jwvolz

I have completed the ratlines on both masts, which really wasn't too bad with the limited number of shrouds. Lantern boards were built and painted and secured with thin brass brackets seized to the shrouds per the plans. I also soldered up the topmast spreaders from brass wire and seized those to the shrouds as well, to keep the stay clear of the lantern boards. 
 
I didn't really document the booms being fabricated and assembled/painted, but their installation has begun. The hardware was made from various brass strips and wire. Their rigging has also begun with sheets and topping lifts run. I am using Bluejacket blocks, as Latham had internally stropped blocks, and Syren line for the running rigging. 

Rigged the spreaders and the spring stay. The spreader lifts are fully served and secured with lanyards. Lots and lots of serving...

Worked on the stays and topmast hardware.
 
At least the stays are only served at either end, unlike full length on the shrouds; still a lot of serving. Made shackles from brass wire as well as the topmast crane. Bails for the stay and figure 8 links for the topmast stays are also made from brass wire. The small gray circles in a few of the pictures are Grandt line bolts/washers, used to simulate anywhere a bolt head would be. They add a lot in this scale. You can see them painted in a few of the other photos, especially on the mast cheeks. The Model Shipways plans are very good with this detail. 

Shrouds are installed as well as all of the bowsprit rigging. All of the shrouds (masts and bowsprit) are served over their entire length. It seems to take forever and gets a bit tedious, but it does add a lot going to the effort to do it. The pin racks have also been installed between the deadeyes and seized. 

Hi Everyone, hope you are all well. Thank you for all of the likes and comments. This is the last update for this log. The Pinky is Finished! The pump handles are stowed in the pump the way they are in the Schooner Prophet video. I guess just to keep them out of the way 
 

 

 
The anchors are mounted. The plans call for .051” anchor rope but I used .047”. I think it looks heavy enough. The jib club isn’t being used right now so the jib club topping lift is being used as an anchor tackle. It has a fish hook attached to it which is hooked to the starboard anchor. 
 

 

 

 

 

 
The foot ropes had to be remade longer because the were not attached to the correct points on the bowsprit. And now just some pictures of the finished boat.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
My apologies for some of the fuzzy pics. Thank you everyone for your generous support during this build. It is greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone for the likes and comments.
 
I’ve added all the blocks and deadeyes to the lower masts before they are finally fitted to the model.
 
I’m using the latest ‘boxwood’ resin blocks from Syren which are very nice and detailed. I’ll use the deadeyes supplied with the kit although some sorting is needed to pick those with the best distribution of holes.
 
I’ve used dark brown RoS cotton ropes, served with Gutterman thread for the strops for all the blocks and deadeyes around the mast.
 
The blocks below the tops are shown suspended from eyebolts in the crosstrees on the plans. According to Lees and Petersson, they would be suspended from wooden pegs on the floor of the tops. This arrangement is quite fiddly and space is tight but easier to do before the tops are fitted on the mast. Strops are 0.4mm Gutterman polyester thread.

They need to be long enough to pass through the floor of the top and leave the blocks clear of the crosstrees. A couple of coats of matt varnish stiffen the long strops and fix the pegs in the eye of the strop.


I’m leaving the guard rails off until the rigging is almost complete to make access easier and because I'd probably break them if I fitted them now



That completes the fittings on the lower masts. I’ve made a start on making the bowsprit, jib and flying jibbooms which I’ll complete before beginning the standing rigging.
 
David

I was now able to begin the poop deck planking, using divides to ensure I started on center, and maintained equal spacing port and starboard. 
The lower picture shows the work up to the end of September '24.

OK, I just got word from Jim (Hatch) that the model for Harpy is now complete!
 
This means I can now complete the manual and finalise box art, and then send the files off to the printers early next week. At that point, it will be open for pre orders.
 
Thank you, Jim, another wonderful job!
 
To recap the details for the kit:
 
VM/17     HM Brig Harpy    (November release)             £425 
VM/17/XL     HM Brig Harpy (PE copper and machined blocks)      £490 
 
Scale - 1:64th
Hull Length only - 551mm
Overall Length (with boom and bowsprit) - 845mm
Overall Height - 580mm
Overall Width (Main Yard and booms) - 277mm
 
16 A0 sized plans, with 6 sheets dedicated to fully mast and rig the model, including all sheets, tacks, clews, bowlines etc.
100 page full colour construction manual.
The 2 x 3-d printed boats are inluded (18 and 22' cutter)
And lots of laser cut and engraved parts!

