Clark

Knees and floor of the captain's cabin The hanging knees required a greater degree of adjustment. Some of the lodging knees still had to be milled out for the LEDs. In addition, the knees above the LEDs were covered with aluminium foil so that they would reflect the light. I used painter's tape to fix the lodging knees in place while gluing them. In some cases, I fitted the knees a little carelessly, but these are areas that are not or hardly visible. The sub-decks of the forecastle and quarterdeck were glued in place. The floor for the captain's cabin was installed. I used black cardboard for levelling and fixing.

Thank you very much, even if it probably looks a bit too cosy for a warship. Clark

Before attaching the knees for the deck beams, I wanted to adjust the quarterdeck and forecastle deck These should be cut out relatively wide to reveal the gun deck below. For the forecastle, I first checked the fit of the supplied plywood deck. The frame ears had to be notched a little further for this. I then made a template out of 0.8 mm plywood. I then transferred the planned cut-outs onto this template. The template deck was cut out and fitted. It was important to me that the bases for the carronades were centred in front of the gun ports. Although minor corrections habe to be made, I will then use this for the planking. I proceeded in the same way with the quarterdeck. On closer inspection, however, the plywood bridge at the board side seemed too narrow to me. So I moved the cutting lines towards the centre of the deck. The cut-outs were made on the supplied deck halves, with the quarterdeck being separated beforehand. The angle of view is somewhat misleading here, but here too, the bases for the carronades are located centrally in front of the gun ports. Finally, I checked how the LED would look. 6048

The beams were painted and coated with clear varnish and then glued in place. Several beams were inserted and the levelling was tested using two 10x10mm pieces of wood and then diluted PVA was applied to the joints on the MDF. In this way, the levelling was easily maintained. The anchor rope was laid The first beam at the bow has been panelled. I want to open the forecastle deck relatively wide and the panelling should cover the MDF behind it. The opening for the bowsprit was tested with a 10 mm dowel. The deck beams are largely in place. The two stern boat beams and their supports are not yet attached, as I still want to attach the gun crew and need space for this. The end beam of the quarterdeck has not yet been attached or painted. To level it, I had to deepen the cut-outs for the bitts by about 0.3 mm.

You're right. I just wasn't sure if I had done something wrong. Thanks for stopping by.

-------------- Deck beams Attaching the deck beams proved to be somewhat more difficult. A lot had to be filed down or removed. For the beams for the forecastle deck, simple bevelling was sufficient. The levelling was checked both in the centre and on the side. Fitting the deck beams of the quarterdeck was more difficult. On the one hand, a relatively large amount had to be sanded off the beams themselves. However, this was still not enough. In order to fit them, I had to remove a relatively large amount of the vertical MDF structures, partly restricted by the wiring for the MDF lighting. I filed alternately on the starboard and port sides to create additional space for inserting the beams. For the second deck beam (QD9), I had to file down the bitts a little, otherwise it would have been too high in the centre. The bitts will later be sanded smooth and painted over. The levelling of the quarterdeck beams was also checked in the centre and on the ship's side. One deck beam (QD 14) is missing in the picture. This can only be fitted once the longitudinal beams have been attached. There is a small note about this on the plan and also in the Blue Ensign description. When attaching the longitudinal beams, I noticed that they are not parallel. 793 790 791 However, the lack of parallelism corresponds to the plan.

Just a short update The metal parts for the stove have been etched so that the primer and paint will adhere later. The stove was made, painted and glued in place. Ladders, cannonballs and pumps are also attached.

Thank you for the compliment, but I was just following Chris and James' suggestions. Clark

Superstructures Gun deck The laser apparently had some problems with the knees for the bitts; the laser-cut upper surface was quite wavy. However, this was easy to sand smooth. 5734 The knees were then adjusted to fit the deck and bitts. After painting, the hatches and gratings were coated with varnish. I then decided to hide the anchor ropes in the fore gratings. It seemed illogical to me to have them run further across the deck, as they would then conflict with the subsequent superstructures. A corresponding opening was cut into the fore gratings and the edges were painted. After painting, the brick floor for the stove was coated with finely ground real ash and then with varnish. The superstructures were attached. My wooden right angle was used again to glue the ladders together. The ladders were adjusted on a trial basis. The thread on the ladders helps to retrieve them when they disappear into the lower deck. The openings of the companionways were painted black. I was bothered by the fact that the substructure was visible. Here, the thread leads to a piece of paper that I placed on the lower deck. The stove, the pumps and the ladders still need to be added. I will attach the railing supports for the companionways later. I'm afraid they will bend.

Hi B.E., Thank you for your reply. So I will run the anchor rope further towards the stern and then lead it down through the gratings. I'm not sure about the messenger cables yet, whether I should show them, as they are only attached when anchoring, at least I assume so. Thanks again for the tip. Clark

A quick update and a question The cannons are now all rigged except for the last three at the stern, as these will hardly be visible. However, I have been thinking about the course of the anchor ropen. I couldn't find anything about this in the plans or the other reports. I don't think it was stored directly in the bow, so I have come up with a route. Can anyone comment on whether this is plausible? The final anchor rope will be thicker.

