School for Shipmodel Building School for model ship building

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

As a model shipwright you look at something like the stern and see it is built this way and that way by different builders and how they approached the build. The trick is finding your way. I have seen builders start with the stern post set the transom and proceed to build the entire stern. once built they add the fashion timbers and continue building the hull from that point. Personally, i found building the stern as a separate piece off the hull.

first i make a copy of the stern drawing and rubber cemented it to a piece of scrap wood. It is common for all the stern timbers to have a slant towards the center line. In this case only the end timbers slant.



next step is to cut out the end stern timbers and clamp them too the drawing making sure the notch lines up with the molding. The top of the timber is a little long and runs over the cap rail. That will be trimmed later,



with both the outer timbers clamped to the drawing they are ready to glue to the transom.



the notches cut into transom were taken off the plan so the timbers will set perfectly into the outer notches automatically setting the slant.



The foot of the timbers are quite small and i would not depend on them to set the backward slant of the stern. So what i did for the slant is to make a template from the plans for my stern plate to rest on held in place by a couple blocks.



from the side you can see the setup



Another view of the setup. I could have trimmed the bottom of the drawing and wood piece to the height of the transom. but what i did was move the block the transom sat on and let the stern fall free so the foot of the timbers sit in the transom notches.



with the outer timbers in place i will run a treenail up from the bottom of the transom and into the timber. It is a weak joint and the timbers will easily break away from the transom so a pin should help reinforce the joint.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

it has been a busy week and i hoped to have the stern done but i didn't, so until next Saterdats class i should have the stern built and set into the hull.

 

[Ted Robinson]

DISCLAIMER: My humble opinion

only a very few possess an artistic talent, gift, or ability of building ships from scratch. Most of the on coming communities that want to even get into this wonderful hobby, first have to learn the ships nautical terms and body plans which takes a long time unless a person is gifted in such areas. Instead of the encouragement of Hahn, I see a disconnect and discouragement from common folk that want to pursue the hobby. To me, his doctrine and philosophy is too strict and almost borders a line of arrogance against those that are unable to understand the complexities of scratch building. Which there again has a propensity of weeding out those that want to pursue the hobby. In other words, unless a person can’t build a ship from scratch they are not worthy in his eyes.
However, I also applaud anyone willing to take on the task to educate the rest of us on how to scratch building.

I see both sides of this coin. The of completion of a scratch built model must be much more rewarding than that of a model kit. I, for one, enjoyed flying my planes that I restored a lot more than the ones I purchased. That said, I believe your endeavor at starting a ship modelers school is exactly what is needed for beginners and intermediate builders. Having someone to show/teach the techniques of making parts, etc. will take a lot of the frustration out of ship modeling. Otherwise, a lot of time is spent reinventing the wheel or correcting errors.
I salute your endeavor and look forward to following your classes

 

[Peter Gutterman]

I respectfully observe little difference and distinction between the choice to pursue our hobby and shared interest from "scratch" building or from kits. Both pursuits are demanding and require inventiveness to achieve excellence and success.
I appreciate this effort to create a classroom for those interested in the processes necessary for scratch building a model. One does not preclude or devalue the other.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Ted, Pete gentlemen there are topics out in the public forum where this is debated as one verse the other which in my opinion there is no verse one against the other. Here in school, it is a chain reaction from kit building to kit bashing to semi scratch to scratch building.
Kit builders can learn how a ship is actually built, and it gives them a deeper understanding of the structure. and how it all comes together.
It is your personal journey and how far and how deep you go it entirety up to you. The school is to lay it all out from a simple weekend project to a build that takes years and requires accumulated skills and knowledge. If your satisfied gluing parts together no problem with that or if you challenge yourself to accomplishing scale wood joinery or trying to build a scale model representing the real ship there is nothing wrong with that either

so sit here in class and enjoy learning something or maybe get inspired to bash that kit or start a challenging build.

see you in class Saturday morning

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

a fine Saturday morning to you all, i was just over in the Design and fad classroom. So, to recap, Harold Hahn built his sterns while the hull was still in the jig. I decided to build the stern as a separate unit. I left off with gluing the two end timbers to the wing transom. Before i can continue with building the stern i need to shape the upper transom pieces. You may have wondered what the difference between building a kit and semi-scratch building. Well! this will demonstrate the difference. In a kit you get finished parts that you fit to the model. with semi-scratch you get the part but it is a blank that has to be shaped and fit first then fit it to the model. There is no picking up part A and glueing it to part B. There is no part A just a rough blank you have to make.

