usedtosail

Thanks, and you're welcome, JohnLea.  I hope that what I have here is useful for others.
 
With that in mind, more progress on the tops.
 
I had a very slight warp in one of the tops.  The front part curled upwards maybe a millimeter, or a bit less.   I've been keeping it under a weight most of the time, but that hasn't helped.  Getting the idea from Blue Ensign's log on HMS Indefatigable, I tried a heat gun on the piece.  I wasn't sure I used enough heat, I was a bit nervous about it.  But it seems to have worked, and it is flat now--

 
I cut a bunch of blanks for the radial cleats--

 
And glued them together with the barest bit of glue at each end, so they can be uniformly shaped--

 
They first needed to be sanded flat on one side, and the aligned ends squared-- 
 
Then, with knife, chisel, and file, I made a shallow notch on one end.  A good mill would have done this well, and though I sometimes use my rotary tool in the stand as a mill, I felt it was going to be too difficult to be as precise as I needed to be here.  The pieces are so lightly glued that they didn't stay together, and now I have four groups.  You can see how the notch fits over the rim of the top--
 
 
As I began to shape the tops of the cleats, one broke off, and I shaped this one individually, as a master to guide the rest--

 
My procedure ended up being to file the rounded part at the 'big' end first, and then chisel and file down the flatter part.  It's not exactly flat, it does have a slight taper to the end--

 
A few more groups broke apart, but here they are shaped and lined back up--

 
Into the bath of isopropyl alcohol--

 
I'm very impatient with this alcohol business.  I've never been able to wait until pieces just fall apart.  After a couple hours the glue was weakened enough that I could pry them apart with my fingers, without worrying about breaking them--
  
 
Out of the bath they dried quickly and they were test fit to the tops--

 
I did not anticipate that the severely skewed pieces along the back of the top, especially the corner ones, would need to be different, with the 'big' end lengthened (and/or the notch underneath cut farther back).   I'll see if these are salvageable, but I may have to remake a few cleats.
 
The big ends are just a bit taller than they will be when finished.  There are chocks that will need to be fit between each cleat, on top of the rim, and then when all is glued up, the rim will be finally sanded flat to the correct height.
 
Ron
 
 
 

The front border of top #1 was shaped, and the same procedure followed for top #2.  I did reduce the number of sections in the curve-
  
 
The light pencil line was traced from the BOTTOM side of the top, just as a check to make sure the pieces would fill in the curve correctly.  Next, it was glued to the floor along just the curved edge.  While that was weighted and drying, a paper template was placed on the floor within the rim of top #1, and the locations of the radial cleats was marked--

 
Here the front edge of top #2 has been sanded--
  
 
The line of the back edge has been drawn by eye in pencil, and the piece is scored lightly with a knife, repeated a few times, but not cut all the way through--
 
 
The waste is cut away with a chisel because I felt I had more control and didn't want to cut into the floor below, as I knew there would need to be some refinement of the shape.  There is no glue under the waste area, so once the chisel cuts through, the pieces detach easily--

 
The width was checked with a caliper, and further shaped where needed with sanding on the outside edge, or the knife and chisel on the inside edge.
 
Here is the current state of the two tops (one upside down)--

 
Oh, and I did today's pair of carronade tackle blocks.
 
Ron
 

This is the best environment to make treenails.

I finished the model base:

little step:




 

Thanks Derek. Your Duchess is beautiful.
 
One last picture of the Duchess in its new case, which I finished today.
 

 
I will be delivering it to my friends later this week.

Thanks Derek. Your Duchess is beautiful.
 
One last picture of the Duchess in its new case, which I finished today.
 

 
I will be delivering it to my friends later this week.

Thanks Derek. Your Duchess is beautiful.
 
One last picture of the Duchess in its new case, which I finished today.
 

 
I will be delivering it to my friends later this week.

Beautiful Tom - she looks great in her new case.
 
Gary

Thanks Derek. Your Duchess is beautiful.
 
One last picture of the Duchess in its new case, which I finished today.
 

 
I will be delivering it to my friends later this week.

Thanks for all the likes and comments. I do not know if I deserve it but at least it is encouraging. I am not a very skilled modeler but at least this shows what can be achieved with with a well thought out model as Caldercraft's Agamemnon in combination with perseverance. This week's work has been focused om the hammock cranes along the sides. I hope the pictures are OK. I see the model is a bit dusty....

