davyboy

I  ve prepared and blackened the barrels- some of them had to be refined, as there were some small defects from the moulding.

Hi John, I was spoilt really by the beautifully matched Pear wood I obtained from Hobbymill E.U. that I used on my Sphinx and Indy builds. I thought I would get away with it on Harpy as  there was to be only a few strakes on view. I dare say I will grow to love it.🫤
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
 
Post 38
Thinking about Patina.
During the plating I had also been playing around with patina.
I set up a test sample of plates.
 
Day 1

0204
These were scoured using fine steel wool, followed by cleaning with acid dip and Isopropanol.
Having long been a fan of the copper finish achieved by Alistair (Aliluke) on his ‘Fly’ build.  I next tried his ‘natural’ approach.
Unusual maybe, but the chemical is widely available, free, and instantly on tap.

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My own supply had no instant effect, but after several applications over several hours this is the result.

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Washed with clean water, and a comparison with the old penny look I am after. A way to go yet, I think.

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A further application and left overnight.

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Again, washed with clean water.
If I was looking for a weathered effect maybe, but not what I’m after.
 
Day 2
Fresh supplies and several more applications.

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Result after overnight.

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I am also applying the urine method to a sample of plates as supplied, without any cleaning beyond a wipe with isopropanol.
 
Day 3

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More fresh supplies, and several applications later, and result overnight.
Not a great deal of difference.

0353
Neither with the other sample.
 
Day 4

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Not much changed, and I’m not impressed with the look.

I prefer the look on the model as is rather than either the rather dirty looking treated plates, or a bright and shiny look that would result from the wire wool treatment.
 
Movin’ on…
 
B.E.
18/02/2025
 

 

Post 37
Back to the Construction
Three coats of W-o-P have been applied between Wale and Water-line, but I’m a tad disappointed.

0369
Despite my efforts to colour match the Pear strips, there is some striping evident.

0355
The mdf tabs have been removed in preparation for deck planking. The lower deck has been covered to prevent dust which may be tricky to completely clear.

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A second support cradle, has been re- purposed, from Cheerful I think, for working with the hull upright.
The supplied working cradle is good for some things but holding the hull steady ain’t one of them.

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The kit instructions now indicate use of the engraved deck section before adding the inner bulwarks. I am looking to plank the deck using Boxwood 3.4mm x 0.7mm strips, and I need to work out a plan before I begin.
 
B.E.
17/02/2025

It should not be any great problem to pass the eye of the shrouds up through the lubber hole in the tops and then over the mast head before settling them down in the proper sequence over the bolsters.
 
Regards,
Henry

14 frames complete. The shape of the vessel is starting to make itself known.

I'm currently agonising over the cannons (yes, I know its a bit previous to be doing that at this stage, but that's me.) So 15 guns were found associated with the wreck, but only two will be behind gunports (as that appears to have been the way it was in the very early days of gunports - see earlier posts). So what happens with the other 13? Are they on big wheels so they reach over the gunwale?
 
And then there are several guns retrieved in 1531, one of which was a large bronze perrier (meaning the balls it shot were of stone), and there were a number of swivels. Also several wrought iron guns of different types, one type very long compared with its calibre. Unless I much mistake, except for swivels, all the wrought iron guns needed to be deck-mounted because they weren't structurally strong enough to support themselves. But that would presuppose gunports unless they had big wheels. There were a number of big wheels found on board, some of 120 cm diameter, some of 148. This would mean a gunwale of somewhere between 60 and 80 cm high if they were to poke out above it. That's 2 feet to about 2 ft 7 in. Not terribly high. Sigh. I'm in a bit of a quandary.
 
It's assumed that between 1516 when she sank and the retrieval of 1531 the citizens of Nice may well have plundered the wreck for cannons, but there's no written record of that.
 
Swivels could be in arched openings shown to the forecastle in Carpaccio's paintings, or even in the aftercastle as shown in others. It's a matter of deciding what goes where. Though she was a merchant ship, it looks like the Lomellina was upgunned when she was hired by the King of France to transport munitions. And perhaps some (or all?) of the guns were cargo rather than armament? 
 
Oh, and they recovered two bronze arquebuses (precursor of the musket, but considerably heavier construction.)
 
It's a problem at the moment, and any solution I come up with is going to involve a tremendous amount of speculation and guesswork. I'm trying to make it educated guesswork.
 
Steven
 
Steven

Finished the prow, added the davits on the stern and other bits and pieces. outer hull done, just need to finish all the deck pieces.

Continued today adding bits and pieces to the hull and completing the stern
 

Hello, and many thanks for your comments and likes
Life was against working at the shipyard most of the week, but now I have all collecting planks ready. I started also with planking the meginhufr.
I hope to finish the strake tomorrow.

Here are some of the parts, who did't it  ☹️

Thank you Chuck!
To round off this article, I have now completed the medallion.
The surrounding frieze with the double chain was printed on transparent paper and glued onto the medallion.

