Continuing on with the stern galleries and transom.
1. The upper metal trim piece is placed on the transom base.
2. The lower gallery windows which consist of 6 pieces are put in place. They had to be bent and contoured considerably using a butane torch. A number of backing plates made up of scrap wood were glued to the base and painted black. These are needed to support the metal window pieces. There were some gaps in the window pieces which had to be filled in with a filler.
3. The extended deck which mounts on top of the lower gallery windows was made from a sheet of 3/32" x 4" x 24" basswood (not included). The width from the frame 8 to the deck end needs to be 48mm to allow enough overhang from the windows to support the transom back and also the stanchion railing. Once placed permanently, it will be cut to match the contour of the stern galleries. It will also then be planked on top with deck planking strips.
The middle gallery windows are ready for the window glass. These windows are the first set which are recessed on the transom. Locating where to place these is critical to the placement of the actual transom, which butts up against to 2 outer doorway panels on the ends of these windows. The plans are not much help here at all.
The middle gallery deck has been planked and the window section has been mounted. Two slots are cut in to the deck to take the bottom of the transom backing, which will be placed after the upper deck and windows are installed.
Next up will be to continue the middle gallery windows around to the hull sides and install the balustrade railing around the edge of the decking. Once that is done, the deck will be trimmed back to the curve of the stern and a trim added to this edge.
The side railings for the middle gallery deck must be contoured significantly as well as filed in order to follow the gallery curves. Once again, a small torch and very careful hammering was needed to do this without breaking them. The last 2 photos show them before and after reshaping.
Still working on building up the transom. It is very slow tedious work. Every single piece has to be custom fit and there are no clear plans or dimensions to work with. And, as anticipated, nothing fits correctly. I am relying heavily on photos of completed models on the Euro and other websites for some inclination on how this is supposed to look. Pete's reference notes and Julier's build log are also helpful here. It seems that every piece relies on all of the other pieces to fit together. This requires placing other pieces temporarily to fit each piece as you go. If you miss considering just fitting one piece, you could wind up with a piece later on not fitting at all which requires removing other pieces and readjusting. This has happen to me and is a real nightmare.
These photos show the middle deck railing ends. The railing is actually 4 pieces and the 2 end ones must be mounted first. The 2 middle pieces can not be added until the transom back is installed later on.
The bannisters for the railing had to be added. The kit provides metal decorative strips that must be cut to form stanchions, and they are ok, but I decided to use carved wood stanchions instead. I think they look better. These were 8mm made of boxwood from my stash. I painted them a medium brown.
The transom piece needs to be bent to follow the deck contours. It is made of thin plywood and very brittle. It would most certainly break if pushed to meet the needed curve. I soaked it in an ammonia solution like I used for planking and then got the bright idea to use one of the Admiral's big cooking pots. I slowly bent it around the outside of the pot when it got soft and clamped it in place. I then used a hair dryer on high heat to dry it off. It is still there. I will remove it and see what curve it maintains. It didn't break though.
One thing to note: When soaking plywood in water or ammonia for an extended period of time, the liquid will debond the plywood layers. Only soak it until it becomes a little soft and then remove it, bend it, and dry it. This will prevent separating the layers and warping. (Learned this lesson the hard way with another build.
Before placing the transom piece, an aligment needs to be made with all of the gallery deck ends. It became apparent that the poop deck extends out too far. I needed to trim it off considerably and relocate it. I knew I would have to make some adjustment, just not that much.
In retrospect, if I had to do it over, I would not have placed the poop deck at all until the transom was in place. I seem to remember one of our experienced builders on this forum pointed that out to me. You live and learn. The photos show it trimmed and positioned correctly to receive the transom.
OK, the pot did the trick. The transom piece retained the curve needed to wrap it around the end of the decks.
I placed the transom piece without gluing, just to see how it fits. It fits very well and will be easy to secure properly once I get to that point. I still have to create the upper deck gallery windows and place them before the transom piece. The transom piece will also need to be planked on both sides.
@Vpirozzi and @Maarten
Victor and Maarten, there is a really good solution for glass gluing (see below) One of which CA will never clog and messed with any surface including plastic glass. I used both in my Charles Yacht build (on transom), they both dry clear transparent.
Working on the next gallery deck up. I cut a piece of plywood like before for the deck (not supplied). It will be planked, stained, and trimmed before it is installed.
The transom piece has been placed. The curve I steamed into it previously, really made a difference. It wrapped around the curvature on the ends of the decks with no problems. It was easy to glue into place. I used CA glue to tack it on and some instant bonder to keep the ends firmly against the edge of the decks.
I now have to plank the transom on both sides where it will be exposed under the metal decorations.
I am getting on with this part of the build and still have a long way to go before the transom and stern galleries are completed. Very tedious work trying to get things to fit. Had to remove parts and redo them numerous times, but it is taking shape. I don't think any other part of this build will be as difficult as this section.
The gallery quarter deck railing. As the galleries go up, the bends needed in the metal pieces get more severe and complicated. Using a torch really helps but then having to use plyers to make the twists creates another problem. The metal gets so soft that the plier jaws marks up the castings. A couple of layers of tape wrapped around the jaws does help.
