HM Mortar Vessel Convulsion by jonny.amy - FINISHED - Caldercraft

[jonny.amy]

Hi All,

 

This is my second build log on NRG Model Ship World. I have recently ordered the Caldercraft "Nelson Navy" HM Mortor Vessel Convulsion kit. I am still waiting for my delivery of the kit, but I am more than excitied to work on a decent kit with a well documented building process, unlike my ongoing build of HMS President by Sergal/Mantura.

 

I have chosen Convulsion due to build and display space limitations.... I spent all of this weekend umm'ing and ahh'ing about the maximum size of a model, and eventually the "Boss" decided Convulsion was "big enough" for our 1 bedroom flat. Oh well, I'll just have to get a bigger flat for the next build!!

 

As mentioned above, my build of HMS President is still ongoing, but I have been disheartend to a great degree over the lack of decent instruction for the teadious task of rigging. Currently, the Main Mast has all the shroads and running rigging in place, and all masts have the Fore-Aft standing rigging in place, but the prospect of running all the shroads, and ratlines on the fore and mizzen masts fills me with dread!! So, with this attitude in the back of my mind, as I slowly tackle President, I decided to give myself a decent break from her and work on something new.

 

My initail thoughts for a new project were Granado, HM Yacht Chatam, or HMS Snake, but all were deemed too big by the Boss and so I gladly settled with Convulsion.

 

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[egkb]

Am looking forward to this Jonny as I have Convulsion waiting in the wings for me to finish Ballahoo.. I've a decision to make as to whether to do Sherbourne or Convulsion   I really like the lines of both boats and it is 50/50 at the moment as to which (I was leaning towards Convulsion as there wasn't that many builds (if any) going on out there in MSW and I couldn't for the life of me see why not.. she is a cracking good looking boat !!) Decisions Decisions..,

Anyhoo Best of Luck with this build and as I said I'm really looking forward to it !

As they say on MSW.. 'I'm pulling up a seat in the front row for this one'..

 

All The Best

 

Eamonn

[wilspaul49]

Hi Jonny

I also recently started my first ever build on HM Mortar vessel Convulsion, and everything was going fine until I came to 1st planking, not that there would

be anything harder on this kit than any other im sure but I found it as a complete novice a bit daunting. However I managed to get a few planks each side done quite well I thought when I succeeded in knocking it off my bench and then managed to stand on it! breaking the deck, several bulkheads and the walnut bow

What a plonker!  I contacted Jokita who supplied me with some replacement parts and am now readying myself to begin again. I look forward to following your

build. Can I have lots of photos please.

 

Best of luck

Paul

[jonny.amy]

Hi Eamonn & Paul,

 

I'm glad somebody else has attempted Convulsion - I was under the opinion it was not a popular kit because there aren't many (if any) build logs on here. I've just had an email come through saying a delivery was attempted with my parcel, but being a Tuesday morning, I've been at work (still am), so now I've got to go to the Depo tonight to pick up Convulsion. Woohoo, I can't wait!!

 

Paul, no need to worry about knocking your model off the work bench, I did the same thing with my President and a boisterous Labrador. Only minor damage, but enough for me to swear like trooper.

 

Eamonn, it seems like a tough decision to make! I couldn't decide which kit I'd like to decide, but as I discribed in my earlier post, my girlfriend decided for me in a round about way. I would go for the model that sparkes your enthusiasm and intrigue, as I made a big mistake with President, as I went for price over substance and quality. For what it's worth - President and Convulsion cost virtualy the same from Cornwall Model Boats including P&P, so I really should have looked further afield before I decided on President.

 

Finally, just a quick update on Convulsion preparation - I constructed the build board last night from 4No. of 40mm Angle Brackets from B&Q, and 12mm THK scrap balsa (doubled up under the brackets) and glued and screwed the brackets to holster the stern in place. Once I get Convulsion out of the box I will mark out the position of the Bow support brackets, and glue and screw them in place.

Note: this is something I didn't do with President, and because of that, she is slightly warped to Port, so I'm taking this phase of the build more seriously.

