davyboy

Hi All
Thanks for the likes.
Wales are now complete.  The paper model simply has a paper template glued to a sufficiently thickness of card and stuck appropriately on the model.
 
The template shows a hook and butt planking and I've used this to provide the shape of the planks for the wales
 
I taped the template to some carbon paper and this was then taped to some Alder milled to 1mm.  I used Alder for no other purpose than I had some deep  enough (50mm) from stock that allowed the template to fit.  The lines were then drawn over with a 0.3 mm pencil to provide the cuts required.
 

 
The planks were individually numbered and cut out with a knife, below shows the work in progress
 

 
Once complete I masked off the hull and used black wood stain to finish.  I didn't use paint as I wanted to keep as much definition of the planking  as possible seeing as how I had put the effort in.  Masking tape will stay in place for the time being as I work on the quarter galleries and there is a further row of planking required just above the wales which I'll complete later.
 

 
Thanks for looking in
 
Mark
 
 
 
 

Working on filling pieces.... first made a 15cm long stripe of wood and on its edge cut a groove 1x1mm, taking into account that filling pieces are not equal in hight, based on plan from plate #6. For example, this one has a groove on the bottom so I cut extra length..

.. put it in place..

.. mark its hight...


.. and cut ..


... then with a small amount of glue, put in place between frames..


.. end results... not perfect...


Keep into account the groove (or water channel) direction changes at frame #22..

Happy modelling..

All of cannons are placed. It takes me quite a lot of time to create right gun carriages on the upper decks due to mistakes I made during the construction of decks a long time ago.
 Now I will try to rig them 🙄I hope I will succeed and it won´t take half of year ( or the whole year 😁).
 
Jan
 
 

Hello,
thank you Keith, and all others thank you for your likes.
 
Yesterday I finised the planking of the "floor". The next plank is the Meginhufr, a strong plank like the wales. When the most planks have a thickness of 0,5mm, this one is 0,8mm thick. From now on, it goes upwarts. In this case downwards! The next four planks have a collecting piece (?) to the stems. That would be the next challenge.
 
But now the pictures from the last two strakes.

Hi All, I haven’t posted any updates in awhile, I’ve moved, had a job change and the whole ball of wax. In that time I’ve made some major modifications to the original design of Portland which includes frames as seen in the painting. I’ve decided to move forward with building that prototype alongside the current POB version of Portland as I plan to offer both versions of the model, one for those who don’t like sanding tons of char and the other for those who don’t like planking.
The two models are very similar above the main wales but that’s where it ends. Below the main wale the structure is completely different made up of many more parts. I’m currently testing the framing and the support structure that holds it, results are good so far, I plan to move to the forward frames tomorrow where things get a little more tricky with multiple angles involved.
 
Below you can see the support structure going together along with the test frames. 
I’ve blacked out the MDF support structure so it will not be seen once the lower frames are all in place, or at least harder to see. I’m currently building the frames out of Swiss pear with the keel, knee and any planking AYC. The deck structure will be the same where the beams are pear and all planking a lighter AYC. 
more updates to come soon. 
JJ
 

Spent most of the day making kingposts and dead eyes etc and added shrouds to rear mast. After rigging the port side shrouds to the channels and chains, I thought good but after a few hrs I felt something was wrong. Then sadly I noticed the channel dead eyes were wrong. Grrrrrrr. Need to redo them. Wasted time.
 
 

Nothing special Glenn, simply a length of dowel with the end  rounded a little. I have also used  one of those cheap mechanical pencils with the rubber in the end, that works too.
 

You can see it here on the right hand side of the tile next to my pick-up  tool. That could also easily be a small diameter  length of dowel, covered in micro-porous tape, and dipped in tacky wax.
 
B.E.

Continuation: Guiding the bowlines for the main topgallant sail and main royal sail
After four discs were arranged in the appropriate position in the illustration in Atlas du Génie Maritime, Plate 211, I still had to clarify how to proceed with the main topgallant stay.
As I remembered having saved other sheets of the Atlas du Génie Maritime on my computer a long time ago, I looked there again for relevant details and the following came to light:

Source: Excerpt from Atlas du Génie Maritime
This detail was obviously used for larger (Fig. 1) but also for smaller ships (Fig. 2). As is clearly evident from the description, the four disc gates are reserved for bowlines and the guide hole for the topgallant stay (galoche d'etai).

