Blue Ensign

Here is where I am at with the masts. Added and tuned parts and painting and weathered them. Painting them is pretty close to painting the hull, a mixtyre of paint, washes (both dark and light ones), sanding and drybrushing. I tried to look at the new mast parts on the real ship to get a feel for how they could look in tone.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
/Matti
 

After some lenghty but fruitful discussion in our german forum about the orientaion of the free end left or right, forth or aft we found that almost all literature shows it the way that it is displayed:
 
- for the cable-laid shrouds - Starboard pointing foreward, larboard aft :-)
- for plain- or hawser-laid shrouds - Starboard pointing aft, larboard foreward :-)
  The opnly one showing it vica versa is Marquardt in his Eighteenth Century Rigs and Rigging, funnily, his other book Schoner in Nord und Süd shows it the "common" way.
  Some other information coming the way was incorporated immediately - Max. distance of the big deadeyes twice diameter - Tackle about half the diameter of the shroud - Shroud not too tight around the deadeye - free end of the tackle passes through the gap of deadeye and shroud - free end shorter   And here we go Mark 2:   before:   After    Still have to clear and belay the tackles to look less messy :-)   XXXDAn  

I have started a job on the side that will run in conjunction with the main construction work.This is that of the figurehead.There are differences between museum model and the kit.The main one being there are two 'characters' behind the lion.I say characters because I am still uncertain as to what they are They remind me very much of the 'purple' thingy on Matti's Vasa build .However these affect the shape of the prow considerably and I will need to produce this trio of carvings to be able to determine the prow shape.
Some good news is that the museum model's Lion is tailless unlike the one on the kit plans and it is not clutching an emblem also shown on the plans.It is a nice change that research actually simplifies a design .Anyway I chose to take a copy of the Lion shown on the plans and use this,just omit tail and emblem,as it will be far more convincing than my freehand drawing attempts.The copy was glued onto a piece of European box of suitable thickness.
I first milled the slot for the prow,but leaving a small section at the feet.This will be removed later when the bulk of the shaping is done,it simply serves to keep a little strength for now while the rough work is done.The profile was cut using a combination of the miller,large scalpel and burrs.The result in the pics is from about 8 hours work!!.
The very thin wafer at the mouth will hopefully be the tongue when finished
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Aye,aye Bob.  The 50mph winds (day after day) are a good incentive for shop time.  Speaking of which.......
 
Some necessary fillers, to accommodate the inner hull planking, have been installed and faired at the bow, stern and at the sheave positions.  You may recall the simulated sheaves we installed in the outer hull a long ways back.  Now it was time to install the inner portions.  Here we see lining up the holes between the inner and outer halves simply using several pieces of wire:
 

 
And here's a close up of one of the inner hull sheaves.  It will be flush with the inner planking: 
 

 
Now it's time to get to planking the inner hull in earnest.  Might take some time so I urge you-know-who to be patient.  By some miracle, the spirketting that runs under the gun ports is going to fit perfectly!
 
 

I am still painting the headrails etc. While waitng for the paint to dry (about as exciting as Formula 1 motor racing) it occurred to me that a couple of painting tips may be useful. At the risk of telling people what they know, here goes.
 
To avoid getting fingers in the way, I have found Tamiya tape is excellent in holdng small flat pieces steady for painting and spraying. 

 
For holding pieces that need coats on more than one side, a pin and a clamp are useful.
 

 
For those using enamel paints (I use Humbrol) whenever possible use 2 or 3 coats of spray polyurethane to finish off. It both protects and gives a far better finish than paint alone. Incidentally, I no longer shake the Humbrol cans to mix the paint. For flat paints it doesn't do a very good job. The esters (I think that's the term) that make the paint flat are often left in the bottom of the can; and when you shake the can the paint builds up on the inside lid and sides of the can - so it won't close properly.  The paint then goes off.  I think the latter is part of a cunning plan by Humbrol ... Consequently I use a piece of wood strip to stir the paint for about a minute or so.
 
I have started on the cathead using Mitsuaki and Arthur's work as a guide.  I had no idea drilling 6 slots whould take all day.
 

 

Nice work on the rudder Bob, and the chain scale looks about right, interesting to see the pendants fitted thro' a hole in the hull.
 
