Blue Ensign

I worked out all the upper masts  and yards relative to the correct proportions, as given in Steel, it all starts with the Main topmast relative to the overall true length of the mainmast.
 
For the Main mast I then allowed an extra length at the presumed partners where all the quartering and tapering starts, and then added the actual length of dowel below decks to fit the kit arrangement. The Fore and Mizen masts followed the same  procedure and proportions relative to the Mainmast.
 
This gave me the leeway to make final adjustments from the bottom of the masts to suit my eye. From the one reference I had in the Swan book relating to the Foremast the drawing would suggest from an overall length of mast of 56' with just over 19' below the partners to the keel.
 
This left 36.75' or 175mm at scale, looking far too short in relation to the model. My actual length which sits well with my eye is 242mm which has it happens is only 6mm longer than the kit plan! rather annoying really.
 
B.E.

My edition of Lees is the 1984 revised edition and runs to 212 pages. No matter all the relevant information is in the Goodwin book.
 
The main problem I had, in relation to Steel in my case, was working out the below decks lengths, which in the kit are not true as the masts sit in the false keel and bear no relation to actual lengths between the keel and partners at the Upper deck level. When I took a scale deduction from the one drawing given in the Swan ffm book the mast seemed to come up far too short above decks so for this reason I left the masts over long to start with, and used mock ups to judge the final height.
 
B.E.

Hi hamilton, the dimensions given by Goodwin in his Blandford book are the same as given in Table 5 of Lees relating to the 1719 Establishment (p196) ie 68' 6".
 
The figures given on Table 8 relating to the 1773 establishment (p198) are 67' 11". as near as makes no matter.
 
If you look at Section G in the Goodwin book you will see he gives the length of the masts below the partners (taken at the Upper deck level for single decked ships) in the case of the mainmast this is 14' 6" equivalent to 44mm at scale. You are really interested in the height above the partners which is easily calculated. To this you only need add the actual below decks length on your model to get the overall scale length.
 
I would suggest you mock up  the lower masts and see how they look to your eye before  before committing to the real thing.
 
B.E.

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I finished the gun port lids and mounted some of the cleats needed to belay the lines operating the upper lids (images 2 – 6). Before using the cleats provided by the kit I cleaned them up, added pins, and reduced the size of their feet (image 1).
 

Image 1 "Cleaning up" of cleats
 

Image 2 Finished rear gun ports - with the exception of the davits the stern is pretty much complete
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5 Upper gun port lid ropes fastened to cleats
 

Image 6

The repair looks good Mark, and I don't think it will be apparent as the build progresses.
 
I would also like to add my sympathy for the loss of your Dog, we have been thro' it four times over the years and it doesn't get any easier.
The hurt will ease, and you will be left with fond memories of your time together.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

That's impressive work, getting the subtle curves and fineness of the head rails is difficult at any scale and using timber, even flexible beech, at 1:100 scale is a severe test.
 
I would certainly have approached the job with a fair degree of trepidation, and probably cheated looking at styrene strip as a substitute if the finished job were to be painted.
 
On my Pegasus build I used lining strip as masking to create the blue panels on the head timbers.
 
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.


 


 


 
 
 
 
 


 



 
 
 


 


 


 
 


 


 
 


 


 


 


 
 


 
 


 


 


 


 


 


 

Second planking roughly done, well, the most difficult part of it. Now it is time to finish it, add a few stealers (fortunately not many) and sand and sand and then sand some more. 
 

 

 

Alec, My own fault for bringing the work into the lounge to rather than building alone like a hermit in the garage.
 
Anyway, the taffrail was soaked and bent to shape. The kit suggests 4mm walnut but I thinned it down to about 3mm for aesthetics. The lower profile rail was also added from some leftover strip from the capping rails rather than using the brass in the kit. The rail was fattened up by laminating to a 3mm-ish thick piece of walnut. The tape on the stern windows protect them from fogging by the CA glue needed to fix this hard to bend piece quickly. This needed some sanding along the underside and edges with these painted over.

 
Finished result with taffrail painted and decorative rails added. Some of the carvings need a touch up and The side figures will be left until the rest of the hull fittings are finished as they will take a battering when I grapple with the headrails etc. I'm still a fan of holding the Granado between the knees for work on bow and stern.

Norman - although I found them to be the devil to assemble and paint, I'm glad I tried.  Next ship I'd like to do a few more cannons which I enjoyed making up quite a bit more.
 
 
Stergios - the deck blocks were the first thing I glued, sliding beds were then attached to these (with supplied painted brass wire and CA glue).
 
