Vol. 65, No. 1 spring 2020
62 support beams which have the frames and planking attached to them and the main deck. First, I installed
2-millimeter supports to the bottom of the yokes and 1.5- millimeter (0.060-inch) thick plywood supports to the sides of the gangway. Wood strips 2 millimeters thick and 580 millimeters (22.85 inches) long formed the side support beams. Gilded 0.6-millimeter veneer strips were glued to the outside edge of the beams. Aſt er installing the beams, 67 paired frame supports were glued to the deck and the beams on each side. T ese were 1.5-millimeter plywood pieces that all had diff erent dimensions. A notched side wall strip (installed later in the process) established the spacing between the supports. I stained the support frames before installation and fi tted them in pairs, alternating from the bow to the stern. T is process took several weeks to complete.
Next, a 2 x 2-millimeter and a 2 x 1-millimeter strip extending the full length of the rowing frame were fi tted to the bottoms of the support frames and were glued to the yokes. T ese pieces helped to support the 1 x 3-millimeter fl ooring strips that were glued to the bottom of the frames and then attached to the hull. Next, a 2-millimeter support beam was glued to the top of the frame supports in notches precut into each support member. One side also had a 2 x 5 x 68-millimeter support beam for the ship’s boat glued alongside the main beam. Finally, two 0.6-millimeter veneer strips were glued to the upper part of the frame supports in notches between the main upper support beam and the end of the frame support. All the rowing frame assembly was then stained to match the hull. (Figure 9)
T e next construction stage was installing the rowing benches and the forward gun support structure. T e fi rst step involved gluing in place the two 0.6-millimeter side walls, previously used as spacers while installing the frame supports. Fitting these thin strips required widening the slots to get them to fi t down onto the supports. T ey also tended to split and had to be repaired several times during the process. T en 1 x 1-millimeter strips were cut to fi t on both sides of each frame support to the top of the side wall.
In all, 272 of these pieces were cut and glued into place. Finally, four 1 x 2-millimeter support beams were fastened to the top of the frame supports. T e material supplied was not long enough to make these beams in one piece, so they were spliced together to get the required length. T e rowing frame was then stained again with golden pecan prior to the next steps.
I decided to drill out the 6-millimeter diameter hole for the foremast prior to starting the forward gun housing support structure. T is hole was framed early in the hull framing process and then covered with deck planking, so it had to be drilled out. T e forward structure was assembled from 2 x 2-millimeter strip wood frames and 2-millimeter thick plywood laser cut pieces following the details shown on the plans, and then fi nished with golden pecan stain. (Figure 10)
T e rowing benches were constructed from eight separate pieces each, four of which were laser cut, preformed structures and four others that needed to be fabricated from strip wood. T ere were fi ſt y-nine benches in all, with one bench omitted to allow for a cooking area placed close to the port side of the ship. T ey also were fi nished with the golden pecan stain. (Figure. 11)
T e next step was to fi t more decking. First, 10-millimeter (0.40-inch) long decking pieces cut from 5 x 0.6-millimeter veneer were fi tted on top of the previously installed bench supports. T ere were 105 decking pieces per side, all fi nished with sunbleach stain before cutting them.
T e stern has three decks, one covering the poop area and two forward of the poop on either side of the gangway. T ese have the appearance of parquet fl oors. T e poop deck was made by gluing a 0.6-millimeter thick veneer grid framework to the subdeck, then fi lling the holes in the grid with 81 individual fl oor pieces. T e frame was fi nished with sunbleach stain
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