Scale topsail schooner Julia

[tossedman]

I really have no idea what I'm doing as I've never built a model ship before but I stumbled across Robert Wilson's website and purchased his topsail schooner Julia booklet and thought I'd give it a go. Bob Wilson is old school hand tools but I thought I'd throw some digital technologies into the mix. I drew up the deck in Adobe Illustrator and cut it out using a laser cutter. Then I saw Robert Hunt's article, Planking Decks in the MSB Journal on the Ships of Scale site so I added planks. Then to see if it worked I added treenails but they're so tiny you really have to look to see them. I should mention that this is only 151.6 mm long. I laser cut some templates out of matte board for the hull and then cut the hull out on the band saw. Here's this week's progress. This ship is 1:192 scale but when it's done, I think I'll enlarge it to 1:150 scale and make another. Easy to do digitally.

 

Here's the first iteration of the deck.

This is the Illustrator drawing with the planks and treenails added.

Here it is laser cut using 1/32" basswood.


The whole deck and nothing but the deck.


The matte board templates.


The hull and deck. The hull is bandsawn.

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

Edited February 9, 2023 by tossedman

[tossedman]

As I read more of Robert Hunt's Planking Decks article in the MSB Journal, I learned about nibbing strakes. Who knew such things existed? I didn't even though I've seen them on real boats. But, I do now, so, as a result, I've added more details that nobody will ever see to the deck of my model top sail schooner Julia. I spent many hours messing around on the computer and then two minutes and 43 seconds on the laser cutter to come up with this. I have also changed how the lines between the planks are laser engraved to give them a little more definition. I don't know why, but I find this kind of design work quite relaxing. And, I learn new things too. As you can see, I've also cut out where the hatches and deck house, etc. will go.

I was told to taper the planks so I did. Not perfect but it'll do. Will probably never be seen though.

 

I even added a couple of scarf(ish) joints.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

Edited February 9, 2023 by tossedman

[tossedman]

As I continue on with my build of the topsail schooner Julia, I'm cutting out the hull. I first tried a bandsaw and while the results were OK they were not as accurate as the laser cut deck. The hull wall about .5mm smaller than the deck as I couldn't cut a straight line if I tried, never mind a complete hull shape. Since I have access to a CNC router at the school I teach at, I figured it was time to learn how to use it. After watching a few YouTube videos and talking to the wood shop teacher I gave it a go. I'm using a scrap of MDF to test things out here. An hour or two of messing around on the computer and CNC router and I came up with this. Still a few things to figure out but I'm happy with the results. The hull is almost exactly the same as the laser cut deck. I think I need to adjust for the kerf of the laser. Once that is done I need to learn to put the curve on the profile of the hull for the deck.

Testing the CNC on a piece of scrap MDF. The hull will be basswood once I figure this out.


The hull prototype and the deck.


It's almost a perfect fit.


To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

 

[bill937ca]

Nice work!

 

[tossedman]

A bit more of an update on my topsail schooner Julia model. I'm still refining the laser cutting of the deck. I've decided to do vector engraving vs raster engraving. It give slightly better detail. I've turned up the power up on some lines and down on the others. I've changed how the tree nails are engraved so as to make them look a little crisper. Here's a short video of how it looks being laser engraved and cut. This video has been sped up by 4 times.

 

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

[tossedman]

And here's the deck with the requisite pencil for scale.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

[tossedman]

 

Started on the hatches and deck fixtures of my topsail schooner Julia. Here's the first prototype. Needs some alterations but I'm happy with the initial results. Trying to make it look something like what's in the painting of the ship. It has an interesting companionway.

I have also farmed out the job of drawing the hull in 3D for the CNC to our resident 16 year old CAD expert. I'm fine with 2D drawings but fumble about with some 3D stuff still.
 

Here's painting of what this ship looked like.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

 

[tossedman]

A bit more progress to report. As you may have guessed I've been working on this for a few weeks as my school was on exam break. My classes have no exams so I had a bit of free time to learn to use the laser cutter and CNC router. That's why there's been a bit of a picture dump today. Looks like I'm going to have to add a bit of an ocean scene to my next layout too.

