Me too. But the designer/researcher insists it is correct (and that there was variation between designs/ships).
MarisStella Ragusian Carrack by Signet [COMPLETED BUILD]
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- Jun 17, 2021
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Looks like a VERY demanding and fiddley build. I, too often encounter illogical, or impossible features designed into these models.
frustrating!
Great work thus far!
Pete
frustrating!Great work thus far!
Pete
Thanks! I have found it a bit hard for me, mostly with planking, but then this is my first and only full plank on bulkhead model. I found out afterwards they recommend it for more advanced builders, but I'm slogging my way though it.Looks like a VERY demanding and fiddley build. I, too often encounter illogical, or impossible features designed into these models.
Great work thus far!
Pete
On to the lower futtock riders for the mainmast.
I've gotten more of a method going for producing these now, in several steps. After measuring and recording the contour, I shape the inner side of the riders, beveled to fit against the hull but keeping them perpendicular to the keel (about 5 degrees in this case), trim the ends and saw slots for the wales to fit in (at angles from 7 to11 degrees off of horizontal to fit the sloping wales), cut the top to fit under the channels at the proper angle, fit and fiddle, then shape the contours (again at about 5 degrees), sand and finally stain:
I use a square to insure the riders are vertical to the keel, and tried using a piece of stiff paper trimmed to the space between them, to assist in equal spacing:
This worked better than the small blocks I used at the foremast.
After the next rider is glued in place, spaced correctly and square to the keel:
I work along until all the riders required for the starboard mainmast channel are in place, again keeping them vertical:
Notice above that at the bottom I use a space between my building base and the square. As the sides of the hull vary in angle quite a bit, from slanting out toward the keel, to slanting in due to the tumblehome, the square has to be set at the right angle to support the side of each futtock rider. If the bottom of the square is not parallel with the keel, the indicated vertical will not be true, so I use a constant width spacer (ruler, sanding sticks, piece of scrap), and put the square against it, insuring it is parallel with the keel, and thus it is giving me true verticals on the futtock riders.
Lower riders on the starboard side are now complete, and the channel temporarily fitted to insure a good fit. I think I'll leave it loose until the upper riders are sized to fit and completed.
And the port side:
One reason I decided to do these before finishing detail on the decks is that I have to install two guns under the quarterdeck before planking the quarterdeck, and I've had bad luck with knocking guns loose by hitting the exposed barrel. With the futtock riders in place, they should help protect the extended barrel from damage.
Next will be the upper riders for the mainmast.
I've gotten more of a method going for producing these now, in several steps. After measuring and recording the contour, I shape the inner side of the riders, beveled to fit against the hull but keeping them perpendicular to the keel (about 5 degrees in this case), trim the ends and saw slots for the wales to fit in (at angles from 7 to11 degrees off of horizontal to fit the sloping wales), cut the top to fit under the channels at the proper angle, fit and fiddle, then shape the contours (again at about 5 degrees), sand and finally stain:
I use a square to insure the riders are vertical to the keel, and tried using a piece of stiff paper trimmed to the space between them, to assist in equal spacing:
This worked better than the small blocks I used at the foremast.
After the next rider is glued in place, spaced correctly and square to the keel:
I work along until all the riders required for the starboard mainmast channel are in place, again keeping them vertical:
Notice above that at the bottom I use a space between my building base and the square. As the sides of the hull vary in angle quite a bit, from slanting out toward the keel, to slanting in due to the tumblehome, the square has to be set at the right angle to support the side of each futtock rider. If the bottom of the square is not parallel with the keel, the indicated vertical will not be true, so I use a constant width spacer (ruler, sanding sticks, piece of scrap), and put the square against it, insuring it is parallel with the keel, and thus it is giving me true verticals on the futtock riders.
Lower riders on the starboard side are now complete, and the channel temporarily fitted to insure a good fit. I think I'll leave it loose until the upper riders are sized to fit and completed.
And the port side:
One reason I decided to do these before finishing detail on the decks is that I have to install two guns under the quarterdeck before planking the quarterdeck, and I've had bad luck with knocking guns loose by hitting the exposed barrel. With the futtock riders in place, they should help protect the extended barrel from damage.
Next will be the upper riders for the mainmast.
Continuing with the upper futtock riders for the mainmast channels, I modified my procedure a bit. While using a scroll saw should work best, I find straight cuts and sanding work better for me. I will show my current procedure in a number of smaller photos, rather than entering a lot of text. I'm sure this isn't anything new anyhow:
The center parallelogram-shaped portion cannot easily be used to make these pieces as there isn't enough stock to keep against the square.
I decided to make a marking tool out of the central portion of a pen and some plastic tubing:
Holding the rider in place a distance from the hull, I use the tool to mark the contour:
The riders need to be vertical to the keel, perpendicular keel, and with upper and lower inline with each other. I used a scrap of wood with a cut to help keep upper and lower inline, while a square helps maintain them vertical:
And the end result:
It will be a few days until I can work on the foremast futtock riders; my "original" sanding belt finally gave up the ghost, and I broke 3 new ones today trying to continue. Apparently the high & low temperatures and high humidity of a garage, especially if the box with the belts is on the floor, is detrimental to them, so I have ordered new belts which I will keep in the house until needed. I may be able to find something else that needs little or no power sanding, although I've become quite dependent on it.
The center parallelogram-shaped portion cannot easily be used to make these pieces as there isn't enough stock to keep against the square.
I decided to make a marking tool out of the central portion of a pen and some plastic tubing:
Holding the rider in place a distance from the hull, I use the tool to mark the contour:
The riders need to be vertical to the keel, perpendicular keel, and with upper and lower inline with each other. I used a scrap of wood with a cut to help keep upper and lower inline, while a square helps maintain them vertical:
And the end result:
It will be a few days until I can work on the foremast futtock riders; my "original" sanding belt finally gave up the ghost, and I broke 3 new ones today trying to continue. Apparently the high & low temperatures and high humidity of a garage, especially if the box with the belts is on the floor, is detrimental to them, so I have ordered new belts which I will keep in the house until needed. I may be able to find something else that needs little or no power sanding, although I've become quite dependent on it.
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As an aside, I just realized, after reading through the instruction book (again), that I screwed up the channels: they should have 0.5mm thick planking overlaying all sides. This is one area where build logs and videos by others can cause a problem. We think we know how to build something, because we've watched others doing it. But turns out sometimes, no one else adds this feature either. So while I have lots of company, in this area, by build is wrong in this area (and others - but didn't know about this one until it was too late).
I also realized that I forgot to glue the left side channel in place before adding the futtock riders above it. So it's only held by glue to the upper riders, not the hull or lower riders. Luckily, you can't see that, and I don't think it will fall off, but I should really be more careful.
I also realized that I forgot to glue the left side channel in place before adding the futtock riders above it. So it's only held by glue to the upper riders, not the hull or lower riders. Luckily, you can't see that, and I don't think it will fall off, but I should really be more careful.