Little bit of progress on carronades, prob won't post more until I've made some progress on slide tackles.  Planking under capstan is made from walnut strips rather than the ply part supplied.  Mizzen pinrails still need a fair amount of tidying up and not fixed.  Not much deck space left at the stern!
 

Hi Aldo, I've been looking in on your Triton build although perhaps not fully understanding all the finer technical adjustments you have sought to make. Now I can see the lower hull planked I can appreciate the hard work you have put in to achieve the very nice lines.
 
Well done
 
M

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

Impressive looking boats Richard, I left the larger one off my build because I couldn't for the life of me see how they could manhandle it on and off of Pickle between the rigging.
 
they look good insitu tho'
 
B.E.

Impressive work Matti, particularly as it is your first pob build, and a bb kit to boot, not the easiest kits, I know  - I built Norske Love.
 
You have created a fine log for the build of Vasa, and I love your colour toning, another great build I now have to follow to the detriment of geting on with my own stuff.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Hi Revier, thank you.
 
The model has a plastic cover over it that fits inside the rim of the base.
 

 
At 1:150 scale that is the only way to keep it clean. The good news is that with the small scale the overall case size is not too obtrusive.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Hi Revier, thank you.
 
The model has a plastic cover over it that fits inside the rim of the base.
 

 
At 1:150 scale that is the only way to keep it clean. The good news is that with the small scale the overall case size is not too obtrusive.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

A departure from tying rigging for the guns to do something a bit more fun- the stern and other carvings. The cast metal has some nice detail that only comes out under paint. The kit provides a colour scheme which is a bit gaudy for my liking:
 
They do suggest bare timber is another option as the historical record is unclear on paintwork.
I tried a bit of simulated timber paint with a light buff colour as a base coat with a mix of 'woody' looking artists oils like raw umber, yellow ochre, some sort of red, burnt umber and white painted over the top.
This was brushed over with a clean brush to removed it from the top surfaces like dry brushing in reverse.
I think the wood effect is a bit much on its own so here's a test with half the background in the blue used on the rest of the ship.
Its very rough and needs a tidy but I like this as it ties in with the blue line on the capping rail so I'll continue in this direction.
 

B.E.,
 
This is one of my favorite builds that I have found so far on MSW.  The information and sensations, that your display conveys to the viewer about the age of sail is superb!  I have never waterlined a model before, though I am planning on it for a few dreadnoughts in my queue, but it never occurred to me to do it for a sail powered vessel.  
 
Congratulations on a very successful build!

CaptCraig, Ferit, Mort, Sjors and BE - thanks gents for the continuing support.
 
Some slow but steady progress, finally getting a chance to try the various different things that I've thinking about for the last month or more:
 
Have one carronade attached with breech rope.  Unfortunately my seized knot ended up looking more like a baguette than a knot after all the manhandling, hopefully this will get a little easier with practice.  I'll probably play with this some more to get final placement so it looks natural.
 
Made up a couple of hooks and attached to a double and single 3mm block to see how this would look.  Hooks are made from the small 0.3mm brass etch eyebolts bent to shape.  Once rigged, managed to get one of the crew to test things out - thumbs up.  Pretty happy with the way my first carronade is shaping up.
 
I'm probably going to frap the tackle falls around the blocks as per current practice on HMS Victory rather than cheese them on the deck - no Admirals inspection for me...
 
As always, suggestions welcome.
 

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:

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.


 


 


 

 







 

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.

Just for you JP I'll dig out my posts on the subject.
 
A Simple man’s guide to small scale sail making.
 
For this I used modelspan tissue at 21gsm.
 
This is where it all starts, my patent jig for sail making.
 

 
Well alright it’s a box with a hole cut into it.
 

The Modelspan tissue is taped over the hole – make sure the hole is large enough for the sail dimensions.
 

The witches brew – ear of bat, eye of toad, you know the sort of thing - actually pva diluted to the consistency of milk with a little yellow ochre  paint added.
 

Once the potion is mixed it takes on a fetching ochre colour.
 

The potion being applied, note the colour change and how the tissue has started to sag.
 

The completed effect, just needs to be set aside to dry............. but if you’re impatient like me...
 
 

A quick blast with the CPO’s hairdryer, diffuser in place – and were ready to go.
 
The tissue is now as tight as drum skin and much the same colour, a little more ochery than appears in the photo.
The sail ‘material’ is removed by cutting around the edges of the hole with a scalpel, or any other such sharp implement that is to hand, and is taped over the drawing as previously made.
 

I had previously  drawn out a scaled sail from the works of Jean Boudriot.
 
The lines are transferred and the fiddly business of making the sail up begins.
 
This will be the subject of the next post.
 
B.E.