After a joint effort between John Elwood who began the Portland in 2016 and myself, who took over where John left off, the Portland is finally complete. I would never want to tackle anything like this again! Now awaiting the plexiglass cover. The second photo is before I stained the base.

Update:
 
Finished with the WOP, so here are the final pictures of the result.
Used 4 layers of WOP with sanding after the first two coates. I used 400 grid sanding paper, but would advise other people 
to use some finer grit. 400 felt a bit to coarse for the job.
 
I'm quite happy how my planking turned out, also the color has a nice warm tone. Now onto the wales  
 
Btw...glad MSW is back online!💫
 
 





 
 

Once again, this topic is deeply buried in my building log on S.M.S. WESPE and not everyone is interested in ships from that period. However, the propose method my give ideas to other builders of miniature ship models.
 
Wooden steering wheels are complex assemblies, typically made up of a hub, a rim and the spokes. There may be metal reenforcing parts that prevent heavily strained parts, such as the hub, from splitting or keep segments of the rim together.
The spokes are long, slender items and are usually turned to a decorative profile. Where they meet the rim, they are square in section and fit into the hub with kind of wedge-shaped tangs.
 
Making such wheels in small scales/sizes, say with less than 10 mm diameter, can be quite a challenge. Here a method is proposed in which the wheels are built up from layers of laser-cut paper.
 
After some tests with my small 3W laser-cutter, 120 g/m2 weight so-called Canson-paper, which is 0.15 mm thick and has a smooth surface, turned out to be the best choice. It cuts well with this laser-cutter, as it is not ballasted with inorganic material, such as barytes, which do not burn or evaporate. If one has a more powerful laser-cutter and a suitable exhaustion, one may rather work with styrene.

The freshly cut wheels (I use a roof slate as cutting support)
 
As usual some trials were needed to determine the right cutting parameter combination of contrast, laser-power and cutting depth. The cutting software works with bit-images and one should assume that for a simple B/W-picture the contrast should be 100%, but somehow changing the contrast setting changes the width of the cuts. For this reason, the final dimensions of the parts depend on the contrast setting. 
 
Laser-cutting is contactless and the cut-out parts are not moved during the cutting process. Therefore, it is possible to cut them out completely and in contrast to the photoetch-process they do not need to be attached to some frame.
When designing the image with which the laser-cutter works, one needs to consider all these factors that sometimes can only be determined by trial and error. 
 
The wheels are built up from several layers in order to simulate the joinery work and to arrive at the desired 3D-rendering. Two core parts are thickened by two more layers the outline of which was drawn a bit smaller to simulate the profiling of wheels and handles. A further layer on each side simulates the rim and hub. The individual layers where first thoroughly soaked in fast-drying varnish (Zapon-lacquer), which impregnates and stiffens the cardboard. Then they were sanded smooth using a fine diamond (nail)file. The same lacquer is used to cement the layers together. Unlike many other glues, this lacquer only forms a very thin layer, not adding to the thickness of the material. They are adjusted while the lacquer is still wet and the layers squeezed together. For this flat tweezer as used by stamp collectors proved very handy. Of course, a piece of wire or a drill of suitable thickness are used as axis during alignment of the layers.

Assembled wheels (the grid on the cutting mat has 5 mm spacing and the drill 0.8 mm diameter)
 
Once completely dry, the wheels are given another coat of varnish as preparation for further shaping. This can be done with very fine and thin watchmaker needle-files. Thus, the spokes and in particular the handles are rounded as much as possible. If necessary, the procedure is repeated after another coat of varnish to prevent the paper from fraying. Building up the spokes from several layers already helped to achieve this effect.

