HMS Diana by realworkingsailor (Andy) - Caldercraft - 1:64

[Elijah]

Happy belated birthday!

[Beef Wellington]

There should have been an announcement when you started Andy, I nearly missed it!  Looks like you are pretty much caught up to me :-)  Very nice start.

[Bill Hime]

Happy Birthday Andy and a fair wind to you! The shipyard will be waiting for you..She looks great btw

 

 

Bill

[Kevin]

sorry I missed your birthday

[popeye the sailor]

WOW!  I miss so much!   I finally get off my duff to look at new builds {other than my watch list}........and I find yours!  {I am so happy to see you back}.

    you've done a really great job on the hull........nice shape and contour.  {yea.....like I know the ship.........but I do know a thing of beauty when I see one}.

 

catching up, I see you've already had to ship out........sad to hear......those bottles will get very lonely      a few more weeks to go,  and you'll be back to work on Diana...then you can blow the dust off those bottles      good to see you back at the table...looking forward in seeing more   

[realworkingsailor]

Wow, guys, Thanks ever so much for all the birthday and well wishes, it's very much appreciated

 

Jason, I've got a long way to go yet to catch up to you (and that's even after taking a few short cuts like not replacing the stem and stern post, as you did so nicely) 

 

Kevin, thank you very much, but don't feel the need to apologize, if it wasn't for all the good cheer around here, I'd miss my birthday too! (Just another day on the boat )

 

Popeye, good to hear from you again too! I wish I could say for certain it's only a few weeks but.......

 

Bill, Elijah and Chris, thank you all as well.

 

Andy

[flyer]

Hi Andy

 

Nice to have had you back! And then you are afloat again - seems you won't have to change your tag after all.

 

All the best for the next 38 Years!

 

peter

[Landlubber Mike]

Andy, great to see you back on here!  Your Pegasus is a real inspiration as I work on mine.  In particular, I'm shamelessly borrowing your color scheme for my build  Looking forward to following your Diana!

[realworkingsailor]

Hi Mike, please feel free to shamelessly borrow as you see fit (at least bring any tools back when you're finished ).

 

Andy

[Piet]

Hey Andy, the birthday card I send you came back with a postage due stamp on it.  mmmm, cheap Dutchman thought to sneak one by the USPS   Okay, I'm sending it again - - - happy birthday Andy

Cheers,

[realworkingsailor]

So it has been some time.... to say the least......

 

I've got some time on my hands again, and things are starting to move once more in the old shipyard. Things have been pretty quiet since the spring...between work and the awesome summer weather (which means spending absolutely as much time as possible up at the lake), it has not been conducive to hiding inside making saw dust. I was busy earlier in the spring purchasing some "upgrades" to the basic Caldercraft Kit. Not finished shopping by a long shot, but at the end of the day, the cost of all this will basically be equal or better than the cost of an entirely new kit ( )... but it will be worth it.

 

So far, I've bought new second planking from Crown Timberyard. Some nice castello boxwood, which I plan to use for the wales and upper works. Below the wales, I will stick to the splintery walnut from the kit. It's actually not all bad once it's cleaned up, but most of it will be hidden by the copper plating anyway, so it's only the top smudge that will be visible.

 

All the blocks will be replaced by those supplied by Syren, far nicer in appearance. Although rigging is a long way off yet, I've already received a good supply to start. There are a few other fittings, such as cleats and gratings that I will also replace, and already have the replacements in hand.

 

The other big thing I'm going to change are the guns. As you can see from the photos below, the Caldercraft cannons are, to my eye, a tad on the chunky side. The muzzle looks wonky and the button on the cascabel is way oversized. The guns Chuck supplies are far nicer and much finer looking. I will also replace the cast white-metal carronades, but that's for another time.

 

Other items on my shopping list:

-Replace kit supplied copper with Amati copper sheeting

-Try to source better looking PE parts for the chain plates (Would like something along the lines as the PE supplied with the USF Confederacy)

-All kit supplied rigging line to be replaced with Syren rigging line

-Stern windows and other PE fittings to be specially examined and dealt with as required (I am considering buying the PE set for the Agamemnon, more so if it comes with PE chain plates and not the formed wire nonsense of the Diana kit).

 

I'm on the fence about the gun carriages. I may yet replace them, but we'll see how things go.....

 

So now for the update part..... in order to break up some of the tedium of cutting and lining gunports, I decided to start some of the second planking on the starboard side (since the ports have been all cut and lined on that side anyway). I'd already planking the lower counter back in the spring, so it was a matter of measuring off where the wale is supposed to be and getting going with the planking. I've started off with the black strake, just above the wales. The instructions call for these thicker strakes to be created by doubling the layers of planking. Fairly common for these types of kits, but given my experience with the Pegasus, it can be tricky to get the second layer to lie properly, and when working with CA, do-overs are not easy. To make things easier for myself, I've laid down the black strake in one 1.5mm layer, rather than a 1mm with a 0.5mm layer on top (as described in the instructions). When the rest of the 1mm thick planking is installed, this will leave a proud edge for the second layer of the wales to butt neatly against. I will attempt to do the second layer of the wales in anchor stock pattern, so having a hard edge will go a long way to keeping things neatly in line.

 

Anyway, it will all make sense later on..... maybe....

 

 

Hrm.... now that I look at it, I may slap some black paint on the stem before I get further along with the second planking....

 

Andy

 

 

[Blue Ensign]

Neat work Andy, hull looks in fine fettle for the next stage

 

B.E.

[amateur]

Nice work andy!

When (if ever...) will you continue your laker?

 

Jan

[gjdale]

Nice to see you back at the bench Andy. Looking forward to following your progress again.

