davyboy

Once again t’s a fair time since I updated this blog - apologies. The bow was a problem, and my initial efforts were a predictable failure. I tried using card, but it just did not look right, even though, unlike  wood, there is no problem in bending it. So I have used stripwood, soaking it in hot tap water (provided the boiler is working, which was a bit of a problem until a new one arrived recently). The bent strips are then glued together to achieve a plausible thickness. As for the figurehead, I have used Milliput, as I can’t carve anything that small. The figure is no more than about an inch in height. One grandson said helpfully that it looks more like a seal than a lion, but I think it will have to do. I’ve gilded it rather than attempting polychrome - it’s not clear how the original would have been finished, but this seems best.  There’s a good deal of tidying up to be done, and photos always seem to bring out the faults, but I hope this gives some impression of progress on the this part of the model. Meanwhile I’ve also been working on the stern, which is taking ages. Incidentally, I have belatedly found an excellent video of the model in the National Maritime Museum at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAM-K193fYk. As well as the ship, it features ‘relaxing classical music’. I’m not clear who made it, but it’s not the work of the museum.

Completed the main wale edition 3 layout with the slightly more complicated double hooks.
 
In the first photo you can see the tools used. Not so obvious is the straight pin used to hold a point of the printed sheet so it could be spun a little to help make it all follow the curve of the wales.
 
I have a flexible curve from my pencil and paper drafting days, works better in this instance than my French curves to make a long gentle curved line.
I copied (traced) my original boundaries (taken off the model and onto tracing paper) onto a new fresh set of overlapping tracing sheets.
I slide the printed layout of the wales under the blank sheets and went to work with a 2H pencil.
You can see the results in the second sheet.
On the third photo is the bow layout.
 
Now I have a dilemma. Do I head downstairs to the basement and start cutting and sanding to thickness new stock, and start tracing, cutting and sanding new pieces... or do I spend the last few sunny days of post summer (fall) outside. Tough one!

Today's work on the forecastle, with preparation of future accessories :


 

The fore castle is painted.
The painting scheme on the back has been adjusted to more closely resemble the Anthony drawing.
 
Things to consider:
How to properly glue this forecastle to the hull.
There's no room for a knight to hoist the yard of the fore sail.
 
This build is now currently on hold; i'm now temporarily working on the yacht for the Amsterdam exhibition.


 

Today, the question was how ensuring the verticality of the fore-mast, has just been quickly resolved :
 

Time to make them pretty - starting with chamfers  
Here is my setup and an opportunity to play with the miniature Veritas worksurface. Being able to position the vacuum hose is the main feature  The gentle air draft away from my face is catching all the fine dust.

I started with a bit too many tools, but after a couple of pillars simplified it to a round dowel with 320 and 400 Mirka sandpaper, and a blade for a final scraping pass to flatten the edge. The dowel diameter also helps to ensure symmetrical shape of the chamfer end transition.

Sanding dust highlights the shape of the edge, allowing to eyeball the chamfer shape. The result is quite straight even with magnification, so hopefully almost perfect to the naked eye.
 
When it came time to install the pillars The Inspector have spotted a whoopsie - one pillar intersects the aft platform beam 🫣
That is to be expected when the Master Shipwright was working on his design in the late hours, and in my view even adds realism to the build - surely the quality standards of the average Revolutionary Era shipyard were far from perfect, especially in the "out of sight - out of mind" areas deep in the hold. 
"Good enough", said the shipwright and notched the pillar into the beam   

But if you take a peek through the gunport - you can still see his mistake clearly:

I like how the hull is slowly filling with a spiderweb of timbers and framing! It is the next phase of "it looks like a ship" feeling I had when building frames, and now "hmm, it looks like an elaborate house for hamsters!"

Pillars were finished on the lathe. Or maybe "in the lathe"? 🤓
Anyway, they were technically in the lathe while being finished, great way to hold them and avoid smearing oil all over (it is important to avoid contaminating the bottom tenon, it would be a tiny and critical glue interface)

A surprisingly difficult problem is "how do I keep track of pillar numbers and orientations when the finish is applied?" There is no place for a pencil mark, and it is too easy to smear pencil from a tiny endgrain tenon.
Tamiya masking tape is strong enough to hold it by the tenon edge, even though the contact surface is tiny. 
Here is the first batch hanging in the dark and drying  

As a backup I measured each beam with a micrometer and can later identify them by length, they are all unique assuming a precise enough measurement tool.
 