I think I would try and get the rudder closer to the stern post perhaps by countersinking the eyebolts deeper into the stern post. The gap looks a tad large to my eye.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Nice progress Lukas, she does look good on the water. Glad my effort  has helped  with your build.
 
B.E.

Thanks Andy, Alan, B.E., Sjors, Bob, Keith, Sherry, Leanne, Ben, John, and Lawrence, and once again, all of the "likes".
 
Ship's Boats continued:
 
Last night I glued the frames and their inner pieces into the building jig.  The trick with this is to ensure that the inner frame pieces are glued only to the main cutout insert and not the frames themselves, and that the frames are glued only to the jig slots and to the keel, and not to the either the frame inner pieces or main cutout insert.
 
Here's what that actually means:
 

 
The above is the completed assembly.  During planking, the inserted pieces will give stability and strength to the frames.
 
Here is what it looks like without the inserts:
 

 
In this next shot you can notice two things.  Firstly, that my keel slots were not aligned as well as they might have been, so I had to widen some of them (this won't be visible later, so no big deal).  The second thing is that you can see where the pressure of the Mk 1 Finger Clamp was slightly above tolerance and resulted in snapping the keel in two places.       Once again, I don't think it will be too noticeable in the end as the entire hull will be painted, allowing me to apply a little filler as/where needed.
 

 
And in the final shot below, the inner support pieces removed from the jig.  When in place, they are quite a snug fit so won't drop out accidentally if I pick the whole thing up.
 

 
Overall, I'm reasonably satisfied with the outcome so far and will proceed to the next step - making the stemson and hawse timbers.  This should be fun!     
 
 

Sweet little stove Nils. If you don't wish to go to the trouble of making the distillation pipe, you could just insert the connecter, a short length of brass tube inserted on top of the stove towards the edge centrally between the boiler lids.
 
B.E.

Thank you so much B.E.
 
for your Kind Response and that wonderful link to Dafi`s lovely log of the Victory concerning anchor cables, that is more than I had ever expected...., and also for your sentenses olut ouf Bruian Lavery`s literature.
All very inspiring, and I find a very nice Detail (anchor cable rigging) on a 18th century model
 
Nils

Thanks Thomas. The cannon barrels are painted with what little I have left of my Pollyscale engine black (no longer available).
 
I've now completed another section of the quarterdeck framing. Before doing that, however, I had to do a chart of rigging sizes so that I could attach the main lower yard sheets to the bulwark cleats that would be inaccessible under the deck framing. The rope sizes were determined by using the tables and formulas set forth in Lees. Rather than using a spreadsheet, I chose to mark the sizes directly on copies of the sequential rigging drawings from the Essex AOTS. I then made a table to convert these sizes to correspond to the rigging line sizes available from Chuck. 
 
I then used the appropriate line size to do the sheets and ran them through the bulwark sheaves and attached them to the cleats. When this was done, I glued down the aft portion of the deck framing, which previously  had been left sitting loose. After that, I built two further deck sections off the model, installed them, added hanging knees to them and then filled in the open portions with lodging knees, ledges and carlings. The whole assembly was given an application of Wipe-on Poly.
 
The final portion of the quarterdeck framing will be done in conjunction with work on the pumps and mainmast bitts, which will be the next items of work.
 
Bob

Those last shots along the hull show the wonderful curvature you have achieved, great stuff Nigel
 
B.E.

Well it didn't. 
 
Finally, joy.

 

 
The gratings are dry fitted.  The painting of all the components is taking forever.  The yellow Humbrol paint needs to dry a full 3 days if it is to be sanded.
 

 

Work is slowly progressing on the port side.As I have proved everything on the starboard side,this acts as a template for the port side.This has enabled me to fit the gunport frames earlier in the process to make it easier to shape the internal profile.The handy thing with the gunport design is that tweaks are easy.Some of the holes for the linings have been adjusted and boxwood veneer shims used to ensure perfect alignment when sighting down the side of the hull.I have also been able to fit the lower counter side timber earlier than before.The rather random looking pear blocks at the bow are for shaping to match the other side.The are placed to ensure adequate material to carve the shape out of.
 
Kind Regards
 
Nigel

Galley stove , continued....
 
