Blue Ensign

Hi Lukas, yes I glued the hull halves together before fitting the gun deck.
 
One or two things you might want to consider before glueing.
 
Heller did not see fit to provide guide holes along the hull for the gun-port lid lanyards, but it is quite feasible to fit lanyards at this scale so the holes had to be drilled. To this end a small jig is required, I made mine from styrene strip.
 

Two strips to fit snugly within the gun-port are glued to the uprights which have guide holes positioned at the right level. It is but a simple job to then to move the jig from port to port drilling thro’ the hull.
The Quarterdeck level bulwark windows have been fitted with glazing bars of 0.25 x 0.5mm styrene strip, and backed by acetate strip.
Gun-port lids were not provided at the Upper deck level although in practice they did have wooden panels (Half ports) that could be fitted from the inside; these had a hole to take the gun muzzle and had a canvas muzzle shaped cover over the outside.
 
The aftermost gun-port at Upper deck level is interesting, split horizontally, and shaped to fit around the gun muzzle; it is glazed to allow light into the Wardroom.
 

This is not a universal fitting on French Seventy-fours but Boudriot shows it so I also included them on my effort, fashioned from brass, clear acetate and strip styrene – tricky little beasts but we got there in the end.
Over two of the Upper deck gun-ports they did fit Rigols (1st and 4th from the stern) why these two I don’t know but I replicated them with brass wire shaped over a former, and flattened a little on the anvil.
 

Inside the hull halves the bulwarks were painted, - Red ochre – what else, much easier done before assembly as the tumblehome restricts access.
Holes were also drilled to take the eyebolts for the gun tackle of those cannon visible in the waist, and on the Quarterdeck, an awkward job with the hull assembled.
Heller, for reasons best known to themselves, decided to provide that section of the bow containing the hawse holes as a separate moulding. In retrospect I think it better to glue this in place at the outset, particularly from the point of view of painting.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

 

Cheers Frank
 
 
 
Hi Lukas,
 
I've just had a look at the two hull halves of the spare hull I have and they seem to fit together ok. 
I commented on the build that the hull goes together without any trouble at all, but that the gun-deck is a tight fit requiring spreading of the upper bulwarks.
 

 
The Upper deck was a different matter, here's what I said at the time.
 
The Upper deck
 
This was the very devil to fit, due to the quite severe tumblehome and the pressure needed to force the deck into place without dislodging any of the fittings on the gun-deck or the cannon protruding thro’ the hull.
 
At one point it seemed almost that I would split the upper bulwarks trying to get the deck below the Quarterdeck level. I fitted the deck dry, and once in place I don’t think I would have got it out again without damage.
 
As with the Gun-deck I was able to depress the deck below the support ridges along the inside of the hull and let the deck spring back into place, once glue had been applied to the ledges.
 
Things didn’t really go smoothly, quite a bit of pressure is needed to secure the deck edges to the hull, and even so the bond broke in one or two places, fortunately not where it will be ultimately seen.
 
In the process three cannon were dislodged on the Gun-deck, fortunately the breeching ropes held them to allow re-fixing with a little super-glue inserted thro’ the port.
 
Tip
For the purposes of applying pressure to the awkward hull shape to secure the decks I used those small and cheap single handed clamps. If small blocks of balsa are super-glued to the face of the jaws they can be cut to shape, a wedge in this case, so that the clamp holds square to the job, and applies pressure without slipping or damaging the paint surface.
 

 
I was relieved when that bit of the assembly was completed.
 
B.E.

A simple man’s guide to sail making (part two)
 
The sail has been cut out complete with a hem all the way round, the positions of the cringles have been marked along the edges.
The hems are folded over and a small slit where the cringles are to be placed is made with the scalpel.
0.1mm line is then placed along the hem inside the fold and fished thro with a small pointy thing, to form the cringles.
This is the position so reached.
 

 

After the first few cringles have been formed the hem is glued down using neat PVA to hold the cringles in place.
 
In the pic below all the cringles have now been put into place.
 
Down each side from the top are the three pairs of Reef cringles, followed by three Bowline cringles; the leech line is attached thro’ the top two.
 
At the clue is the cringle for the blocks..
 
Across the foot of the sail are the cringles for the buntlines.

Bands, patches and linings
Additional strengthening pieces of ‘cloth’ are now required to be added to the sail. These are all attached to the aft side of the sail as shown above (Fore side on British ships.)
They comprise:
The reef bands, three narrow strips thro’ which the reef points are fixed.
The Patches small squares of material below the reef cringles at the leech.
The Top lining, the most distinctive addition whose purpose is to protect the sail from wear by friction against the mast top.
The Lining cloths which are strengthening strips staggered down the leech of the sail.
A bit like wallpapering this part, cut it to size, slap on the paste, and stick it down.
 