 



 
Best regards
 
Henrik

I have completed and varnished the display cradle, and have finished and varnished the base board.   I modeled it after some cradles I saw in Keith Julier's books on modeling techiques.

This will be my last build log post.  I understand that all shots of the completed model belong in the gallery which I will begin work on shortly.
 
I began this build in 2007, 16 years ago!  There are two reasons it took this long.  One reason is that this is a very challenging build, and I had never tried the majority of tasks required.  It was therefore a matter of learning skills as I went rather than applying skills already mastered.  The other reason was that I needed to take months at a time off during the year to pursue my audio-video jobs.  In view of the fact that this is a challenging build, and that I was a novice in most respects when I began, it is not surprising that the errors and flaws in my model are legion.  Nonetheless, I am happy with the overall appearance of the model.  Actually, I think I deserve an "A" for persistence if nothing else, and I am patting myself on the back just for having finished it.
 
I would like to express my great appreciation for the encouragement in the form of comments and "likes" and advice I have received from other MSW members.  MSW is truly a mutually supportive and collegial group of model enthusiasts.  I would also like to thank Nic and the folks at Bluejacket who have been a delight to work with, and prompt in sending me all those little items I bought one at a time because I could not always forsee my needs.  I also benefitted greatly from the availability of fine rope from Chuck at Syren.
 

Headworks (Part 1):
 
The shipyard has not been very active recently, partly due to lack of time, but also trepidation of the fact that I can no longer delay work on the headworks - something that has caused some anxiety if I'm honest given that this is another aspect of the model that is so important to the overall look of the ship (...and especially considering that the TFFM devotes 17 pages to this!).  I had completed the main rail back in 2018 (Yikes!) which are detailed here (Post #513) for reference. 
I tried to follow the guidance and approach described in the TFFM as this will all need to be scratch to replicate the original plans as closely as possible, but did probably simplify some steps.  With the final profile of the bow having been finalized, the position of these can be determined.  This was done by eye in the absence of any definitive measurement, ensuring that the head of the mainrail is perpendicular to the keel and vertical when viewed from the bow.  These were drilled and pinned to hold in position for now.   Together with the standard, the 4 head timbers were rough cut and sized to their respective position, the outer face being cut to the angle formed by the head rail.  The curvature of the head timbers was estimated from the AOTS diagrams, but left a little oversized at this stage (the interior profile has also been ignored for the present and will be cut to final shape later).  The main consideration was to ensure that the position of the bottom of the main rail was determined, and this was done by multiple fine tunings and a sanding stick.

The position and fitting of the lower rail proved to be the more challenging aspect.  The TFFM indicates that it should be straight when viewed from above, and the plan profiles suggest that it should be position midway between the main rail and the upper cheek..  On top of that, it needs to clear the interior hawse hole, and will also need to taper in profile at the bow.  The seats of ease on the Artois class are outboard, and will also clear the lower rail.  I do not know the thickness of this piece, but estimated it should be 2mm thick which seems consistent with the proportions shown and described in TFFM for the Swan class.
 
I started by drawing my own simple scale mini-plan using the measurements of the hawse hole, position of head timbers and length of the lower rail.  This allowed the depth of the slots to be determined on each head timber, at the point mid way between the bottom of the main rail and top of the upper cheek (This will also determine the required final curvature of the head timbers to ensure that the lower rail sits neatly behind the covering boards which will need to be added in the future,

Once these had been roughly determined and cut into the head timbers, the theory and application was proved using some of the kit supplied white metal decorative strips which are very easily bent.  (The kit indicates that these should actually be used for the lower rail which seems to be a very reasonable compromise, but think Jason deserves to appropriately proportioned and profiled wood rail).  The curvature of this metal rail can then be used to determine the curvature of the top of the lower rail that will be cut from wood.  (Note:  The forward head timber has been ignored for now, I will need to recut this piece so it extends higher over the standard, as it is, its not think enough to accommodate the lower rail).  The white metal strip is also very useful because it allows the length of the lower rail to be determined.

A cut first approximation of the lower rail was then cut from some boxwood sheet and temporarily placed in position to again prove the approach.  This proved to be successful, and I was happy with the general profile that resulted.  This looks overly bulky to my eye even though the dimension are appropriate, but I suspect that this will be corrected once it has been profiled.  The next step will be to cut and profile the actual pieces.  This also shows that I will likely need to adjust the hawse bolster to allow the lower rail, and the yet to be fitted eking rail (see last picture, the lower rail does not clear the top of the bolster. Even though there is still much to do in this area, I'm feeling more optimistic with this complex area.