Not doing much today. Waiting for new sanding belts to come, as pretty much everything I do involves them. But I thought I'd give a try "turning" the turned column that supports the outer center of the quarterdeck.
A lathe is something I've longed for (since I sold my Unimat, before getting back into modeling), but can't really justify. The ones I could really USE cost too much, and I don't think the $50 ones from China will do much of what I'd really like to do. So, back to my trusty drill. This time I found that the 5x5mm square walnut was a pretty close fit inside the plastic tubing, so I cut a slot in the tubing to allow it to tighten more, and chucked that up in a drill:
After experimenting with files, small saw, sanding stick, wood carving tools, a cordless drill and an electric drill, after after using all of them one way or another, I ended up with this:
Not great, but acceptable, I think.
A lathe is something I've longed for (since I sold my Unimat, before getting back into modeling), but can't really justify. The ones I could really USE cost too much, and I don't think the $50 ones from China will do much of what I'd really like to do. So, back to my trusty drill. This time I found that the 5x5mm square walnut was a pretty close fit inside the plastic tubing, so I cut a slot in the tubing to allow it to tighten more, and chucked that up in a drill:
After experimenting with files, small saw, sanding stick, wood carving tools, a cordless drill and an electric drill, after after using all of them one way or another, I ended up with this:
Not great, but acceptable, I think.
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I decided to work next on the hatch on the main deck. Unlike Olha, I didn't plan on making any opening below it, so planned on putting it right on the main deck. The plans confused me though, showing this:
This didn't look at all like what others had built, which had eyes and rings on each plank. I actually felt that the eyes and rings were overkill for something of this size, that handles, maybe recessed in holes, made more sense, but couldn't tell much from the drawing, so I contact Zoran at MarisStella, who has been very helpful. I questioned these areas. After several emails, I confirmed with him that they are indeed supposed to be holes in each plank, with ropes or handles within them, for picking up the planks. The cross section he suggested was:
Further, he gave me a pic from the Ragusian Cog model which shows this arrangement more accurately:
I drilled the larger, vertical holes in each plank using a brad point drill, which makes nice clean holes, and gave them a coat of rub-on varnish. I wanted to drill the smaller holes for the handles /after/ the finish was applied, to prevent blocking the holes:
I experimented drilling large and small holes in scrap to prove the concept, then made a small jig to be sure all small holes were drilled in the correct location:
Yeah, that's a Hungry Howies pizza receipt. I found the paper I had on-hand too thick, and this was just right at only 0.002". The idea is that the paper both helps hold the jig together, and gives a couple thousandths of an inch between the planks to be put in place, so the vise could hold the jig tight, while letting the planks slide in place. The back of the jig shows the paper, trimmed:
This is the drilled effect, with rope, that I was going for:
Here, the jig is clamped in the drill press vise, while a plank is being drilled. I actually drilled each side and end separately, 4 separate drillings, except end planks which drilled just deep enough to mark the far side of the larger hole.
This slight depression drilled in the far side of the end planks allowed me to drill by hand end holes that did not come out the end, but rather came out the bottom, where they will be invisible:
While the rope is obviously not installed like the original, the effect, with each handle coming out near the center of the plank thickness, is the same.
Thread was then loosely looped through the holes, the planks squared up, and tape placed on the top of the planks, then flipped the assembly:
A piece of scrap was cut to be the exact size of the /inside/ of the hatch, allowing room for the surrounding wood sides, and glued in place, centered using pieces on each side:
After flipping over, the thread in each hole was glued with CA to have a small upward loop, and the extra cut off:
Next came the vertical pieces of the hatch, which is glued directly to the scrap mentioned above:
Here also, the flanges for the hatch have been cut, shaped and located, but NOT glued.
One by one, each corner had pieces of wax paper cut and placed to separate the top planks from the flanges so they wouldn't stick during gluing:
After all four corners are done, the four pieces of flange are super-glued to each other, but NOT to the hatch itself:
Why do it this way? A couple reasons: 1) The decking is curved in both directions, and even if a perfect fit is made on the vertical portions of the hatch, the surrounding flange needs to be nice and tight to the deck. And 2) I intended to drill a number of holes and add eyes to the flange, which would be easier and stronger if done after the flange was glued in place, but before the hatch was in place.
I decided to buy the 95mm long 15th-16th century row boat by Pavel Nikitin, which I got (more) locally from Dry Dock Models in Canada, as Olha did on her Carrack. While I'll be assembling it later, I wanted to be sure how it would fit on the hatch and exactly where to locate the hatch, so I assembled the stand/mount for it. Lucky for me, it fit the hatch top exactly, even though I'd already finished the hatch, and the boat kit came after it was complete:
I will say that these small parts had the finest and smoothest laser cutting I have seen. Almost nothing needs to be cut away, and the parts smoothly fall out. No breaking of parts because the solid areas are too strong. The thickness of the remaining strip between the two longitudinal members in the piece shown above to the left is a constant 0.005", showing the accuracy. Amazing!
I temporarily located the bits, made earlier, around the main mast mount, and a cutout of the boat size, to help locate the hatch:
My son made the 3D printed barrels that I drew up using Fusion 360, so I located some of those. I'll go over them more later, once I finalize a paint scheme and location; right now I just wanted to be sure there was room for everything.
Here, the hatch surrounding flange has been glued in place, using weights to keep it flush:
Since it was built around the hatch proper, it locates and fits the hatch perfectly, and any irregularity in the bottom of the hatch (not much) is covered.
The hatch is in place, temporarily for now, so holes and eyes can be added later:
The rope lifts are subtle, but noticeable, and I feel better that they are authentic and correct.
The boat mount is now in place:
It works perfectly for this purpose. On the Cog drawing Zoran sent, there were two longitudinal boards that held the planks in place, held down by ropes. This mount has them built into it, so they will be tied down to the deck, and the boat will then be tied down with cross and diagonal ropes to the deck.
Here's the "boat" as it stands now:
The final one should look better, but will be the same size, so should fit fine.
Next might be a couple guns, for under the quarterdeck. I'd been delaying them, and recently realized that the blocks included with this kit are not very good and I need to buy better ones. But I have enough single blocks for the guns from another project, so can proceed with them.
Working with smaller stuff at this point, I really need to clean up my workbench aka desk, to make room and get rid of all the larger tools. That's definitely next.
