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 Rank: Amateur Level 1  Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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ok, so I've managed to cut all the notches in the deck. What I've learned from this exercise is that it's easy to get the notches out of alignment if you just start at one end and work your way down. The best way to do it is to put in the first and last bulkhead (in this case, it's bulkheads 1 and 10) and then place the intervening bulkheads one at a time (no more than 3 at a time - one on each end, and only one at a time in the middle). Once I figured that out, it went a lot smoother. Picture one shows a top view of the deck resting in place with the first 10 bulkheads in place. Picture 2 show a side/underneath view of the same thing. In picture 3, I've tried to show the gap between the deck and the top of bulkhead 2, which exists because the deck seems to be meant to slope down, but needs to be forced into position. Picture 4 shows me forcing the deck into position with my hand, thereby closing the gap. The next thing I plan to do is to cut the notches in the aft deck, which fits with bulkheads 9-12. Then I can actually glue some of this stuff into place permanently. Thanks for people's interest and advice. It means a lot to me. RichieG attached the following image(s):
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 Looking good Richie very nicely done  Most decks slope down towards the centre of the ship so it can get rid of the water out of the scuppers Rgd Martyn Building ?
Completed. Soliei Royal . Sovereign of the Seas . Virginia . Scotland . San Felipe . Corel vasa , Santisima Trinadad X section , Vasa
Next Build ?
When sailors have good wine, They think themselves in heaven for the time. John Baltharpe
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 Rank: Master      Groups: Registered
Joined: 08/07/2010 Posts: 1,036 Points: 3,086 Location: Thetford, Norfolk, UK
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Nice going Richie.
That deck looks OK now all the frames have been fitted. Hope you've got plenty of strong rubber bands/clamps to hold it place when you finally glue it in place, or you could pin it down as well if you want to be certain the deck stays where it's supposed to be while the glue is drying. Great update.
Happy building
David
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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Daffy, you read my mind! I actually made a special trip to harbor freight to buy a couple of extra clamps just in case. I decided to glue the bulkheads and the deck all in one shot, but I didn't trust myself to apply glue and then assemble all the clamps and rubber bands before the glue dried. So I clamped everything up tight as I could, and put rubber bands around all of the bulkheads, and then diluted some titebond wood glue and painted it onto all of the joints, hoping that capillary action would draw the thinned glue into the spaces between the keel, bulkheads, and deck. These pictures are before I applied the glue. The first picture is meant to impress you with how many clamps and rubber bands I managed to get in there. The second picture is to show what I thought was a clever idea: I had trouble clamping the bow area as the keel sloped up to about a 45 degree angle with the deck, and the clamp kept slipping off. I cut off the piece of plywood that was adjacent to the front of the keel in the original plywood sheet, and it fit perfectly against the curve, and gave me a nice flat surface to clamp to. The last picture is just to demonstrate that I think I did manage to eliminate pretty much all of the space between the bottom of the deck and the top of the bulkheads. Tonight, assuming it all hold, I plan to reapply some full strength glue over all the joints just to be safe. So far, so good, I think... RichieG attached the following image(s):
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 Rank: Super-Elite    Groups: Registered, Forum Support Team, Administrators, Global Forum Support Team, Moderator, Official Builds Joined: 09/11/2012 Posts: 8,495 Points: 24,576 Location: East midlands
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Looks good Ritchie, WTG. Regards delboy271155 (Derek) COME BACK GUY FAWKES "YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU"
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Nicely done Ritchie, looks like you're making good progress.... Regards Alan
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Rank: Master Groups: Registered
Joined: 08/07/2010 Posts: 1,036 Points: 3,086 Location: Thetford, Norfolk, UK
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Well impressed Richie, a fine job you've made of clamping her all up. Good idea to use a wedge at the bow to level things up.
Happy building
David
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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The deck and first 10 bulkheads seem nice and stable, so I notched and glued on the upper aft deck in the same way with the last 2 bulkheads (first 2 pictures). I'm not really sure of the order of the steps here, but it seemed to me that this would be a good time to drill the 3 holes in the decks for the 3 masts (because I could see where they go easily, without any hull planks in the way.) The two front masts are 6mm in diameter according to the figures, and the backmost one is 5mm. I drilled the holes by starting with a 1mm drill bit, and incrementally increased the bit size until the dowels fit snug. (After the first bit, which fit into a pin vise, I just held the drill bits and turned them by hand. It works ok, as long as the bit is just marginally bigger than the hole. The next 4 pictures show the front mast hole from the top, and side with the dowel in place, and the middle mast with dowel in place from the top and side. As the front mast is canted forward, I think I will bevel the bottom so that it fits flat against the false keel. Again, thanks to everyone who has checked in and given encouragement. I'll try to give weekly updates just to keep the momentum going (even if the progress is meager.) So, I apologize in advance if the updates seem to focus on minutiae. I don't want to take too much for granted, as I have no practical experience with this type of work. RichieG attached the following image(s):
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Very nice update Richie it's nice to see these wooden wonders come to life so don't worry about the small steps Rgd Martyn Building ?