After this clarification, I modified my drawing and can then move on to implementation.
To be continued...

Decided to rig Pegasus, so making the masts is next.

Hi photo Anson thanks for yours like.

Young branches at least are quite flexible and tough. In some parts of Europe willows were kind of trained or trimmed in a particular way to give lots of shoots, which were used also for basket weaving and the like. These willows once were a characteristic sight along rivers and creeks. They looked like mushrooms with a lot of sticks coming out of them. As not so many baskets or house walls are woven anymore, the practice has largely died out.
 
I could imagine that such branches with the bark stripped off (which is easy) would make good tree-nails. These tree-nails are also flexible, adding to the flexibility of the hull.

Continuation: Guiding the bowlines for the main topgallant sail and the main royal sail
A model building colleague made a suggestion for the guidance of the bowlines.
So I researched the arrangement of the discs again and saw an important detail in the Atlas du Génie Maritime.

I have looked at plate 211 many times, but only found this interesting detail after a targeted search. So I will modify the alignment of the discs accordingly.
Many thanks again to Robbi for the suggestion.

OK, here is a little update.... started to work on frames...






No much to report... just cut, sand, fit, glue...

Happy modelling..

Thank you Mark, there are a lot of repetitive and tedious tasks in ship modelling, tying ratlines, rigging guns, fitting deadeyes, and indeed coppering. I don't mind, I'm in no hurry.
I want the build to last a while so I'm not tempted by the next offering to  beguile me from the fertile mind of Mr Watton.😉
 
Post 30
Coppering
Before I begin, I have given the hull an application of w-o-p which should provide a better contact with the glue.

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Use of Poly surely brings out the planking, but as a purely varnished hull it wouldn’t do for me. I don’t like the striped effect of differently toned planks randomly applied, as can be seen here on the lower hull. Apart from aesthetics the effect is out of scale.
 
 
I used all the colour matched planks which fortunately covered above the waterline, but there were insufficient matching planks for a full bare hull.
With Harpy, only six Pearwood lengths were unusable for my purposes, but the odd few defects will always get through.

0203
I am not a fan of vertically grained or mottled strips, but they can be used beneath copper or a painted hull.
In larger projects such as Sphinx and Indefatigable where my intention from the outset was for varnished hulls, I replaced all the Pear strip with milled timber from Hobbymill E.U. an excellent supplier of quality timber.
 
 
With coppering preparation is everything to assist a smooth operation.
I have assembled my application kit.

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Acetone for cleaning off ca marks.
Isopropanol for cleaning plates.
Disposable vinyl gloves.
Pick-up tool and burnishing stick.
Tacky Wax for picking up plates.
Scalpel and  cutters.
I am now conducting tests on various cryanolates to see which suits me best. I would prefer not to have to use the standard ca with its undesirable issues for eyes and breathing, but early indications show that the odourless version I have is a little suspect.
 
I noticed that Knocklouder had mentioned in a post that he had used Deluxe Super’phatic glue (no fumes) with good result so I have ordered a bottle for test.
 
B.E.
03/02/2025
 

Today I printed part of the decor for Le Fleuron. Wood cannot achieve such fine details.

Yves , I think this picture will disappoint you a little, as here the stand takes on its usual dull appearance.  

Continuation: Guiding the bowlines for the main topgallant sail and the main royal sail
Thankfully, I received a photo of the rear area of the fore cross trees from a nice restorer at the Musée de la Marine in Paris. There you can see the routing of the bowlines of the main topgallant sail and the main royal sail. As already described, I assume that discs were actually used here to redirect these ropes. It is also clear from the photo that the main topgallant stay was also guided over them.
Accordingly, I made a drawing of how this wooden part might have looked from my point of view, and thus functionally meets the requirements for a good and safe redirection. I will try to make the part like this.

To redirect the bowlines for the mizzen royal sail and the braces for the mizzen royal yard, an analogous part is needed for the rear area of the main cross trees.
 
To be continued...

Hi All
 
I've had some more time so I've been getting on with the stern.  I decided to go with the curved planks that I had previously made but I did break off the top two planks and replace them.  It was really easy to do and I just reused my jig to make this happen.
 