This didn't look at all like what others had built, which had eyes and rings on each plank. I actually felt that the eyes and rings were overkill for something of this size, that handles, maybe recessed in holes, made more sense, but couldn't tell much from the drawing, so I contact Zoran at MarisStella, who has been very helpful. I questioned these areas. After several emails, I confirmed with him that they are indeed supposed to be holes in each plank, with ropes or handles within them, for picking up the planks. The cross section he suggested was:
Further, he gave me a pic from the Ragusian Cog model which shows this arrangement more accurately:
I drilled the larger, vertical holes in each plank using a brad point drill, which makes nice clean holes, and gave them a coat of rub-on varnish. I wanted to drill the smaller holes for the handles /after/ the finish was applied, to prevent blocking the holes:
I experimented drilling large and small holes in scrap to prove the concept, then made a small jig to be sure all small holes were drilled in the correct location:
Yeah, that's a Hungry Howies pizza receipt. I found the paper I had on-hand too thick, and this was just right at only 0.002". The idea is that the paper both helps hold the jig together, and gives a couple thousandths of an inch between the planks to be put in place, so the vise could hold the jig tight, while letting the planks slide in place. The back of the jig shows the paper, trimmed:
This is the drilled effect, with rope, that I was going for:
Here, the jig is clamped in the drill press vise, while a plank is being drilled. I actually drilled each side and end separately, 4 separate drillings, except end planks which drilled just deep enough to mark the far side of the larger hole.
This slight depression drilled in the far side of the end planks allowed me to drill by hand end holes that did not come out the end, but rather came out the bottom, where they will be invisible:
While the rope is obviously not installed like the original, the effect, with each handle coming out near the center of the plank thickness, is the same.
Thread was then loosely looped through the holes, the planks squared up, and tape placed on the top of the planks, then flipped the assembly:
A piece of scrap was cut to be the exact size of the /inside/ of the hatch, allowing room for the surrounding wood sides, and glued in place, centered using pieces on each side:
After flipping over, the thread in each hole was glued with CA to have a small upward loop, and the extra cut off:
Next came the vertical pieces of the hatch, which is glued directly to the scrap mentioned above:
Here also, the flanges for the hatch have been cut, shaped and located, but NOT glued.
One by one, each corner had pieces of wax paper cut and placed to separate the top planks from the flanges so they wouldn't stick during gluing:
After all four corners are done, the four pieces of flange are super-glued to each other, but NOT to the hatch itself:
Why do it this way? A couple reasons: 1) The decking is curved in both directions, and even if a perfect fit is made on the vertical portions of the hatch, the surrounding flange needs to be nice and tight to the deck. And 2) I intended to drill a number of holes and add eyes to the flange, which would be easier and stronger if done after the flange was glued in place, but before the hatch was in place.
I decided to buy the 95mm long 15th-16th century row boat by Pavel Nikitin, which I got (more) locally from Dry Dock Models in Canada, as Olha did on her Carrack. While I'll be assembling it later, I wanted to be sure how it would fit on the hatch and exactly where to locate the hatch, so I assembled the stand/mount for it. Lucky for me, it fit the hatch top exactly, even though I'd already finished the hatch, and the boat kit came after it was complete:
I will say that these small parts had the finest and smoothest laser cutting I have seen. Almost nothing needs to be cut away, and the parts smoothly fall out. No breaking of parts because the solid areas are too strong. The thickness of the remaining strip between the two longitudinal members in the piece shown above to the left is a constant 0.005", showing the accuracy. Amazing!
I temporarily located the bits, made earlier, around the main mast mount, and a cutout of the boat size, to help locate the hatch:
My son made the 3D printed barrels that I drew up using Fusion 360, so I located some of those. I'll go over them more later, once I finalize a paint scheme and location; right now I just wanted to be sure there was room for everything.
Here, the hatch surrounding flange has been glued in place, using weights to keep it flush:
Since it was built around the hatch proper, it locates and fits the hatch perfectly, and any irregularity in the bottom of the hatch (not much) is covered.
The hatch is in place, temporarily for now, so holes and eyes can be added later:
The rope lifts are subtle, but noticeable, and I feel better that they are authentic and correct.
The boat mount is now in place:
It works perfectly for this purpose. On the Cog drawing Zoran sent, there were two longitudinal boards that held the planks in place, held down by ropes. This mount has them built into it, so they will be tied down to the deck, and the boat will then be tied down with cross and diagonal ropes to the deck.
Here's the "boat" as it stands now:
The final one should look better, but will be the same size, so should fit fine.
Next might be a couple guns, for under the quarterdeck. I'd been delaying them, and recently realized that the blocks included with this kit are not very good and I need to buy better ones. But I have enough single blocks for the guns from another project, so can proceed with them.
Working with smaller stuff at this point, I really need to clean up my workbench aka desk, to make room and get rid of all the larger tools. That's definitely next.
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I decided to put the side cabin windows in next. Based on the logic and pictures I posted previously here, I decided on choice #3, with the windows located a consistent distance above the apparent cabin deck (and below the wales), and vertical rather than canted. While angled looked nice in the original location, the height I located them in seemed to dictate they be parallel to the futtock riders. I marked the inner location first:
Then approximated the window area that could be visible:
I didn't want the planking to show up, even if painted black, as I felt it might not look right (turned out I doubt it would have mattered), so I dug out the wood a bit, to remove the planking look, make it rougher, and provide room for clear plastic:
The window areas were then painted flat black:
The windows don't look vertical in this picture, as I've photographed it at an angle.
I then glued the brass grids to the back of the window frames and stained the window frames darker:
These frames were very fragile before gluing to the grid, and two broke the bottom horizontal portion off. Since this is cross grain, I sanded them back to the vertical portion and added scrap walnut with the grain horizontal to make them stronger.
I had intended to put clear plastic behind the windows and in front of the black painted planking, but in tests, with the grids in the windows, I really couldn't tell the plastic was there, so left it out.
The final view of the installed windows:
I think I like it better than the location on the plans. At least I think it's more logical.
Since I don't yet have the 3mm blocks I need for the gun rigging, I thought I'd work on some elm tree pumps I wanted to add to the design. None were in the plans, but I felt at least a couple must be necessary, and while the area is tight, decided to add them.
Zoran of MarisStella sent me a photo of a pump design typically used on this type of ship:
Notable in this older design is that the wooden pumps are round, rather than octagonal, and the rope binding at the deck.
I sketched a rough model in Fusion 360, to produce 2D drawings as a guide:
and printed it out to use as a guide to make the pumps.
I used 5mm dowel for the body. The 1mm wood stock I had for the other parts was pretty flimsy and wanted to splinter, so I took two pieces of 0.5mm veneer and glued them together:
For the brackets, I turned the grain at 90 degrees for the two pieces, to make them strong in both planes, while for the levers I kept the grain parallel to make them stronger in that way.
I ended up gluing them up again using weights, as the clamps, while strong, didn't cover the entire area, and allowed outer portions to warp.
The pieces were cut and holes drilled for pivots:
Even with the pieces laminated, they weren't very strong, so I covered all surfaces with CA to seal and harden them.
The parts laying in place to check for fit:
I had already drilled 5mm holes in the deck near the mainmast for mounting them.
