Blue Ensign

Futtock staves.... here's what I've come up with:
 
I started off with some 0.020" Brass wire, because the 1mm kit supplied wither is too thick to be used if you're going to serve them, as they should be. Even the 0.020" wire looks a little thick (by my "calibrated eye"), but it will do. Serving is easy in this case, just tie off the end and start wrapping. When I had enough wire wrapped, I dipped the whole thing in acrylic matte medium, and let it dry. I did this a couple of times more. This won't secure the thread to the wire, but it will secure it to itself, and will hold long enough, that when the time comes to cut the stave to length, there's enough time to get a drop of glue on the end without having the whole thing come unwound. Having flush cutting nippers helps, and is pretty much a necessity. I don't recommend regular wire cutters becuase in order to restore the flat end, you'd need to pass a file over it, and that's just too risky.
 
After all that it's simply a matter of scuring the staves to the shrouds. I just used a simple clove hitch on an angle across the stave and shroud, I would also alternate the angle: / or \, to keep the thing from twisting too much. Tie off three or four to start (spaced a couple shrouds apart). That will be enough to hold the thing in position. Let the glue securing the knots dry, cut the leftover ends and tie a few more. Continue until finished. Finally I did a final trim to length, and after the glue dried, added a small dab of black paint on the end of the wire.
 
 
Mobbsie, unfortunately my rest time at home is going to be very limited, I will have to go back to work next week. Just one of those things, I'm affraid. The good news is, I'm hoping to stay until December so I'll get Christmas at home, and hopefully my holiday will extend to next spring fitout. Fingers crossed.
 
Andy
 

Launch cont'd
 
Jotika only provide two half chocks to support the boat, the inference being that the boat is supported on the starboard side by the Pickle’s bulwark.
 
This seemed odd to me so I fashioned a pair of full chocks on which to rest the Launch.

 

Having spent a fair bit of time making the bally boat, I’m now not sure I like it - hmmn I think I will have to ponder on that.
I certainly think I will only display one boat on the deck even if I decide to go ahead.
 

The kit arrangement.
 
How would they manhandle a boat of that size outboard given the rigging incumbrances.
 
I've a fair idea of how the boats were swung in and out, using a triatic stay slung between the two mast pendants, with tackles attached to ring bolts within the boat to raise it above the bulwarks, further tackles slung from the yardarm, and probably the Fore gaff, to swing it out.
 
Can you imagine how tricky that could be with an overlarge ships boat, keeping it steady to avoid crashing into the rigging, or worse the masts, she would have to hove to in any case to launch a boat, but in anything other than a millpond sea, she would still be rolling and pitching to varying degrees.
 
I really wanted to display a boat on the deck, maybe a replacement cutter of slightly less size, and some modifications learned from the building of the Launch.
 
The 14’ Cutter
 
This is not a bad shape and at least I know it will fit on the deck without giving the impression of trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot.
 
I took a different approach with the Jolly boat.
 
Exterior planking was done clinker fashion using strips from computer label paper.
 

I decided that planking the inside of the hull was a waste of time as the planks were hardly visible on the larger boat when finished, and they just add to the thickness of the gunwales.
 
On this boat I used styrene strip of 0.5 x 1.5mm for the ribs and keelson, 0.5 x 2 mm for the rising plank.
The gunnels I made from 0.75mmx1.5mm styrene strip.

Small boats are tricky to hold whilst working, but a cut out in a block of balsa goes a long way to keep it steady.
To avoid unnecessary thickness I left the ribs long so that they would support the thin gunnels.

Basic internal structure completed, paper patterns for the foredeck and stern sheet gratings
 
Jotika suggest that there were no bottom boards or knees, but I have modified the interior to reflect the drawings in the McGowan Victory book, and other reference sources.

Bottom boards have been fitted, a grating in the stern sheets, and a small foredeck at the bow. The gratings which are nice features in small boats were left over from the main build but necessitated taking down to a fraction of their original thickness to suit.
 
Boxwood strip was used for the thwarts and ring bolts fitted at the bow and stern.

Modified chocks.
 

 

In keeping with the muted colours of the main model I decided to colour the oars in a natural wood finish, white looked too stark to my eye, and there is no white anywhere else on the vessel.
 
She certainly looks more in scale to the size of Pickle, so the 19’ launch will not be displayed on the model.
 
B.E.
 
 

After unsoldering the three pieces, the new brackets were soldered face to face on a piece of scrap brass and the brackets milled in to give a "L" section cross section exactly as per the MK I versions. They were cleaned up and final shaping was done with a file.Small pieces of 0.1mm shim were soldered on to the sides to represent the clamps.
 