Cannons: Rigging and installation Since I want to open up the quarterdeck and the forecastle quite a bit, 10 of the 13 cannons on each side will be visible on deck. So I will rig 20 cannons including breech ropes. The eyebolts were degreased with isopropanol and then blackened. I then fitted 60 bolts/blocks (2mm) with rigging lines (0.1 mm) and attached 60 blocks to eyelets only. This is a task that allows a lot of time for contemplation. I want to display one of the cannons in a back position for loading with a gun crew in place. I used this cannon to determine the length of the breech ropes. There is always a risk of underestimating the length here. To make the breech ropes, including the ring bolts, I made a small auxiliary construction. The distance between the two ring bolts at the bulwark is 13.7 mm. I only made ring bolts for the breech ropes. As for the rigging, they would take up too much space and, in my opinion, thus make the model look unrealistic. The carriage in the back position was glued in place with cyanoacrylate. The carriage was then secured to the deck with 0.7mm brass wire. I have also tried out the positioning of the gun crew (also from Chris/Vanguard). I built a small aid to help positioning the other cannons. The remaining cannons will be completed and installed in the near future.

Cannons: Assembly I have now started on the cannons (before attaching the various deck structures), as there is still space on the deck and I want to rig the cannons and also show one cannon in a loading state, with a gun crew. Once the other structures are in place, it will be more difficult to handle the cannons. Several building reports describe a holding device for the carriage parts. I built something similar and used it to glue the carriages together. Chris has provided a tab on the front of the carriages that fits into recesses in the deck. Since I planked over the recesses, I cut off the tab. I have never found the alignment of the guns to be a problem in my previous builds. I will secure the carriages with a brass pin. The support rods for the quion are glued on with double-sided adhesive tape and cut/sanded to the same length. The support boards for the quions are also fixed with double-sided adhesive tape. This makes it easier (at least for me) to glue the quions in place. The support boards were glued so that the barrels only marginally rest on the quions. To check the levelling of the carriages with the gun barrel, I equipped one with wheels. To do this, the axles had to be sanded down slightly. Complete round grinding would cause the wheels to wobble. The mounting of the barrels on the quions was tested and the alignment in the ship was checked and adjusted. The adjusted carriage was used to align the other carriages by comparing the height of the gun barrels. The picture shows that the left barrel is slightly lower. To adjust this, the quion was slightly sanded down. And so the gun barrels were brought to (almost) the same height. This was done for all carriages. I want to show the loading process for one cannon. To do this, the cannons were usually raised slightly so that the powder bag and projectile did not fall out again. For this one cannon, the quion was then moved backwards so that the barrel of this cannon was slightly higher than the others. The carriages were coated with diluted primer before painting. Otherwise, the paint would not adhere well, especially to the areas charred by the laser (which were difficult to sand down). As I do not have an airbrush, the paint was applied with a brush. As with the test carriage, the axles were slightly bevelled for attaching the wheels so that the wheels could be easily attached but still sat firmly. Left carriage without bevelling. Right carriage with bevelling. After attaching the wheels, the heights of the gun barrels were compared again. No differences were noticeable on most of them. A row of 7 guns. On two carriages, the barrel was too deep. Here, the quion was resanded. Next, I will prepare everything for rigging and securing the guns on deck.

Planking the gun deck Before planking, the transitions between the two parts of the inner bulwark were filled and sanded. The caulking of the deck planks was simulated with paint. To do this, 7 deck planks, each 12 cm long, were clamped together. The spirketting and upper strip were painted five times with heavily diluted paint so that the engraved lines were still visible. The inner bulwark was also painted with diluted paint and the openings for the deck fittings were tested. No regrinding necessary. Some gaps approx. 0.2 mm. These will be bridged by the planking. Then I went on with the planking. In the middle area, where the base for the oven will be positioned later, i.e. an area that will not be visible, I sanded with 120 grit sandpaper and tried out the coating. I will first apply wood wax and then cover it with matt varnish. In the picture, you can also see that there is a larger gap between two strips. Thankfully, this is the only one and is not a problem, as the base of the oven will go here. The holes for the eyebolts of the cannon rigging were drilled using a template. The deck was sanded manually (120, 180, 240 grade) and with a Dremel (320 grade) then treated three times with wood wax and then coated with diluted matt clear varnish. I was afraid that the spirketting would not be flush with the gun ports, but it was flush without me having to modify the strip. For the alignment of the upper strip, push pins were inserted through the holes for the eyelet bolts. The alignment of the holes in the strip matches the arrangement of the holes in the bulwark below. The small gap between the two parts of the spirketting was filled with diluted filler, sanded down and then painted over. Next, I will turn my attention to the cannons.

Sorry to read that.