Rope was wound around the bottom of the pumps, per the above design:
Not very neatly I see when magnified. The ropes will also act as stops when I insert them into the deck.
After assembly and the addition of tape to represent the iron reinforcing straps:
Yes, they work, but the wire I had was a bit short, so I'll be gluing them in a fixed position.
This gives a little better view of what the exposed portion of the pumps will look like:
I didn't notice any spouts for the water to exit from in the original photo, so I didn't include any here. I assume a pipe was run from below the deck to outside the hull for the water to flow. If I'm wrong, and the spouts were toward the back, then they won't be visible in my model either.
I won't be mounting the pumps until much later; they're just too fragile to sit there for months.
That's it for now.
Then approximated the window area that could be visible:
I didn't want the planking to show up, even if painted black, as I felt it might not look right (turned out I doubt it would have mattered), so I dug out the wood a bit, to remove the planking look, make it rougher, and provide room for clear plastic:
The window areas were then painted flat black:
The windows don't look vertical in this picture, as I've photographed it at an angle.
I then glued the brass grids to the back of the window frames and stained the window frames darker:
These frames were very fragile before gluing to the grid, and two broke the bottom horizontal portion off. Since this is cross grain, I sanded them back to the vertical portion and added scrap walnut with the grain horizontal to make them stronger.
I had intended to put clear plastic behind the windows and in front of the black painted planking, but in tests, with the grids in the windows, I really couldn't tell the plastic was there, so left it out.
The final view of the installed windows:
I think I like it better than the location on the plans. At least I think it's more logical.
Since I don't yet have the 3mm blocks I need for the gun rigging, I thought I'd work on some elm tree pumps I wanted to add to the design. None were in the plans, but I felt at least a couple must be necessary, and while the area is tight, decided to add them.
Zoran of MarisStella sent me a photo of a pump design typically used on this type of ship:
Notable in this older design is that the wooden pumps are round, rather than octagonal, and the rope binding at the deck.
I sketched a rough model in Fusion 360, to produce 2D drawings as a guide:
and printed it out to use as a guide to make the pumps.
I used 5mm dowel for the body. The 1mm wood stock I had for the other parts was pretty flimsy and wanted to splinter, so I took two pieces of 0.5mm veneer and glued them together:
For the brackets, I turned the grain at 90 degrees for the two pieces, to make them strong in both planes, while for the levers I kept the grain parallel to make them stronger in that way.
I ended up gluing them up again using weights, as the clamps, while strong, didn't cover the entire area, and allowed outer portions to warp.
The pieces were cut and holes drilled for pivots:
Even with the pieces laminated, they weren't very strong, so I covered all surfaces with CA to seal and harden them.
The parts laying in place to check for fit:
I had already drilled 5mm holes in the deck near the mainmast for mounting them.
Rope was wound around the bottom of the pumps, per the above design:
Not very neatly I see when magnified. The ropes will also act as stops when I insert them into the deck.
After assembly and the addition of tape to represent the iron reinforcing straps:
Yes, they work, but the wire I had was a bit short, so I'll be gluing them in a fixed position.
This gives a little better view of what the exposed portion of the pumps will look like:
I didn't notice any spouts for the water to exit from in the original photo, so I didn't include any here. I assume a pipe was run from below the deck to outside the hull for the water to flow. If I'm wrong, and the spouts were toward the back, then they won't be visible in my model either.
I won't be mounting the pumps until much later; they're just too fragile to sit there for months.
That's it for now.
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I thought I'd work on a small detail now. Still recovering from a bad bout of gout in my foot, so keeping to smaller, simpler things.
The hatch that goes on top of the forecastle is for access to the forecastle deck from below, using a ladder. Most models show planks, relatively heavy, for this hatch, with rings on each end of the hatch planks, like others had done for the main deck hatch. I changed the main deck hatch, and felt I should the forecastle hatch too. I reasoned that:
To that I cut and adding coaming pieces for against the deck. The curvature of the deck is very small at this point, so I figured I'd just sand a bit after assembly for a good fit.
I then added the vertical pieces of the flange, and cut a piece of thin stock to fit inside the opening:
To the thin stock, cut to size, I glued the planks that form the top of the hatch. I kept them pretty thin: 0.7mm in thickness, a scale 41 mm or 1.6". I calculated the hatch weight would be about 65 pounds, if made of oak. I felt that seemed reasonable to lift, considering the force to open it would be closer to half of that with the hinge taking much of the load.
The planks were then glued to the small piece of thin scrap:
And then the hatch was glued in place. I fashioned a simple lifting handle, and some hinges from brass scrap I had. The hinges worked out pretty poorly, as I tried to make impressions to simulate nails or screws, but then I'm feeling poorly today myself, so just left them there:
Didn't even bother to brush off the sawdust from drilling holes for the handle, but there you have it.
The hatch that goes on top of the forecastle is for access to the forecastle deck from below, using a ladder. Most models show planks, relatively heavy, for this hatch, with rings on each end of the hatch planks, like others had done for the main deck hatch. I changed the main deck hatch, and felt I should the forecastle hatch too. I reasoned that:
- The hatch should not be so heavy that a sailor on a ladder from below could not push it open.
- Multiple separate planks make no sense here; the hatch would have to be opened often.
- Unlike the main deck hatch, which might stay in place during much of the voyage, this hatch had to be used multiple times per day by multiple personnel, to sail the ship, so a hinged hatch makes more sense.
- There has to be a handle or something to open the hatch with from above.
To that I cut and adding coaming pieces for against the deck. The curvature of the deck is very small at this point, so I figured I'd just sand a bit after assembly for a good fit.
I then added the vertical pieces of the flange, and cut a piece of thin stock to fit inside the opening:
To the thin stock, cut to size, I glued the planks that form the top of the hatch. I kept them pretty thin: 0.7mm in thickness, a scale 41 mm or 1.6". I calculated the hatch weight would be about 65 pounds, if made of oak. I felt that seemed reasonable to lift, considering the force to open it would be closer to half of that with the hinge taking much of the load.
The planks were then glued to the small piece of thin scrap:
And then the hatch was glued in place. I fashioned a simple lifting handle, and some hinges from brass scrap I had. The hinges worked out pretty poorly, as I tried to make impressions to simulate nails or screws, but then I'm feeling poorly today myself, so just left them there:
Didn't even bother to brush off the sawdust from drilling holes for the handle, but there you have it.
I decided to work on the ship's jolly boat next, avoiding other more important work (a trait of mine, unfortunately). The kit does not come with one, but Olya got Pavel Nitikin's 95mm boat, so that's what I got as well:
This is an excellent kit, but I'm far from an excellent builder. I was tempted to not include any of the following, because to be honest, I'm ashamed of the workmanship. But I decided to include it to show that even shoddy workmanship and multiple errors can result in a presentable model. Good builders might want to look away. Beginners might want to read on and see that there are builders worse than you!