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Quick update for this afternoon - will hopefully get the kit tomorrow now. I've had no luck with UPS as they did not call me when they first attempted delivery, and now it has gone back to their Distribution Depot in Reading, so I will have to figure out how I am going to get the kit from them! I have my tracking number, but I can't speak to anyone at UPS to change the delivery address to my work address! Fantastic!!

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[egkb]

Don't call them 'Oops' for nothing Jonny..   

 

You'll get there and be building in no time !! and swearing like a trooper (or should that be sailor) all over again, oh the joys of building 

 

Be Good

 

Eamonn

[jonny.amy]

Quick update.....

 

Building should commence tonight as Convulsion is now being delivered to work, thanks to a 25 minute phone call made by myself last night to UPS about their shoddy service (much emphisis went on the fact the delivery personnel did not read the written instructions on the box). So I'm waiting for the office Post Room to call me to come and collect it!

 

Just a quick note: I was researching Convulsion online this morning, and found a German log of a Convulsion build (I don't speak German, so I could only look as his photos), but I was impressed with the false keel & bulkhead arrangement. The kit looks like it should be a very straight forward build in that aspect! I'm itching to get started now.... Do I go home "sick" when it arrives?!?

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[aliluke]

Hi Jonny

I look forward to this as I don't think I've seen a Convulsion build before and I like the bomb vessels.

 

Call in sick - say that you have to take a year off and then enjoy!

 

I'll follow your progress with interest.

[jonny.amy]

***News Flash***

 

Convulsion has arrived - I noticed a few dings and dents on the packaging, but I've checked the model over briefly, and all seems to be in order! Needless to say, I'm one happy chappy!

 

Alistair - unfortunately, I can't call in sick as I have deadlines to keep at work. But I will be starting on her tonight, and I'm at home all weekend so progress will pick up from this evening!! Wooo Hooo!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[egkb]

Snazzy News Jonny.. 

 

When you get home check all the bits-n-bobs are in the box.. 1 bulwark on my Ballahoo was missing and needed to be replaced !  also before you kick in with the build take a looksie at some other small Caldercraft build logs (Sherbourne, Ballahoo etc) and get a feel for what needs doing, as the instructions can be a little vague in some places, even though they are different builds the basics will be the same (for instance rabbet/bearding lines in the false keel etc particularly to allow the 2 layers of planking to sit flush with the Stern Post, this wasn't mentioned at all in the Ballahoo Instructions/Plans but was a priceless thing to do)

 

Best of Luck

 

Eamonn

[michaelmys]

Hi Jonny

I have a Convulsion also, started several years ago, but stalled at a pre-planking stage as family life intervened. The only critical gotcha I can think of is to dry fit the keel and bulkheads, and before you glue them, to assemble the housing for the mortar, and check its fit in the hull assembly. In mine the notches were a bit too narrow, and needed filed out a bit before the housing would sit comfortably in place. If you wait until the deck is laid before you try out the mortar housing, you are way too late to fix it easily.

Cheers!

Michael

[jonny.amy]

Afternoon all,

 

Construction has commenced!!!!!

 

First things first, I checked the kit against the register of parts and all were present and accounted for! Next I checked the quality of the parts, and Oh My Word, the quality was outstanding! No fraying of edges on any of the stripped materials, all lines were straight and true, and the castings for the carronades and mortor were execptional, the fact they've cast the evelation bottle screws on the carronades with a thread was just insane!! I squealed like a little girl when I saw those (my girlfriend thought I had cut myself already)! As you can imagine, I was very impressed, and compared to Matura/Sergal President kit, this was a shear delight! I am one very happy shipwright!

 

 

I then proceeded to cut out all the false keel items, clean them up, dry it, and test my improvised set square (balsa block & 90 degree angle bracket glued together), and enough roughly shaped balsa blocks to build up the bow and stern bulkheads. Unfortunately, I could not get Bulkhead no. 2 completely staright as I put the balsa packer in the wrong way round (d'oh)! So I will have to rasp the proud edge down slightly more than the others, but that is no problem.

