HMS Atalanta by tlevine - FINISHED - 1775 - 1:48 scale - from TFFM plans

[tlevine]

At the waist there are five stanchions to support the rough-tree rail and two stanchions for the entering ropes.  In contrast to the forecastle stanchions, these have a U-bracket top instead of a loop.  The U-bracket is drilled for pins to secure the rail.  The rail itself is 2" x 4".  When I was making these I referred to TFFM Vol 2 and thought that I saw each side of the bracket drilled for two pins.  After everything was secured I went back to the drawing and discovered that only one hole is represented.  After about 30 seconds of soul searching I decided that I liked the look of the two holes and left them as is.  I have not decided whether to put a fastener through the holes or not.  The entry stanchions are very similar to the forecastle stanchions, except taller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MEDDO]

This looks fantastic Toni!  

[albert]

Hi Toni your work is very very nice.

[tlevine]

I cannot believe it has been so long since the last post.  I found myself being very critical about the way certain things looked or fit together and have been spending a lot of time remaking various items.  In between the remaking projects I have gotten in a little bit of new work.  The main and mizzen deadeyes and chains have been installed.  The mizzen chains do not have chain plates.  The preventer eyebolts and swivel bolt below the last gunport have also been installed.

 

 

 

 

There is a stairway leading down to the deck from the fixed part of the gangway.  In TFFM David discusses installing a stairway with parallel treads vs. winding steps.  Since the interior aspect of the gangway is curved, I decided to build a winding stairway.  This is easier said than done!  The uprights are different lengths and sit at different angles to the deck.  They articulate with the gangway with a notch at their tops.  Once I was happy with the uprights I installed oversized treads.  After they had dried I used a drum sander on the Dremel to shape them.  I will defer permanent installation until later in the build to preserve access to the cannon to repair them (again!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tlevine]

The fixed gangway newel post was turned on the lathe.  It is mortised into the deck.  The rail between the newel post and quarter deck breastwork is curved and had a decorative shape cut into both sides of the rail.  I made mine look like the handrail on my staircase at home.  There is an iron strap between the rail and the breastwork rail.  It is bolted at both ends.  This piece took me many hours to make correctly.  It curves in an S-shape between the two rails.  It curves outwards as it approached the gangway newel post.  The problem is that the breastwork rail is curved to match the deck camber and the gangway railing is parallel to the waterline.  This little difference (for myself at least) resulted in the curved portion of the iron strap to appear rotated outboard.  The final fix was to overcompensate for the breastwork rail camber when cutting out the strap, allowing it to remain parallel to the waterline throughout, except where it bolted to the breastwork rail.  At this point I discovered that the breastwork rail assembly was not exactly perpendicular to the waterline (as seen in the first picture).  I removed the entire assembly, only breaking one post, and reinstalled it correctly.  The second picture was taken after reassembly.  I also installed entering ropes onto the entry stanchions.  They are stiffened with very dilute white glue.

 

 

 

 

The rudderhead is protected with a cover.  The plans show the shape for the cover, basically a three-sided box with the aft corners rounded off with a short wall.  The roof is made of cherry.  I have removed the rail in preparation for beginning construction of the stern structures.

 

 

[tlevine]

It is time to start construction of the stern structures.  I have been dreading this part because of the amount of carving required.  Luckily, The plans for Atalanta show the carvings in reasonable detail.  Whether I can duplicate them...time will tell.

 

The taffarel is essentially a large painted board of multiple thicknesses onto which the carvings are placed.  It is curved to match the curvature of the stern of the ship.  The first step was to make a pattern of the curvature.  This template was then drawn onto a piece of 1.5" x 3" pine and the curvature was cut out with the scroll saw.  This gave me a press into which the various layers of wood will be places to laminate them in the correct curve.  By cutting the pine this way I left myself a handle to hold onto.  I constructed mine from three layers of 2" board with the grain athwartship.