I showed the keel put together previously, to the side, but here is the assembled keel along with all of the bulkheads:
The bulkheads are all of 0.5mm fine-grained light colored wood (I placed some stain over the sheet before removing the pieces). The lower of each pair shown above is glued to the piece above to form a thicker, somewhat stronger bulkhead.
During gluing of the pairs, one part of the bulkhead half fell on the floor (I usually try to drop at least every third piece - bending down and finding what I drop is my major form of exercise).
The "sweepings" at the lower left was an attempt to find the missing piece. It wasn't there.
While but bulkheads are accurately cut, none of them would fit over the keel, so all the notches of the bulkhead pairs had to be filed to fit.
Naturally, some broke and needed repair. The wood near the keel is under 1/16" wide in some places, and while the pairs of pieces were varied some in grain direction, they were still too weak (for my manhandling, at least). Above is the jig that the assembly is to be placed in BEFORE gluing. I put a piece of wax paper inside to prevent excess glue from sticking to the jig. Olya glued her assembly with white glue, then placed it in the jig, but I tried following the instructions to position it first, so had to use CA.
BTW, the end braces on the jig were made incorrectly; they were made the correct overall height, but the recess at the bottom wasn't large enough. I just trimmed the tops with a saw so they fit. The jig is extremely strong without it, anyhow.
The frame is now in place in the jig and CA applied to the joints. BTW, for most parts I applied a thin coat of water-based golden oak wood stain, so that would be less affected by glue.
I looked and looked at the instructions, but still installed all the bulkheads backwards. I didn't think it would matter, but of course it did. More on that later.
Next the bottom "grating" goes in place. Luckily, it covers a lot of the bad areas in the framing:
Unluckily, again, I put it in backwards, matching my backwards bulkheads. No, actually, it went in correctly, but looks backwards. No, oh hell, I don't know.
Next, the longitudinal inner braces are added:
I thought I had them in the correct location, but I didn't. I thought they were supposed to go near the top, but they were supposed to go into notches in the bulkheads lower, to support the seats.
The result, after removal from the jig, is shown here:
It's fairly sturdy now, with everything glued together. I didn't do any cleanup of the inside of the bulkheads, as they were just too flimsy. And I figured the char would look okay, and it does. I tried cleaning up the outside and shaping them properly after assembly, but it's a Catch-22: before assembly, they're too flimsy to file or sand. Afterwards, it's very hard to properly sand the end ones. Oh well.
At this point I've placed the first 4 planks on each side. Planking is 0.5mm walnut, a nice choice visually. You can readily see the HIDEOUS job I did. The planks are all pre-cut, but for the most part, ended up a bit short. Maybe because I didn't file the end bulkheads properly. I am very ashamed of my work here, and started looking for 3D STL files to have my son make a 3D printed boat instead, even considered drawing one up, but decided to continue instead. For a while, at least.
With the planks so thin and easily bent, I didn't think I would need to pre-bend them. I was wrong. The last 3 planks on each side I pre-bent, and it went much better. I tried white glue and CD, ended up using a bit of both, mostly gel CA. The planks, as I said, weren't long enough. And the thin walnut split on the ends; I figured I'd fill in the spaces later. Mostly, I glued my fingers to the ends of the planks, which proved beneficial, as I was unable to throw the model across the room!
A note about walnut here: Many of us on the forum have been asking/requiring Pavel to have quality, colored wood on the outer portion of his models, so they didn't have to be "painted/stained" using the Pavel technique. But while the white wood used in this kit was very fine and strong, the nicely-colored walnut split and broke easily. Cherry, or better yet, Pear, would have worked better. Walnut is nice, and matches this ship kit, but it's large grain and tendency to split can be a problem.
The upper planking went better, but the result was poor:
Other angles of something I really don't want to show anyone:
Quit laughing, okay?
Storm damage, I think.
Next was mounting the top rails:
I didn't think either direction looked right, considering that oarlocks should be about 11" aft of the seat, but it was probably me in placing them. Notice I had to place the seats between and toward the bottom of the longitudinal bracing, rather than on top with notches. Likewise, for the aft U-shaped seat to the right, I had to rasp out part of the end bulkheads, since the wrong ones were there.
In any event, while the planking was too short, the top rails above were too long, so I decided to cut them to length, under an oarlock mount. This shows them too long:
After cutting them and gluing them in place, with the mounts for the oarlocks, I had:
I'd have to fill the extra holes, but I had a lot of filling to do on the model, so that wasn't a concern.
Here, I've caulked around the edge, to hide some gaps, and added the rudder and a line to the stem:
The oars are tiny and thin, but I didn't break any. Neither did I shape them round in the middle like I should have. It is intended to add small pieces of scrap walnut to the "handle" area of the oars, to add thickness and roundness, but I wasn't that happy with the result:
Instead, I used some caulking to increase the width of the handle area, then bundled the oars and tied them in place:
I see I missed filling some holes, so will do that.
The hull bottom after a bit of sanding and filling and caulking:
And the side view, where you really can't see most of the bad workmanship:
A final view of the boat temporarily in place; again, the result is not awful, I think, and that's what counts:
This is an excellent kit, but I'm far from an excellent builder. I was tempted to not include any of the following, because to be honest, I'm ashamed of the workmanship. But I decided to include it to show that even shoddy workmanship and multiple errors can result in a presentable model. Good builders might want to look away. Beginners might want to read on and see that there are builders worse than you!
I showed the keel put together previously, to the side, but here is the assembled keel along with all of the bulkheads:
The bulkheads are all of 0.5mm fine-grained light colored wood (I placed some stain over the sheet before removing the pieces). The lower of each pair shown above is glued to the piece above to form a thicker, somewhat stronger bulkhead.
During gluing of the pairs, one part of the bulkhead half fell on the floor (I usually try to drop at least every third piece - bending down and finding what I drop is my major form of exercise).
The "sweepings" at the lower left was an attempt to find the missing piece. It wasn't there.
While but bulkheads are accurately cut, none of them would fit over the keel, so all the notches of the bulkhead pairs had to be filed to fit.
Naturally, some broke and needed repair. The wood near the keel is under 1/16" wide in some places, and while the pairs of pieces were varied some in grain direction, they were still too weak (for my manhandling, at least). Above is the jig that the assembly is to be placed in BEFORE gluing. I put a piece of wax paper inside to prevent excess glue from sticking to the jig. Olya glued her assembly with white glue, then placed it in the jig, but I tried following the instructions to position it first, so had to use CA.
BTW, the end braces on the jig were made incorrectly; they were made the correct overall height, but the recess at the bottom wasn't large enough. I just trimmed the tops with a saw so they fit. The jig is extremely strong without it, anyhow.
The frame is now in place in the jig and CA applied to the joints. BTW, for most parts I applied a thin coat of water-based golden oak wood stain, so that would be less affected by glue.
