usedtosail

I finished preparing the deck and it is now ready to install. I trimmed the excess planks, sanded it down, then used an awl to make indents for the treenails. I filled these with wood putty, then sanded the deck again. I then finished the deck with pre-stain, Golden Oak stain, and wipe on poly. I also checked the fit of the upper deck bulkhead pieces in the slots in the deck before finishing it. I was happy that I used individual planks instead of using full length planks and drawing in the plank ends. I was also a little worried about the thickness of the supplied planking wood, but it did sand up nicely.

I finished adding the planks to the deck, so I now need to trim them to the edges, sand the planks down and cut the slots back out. Then I will add the treenails around the plank joints.

I agree with Eric - adding the sails on the bench works best for me.

All the bulkheads are glued in so the next step is to fit the deck. The slots in the deck were narrower than the thickness of the bulkheads so I used a burr in the drill press to widen the slots until the deck fit. I then removed it and marked it for planking ( a few times). The instructions have you use full size strips then mark them to 60mm but I am cutting the strips to 60 mm and gluing them in end to end with a 3 butt shift. I did use longer strips for the center plank. I am using Tacky glue to glue these down with.

I started gluing the bulkheads to the keel, using Legos to align them while the glue dries.

Thanks Eric. I downloaded those pictures a while ago when I bought the kit. Thanks for posting them.

Thank you Chris and Dan. Dan, I think your Speedy will be great.

This will be the second Beagle model that I will build. I built the Mamoli Beagle model many years ago and gave it to my son. Since the Ochre kit is fairly new and is supposed to be a better representation of the real ship I was intrigued enough to buy it and build it. I am a retired engineer and scientist so besides the fact that this ship was so important because of Charles Darwin, it was also a survey and hydrographer ship which I think is really cool. I have the Anatomy of the Ship (AOS) book for the Beagle, which I used for the previous build and will use for this one too. I opened the box today and at first glance the contents look OK. After building a few modern kits from companies like Vanguard, I realize how these kits from older European companies are really lacking in the realism of some of the smaller details. I will try to improve them as I go along. This kit comes with sails that are way too thick but I haven't ruled out using them yet. Maybe I'll use them as patterns for more appropriate sails. I may be starting this model this week, but don't expect to really get into it until after the holidays.

Just a couple of last photos of the model going into its case and the final result. I will hold onto it for a few years until my grandson is old enough to care for it and then move it into his room at his house.

Those are bow lines.

TBlack - I couldn't agree with you more. Chris? Gregg - If you haven't figured it out yet, that is one of the magnetic arms removed from the yellow base and stuck to a 123 block as a base.

Here are pictures of the completed model. I will set up a gallery with more photos in it.

Welfalck my model is finished. I could do all the research I want now but I can't change it without undoing almost all the running rigging and I am not going to do that. SO future builders of the Vanguard Speedy kit, don't do what I show, but completely redo the belaying plan that comes with the kit and build new a whole new fore bitt with lots of belaying pins or add a lot more pin rails along the sides or put many lines on each belaying pin that is there now. Or just cut the lines at the bitts and be done with it. Your choice.

Gregory - these bowlines are from the main sail so they go forward to blocks on deck before the fore mast then back to the fore bitts on this model.

Thanks for all the great responses here. First of all, I agree that this whole arrangement of lines on the bitts is not historically accurate. BUT if one follows the plans as they are shown, can we still come up with a more realistic representation of the lines on the bitts. I set up a simple test rig and tried some different ways to add rope coils. Here is the test rig. I first added rope coils like you would put on a belaying pin to each line before tying the line to the bitts. I alternated the sides that the lines were tied so the rope coils on adjacent lines were on opposite sides of the bitts, providing room for more coils. You can see this on the two right lines of this picture. My rope coils suck so don't judge me on them, but I think this looks pretty good. It does require that the coils are added as the lines are tied, not after like with belaying pins, so some planning is needed before rigging is started. Then I tried adding a rope coil to a line that was already tied to the bitts, which is the line on the left in the above photo. I just ran the excess line through the rope coil and tied another knot. This worked OK too but would probably have to be done before fixing the first knot so the line is still flexible. I then looked for a way to add rope coils after the lines are all tied on the bitts and maybe even cut off flush with the bitts. I tied a single line to one end of the row of lines, then wrapped it around the bitts between each line. For each wrap I slid a rope coil onto the line. Then when the wrap was tightened, I adjusted the coil to one of the sides of the bitts, again alternating sides with each wrap. I tied off the last wrap back to itself. Again I think this looks OK but could be pretty tricky depend on how accessible the bitts are. I am not going to try these on my Speedy at this point but I hope this whole discussion helps future modelers.

