HMS Warrior 1860 by Philg88 - Billing Boats - 1:100 - First British Ironclad with scratch built side heads per prototype

[Philg88]

For my latest build I have chosen the Billing Warrior 1860, the first British ironclad battleship, which was powered by both steam and sail since those good folks at the Admiralty didn't quite yet trust something that belched smoke. I would have liked to make this a scratch build, but I couldn't find a set of decent plans and the two research books I've purchased don't go to that level of detail on the hull. So, another Billing kit with, as it turns out very poorly done laser cutting - half way through on a good day. Never mind, there are some decent drawings and the usual sparse instructions.

 

She is a monster though and dwarfs the Victory at 1.47 m. Still, at least the hull wasn't copper plated.

 

 

The box

 

 

The contents

 

 

The research books

 

 

Spot the laser cut

 

 

Dry fit of keel

Edited March 31, 2016 by Philg88

[WackoWolf]

I will be watching this. Another builder is doing this but hasn't been on-line in some time know.

[Grey seal]

Respect! Looks like you'll need a dry dock rather than a workbench for that one.

[Philg88]

I've glued the four deck sections together before planking rather than fit them individually as the instructions show. It is much easier to plank before attaching it to the hull.

The "caulking" is 0.3 diameter linen thread, which doesn't fray the way cotton does.

 

A slight modification needed to support the formers for the fore and aft convex sections of the deck - without these supports the formers (part no 120) would be almost impossible to position properly.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Philg88

[RGL]

That's just massive! Good luck, looking forward to it.

[Elijah]

How long is this thing ?

[Philg88]

How long is this thing ?

1.47 metres or just short of five feet in old money.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Philg88

[Philg88]

 G'day Phil, if its 1.74 metres, then it should be just short of six feet, approx 5foot 9inches, thats a big model, I look forward to following along,

 

  best regards John.

Thanks John,

 

Well spotted! I blame a touch of early morning dyslexia. Now corrected.

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[Philg88]

Deck planking now complete, over 370 100mm planks! Now working on balsa fill-ins to make the hull planking easier.

 

[WackoWolf]

Glad your back, been waiting for an update. Deck looks excellent.

[Elijah]

That is a nice deck!

[mojofilter]

I love the effect of the thread!!

[popeye the sailor]

very nice start.   what's the story with the scratch built side heads?

[Red]

What an exciting project,

Respect for taking it on,

I will watch with interest. 

Regards

Red

[Philg88]

very nice start.   what's the story with the scratch built side heads?

Side heads were featured on the original design and included at launch, one port, one starboard roughly aligned with the fore funnel and overhanging the gunwales. For reasons unknown, they were removed shortly afterwards (meaning a long walk to the john ). When the restoration started in the 80s, they were not rebuilt as they are at the exact point of entry for visitors along the fore gangway. In a typical show of Victorian ingenuity, there was a hatch in the roof where a hose could be inserted and the whole things flushed with nary a mop in sight! Understandable that Billing left them off but I think they will add interest - as will the ash chutes just behind them, which are also missing from the kit.

[popeye the sailor]

sounds interesting.....I'm sure you'll find more missing details that can be added.  the model is large enough.  a friend of mine who owned a Billing Boats franchise {warehouse},  was supposed to send me a copy of the plans.   sadly he couldn't get them {I imagine}.   the kit is too expensive and out of my price range {for now,  anyway}.    I haven't had too many problems with the laser cutting,  except for the occasional delamination of parts {ply separation}.

 

I've built enough Billing's kits to overlook the vagueness of the plans........I don't squint so much any more  

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Phil

 

Impressive start so far, waiting for much more to see!

Are there any good plans for the Warrior to get? The hull seems to be very similar to the SMS Danzig, but even longer than her!

 

Regards

Gerhard

Edited June 1, 2016 by Gerhardvienna

[Mirabell61]

Nice model choise Phil,

 

keellaying and a good start. all is under way. The deck planking looks very nice, wish you much fun with the filling blocks and the planking...

 

Nils

[mtaylor]

Gehard,

See this topic... both G,Delcroix and Brian might have what you want.  http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13552-books-for-sale-hms-warrior-romero/

[Gerhardvienna]

Hi Mark

 

Thank You!