I looked and looked at the instructions, but still installed all the bulkheads backwards. I didn't think it would matter, but of course it did. More on that later.
Next the bottom "grating" goes in place. Luckily, it covers a lot of the bad areas in the framing:
Unluckily, again, I put it in backwards, matching my backwards bulkheads. No, actually, it went in correctly, but looks backwards. No, oh hell, I don't know.
Next, the longitudinal inner braces are added:
I thought I had them in the correct location, but I didn't. I thought they were supposed to go near the top, but they were supposed to go into notches in the bulkheads lower, to support the seats.
The result, after removal from the jig, is shown here:
It's fairly sturdy now, with everything glued together. I didn't do any cleanup of the inside of the bulkheads, as they were just too flimsy. And I figured the char would look okay, and it does. I tried cleaning up the outside and shaping them properly after assembly, but it's a Catch-22: before assembly, they're too flimsy to file or sand. Afterwards, it's very hard to properly sand the end ones. Oh well.
At this point I've placed the first 4 planks on each side. Planking is 0.5mm walnut, a nice choice visually. You can readily see the HIDEOUS job I did. The planks are all pre-cut, but for the most part, ended up a bit short. Maybe because I didn't file the end bulkheads properly. I am very ashamed of my work here, and started looking for 3D STL files to have my son make a 3D printed boat instead, even considered drawing one up, but decided to continue instead. For a while, at least.
With the planks so thin and easily bent, I didn't think I would need to pre-bend them. I was wrong. The last 3 planks on each side I pre-bent, and it went much better. I tried white glue and CD, ended up using a bit of both, mostly gel CA. The planks, as I said, weren't long enough. And the thin walnut split on the ends; I figured I'd fill in the spaces later. Mostly, I glued my fingers to the ends of the planks, which proved beneficial, as I was unable to throw the model across the room!
A note about walnut here: Many of us on the forum have been asking/requiring Pavel to have quality, colored wood on the outer portion of his models, so they didn't have to be "painted/stained" using the Pavel technique. But while the white wood used in this kit was very fine and strong, the nicely-colored walnut split and broke easily. Cherry, or better yet, Pear, would have worked better. Walnut is nice, and matches this ship kit, but it's large grain and tendency to split can be a problem.
The upper planking went better, but the result was poor:
Other angles of something I really don't want to show anyone:
Quit laughing, okay?
Storm damage, I think.Next was mounting the top rails:
I didn't think either direction looked right, considering that oarlocks should be about 11" aft of the seat, but it was probably me in placing them. Notice I had to place the seats between and toward the bottom of the longitudinal bracing, rather than on top with notches. Likewise, for the aft U-shaped seat to the right, I had to rasp out part of the end bulkheads, since the wrong ones were there.
In any event, while the planking was too short, the top rails above were too long, so I decided to cut them to length, under an oarlock mount. This shows them too long:
After cutting them and gluing them in place, with the mounts for the oarlocks, I had:
I'd have to fill the extra holes, but I had a lot of filling to do on the model, so that wasn't a concern.
Here, I've caulked around the edge, to hide some gaps, and added the rudder and a line to the stem:
The oars are tiny and thin, but I didn't break any. Neither did I shape them round in the middle like I should have. It is intended to add small pieces of scrap walnut to the "handle" area of the oars, to add thickness and roundness, but I wasn't that happy with the result:
Instead, I used some caulking to increase the width of the handle area, then bundled the oars and tied them in place:
I see I missed filling some holes, so will do that.
The hull bottom after a bit of sanding and filling and caulking:
And the side view, where you really can't see most of the bad workmanship:
A final view of the boat temporarily in place; again, the result is not awful, I think, and that's what counts:
I will also mention that it was original my intention to "equip" the jolly boat with things I felt should be in it. Like a lot more rope coils on the "floor", maybe some fresh water in a jug or leather bladder, stuff like that, to add additional details. Then I read that early on, such boats were actually used to collect rainwater, so possibly a bucket and pail would be more appropriate, and I may yet add that. I also read that most such boats then could not be allowed to dry out, or the wood would warp and start to leak, so were often filled with water. Certainly not a place to store extra ropes, then. But I reasoned that one rope already attached to the stem made sense; additional lines could be quickly added if necessary.
For those who don't know, a "Jolly" boat would normally be the smallest of any boat on a ship. Even later ships with much larger boats often had a jolly boat, usually 16-18' in size, and with some early ships, it could have been the only boat. I felt it was appropriate for this early 16th century ship. While such boats could and were pulled along behind the ship on a line, there were times when it was better placed on the deck, and with no davits or slings in the back, I decided to model it that way.
Usually Jolly boats only had 4-6 oars, however 1) this kit came with 8, and 2) there were 8 oarlocks. In addition, I wasn't sure that the oarlock locations specified in the model were definitely the best, and reasoned that for the cost or complication of 2 more oarlocks and a couple oars, it gives more flexibility to the number and location of the crew using it.
As you may have noticed, I like to reason how and why things are used, so that they make sense, to me, at least, and not just copy a design or feature. I may be wrong, of course, but at least I have a reason behind it.
For those who don't know, a "Jolly" boat would normally be the smallest of any boat on a ship. Even later ships with much larger boats often had a jolly boat, usually 16-18' in size, and with some early ships, it could have been the only boat. I felt it was appropriate for this early 16th century ship. While such boats could and were pulled along behind the ship on a line, there were times when it was better placed on the deck, and with no davits or slings in the back, I decided to model it that way.
Usually Jolly boats only had 4-6 oars, however 1) this kit came with 8, and 2) there were 8 oarlocks. In addition, I wasn't sure that the oarlock locations specified in the model were definitely the best, and reasoned that for the cost or complication of 2 more oarlocks and a couple oars, it gives more flexibility to the number and location of the crew using it.
As you may have noticed, I like to reason how and why things are used, so that they make sense, to me, at least, and not just copy a design or feature. I may be wrong, of course, but at least I have a reason behind it.
In researching information on the Carrack and similar ships, I ran across information on the "Pepper Wreck", a fairly large 17th Century Nau, or Carrack. This ship made regular trips from Portugal to India, to obtain pepper in particular (thus the "Pepper Wreck"), as well as many other items. Texas A&M University has made a Virtual Representation of this ship, and while I haven't found the complete representation, if it exists, there is a detailed PDF of the process with a lot of good information here.
One of the interesting things in this PDF is the amount of on-deck storage of barrels and other items that they theorize was on the ship. I never thought about much storage of such items in areas other than the hold or elsewhere below deck, but I imagine that at the beginning of a voyage, it would make sense to have much of the more expendable, i.e. more easily spoiled, goods above deck, assuming it would be used early into the voyage. And while that Nau was an ocean-going ship, and this Carrack/Nau a much smaller Mediterranean ship, I assume the idea would still apply.
