Marco Polo Project Gallery

    Here are some photos sent to us from Mr. Bob Coes who's incharge of the construction phase of the project. Bob will be suppling the site with photos on the project as it develops. We've included Bobs explanation of the photos below. I should mention that all of the photos, are of the rear half of the ship - from frame #22 (amidships), to the stern. All of the photos below were taken sometime last November and December.
   Be sure to check back often in the coming months, we hope to have lots to show.

JUNE 12/2005
Just click on the pics for larger view.

This collection of photos shows a variety of details. The first four photos describe the lofting process with respect to plotting the points on the lofting platform and lofting the line. It shows the batten in place, and at this stage, several lines on the platform. One of the four photos shows several frames already assembled; another shows a stack of 3x5 ready for use.
The next four photos above show the pick-up jigs and how they are used to transfer the lines. The third and fourth photos in this group show a set of three more jigs designed for use in forming the joint used to join adjacent pieces together for the various frames.
The next five photos above focus specifically on the scarf-joint jigs. One is drawn at 30 degrees, another at 45 and another at 60 degrees. Which one is used depends on the degree of curve and the width of the frame at a designated point. You can see also that each finished piece for a frame is raised so as to accommodate the next piece for the line and the superimposing of the lap-joint. This process is continued until all of the required pieces are laid out for any given frame.
The last three photos show a frame with all of the pieces in place along its respective line on the platform. Lofting is a tedious process and requires constant checking.
The photos included in this e-mail show the lofting platform, special jigs called pick-up-sticks that are used to transfer the lines from the platform to the top of the 3x5 for laying out the frame. One of the drawings is prepared with the offset table for plotting the lines is shown lying on the platform. You can also see how the batten is placed on top of the 3x5 and held in place with finishing nails so that the line can be drawn on the piece. The batten was also used as well, to draw the same line for each respective piece, on the lofting platform first.

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