Here is a transom piece it is laser cut to the arc of the stern and precut notches



but it has to be shaped into an arc to fit the stern



the pattern is taken from the drawing and rubber cemented to the edge of the transom



the shaped to the arc



as you can see in the picture what you start with top piece and what you have to shape it into bottom piece



The transom pieces arch in two directions from top to bottom



and side to side

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

With the first transom shaped it is put into place



the second transom is shaped from the blank and set into the stern structure. I am using a rubber band to give a little tension on the end timbers to hold the transom in place



An inside view of the second transom shows the ends are notched around the outer timbers. This is because the deck planking rests on this transom piece which goes all the way out to the outer timbers.



now the structure is a bit more stable.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The stern is a small piece and delicate to work on



Now it is time to add the rest of the timbers

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Fitting the remaining timbers requires a bit if fussing around to get a nice fit. First off, the timbers sit in the notches of the wing transom and under the first transom.



In order to get the timbers to fit you have to slide the timber into the transom notch, the red arrow has to slip to the blue arrow. What is stopping it is the end of the transom notch is at a 90 degree and it need to be at the same angle of the timber.



Now here is the difference between just gluing parts together and fitting parts. To begin the type of wood makes a big difference. You do not want something to soft, and you do not want a hard wood. Like Goldie Locks, not to hard and not to soft just right for carving super thin shavings. In the photo the wood is Red Maple also called Soft Maple which in reality is neither red or soft.



you want to angle the notch in the transom and cut a notch in the timber. One piece of equipment is a machinist vice. Such a vice comes in handy when hand cutting joinery.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The stern is now finished except for the windows and the top timbers that hold up the cap rail.



Like i said i scrapped the Hahn method of building a stern with the hull in a jig. It can be done and if you think that is the wy you wnt to do it then go for it. But i cut away the jig



i still have part of the jig as a rim around the hull holding the frames in place.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

The final fitting of the stern to the hull. Don't jump to the conclusion it "done" not by a long shot there is still a lot of micro fitting and finishing. At this stage all that was done is setting in timbering.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

there is more than one way to build the model and avoid all the fussing and fitting of timbering. You can scratch build the same model using bulkheads. a bulkhead stern would be built like this example.



the bulkheads replace the stern timbers and transoms and cut out the stern and slap it on the hull like a billboard very little fuss about it



ok then!

As Harold Hahn's philosophy goes your robbing yourself of the knowledge of how a ships stern is built and most of all the development of finer wood working skills. BUT! that is one man's approach to the art and not the final word on anything.
Thinking about it building a plank on bulkhead kit you are not building a ship structure or timbering or fine joinery of timbers. What you have is a simplified structure your just skinning over with planking.
Scratch building and kit building are the same just different approaches to the same art form. Each one is dynamic in nature there are many ways to scratch build and many ways to kit bash. It kind of all blends together into one art.

and that ends class today.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

so what is going on with the Sir Edward Hawke?

Truth is i am one of those builders who juggle more than one project at a time. If i get stumped or bored on a build i will walk away and do something else like drawing or research or work on a different part of a build. Designing of the White Swan had come to a stopping point so this coming week it is back to building the Hawke so next Saturday class will continue.

 

[KentM]

P

Fitting the remaining timbers requires a bit if fussing around to get a nice fit. First off, the timbers sit in the notches of the wing transom and under the first transom.

View attachment 533005

In order to get the timbers to fit you have to slide the timber into the transom notch, the red arrow has to slip to the blue arrow. What is stopping it is the end of the transom notch is at a 90 degree and it need to be at the same angle of the timber.

