Martin W

Post One Hundred and Seventy-six
 
Casing the model.
Today 'Indy' was finally encased and moved to her display position.

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Quite a fraught business lifting the heavy glass cover over the base, but at least there are no tall masts to negotiate and yards to snag.

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The cover was set with the model/base on the floor, and the combination case lifted in two stages onto the chest of drawers.

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I had been waiting for the arrival of the ‘Indy’ Admiralty  plan which I have had framed. This was also a tricky exercise to hang being 53” in width, supported by three hooks.

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This is the last available space I have for a large model, but I think I can still accommodate a few smaller ones.

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The final act is to compile the build photo record book that I do for all my builds, this is now ready to go to the printers.
 
I can now finally declare the project completed, and I again thank those who have shown an interest.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.
18/05/2024

Post One Hundred and Seventy-five
18’ cutter – completion.
Lifting rings and a mast step are added to the basic kit along with the incredibly tiny thwart knees. Amazing how Chris manages to produce identifiable laser cut pieces this small.

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I have gone with a double banked six oared rowing arrangement, mainly because with single banking I would have to cut an oarlock in the wash strake above the sternsheets, and there’s insufficient depth.

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I’m not a fan of the kit rudders supplied with this range of boats, comprising a thin central core sandwiched between two brass etch facings complete with straps.
 
I prefer to make rudders using slightly thicker wood with a vertical grain. For the 18’ cutter I used 1mm Boxwood.

For hanging I use the ‘quick release’ method as used on such boats, as seen here on one of the Victory’s cutters. 
With this arrangement the pintle is attached to the sternpost with an extra-long pin which allows for easier rudder hanging once the boat is in the water.

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Rudders are fairly simple to replicate, as is the hanging, provided sufficiently tiny eyelets can be obtained.

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To match the other boats on the skids I have painted the bottom with Vallejo ivory, but otherwise left the remainder of the hull and inboard works bright.

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The oars provide the colour element linking to the general inboard works of ‘Indy’

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I think this small cutter looks ok on the skids, obscuring little of the gun deck, so I’ll leave it onboard.
 
It has taken around 8 days to build this smallest of the supplied boats. From around 10” she looks fine to my eye, especially given the scale, but the macro is somewhat less forgiving.🫤
 
B.E.
10/05/2024

Post One Hundred and Seventy-two
Sphinx and ‘Indy’
I thought members may be interested to see the comparison between Chris’s two premier kits, Sphinx and Indefatigable.
They sort of represent the alpha to omega of British frigates.
Sphinx, the bijou 9 pounder vessel, and ‘Indy’, the pocket battleship of her day, carrying 24 pounders supplemented with 42 pounder carronades.
I recall that when I built Sphinx I thought she was quite large, when ‘Indy’ arrived I thought I’m going to need a bigger bench!

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If a large statement model is required ‘Indy’ is a good choice, but if masted and fully rigged she will take up a lot of room.
Built Navy Board style she is still a heavy model and a glass case even with reduced height and width adds considerably to the weight.
Sphinx is certainly of a size more amenable to a domestic setting; a pretty little frigate that appeals to my deeper affection for the more decorative vessels of the 18thc. before austerity took over as the expensive Napoleonic wars ground on.
 
Indefatigable sort of spans this period, all black and yellow, no decorative topsides, but the stern gallery still looks good to my eye. She is modelled with an open Fo’csle before her bulwarks were built up, and she does have a magnificent Figure at her head.
 
I am more than happy to have both in my collection.
 
 
Thank you, Chris, for providing me with an engrossing thirteen months of work. It is a tribute to your designs, to be able to build a model of this quality and detail in such a short time.
 
Thanks are also due to James, for producing the prototype ‘Indy’ build which provided a very useful reference guide.
 
B.E.
02/05/2024

Post One hundred and Seventy-one
Album photo's
I have at last got around to taking the completion photo’s which will form part of the Photo build record book that I’m currently putting together.

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I am currently faffing around with a clinker built 18’ cutter, and ‘Indy’ is yet to be enclosed in her case, so the story has not quite ended.
 
Then there’s the 26’ Launch, still on my mind.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
 

So, if I follow you correctly, you're not actually spiling the planks, but bending & tapering?
 
Watch out for me nobby styles, Lad! 
 
Martin

Thanks Peter, BE, and Mike.
 
Peter, Winkie is probably a little too good with those small pieces, which go straight into his mouth.  I'm not sure how longer screws will work, since I don't know exactly what they would screw into.  I'm going to give that a try if I can find some longer screws that are still thin enough.  They have to have the length to pass through the base and then into the keel and plywood.
 
BE -- He hasn't encountered any bears . . . yet.  He and the turkeys mostly ignore each other, but the herd of deer that passed through our woods a few mornings ago set him off growling and barking for an hour until I took him out and let him sniff their tracks.  The Proxxon mill is definitely on my list, along with all the full-sized power tools I really, really need to make my life complete.
 
Thanks for checking in, Mike.  The work space is big, but I will probably manage to fill it up all too easily.
 
