School for Shipmodel Building School for model ship building

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The cant frames in the bow are next and they are not like the rest of the frames. The only reference point is the top line where they sit in the jig. the bottom line is the rabbit line and as you can see the cant frames rise up on the stem. The middle line shows the rise of the deck at the bow.

Plank on bulkhead builders will skip the bow construction and installing cant frames. A solid block is glued in at the bow and shaped to fit the hull.



Cant frames are named because they are canted forward to lessen the amount of material that has to be taken off the face of the frames to create a bevel. The foot of the cant frames have an angle.



The angle can be taken off the drawings



How you can get a perfect angle is up to you. But when you get the angle of the foot right the frame will fall right in place.



the foot of the cant frames will follow the stem and rabbit line, you should have a nice sweet arc on the stem.



looking down the hull all the frames form a straight line along the keel and arch at the stem. The term used by master shipwrights and model shipwrights is to ever so sweet curves of a hull. you can see that starting to take shape. Inside and out.



That space at the bow between the first cant frame and the stem is where the ? go anyone know what goes there?

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

some refer to ship building as an art form, in the early days ship were built with no drawings nothing but a set of offsets that define the size and general shape. The hull with all its complex lines and shapes is a sculpture shaped by the eye and intuition of the builder.

At this point we now have the main body and the bow what is left are the last two whole frames 19 and 20 then the half frames that will form the stern section.



Thank you all for following along and reading what it takes to be a model shipwright. See you next Saturday

 

[Roger Pellett]

if by “offsets,” you are referring to a Table of Offsets then these did much more than just define the general shape of the hull. These were a digital representation of the design information; either the half model or design draught. The mould loft then used the table of offsets to scribe the hull lines full size on the floor of the loft. Patterns for moulded shapes, frame pieces, stem, and stern pieces were made from the mould loft hull lines.

The Table of Offsets was the method by which the Naval Architect communicated his design to the shipyard.

Roger

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

and a welcome student to the model shipwright school, let's get started on today's talk.

I left off with all the whole frames (frames that cross the keel) and the cant frames at the bow. What has to be built next is the stern section but before i jump into that lets talk jigs a little more.
The main reason the upside-down building method fell out of favor was the waste of wood. In the first photo the blue tinted section is the extensions above the framing. Granted this does add material to the build. but the complexity of building such a hull the method does give the builder a fighting chance of success and the extra wood is worth it. however, if the builder is using expensive wood then you have to consider the extra cost.



Smaller models the less in added materials. Still more than not using this method but worth it.



This method is not always true and it depends on the shape of the hull and the length of the added extensions. In the case of the hull below the extra material is well worth the extra material.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

In the case of a production plank on frame kit it is a totally different story. Let's look at the Sir Edward Hawke this model will become available as a limited edition semi-kit so cost is an important consideration.
If i were to stay with Hahn's original setup the jig extensions would be the total of the blue and red sections. This would add 2 more sheets to the framing parts. Now there is the cost of more sheets and more laser cutting and more shipping weight. If i want to keep the semi-kit under $150.00 i need to remove the red section and shorten the extensions.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

the way to cut back on the extensions is to split the jig so the stern deck can clear the jig



looking down inside the hull you can see to the left where the frames ended and the stern frames fit the extended jig section

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

What if you have a set of plans like these a fine looking drop keel schooner and there is no jig?




there are other methods to jig a hull one such method is to use a gantry you can get more information here

Building Board Gantry Type

Some of the advantages of the gantry type of building board are: 1. Re-usability 2. Assess 3. Accuracy 4. Ease of use 1. Re-usability After you have finished a model and want to start a new one all you must do is tape down the new framing plan and change the scales if...

shipsofscale.com

The purpose of the jig is to line up the framing and also to hold the frames in place. to do that using filler between the frames creates a solid structure

go here to visit a build filling in the upper section of the framing

The Frederick from the Lumberyard

Hello This will be my build log of the kit as sponsored by The Lumberyard. Thank you Dave Stevens. This build will be a departure from my other kits as their frames were laser cut. This kit has milled frame stock with drawing patterns for frame layout. I will be studying this new type of...

shipsofscale.com

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

I was hoping to have all the stern frames in place but as they say "the best laid plans" can and do go wrong.
Having spent my working days in a high paying high stress job i got use to a boss getting in my face with how can you make such a simple mistake? what the were you thinking? such a rookie mistake i expect better from you and so on and so forth. Now all i can do is look in the mirror and ask myself the same questions. I designed the project and i am in control of the project from start to finish. In the end there is no one to pass the blame to. BUT this is the joy of scratch building it requires total focus and planning in short it stimulates your creative and logical thinking. Personally i love it.