 

 

As I superglued each bulkhead in place to start off with, I later ran a bead of PVA glue along each join to help reinforce the interface between False Keel and Bulkheads.

 

Whilst the PVA was drying, I turned my attention to the keel. I cleaned the gash material off from the keel, and and cut out the stern post and the stem. I used a permanent marker to imitate calking in between the joints, but I realised this is probably a fruitless effort, as I'll be painting the under water profile white. Oh well!

 

 

Lastly, I decided to dry fit the keel and false deck to check for overall "square-ness" of the ship so far. This proved to show me that Bulkhead 2 was not too much of an issue, and a slight trimming to the false deck, and it fitted perfectly!

 

 

Tonight, first priority will be moving all of my President bits and bobs to another tool box so I can use the dividers to partition off the Convulsion part, then I will be sanding down the balsa blocks and bulk heads to the required shear, and if the "boss" lets me, I might start running a few planks. Fingers crossed!

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Michael,

 

Sorry I was meant to add this reply to the post...

 

I had no problems with the joints between the bulkheads and the false keel - if anything, they may have been slightly tight, but a tight slot is better than a loose slot (that sounded really filthy in my head)! It is a shame your Convulsion build was stopped in it's tracks, I hope at some point you will be able to continue with the build as I'm sure your passion for the hobby will rekindle.

 

Eamonn,

 

I also forgot to mention in th post that I cut a rabet line on the false keel, but I'll get it to the required depth I need later on tonight when I'm sandind down the bulkheads.

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[michaelmys]

Hi Jonny

I was actually referring to the walnut ply box which the mortar sits in. It drops into the wide notch in the keel in front of the main mast step. I had to enlarge that slot, both in width and depth before the box would fit in snugly. If you attach the false deck before you check that fit, then you've lost access to the sides of the cut out, so you can't file them down, and will end up having to cut grooves in the side of the box, or otherwise thin them down somehow, which would be much harder. I'll try and take a picture later.

 

Cheers!

Michael 

[wilspaul49]

Hi Jonny

I finally regirded my loins so the speak and have started my convulsion again. Very interested to discover that you have cut rabbet and bearding lines, I wondered about that myself as it makes no mention of these in the kit plans, I handnt bothered myself on my first attempt, perhaps I should do so now .Your photos look great ( not too dark at all). Similar to  your own kit when I assembled the deck onto the bulkheads there are gaps between the bottom of the deck and the tops of some of the bulkheads, although the deck seems to be sitting level and correct. I look forward to checking in to your build log very muck

 

regards

Paul

[jonny.amy]

Morning All,

 

Planking started last night. I managed to get the first 5 planks on the Port and Starboard sides last night, and I'm pretty happy with the results. This was my first attempt in planking in just over a year, so it took me the first 3 planks either side to get in to the swing of things, but I've got my method, so I will crack on tonight and hopefully make some further headway on the planking. I decided not to use the brass pins supplied with the kit as I tried this with President and ending up getting frustrated as I could not push them in easily (and no I did not have a pin vice at that time - that was one of last nights purchases on my way home via the model shop).

 

 

Note: I am not yet the proud owner of a plank bender, so I've been doing it the old fashioned way in a decorators paint bucket full of warm water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So as you can see in the photos, I used Map Pins I "borrowed" from work. I also drew on the centre-line on the false deck, and worked out where each butt of my deck planking will be, but I need to decide whether to Tree Nail the deck, and which pattern I was going to lay the deck. I have been considering the "3 Butt Shift" Method and the "4 Butt Shift" Method, which one would be easiest, and look the best?

 

Michael,

Sorry, I have a habit of scimming through content whilst I do this at work (so I don't get caught by the real boss)!! It's very quiet here at the moment, so I think he's turning a blind eye to it right now

Anyway, I now understand your previous post (having read it again) and building up and checking the clearence/fit of the mortor bed is on my to do list for tonight (that and hoover up the sawduct on the floor)!

 

Paul, thanks very much!