Completed. Soliei Royal . Sovereign of the Seas . Virginia . Scotland . San Felipe . Corel vasa , Santisima Trinadad X section , Vasa
Next Build ?
When sailors have good wine, They think themselves in heaven for the time. John Baltharpe
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Rank: Super-Elite  Groups: Registered
Joined: 31/05/2010 Posts: 5,679 Points: 17,011 Location: Wiltshire
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You are making a really fantastic job of this one. Hope it all continues well for you. Happy Modelling
BUILDING: Hachette Spitfire Mk 1A, Constructo Mayflower
SUBSCRIPTION COMPLETE (Awaiting building): USS Constitution, Sovereign of the Seas, 1:200 Bismarck (Hachette)
COMPLETED: Porsche 911, E-Type Jaguar, Lam Countach
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Very nicely done Ritchie, looking good..... Regards Alan
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 Rank: Beginner Level 2 Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/11/2016 Posts: 13 Points: 60 Location: South Africa
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Hi Richie
So glad that someone else is building a Xebec ! You are lucky to have a kit to build it from !! One word of warning though. Has the deck got a camber to it, ie, does it slope from side to side, as well as fore and aft ? If it does show a camber, this cannot be done with one piece of plywood, you can do a slope either from side to side (camber) or fore and aft (pitch). It would be better to do this with individual planks which are cut out, to do a decent job, as it is easy to get the individual planks to follow a compound curve. (Both fore and aft, as well as camber)
You are doing a great job, and I will follow this build with interest !!
Regards
Martin
(Chebeque101)
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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Thanks for everyone's comments and encouragement. And, Xebek, I did see your scratch built Xebek, and I was blown away! It looks absolutely amazing, and to think that you figured it all out from your own imagination! Mine isn't going to look as good as yours, but I'll do my best. The deck does actually have a compound curve to it, but the sideways curve is fairly subtle, and I managed to muscle it into shape, I think. This update shows my attempt to fair the hull. I tried to fair the starboard side, and will show pictures of the faired and unfaired sides in the attached photos. Pic 1 shows a top view, and I've tried to show that the deck itself needed to be trimmed back quite a ways. The circled areas are meant to show the trimmed back deck edge (top) versus the untrimmed (bottom). It's subtle in the picture, but it took a good amount of cutting and sanding to get the deck edge to match the bulkheads. Pics 2 and 3 show the unfaired bow and the faired bow. Pics 4 and 5 show the unfaired stern and the faired stern. I would ask some advice with respect to the last bulkhead in the stern. I couldn't really get the file or sanding block down into the bottom, so, you can see that there is still some of the original laser char there. Can I leave it like that? or should I get some little files and try to really get the whole edge nice and angles like the upper part? RichieG attached the following image(s):
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Coming along nicely Richie, looking good... .. My initial impression is you need to use a small file and fair the stern some more. Very difficult to tell for certain as I can only see the stern from the side, it would be good to see a couple of pics of the stern looking down the side of the hull..... Regards Alan
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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I'm still working on fairing the hull to prepare it to accept the hull planks, but it's slow going, and my attention span is too short to work on just one thing singlemindedly. So, in the meantime, I've prepared a piece of the rearmost deck. It came as a bunch of pieces of wood that had multiple little notches cut into them at regular intervals, and it seemed that when I separated all the pieces out, they fit together in a grid-like pattern. I glued them all together with titebond, which was kind of tough because there were hundreds of little intersections that I tried to get the glue into without leaving big clumps of extra glue clogging the holes, but it seemed to work ok with a metal pin as an applicator. Then I traced the 1:1 template from the plans onto paper, and transferred the pattern to the wooden grid and cut it with an 11 blade. They then suggested lining the whole thing with a 1x4 mm plank. (I think my final product is a bit oversized, but I guess if it doesn't fit, I can either sand down the external plank, or cut the whole thing a little smaller and replace the planks. RichieG attached the following image(s):
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Very nicely done on the gratings Richie a little tip for gluing them together is to get a piece of plastic so the pieces of the gratings don't stick to the table then assemble the gratings once together apply diluted PVA with a brush over the joints and leave to dry Hope this helps rgd Martyn Building ?
