Royal James sloop

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

 

[donfarr]

Dave, How do you determine where to place the tape or wood battens, the last one I tried the bow planks were like tooth picks I lined it off for 2 baqnds since it was a small ship, and I followed the natural curve of the ship, I am determined to understand the planking process as to me that makes the model a success or not, I do not TRUST MY EYE TO DETERMINE the shape would rather do it by math if possible, the problem with the spiling for me is holding the piece so I can run my compass, I am trying to remeber a way that I did this a long time ago, where I marked out the piece with dots at each STATION line (bulkhead) then take the piece off use a ships curve to conect the dots and then transfer that to the finished wood plank, HOPE I AM NOT CLUTTERING YOUR THREAD, if so just let me know. Don

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Dave, How do you determine where to place the tape or wood battens?

I had the same question and never really found an answer other than a flat out guess on the builders part. This is why I personally abandoned the method and went with starting with the garboard and trial and error worked my way up. I think like the article stated you just develop a "feel" for it.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Before I set in the wales and bulwarks I am going to build the stern. One reason for building the stern at this point is because the ends of the stern planks are covered by the hull planking and second is to set the position of the molding height. The lower section has been set in place up to the lower molding. In order to plank the next section I need to know exactly where the upper molding will be because the next section of planks butt against the molding.
but to set the upper molding I need to build and place the windows in the stern.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

for the Royal James I am not going to use the windows drawn on the Mediator plans and use my own layout. Rather than build the windows into the stern I will build the windows as a unit and place the unit into the stern.

Getting started I used four laser cut windows and placed a beam between each window frame.



next step is to sand the ends of the beams even with the top and bottom of the frames.



Using a thin plank I bent it across the top of the windows and added a short piece along the sides



using a tiny dowel I sanded a flat area and placed it in the center of the beams



now I sanded the beans and dowel to the bottom of the window frames



last step is to bend a piece of wood on the bottom and the unit is done

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Now that I have a complete window unit I can position it on the stern. Knowing the exact size and location of the windows I will next cut the shape of the plank that goes between the bottom of the windows and the top of the molding. Then I can create a molding and bend it in place.

 

[epicdoom]

Outstanding work great windows

 

[DocBlake]

Great job on those lights, Dave. I’ve got to get a laser!

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Just because I build a certain way does not mean that is how it is done or should be done. Every builder in time develops there own approach to building.

for me I like to build the ship in components and add them to the model. I do this because by building this stern I have better control of making the parts and fitting it all together. If I were to build it on the model it might take tweaking and adjusting not only the stern pieces but also how each part fits together and on the model. As one unit i can fit that on the model.



When I built a plank on frame model of the Alvin Clark the stern was built off the model because it was so much easier to keep all the pieces and parts in line, even and level. It also helps to fit all the joinery




one thing that bugs me about build logs is when the builder shows you something like the stern piece and the next post it is done and on the model. This makes me wonder fine job BUT how did you jump from parts to finish?
so now it will show you step by step how the stern part is made.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

first thing to do was set in place the stern boards first by cutting the arc to match the top and bottom of the windows. Notice here the scrap piece of wood the stern boards are sitting on. I did that to adjust the ledge between the windows and the boards, I wanted a little offset.




Here is a closeup of that offset between the windows and stern boards. A reason for building this off the model, I can use a piece of plate glass to build on and using spacers like the scrap wood it gives me a perfect offset. There is little to no freehand like I would have to do building on the model. The flat surface of the glass is my 0,0 where everything is built off of and I am kind of jigging everything together.




when I flip it over on the inside gives me an inset for the windows to fall into the cutout on the model.



In theory or what I call "preplanning" the stern should rest nice and flat against the last bulkhead on the model and the windows should fall right in the cutout. That's the plan anyhow and most of the time things work out as planned sometimes not.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

now comes the trick part there is a curves molding. There are several methods for making a molding one is to buy a micro shaper, they come is various shapes and sizes. Or some builders make their own by filing the profile into sheets of tool steel or old knives, single edge razor blades or whatever is handy.



for this model I built my moldings right in place.
This molding has an arch so I cut out a template out of some press board I have laying around to the shape of the arch. Next I used a thin strip of pearwood with superglue on the face and pressed it against the arch of the stern board.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The first or upper part of the molding is glued to the stern board so now by using another strip of wood I set it up higher off the glass surface by using shims so the offset is exactly even all along the molding.
This gives me the bull nose part of the molding




by doing the same as I did with the first piece I used a third strip of pearwood without the shims so it set lower than the center strip
and pressed it against the molding with my template.
All it takes at this point is a quick pass with fine sandpaper to knock off the edge.



looking really close to the end section the three laminations that make up the molding fit so tight there is no visible seam.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

I can place the finished stern on the model.

 

[DenisR]

Hi Didit
Love the windows, are you going to simulate glass.
If so what with.

Denis.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Hi Didit
Love the windows, are you going to simulate glass.
If so what with.

Denis.

the short answer is no glass in the windows because it is not that kind of model.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The model being built is a demo prototype model it is being built to demonstrate planking a hull and general building so all the finer details and fancy stull is omitted.

if were to carry the model to the finer details what I would do first is cut along the dotted line and cut out all in inside material and open up the interior of the cabin. Lay down a floor, finish the sides and add glass to the windows.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

next I would rebuild the front of the cabin and leave the doors open so light can get into the cabin space.

build a little table and chair and add figures in the cabin.



but this is a how to build so no fancy stuff this time.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

however if you want to take a build to the next level right down to the joinery that is a whole other kind of build.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

if anyone has any ideas for adding glass in the windows please post your suggestions.

 

[Jimsky]

if anyone has any ideas for adding glass in the windows please post your suggestions.

Hi Dave, I use a thin plastic from cheese sliced pack. They separate slices of cheese or prosciutto.