Ryland Craze

The cupola...
 
I was undecided if it made sense to add the cupola now or wait until after the deck is planked.  But I decided it might be easier to plank around it so I went and completed it.
 
It will be shaped in a sort of lift method.   
 
Below you see all the parts needed laser cut along with the first prototype completed.
 

Step 1...glue the 3 layers of curved roof together with the thinnest curved horseshoe at the end as shown.
 

Step 2...
 
Glue the 1/16 piece on the bottom which will give you the ultimate rounded shape you are shooting for.
 

Step 3...
Sand the roof at first to that rounded shape along the sides.   Use the piece glued to the bottom as a guide.
 

Step  4...
 
Then sand the top to shape.  Specifically the back end of the dome to establish a nice curve.  Dont over sand the forward side.  Just remove the char and you will be good.
 

 
Step 5...
 
Finish off what remains by sanding the remaining parts to a nice dome shape.  It should look like the bottom of a test tube cut in half.  Now at this stage you could also take a Dremel with a small sanding tip and shape the inside.  But why bother.  It will never be seen.  You can make it as thin as an eggshell if you desire but seriously there is no point.   You should remove the cross piece from the opening on the forward side though.  There is no reason to keep that now that it is all shaped.  That was from the 1/16" layer that you glued to the bottom of the assembly early on.
 

Step 6...Take the last remaining laser cut horse shoe piece (1/8" thick) and sand the char from the outside edge.  Also round of the top outside edge.   When you place the cupola on top it should leave a consistent lip all around it.   This gives you the illusion of a molding piece all around the bottom of the cupola.  
 

Step 7...Paint it copper or brown or whatever color you prefer.  I didnt want to go with shiny metallic copper paint.  I opted for a medium brown color.
 
But before you can add it to the model the framing for the cupola needs to be added between the deck beams.  That is the last laser cut piece.  Just sand the char from it and position it as shown.  No need to clean the char from the center because you will never see it.  center it behind the door.
 

Step 8...
 
Glue the cupola in position after making sure it fits snug against the door frame.  It should also leave a little lip around the top of the door frame being slightly smaller in size.  For now I have left the rim around the top of the door frame bright.  But I may decide to paint it the same brown color to match the cupola later on.   I havent decided yet.  I want to wait until after a build the railing and have the deck planking all done.   I will see how it all looks at that time.
 


 
This finishes work on the qdeck for now....I am going to finally move to the fcastle area.

I like the concept, particularly the aspect of using a basic hand tool set. 
On board this build log. 

This is a great idea. I know I could use the lesson.

The NRG is an educational organization, dedicated to providing our members with the knowledge to improve the quality of their model ship building.  One of the most common problems model builders have is rigging their model.  Kit instructions are poor.  Often, the materials provided in the kit are improperly sized or the cheapest that the manufacturer could obtain.  We all know that blocks are not square!  I wanted to develop a project whose purpose would be to teach ship modelers how to mast and rig a ship without having to build a complete hull.  This model is a 1:48 scale cross-section at the level of the main mast of a late 18th century British sloop of war, Swallow 1779.  To keep the size of the model manageable and eliminate the need for a building board, the hull is cut off just above the waterline.  For the same reason, only the center portion of the lower yard and the lower part of the topmast are constructed.  Also, because this is a cross-section, certain lines, such as the stays and backstays, are not included.  My emphasis will be on demonstrating techniques to improve your rigging skills.  Skills that can be used on your next project.
 
As this was developed as a teaching aid, certain shortcuts and compromises to historical accuracy were taken.  Wherever possible, I have used measurements provided by the plans and such authorities as Steel and Lees.  I apologize in advance to the master modelers who might criticize my shortcuts.  I have kept the use of power tools to a minimum.  The only thing that is outside the normal collection of hand tools is a serving machine.  The Guild hopes to begin selling this kit in the next few months.
 
The kit contains all the materials required to complete the model.  But I always keep my scrap box nearby for those times when a piece of a contrasting color wood is desirable.  I will mention those times as the build log progresses.  Also, the build log is made up from the best photographs taken from three builds of this model.  A sharp eye will notice some differences in the wood color because of that.
 
The hull is constructed in typical plank on bulkhead style.  There is a notched spine and notched bulkheads.  The laser cut sheet of one-eighth inch basswood ply also contains a template for the top and four types of spacers, A through D. 

The spine and the frames are assembled as seen below.  Frame 1 is installed with the printing facing aft.  This gave me the option of painting the exposed bulkhead after construction was completed.


 
The mast fits in the slanted slot between Frames 3 and 4.  To keep the mast vertical, support spacers are glued on both sides of the spine.  They will be sanded flush to the spine when the hull is faired. 


To prevent the hull from twisting and to strengthen it, spacers are placed between each frame.  The three aft spacers are “B”, the next one is “C” and the two foremost ones are “D”.  They are placed close to the edge of the frame for maximum stability.  The laser char only needs to be removed from the fore and aft sides so that their surfaces are flat.  If too much wood is sanded off, I glue strips of paper onto the edge as a filler to prevent distorting the hull.
 
