The GRACIE S - a Lift Model

[DAWarden-(Jaager)]

There are limitations in terms of the torque forces one could apply to the vise mounted on a tee track, since the tee-track is doesn't have a lot of strength for side loads, particularly if applied to a "lever" created by the height of the vise.

Bob,
I am not advocating this - just as a possible way to make it work.
Have a plywood pad under each of the two C-clamps - size and thickness TBT. Attach the C-clamp to the pad with a flat head screw/bolt that is the same diameter and TPI as the threaded rod that advances the clamping pad. Counter sunk.
Easy hold. A wide enough pad should be as resistant to torque as the C-clamps on a table edge. More than one T-track traveler - it is just a matter of drilling another 1/4" hole.

 

[Roger Pellett]

A simple clamp for carving half models: A piece of 1” thick board clamped vertically into a bench level carpenter’s vise. A couple of wood screws passing through the board into the the flat back of the model.

Roger

 

[Bob Cleek]

A simple clamp for carving half models: A piece of 1” thick board clamped vertically into a bench level carpenter’s vise. A couple of wood screws passing through the board into the the flat back of the model.

Roger

In one of his books, The Commonsense of Yacht Design, perhaps, L. Francis Herreshoff describes and pictures the use of a particularly notched length of stock which is temporarily screwed to a solid wooden hull blank to hold the blank for carving. The shape of this piece permits it to be held in a bench vise in a variety of ways which position the hull at different angles in the bench vise as might be convenient for the carver.
See one thousand word picture below:

 

[Greg Davis]

Did some more hull shaping today - other projects have slowed down this one a bit, so it will be on and off for a bt!

I've now changed to smaller finger / violin planes as they are able to remove wood in a convex shape and there is not room for the small hand plane to work where needed.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Did some more hull shaping today - other projects have slowed down this one a bit, so it will be on and off for a bt!

I've now changed to smaller finger / violin planes as they are able to remove wood in a convex shape and there is not room for the small hand plane to work where needed.

View attachment 564175

Wow. look at those lines! Very sleek.

 

[AndyA]

In one of his books, The Commonsense of Yacht Design, perhaps, L. Francis Herreshoff describes and pictures the use of a particularly notched length of stock which is temporarily screwed to a solid wooden hull blank to hold the blank for carving. The shape of this piece permits it to be held in a bench vise in a variety of ways which position the hull at different angles in the bench vise as might be convenient for the carver.

Yes, a useful tool. Here is an illustration of it from Capt. Nat Herreshoff: the Wizard of Bristol by his son L. Francis Herreshoff. Also, here's a photo of mine, which, I must admit, has been used more for decoy ducks than model ships. Somewhere around here there is also a much smaller version that has been used for miniature decoys. Fair winds!

 

[Greg Davis]

As I get closer to the proper hull shape I'm changing tools again - first it was the palm plane, then the violin planes, now I'm making use of a set of violin scrapers: to refine the hull. The set of scraper has many shapes and it is not too hard to find one that is appropriate for any given portion of the hull. Most of the cards were in good shape / ready to use as delivered; however a few had burrs that needed to be removed before they could be used.

I'm testing myself on how far I can get with cutting and scraping tools before resorting to any filing and/or sanding.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Wow. Nice hull!

 

[JacquesCousteau]

That looks great!

 

[Greg Davis]

Making my way to the stern (on the starboard side) - this has been going slowly, but in the correct direction. I am still doing a great deal of the shaping using scrapers. I scrape a bit and then run my fingers along the hull in multiple directions to determine locations that are not flowing continuously. Some of the black paint showing where the lifts are joined is getting very narrow. This signifies that finishing sanding is not far away in those locations.

 

[Roger Pellett]

More fun than planking?

Roger

 

[Greg Davis]

More fun than planking?

Roger

Good question! This work is certainly satisfying to me. Later, planking will need to be done as the Gracie plans the hull is being fashioned on are drawn to the inside of the planking. It is nice to note that the plan set does include cross-sections that indicate the planking widths. This will be most helpful when laying out the planking scheme. Thus there will come a point that all of this hull shaping work will become concealed. After the planking comes another decision point - copper the bottom or not; if so, how will it be done?

Of course, an alternative option would have been to redraw the HAMMS plans to the outside of the planking before making the lifts. The hull could then be painted once the shaping is done. If I had gone this way, I would have shaped the solid hull to include bulwarks. Here I will be adding station timbers to fasten the bulwarks to when the planking is being done.