This longitudinal cross section shows how the cargo was distributed on this ship:
And another view of the main/gun deck with its cargo:
Naturally, that would limit the use of the guns, but I imagine those barrels would be used early into the voyage, and these were, after all, trade ships with protection from pirates and other ships, and not warships.
They also modeled many of the details of this ship, including cargo, for this virtualization, and include this image for the barrels:
In looking at the cross section and other views, it appears that most of the barrels above deck were Quarto size, which they list as 0.98m x 0.64m in size, almost exactly the size that would later be called a Hogshead by the British. I used this size as a basis for my model, to have an amount of barrels "sprinkled" about the main and other decks (amount and location to be determined later). I also assumed that the hoops on the barrel were half-round saplings, often used to wrap early barrels, before iron replaced them. I have seen rope used in a similar manner on smaller barrels, but not on ones this large.
Anyhow, here is an image of my 3D model, modeled in Fusion 360:
I used the Quarto/Hogshead dimensions (although of course it can be scaled and printed to any size), resulting in this STL model:
The gaps between the staves are exaggerated so they will be more visible on the printed model. If you like, you can download the 3D STL model at the bottom of this post.
Anyhow, my son made a bunch of these barrels for me. With a resin printer, it takes no longer to make dozens than it does one, so that gives me a lot to play with. I sprayed most of the barrels white, and then painted them with Army Painter Speed Paint:
Speed Paint is fairly new. It is brushed on liberally, and sinks into low spots like a wash, giving a paint, wash and highlight all in one. It ended up pretty light over the white paint, so required several coats. NOTE: Wait for it to dry for several hours or overnight before applying the next coat, or it will soften and remove/blend the first coat. Also, little "pieces" of paint from the crevices will surface and float around. Sometimes you want that, but not always.
I experimented by painting some barrels brown or tan, and spraying others khaki or tan spray paint. More than one coat hides detail, so try to do it only once. The tan or khaki spray got closer to the desired color with less coats of Speed Paint.
I thought I wanted to highlight the wooden hoops, so did that with some, but they seemed too "stripey", so they got more coats.
In the end, I ended up with a variety of colorations, markings, etc. giving a good variation in barrel colors:
I know they look rough up close, but the variation and defects, I think, help in a way. They will look better, more like this, when placed on the model:
I think they will work well on the model. But as I said, they will be added later, after all other deck details have been placed.
One of the interesting things in this PDF is the amount of on-deck storage of barrels and other items that they theorize was on the ship. I never thought about much storage of such items in areas other than the hold or elsewhere below deck, but I imagine that at the beginning of a voyage, it would make sense to have much of the more expendable, i.e. more easily spoiled, goods above deck, assuming it would be used early into the voyage. And while that Nau was an ocean-going ship, and this Carrack/Nau a much smaller Mediterranean ship, I assume the idea would still apply.
This longitudinal cross section shows how the cargo was distributed on this ship:
And another view of the main/gun deck with its cargo:
Naturally, that would limit the use of the guns, but I imagine those barrels would be used early into the voyage, and these were, after all, trade ships with protection from pirates and other ships, and not warships.
They also modeled many of the details of this ship, including cargo, for this virtualization, and include this image for the barrels:
In looking at the cross section and other views, it appears that most of the barrels above deck were Quarto size, which they list as 0.98m x 0.64m in size, almost exactly the size that would later be called a Hogshead by the British. I used this size as a basis for my model, to have an amount of barrels "sprinkled" about the main and other decks (amount and location to be determined later). I also assumed that the hoops on the barrel were half-round saplings, often used to wrap early barrels, before iron replaced them. I have seen rope used in a similar manner on smaller barrels, but not on ones this large.
Anyhow, here is an image of my 3D model, modeled in Fusion 360:
I used the Quarto/Hogshead dimensions (although of course it can be scaled and printed to any size), resulting in this STL model:
The gaps between the staves are exaggerated so they will be more visible on the printed model. If you like, you can download the 3D STL model at the bottom of this post.
Anyhow, my son made a bunch of these barrels for me. With a resin printer, it takes no longer to make dozens than it does one, so that gives me a lot to play with. I sprayed most of the barrels white, and then painted them with Army Painter Speed Paint:
Speed Paint is fairly new. It is brushed on liberally, and sinks into low spots like a wash, giving a paint, wash and highlight all in one. It ended up pretty light over the white paint, so required several coats. NOTE: Wait for it to dry for several hours or overnight before applying the next coat, or it will soften and remove/blend the first coat. Also, little "pieces" of paint from the crevices will surface and float around. Sometimes you want that, but not always.
I experimented by painting some barrels brown or tan, and spraying others khaki or tan spray paint. More than one coat hides detail, so try to do it only once. The tan or khaki spray got closer to the desired color with less coats of Speed Paint.
I thought I wanted to highlight the wooden hoops, so did that with some, but they seemed too "stripey", so they got more coats.
In the end, I ended up with a variety of colorations, markings, etc. giving a good variation in barrel colors:
I know they look rough up close, but the variation and defects, I think, help in a way. They will look better, more like this, when placed on the model:
I think they will work well on the model. But as I said, they will be added later, after all other deck details have been placed.
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Good morning. Beautiful work. Thanks for the detail build log. You are getting the detail spot on. I love the barrels. I just bought a resin printer and still need to work out how to design the StL files. Cheers Grant
Thanks, Grant. As I said above, I use Fusion 360 to design 3D models. It's free for hobbyist use and is a great program. If you need help or ideas, let me know.
I made several basic racks for mounting the barrels on. They're very simple, but I wanted them to be consistent in size, so I'll just show my sequence:
I'll select and mount the barrels on the skids later, and of course rope them to the skids, and possibly to the deck. But I won't make up the barrel "packs" until everything else is on the deck, so I can be sure of where they go. In the meantime, I just show one set at one location where I feel I would mount them on the main deck:
While the Carrack drawings I referred to show them between guns, I think on this model there won't be room. So probably another two 5-packs on the quarterdeck, and maybe a single barrel or so at other locations. But as I said, I'll decide that later.
I'll select and mount the barrels on the skids later, and of course rope them to the skids, and possibly to the deck. But I won't make up the barrel "packs" until everything else is on the deck, so I can be sure of where they go. In the meantime, I just show one set at one location where I feel I would mount them on the main deck:
While the Carrack drawings I referred to show them between guns, I think on this model there won't be room. So probably another two 5-packs on the quarterdeck, and maybe a single barrel or so at other locations. But as I said, I'll decide that later.
Hello Signet, once again I had a lot to catch up on and I am enthusiastic about your great work. Super job with all the details like the pumps and the barrels, top notch.
Thank you so much. I admire your precision work very much, so really appreciate your comments.
Did some work a bit ago on the guns, mostly to prepare two of them for mounting under the quarterdeck. The brackets on the carriages are too thick, I think:
The side bracket scale almost 5" thick, for guns that I assume were about 12 pounders, so I wanted to make them thinner.
