Blue Ensign

An Admiralty order dated 12th July 1715 stated the outsides of ships be painted of the usual colour yellow and the ground black, but the practice seems to have been in place also in 17th century.
This does not mean that the order was universally applied and we see from contemporary models that both blue and red were used extensively as the frieze ground, but possibly involved a high degree of artistic licence.
Such licence is evident with the extensive decoration on small ships as depicted in models and paintings, which almost certainly wasn’t applied in reality.
As a modern ship modeller I am not immune to dressing models to reflect the colours used by 18th century ship modellers, I rather like the effect.
As far as Granado is concerned you could legitimately paint all the ground black with ornament picked out in yellow Ochre, the hull left bright or painted yellow, with the inboards red ochre.
All down to personal preference.
 
B.E.

Well done Mike, a very nice build, and excellent finish👍
 
B.E.
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Well done Mike, a very nice build, and excellent finish👍
 
B.E.
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

good evening everyone
 
thank you for comments and likes
 
like all kits, they are not always suited for conversion, and a lot of artistic licence is required to make it work, its not magic, just a lot of worrying, of what people might think of my pathetic attempt to show a build in progress
i have two sets of gantries in place, but the spacing between them is slightly different as there is not enough space to put everything in, also the superstructure islands are different between the two hulls
however they are are now in place and hopefully staying there, im still thoroughly enjoying this, but so looking forward to getting back into wood
 
some walkway supports are raised a bit, will be sorted
Some of the extra detail, ladders and fixing points


 

Crossing the Yards
 
I crossed all the yards today. I'd already completed most of the work on them in advance so it didn't take too long. Here she is in the dust cabinet:

Most of the work was fairly routine, so I'll just mention a couple of items.
 
Getting the footropes to hang properly is always a challenge. I use dilute acrylic matte medium to wet the rope, with small pieces of bent wire hanging on it while it dries to try to get the right shape. However I did this before crossing the yards, and unfortunately the act of fitting them to the model undid a lot of the work so I'm having to re-shape the footropes in situ, starting with the topgallant yards:
 

The topgallant footropes are the easiest to get right. I seized the first footrope on the yard and then, as there are no stirrups, I was able to slip this rope off the yard and use it as a template for the other side. The first rope is on the bottom in this shot, stretched between two drill bits, with the rope above being seized round the bits to create an exact copy. The left hand side has been completed, and the rope pulled tight and ready to be seized round the right hand bit. As usual I used fly tying thread for the seizings:

As with previous builds I made my own parrel ribs for the topsail yards, preferring bare wood to painted brass. I originally found the method in The Fully Framed Model by David Antscherl and it is useful for other tasks where multiple copies of flat objects are required. For example I've used the same method for gun carriage sides.  
 
I think of it as the sandwich method, as you start by gluing strips of wood together to form a block that you then shape before separating the individual pieces. The individual ribs need to be 8.0 x 2.5mm. I cut 20 pieces from 0.6mm boxwood, slightly oversize to allow for trimming, and glued them into two blocks of 10 strips each. I needed 16, but wanted to allow for waste. I glued a kit rib to the front and back of each block as templates then drilled 0.75mm holes:

Shaping with Swiss files was easy using the templates, after which I separated the strips by soaking the blocks in IPA:

Rather than use the shiny black parrel beads from the kit I sourced some from the Spellbound Bead Co in the UK. They are closer to the size and barrel shape of parrel beads, and I found two colours that seemed close:
 

In the end I decided the lighter beads were too shiny and metallic so I went for the dark matt ones. I started rigging them off the model. In this shot I've passed a single length of line round the  yard between the sling cleats and started threading the ribs and beads:

With eight ribs and seven pairs of beads threaded I held the parrels away from the yard so I could brush on some shellac:
 

Here's the result on the model:
 

And a final close up of the current state of play:

I plan to do some work on the anchors next, as a bit of a break from rigging.
 
Derek
 
 
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

Thank you, Yves, Håkan, and Jim, I'm much happier now. 👍
 
Post fourteen
Lining the hull.
Moving on to fitting out the internal hull, the point of a build that most excites my interest.

9561
Multiple card templates were made and tweaked to match the sheer of the hull and run from the bow to stern-sheets.

9565
Once satisfied the patterns were transferred to 0.6mm Pearwood (spare fret from the Sphinx kit)
I tried to get as good fit as I could but the fallback position is that the linings will be painted so a little filler won’t go amiss should the need arise.
A full day at the work bench sees the lining in place, ready for fining down and hopefully joined seamlessly to the lower lining strips.

9568

9570

9567
At this point sanded and filled the internal hull is ready for a coat of paint.

9578

9577

9576

9575
The somewhat trickier business of the decorative panels is up next.
 
B.E.
25/11/2022
 
 
 

That looks SO MUCH better. Well done!

What Yves said, nice save B.E!
 
Keep it up!

Very sweet recovery! 
 
yves

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022
 

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022
 

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022
 

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022
 

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022
 

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022
 

Post 13.
De-construction begins.
Removing the wash boards and platform is the easy bit.

9531
I used a combination of scalpel, micro chisels, and etched saw blades to slowly pare away the first two bulkheads.

9538
I reduced the height of the bulkheads to a fraction above the line of the central thwart dividing plank.

9540(2)

9542(2)
The job went better than I imagined, there was a slight breakaway of the planking at the bow, but the planks remained glued to each other, and a spot of ca resolved the problem.

9545
With the lowered foredeck, the barge now better reflects the elegant lines typical of the type, and I’m far happier already.

9553

9554

9557
I’m not out of the woods yet, there is the internal lining to fit, followed by the decorative panels, but at least I now feel I can continue with the build.
 
B.E.
24/11/2022