 

 

 

 

To be completely accurate, the image drawn on the plan must be enlarged to compensate for the fact that one is viewing it end-on.  I took multiple measurements from the shear plan and determined that there was 2% inferior/superior difference and a 3% port/starboard difference.  This fell within the just-make-it-a-scooch-bigger category, which is what I did by enlarging the drawing 2% on the copier.  I took tracings for the overall size of the taffarel and started by cutting out the large base board.  I then cut the tracing into smaller pieces representing the remaining boards.  It was time to start gluing everything together.  I generously applied glue to the two large boards and used bar clamps to hold them until the glue was very tacky.  This helped to prevent the boards slipping after being put into the press.  I lined the press with Saran Wrap to keep the assembly from adhering to the press.  They were kept in the press overnight.  The third layer is next and then on to the final shaping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[michael mott]

I like the extra tab at the left side, also the explanation of the glue up procedure.

 

Michael

[druxey]

'Scooch' is a new term to me, Toni! Very nice work on the turning stairs and handrails. Is it the angle of the photo or is the posterior aspect of the rudderhead cover skewed?

[tlevine]

I built the rudderhead cover with the faces all perpendicular to the waterline.  With the downslope of the deck, it gives the illusion that it is skewed.  Should I have made the aft wall perpendicular to the deck line instead?

[MEDDO]

With all the angles and curves the stairs must have been very difficult.  The end result looks great.

[druxey]

Must just be optical illusion, then!

[tlevine]

When I get home next week I'll take a another look at it, Druxey.

[dvm27]

The fore and aft faces of my rudderhead cover are parallel, Toni. Aesthetically, it looks pleasing and I believe this is how David has illustrated it in TFFM. 

[tlevine]

I went back to the rudderhead cover to see where my errors were.  The faces of the cover were all made perpendicular to the water line.  I mistakenly assumed that the individual faces would be parallelograms rather than rectangles and shaped the inserts accordingly.   Looking back at it after a few weeks, I could only do one thing...recycle.  I made up a new cover with all the faces rectangular.  I am much happier with the result.

 

 

 

 

I kept looking at the taffarel thinking how much taller it seemed from the one in TFFM II.  Then, as I was thumbing through the last few pages, I discovered my problem.  Atalanta was equipped with a taffarel fife rail and the plan was showing the superior extent of that rail.  If one looks very carefully at the plan (in the previous post) it is possible to barely discern the counter timbers.  I am assuming that the space above the capping rail (the rail that caps the taffarel) and below the taffarel fife rail was open to the air and not solid.  So I removed the wood above the capping rail on my taffarel blank.

 

The cove is the area above the windows, surrounded by molding.  This is filled with bas relief carving as seen in the plan above.  I used transfer paper to copy the design onto the cove and using a combination of #11 scalpel blades and micro-drill bits carved the decoration.  Having done the carving project developed by Chuck and sold by the NRG made this go a lot quicker.  I tack glued the assembly onto the curved jig to facilitate the carving.  This provided me with a handle to hold the assembly while keeping my hands out of the way.  I used my ancient Emesco drill since wood carves nicely at low speed.  My drill bits are used bits from the OR.  By hospital policy, I can only use the bits on one patient, so my team is kind enough to resterilize them and give them to me rather than throwing them out.  The first picture is the assembly in the jig.  After removing from the jig, I wet down the carving to highlight the depth.  The last photo shows the assembly tack glued to the counter timbers.

 

 

 

 

 

[TomShipModel]

Well done Toni.  Your interpretation of the plan seems to be correct.  Yes, there would be a cap rail in my opinion.

[Landlocked123]

Well done Doc,

 

What material are you using for the windows lights in the stern.  They look great.

 

Best,

John

[tlevine]

Thanks to everyone for the likes.  John, that is sheet mica in the window lights.