The installation plan is questionable - to glue them into the keelson, but leave the top mortise dry and just pop the deck on and off. The top tenons are chamfered to locate the beam mortise easier.
I hope that if installing one-two pillars at a time I will be able to achieve a glue joint than would hold the pillar angle precisely enough. Though the geometry and the glue joint dimensions are definitely not working in my favour...
Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out if that plan would fail (or, rather - "how would fail, exactly?" )

What follows here is just an experiment.
 
Although the process of rigging a ship model becomes more and more a problem for me as a result of my fading eye-sight and shaky hands, my urge to keep on building models has not in the least disappeared. So I went looking for 17th century ship types where no or almost no rigging was involved. After several try-outs with one-masted vessels with comparatively simple riggings my eye fell on the glorious models with which the English shipbuilders tried to seduce the king to commission them to build the full-size ship, the so-called Admiralty or Navy Board dockyard models. These models were usually not rigged at all, but they were lavishly decorated and showed much of their interior and construction. As a result they belong to the most beautiful and intriguing models man has ever made.
 
In my bookcase Gilbert McArdle's book: Building a Navy Board Model of HMS Sussex 1693, (published by SeawatchBooks in 2010) holds a prominent place. 

The book was written during and after McArdle built a flawless copy of the third rate Sussex model in the collection of the US Naval Academy Museum in Anapolis, Maryland. The book contains, apart from the heavily illustrated building report, also a pile of excellent drawings of the original model, containing not only the body plan, elevation plan, top views with decks, sections and various bulkheads, but also every one of the 70 frames in the model has been drawn, both in 1/48 and in 1/96 scale.
 
Building a paper model of a Navy Board model that still shows some of the beauty of its original example surely is a first grade challenge. Not only the method of building, but also the choice of card is crucial. As a coincidence a colleague at the Rijksmuseum, who knew I am always on the look-out for suitable sorts of card for my shipbuilding activities, collected a pile of beautiful left-over cardboard sheets, used for making pass-partouts for drawings, prints, photographs and whatever belongs to the RM Prentencabinet's collection. I think it is called ivory card. It is made out of textile fibers, has a soft-white color and comes in various thicknesses. My collegue was kind enough to provide me with a lot of 0.5, 1.1, 1.8 and 2.4 mm thick material.
 
As we all know card has, like every material, apart from a large number of advantages, also some limitations, one of which is that it usually can not be sanded. It will become fluffy and all the sharp edges will disappear. But sanding is precisely what you need when building a dockyard model if you want to show all the open frames in a convincing way. So I made a test piece, consisting of 24 layers (12 midschip frames) of 1.8 mm card and exactly as expected, sanding appeared to be a necessity, even if the cutting was done as precise as possible. I sanded and filed the blok and it appeared that sanding the sides of the card was no problem as long as all layers were as closely pressed to each other as possible, thus avoiding the chance to mess up. 
 

 
Scanning my card stock I calculated that if I chose the 1.8 mm thickness ivory card for the frames, I would end up with a 30 cm long model, which was about the maximum size I wanted. The scale would then be about 1/200, for me a most unusual number, because all my paper models so far were on a 1/77 scale. As every frame consisted of two layers of card, no less than 140 frames had to be cut to shape the hull.
 
Now it was time to design a strategy. The block I made as a test clearly showed that at this scale making a hull out of complete card frames, like in full model size, was not possible because the tops of the frames would end up too narrow to supply any strength and rigidity to survive the rest of the build, leave alone the expectation of a reasonable life span. So I divided the hull into two horizontal parts, separated by the lower deck, which was, like the frames, cut from 1.8 mm card. Below the deck I vertically divided the hull into two parts, a left and a right one. In separate temporary mountings quarters of frames were to be fitted until both halves were filled with frames, only partly glued together. Indeed it appeared to be possible to sand and file these blocks into shape, almost as if they were made out of wood. 
 

 
The part above the lower deck was easy to cut. Both the ship's sides were made out of 0,5 mm card, copied from the side view on McArdles draught. I cut the port holes, shaped the sides by hand into an S-shaped curve as much as possible, provided them with wales, channels and stairs, laid the basic provisions for the decorations, planked them with latex strips and painted them. 
 