 

I gave up on waiting for the 16 year old to design the hull in 3D as it's the end of semester and final exam time. They do have exams and have been studying like made. I hacked away at the hull with knives, rasps and sanding sticks. This is a basswood hull that I cut out. The nice thing about doing these bits digitally is if I stuff it up I can just cut another in minutes. I'll eventually get the 3D CNCed hull done. I've now glued the deck to the hull and am waiting for the glue to dry. It's so exciting watching this glue dry! 😁 Then it's on to the stem and stern and the bulwarks.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

[cteno4]

todd,

 

awesome sauce! great work. i envy the tools you have access to at the school!

 

now you just need to start cutting lasercut japanese fishing boats! I was tempted to fiddle with some card stock tries after the recent thread on japanese fishing boats for HO.

 

jeff

[tossedman]

The glue has dried enough to try another dry fit of the hatches, etc. Carved the hull of the lifeboat as well. I actually used a wood carving knife, rasps and sandpaper on that little thing.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

[tossedman]

1 minute ago, cteno4 said:

todd,

 

awesome sauce! great work. i envy the tools you have access to at the school!

 

now you just need to start cutting lasercut japanese fishing boats! I was tempted to fiddle with some card stock tries after the recent thread on japanese fishing boats for HO.

 

jeff

You never know Jeff. I know little about Japanese fishing boats but I'd bet the skills I'm learning here are pretty transferable.

 

Todd

[tossedman]

A bit more done. Raised the height of the galley and started on the stem. Next is the galley roof. Made a rudder, but it's too tiny to do anything with so I'll redo it. Also, I think I may raise the height of rear companionway and still have to make the the companionway leading to the forecastle.

The brass rods I had added for the mast stubs in the above post were too large so I chucked them up in the old Proxxon rotary tool and turned them down to about a 1mm diameter. I'm using 2mm brass tubing for the masts. I had originally thought I'd use 3mm masts but they look huge so it's back down to 2mm.

I've added the stem as well. Might not be high enough though as I forgot about the bulwarks. Mine is basswood as it's so easy for me to cut using the laser. A bit more wood and glue should fix that. Bob used brass in his booklet.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

[tossedman]

I laser cut a rudder from 1/32" basswood and glued it into a slot in the hull. Added some wood filler as well that needs to be sanded.

I cut out the fife rail and am working on some posts for that. They will be tiny as well.

I'm designing the bulwarks to be laser cut. Cannot seem to find any 1/64" plywood in town so I'm going to try using Polybak. Some of the model railroaders call this laser board. It's resin impregnated paper that's used as a backer for veneers or laminate counter tops. I'm hoping to cut to shape so I don't need to bend it.

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

 

 

[tossedman]

I had a crack at making the masts. Needs a bit of a clean up and then some paint. They're made of brass and soldered together. A bit of paint and you'll never know they're brass.

 

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by tossedman

[tossedman]

Popped into work on the weekend and onto the laser cutter and spent 10 minutes cutting out the bulwarks. I used Polybak as 1/64" plywood seems to be unobtanium around here. I cut them to match the curve of the hull.

I glued them to the hull using contact adhesive as suggested by Bob in his book. I didn't really want to, as it's as stinky as, and dissolves brains cells rapidly I'd think. At the hardware store I found some low odour contact cement that cleans up with water. Gave it a try and so far I'm liking it. I think most of my brain is still there. There's no stink.

I then glued a white strip of paper to the inside of the bulwarks and then glued in the laser cut bulwark panels. I'm not sure what these are called but I'm liking the look. I'll have to draw up a template for the stern bulwarks as it's a complex curve.

 

We are now all caught up with my progress so far. It'll be slow this next while as I have a full teaching load this term and little time to think outside of teaching. I'll keep posting as I progress.
 

 

 

 

 

To be continued...

Cheers eh,

Todd

Edited February 9, 2023 by tossedman

[cteno4]

21 minutes ago, tossedman said:

You never know Jeff. I know little about Japanese fishing boats but I'd bet the skills I'm learning here are pretty transferable.

 

Todd

Very similar hull shape just more of a prow. Not a lot of curve to the sides except right up near the bow but not that much.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_c=104&cat=&state=&sold=0&sortid=6&searchkey=Fishing+boat+Tomytec
 

really nice work todd! Kudos.

 

jeff

[tossedman]

Thanks Jeff. Maybe I'll take a look once I finish this project. I keep looking at that Japanese castle I started and need to finish that someday as well.

[cteno4]

LOL there are never enough projects!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[tossedman]

Ain't that the truth!