School for Shipmodel Building School for model ship building

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Looking at the green spot at the start makes you wonder how will all this flow together? The rough chunky build once sculpted and finished it does all come together with tight joinery and a smooth flowing shape.



This is why the shaping of the hull stops short of the final shape and finish. once the stern is tied into the hull is when you sand the hull to it final shape. By not shaping the hull bulkheads or frames depending on your build, it give you that little extra material to blend everything together. The block at the bottom is now nicely shaped and a perfect backing for the end of the wale.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Now that the stern is part of the hull there is one more area to look at. Here is a picture i took of a shipwreck looking at the inside of the bow. The tinted timbers are the cant frames and the green timber is the knighthead which runs up both sides of the stem and holds the bow sprit from moving from side to side. It is that dark area between the first (yellow) frame and the knighthead that is of interest.



that dark area is the open spot in the hull between the first cant frame and the stem. so the first thing is to trace the shape of the stem



fitting the knighthead took a few tries at a pattern to get it just right.



One i got the pattern i liked i traced it on to wood and cut out the knightheads



The dark area in the wreck is filled in with a bow timber also known as the hawse timber because a hawse hole is bored through the top part for the anchor rope or chain.



This last timber in the bow is tough to fabricate and fit. It took me several tries to get it just right.



This is the final results of semi-scratch building a plank on frame hull. The wood used in this project is Red Maple which as you can see is not red, the wood is also called Soft Maple and unlike the name it is not "soft" it is softer than Hard Maple which is in fact hard, it is like Cherry in hardness. In time the whitish color will oxidize to a honey color.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

That ends todays class on art copies art and building the green spot.

Next Saturday it is about adding gun port sills and the wales.

so until then happy modeling to you all. i am off to the power museum to photograph and study the engine used in the White Swan to continue that class with the design and fabrication of an engine room diorama. Whoever thought research was boring is so wrong, it is road trip time.