In the rigging plan for this model, which is spread out over 4 different plan sheets, there are 23 individual lines attached to the fore bitts. I'd have to go back to the plans to identify all these lines, but for sure they include all the sail lines - buntlines, clewlines, some of the bowlines, sheets for the topsails and topG sails, and braces. There are no belaying pins associated with any of the bitts and there would not be enough room for 23 pins on them anyway. So I'll break this down into a couple of questions. If, as many models do, there were just 2 lines tied to the bitts, with no belaying pins, how would the working end of the line be shown? Maybe a coil that hangs on the ends of the bitts? The other question is what to do when the instructions for the model show many lines on the bitts like this one? What is more incorrect, showing the lines cut off at the bitts or showing rope coils on the deck? Both seem wrong to me. If the model tried to include enough belaying pins along the rails for all these lines there would not be enough room by a lot. Would having multiple lines on individual belaying pins be acceptable? There would have to be three or four on each pin for this model to fit them all. Getting philosophical here, I guess it all comes down to resolution and fidelity of the modeling process. We can only show a depiction of the real ship at whatever scale we are working on and have to make choices about what to show and how to show it. The model designer gives us a starting point, but it is up to us to work out the best depiction at the modelers skill level and comfort zone.

Captain Cochran has joined the party so this model is now finished. I finished up the anchors and added the swivel guns too. I used a straw and gently blew the dust and other crude from the deck. Here are some quick photos but I will take some decent photos soon. Thanks for taking an interest in this build.

Here is a photo of how David Lester finished these lines on his beautiful Speedy. I must say it looks much cleaner than mine by not showing the extra line for the lines on the bitts. This is the only photo I could find of this area of a completed Speedy build.

Thanks guys. Henry - I just followed the plans that came with the model for these lines. There are belaying pins with other lines on them but not enough for the lines shown on the bitts.

So the problem I have yet to find a solution for is how to show excess line for lines that are tied to bitts? On lines on belaying pins a rope coil is used but what do you do when a line is tied around a bitt? On the Vanguard Speedy model there are many lines tied to the fore bitts as you can see here. In the photos in the Instruction book they show the lines just cut off at the bitts so no excess line is shown, which to me is not realistic. I tried running a rope coil down each line but there are too many of them to have that many rope coils hanging off the bitts. What I settled on was to run the individual lines down to the deck and put rope coils over the ends. There are less coils than there are lines but I think it depicts things OK. I doubt that on a real ship there would be piles of rope laying around on deck so I am really curious how you other modelers have dealt with this issue. Thanks.

I am getting close to the end now. I finished making rope coils and have added them to the deck areas and belaying pins that have rope on them. I secured a few loose cannons that I bumped during the rigging process. I have tied the anchors to the anchor lines and then lashed them to the hull, both through the first gun port and the cat heads. I need to clean up the excess lines and drape the anchor lines around the fore bitts. Here is the deck area I showed in the previous post with more rope coils added. I doubt in a real ship that there would be piles of rope lying on the deck but I have no idea how else to show the excess lines that should be there. The photos in the instruction book show the lines just cut off at the bitts with no excess shown at all, which is not realistic to me. I did a search for rope coils on bitts but found nothing, so I am going to start a thread in the rigging section to see how others have dealt with this. Here is the starboard anchor lashed to the model. I am only putting one anchor on each side. Once the model is complete I will be making a case for it which should take another couple of months.

All the bowlines are installed and tied off. I have started adding the rope coils to the belaying pins and cleats, with only a few left to add. I have been playing around with the many lines on the bitts and how to add rope coils to them. What I came up with was to cut the excess line a little longer so the lines tied to the bitts can reach the deck, then glue rope coils on top of the lines. Here is the first layer of rope coils on the fore and main bitts. After these dry I will add more, but not as many as there are lines, as I think that would not look good. I am still making rope coils and will add them as I make them. I also need to re-glue a few cannons to the deck, and add the anchors, swivel guns, and Capt. Cochrane.

After almost 2 weeks away, I am back onto this model. I added the fore sail bowlines and tied them off to the fore bitts. I am now working on the main sail bowlines and still making rope coils.

Braces are all installed and tightened. I also added the vangs to the gaff. Next up are the bowlines. I have also been making a lot of rope coils, both to go on belaying pins and others to go on cleats and layer on the deck. I am waiting to add them until all the lines are installed.

I finished adding the sheets, clew lines, tacks, leech lines and bunt lines to all of the sails. I tied off the ends of all the lines so far and fixed them in place. I trimmed the lines that ended at cleats or belaying pins but not those that are tied to the fore or main bitts. There are so many lines tied to the fore bitts, as per the belaying plans on each rigging sheet, that I am not sure how to finish these off. Do I lead each line down to the deck and add a rope coil for each one, but they would have to be stacked on one another. I thought about making some bigger rope coils and draping them over the bitts but haven't tried it yet. Any ideas you guys have would be appreciated. Some of the braces are also tied to the bitts so I won't add anything until all the lines are on the bitts. I am now starting the braces and then will finish off with the bowlines. I still have the lines that go down from the ends of the gaff to add and the anchor lines to wrap around the fore bitts also. Plus adding rope coils to the lines on the belaying pins and cleats, but it is getting close.