View attachment 533006

Now here is the difference between just gluing parts together and fitting parts. To begin the type of wood makes a big difference. You do not want something to soft, and you do not want a hard wood. Like Goldie Locks, not to hard and not to soft just right for carving super thin shavings. In the photo the wood is Red Maple also called Soft Maple which in reality is neither red or soft.

View attachment 533007

you want to angle the notch in the transom and cut a notch in the timber. One piece of equipment is a machinist vice. Such a vice comes in handy when hand cutting joinery.

View attachment 533008

so what is going on with the Sir Edward Hawke?

Truth is i am one of those builders who juggle more than one project at a time. If i get stumped or bored on a build i will walk away and do something else like drawing or research or work on a different part of a build. Designing of the White Swan had come to a stopping point so this coming week it is back to building the Hawke so next Saturday class will continue.

How soon will a Hawk “kit” or materials be available?

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

How soon will a Hawk “kit” or materials be available?

now that i am back on this project i estimate around mid to end of October

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Good Saturday morning to all you shipbuilders, from the sunny southern shore of Lake Erie. today's class is all about the green spot.



We need to fill this area in and looking from the top down it seems like a tough job ahead making a smooth transition from the last hull frame to the end stern timber. That angle looks quite harsh.



If your building from a kit no problem just rummage through the box and find the pieces then glue them in place, just follow the instructions. If the instructions are unclear, you will need more information on how a ships hull is build. The class room project is a semi-scratch build of the Sir Edward Hawke and here is where the semi drops off and the green spot is total scratch because there are no premade parts or instructions to follow. So what is a builder supposed to do? steal it! art builds on itself as Steve Jobs said “Good artists copy, Great artists steal” In 1754, Chapman went on an "educational tour" of shipyards across Europe copying design and methods.
The quote was a favorite of Steve Jobs but he was probably (mis)quoting Pablo Picasso who said “Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal” — who in turn might be rephrasing Igor Stravinsky, but both sayings may well originate in T. S. Eliot’s dictum: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.” — The origins of this quote itself is an example of great artists stealing.

so let's get started

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Using Harold Hanh's work lets see what he did. Now, Harold was an engineers and artist and had an extensive library so whatever he did i would suppose was grounded in research. Lets look at the green spot through the work of Hahn.









Now we know the basic structure to fill in the green spot.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

It is about making patterns



When you have a pattern that fits the hull i used a scrap piece from the laser cut frame sheets and traced the shape on the wood.



then the wood piece with a little fussing around with fit it is placed in the hull.



so far so good for the general fit. Making parts start with a pattern then that piece is fit to the hull. Once the wood part is shaped it is refined and details added.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

This is where Harold Hahn and the ship modeling community parted ways. I mentioned in the beginning Harold Hahn had a strong dislike of "kits" in his philosophy building a kit, all your doing is learning how to build kits, building from scratch your learning how a scale model of a ship is built and you have to rely on your common sense and skill as an artist and research for answers to problems rather than turning to vague instructions from a manufacture. But this is one artist's point of view and is not the "golden rule"

At this point in the stern using the basic information from Hahn building in the green spot is original to my build. i had to design the parts and fabricate them from scratch.



notches in the vertical timbers match with the notches in the horizonal timbers creating a strong interlocking structure.



A block is now added below the timbers, this block is the supporting piece under the end of the wales. A filler piece is also added to the outer side of the stern timber.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

a view from the inside the horizonal timbers are at the level of the deck and support the deck planking along the edge. the bottom one is at the level of the cabin floor.



OH! my what did you do? the structure looks so chunky, there are timbers sticking out making the joinery look sloppy.

This brings up a couple methods of building one is if it does not show in the final model so what don't worry about it, it will be covered up. Another approach to model building is to make each and every part exact and finished, once the part is made then it is fit into the structure. What you are seeing here is the sculpture method which is building the structure rough and a little over size, you still need to pay attention to joinery making sure it is tight and neat. but once assembled the model is sculpted as one piece.