work in progress, 1/6th 1890's navy steam launch built to navy plans

[tghsmith]

cut the tongues and grooves, doing some untrimmed dry fitting and testing, looks like the tapered staves will get me around the sweep and back at vertical for the sides

 

[Leviblue]

Looks great from the pics. I'm not sure I'd have that much patients in a build like that.

 

[tghsmith]

tapered staves going in well,, had to get creative for a method of holding them in place..

 

[tghsmith]

the plan worked,, the deck unit lifts off and goes back in place nicely,, this will allow me to have complete access to the prop shaft and thrust box in the hull.. the bulkhead is one stave thick in the plans,, the stave placement was matched in the 2 bulkheads to keep the illusion,, gauges and other things get mounted on the engine side so it had to stay in place..

 

[JohnnyR]

Very impressive! How do you "lock" the deck to the hull? Hope you'll be building more of these - I love this thread!

 

[tghsmith]

the plans show 4 oar/row lock socket fittings,, my current plans are to use these and the oar locks as 1/4 turn or threaded thumb-screws to lock the deck down

 

[tghsmith]

did some more work on the staving until I ran out of the tongue and groove stock,, will have to mill some more to finish,, did some mock-up work for the combination seat and storage lockers..

 

[tghsmith]

found some time and got the tongue and groove work completed!!!

 

[tghsmith]

googled around a bit and found that Bell Forest products shows photos of the actual turning billet you buy on thier website,, they "had" an extremely fine grained ash turning billet,, 2.75 x 2.75 x 24,, I'll be able to resaw this to give me the stock for hatches,seats and locker tops..the billet is on the way..

 

[tghsmith]

spent the week improving the fit of the removable deck,, my ash billet arrived should be able to use any face to make the 1/6th scale 12" and 18" boards, it look very nice

 

[tghsmith]

set up the resaw fence and cut the stock needed,, sanded it to the 1/8th thickness.. worked with some brass to make the forward mast ring and cap.. decided that it could also be the forward deck hold-down fixture..

 

[tghsmith]

aft mast ring and cap/cover made,, had to rig a jig to keep the fostner bit in the correct spot while cutting the counter-bore for the ring,, brass and wood look so great together!!!

 

[tghsmith]

did some brass carving today,, after much filing and sanding hopefuly these will become the four main deck cleats..

 

[tghsmith]

cleaned one of the four up... I think it might pass Slim's inspection.. I've come to the conclusion that brass is the forgotten hardwood..

 

[tghsmith]

brass the other hardwood

 

[WriterJFP]

Lovely work! I'm not sure why your inspector always looks so grumpy. Maybe he's hungry...

 

[tghsmith]

done carving brass for the week, gave Slim the weekend off to rest his bones.

 

[tghsmith]

gave some more work for Slim to inspect

 

[tghsmith]

well I've gone and it, put two holes in a perfectly good hull.. these boat had a keel condenser, basically a tube that ran under the hull to condense the exhaust steam back to water so it could be cycled through the boiler again.. the fittings still need to cut to height and threaded for hold-downs and plumbing fittings..

 

[tghsmith]

condenser system getting more work, giving a shot at casting the condenser pump body,, at least the pattern involves woodworking..