Hello all. Just a quick recap: I am an experienced modeler, but never built a wooden ship. I obtained this model at a rummage sale. For better or worse, this thread will follow my attempts. I posted previously about a warped keel piece and received advise. I considered using a piece of birch for the keel, but think it might be too hard to cut the rabbet. So I started with the slightly warped basswood and will follow the advise gained from the members who offered their help. The first two pictures are out of order, but I will do better from now on. The stern piece is cut and I will cut the rudder next. The instructions say "If you want a movable rudder...".
QUESTION:Since this is a static model, why would someone want a movable rudder? Are there any opinions on whether a movable rudder is better or worse?

Interesting question Jeff -- the kit you are building allows for the option of a "movable rudder . the choice is your's . In some cases , movable parts ( accurate and in scale), can add a new demansion to the modeling experience such as diaoramas -- just one step towards that devil we all call "DETAILS"

Any rigged ship should really be in an enclosed case as they are a nightmare to keep clean of dust. Since its encased a movable rubber is moot.
As for me the more parts that are "action oriented" invites the uninitiated to try various parts and pieces for "movement" increasing the broken quotient exponentially. Hatches are a great one. I finally gave up wrote off a prior version of the Cutty Sark from visitors attempting to open the hatches. Hence the now enclosed and no moving parts.

Just my thoughts.

If you make the rudder movable you must also make all the running rigging, yard arms, hatches, wheel, cannons, cannon balls, buckets, compass needle, windlass, all anchor tackle, belaying pins, life boats, all eating utensils on the captains table, and anything else I forgot movable too. If not, you must apologize to every member on this board and you can never post anything again.

It's settled. I will make the rudder semi-movable. The piece is cut, I just need to give it the proper taper.

Semi -movable? It moves or it doesn't. Is semi-movable limited travel port and starboard? :=)

Semi movable was just a lighthearted joke. There don't seem to be any compelling arguments for or against. I've tapered the rudder and will decide the movability issue later in the construction. Time to move on.

Well there hasn;t been too much progress. I have been traveling. But I have a question about the rudder. I have fitted the gudgeons & Pintles. I may have made the mortise (for the brackets) a little too deep. I thought that I could just sand down the face of the rudder, to make the mortise shallower. However, I don;t know how thick the rudder should be. It was cut from the same material as the keel. I then tapered the trailing edge and rounded the leading edge, so it is a little thinner than the keel stock. But none of the drawings give me any idea of the prototype thickness. Does anyone happen to know?

Well I achieved some progress. I have added pictures of the finished rudder. Pintles & Gudgeons have been fit. There is a nice close fit between the rudder and stern post. I have begun the trial fitting of the frames. It looks like they will take some adjustment to make them straight. In real life, they don;t look bad. But when you take a picture, all the inaccuracies seem to be magnified. I think I will fit all 30 frames, then make the adjustments.

It is now December 30 and I have fit all 30 frames. From 8 feet away they look great. I decided to fit the frames "by eye", because I really had no idea how this was going to work out. The frames are all sanded and looking nice, they just don't line up very well. I have decided to call this my "Trial" Trial Fit. I will refit each frame again, using the alignment jig I made. It fits over the keel and the graph paper makes it much easier to see if the frames are level and centered. See the new pictures.

I have been traveling the last few weeks and there doesn't appear to be much obvious progress. However, I have refitted the frames, using my gauge to make them more accurate and everything is much better than the first attempt. I will now be looking for the worst fitting frame and then making the fit better. Then I will look at the next worst fit and so on until they look as perfect as I can expect them. I think I will leave the bow and stern pieces off until after I glue the frames.

Greg

You certainly get points for being methodical.

Still, you may want to leave time for a bit of fairing the ribs after they are glued in place.

In fact, I generally try to get my ribs reasonably well worked out, then glue them and finish most of the fairing in place. I find I can make quick progress with a long file once everything is set in place and also that it helps to test the work with a long flexible strip of wood to "see how she flows" from time to time as I work.

Keep up the good work!

OK, I have run into my first critical situation. I have fit all of the frames and have begun to cut the rabbet. The first side went reasonably well. The second side was sloppier and maybe a bit too deep. At the stern, even though there appears to be enough thickness, the grain runs perfectly through the keel piece from one side to the other and the piece is splitting right along the deep rabbet cut. The split is about
2 1/2 inches out of 22 inches overall. Can I just glue the piece after I finish the rabbet? Or should I cut a whole new keel? I have a piece of birch I can use, but it is thicker than the basswood that came with the kit and I would have to refit all 30 frames. When I plank the ship, will that add enough strength to keep the keel from splitting further? was thinking of making a very thin wash of Elmers Carpenters glue and just painting that along the inside of the cut. But I wonder if that would make it more difficult for the garboard to adhere to the keel.