The hull and deck were faired so there are smooth curves fore to aft.  I used a sanding block for this.  I did not fair the bulwark extensions (the thin strips of wood above the deck) to prevent them from breaking off.  This model has a significant camber to the deck.  Sanding sticks help getting into the corners.  You can see that the mast supports have been sanded down to match the height of the deck.

Next up is planking the hull.
 
 

I finished the rigging and sails and put her all together this morning . Here is a few photos of her all finished up . Thanks to everyone that looked in ,liked,and commented on my first scratch build . I hope to see y’all on my next journey.

 
Thanks again 
Derek

This picture shows my first attempt at the decorative scrolls, refered to as moulding swirls in the manual, that enhance the hull decorations.
The method that the kit provides is a bit lacking and many builders have come up with alternative improvements. 

My plan was to try and replicate the way these scrolls flow from the straight sections of brass profile. This first attempt is very rough but in terms of developing the technique and proving the concept it taught me alot.
The first step was to use a piercing saw fitted with a 0/4 blade to cut 20 mm up the brass strip following the two thinest sections

The second cut then turned out to remove the bottom piece
 
The two remaining pieces were carefully spread apart wide enough to allow a needle file to access the inner sufaces to smooth them off.

8 mm was then cut off the centre section and the outer sides filed to tapered points

One lesson learned from the test piece was not to anneal the strip until all the cutting and filing was completed.
Once these two 'fingers' were annealled
round nosed pliers were used to roll the centre of the scroll

The top section was then bent around the centre

The excess length was cut off and this piece pushed into place

These pictures shows the scrolls in place and includes the larger scroll at the stern. This one was made the same way, the only difference being those two saw cuts which were made 25 mm long, and the tightness of the scrolls.


Having the channels still removable at this stage made adding these brass strips more manageable, I certainly wouldn't want to have had to work around them! 
A word of warning relating to the channels. Looking at plan sheet 5 there are vertical lines shown under the three main sections which turned out to be PE support brackets (Part 626). I've looked through the manual but cannot see any written reference to them. Glad I spotted this now before adding the chainplate assemblies.
Just a few more sections of brass profile to add to this side, then I can tackle the port side of the hull.
Cheers,
Graham
 
 

So along with the Anatomy of the ship book I’ll use the old model as reference! 

Hard to pick but this is the radio antennae. Attempt 5 today. When I did it years ago it worked well but I’ve always wanted them slack. So very thin wire in the centre and denier lines on the outer. This is pretty much the hardest part of the build  

So the deck and fittings are pretty much finished, the cage arials and other rigging to go them the railings and the torpedo net booms and their rigging. 
IMG_7234.mov IMG_7233.mov

Rigging pretty much done, railings next 

Railings added, torpedo net shelves and rolled torpedo nets added. 

Well today I got the torpedo net booms attached

Good evening everyone
big lesson learnt
i didnt mess up, but i did try to go my own way on this build and work fwd to aft on the rigging, well im not clever enough for that, and lost my way, i will always remember the fact the sequence  of rigging is for a reason, nothing is lost or damaged, just looks a mess at present untill i catch up

so i am back to plan 16 with just some upper ratlines to do, and then move onto 17 and progress the main and mizzen backstays 

 
 

Good morning everyone
Main mast Back stays
at last i am starting to get some quality time on the build all the main backstays are fitted

 

, and last night the Main Topsail Yard Tye went in


Apollo Ruth and Dobbie, 3 loves of my life

 

A good start, Monique!
 
John

Looks like you are off to a great start.  I followed the burn guild line rather than the plan.  I think the plan is correct and the guide line is wrong based on how everything looked down the read.  In the end my boat still came together ok so I think you will be good with where you attached the transom.

My first build! As exciting as it is intimidating. After staring at the box for a bit, getting over my nerves, I cracked my knuckles and cracked open the lid.
 
Step one admittedly wasn’t photogenic—I made sure all the pieces were present, gave the full instructions a careful read, and then poured over multiple build logs.



The next day, the real fun began. I opted to build the bottom from scratch rather than use the pre-made piece. This meant cutting, gluing, and sanding—so much sanding. I was skeptical at first, but low and behold, the instruction’s tip about moving the piece rather than the paper worked. Instead of a sanding stick, I opted to just tape some sandpaper flat to my working surface. A great decision for these long, straight pieces! Not so great for others. (More on that later.)
 
Hoping to spare my fictional sailor a tumble into a sharp corner, I studiously over-sanded the edges of my cleats. The instructions spoke about removing edges to prevent injuries—but…what about the thole pins? They make sense to have, but I can’t help but think they’re a stab wound waiting to happen. A poor fate for a clumsy sailor…
 
When sizing the cleats, I ignored the length of the burnt guidelines. Instead, I followed what other builders had done and made sure each one had some breathing room before the edge.
 
After sanding and gluing the stem without incident, the transom gave me pause. I decided to go a little off-book, sanding it and the stern knee together before attaching the stern cleat. It seemed to me like a choice between vigorously sanding three freshly glued, breakable parts or two. (I opted for two.)