I`ve seen this thread before, but I would only need the drawings for the hull, not the whole books. They would only stand somewhere in the shelves, would be sorry for someone who wants to build the warrior.

 

Regards

Gerhard

[Philg88]

The deck has now been glued on and the upper front bulwarks fitted - note the cantilevered section in the middle for the foremast (there is another one at the stern surrounding the mizzen mast). Quite what function they served is beyond me. There is now some work to do on enlarging the slot for the bowsprit since it doesn't fit or rather does not sit in the same place as on the real ship

The stern gallery windows are in production on my new 3D printer and make things a lot neater than the previous constructions using 1mm wood or styrene. These were drawn in Illustrator, exported as SVGs then extruded in a free CAD program. Each window is around 13.5 x 11mm (since I forgot to put the ruler in the pic!)

Edited June 2, 2016 by Philg88

[GuntherMT]

3d printing is cheating.  Of course I only say that because I don't have a 3d printer.  

[Philg88]

3d printing is cheating.  Of course I only say that because I don't have a 3d printer.  

I'm sure people who used to boil up horses to make glue said the same thing when CA came along

[Philg88]

Hi Phil

 

Impressive start so far, waiting for much more to see!

Are there any good plans for the Warrior to get? The hull seems to be very similar to the SMS Danzig, but even longer than her!

 

Regards

Gerhard

 

Sorry for the delayed reply Gerhard but  I missed your post. As far as plans are concerned I have failed to track anything down beyond the two books mentioned at the start of this log and another small booklet called Warrior: The first modern battleship by Walter Brownlee ISBN 0 521 27579 2. This has some good detail drawings while the other two both have rudimentary keel plans. The originals are in the National Maritime Museum based in Greenwich, London but they are not available online. Bear in mind that there were two major Warrior iterations: 1791 and 1860.

 

Best,

Philip

[Grey seal]

The deck has now been glued on and the upper front bulwarks fitted - note the cantilevered section in the middle for the foremast (there is another one at the stern surrounding the mizzen mast). Quite what function they served is beyond me. There is now some work to do on enlarging the slot for the bowsprit since it doesn't fit or rather does not sit in the same place as on the real ship

 

 

Looks great! I wonder if the decking on the original ship ever looked as fine as this. 

 

One explanation for the cantilevered sections around the masts is to divert water away from the base of the mast, a crucial area where you don’t want any rust, rot or whatever comes with the damp. This is an iron-hulled ship without the “natural ventilation” you get through all the cracks and joints on a wooden-hulled ship. I bet they tried to keep below deck as sealed off and dry as possible.

[Philg88]

All the bulwarks are now in place - some convoluted gluing required!

For the propeller well (whence the prop was pulled up into [manually!] when the ship was preparing to move under sail), Billing seem to think that it's possible to bend a 2mm piece of ply into an elipse without damage/delamination. I don't concur so I designed and printed one in ABS instead. Once it's painted black and buried under the stern no one will be any the wiser and it will hold the keel planks nicely.

 

[Grey seal]

For the propeller well (whence the prop was pulled up into [manually!] when the ship was preparing to move under sail), Billing seem to think that it's possible to bend a 2mm piece of ply into an elipse without damage/delamination. I don't concur so I designed and printed one in ABS instead. Once it's painted black and buried under the stern no one will be any the wiser and it will hold the keel planks nicely.

 

3D printer rules!

 

Wonder when (not if) we’ll see a new section on this site for “Build Logs for 3D PRINTED MODEL PROJECTS”? 

[popeye the sailor]

very nice progress........love the idea with the prop!  

[Philg88]

Half the planking fitted. After all these years I think I've finally got the hang of using stealers! The detail of the propeller well shows the 3D printed part

[BANYAN]

Just found this build Phil, sorry to crash the scene so late - hope you don't mind me tagging along. 

 

I am building HMCSS Victoria (1855) which had some common equipment etc to Warrior - see my log at: 

I will be very interested to see how you approach a couple of items such as the catheads which have a much sharper than usual angle of rise.  

 

You  have made a great job  on what you have completed on a very interesting build (and large)

 

cheers

 

Pat