With the light behind the full effect of the various additions can now be seen.
A series of holes were drilled thro’ the Reef bands to take the Reef points, and again on the Head lining to take the Robands.
Some 150 reef points are required on the Topsail.
 
Once the sails are in place they can be manipulated at any later stage by the simple expediency of wetting them down.
 

The Mizen sail, the Brails that control the sail furling are all in place, there are matching lines on each side of the sail.
 
 

a simple wet down of the sail and haul on the Brails and the sail is loosely furled.
 

 
Modelspan is a tough material and in my workings with I had no failures.
 
 

 

I would use modelspan for kitting out models certainly up to 1:96 scale.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Detail shots of the completed model


Long boat with the sheep pens beneath.
 

Activity on the Qtr deck, the crew are converted ‘N’ scale rail figures.
 

Poop deck detail.
 

 

Crew ascending the Main shrouds.
 

Fore deck detail.
 

Crew at the Fore Topmast head.
 

 

Head details.
 


 

 

Stern Qtr details.
 
 
Full shots of the model
 


 

 
 

 

 

 

 

Secure in her protective case.
 
I think this has been the most exacting build I have undertaken due to the small scale and my
less than good eyesight, I am very pleased with the result but I don’t think I
will attempt another at this scale.
 
I am much more comfortable with 1:64 scale, as with my current Pegasus build.

B.E.


 


 


 
 
 
 
 


 



 
 
 


 


 


 
 


 


 
 


 


 


 


 
 


 
 


 


 


 


 


 


 

Continuing:
 

Raising the Topsail yards.
 
A word about yards.
 

Working out the details.
 

Parrals at 1:150 scale are pretty small.
 

Topsail yard in place,
 

A member of the Royal Corps of Marine Infantry gives scale to the top.
The sails were attached, dampened and pulled into position using the Buntlines, Leechlines, and clues.
 

Rigging the anchors.
 
 
 

Continuing:

Details of the sails.




These were drawn from the plans of Boudriot and are made of Modelspan
tissue .
 



 



 
Attaching reef points nearly destroyed what little was left of my sanity.



As did the ratlines using 125g copper wire.
 

Almost done.


 


 


 

 







 

Thanks Nigel, Popeye, and Brian, the kit produces a nice looking model, but being only single planked there is only one chance to get it right(ish), not for the faint hearted.
 
This is the original catalogue I had.
 

 
I remember thinking what a superb model and I wanted to be that guy, This was the hook that got me into wooden ship modelling.
 

 
 A lot of the fittings were plastic and some of the brass ones looked slightly out of period to my eye even back then. One thing I do like is the stern and Quarter galleries, which despite having plastic decorations etc;  does have an authentic and nice period look.
 
Don't know about the bow Nigel, it never struck me as being insufficiently bluff, but back in the day  such considerations were way beyond my awareness level.
 
My main, and virtually only reference work was Lees Masting and rigging and I sort of followed the style of the 60 gun contemporary model (photo63) shown in the Representative Models Section. That didn't seem to have a particularly bluff bow.
 
 I look forward to seeing you work your magic.
 
 
Regards,
 
 
B.E.
 
 
 

Hi Nigel, here's a few pics of my old Norske Love, she's been uncased for many years, and has to have a periodic dusting, but I'm still very fond of the old girl as she marks my first foray into wooden kit building
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you find them of use
 
 
B.E.

Hi Nigel, here's a few pics of my old Norske Love, she's been uncased for many years, and has to have a periodic dusting, but I'm still very fond of the old girl as she marks my first foray into wooden kit building
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you find them of use
 
 
B.E.

Wonderful artistry in your build Matti, always welcome update photos, she looks magnificent.
 
B.E.

Hey everyone!
 
I have done some work on the cleats and rigging details to start the actual rigging. It was harder than expected to get them thinned down, and not breaking them. Having this done means I can now start with the rigging. 
 

 

 

 

 
 
/Matti

Hey all, fastened the first channel. I bolted the chainplates. I do think the construction will hold up later on, it would not be fun if it didn't... Pretty tricky work and I hope I'll get better at doing them as I move along. I can definately feel how new I am in this game during these stages.
 

 

 
/Matti

Matti, your Deadeye looks great..
 