 
 

Hi all, Been a bit since my last post. Busy time of the year for me. I've moved on to the boarding ladders. I cut them on the table saw then used files and sanding sticks to finish the shape. The top step is wrapped in the frieze before placing on the hull.
 


 
To determine the positions of the steps I cut some scraps to the desired width and tested the fit. I also clamped a strip to the hull to keep them in a straight line while testing the fit.

 
And here they are glued in place.
 

I've also weathered the swivel guns and started shaping the swivel gun stocks. More to come soon!

That was a long break for Winchelsea now, I had to do something against the mice under our living-room flooring.

Then, more fun, some macro planking

These old Floorboards are wonderful stuff. About 200 years old. Just lovely.
 
Anyway, back to my breastrail
 
I first made a jig for the detailed profiles, to get them all in line around the columns.

Next step was sanding the profiles in a nice shape
 

 
... and polishing each corner to get this lovely dull gloss, wich this material has, when being polished.
 

 
... cutting the collumns in the right length and assemblying everything...
 

 

 

 

 

 
Finally the installment on the model...
 

 

 

 

 

 
This almost finishes chapter 10. I have to do the eyebolts for the guns on the quarterdeck and then proceed to chapter 11.
 
Matthias
 
 
 
 

Vanguard re-imagined.

A conversation between Sir Christopher Watton, notable ship designer for his Britannic Majesty, and Mr James Hatch (seated) acknowledged Master shipwright, and preferred Navy Board contractor.
 
Think you can knock this up by Easter Hatch, need to recoup  some funds, don’t you know.
 
That’s a big ask Sir Christopher, I ain’t left the yard in months, and I’ve only just finished chopping down that last Sixty-four you’ve had me working on for weeks.
 
Well, do your best Hatch, and don’t forget the penalty clauses..

 

Indy kits are being completed with plans and manual. The boxes are 175mm deep (7 inches), and near full to the top, with just a tad over 15kg total weight, so care needs to be taken when handling this behemoth...

Lengthy work on the cannon carriages:

Thank you Glenn, Bob, Dave and Gary, and for those that pressed the Like button. I really appreciate it.
 
I am in the process of uploading better pictures of the completed Duchess to the gallery. Have a look there if you want to see more of the model.

Flag installed.

This completes the model (!!!!!!).

Now my attention turns to finalizing the display starting with the cradle.  I would like to do this in mahogany to match the base board.  Let's see how it comes out.  Worst case scenario- I am unable to improve on what I have, in which case, I will paint the current cradle black.  We shall see.  More posts to come.

Progress: I have attached blocks to the masts for the brails, added cleats to tie off the halyards, and sewn the sails onto the masts. I've set the masts in their steps just to get a sense of how everything is fitting together at this point, but not glued them in place. Before I do that, I will need to attach the sprits, brail up the sails, and attach the shrouds and forestays.
 
So I've got a ways to go. But it's exciting to see things coming together. 
 

Finally... back in the shipyard and making progress.  Been a bit of long haul to get here.  Foredeck furniture is "mostly" done.  Still need to do the catheads, but currently doing eyebolts on the quarterdeck.  I will admit that 1:64 is currently pushing the limits on my eyeballs so the next one is going to be 1:48 unless the eye doc has a solution.  Seems I don't meet Medicare requirements for new lens in the eyeballs.   <sigh>  But we'll see where that goes in due time.
 

 
 

Your model is amazing Derek. Such neat, precise work!

And here's a couple of photos of my efforts seizing shrouds.  I've been struggling with this, trying to add more detail than I did on previous model.  I've been somewhat successful in that, but then I overlooked some of the basics.  With the long layoff, I've gotten a bit sloppy about things.  This is after a couple of redo's and is probably the best I can do right now.  I haven't tightened or tied off the lashings yet.  I still have one more shroud pair on the port side left to do.


 
 

I started on the shrouds and then I decided to glue the ship's boat to the deck.  It looked like the shrouds might interfere with my fingers when working with the ship's boat.  I'm still struggling with both my closeup vision and my skill level.  I've tried readers and a magnifier, and couldn't use either for any length of time without starting to get headache, so I'm still trying to figure out if there's something I can do to get a slight improvement.  I don't need much.  Here's how the ship's boat looks on the deck.  The camera shows all my difficulties seizing ropes.