 
Though the lower deck was draughted in the book, the upper deck could not precisely be copied from the drawings. I'm afraid I made it too wide, which had a clear effect on the width of the ship between the bulwarks. The model is too wide on top.
It belongs to this style of modeling to show open decks like can be seen in the original model, but the lower deck of my model will be closed, because I need the strength of the 2.4 thick lower deck for the overall rigidity of the model. Besides, practically nothing of it will be visible in the end result.
The deck clamps on the inside of the ship's sides were glued in to fit both the decks on the correct height. The masts could provide sufficient orientation and enough stability to get everything temporarily in place. 

 
Then keel, stem and stern were cut from 1.8 mm card and the whole upper works could carefully be glued together.
 

 
In the mean time the frames-block below deck were completed, and sanded into shape. After precisely marking the locations of the interruptions between the frame parts, all frames were separated to cut the inside to shape, taking care that the horizontal top sides were maintained to be glued to the underside of the lower deck in order to get everything back in place. 
 
Even the sanded block had to be sanded again after all frames were glued in place, but no real problems showed up. It went better than I expected. The next problem to be solved was the lining of the openings between the frames. However precise I tried to be, small deviations from the markings showed up and had to be filed to keep the lines fair. Therefore I modified an old lock file in a way that the thickness was diminished to 1.5 mm and the narrow sides still held their filing profile. A drop of AC glue brought the necessary sharpness back to the joints.
 

 
A real problem is painting the model. I like to build models of ships that are, lets say, halfway or at the end of their career, so wear and tear show up. Therefore I use plastic strips with wood imprint (c-d-fix) for planking and treat it with Humbrol 63 and Van Dijks brown, which produces a nice 'used' look. But a dockyard model does not represent an old ship. On the contrary, the model should look like an ornament, a thing of beauty, adorned with as much golden carvings as possible. I had to invent another way of painting.
 
On top of that I was stupid enough to forget to spray the plastic planking with primer before I hastily painted it, which caused the paint to wear off as soon as it is touched. I had to remove the paint as much as possible and invent another color to meet the demands.
 
Special attention had to be given to the stand of the model. Normally I make a very simple card stand, because it serves no other function than to keep the model up right. In this case the model was presented to the king as a thing of beauty and the stand had to meet the same purpose. So I kneaded some dolphins supporting the lower hull with their tails on both sides and gilded them. Inside was a brass tube and a fitting piece of brass wire made the connection. The first couple I made appeared to be too big, so I made a second pair, with a slightly better result. 
 

 
We'll see where this ends. I'll keep you posted.

First draft of the ship's forecastle :

Fifty-two gun carriage's wheels installed (this is half of the 12-pounder battery) :

I have molded the guns in resin, although neater job might be obtained by turning them.

Here they are on their carriages. Please note that the continental practice was for the breeching rope to pass through the cheeks of the carriage

I will mount them later in the run-out positiion. Gun tackles under construction.
 
Dick
 
 
 

Guns in progress, half done :

 

Not much more left to do. This morning I have redone the spritsail yard braces so the spritsail yard is now set square with relation to the bowsprit. As a result I will have to tighten up one of the lifts, as can be seen in the photo below.

I did end redoing the starboard side anchor rigging with the double block properly rigged.

All the stunsail booms have been added.

There is still a little bit more of tiding up to do and to make the perspex stand. To complete this, hopefully, penultimate build log post I have added photo of the Harpy on the workbench.

The soon to be new owner of this model ….you guessed it….has an English Bulldog named meatball.  All customer requests must be considered, LOL.  He wanted Meatball on deck being walked by the captain.  Hopefully I Will have a happy customer.   
 
Meet Meatball.
 

Here are some better pics....the last one was just on my phone.
 
I wasnt just painting figures today, I also finished up the tiller.  I was going to do a mash-up with metal and mixed media or even just make the tiller from all brass like Greg did.  But that seemed a lot when I am awful at metal work.   I also dont have those tools and havent soldered a thing in my life.  So I said why not just 3D print the tiller.  Its all painted black and many of you kit builders dont have the tools to do the metal work anyway.  So the Tiller is 3D printed and all you have to do is paint it black which was done on the contemporary model...and glue it in position.  I would say that it looks as it is supposed to and much better than if I fumbled through a soldering exercise. 
 