Completed. Soliei Royal . Sovereign of the Seas . Virginia . Scotland . San Felipe . Corel vasa , Santisima Trinadad X section , Vasa
Next Build ?
When sailors have good wine, They think themselves in heaven for the time. John Baltharpe
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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sure that helps! I did think to put a plastic bag under the grating while I was gluing it (so it wouldn't stick to the table), but I didn't think to dilute the glue, so I just kept dipping a metal pin into glue, and running it into every corner of every one of the little squares. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll use that in the future.
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Hi, Enjoying your build, but spotted what looks like a slight warping to the stern deck in your bottom photo. pic and light may be exaggerating it, but you may want to try and correct this as it could cause problems when lining the bulwarks. If you feel it needs flattening you should be able to soften the adhesive by steaming the joints over a kettle to remove the deck and then soak the deck and let it dry while under weight to flatter it. steaming the joins may also lose the ribs and you may have to reset them. Jason “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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again, thanks for all the advice and support. (jase, I see what you're referring to; it turns out that the front part of the aft deck isn't actually glued to anything. It's just hanging out there in space, and it can be repositioned up or down just by pushing it. So I won't need to unglue anything. When I glue the bulwarks in, I'll just muscle that deck into position and glue it. But thanks for paying such close attention; I definitely appreciate the effort.) I'm still working on fairing the hull. There are a few bulkheads that seem too low, unless it's that there's one that's too high. I've glued some extra .5mm thick deck planking on the low ones, and I'm still sanding away. But in the meantime (again, my attention span is way to short to work on only one thing at a time) I've decided to put the little support beam under the aft deck (as shown in the plans.) They suggest a 3x3 mm plank, which they supplied with the kit. I had previously been tapering some of the masts by chucking them into a drill and sanding them down (measuring at different points with a caliper), and I thought it might be nice to 'decorate' this column by using the drill and some small files as a lathe. I think it looks kind of cute. More later. RichieG attached the following image(s):
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Rank: Amateur Level 1 Groups: Registered
Joined: 22/12/2016 Posts: 29 Points: 70 Location: US
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I finally feel like I've faired the bulkheads sufficiently to bite the bullet and start installing some planks. I know that there are many approaches to this, and I've considered several and finally settled on this one. This particular model has a single piece bulwark (well, one for each side) that gets glued above the hull planks, and has precut cannon ports. I clipped it into approximate position, and put one of the cannons into its sled, and adjusted the bulwark position until the cannon reached the ports all the way across. I then drew a line along the bottom edge on each bulkhead, and this line would represent the upper edge of the hull planks. This model is different than most, in that, in order to simplify the construction process, they have provided bow filler blocks and stern filler blocks that are meant to go in after the hull is planked, thereby eliminating the need to plank the more severe curves of the bow and stern. That means that the hull planks are meant to end at the front edge of the first bulkhead, and the back edge of the last bulkhead. (There is an option to put a second layer of hull planks over the first layer and the filler blocks, and I will probably do this.) I dry fit a full length plank into position, and just eyeballed the curvature. Then, I held it in this approximate shape, and ran a hairdryer over it for about a minute. To my surprise, it held its shape really well. (I was skeptical that heat alone, and the relative mild heat of a hair dryer on the high setting, would be enough to really get any significant effect, but it worked great! No water necessary! No waiting for the plank to dry.) As the plank was pretty close to the right shape, I was able to glue it to the bulkheads easily with CA glue, no clamping other that just holding it with my hand for a minute or two. The next thing I did was to measure the length of each bulkhead below that plank, and I made a little table. All of the middle ones from number 4 to 10 were pretty much 40 mm. Since I'm using 5 mm planks, that means I'd need 8 more planks to finish the planking on that side. The first three bulkheads were shorter, and, I calculated how wide the planks would need to be to still have 8. This is all in the table (which I took a picture of). The last bulkhead needed 44 mm, so I'd need to add one 4 mm plank, which I plan to put between the 4th and 5th planks. I marked this temporarily on the last bulkhead (see photo). I marked the first 4 bulkheads at the appropriate plank widths, and I tapered a plank to the correct width at each position. Hair dryer again, for the curvature, and the stern twist, and it went into position easily. I glued to to the bulkheads with CA glue, and I glued its top edge to the bottom edge of the previous plank with titebond (yellow wood glue). The CA acted as a clamp, so I didn't use any clamps or nails. In the meantime, I've glued a couple of the paper drawings to the proper wooden pieces, and painted them. (The one with the mermaids is the transom, and the other one goes at the front edge of the aft deck.) Thanks to everyone for advice and encouragement, and I'll post more later. RichieG attached the following image(s):
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