The initials and the oval frame, as well as the foliage, were laser-cut from 1 mm thick plywood. The ends of the initials C are 0.4 mm thick. This is the thinnest that this technology can produce. At 0.3 mm, the part consists only of laser carbon and disintegrates.


The parts for the medallion were then gold-plated and the foliage stained green and carefully glued into position.


The transom is now ready for assembly, but will remain in the box for the time being until the quarter galleries are finished.
Best regards
Matthias

Dear fellow modellers,
today I would like to continue the topic of the transom and its elements here.

 
Here you can see a comparison of the drawing and the finished wax model. The dimensions are fairly accurate, although the design of the medallion in the centre of the transom is slightly different. The formation of the edges and the exact depiction of the medaillon content are more precise in the drawing than in the model.
 


A closer look reveals the following:
In the centre of the medallion are the mirrored initials of the Danish King Christian VI. A double chain runs around this monogram, representing the bearer chains of the Order of the Eledanten (outside) and the Order of the Dannebro (inside).
The arrangement of the chains can be clearly seen on this epitaph:
 

Incidentally, the Danish kings still wear these very chains today when making public appearances.
 

 
And here is an example of the mirrored initalia of King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway (1699-1746).
 

 
Incidentally, several Christians chose this exact arrangement, from Christian IV to IX.
 
I have drawn this arrangement and brought it into the correct proportions for the model:
 

 
The next step is to carve the medallion from boxwood:
 



 
The coat of arms medallion will now first be integrated into the rear prospect and the adjacent baroque ornamental panelling added on.
 

 


Due to the scale, I will print out the chains on transparent paper and glue them on, the surrounding frame ovals and the initials will be added later. The model now looks like this:
 

 
However, I won't finally fit the component until the quartergalleries have been completed, te keep the accessibility for these works.
Best regards,
Matthias
 

Post 36
The copper saga continues.
I decided to add a batten along the copper top line.

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For this I used 1.0.x 0.7mm Pearwood strip.

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0337
A fairly easy process using cyano on dampened wood, working along the hull by degrees. Acetone was kept handy to clean as I went along.
Any tiny gaps were sealed with thick copper paint.
 
The next stage is clean-up, apply w-o-p to the woodwork between wale and copper.
Add the Outer Bulwark sheer rails, and remove the mdf bulkhead  ears to clear the deck for planking.
 
I will return to the copper sheathing in due course.
 
B.E.
15/02/2025
 

As I was finishing coppering , had to add the stern fish plate. I just put some pin heads in to give more 3-d appearance and then glued as there were no holes in the false keel.
 

 
Next was the prow horseshoe plate. There are holes pre-drilled in the false keel. I could have juste covered with copper and glue it on top but decided to finish one side then clamp a thick piece of scrape wood over the copper then drill from the un-coppered side then repeated the process for the other side.
 

 
 
Then just nailed into place and painted
 

 
 
Finally cleaned the tiles then I used Blue Ensign's idea of lining the copper border as he did in Pegasus. He figured 1mm width. As I had no scrap that size I substituted 1mm rope instead. Final product came out  not bad.
 

Thank you Pat, Rick, John, Keith, Druxey, Veszett and Ian - and of course the rest of you have liked my work.
 
Yes Ian - I still use the old stinky stuff but still managed 14 coats - however see below!😬
 
Rick - very thin to ease cutting - about 0.010"
 
I set about making the anodes of which Canada has 14.
 
I wanted to give them a bit of shape so I decided to try pressing them. I started by making a press tool from mild steel. This was partially milled and finished by hand filing.
 

I used the machine vice as a press.

With a bit of cleaning up the first one turned out acceptable.

The pressed metal was quite soft - it is actually an old decoration that used to be a Christmas decoration. I think it might actually be a zinc alloy which seems quite appropriate.

Here are all 14.

All were drilled with 2 holes to take the mounting bolts. The slotted piece of wood is a crude locating jig to make drilling quicker.

The keel was drilled through to take the anodes (symmetrical on either side)

Then glued and screwed in place.

The anodes are spaced equidistant along the keel - so again I made a simple jig  to assist drilling of the holes.

I then used my previously made jig to drill the stabiliser holes. I always put off drilling holes in the hull - I think it is fear. You can see the jig has been modified to give better angular control of the drill. The Jig was taped securely to the hull and the holes were drilled with my heavy duty hand drill.

All was well.

Fortunately no damage to the paintwork ---------- but then ! succumbed and 2 more coats of Poly went on. Compulsive or what!!!!!!

Ant then another go with the super fine wire wool.

Somehow the final 2 coats seemed to help. The sheen was quite subdued and the finish was reasonably uniform which pleased me.
 
The next job is making the stabilisers and thereafter masking up for the spray paint job. 
 
That's all for now so back to catching up with all your builds.
 