 
All of the deck-work and fittings are now done except for the binnacle.  But next up is the remaining outboard hull details.  Starting with the channels and deadeyes.
 
But here are a few pics of the deck fittings all done including the tiller.
 





 
 

It has been a couple weeks...
 
I cut all the jigsaw pieces and then fitted them together on top of the plan I made. It required considerable fiddley adjustments to all pieces... sort of akin to chasing your own tail.
Here is a photo of a group I was working on... right side goes against the stem post.

Then I had to decide where to start. David Antscherl suggested starting at dead centre in his four volume series The Fully Framed Model (aka TFFM). I was concerned that if I was off a bit I'd not have adequate length to reach the stem post. So I've decided to start at the stem post and work back.
 
While dry fitting to the stem post I noticed the thickness of the wales was an issue. Then I read in TFFM that they need to be tapered to fit to the stem post. 
 
I tried steaming the forward most lower piece to bend it. Then I tried soaking in boiling water. In each case I couldn't quite get the curve quite right due to spring back... and the wait for it to dry adequately was unsettling.
 
In the end I decided to use my soldering/wood burning pen to dry bend it. It has a round bar  like shaft extension that heats up. The nibs screw into it but I left them off and used the bar alone. No spring back, and results are instantaneous.
 
David suggested I install a guide strip of wood at the bottom to help keep the bottom row aligned at the proper elevation. So after some hesitation... I mean, thinking things through, I began installing the guide strip from the stem post and back on both sides (port and starboard). A short piece for now with a few dabs of glue and a number of clamps.

I'm ready to begin. I'll post after I have a few installed and see how well I've managed to do.
 
Why is beginning something you've never done before so difficult?
It's not like I'm going on my first date here.
I've learnt to chuck my fair share of first, second, and third tries.
 
Oh well...
 
 

Preparing work about fore half-deck :


 

I regret to say that the cannon certainly is not a good example of a well made product.

Just a little side project.   My local club is having a figure painting workshop at my shop in a couple of weeks.  So I printed a bunch more figures and painted one.  Mind you I have never painted a figure before.  I think maybe 20 years ago I added one to the Syren model which looked awful.  But one of our members who is an accomplished miniature figure painter will be doing the teaching.  I am very much looking forward to it.  One photo shows the unpainted version.  Painting figures is hard, LOL.  The eventual owner of this model requested that the officer be holding a rope leash in his left hand walking an English Bulldog!!  I have yet to print the English Bulldog.   Yikes, it should be interesting.
 

Thank you very much Ab and Kirill.
 
I have been making tackle pulley halters for a long time.
I chose a system of tying and gluing the tapered ends of the cables..
 





Now I'm already preparing for a weekend trip to see this beauty..🔥😍 https://www.vasamuseet.se/cs

Corrections made - after more times than I can count to get this assembly aligned and built to my satisfaction - I am ready to move on at last




 

following preparation work about back stern of ship :

I have now completed the clews, tacks and sheet rigging. The following set of photos are related to the work related to the lower yards on the main and fore masts.
 
My first attempt at seizing the double blocks failed when tension was applied. thankfully all was good second time around.

Belaying the rigging was not to bad to do.

I have already started work and rigging the braces, and once that is done the final rigging task will be the bowlines. I would expect to complete the model later his month.
 
The final photo shows the current rigging status.

 

All the yard lifts have been rigged and belayed fore both the fore and main mast assemblies. For the most part I was able to set the lift tension so each yard was set at 90 degrees with the mast when belayed.
 
The main yard lifts is shown in the photo below.

The next two photo's shows the current build status. The lift rigging is difficult to see as the natural thread is not really visible when set against the white background. Clews, tacks and sheet rigging will be my next task which will take a few days to complete.

 

Thanks everyone for the likes and the nice comments.
 
Now, first, I need to make the shields that are still missing from the fore castle. These are based on the remains of shields from the rear castle.

the first one is ready

test

production

These shields are finished; there are about 40 to do on the rear castle.

 

Another small step forward!
Only the aftmost frames remain, and they require the most attention to ensure the wing transoms fit properly.