Eamonn suggested that I cut the rabbet and bearding lines, and I found from my previous experience with President, this is vital. The false keel was just shy of 3mm THK and the keel is shy of 5mm, so this gave me an natural rabbet line, but I decided to sand the corners down a fraction to increase this natural rabbet. The bearding line has reduced the the false keel at the Stern Post to around 1.5mm THK, so this will take the shear thickness to slightly thicker than the Stern Post, whcih will eventually be met with a piece of 120 Grit sand paper!

 

Cheers for all the likes and comments,

Jonny

[bigcreekdad]

Looks like you are off to a good start. I've been building my Convulsion for 8 months (I'm also working on my first scratch build, The Hannah, as well). I am 90% done with the standing rigging, then on to the running rigging, and lastly the anchor. I find the rigging to be the most challenging. Study the plans very thoroughly, and give serious thought to what order you will rig. THat's a long way off for you, but try to remember this when you get to that stage. I'll try to send a pic later today of where I am in the build. 

 

Feel free to shoot questions anytime. I love this ship. My first build was the Sherbourne. My next will be the Pickle. As for the Hannah....I'll likely still be working on that right up to my funeral.

 

Have fun.

[wilspaul49]

Jonny

When you were doing your first rows of planking did you taper any of the planks at the bow or stern?

 

regards

Paul

[wilspaul49]

Jonny

Is there any particular reason for doing 1st planking without the deck in place?

 

regards

Paul

[wilspaul49]

Sorry Jonny

I has occurred to me that you are probably going to plank the deck first before attaching the deck. Silly me.

Paul

[jonny.amy]

Paul,

 

I have loosely fitted the deck to ensure a nice fir between the planks and the deck. I planked the deck as my first effort on President, and hated the gaps that were left after the bulkhead uprights were broken off for the spirketing. So yes, you are right, I will plank the deck before gluing it down, to ensure I have a nice finish on the planking. Also before I do that, I want to run a few lengths of the walnut strip to the topsides before I snap them off, to gain additional strength in the hull.

 

A full log of this weekends build activities will follow shortly. I will also try to get a copy of my build plan on here for future reference!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[wilspaul49]

jonnyI look forward to catching up with your build log later. I'm off to get a digital camera to enable me to start a log of my own.

 

Cheers

Paul

[jonny.amy]

Hello everyone, just a quick update.

 

I've been very busy at work today and did not even have a lunch break to put my next update on here, so I'm sorry about that! But I will promise one for tomorrow, as the weekend saw some decent progress on the kit. Also, tonight I will be testing out my new Plank Bending Tool, so I try that bad boy out on a few walnut members for the topsides. If I can get the topsides sanded down and the rest of the hull to a smoothness I'm happy with (a small amount of filler was used on this layer to [obviously] fill some gaps), I will start laying the Walnut topsides, eventually working my way down to the keel.

 

Cheers for now,

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Good Morning All,

 

As promised, here is the next series of photographs of my Convulsion build.

 

So this weekend saw some large developments in terms of progress on the model. I have managed to complet the first phase planking, filing, sanding, smoothing, more sanding, more smoothing, making lots of dust and meeting small milestones in the model construction sequence.

 

So the reason for not fitting the deck before the first planking phase was so that I could still gain access to the inside of the hull so I could run PVA down the bulkheads after the first planking phase was complete. Again to add strength to the model. It was probably over the top, but I did not follow this principle whilst building President, and I had a number of loose planks where the glue used on the bulkhead snapped whilst putting the second layer of planking on. I was very happy with myself that I remembered this problem and I'm happy with my simple fix! Also my intention was leave the deck off the model so I could deck it out sperately, but I came to the conclusion I had to glue it down first, and ensure it is level before decking can commence. I assembled the Mortar Bed to ensure it fitted in the slot provided and fitted through the opening provided on the false deck. This was not the case (as described earlier on in the thread), so after much diliberating and a bit of swearing, I decided to trim Bulkheads 3 & 5 down by 1mm each to suit the Mortar Bed. The fit was tight, but with some 80 grit paper on a balsa square section, I got the Mortar Bed to fit in the slot with no problem at all. The images below show most of the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So once I got home from work last night, I started to play with my Plank Bending Iron.... This is quite possibly the best thing I've ever bought!!! It took the stress of visable planking mistakes out of the Second Layer of planking!! I found soaking the walnut for about an hour was the most effective methoid of getting the required bend in to the plank. But if you think of using one of these be careful where you hold the iron (very obvious I know), but my slight lapse of concentration last night meant I burnt my fore-finger on the spindle between the handle and hot element!! Yes I am an idiot!!