[donrobinson]

Looks great and with all the improvements you have planned I have just booked a permanent front row seat

[Barbossa]

Welcome back Andy,

 

Nice & clean work.

 

Replacing the copper sheets is an excellent idea ( see Jason's ( Beef Wellington ) magnificent example ).

 

Looking forward to your progress.

[popeye the sailor]

glad to see you back Andy!      that's quite a list of changes you plan to make.....you'll be guaranteed to build a vessel worthy of you talents.   look'in forward in seeing more progress on this fine build.

 

I don't blame you for taking the time out............it's will reinforce your creative juices !   just don't get 'em on the ship  

[realworkingsailor]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the compliments and the "likes"

 

Spyglass, she's not much more difficult than Pegasus, although the kit is a bit less advanced so it requires a bit more fudging to get everything lined up properly. I really think CC could easily update the kit a bit to bring it up to the same standards as some of their later releases. And if you thought the Amati parts were splintery.....

 

Jan, I will get back to my laker model one day. The biggest issue I'm facing is a lack of painting facilities. I was hoping that by last winter, the spray booth at the model railway club I belong to would have been operational.... not so much....and still waiting..... so in the mean time, I'm happy to work on this one. 

 

Don, welcome aboard! I hope I can live up to your expectations.

 

Christian, I'm actually glad of Jason's lead. I had the same idea when I bought the kit, and he did such a good job on his build. Not only that, I now also have an idea of how many packages of copper sheeting I need to buy!

 

So once again, thanks everyone for all the positive comments. Time to get back to the shipyard!

 

Andy

[riverboat]

Nice to see you back Andy...... progress is looking good....

 

Frank

[Beef Wellington]

Hi Andy, think our minds think alike...

 

I'd also suggest considering the barrels from RB Models.  Hope you don't mind me posting pics, but you can see the side by side (from left to right) of Chucks, RB Models 44mm, and the supplied Caldercraft.  Chucks are beautifully made, but I didn't feel that the scale was right for an 18lb'er, the bore being too small and overall it looks a little light.   Feel both the bore and the cascable on the CC barrel are way too big and the shape of the muzzle just not right.   I'm leaning toward the RB Models barrel.

 

Edited November 4, 2016 by Beef Wellington

[realworkingsailor]

Hi Jason,

 

Those are beautifully blackened! Thanks for posting the pics!

 

I didn't consider the RB models barrels, I do agree it is a heftier looking gun, but I think I will stick with Chuck's guns, since I already have most of them in hand. I feel that I can remedy any short comings with the muzzle bore. Regardless, I think both offerings look miles better than the CC supplied versions.

 

Andy

[WackoWolf]

Glad your back Andy.

[hamilton]

Nice to see you back here Andy! The first planking on Diana also looks great - it'll be even better once that nice boxwood goes on! Looking forward to seeing where you take this one

hamilton

[realworkingsailor]

Time for a small update. Second planking is progressing nicely, albeit slowly on the starboard side. The castello boxwood is really nice (and easy to work with), and so far it looks like only a minimum of fine sanding will be needed to finish the surface (yay!). The walnut below the black strake will be part of the sub-wale, which is only half finished at the moment. 

 

Anyway, not much more to report at the moment.

 

Andy

 

 

[realworkingsailor]

This will probably be my last update for a while. I've been called back to work next week, so hobby time is on hold yet again.

 

Planking has been progressing slowly on the starboard side. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm still satisfied with the way things have been going, nothing has been sanded yet, so a lot of the apparent unevenness will be remedied later on. I've left the plank at the waist extra wide for the moment. When I get the Quarter Deck/Fo'c'sle/Gangaways installed, I will sand it down to it's proper width.

 

I've been using PVA to glue on the second planking, so that has contributed greatly to the speed (or lack thereof) of construction. I've used modified Micro-Mark planking clamps to secure the planks while the glue dries. The modification of these clamps came about partly by accident and partly by design. When I was doing the first planking, much to my dismay (at the time) the little pieces of soft metal that are used to secure the planks started to fracture, I found that by using drilled out bits of limewood (the first planking material), I could still use the clamps and without marring the wood. Also I found the thumbscrew parts hard on the fingers, so I covered that part with heat shrink tubing for a much more comfortable grip.

 

When I was looking at the CC plans and compared them to the AOTS drawings, I noticed that the aft hanses where too far forward over the 8th gun port. So I scribed the hanses back about 8 or 9 mm with a set of dividers. I only cut back the lower protruding spur, the rest of the bulwark is unmodified. This will eventually allow more space for the ladder and fenders, and show improve the overall appearance of these features.

 

The "sub-wales" and everything below will be done using the kit supplied walnut (most of it will be coppered anyway). Annoyingly splintery and far from first rate quality, but it does have a really nice colour. It's doesn't show in any of the photos, but when given a quick wipe with a damp rag, it turns a nice golden brown hue... I'll have to figure out a good stain/varnish to highlight that in the future.

 

Anyway, that's about it for now.

 

Andy

[hamilton]

Planking looks really nice Andy! Too bad about being away from the bench, but I guess the bacon needs to be brought home, eh? Have fun!

hamilton

[realworkingsailor]

Thanks Ham!

 

Yeah, an unfortunate side effect of a seafaring career... life goes on hold. The only upside is that the Seaway will be closed by year end, so I'll only be away for a month or so.

 

Mmmm... bacon!

 

Andy

[edmay]

Welome back and see u soon ,great progress of high quality will follow .Edwin

[edmay]

Welome back and see u soon ,great progress of high quality will follow .Edwin

[mtaylor]

I hope your voyages will be peaceful.  Like who need excitement anymore?        I like what your doing on Diana but I'll be patient.