 
 
 
 

painted, cooking side
 

spit roast side
 

brass parts fitted
 

 
 

 

stove heaved into ist place
 

view through portside gunport
 

Oh, oh, there is not going to be much place for the cook....
 
 
 
Build log part 32 to follow...
 
Nils

Hi Nils, I've just recalled that Daniel (Dafi) did some extensive work on working the anchor cables, here's a link to his posts which show the arrangement of the cables around the riding bitts, and running down thro' the hatches.
 
http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/76-hms-victory-by-dafi-to-victory-and-beyond/page-10
 
Writing in his book Arming and fitting Brian Lavery comments that sixth rates had no separate orlop deck amidships so they carried their cables on top of the barrels in the hold, which must have been inconvenient at times. Smaller vessels stowed them where they could, sometimes directly on the bottom of the hold.
 
Neither of these options seem very good for either the condition of the barrels or the drying out of the cables.
 
When underway I understand that the anchor cables were unrove and the hawse holes blocked up, and when stored the cables were loosely coiled.
 
The stored cables took up a lot of room within a ship; Lavery writes that they took up around 2/5th of the length of a ship, and  in the ffm Vol 1V  a standard cable length of 720' is given. At 1.64 scale this would equate to a massive 342cm of coiled cable running each side of the centre line of the ship.
 
Remember that the anchor cables were not directly attached to the  capstans when hauling them in and out, they were attached to smaller messenger cables.
 
A good reference source is The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600 - 1815 by Brian Lavery.
 
Hope this helps.
 
B.E.

Wonderful work Grant, you have  got down much finer with your framing than I dared attempt at 1:64. Like your idea of refixing the centre cut-outs to aid external shaping of the frames.
 
Looking forward to seeing how your boats develop.
 
B.E.

Big improvement on the stern counter Nils, looks good, and some intricate work going on there beneath the Fo'csle.
 
re the anchor cables:-
 
if you are going to rig the anchors the cables enter thro' the hawse holes, are taken around the riding bitts, and then lead back to the Main hatch where they descend to the cable tier above the hold. Often on models notches are seen taken out of the forward side of the Main Hatch grating to allow passage of the cable.
 
In terms of your Pegasus with open views thro' the hull, I'm not quite sure of the exact position of the cable tier, I don't have that information, but I will look further thro' my references and see what I can come up with.
 
B.E.

Build log part 29
 
 
Now starting with fitting out forecastle beneath and on top of that deck
 
 

Fitting the first two Posts that also take up the bowsprit counterplate
 

the gundeck is cut away, wide under the forecastle deck as well..., to allow view from above to lower decks
 

tried to gain standhight for the Crew here as well (as good as possible)
 

Access to the forecastle deck shall be over the hatch-opening on starboard deck side (per Stair, the deckbeam shall be cut away at that Position. The stair shall fit nicely in between the first two gun tackles
 

the two masterboards fitted in place
 

view underneath...
 
 

deck openings for gratings, stovechimney
 

the planking of the deck will be done later on
 
 
 
 
 
Build log part 30 to follow....
 
Nils

Build log part 28
 
 
here are some changes to the lower section to the Stern Appeal...
(initiative born by fellow members)
 
 

this was the look before...
 

and here before...
 

and here after the change
 

 

Close ups are always risky, but I trust it`s OK to Show...
 

 

the combinattion of partially cut away portside planking and actual outside bulwark decor above.
That Stringer on portside just above the wales will have to take on the chainplate fastening bolts later on
 
 
 
 
 
Build log part 29 to follow....
 
Nils

Ship's Boats - continued:
 
In my last update, I described how I was planning to make the frames for both the 28 ft Pinnace and the two 25 ft Cutters.  With that test deemed "successful", it was time to proceed.
 
First up was to make the building boards - one for each of the three boats.  After re-sizing the patterns from my Warrior Practicum (Romero), I printed these on sticky label paper (a tip picked up from Danny Vadas) and stuck them to 3mm Birch Plywood (aircraft grade).  In this pic, you can clearly see the very different shape of these two hull forms.
 

