam.
In this photo you can see a piece of paper in the 1/8” gap between the front of the great cabin beam and the back of the quarterdeck and guest quarters clamp. This is where the wall will be. You can also see a portion of the sanded frame tops.
As a check, I printed a template of the wall and had been using it all along to make sure it was going to work before hacking the floor up etc. In the photo below I have the quarter deck framing setting where the guest quarter framing will be, just to show basically how it’ll look. I have the Fusion 360 models for the wall, stairs, door and quarter deck framing ready to go just have to machine the parts now. The left side will remain open so people can look back into the lower area. I’m planning on placing the included barrels and crates etc on the lower deck.
At this point I got to thinking about what I could do during the week. I still work full time but typically have a few hours in the evening I can do modeling. However, it’s dark out early now and I don’t do major sawdust creating work in the garage. So I switched gears and milled some wood for future use. There’s Cherry, Bloodwood, Red Heart, and African Blackwood here. I need the bloodwood for plans I have with the Fubbs. The others I might use and might not. I just figured I had the band saw and thickness sander out so the mess was already made, might as well do some extra. None of this has any finish on it. I am doing a test on the Red Heart with UV inhibitor to see how long I can keep it this color.
After that I worked on constructing the lower deck. I didn’t get real fancy with it being as it isn’t going to be really visible once everything is done. I decided to use an N-scale train trick where you just build enough to trick the viewer into feeling like it’s the way it should be. If you put a few multicolored blocks inside a building it isn’t a nice interior, but to someone looking at the layout it registers as an interior in their mind. People will notice that the empty space feels a little wrong. They typically won’t notice the minor details like what is actually in a building or wood joints back in a forest of pieces. It’s noticeable when looking at a photo like this, but after it’s enclosed with the walls pillars knees etc., I don’t expect it’ll be noticeable.
One thing I am on the fence on is whether or not to plank the rest of the deck on the left or leave it as is. Seems to go with the half planked, half wall, open upper deck theme this way. With the guest deck framing, pillars in the center, some hanging knees etc I think this will look good.
These decks are all just sitting in place none of them are glued in. My plan is to finish these parts off of the model as much as possible. Concerned about damaging the inside working on the outside or the other way around. Hopefully, I can get most of the inner assemblies ready to go, then do the outer planking before putting it all together. That might be a real challenge with the stairs and pillars etc. but that’s my plan so far.
