Royal James sloop

THE PLANS

The original drawings are in the Admiralty collection

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Rather than start from scratch with drafting a set of modeling plans I will be using the plans drawn by Jeff Staudt available from Modelshipbuilder.com and because this is a personal build and not a commercial build I can use the copyrighted modeling plans. If I were to produce a kit or parts from these plans it would be in violation of the copyright, even if I were to trace an original set of plans it is still copyright infringement.

the plans are a free download so showing a sheet or two won't hurt

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You can download the plans then take the files to any office supply outlet and have them printed. Because I have a large format printer 17 x 40 I took the downloaded file, traced the bulkheads in CAD and printed them on a 11 x 17 format

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the original sheet and my traced version

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First thing to do was to cut out the bulkheads and stick them to plywood with rubber cement, then cut them out.

I do have the small hobby tool but I find using these small tools you are pushing them to the limit of what they are designed to do. In this photo I will use the 10 inch bandsaw to cut the 1/4 thick bulkheads. The small scroll saw will also cut them but it takes 3 times longer and the saw struggles to cut them

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once cut out I will use my 6 inch disk sander and sand the bulkheads to final shape, Once again using a bigger tool for the job. You can see at the bottom of the first photo I also have a 4 inch disk sander using that I actually can stall the motor and as I am sanding the motor is getting hot.

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the final step is fitting the slots it take skill and practice to cut the slots exactly, what I do is to make a rasp with a scrap pieces of wood a pieces of sanding belt and a couple clamps. It took but a few passes to get all the bulkheads to fit the profile piece.

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test fitting the bulkheads at this early stage I have a rough shape of the hull.


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looking down the deck you can see not all the bulkheads are fitting flush with the center profile piece. So I have to go back and cut the slots a little deeper. I want the bulkheads to all sit at the same level so there are no humps in the deck. I will not follow the original build or plans I am going to eliminate the false deck and plank directly on the bulkheads.

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This is a common issue with bulkhead construction and that is the wiggle between the bulkheads and the profile piece. It is important the bulkheads are square to the center profile or your hull will be lopsided.

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I do all the cooking in the house and from time to time I come up with a really good dinner. My wife will say can you make the dinner you did last week? Well! yes and no I tend to tweak a basic recipe so it might come out the same or maybe not.
This is one of the nice things about scratch building you can start with something and end up with a different model. In this case I am starting with the Mediator build project and plans and it will end up as the ROYAL JAMES.
 
Great project, Dave!

I saw your original post and spent 45 minutes looking for plans or photos on the net, to no avail! Then I came back here and found that you'll be using the Mediator plans! A sloop is a sloop and I suspect there may not be any contemporary drawings for the Royal James (Revenge) available. Am I right?

I'll be following this with interest. I always liked the lines of "Mediator". When I first saw Jeff's plans, I wondered why he drew the bulkheads with the bulwark extensions separate. If you used plywood, there is no need. I see you agree!

Did the Royal James actually have 10 guns?
 
"This is one of the nice things about scratch building you can start with something and end up with a different model. In this case I am starting with the Mediator build project and plans and it will end up as the ROYAL JAMES."

You can do that with kits, too! I turned the Mamoli Constitution cross section into a British Navy ship of the line.
 
I did not see any reason to make the bulkhead timbers separate. I did use this style of construction back on a merchant ship where the inside of the bulkheads are not plank and the bulkhead timbers were exposed. In this case the plywood edge will show. That is why I used solid timber.
In this build the inside bulkheads will be planked and that will cover the plywood timbers.

yes that will be another change different amount of guns.
 
G'day Dave
I'll be definitely watching this build with lot of eagerness.
My great, great, so on grandfather was a mastershipwrite and in his working career he built many slops with eventually became pirates ships.
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Above is the glossary of his life endeavours.
Happymodeling
Greg
 
Dave:
The plans call for 3/16" bulkheads and profile former. Yours look thicker.. like 1/4". Are they 3/16", and if so, where did you find that plywood.


yes I used 1/4 inch plywood for no other reason than I happen to have it in the shop.
some builders use the better grade with more plies it is called aircraft ply and not the soft core stuff. It depends on how you intend on building the core hull. If you depend on just the bulkheads I suggest the better quality stuff.
 
A lot of the kits you find the bulkheads are few and far between, my guess is cost the more bulkheads the more it cost to produce the kit.

A problem with bulkheads spaced far apart the planking will sit flat between the bulkheads and have no support. To fix this problem most bulkhead hulls are double planked or filler blocks are used.

For this model I am using filler blocks for two reasons one is to fill the space so the planking has a solid backing and second to line up the bulkheads.

Material I am using for filler blocks is called sigh board.

A high-density polyurethane signage foam has become the worldwide standard for versatile “green” outdoor sign board. Artist-and environmentally friendly, it clearly outperforms wood in 3-D signage and display manufacturing applications, such as theme park, mall, trade show and movie environments. The material’s ease of machining, uniform surface and infinite finish options support new realms of creativity and craftsmanship. Our polyurethane sign board is impermeable by water and moisture, and able to withstand extreme heat and cold. It does not warp or bow, and when coated, it will not rot or decompose, providing long-lasting durability.


before I use any foam product for filler I will test the foam and glue. I glued a scrap on top then glued foam to foam and foam to wood.

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then break it apart to see how it holds

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ok passed the test and good to go

Looking very close at sigh board you can see it is quite dense almost like the cedar pencil.

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Another nice thing with sign board it can be cut very thin and still hold its shape and not chip or fall apart

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getting started filling in the hull

first I mark the distance between bulkheads never with a marker but with a knife. Always measure at the center that is where you will get an accurate measurement.

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set the bandsaw

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and cut 2 blocks

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the board comes in 24 x 36 inch sheets so I first cut the sheets into 1 x 6 x 6 blocks that are all square. Being square on all corners is important for the next step to work.
 
The filler blocks are square on all sides so the first block was measured, cut and slid in between the first two sets of bulkheads at midship. Because the block is square the side fits tight to the profile piece and the bulkheads fit front and back of the block. This will automatically square up the bulkheads to the center profile and parallel to each other. I like to skip a space or two and square up a couple more bulkheads then square up that group to the one next to it.

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the blocks at the top of the picture have been glued in place so they are not going to move. The next bulkhead has to be lined up so

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I cut the next set of blocks and slipped the first one in

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the second block does two things it sets the bulkhead parallel with the glued blocks and if you stare at the space you can detect an ever so slight narrowing of the open space at the outer edge. This is because of a slight warp in the profile piece. The second block forces the center profile piece to straighten up.

now both blocks are in place and moving on to the next bulkhead

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shaping the hull

Looking at the block in the last post you would think that is a lot of sanding. But it is because one great thing about sign board it sands really easy. Plus the fact I am not using another little hobby tool I am using this and what you see is a roughed out hull in less than 10 minutes. I do stress "rough " hull the grinder will reduce the entire hull to a pile of dust it no time at all. So the roughing out is done with a light touch, all I want at this stage is "close" NOT finished.


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All I did was grind away the extra sigh board filler blocks what has to happen next is to shape the hull so all the bulkhead flows into each other. This is done by sanding a beveled outer edge in the plywood bulkheads. The hull lines have to flow in a nice sweet curve from bow to stern so before starting the final shape I have to add stern and bow blocks.

here is the original stern layout of the Mediator which does not look like the Royal James

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Tweaking the original I used bigger windows and moved them up so the name ROYAL JAMES will fit under the windows and between the windows and molding

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