Bellerophon… Stern counter, and cutting gunports.

by John

The instructions call for a piece of 1.5mm plywood for the stern counter, but it has a fairly tight curve and other model builders have commented that it is very difficult to achieve that curve despite prolonged soaking. So I laser cut a piece of 1mm ply, and engraving cuts to simulate planks. That accepted the curve quite well and it was glued into position. But when I finished the hull planking I noted that the counter “planking” was not exactly perpendicular. So I cut out some planks from kauri, and glued them to the ply.

The dark horizontal planks are the kauri stern counter . Some sanding and neatening still required, plus the final plank when I figure where it finishes exactly. The stern post/rudder post is now shaped and fitted in position. It is tapered top to bottom, and fore and aft. Glue will replace the screws. The odd shaped hole will permit rudder angulation.

Then cutting the gunports.

The plywood hull sides had the gunports laser cut prior to installation, and the planking layer 2 was fitted using those pre-cut holes as guides. But the inner layer of the bulwarks had to be cut so the gunport walls can be installed.

The instructions suggest chain drilling, and completing those cuts with a scalpel, then filing to finish.

I chain drilled with a 1.1mm drill bit in my newish electric drill.

The drill is electric. Cylindrical shape facilitates holding it level.

The drill bit is 1.1mm diameter and 45mm long. The cutting flutes are only 5mm long.

The short flutes allow the smooth shank to rub against the outside hull planking as a guide, without cutting/marking it.

Chain drilling complete. The light from behind was helpful.

I tried to use a scalpel to complete the cut but found that the degree of force was excessive causing one bulkhead plank to split.

So after that I used the drill with the same bit to apply sideways pressure and a shallow cut. Repeated cuts completed the cutout. For interest I timed the entire process. It was 2.5 minutes per gunport.