[BANYAN]

Nice carving; certainly a lot better than my efforts Toni.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Martin W]

Very nice carving, Toni -- you clearly know how to wield a knife.  It looks like you worked in some interesting motifs along with the acanthus leaves -- maybe some wings (port) and a trumpet (starboard)?

 

Bravo!

 

Martin

[tlevine]

Martin, I simply duplicated to the best of my ability the design on the print.  OK, there were minor changes when the knife slipped and I had to go with Plan B!

[tlevine]

I started the carving for the taffarel.  Let's just say that it will be a slow process.  I need to be in the correct mood to concentrate on it.  Therefore, I will work on other aspects of the ship while carving continues.

 

 

The next thing to tackle is the counter artwork.  The upper counter has the name ATALANTA and some acanthus leaves.  The artwork was done in the same manner as the side of the ship.  The background was spray painted.  The artwork was drawn onto the background with transfer paper.  The painting was done with artist acrylics.  The print shows the lettering as "artsy" rather than block lettering.  This did not seem right to me so I attempted to make the lettering more consistent.  I could not find any information about the two men on the lower counter.  The man on the port side is blowing a horn and the man on the starboard side is holding a caduceus in his right hand and what looks like a gourd in his left hand.  I do not think this represents the two prospective suitors of Atalanta because they are seen in the carvings above.

 

 

After they were installed I tried to freehand paint the edging on the lower counter.  This was an utter failure and I had to remove all of that paint without damaging anything.  The best alternative for me was to paint some tissue paper with yellow ochre, cut out strips and glue them onto the blue background.  I think it looks reasonably good and will look better after I install the rudder.

 

 

[druxey]

I found it much easier to work on the counters with the model inverted. Nice work on the lower counter figures!

[Jim Lad]

Catching up, Toni.  You're doing some really nice work on that stern.

 

John

[Trussben]

Nice Friezes Toni.

 

 

[MEDDO]

Very nice.  I like that there is a caduceus.

[Charlie1805]

So great ! Thanks to look

 

[tlevine]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and likes.  As I said in my last post, the carvings are going to take a lot of time.  I have absolutely no artistic ability, making carvings anything other than leaves and flowers a tremendous challenge.  Here are the stern carvings after an additional 20 hours of work.  I am getting close to the point where I am afraid of damaging the carving if I fiddle with it too much more.  The center carving represents Aphrodite grasping an apple tree and she is flanked by Hippomenes and Atalanta, each holding apples.  The outer carvings, which look like fancy beer steins to me, are supposed to be Greek temples.  For those not up on their Greek mythology, Atalanta was a virgin-warrior, daughter of Jason (as in Jason and the argonauts) who could outrun all the boys in town.  Her father was forcing her to marry so she came up with a plan she thought would keep her safe.  If anyone could beat her in a foot race she would agree to marry him.  If they lost, they also lost their head!  Hippomenes approached Aphrodite who gave him golden apples to throw on the ground to distract Atalanta.  As she bent to pick them up he outran her and won the race.  It gets better...  Hippomenes forgot to thank Aphrodite.  On the way to their ship,  Atalanta and Hippomenes suddenly became amorous (thanks to a spell from Aphrodite) and had sex in Zeus's temple.  He became furious and turned them into lions.  In this era it was thought that lions could not mate with each other so Hippomenes and Atalanta could never mate again.  

 

[Maury S]

Toni, The carvings are looking good. 

Quote

I have absolutely no artistic ability

That is simply not true!

Maury

[Wintergreen]

For someone without artistic ability... I would say that that carving is p-r-e-t-t-y d-a-n-g g-o-o-d!

I think you should reconsider your abilities Toni ;-)

[tlevine]

Thanks guys.  My carvings look best when viewed from a distance of 3 feet or greater!  But seriously, seeing it blown up on the screen is extremely helpful in picking out areas for improvement that you cannot see when looking at the actual carving.  For example, Atalanta's calf is not shapely and her right forearm is too cylindrical, rather than tapering below the biceps.