 
I think I could have equally well used 3mm MDF, but Romero specified the other, so I decided to see if there was a noticeable difference (other than a significant price difference, that is!).  There wasn't - at least not to my rudimentary skill level.  I used a 28 TPI skip tooth saw blade for the most part with these.  Keith asked previously about a spiral blade (which cuts in any direction).  Apart from having had difficulty controlling these in the past, they do have a noticeably wider kerf and I wanted to keep the kerf to a minimum for this job as I need to be able to re-insert the centre section as part of the building process (all will become clear a little further down the track).  The one exception was when I cut the the transom "slot" at an angle after cutting the remainder of the board.  To do this, I inserted a spiral blade and used the scroll saw's tilting head feature to cut the transom slot at 18 degrees for the Pinnace, and 12 degrees for the two cutters.  This doesn't really show up in the pictures (I may have taken the pictures before cutting them).  Anyway, here's what the completed build boards look like.  I clearly still need some practice with the scroll saw, but cutting accuracy wasn't vital for this part (thankfully!).
 

 
I mentioned previously that the frames are cut from 1/32" stock, made up by laminating two pieces of 1/64" stock.  The reason for the laminated approach is to provide structural strength by laminating the two pieces with the grain running at 90 degrees to each other.  While this does work, anyone who has tried laminating sheet stock will tell you of the problem of unwanted curvature - just check out Mark Taylor's Licorne log to read of his issues building ship-size frames at 1:64 scale, and you'll appreciate how much more severe the problem becomes at this tiny scale.  On reflection, I reckon this is the reason that all plywood you buy is made of an odd number of laminates - to keep it flat.  Anyway, here are the frame patterns laid out on the laminated stock - I'm using pear for the Pinnace, and will be using Costello Boxwood for the Cutters.  (Oh, and by the way, after laminating, the stock was placed and clamped firmly between two thick boards for over 24 hours).
 

 
Once the stock is cut down to "frame" size, the warping fortunately more or less disappears.  However, here is a news flash - the scroll saw does not discriminate between wood and fingers!  I got a little too close at one stage and just nicked my right forefinger - nothing more serious than say a slight slip with the old Exacto, but enough to make me sit up and take notice.  After cutting 20 frames, I reckon I'm starting to get the hang of the scroll saw though.  The real trick is getting your mind around manoeuvring the workpiece around the blade, rather than the other way around.  To do this safely, you really need to allow plenty of "waste" stock around the final piece.  I was a little short on spare stock, so economised a little more than perhaps I should have.  Lesson learned.  The method was to cut the inside of the frame pattern out on the scroll saw, clean up with a file, then temporarily re-glue it and shape the outside of the pattern on the disc sander (this gives the otherwise very fragile piece some support). For those frames with complex curves, the final part of the external surface was achieved using a grinding/polishing stone in a hand held rotary device (similar to a Dremel).  The inner stock was then removed through the judicious use of Isopropyl Alcohol - being careful not to use so much that the frames delaminated!
 
And here's the result: 
 

 
The keel was made in a similar way, only using stock of twice the thickness (ie two pieces of 1/32" stock to create a 1/16" thick laminate).  Bending wasn't quite as severe, but is present nevertheless.  I'm now keeping the completed keel clamped until it is ready for installation in order to minimise the warpage.  Again, the inside line was cut first.  Then the frame positions were transferred from the building board to the keel and the piece returned to the scroll saw to have the frame notches cut. Then the outside shape was formed using the disc sander.  Here is the completed keel - note that the deadwood, and apron pieces have been included in the single piece.
 

 
Here are a couple of pics of the keel in place on the building board.  In the first pic, the line of the lamination running down the centre of the keel is quite evident.  
 

 
In the second pic, you will note that the aft end of the keel piece does not reach the aft end of the board.  This is because the transom piece (frame no. 10) will be attached to the keel first, and then a stern support piece will be attached outboard of that into the build board.
 

 
That's it for now.  Over the next week, I hope to install the keel and frames onto the build board for the Pinnace, and once that is proved successful, I'll repeat the process for the two Cutters.

Hello Nils, re the English terms used in shipbuilding - here's a little schematic I did on the plans to help me sort out what was what.
 

 
 Hope this helps.
 
B.E.

Stern galleries v2.0. Walnut looks much better than lime which had to be painted. Maybe I'll add some decoration to the black top, maybe not.
 

Great update shots Timmo, the high standard of your work clearly shines  through.
A very special Granado this one.
 
B.E.

You surely have achieved an elegant build Mike, very nicely done
 
B.E.