Steering-wheels with brass facing for the rim
 
Some steering wheel have brass-rings screwed to the front face of the rim to reenforce it and perhaps also for decorative purposes. While this can be painted on, it looks more realistic, when it is made from real brass (remember: only real metal looks like real metal 😉 ). The obvious way would be to etch these from brass shim – but when going through this process, the whole wheel could have been etched, again in several layers that are then soldered together … Another route would be to cement brass shim-stock with CA glue to a so-called wax-chuck and to cut out the rings on the lathe. Cutting forces are quite high on the soft shim-stock and experience shows that it is not likely to work. A proven third route is to chuck a suitable piece of brass rod into the lathe, turn down the desired outside diameter, bore out the inside diameter and then part off very thin slices with a sharp and narrow parting tool. It is possible to produce a brass tube with 0.3 mm wall thickness and part off rings of 0.1 mm thickness. After a few trials to get the settings right, this will work fast and repeatable and result in undistorted rings. The rings are deburred on 600 grit wet-and-dry paper, ground finely on an Arkansas-stone and polished on a piece of paper with some brass-polishing compound. The brass rings are cemented onto wheels again with lacquer.

A pair of steering-wheels provisionally assembled and the component parts
 
The wheel is no ready for painting. An all-wood wheel can be readily spray-painted, but for a wheel with a brass-face rim, I would recommend brush-painting in order to avoid covering the brass in paint. With the brush mishaps can happen, but that little amount of rogue paint can be carefully scraped off with a scalpel. The paint further helps to define the round spokes and extra paint can be added to enhance this. Unfortunately, it often only after the first coat of paint that imperfections become visible. With some extra paint these may be evened out.
 
The wheel is finished with a rope drum, hub covers etc. which are turned from brass rod. 

Double steering wheel on a stand and grating also assembled from laser-cut parts
 

Some more...

GRANADO IS FINISHED !!!!! 
 
After 13 months and two days, she is complete. I do still have to make a permanent mounting and case at some point. It is a bit of a bittersweet moment, with things wrapping up, but I am very pleased with how she looks. A big thank you to Timmo for the inspiration and ideas I "borrowed" from his Granando build log, as well as everyone else who looked in, "liked" commented or made a suggestion along the way. Thank you!
 
On to the pictures. I'll put them in the gallery soon. 
 
 

Thanks Tom. I have a mill attachment for the lathe but I don't have a good way to hold and rotate the dowels when using the mill. I have a rotary table but it does not have a hole through the center so can only hold the dowel on the very end, which is nowhere near secure enough. I am a little worried about the fences on the tops but I wasn't sure how hard it would be to add them later. Hopefully I won't break them off too many times.
 
Just a quick update on the cutter. I drilled the holes in the deck and slid the pins under the supports in place. I added the oars, rudder, boat hooks, and grapple to the inside of the cutter too.
 

 
I am not sure how well that ladder works with the cutter in the way. Onto the anchors and upper yards.

Speedy is completed!!! Approximately 22 months of work, mostly very enjoyable. Finished her up a couple weeks ago.
 
I really didn't run into anything that I couldn't figure out from the plans and/or the other build logs mentioned earlier. Frequently looking ahead in Delf's and other logs saved me in several places. And paying attention to every little bit of the plans paid off as well since it's pretty much all there for you.
 
Such a great kit! I highly recommend it. 
 
Will now add a few photos.
 
Thanks to all of you who followed along and offered encouragement, likes, and comments!
 
Dave
 

Saucy jack is almost done.
 
The clamps hanging down are holding some of the lines that have yet to be secured. Getting the line around the cleats and belaying pins is not that easy and manipulating to follow the examples on the drawings is impossible (for me). I am going to make up some coils of rope to hide the mess around the cleats/pins but that may take a bit of time as I have no experience creating them using 100% polyester line. I wonder jsut how much "extra" line they would have laying around on a commercial fishing boat - I would expect not what you would see on a man-of-war but...
 
I also have some paint touch-up to do but will wait until I have the lines secured.