 
 
 
 
 

My greetings,  dear Johann. My work on the corronades  was based mainly on Your Masterclass on the carronades creation. I have never seen a more detailed and informative report. Concerning the constructio n I ve payed attention that the upper, movable part of the gun carriage is thinner than the lower part, so i made it like this ,but i did not know that it has trapezoidal shape. Im very grateful to You for such a valuable information ! I will definitely know that for the future. But these gun  carriages will be left as they are, moreover that in my case the inclination will  be of the size of a fraction of mm. Please, allow mw to express my gratitude to You for the information,  its an honor for me that You as a Maître of such a level  paid attention to my work. My very best regards

A bit of a carving... I found it easier to mark the lines, cut them with a saw and slowly carve the shape.. small amount of wood at a time..

Fitting test..



Now, lets add knee in the pictures..




Happy modelling

Hi thank you for likes photo work cants frames and stern.

To druxey: Thanks for the inspiration. I'll try it next time. But I read somewhere that the angle at which the individual strands enter the rope should be about 45 degrees. That should be harder to achieve with the solution you proposed.
Making of deck beams.

Slow rat line progress.

Post 35
A critical look at the coppering.
At this point I do a finger test of the plating. Any snags felt require additional gluing or replacing of the plates.

0258
Plates do remove easily once a scalpel blade is inserted beneath one corner.
Cleaning the plates with Acetone as they were applied has paid dividends in that the surface colour is even and without any indications of glue marring.
It is quite tricky to get a completely smooth and even line at the copper top line because inevitably small pieces are required to meet the marked waterline.
This is an area where use of copper tape makes life easier.
 
To address this, tape is once again applied to the copper to  show any areas that require further trimming.

0261
A new scalpel blade does cut thro’ the copper plate, but care and a steady hand is required.
I took this series of photos to check how the line looked and if anything caught my eye.

0264

0265

0267

0271

0272
Doesn’t look too bad I think, but when I coppered Pegasus I added a batten along the copper top line.
Brian Lavery makes reference to this, and indicates use of a 3” elm strip, which equates to around 1mm at scale.

5390

5492
Use of a batten does cover any minor irregularities in the copper line.
I will have a play around and see if I prefer the look with or without a batten.
 
As an aside it is interesting to note that Harpy is slightly bigger overall than Pegasus. Heavier, broader, and only shorter by 1’7” on the gun-deck. She is also much more heavily armed, and with an official complement of only four less than Pegasus.
What she lacks is the aesthetic beauty of Pegasus.
Personally I prefer the more decorative vessels produced up to the last quarter of the 18th century.
 
 
B.E
14/02/2025
 

Post 34
Coppering cont’d
The eighth day sees the Starboard bow section completed.
Many small pieces require cutting to fill in at the water-line and stem, and these take a lot of time.
 
The cutwater is next plated.
I needed to think a little about the approach.
The facing plates of the cutwater run vertically and are folded over the horizontal plates that extend from the hull. These in turn are lipped over the hull plates by around 3” (1mm at scale).
The concern at model scale is that the effect does not look  over bulky.
The provided plates exceed the width of the stem by the line of the outer nails each side which allows for a very fine return around the stem.
With the horizontal plates fixed up to the edge of the stem, the vertical plates were started at the waterline.
0215
I scored a line down each reverse side of a plate which allowed a lip to be formed for the return around the stem.

0254
This eased the fitting and allowed the cyano to quickly bite.
 
The ninth day sees completion of the plating.

0243

0245

0246

0247

0250

0228

0229

0234

0236
On completion I have 237 plates unused, so Chris has included plenty to cover mishaps and miscuts.

0257
I had very few off-cuts left at the end.
 
Not quite the end as the water-line needs cleaning up, I have a couple of options for this.
Some plates to be replaced, and then there’s the final cleaning and deciding on the finish.
 
 
B.E.
13/02/2025

Thank you one and all for your encouragement.
 
In regard to the ship and her model - the model is the star of the museum as she takes shape, and visitors are enthralled by her story.  I'm always careful to tell our teenage girl visitors that she was named for a 16year old grand duchess! 😀
 
John

I found some time for the artillery. I oil coated it, and installed the parts of the corronades lafets.

Frames are completed, time to get rid of not used templates.



Now, I am working on stern solid filling timber, first, cut the template and glue it to the board.

Cut and sanded.. and same templates glued to the back..

Marking it for shaping..

Here templates (white line) can be seeing on the back and front..



Start carving... first with the ends to make sure not to break the wood... must admit this wood (pear) is perfect for carving. Speaking of which, need to order few more boards..


then carving following the dotted lines..


Semi-end result...

Next is a bit of sanding since my board is 6mm and I need 5mm..

I left a bit more wood to do final sanding/carving when board is 5mm thick..

Happy modelling..

Thanks guys. The aim is to build a “framed” model without all the massive jigs and tons of expensive wood while utilizing the simplicity of bulkheads for everything above the wales.
Keep in mind that with Portland we are building a model of a painting of a model so the frames are all single pieces and simple to install.

The contemporary examples below are exactly what I’m looking to achieve with this kit.
 

Did some work on the lower port side shrouds and even some rat lines. Made a few blocks.