Photos are on hold for a while, as the charging port on my phone has gone haywire.  The repair shop says it might get a part in next week.  Meanwhile, I've got the three lower masts shaped, and am finishing the cheeks for the foremast.  I'm hoping to get the upper masts done this afternoon and tomorrow, and then I can start on the mast heads.  I'm reviewing lots of build logs in hopes of getting the details right.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Hi Nils -- It's been a while since I checked in, and I have to tell you that I'm mightily impressed with your workmanship, and with the many fascinating details you've added.  Those coffee mugs made me laugh with pleasure.  Wonderful!
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Hmm, interesting question. I didn't notice that and have no idea why.
 
Checking my sources I find that the numbers of shrouds and backstays coincides with Brian Lavery's AOTS book Bellona. The number of deadeyes is similar to those on the well known temporary model. however he leaves one on the main and two on the foremast empty. Was having some spare deadeyes perhaps a used practise? Lavery should be a reliable source and Bellona is quite similar to the arrogant class.
 
On the other hand, those body plans were perhaps drawn with just a hint at a general arrangement of the deadeyes for the rigging. The rigging details being determined by the shipwrights actually setting up masts and rigging according to the then valid establishment.
 
Any thoughts from your side?
 
And thanks for the compliments
Peter

Your model continues to be a great project for us to follow, especially your rigging.   Do you know why the kit has a different number of deadeyes than those on the contemporary drawing for multiple ships, including Bellerophon.       https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-80933    This seems like a pretty basic item for any good quality kit designer.
 
Allan

main topmast
 
 
Just in time I remembered to place the lashings and hangers for the upper jeer blocks for the main yard. After setting up shrouds and ratlines it would have been kind of a keyhole surgery (again).
 
Then shrouds, backstays and stays were set up and the ratlines rattled down.
 
According to Lees and Steeles rigging tables I reduced the size of the stays to 1,0 respective 0,75 mm.
 
One question was if the preventer stay should be above the stay (kit's instructions) or vice versa (Lees). The skipper and the bosun had a discussion and I finally went with the kit's version because this coincides with the lower stays and I didn't see a logical reason to put it up otherwise - going very reluctantly against Lees.
 
One minor problem was presented by the foremost backstay. It was in the way when setting up the ratlines and I had to unship it again. It's still provisionally set up until the topgallant shrouds are in place.
 
 

main top with hangers for the main yard jeers
 
 

main topmast standing rigging
 
 

mainmast stay (starboard) and preventer stay at the foot of the fore mast
 
 

main top
 
 

Hi Merry
 
Of course. I was looking at the mast as a static system and totally leaving the forces on the sails out of the equation. So, even when tacking you always have forward thrust from the sails onto the masts (and also a considerable lateral force).
Still you would have to watch out for not overloading the stays if you set a sail back and when using staysails.
Your explanation sounds very logical.
 
Thank you
Peter
 
 
(I also got some information from AON which confirms the relative sizes. Thanks Alan.)

mizzen topmast
 
While setting up shrouds, stay and backstays and balancing their pull I noticed an error in the kit's plans. The rigging stages 2(stays) and 3(backstays) should be interchanged because of the normal sequence of the ropes at the masthead. The stay should go over all shrouds and backstays and therefore be the last to set up.
 
I reduced the topmast stay to the same dimension as the shrouds. If I understand Lees rigging dimensions correctly on the topmast the shrouds, backstays and stays all hat the same diameter. This seems a bit illogical because one stay then balances 4 backstays all with the same diameter. Nevertheless I set it up that way.
 
 

testing the new ratlines
 
 
 

mizzen topmast top
 
 
 

stay
 
 
 

backstays
 
 
 

mizzen topmast standing rigging finished

Thank you cisco.  Thank you, Johann--your model is extraordinary, and I can only aspire to the accuracy and detail that you are able to accomplish!
 
I have been working--very slowly.
 
First, I realized that I need to remove the carronades to make the breeching ropes.  Unfortunately, I had glued them to the deck!!  Fortune smiled though, and the upper part of the carriages were NOT glued to the lower bed (except for one), and I was able to remove the carronades--
 
 
Here they are, with breeching ropes partly done.  They need to have the correct knot and iron ring attached to each end of the rope.  The first five (including the one carronade that I had to forcibly remove from the deck) are done.  Beyond those are the rest which have the first end done, then the line threaded through the breeching ring, and the beginning loop of the second knot lightly glued to hold it for seizing--

 
This is my method for completing the breeching knot after the first seizing is done.  Using a short piece of line, and tweezers, form a simple overhand knot--
 

Get it oriented correctly--

Position it at the right spot and pull it tighter--

Finish up by giving it a good tug--

 
The loose ends are then wrapped a turn around, and glued with a dab of white glue.  After dry, the ends are snipped close.  It's a shortcut, I know, but looks fine.
 