 
Then they were compared with the MK I versions. The next photo shews the MK II brackets placed near the MK I version for comparison. I feel happier with these.
 

 
(Edit - I have replaced the first of the above photos with a better one.)
 
Now it is time to pluck up courage to pull the MK I parts off and fix the MK II in place. I think a good night's sleep first.    

Great stuff hamilton, the masts look good for scale and I think your modified Quarter galleries are a real improvement.
 
Loving the look of her.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Anchor Buoys are tricky little beggars to make and rig, and those look really good Mike. 
 
I hope I can  achieve similar when I get around to doing them.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Well I had a little time the last few days, so thought I would ease back into the build by building the anchor buoys.  Let's just say they took me probably four or five times longer than I thought they would    I have to clean them up a bit, but here they are.  I was fairly pleased for the first attempt at making them.
 
To build the buoy, most people I see use wooden dowels.  I started down that road, but ended up switching the black sculpey clay.  I used that clay earlier on the build for the mouse stays - it's easy to mold, quick to bake in your oven, and comes in various colors.  I was able to make a bunch of different sizes until I got to the size that I thought worked best, and it was much quicker than working with dowels by hand or on my lathe.  Once baked, I painted them with brown acrylic.  The acrylic ended up acting more like a wash than a paint on the clay, which ended up giving it the look I was hoping for (not solid, but sorta worn and weathered) without using different shades of brown and black as I first thought I would end up having to do.  
 
The buoy harness (if that is what it is called) was probably the biggest pain for me.  There are eight ropes running along the length, and two rope bands that go around the width.  The bands only are knotted at the four ropes that start from the opposite end of the buoy, and lay over the other four that start at the end closest to the hoop (hope that makes sense)  I started by first making a "spider" with two lengths of rope that crossed each other with one of them making the harness loop at the top.  Glued the spider to the top, and the first half portion of the "legs" down the length of the buoy.  Then I repeated with the other side.  That was fairly easy, but figuring out the bands was tricky.  I tried doing pre-made bands to slide onto the buoy, but they never looked right.  I ended up taking the approach of cutting a length of thread, and tying each of the four knots one by one working around the diameter of the buoy.  Once the knots were done and dabbed with diluted PVA, I cut the extra lengths, and glued the legs and the bands onto the buoy.  That part took me a few hours to figure out how to do, but they came out ok I think. 
 
Next up - furled sails (finally).
 

 

 

Guys, thanks for the comments.
 
Build update:
 
Finished adding pieces to complete this phase of the build, except for items that will be added after rigging phase is complete.  I sure if I added the stern lanterns they would be knocked off many times.  Figurehead isn't added yet either.  The one that came with the casting package has a bowed left leg (won't seat flush with stem).  These items don't bend, so I made a mold of the leg out of clay.  Would like to get a replacement from Amati.
 
Things that were done since last update are:
Did all the hammock netting and stanchions.  
Added fire buckets, but didn't order enough of them.
Made and added the additional ladders required.
Made and added the channels, supports, eyelets, chainplates and deadeyes.
Rigged the four guns on the FC.
Completed the catheads, headrails and associated pieces.
Added ship boats and tied down.
 
Next step making the masts.  
 

Finished inner planking, gun ports and the rest of the gun deck planking. I also tried to create the stove, but that did not work out so well (yes, it is the black spot on the deck), so I'm not gonna show the detail of it just yet.
 
 

 

 

Having fitted the boom, the next job was to make the gaff. This was made in a similar fashion, its dimensions being taken from the AOTS Alert book. The gaff tapers rather more along its length than the boom, with its maximum width being closer to the mast. Again, I made similar modifications to the kit-supplied jaws (they are actually the same fitting as for the boom) in that they were first split in two, each half being shaped to fit the gaff end, and then glued to the spar on either side.
 
The other fittings are as follows (from the jaws end): an eyebolt on top of the spar, just above the jaws, to take the lower double-block of the throat halliard; a stop, on top of the spar, just aft of this to retain the mainsail throat lashing; a strop for the small double blocks (one each side) for the mainsail brails; another strop, fitted about midway along the gaff, to which were attached two small single lead blocks, again for the brails; two stops on top of the spar, for the rigging span to which is attached one of the single blocks of the peak halliard tackle; further aft, a strop for a second single block for the peak halliard tackle; at the after end, a stop to retain the mainsail peak lashing; finally, an eyebolt in the end of the gaff to which is fitted a small single block for the ensign halliards. I decided to paint the entire gaff black, including the jaws, and gave the spar a light covering of beeswax.
 