Thanks for the book recommendation Chris. I think the Red bulwarks and varnished sides will show off Harpy to her best. The changing of inboard bulwark colours is something I have been reading up on in Mariner’s Mirror papers recently. Pre 1795 Red bulwarks, 1795-1805 the transition to Yellow, although this seems to have been occurring even earlier. The “firm” date for Yellow bulwarks appears to be 1807 by which time Red paint had been removed from the approved list of RN paint supplies. But Harpy served long enough possibly to even had Green inner bulwarks and White outer at the tail end of her career. Plenty of scope for builders to research and choose from! 🙂
 
As for the Kent History forum questions, I’m sure a random selection from “White cliffs of Dover”, “Garden of England” or “Flat beer” would get you in! 😆

I know that painting, it was that what inspired me to do Harpy plus I love the name, from this book (Highly recommended):
 

 
Regarding the paint scheme, I will suggest the usual red for inner bulwarks and cannon carriages, black for main wale (of course) and gunwale. Sides can be painted yellow ochre or, as I want for the prototype model, varnished, purely for aesthetic reasons.
 
Like Speedy, I have little doubt she was daubed in all kinds of colours during her long career, so it is entirely up to the modeller what they want to do with the colour scheme.
 
I did try to join that Kent History site, but I was presented with a lot of crazy questions about Kent in order to join, which I hadn’t the foggiest clue how to answer…..
 

Building these models rarely means that anything is built in chronological order. I need to best use my time to do other tasks while I'm doing some of the much earlier work. This has been the case for Harpy. Since the last work, I was unable to do anything with any significant sanding work due to HMS Indefatigable still occupying most of my workspace. Thankfully, this weekend, Indy has been moved to her shipping crate, pending her journey to her new home in Scotland. 
 

 
 
So while Indy was still outstaying her welcome in my workshop, I've started to build a multitude of other things. Here are just three of the items I've been working on in that time.....the carronades, cannon, and companionway. These guns build in exactly the same way as those on previous models. The companionway is a little different and looks very nice with her inlaid panels. The lid is just tacked on while the PE is primed and painted. Not sure if I should paint the companionway yet, or leave in varnish. 
 















 
Ok, time for TV...

I have tried to made the basic hull assembly as painless as possible. I remember a thread where someone was building a Speedy, and got frustrated because some parts didn't fit as they should. and what happened was the aft deck supports were not pushed all the way home, and then glued that way. This meant a whole new laser cut set for the hull.
 
I now try to design these things to avoid such incidents, hence all the retaining tabs to help lock/secure parts into place.
I think I already mentioned this on my thread, but the upper deck planking lines are a rework from original plans for a Cruiser Class, which shows the actual deck planking lines. Not the same class, I know, but designs are only a year apart, and with a little adjustment to the lines (Cruiser Class a little wider at the bow), the planking lines are more or less the same from the contemporary plan.
 

And the last for tonight...
 
More deck details. Here is the sail room. I did make a slight mistake and added the door side to the wrong end. I'll note that in the manual.


 
 
A brand new design stove is supplied as two parts in 3D print. No PE needed for this. I painted it black, added flat varnish, and then some steel pigment. The chimney is only on for display. It won't be glued yet. The stove body is now glued into place. Eyelets are also added for the door handles and hatches. 


 
 
 
All deck beams are now fitted. These are numbered and simply plug into the numbered slots on the lower deck side walls. 



 
 
Various support beams etc. are now also glued into place.


 
 
Lastly, the 0.8mm ply deck is flexed and slipped into position. Zero effort to do this. Very easy. The deck and beam assembly has been changed from other designs in that it is now totally flush with the top of the beams. This means that when the engraved deck is fitted, it's all you'll see through the deck cutouts.....no ply underlying.
 
Time for wine...

more...
 
The stern assemblies are now slotted into place and bulkhead #17 is glued....yes, glued!

 
 
And once you've checked everything is nice and straight along the keel, glue is brushed into all the joints and pins and then left to thoroughly set.

 
 
If you like detail, then Harpy has plenty. Here's the lower deck now getting a makeover. 







 
 
The first deck details to go in are the grates. The deck is etched to show the exact position of these.

Oh, heart (and wallet) be still!!

On display in my Gallery. 😎
 


 
Cheers 🍻

Flags and Flag Halyards…

Main Flag Halyard belayed to Cleat on the Main Boom. (Canadian 1921 Flag)

Main Top Mast Flag Halyard belayed to Sheer Pole. (Nova Scotia 1921 Flag)
 

FINISHED! 🍻