I’m really proud of how it turned out!

After adding glue to the transom and plopping the stern cleat on, I strung the two together with sewing pins. This let me squish the pieces together without fear of misalignment or gluing the holes shut. It also made it a million times easier to brush away excess glue. A simple strategy, but very effective.

Should the edges of the stern cleat be softened as well, for our clumsy sailor? The instructions didn’t mention it so I refrained, but I feared once again for his poor noggin.



After that, I was humbled. I spent far, far too long attaching the pieces to the bottom. I thought about it, researched it, did it, fussed with it so much the glue gave up, then had to do it all over again.
 
I just couldn’t decide on the alignment. Should I follow the burnt template line, allowing a bunch of the stern knee to hang over the edge? Should I keep the point of the base and the outside of the transom lined up? Other build logs seemed to differ, and I couldn’t find many clear shots from the side to compare.
 
I’ll upload pictures of mine. If it turns out I made a bad choice, others will know what not to do. If it works out—whew!



One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about these dory build logs has been seeing what random things people scrounge up to use as weights. For mine, I made use of an egg cup my grandfather gave me.



The whole kit and caboodle was set aside to dry, with a few other rejected weights keeping watch behind it.
 
Onto the frames!



I’ve seen many people comment on the template being the wrong size. I actually found it to be exactly 1:1—which makes me think I’m either lucky or doing something wrong.
 
A few things I found helpful:
 
I taped a sheet of parchment paper over the template to avoid gluing the paper.
  I numbered and labelled each left and right piece in pencil before cutting them free. This saved me almost immediately when I cut out and sanded a “2R” instead of a “3R”.

It occurred to me I could have used this labelling as an opportunity to practice “port” and “starboard”. Then I realized I’d be adding additional challenges to an already daunting project. Left and right it was.

A note to myself for next time: this worked great, but the pencil was difficult to erase before gluing. I’d write lighter next time.
  I prepped the frames one at a time but held off on gluing. The process: pick a number, label the two frame pieces, cut them out, sand them down with a scrap of sandpaper, then dry assemble it on the template. Once all of the frames were sitting primly in place, I could go through and glue them all at once. Since the glue dries so fast on my palette, I found this more economical (and it saved me some brush washing).
  I taped down the crosspieces. I’m so thankful I taped down the crosspieces! It meant I could easily lift the whole thing upward to clean the excess glue beneath, then settle everything right back into place.
  Free spacers were helpful to tap the freshly glued bottoms against, ensuring they were flat.  
This stage was when I really started feeling my lack of a sanding stick. I’ve got an old wrist injury, and it was starting to complain. So were my fingers, which had been slowly filed down alongside my pieces. Ah well. Funny how every tip I followed treated me well, and I regret skipping the one I didn’t. Almost like I should listen to the experts…
 
After gluing up the frames, I checked the status of my now-dry boat bottom and found it lacking. Out came the water again, and a book was added to the weight mix. That’ll show it.

I seriously debated continuing, but as I’d just spent half the day squished up at my table, a break seemed in order. I’ve got the itch now! But planking is intimidating. A problem for later…after my new sanding stick dries. 😄
 

Thanks Folks!

I'm right there also, BCD.   Hit the wall hard this time.  I'm considering the Half-Hull project from the NRG as my wall I hit was the planking.  Seems to be a reasonable price and a well thought out project.  

Take a look on the VM site. The kits are skill rated too so you can pick something you feel to be in your ballpark. 

I highly recommend your thoughts about going with (another) Vanguard kit. Over the past two years, Chris Watton has created a number of smaller, reasonably priced kits including fishing vessels; you will also note on the Vanguard site a "rating system" for one's level of building skills. Planking is never easy and requires patience: Vanguard has implemented numerous kit improvements that help a modeler with this challenge. Welcome back! - Good luck - You can do it. 

Gun ports lined. This completes the basic hull structure. I'm thinking this is a good point to take a break from this build and whip out a card model. That has always been my plan for this build -- to intersperse it with other projects so as to not burn out on it. Fear not -- it's not gonna take 17 years, like some other unnamed project did!
 

An enjoyable few hours fitting the top and side decals, who'd have thought that this part of the build could be so rewarding! I suppose it really changes the whole look of the model. I used microset and microsol. Still need to cut the roundels to expose the guns but I'll let them completely dry overnight before attempting that.
 
The cockpit glass is painted but needs some tidying up now. I'm thinking some thinner on a cotton bud? Any suggestions very welcome.
 
 

First ever go at invasion stripes.... definitely not perfect but I think they do look good anyway!
 
Rudder unfortunately is lost so I've dropped an email to Airfix asking if they can send me a spare.
 

Camouflage is now on, I'm pretty pleased with it. Now some more masking to add the yellow trims and the invasion stripes. For the more eagle eyed among you I seem to have lost the rudder. I think it must have got stuck to some of the masking tape so there's a fun hour to look forward to later searching through the rubbish.
Also there's a few areas that I've touched in by hand and they're not perfect by any stretch but nearly all of it will be covered by the stripes or the decals.