 
I thought there might have been similar problems of movement with the after end of the gaff, as there had been with the boom. However, having dry-fitted the spar, in its hoisted position on the pin inserted in the mast, I found it was quite firm and that further measures were not necessary. I also surmised that the process of gluing would significantly reduce any movement. Due to this concern, I had initially intended to fit vangs at the end of the gaff, made fast to belaying pins on each quarter – but then discovered that these items of rigging weren’t fitted at that date. There is, therefore, a spare belaying pin aft on each side. I had a slight worry that the pin in the aft side of the mast might not be dead centre – or the end of the gaff would be off to one side or the other – and it was just slightly out. On the real ship it wouldn’t necessarily have been all-square in any case.
 
Having decided that it would be best to lace the gaff to the head of the mainsail before fitting the spar, I now set about making the sail itself. This was cut from an old, thin, handkerchief, its size being about half that of the actual sail area in order to reduce its bulk when furled. Naturally I made it with a full-length head, to be laced along the length of the gaff, narrowing towards the foot. To represent the seams, I teased out equidistant strands from the cloth, about a centimeter apart, which seemed about right. The operation had to be done very carefully, as the strands could break quite easily, using a pair of tweezers. Around the sail’s edge I made a narrow hem, using a fabric glue, to which I added a scale boltrope (on the traditional larboard, or port, side). I then added reef bands and reef points, with strengthening pieces at the peak, throat, tack and clew (I now realise that those at the peak and throat are a little over large, something I will have to watch with the other sails.)
 
Then it was time to put the kettle on. When it was reasonably hot, but not boiling, I poured the water onto a teabag ­– for staining the sail, of course (!) – in one of my wife’s small baking trays. When the resultant ’brew’ was about the right colour I put in the sail, spreading it out so that it was completely submerged, and left it for a couple of hours. As the sail changed colour quite quickly, I had look at it every now and then to see how it was progressing. Removing it from the tray when a suitable shade, I spread it out to dry overnight. When dry I found that, besides being a good colour, the cloth had puckered somewhat – which made it look even more realistic.
 
Now I had to attach it to the gaff, for which I used a needle and .25 black rigging cord. Fastening the cord around the spar at the jaws end I proceeded along the length of the gaff, piercing the sail just under the bolt rope (approximately every centimetre) with the needle, and forming a marline hitch along the spar as it progressed. A brief smear of glue under the line fixed each hitch around the spar when tightened, and a little touch-up with diluted black paint covered any excess that was visible.
 
The next operation was to attach the gaff to the mast. As mentioned the spar was quite firm when dry-fitted, but the CA glue applied to the pin prevented any real further movement. I then fitted the parrel, in similar fashion as for the boom. With that done, the next task was to stretch out the luff, or leading edge, of the sail and lash the tack down to the eyebolt in the boom, using the loop I had formed in the boltrope. This stretched out the sail, and I could then concentrate on fitting the sail hoops. As I mentioned earlier, I had unfortunately already glued the crosstrees in place, which meant that I would have to fit the hoops around the mast. This suggested that they would have to be of a bendable material, and copper strip presented itself as a workable solution – some of which I just happened to have. Making the hoops was straightforward although, being a soft metal, it was quite easy to bend the strips out of shape if too much pressure was applied. There are eight hoops in all and I eventually worked out, with a bit of trail and error, how long they would have to be, including the overlap for glueing the ends. I seem to remember a high-tech piece of string came into the the process! They also have to be a loose fit, to give the illusion that they could run freely on the mast. Following a little experimentation, I finally painted them a near buff colour, which I thought suitable to represent wood. Being metal this took a little while, as there are about three coats, which also included those inside each hoop so that no copper was visible.
 
I fitted the hoops by cutting small equidistant slots in the luff of the sail the width of the hoop, carefully bent each just enough for it to pass around the mast, pushed one end through the slot in the sail, and then closed it against the other end, fixing it with touch of CA glue.
 

 
Furling the sail into the mast, which I had decided would best be done on the model, had to be attempted rather carefully. First of all I attached the two brails on each side, which I would actually use to furl up the sail, threading them through the blocks already fitted. Dampening the sail, with a light wetting from a spray bottle helped with the process. Then it was just a case of gently pulling on each of the four brails, two being attached to the clew and two at about the middle of the leech, and lifting the sail from underneath until it was as close in to the mast as was possible. During the process I was careful that the sail furled with a natural look, and that the folds hung evenly. When it was dry, I was quite pleased with the result. The brails falls were made fast to the pins in the boom jaws, each one being finished off with a small coil. It then only remained to belay the clew outhaul to a cleat on the boom, glue down some of the reef points (which stuck out at odd angles) to the sail, and the job was done.
 