I then decided to put the walnut Topsides on first so I break off the Bulkhead uprights, and glue the deck down properly, as shown below.

 

 

 

 

Feeling proud of my achivements, I decided to stop at that point for the night, cook dinner, watch a bit of tv and carry on reading Master & Commander (my father has just given me the whole O'Brien Series as he has read them all and wants the space back of the book shelf). BUT.... after dinner, and reading only half a page of Master & Commander, my imagination and determination was fueled again and I decided to start running the Walnut down the Port Side from the Topsides. Next thing I knew it was 23:55pm and Lucy (my girlfriend) had given up on job hunting online and gone to bed.... nearly an hour prior my realisation she wasn't there any more!  I must admit, she is the best Admiral ever! After 4 months of living together, I've had President out on the dining room table virtually every night, built a 1:20 scale model of a "modernized" Gaff Cutter of my own design (for a Classic Boat Magazine Design Competition in 2011) and now Convulsion. I have a feeling she's a real keeper!!!

 

Any way, heres some of the Walnut planking progress taken this morning (the Leopard Print laptop bag is Lucy's not mine)!

 

 

 

That's it for now guys, I'll hopefully have a shorter post tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jonny

 

[wilspaul49]

great progress Jonny well done

 

cheers Paul

[jonny.amy]

Morning All,

 

Just a quick update on Convulsion (and a mini rant).

 

Last night saw minimal progress as I was requesitioned by the "Admiral" (she is now the Admiral because she definitely rules the roost) to go grocery shopping at our local Asda Superstore (part fo the Walmart chain for any yanks reading this). At this point, I sparked up the plank bender, dired off three strips of walnut, poured myself a coffee and got myself suitably unwound from work. Needless to say this was a great disappointment, so I bargained with her and said I would go after laying three planks. Thankfully she is a kind woman, and she said yes! So my progress resulted in a grand total of three planks on the Port side of Convulsion.

Once I got back from my grocery shopping expedition, I found out why she did not want to come shopping with me.... She had cleared Convulsion away, putting all my off-cuts in with the good strips,  and then wiped down my cutting mat and started making Christmas cards! They are good Christmas cards to be fair...

 

And please, don't get me wrong, I'm happy she has her own hobbies and interests (for instance, card making, cross stitch & sewing), but all I wanted to do was close up the gap between the keel and waist to Port last night! Maybe I'm being selfish????

 

Still I suppose some progress is better than no progress.

 

How do you guys get around your Admiral's when you want to continue with your pride and joy?

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[jonny.amy]

Also, I forgot to mention that I've taken a few photo's of Convulsion next to President. I will post those later on.

 

Cheers,

Jonny

[Canute]

Jonny,

you'll have to learn the art of compromise; an art not seen much these days. Maybe you can rig up a storable building surface for your ships and another for her cards.

I'm fortunate my Admiral/spouse of 31+ years participates in some of my hobbies (although not this one) and encourages me. Yep, she's a keeper.

[jonny.amy]

Ken,

 

Funnily enough, I had the same thought about a storable work surface for either one of us, and I'm thinking if I buy her a decorators wallpapering table that will fulfill her requirements, and she could sit in comfort on the sofa to do it (she works on her feet all day), so I think that might be the answer! See my Admiral and I have been together a year or so, so it's still early days, but I'm trying to get her involved in model ship building too! That or playing guitar?!

 

Cheers

Jonny

[bigcreekdad]

After two trips to the emergency room, my wife now knows to stay away from my build area....ALWAYS!!

 

Well, just kidding....I did yell at her a few times though.

 

However, she did try some "dusting" of my LP turntable once. The result was a broken $500 cartridge. Any jury would have acquitted me of manslaughter after that.