Rather than recut and rebuild the carriages, I simply sanded the sides to the desired thickness:
After mounting the trucks and eyes I have:
I bought the above-shown brass photo-etched sheets for detailing, so used that for eyes. I was less successful mounting the capsquares with their tiny details, but will try again with the more visible guns.
The to guns that will be under the quarterdeck are now in place, and I'm starting to shape a compound curved walnut piece for the end of the deck:
I eventually did not use the walnut piece referred to above; the horizontal curve ended up being so slight as to be hardly visible, and what with the complications that would make with the railing and all, I decided to eliminate (after spending half a day on it, of course).
The side bracket scale almost 5" thick, for guns that I assume were about 12 pounders, so I wanted to make them thinner.
Rather than recut and rebuild the carriages, I simply sanded the sides to the desired thickness:
After mounting the trucks and eyes I have:
I bought the above-shown brass photo-etched sheets for detailing, so used that for eyes. I was less successful mounting the capsquares with their tiny details, but will try again with the more visible guns.
The to guns that will be under the quarterdeck are now in place, and I'm starting to shape a compound curved walnut piece for the end of the deck:
I eventually did not use the walnut piece referred to above; the horizontal curve ended up being so slight as to be hardly visible, and what with the complications that would make with the railing and all, I decided to eliminate (after spending half a day on it, of course).
Next was the quarterdeck planking. I marked the centerline on the supports first, centered around the mizzenmast rather than a true center, for appearance sake:
The guns are in place, with simplified rigging. I had trouble reaching to do a complete rigging job, and felt it wouldn't be visible.
I then laid the first couple planks either side of the mizzenmast, allowing for 2 centered planks at the mizzenmast:
Since the 2 planks at the mizzenmast would lack support close to the mast, I added support before and after the mast. In retrospect, I should have used thinner material and curved it more to match the deck, as the center planks didn't quite come out flush.
Continuing planking to either side:
Of course, only after doing most of the planking did I realize that one plank had not bleached as light as the others, so it tends to stand out. And it will continue to, as I'm not going to replace it.
Planking of the quarterdeck is now complete:
I tried to keep the ends near the aft cabin area neatly cut to the cabin; the fore ends are not as consistent, but will be covered. Shown here to the right is an additional piece of 2mm walnut added to end the decking planks.
Waterways are now in place:
Space has been left for an additional 2mm piece that will cover the gaps at the end and for the base of the railing.
Here I am fitting, but not gluing, the curved lower piece of the railing. I soaked both top and bottom rails in water and bent them, letting them dry curved to make assembly easier.
I taped the upper and lower rail pieces together and marked for holes to be drilled to mount the spindles. Spindles can get fragile, and I wanted to make sure pins held them in place, in addition to glue, at both the top and bottom.
I tried different methods to drill the small spindles in the center for the pins. The end shown worked pretty well. The other end required holding it and visually centering it, but didn't work too badly:
This photo shows the rail bottom in place with the spindles located on them using soft steel wires and glued.
Of course the spindles had to have both ends tapered in varying amounts to account for deck side-to-side camber and fore-to-aft slope. I found that if I could balance the spindle in place and have it stand vertically that the angle was close.
After mounting the top rail and securing with small brass nails, and gluing, it was of course clamped in place:
The result came out okay, I think:
The large brass nails may not be authentic, but I think they look good, and intend to use them at the top of all the rails. The trunnions at either end are for mounting the small falconets in place, doing double duty to hold the guns as well as the spindles.
I tried making ladders of wood, but 1) didn't have quite the right size of walnut, and 2) wasn't that happy with the result. So I designed ladders in Fusion 360 and had my son make them on his resin 3D printer:
I also show here the hatch surrounding the ladder area.
After mounting the lower ladder we have:
I think I will add some kind of railing, probably rope, around this opening. While not in the drawings, I feel that some sort of protection would be required to keep the ship's doctor from having to set multiple broken legs and other parts. The ladder to the poop deck is just set in place, and will be glued on later after the railings are complete.
That's about it for now. I've been spending most of my time planning the rigging, so that I can add any rings or cleats required for rigging prior to limiting access by completing the rails.
The guns are in place, with simplified rigging. I had trouble reaching to do a complete rigging job, and felt it wouldn't be visible.
I then laid the first couple planks either side of the mizzenmast, allowing for 2 centered planks at the mizzenmast:
Since the 2 planks at the mizzenmast would lack support close to the mast, I added support before and after the mast. In retrospect, I should have used thinner material and curved it more to match the deck, as the center planks didn't quite come out flush.
Continuing planking to either side:
Of course, only after doing most of the planking did I realize that one plank had not bleached as light as the others, so it tends to stand out. And it will continue to, as I'm not going to replace it.
Planking of the quarterdeck is now complete:
I tried to keep the ends near the aft cabin area neatly cut to the cabin; the fore ends are not as consistent, but will be covered. Shown here to the right is an additional piece of 2mm walnut added to end the decking planks.
Waterways are now in place:
Space has been left for an additional 2mm piece that will cover the gaps at the end and for the base of the railing.
Here I am fitting, but not gluing, the curved lower piece of the railing. I soaked both top and bottom rails in water and bent them, letting them dry curved to make assembly easier.
I taped the upper and lower rail pieces together and marked for holes to be drilled to mount the spindles. Spindles can get fragile, and I wanted to make sure pins held them in place, in addition to glue, at both the top and bottom.
I tried different methods to drill the small spindles in the center for the pins. The end shown worked pretty well. The other end required holding it and visually centering it, but didn't work too badly:
This photo shows the rail bottom in place with the spindles located on them using soft steel wires and glued.
Of course the spindles had to have both ends tapered in varying amounts to account for deck side-to-side camber and fore-to-aft slope. I found that if I could balance the spindle in place and have it stand vertically that the angle was close.
After mounting the top rail and securing with small brass nails, and gluing, it was of course clamped in place:
The result came out okay, I think:
The large brass nails may not be authentic, but I think they look good, and intend to use them at the top of all the rails. The trunnions at either end are for mounting the small falconets in place, doing double duty to hold the guns as well as the spindles.
I tried making ladders of wood, but 1) didn't have quite the right size of walnut, and 2) wasn't that happy with the result. So I designed ladders in Fusion 360 and had my son make them on his resin 3D printer:
I also show here the hatch surrounding the ladder area.
After mounting the lower ladder we have:
I think I will add some kind of railing, probably rope, around this opening. While not in the drawings, I feel that some sort of protection would be required to keep the ship's doctor from having to set multiple broken legs and other parts. The ladder to the poop deck is just set in place, and will be glued on later after the railings are complete.
That's about it for now. I've been spending most of my time planning the rigging, so that I can add any rings or cleats required for rigging prior to limiting access by completing the rails.