Next time: More items of running rigging, the shrouds.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ahoy Mates
 
Well it's been a while since my last post. After three attempts to construct the gun ports I felt a break was in order. I was not having any fun shipbuilding so I took the month off. Although I am very happy with my progress so far it should be made clear my intention on this build is not to create a perfect model but is, and has always been to just enjoy this hobby and learn.
 
The Gun ports being no exception
 
With that, I will for the benefit "I hope" of others try to explain what I did and learned.
 
As this was a progression there might be some steps touched on in my previous posts/attempts
 
My kit, as some will remember had a few problems with bulkhead alignment right from the start. Unfortunately these issues were not fully corrected as I had thought and revisited me during the gun port installation. I compounded this with my repeated attempts to create a curved line using straight pieces to form the gun port framing. This does not work BTW. The fix for this however was very simple. Soak all the wood for framing the gun ports and just as with planking; form/clamp it to the hull where it is to be used. After forming the wood along the outside, mark and cut it to the needed lengths, then install them between the bulkheads. Forming the wood in this way highlighted stray bulkheads that were not properly aligned similar to using battens while planking. With battens temporarily installed, stray bulkheads created waves in the line of the gunwales and upper deck walls easily seen when viewed from above. I used up all the kit supplied 1/16" by 1/16" wood in earlier attempts, so I switched up to the kit supplied decking material which ended up being much easier to work with. I also found it easier to make the oar ports smaller and then file them to the correct size.
 
I was still not done learning, It seems I created another problem for myself by not following the instructions.  For reasons still unknown I got it in my head that gun ports needed to be square, perfectly square. The plans clearly show this to be untrue. It seems the horizontal sills follow the deck and the vertical ones the bulkheads making gun ports, quadrilaterals on the Ratt. This problem was easily resolved by referencing the big white pieces of paper I use to cover the walls of my work space and repurposing the square gun port jig.
 
Maybe I overthought all of this (Me???) but in my defense I see the gun ports as an important aspect of my build. There needed to be a graceful flow to them that was in step with lines of the hull. The framing was also a surface that would be planked and therefore I felt needed to meet all of those requirements. My first three attempts never did.
Well; its almost water under the bridge now and after a brief hiatus it is now time to move forward. For now please find some pics of my current progress.
 
I am very proud of the window framing but slightly concerned about repeating it on the Starboard side.

That is amazing work Ian, if I could  produce a stove like that, (in my dreams) I'm not sure I could bear to hide it away. I think I would have to display it outside of the model, and fit a less detailed version on the ship.
 
Great stuff
 
B.E.

The quarter deck
 
 
The forecastle deck now completed I now turned my attention to the quarterdeck ,this is were I change from the kit version, to the as built  in 1794 Diana with the open rails, and only 9 pounders. Firstly I cut out and fitted the waterways, I then discovered the gun ports were all wrong, the  bottom of the ports were to low as was the hight of the bulwark when a cannon was offered up to the port, Please note this problem only applies to the 1794 version not the kit version.
 
My solution was to remove firstly the outer hull planks, glue together two planks and plank the inner bulwark covering the old ports,then extend up the middle planking row and fill in the old ports,and lastly re-plank the outer hull,and when both side had been done I cut out the gun ports using a cannon to get the correct heights,I would highly recommend anyone building Diana to this spec build the bulwarks above the deck and do not cut out the gun ports until you reach this point. The ports were cut 1mm oversize to allow them to be lined. next I painted the outer hull and inner bulwark, the open rail is the next job.
 
Quarter deck waterway

 
Removing old planking

 
New planking

 
Fitting inside plank

 
Rebuilding bulwark

 
rebuilt bulwark


 
Re-cutting gun ports

 
New bulwarks completed



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That is amazing work Ian, if I could  produce a stove like that, (in my dreams) I'm not sure I could bear to hide it away. I think I would have to display it outside of the model, and fit a less detailed version on the ship.
 
Great stuff
 
B.E.

Three photos shewing the rail and centre legs in place.
 

 

 

So....next up on the stove are the tops of the boilers.
 
The tops of the boilers were made from two rectangles of 1mm thick N/S. One was 7.5 x 13.5mm the other was 9.5 x 13.5mm. The two rectangles were carefully positioned to give equal gaps around the sides but none at the back. A piece of 0.5mm scrap brass was used as a temporary spacer between them to maintain the correct gap as I soldered them up.
 
