the learner

1:60 HMS Naiad 1797
Part 87 – Remedial Work
Posted 7/4/11
 
I have been very grateful for all the wonderful comments I’ve had on the Naiad project. It’s been very flattering. I feel like a degree of realism needs to be injected, to keep me grounded, so…..
 
For a long time now I have wanted to do something about the knee of the head and the lower stem. I have not really been satisfied with the work I did in this area - way back in the beginning of the project. The problem has been a number of minor imperfections, no one of which would lead me to do the remedial work described in this part, but taken together, I decided they warranted some correction. This would be the last opportunity to do it, as I am getting ready to start the external planking on the starboard side.
 
The picture below was taken last fall.
 

 
Some of the problems are visible in this picture. The keel and the base of the stem are under width. The knee of the head is also too narrow at the base and the forward edge has become too rounded with various sanding steps. Also, the pieces of the upper knee are not quite right. I had copied White, from his book Diana, on the piecing of the knee. Diana was unusual in that she had four transverse head timbers. Naiad and most other frigates had three. This caused the gammoning slot to be in an odd place relative to the knee joints. Also, White has no horizontal gammoning piece on his plan. This can be seen missing just below the standard gammoning knee in the above picture. I had still not gotten around to opening up the slot in this picture. There was also accident damage – gouges - on the lower parts.
 
I felt all this was inconsistent with the general quality of the model, so I decided to replace the knee of the head, the lower stem. This required replacing the first section of the keel and false keel, with the boxing joint and the horseshoe plate.
 
So, the next step was…….
 

 
I’m not going to show all the gory details – and there were some. I think the above picture gives some idea of what was involved. The old pieces lying about were cut off with a saw; then the joining face to the apron was pared back with chisels and filed clean. I decided to do this without removing the ribbands, which made the work a bit more difficult. One ribband was broken.
 
The next picture shows the forward section of the keel being glued into place with the new boxing joint.
 

 
By now both pieces of the lower stem were installed. The pins in the picture were cut short and driven all the way in to hold the pieces tight for gluing. They were then pulled out. The forward face of the lower stem still needs finishing off in this picture.
 
In the next picture the gripe area of the knee has been installed and the new upper part of the knee is being fit to the upper stem.
 

 
In the next picture the lower part of the knee is installed and the upper assembly is being glued.
 

 
The pin on the scarph of the lower section has a spacer so it can be driven all the way in and later removed without damaging the forward face of the knee. The ship was secured in an aligned position for this step and the final position of the upper knee checked with a triangle for centering and projection.
 
The last picture shows Naiad sporting her new front end.
 

 
When this point was reached I was both relieved and quite happy. Everything about this new installation is better. Now I can move on to the next stage without regrets over compromises.
 
This build log has started to feel like a clinic on fixing mistakes. I apologize for that. It would be much better to get it right the first time, but…. I guess it’s the final result that matters. Rework can be fun.
 
 
Ed

Hi everyone,
 
And here are the drawings I created from the Admiralty draughts of HMS Dragon, The Bellona's sister ship (the NMM could not find the Bellona drawings when I ordered these back in the 1990s; I don't know if they ever turned up).
 
The xerox copies showed that the original 250 year old drawings were quite distorted and therefore not able to be built from. Also I did not know how I would ever fit a 1/4" scale model of a 74 in my house. So I drew these at 3/16", or 1:64. The Admiralty drawings were very schematic, and so I had to develop all of the details from other standard sources.
 
Mark
 
 

I found some instructions! Thanks Dan Vandas
 
"Alfred"
 
A little dusty but nice
 

I have just finished going through the entire post and I am facinated that you are able to produce  such an awsom model with bits paper, card, clay and paint. We have several card modlers in our group and I can not wait to show them this posting. I have printed out a couple of pictures of you somewhat completed Caroline to show it to them.  Do you plan on rigging her?  I Look foward to your future work
 
Guy
The Learner

I found some instructions! Thanks Dan Vandas
 
"Alfred"
 
A little dusty but nice
 

I have just finished going through the entire post and I am facinated that you are able to produce  such an awsom model with bits paper, card, clay and paint. We have several card modlers in our group and I can not wait to show them this posting. I have printed out a couple of pictures of you somewhat completed Caroline to show it to them.  Do you plan on rigging her?  I Look foward to your future work
 
Guy
The Learner