Very similar to this one, though:
 

 
:P :P :P :P :P

Thank you all for you kind remarks and likes.
 
"To see her on the shore looks so authentic. The primer and paint patches only adds to that! Almost a shame to paint her!"
Sven, Don't think I didn't think about it.
 
"what a wonderful way to get kids away from the computer and into model building. Also, I'm with Sven. It's almost as if all you need is to paint a weathered waterline and then the ship would be complete;"
 
Omega, getting the kids to work on the boats was easy they seemed to understand the need to use their hands in a creative way.
 
 
I had a bit of spare time this evening after a nap, so decided to give Walter a hand preparing for the final painting of the hull.
 

 
I was quite surprised by how long it took to remove everything, it was over an hour and a half, and i had to put my thinking cap back on to remember the sequences of a couple of items especially at the stem.
 
here are a couple of containers of parts.
 

 
Almost ready for some light sanding, then to paint.
 

 
I an definitly leaning toward a dark hull like these
 
here is a link to Classic Sailing
 
Michael

Build log part 46
 
 
yesterday I started with the QD ballustrade and its rails and supports, further some of the belaying Pins and Frames for the hammock netting (in height of the Crew`s neck and head )
 
 

checking out the height for a horizontal resting of the spare mast-parts, so that the crew has enough space underneath
The focsile deck gallowbeam (rest surface for spare mast parts) is only 4mm from deck allowing a horizontal lay-on, this causing the mid deck gallow Support to be 36,5 mm from deck with its rest surface
 

 
 

Little knobs at the rail ends
 

 
 

belaying Pins and hammock net frames
 

protection for head area
 
 
 
 
 
Nils

Thanks Scott.
 
Rainy weather has cut down golf time and increased modeling time. As a result, I have made and installed the quarterdeck pin rails and also have done the quarterdeck hances and related moldings.
 
The pin rails are boxwood and were pinned and glued to the bulwarks. For the hances, I used the laser cut kit parts for the sculpted curved portion, but cut off the additional laser cut "molding" portion and replaced it with half round molding. The kit parts were nicely done, but very fragile, and it just seemed easier to use a less fragile alternative.
 
Now, I will do the cap rails for the bulwarks and transom.
 
Bob
 
 

While I'm getting up the courage to drill into my hard-earned hull....I installed the rudder chain. Constructo misses the boat and only shows the chain as a safety chain. My research tells me it's that as well as emergency steering in case the topside steering is disabled. The chains run through the hull into the gun deck.

Bull-at-a-gate style Chris - I can't believe that of you.
 
It's horses for courses  I think, I tend to work with smaller stuff for which scalpels are fine.
 

Can't imagine what would happen if I took my stanley knife to this, matchwood I suspect.
 
B.E.

Bull-at-a-gate style Chris - I can't believe that of you.
 
It's horses for courses  I think, I tend to work with smaller stuff for which scalpels are fine.
 

Can't imagine what would happen if I took my stanley knife to this, matchwood I suspect.
 
B.E.

I do find my Amati keel clamp very useful, excellent for smaller kits, but my current model of Pegasus is about the largest size model it will safely take.
 
 Now I know why I'm not a master builder like Chris,   I  have never used a Stanley knife in model building. I do however get thro' copious amounts of No 11  scalpel blades.

Bull-at-a-gate style Chris - I can't believe that of you.
 
It's horses for courses  I think, I tend to work with smaller stuff for which scalpels are fine.
 

Can't imagine what would happen if I took my stanley knife to this, matchwood I suspect.
 
B.E.

Bull-at-a-gate style Chris - I can't believe that of you.
 
It's horses for courses  I think, I tend to work with smaller stuff for which scalpels are fine.
 

Can't imagine what would happen if I took my stanley knife to this, matchwood I suspect.
 
B.E.

Hi Nigel, here's a few pics of my old Norske Love, she's been uncased for many years, and has to have a periodic dusting, but I'm still very fond of the old girl as she marks my first foray into wooden kit building
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you find them of use
 
 
B.E.

I do find my Amati keel clamp very useful, excellent for smaller kits, but my current model of Pegasus is about the largest size model it will safely take.
 
 Now I know why I'm not a master builder like Chris,   I  have never used a Stanley knife in model building. I do however get thro' copious amounts of No 11  scalpel blades.

Hi Nigel, here's a few pics of my old Norske Love, she's been uncased for many years, and has to have a periodic dusting, but I'm still very fond of the old girl as she marks my first foray into wooden kit building
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hope you find them of use
 
 
B.E.