Moving forward there is a carved moulding which goes around the stern.  It's quite basic compared to many ships which was a bonus for me as I have never tried to make anything like this before.  So as per usual I made a photocopy template and cut out the basic shape.
 

And now the fun started - Using a mixture of scrapers and chisels I went ahead and tried to replicate how it should look.  I'm no carver thats for sure and I could not replicate the very fine detail but I gave it a go.
 


This is pretty much as good as it gets from me so I decided to use this first version.  Hopefully my carving will improve as I learn this skill more.
 
Next was to mill out the windows - I wanted to use the mill so that I could get the shape as correct as possible.  However they could easily be cut out using a fret saw and files.
 

The two parts now glued together - I'm going to fit this part to the counter timbers tomorrow and as long as nothing splits when I bend it all should be OK.  If not I'll have a rethink on how to approach this part of the ship.
 


 
Thanks for all of the comments - Mark

It has been a busy week in more ways than one.  Having glued the bulwark in, I started the planking process.  

 

 
 
 
You can see the rough planked hull
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Then after cleaning it up. You can see I am trying to protect the bow as it just wants to break

 
 
Next added the outer layer over the sternpost , bow and false keel.
 
followed by the stern fascia
 

 
As Blue Ensign noted, it would be nice to cover the endgrain of the second planking rather than leaving exposed as in the original  instructions. When adding the stern fascia it is advised to sand it down flush with the first planking. I noticed there seems to be enough room to actually but the end of the second planking against it so I'll gice it a try. This would pbviate me needing to produce a larger fram from scrap pieces of wood.
 

 
As an aside, with several empty nest rooms , found a place to display several of Chris' designs, Granado, Flirt, Duchess and Adder
 

Post 29
Preparing to Copper the Hull.
I have decided to copper the hull, the first since my Pegasus build, way back in 2011.
At this point in the build the kit instructions suggest moving onto progressing the fitting of the deck, and inner bulwarks before coppering the hull.
My inclination is to copper the hull before I do any more internal fitting which may be scuffed or damaged with the hull inverted.
Having dodged doing waterlines by leaving the hulls of Sphinx and Indefatigable varnished wood, I must attend to this first.

0114
Not one of my favourite jobs and it usually takes several goes to get a line I am happy with.

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I may still tweak the line at the bow a fraction, as I recall the words of Dr C.N. Longridge in relation to coppering Victory.
 
If you lay your copper strakes strictly up to the line you will be very disappointed when you have finished the coppering because it will appear to sag downwards at the bows and stern.
This is an optical illusion produced by the curving inwards of the ship’s body. To prevent this you must raise the line  at each end of the ship and then the top line of the copper will appear horizontal. Begin to raise the line at the level of the Foremast and Mizen which is roughly where the cant frames begin.
 
Victory of course has a much bluffer bow and the degree of tweaking will differ between ships, but something to bear in mind.

0149
This is a good point to get some paint down on the wale altho’ many touch-ins will be required before the model is complete.
I am using Vallejo Black/grey which I think gives a better scale tone.
I am using the Vanguard supplied plates rather than use copper tape.

0129
Three very thin sheets of plates are supplied marked with the nail patterns.
There is also a separate set for the rudder and stem face plating.
Unlike the Amati plates (smaller strip to right) I have used previously, these are not handed Port and Starboard with nail markings to represent an overlap, nor are the plates so obviously scored for removal.
The Vanguard Plates do come easily away with careful bending.
The plates are a close match to the Amati version and with regard to relative costs there is not a lot in it.
 
 
B.E.
02/02/2025
 

Looks very nice indeed Maurice,certainly a great improvement.
 
Dave  

Another update. All the headsails are now completed, although I may re-run one of the fore topmast staysail sheets - we'll see. A start has been made on the main staysails, so it hopefully won't be too long before I can cross the first yard.  There are still quite a few other outstanding jobs to do other than rigging, however I'd like to get at least one yard crossed so that visitors can get more of an idea of where the model is going.
 
John
 

Beautiful. Valeriy, I don't know what you get for your work but I have a feeling it's not enough. 

And some more detailed photography...

So, my process has come to an end. The flag is raised on the ship, the project is finished!