frame 23 is missing a part on the laser cut sheet the other frames just do not fit together WHY? i like the why and now i have to back track and find out what went wrong



HUM? frame 21 lines up at the top but not at the joint, if i line up the joint the top is off



something does not look right because ?????



actually all the tops should line up and they don't



could be i lost focus in the drafting stage, my daughter comes over and i stopped what i was doing and when i got back i forgot to add that piece in frame 23. The rest just mistakes.

believe it or not this is why i scratch build i do not like assembling someone else project i like to figure it out from start to finish and play a sleuth and back track and find the cause. it also adds to my knowledge base of what to do and what not to do. i get the confidence to tackle harder and harder projects

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

end of todays class now it is off to rummage sales with the wife never know what treasure lurks in the piles of stuff
in closing a word to the wise
don't be afraid to make mistakes just keep moving forward.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

hello group as i said after class the wife and i went off to the flea market/ rummage sale.

i can't hardly believe what i found check it out the table saw was $30.00 or best offer the old Sears bandsaw same thing $30.00 or best offer.
i could have walked away with both for a whopping 45 bucks. Yes they show a bit of use and a little rust on the table saw but i was assured both work fine.
Sure it is not one of those fancy $500.00 little table saws but if your first starting out don't let people tell you oh how expensive the tools are for scratch building. That is a bunch of bull, just keep in mind you can up grade as you progress. So if you are thinking maybe you would like to get into scratch building keep an eye open for tool deals both on line and around you.

no i did not buy either one because i have more tools than i would ever need. But it was tempting.

 

[Roger Pellett]

You could build models for the rest of your life plus do home repairs and other projects. Probably better quality than many offered for 10 times as much today. With the right blade and the fence checked to make sure it’s parallel, it will cut ship model woods all day. Also, the motor is not connected directly to the arbor like many new saws. This means that you can swap out the motor for more hp if needed.

Roger

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

You could build models for the rest of your life plus do home repairs and other projects. Probably better quality than many offered for 10 times as much today. With the right blade and the fence checked to make sure it’s parallel, it will cut ship model woods all day. Also, the motor is not connected directly to the arbor like many new saws. This means that you can swap out the motor for more hp if needed.
Roger

with the rummage sale finds and pick up one of these and you have the holy trinity of model building for $135.00.

 

[Roger Pellett]

Many of those newer home improvement store table saws are just a hand held table saw (I still call them SkilSaws) mounted upside down in a frame that rotates to tilt the blade. Even when I’m making glass cases’ I don’t use the tilt blade feature of my saw. For ripping model ship lumber, a simple saw like you picture is all that you need.

Actually, if for some reason I could only own one table saw, I would own a full sized one including your rummage saw instead of my Byrnes. The Byrnes is not as versatile

Roger

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

this Saturday's discussion is getting back to those bad frames. I traced the problem back to the drawings when i broke the frames down for laser cutting. to replace the frames i used the original method Hahn used and that is the build frame blanks. For just 2 frames it is easier and faster to just make them by hand.
First i cut some framing material about an inch wide and the thickness of 1/2 the frame. Using the frame pattern i glued pieces together using CA glue. All i want to do is hold the pieces in place



Once i had all the blanks made i used wood glue and clamped the two halves together to form the complete frame.



Now i have the frame blanks glued up.



notice i trimmed odd the extra wood, i did this because if the frame pattern is a tight fit on the blank it is easy to miss where there is no overlap of the 2 halves



final step is cutting out the frames this can be done on a 10 inch bandsaw or scroll saw or jig saw or by hand. If your careful you can cut directly on the line because the pattern is not the final shape of the frame so getting close is close enough at this point.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Back to the hull the stern frames are 1/2 frames that is the foot rests against the deadwood. to put in the deadwood first the keelson has to be installed into the hull because the end of the keelson is sandwiched between the deadwood timbers. The stern is now prepped and ready to install the last stern frames.
This build is in real time so some days i do not work on the model so i do not get as much done each week.