The lids were made from 0.5mm N/S cut and filed to shape with 0.4mm holes drilled for the handles. The lids were soldered in place and the 0.4mm holes redrilled through the lids and then through the main part of the top. It started well but the tip of one bit snapped off in one of the holes. I think the bit snatched as it was passing from one layer to the next. There was no way I could get the broken tip out. Fortunately there was sufficient hole for the 0.3mm handle to be soldered in place. This meant I had to solder the handles in from the front rather than behind - which means more cleaning up of excess solder after the job was done.
 
There are two items which I thick are the caps over the holes where the boilers were filled with water. These were simple turning jobs from 2mm diameter brass rod. A hole was drilled in each corner at the front of the boilers and these were soldered in.
 
The last item is a short length of 2mm brass tube which is where I will attach a still.
 
Photo 1 shows the top of the stove detailed as above before permanent attachment to the rest of the stove.
 

 
Photo 2 shows the underside of the top showing the thick plate that fits inside the sides of the stove.
 

 
Photo 3 shows the detailed stove top in place - though not permanently fixed in place just yet.
 

 
 
    

A couple of photos showing the brackets in place with the two pulleys temporarily fitted - the lifting rings need to be finished before permanently fixing these.
 

 

 
After looking at the above photos I decided the horizontal part of the brackets looked a bit fat. So I checked their measurements. They should be 1mm deep - I have somehow managed to miss the fact that I made them 1.25mm deep. 0.25mm doesn't sound much, but on this item it is a 25% error.   Sadly they are well soldered in place so it would be difficult to change them now.
 
Note to self - check your measurements more carefully as you work in future.  
 
   

The two parts were now seperated and soldered, facing each other, on a piece of scrap brass. This was clamped on to the mill and each part was milled in to their final "L" cross section. 
 

 
I cut a 3mm wide strip of 0.1mm thick brass. Parts made from this were soldered on to the front and back of each bracket to represent the clamps that hold them to the stove. One of the brackets was fixed in place. The other was then held in place with a modified clothes peg. The lower pulley and its spindle were temporarily put in place and the second bracket adjusted so that the shaft and the grate bars were parallel.
 

 
Once all was parallel I soldered on the second bracket.

What an amazing insight you must have to presume  knowledge of what we "OTHERS" have regarding understanding or otherwise the differences between 18th century shipbuilding practice and the offerings provided by kit manufacturers.
 
I think you will find that many of us fully appreciate the shortcomings in kit design, and not just relating to Victory.
 
B.E.

What an amazing insight you must have to presume  knowledge of what we "OTHERS" have regarding understanding or otherwise the differences between 18th century shipbuilding practice and the offerings provided by kit manufacturers.
 
I think you will find that many of us fully appreciate the shortcomings in kit design, and not just relating to Victory.
 
B.E.

Nice job Richard
 
B.E.

Thanks a lot, Ferit and Bill.
 
The yards are in place now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
And here is the first picture of the running rigging:
 

Hi JP as a bit of inspiration, here's a couple of examples of Victory models depicting her in pre great repair days.
 
Firstly the stern of Victory in a model  by Wyllie in the Portsmouth Naval Museum.
 

 
 Secondly, detail from a conversion of the Heller Victory by an excellent modeller, Michael D whose log is on my home forum.
 

 

 

 

 
But remember it's not just the stern gallery that differed on the pre 1803 Victory, the Figurehead was also significantly more ornate.
 

 

 
Michael modelled the Figure detail in Fimo from the details of the model figurehead also in the Naval Museum Portsmouth.
 
Food for thought eh?
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
 
 
 

Hi JP as a bit of inspiration, here's a couple of examples of Victory models depicting her in pre great repair days.
 
Firstly the stern of Victory in a model  by Wyllie in the Portsmouth Naval Museum.
 

 
 Secondly, detail from a conversion of the Heller Victory by an excellent modeller, Michael D whose log is on my home forum.
 

 

 

 

 
But remember it's not just the stern gallery that differed on the pre 1803 Victory, the Figurehead was also significantly more ornate.
 

 

 
Michael modelled the Figure detail in Fimo from the details of the model figurehead also in the Naval Museum Portsmouth.
 
Food for thought eh?
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
 
 
 

"a little self serving" Andy, isn't that what you've been all about of late,   and pretty damn good at it as well. I shall be looking to you for tips when I start in earnest.
 
Cheers,
 
 
B.E.

"a little self serving" Andy, isn't that what you've been all about of late,   and pretty damn good at it as well. I shall be looking to you for tips when I start in earnest.
 
Cheers,
 
 
B.E.