I believe I have this issue resolved and have posted pictures to help explain. After my initial panic subsided, I continued to cut the rabbet and sand it to a smoother finish. The rabbet is acceptable. With most of the splinters, dust and chisel marks gone, I had a better view of the split. Pics 18 and 19 show the length of the split in relation to the length of the keel stock. (Aft of the pencil) While the inopportune placement of the grain may have contributed to the split, I think the cause was a heavy handed modeler. You can see that the split almost matches the deadwood perfectly. I cut the first side, removing up to 1/16" of the stock. Pics 20, 21. Then I turned it over to cut the second side. If I was working in a larger scale, I might have realized that the deadwood area was unsupported. I should have shimmed that area before putting pressure on the second side. My pressure with the knife probably split the wood and the grain was merely the weakest point. My first thought, later verified by Jim, was to pin the deadwood to the keel. (See my other thread). But I do not trust myself to drill a pilot hole that accurately. But the stern post is not glued yet. When that happens, it will bridge the split and offer some additional support. Since my rabbets are a bit deep anyway, I have cut some brown paper and will glue them into the rabbet to form a splice the length of the split, with some additional length to keep the split from going further. Pics 22, 23 show the rough cut of the paper splice. In pic 23, you can also see what happens when you press down on an unsupported piece. I will shim the unsupported side when I install the splices. I will post another picture when the paper is trimmed and glued into place.

The splices are installed on both sides. Pics are posted to show the splice on one side. I feel pretty confident about this repair. Next step, mark the frames to cut out the stanchions.

Well I seem to have taken a step backwards. I was ready to cut the stanchions, but the manual told me to check the frames for the proper thickness above the plank sheer. I didn't expect to have to go back to shaping the frames. I have posted 3 new photos showing the frame before thinning, after thinning and the guide I used to make my marks. As shown in the "before" photo, I made my marks and drew the shape by hand. I did all 30 frames on both sides. I then set up my rotary tool, with a sanding drum attached, in a drill press. That allowed the tool to be held steady while I used both hands to move the frame. Things went better than I expected and very quickly. However, the rearmost 5 frames caused a bit of a problem, so I left them oversize and asked for help by posting a different, more specific thread. (Thanks to all the members who gave me advise with this last problem.) I will work that out when I get back home. THEN, I will cut the stanchions.

Well I had some issues measuring the height of the stanchions, but I think I have it worked out. I cut three frames last night, just as a test. I was hoping to mark all thirty frames, then cut them all, but I think marking one frame and cutting it is the way I will proceed. Only twenty-seven more frames to go.

I have all 60 stanchions cut, pic 0029. I had a little bit of a problem getting them equal. If I had it to do over again, I would have begged, borrowed or stole a table mounted scroll saw. (OK. OK. I would have begged or borrowed.) The table mounted saw would have given me the ability to hold each frame with two hands and slide it along a fence. My cuts would have been more consistent. As it is, I will be using a sanding block to even out the shape of each stanchion. I used a jig to measure the length of each stanchion, but the cuts at the extreme ends of the ship seem a little deep. Pic 0030. I finally got tired of worrying about it and relied on blind faith. After the frames are glued onto the keel, I will have a better idea of how this is going to work out.

Another step nearly finished. (Pics 31-32-33) I have all 30 frames glued to the keel and looking reasonably square. I was concerned about my ability to get them square to the keel, plumb and level all at the same time. My small square just didn't want to fit in a way that I trusted. So I used a square tool, slipped it against the keel, then pushed it into the corner of the keel and frame. Presto, two measurements at once. (Pic 34) Then I just had to use my height gauge to be sure that the port side was level with the starboard. I will be using the carved bow and stern pieces that come with the kit. The stern piece is pretty close to done. But I am having a bit of trouble with the bow piece. It just doesn't seem to fit right. After that, the keelson, bilge stringers and plank shears. I don't expect much problem with them. But I will post in "scuttlebutt" about the mast steps. I have some questions about them.

My father-in-law always used to say "Being employed sure gets in the way of having fun!" Well, I am suffering from that adage now. However, I do have the stern piece fitted, a hole cut for the rudder post and the stern post glued into place. I am not quite sure that the stern most frames are correctly cut at the planksheer line. I have clamped in a piece of wood for the planksheer and will make some adjustments to the frames. I think it will be easier to cut those frames with the sternpiece unmounted, that is why I haven't glued it in place. It appears that the planksheers should be fine at the bow. No pics this time. Most of this work is taking place between my ears rather than on the model itself. I will post more pics when the longitudinals are in place.

I have made a little progress. The keelson is in place and I am bending the sheerclamps. Pics 0035, 0036, 0037. Nothing terribly complicated (or exciting) here, but it is beginning to look like a boat.

OK, I have a question. Please go to Scuttlebutt and see my post regarding the sheer clamp and its function on a model ship. Thank you for any opinions you might offer.

FRUSTRATION "is what you may experience right before you overcome a problem". I have the sheer clamps glued in (finally) and the bilge stringers are being bent now. I do not expect any problems with them. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much more rigid the hull is with the sheer clamps in place. I can finally remove it from my clamping base and look at it from any angle.

I finally have the sheer clamps and bilge clamps installed, pics 0038, 0039. I need to measure and install clamps for the raised quarter deck and forecastle deck. Soon, I will have to make a decision on the mast steps. See my other post for my idea to make an angled mortise. I wish I could be confident about accurately cutting an angled tenon in the mast.

Well, the spring has a tendency to take a lot of my time. (Out in the yard) But I do have the clamps in for the 2 raised decks. I have also spent some time fairing the frames. Seems to have gone pretty well. The tops of the stanchions are all pretty level now too. I think that I may make some short temporary masts, just to allow myself some time to work out the issue of mast steps. I am still thinking mortise and tenon. Didn;t get much feedback on what everyone else is doing. When I get back in town, I will start to build deck frames, according to the guide manual. The job seems straightforward enough but may take some time.