Now the carronades can be reinstalled, and the eyelets glued into predrilled holes (done many years ago now!!) in the bulwarks--
 



 
Next, I will need to make about 30 more of these training tackles--

 
Closing with a couple photos of Oneida--


 
Ron
 
 
 

Glad to see you're at it, Peter.  Bellerophon really is an impressive ship.  I think you might have mentioned this early on, but I can't remember:  is she similar to the Bellona?  I ask because I the Anatomy of the Ship book on Bellona, and thought I might look through it to get a sense of where you're headed.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Hi Peter -- Glad to see you're back to work!  Trafalgar builds have always held a strong fascination (and, like you, I find myself a touch ambivalent about Nelson; and let me think, what was it Sam Johnson said was the last refuge of scoundrels?  Still, Nelson, like Napoleon, is nearly mythic in the romance he engenders, and Bellerophon was also a great heroic figure!).
 
I'll be following your progress avidly.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin
 
 

Nice work, BE, and good save on that gap.  Surely, if there is a warp, it won't be enough to lead to other problems. (?)
 
Looking over your tool setup again, I noticed you had a vacuum hose hooked up.  (And I've often wondered how you took care of the dust in a carpeted work room.)  Does that lead to a shop-vac, or do you have a fully-blown dust-collection system (one of the many, many upgrades I've been craving)?
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Hi BE -- Great to see you at it again.  Congratulations on your new Proxxons (see me GREEN).  I've never used a planing machine, though have yearned for one at both the modelling level (we have Jim Byrnes over on this side o' the pond) and at the full scale.  My guess about the lateral movement of the strip is that it's due to the narrowness of the stock, ie as a strip, since the expectation for planers generally is that you'd start off with wide stock, plane it to thickness, then rip it to width.  Just a guess, though.
 
And congratulations on winning the support of Mrs W -- always a boon. 
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Nice work, BE, and the kit really looks to be made of top-grade material.  What a concept -- producing a kit that doesn't require the builder to replace virtually everything.
 
I do admire your habit of framing the NMM plans.  I have the plans of Fly merely (and profanely) taped to the wall next to my workbench.  They are very handsome prints, and definitely deserve framing.
 
By the way, did the draughtsman of the Cheerful plans sign his name?
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Thanks BE.  And the same to you and yours.
 
Always a treat to see William -- I heard about the snow hitting England -- a bit of a rarity?
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Gotta love Proxxon!  Their tools work seriously, and they fit in a small space.
 
Nice progress on the bulkheads -- they look good and square.
 
And Hooray for William!  There's nothing like having a dog to help out with the technical details.
 
Happy holidays to you, BE, and to Mrs W of the Shires, and to WW himself.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Nicely done, Tim.  There are lots of details there to look at and to draw any view into the inticacies of the build.  I hope in your new house you find a place where you can admire your work.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Nicely done, Tim.  There are lots of details there to look at and to draw any view into the inticacies of the build.  I hope in your new house you find a place where you can admire your work.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Nicely done, Tim.  There are lots of details there to look at and to draw any view into the inticacies of the build.  I hope in your new house you find a place where you can admire your work.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Post Sixty-Seven
 Rudder Fitting (Part Two)
In recent times I have preferred to use the Syren laserboard representations of the rudder pintle and brace straps rather than etched brass kit versions.
With rudder straps it is so easy to mar the blackened surface when fitting to rudder and hull on an uncoppered or unpainted hull.

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To my eye the Laserboard is realistic looking and saves the time as well as patience taken up in chemically blackening the brass etch.
 

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A coat of W-O-P is applied to the rudder to finish it off, and the bolt heads will be represented by blobs of pva.

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At the Rudder head are a set of iron hoops; for these I use my old standby of Heat shrink tubing which gives a fair representation of iron work, certainly at this scale.

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During the fitting of the rudder my eye kept being drawn to a gap between the top of the sternpost and the tiller which looked a little too large.

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I added a small section of Pearwood atop the stern post, and my eye at least is now satisfied.
I would have been less concerned if I were adding a Rudder coat but on this unfinished hull it would look a little incongruous.

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The Gudgeons are now painted black to represent the ironwork.

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With the rudder in place, I use tape to mark the line of the Gudgeon straps on the hull, before gluing in place.

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This is also a convenient time to prepare the Horseshoes, Fishplates, and spectacle plate.

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I used the brass etched pieces for these which are chemically blackened.
Always useful to have some blackened pins to hand.

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I have started to feather the stern planking into the lower counter and tidy up the line. A moulding strip will cover this.
 
The next stage will be to add the lower counter decoration and fix the moulding rails.
 
B.E.
21/01/22

A nice little package arrived today courtesy of  Chuck.
14 days delivery from U.S.A. which given the current disruptions I think is pretty good. I have had stuff from Syren arrive in 7 days.

 
The wheel is very close to the dimensions of the brass etch wheel provided in the kit, and  I prefer a Boxwood version.
 
I also loved the look of the  stern lanterns as I fitted on my Pegasus build.
 
I finally couldn't resist the Winchelsea Stove kit which  will eventually join the Capstan kit within the case for the completed Sphinx.
 
I love receiving ship modelling stuff in the post.🙂
 
B.E.