At the stern the deadwood is added. The pencil line is called the rising line because it is where the foot of the frames begins.. You can see the end of the keelson between the deadwood timbers.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Good morning students, today's subject will be frames 21 to 27 which are the frames that give shape to the stern section of the hull.
It does not matter if you building a ship out of a box or a fine scale model of a ship from scratch. learning the basic hull form helps to build and plank a hull regardless of building a kit, bashing a kit, semi scratch or scratch building.

so everyone take your seat and let's get started

There are three sections to any hull form the entrance, the body and the run. Todays class is about the run which is defined as the form of a ships body abaft of midship. This section of the hull is difficult to form for model builders and some pretty bad results accrue



plank on bulkhead kits provide very little information to the shape of the run. This is because the bulkheads are spaced to far apart leaving a void of information between the bulkheads. To fill in the void filler blocks are used but again with the bulkheads spaced far apart the void between them is a best guess. But on the other hand, this is just a model and a close enough representation of the hull shape is good enough, well don't settle for a shape shown above that is a bit extreme.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Some builders when they hear "scratch building" what comes to mind is a fully framed hull with scale joinery, historical details and details down to the exact methods used in a real ship. That is so far from the truth scratch building means nothing but building a model starting with plans. you can build it as a solid hull, as a plank on bulkhead or plank on frame. There are also degrees of detail some builders will challenge their skills and try to reproduce a model as close to the real thing as scale will allow while other will simplify methods of construction. As an example the last frames in the Hawke project can be done more than one way.

What we are looking at is an example of how half frames are set into the deadwood





when i look at the above example i wonder why the last frames were butt against the deadwood and not boxed in. Maybe there were no more frames past the last box but that is a lot of space to fill. I noticed there are no through bolts like you see in the area where the frames were boxed in. Well this is something to ponder but as Far as i am concerned i am not going to box in the last frames of the Hawke because maybe they were boxed in and maybe not we will never know. This is a detail that you would never notice on the model so no need to include it.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

getting back to the model of the Hawke as mentioned above i messed up frames 21 and 23 so i had to build a blank and cut out new frames. When i placed the new frames into the hull i threw my hands in the air and said, "now what is wrong" The new frame look too big, and the foot extends to the bottom of the keel. it should stop at the rising line. If i just shift the frame so the foot is at the line that changes the shpe of the hull.



building model ships can be a frustrating at times because they are complex shapes and curves that all have to blend harmonically into one another. But that is the thrill of the build and gets your brain to shift into high gear. Looking for the error starts with going back to the drawing.
The blue bars are the edges of the jig and frame 21 is to the left



when i slide the frame over the drawing it fits from the bottom of the jig to the rising line. So i can rule out a drafting error.



next is to measure the drawing (the black arrows) and measure the model under construction (the white arrows.) Results they match up so it is not the jig or hull under construction it must be the ne frame.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

looking at the new frame the pattern to the left is a print out of the pink colored frame in the above post. Was my plot set to 1:1 one to one?
yup moving on.



laying the pattern on the frame it looks good to me



Here is something to ponder if you're building a kit chances are the designer and fabrication of the kit ensures the parts fit together. but if you are bashing a kit or making parts from scratch close tolerance counts. Let's take a very close look at the pattern to the frame, something small and went unnoticed until it showed up in the build. Those lines are no more than a sharp pencil line but you see where the pattern stops and the extended part of the frame? that is the error. Even the curve of the frame at the foot is a little proud of the actual shape.

Both styles of building from a kit presents challenges, more so if you do not know the basics of ship construction and scratch building which requires skills of fabrication that a builder's challenge themselves to.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

First thing that has to be established is the angle of the half frames to the deadwood. Frames 21 to 24 are at a 90 degree to the deadwood and frames 25 , 26 and 27 are canted. The angle is taken off the drawing.



As mentioned above building a bulkhead hull leaves a void of information between the bulkhead spaces. you will find it rare kits will provide a set of hull lines, so you cannot plot the exact shape between bulkheads. Building a framed hull, you have that information at every frame. Without the bevels the frames take a stepping pattern. Placing the stern frames is a matter of testing and fitting by eye to get the stepping from frame to frame.



The last frames also have to blend into the shape of the hull creating the run. I never worked in a ship yard and really do not know how the run is shaped. I head of using batons which are strips of wood bent to the shape of the hull. but bending a baton tend it to bow out and the run is a concave shape so i can't comment on how it was done. But then again it really does not matter for a ship model. Close enough is good enough as long as you get a pleasing shape.



What we now have is a complete framed hull less the knightheads and hawse timbers which will be added later. To arrive at this point there are two schools of building one is to finish each frame with the bevels and you install these finished frames. for me that is doing it the hard way because you have to have the bevels exactly right and lining up the frames is tough because there is no longer a tolerence. The frames must be in their exact position.
What we have here is the general rough shape of the hull with oversize frames. The final shape is created by sanding and shaping the hull as a unit. You could say it is an extreme version of dubbing a hull, which is once frames, are erected in place ship carpenters will hack away at the frame faces to bring everything in line.