davyboy

Finally ready to tackle the figurehead.  Serapis is an Egyptian Bey who guarded the gates of Hades with his three headed dog Cerebrus.  He is always depicted with an upside-down bowl/grain holder on his head.

Tracing the figurehead from the Serapis 1782 drawings.

 
The finished results.

 

bcd,
 
Welcome to the real world! I bought a bunch of deadeyes from a well known model company and they were mostly crap!
 
Do these guys have trained monkeys making parts for them? Look at the photo - the holes are almost randomly spaced! Only about half of the parts were useable - the rest were junk!
 
I won't be buying  anything from A**** again!!!!!!!!!

For vertical ladders, if you mount the ladder so that it is off of the bulkhead with spacers, the rungs and sides become handholds.
 
For inclined ladders, I have never once, in 24 years of naval service, gone down an inclined ladder backwards. That is a sure sign of a landlubber aboard ship.  Vertical ladders, can only be traversed facing the ladder.
 
BTW, ships do not have stairs. They have ladders.
 
Regards,
Henry

I’ve seen them on contemporary models without hand rails.  I assume they held on to the sides or the back of the rungs as needed.
These are men who had no problem scrambling around in the rigging on a rolling ship.

Thanks Steven
These shields are more like panels, only the upper deck of the rear castle should have shields. But it will take a while before I get there.
 
And some may be disappointed, but there is no room for toilet facilities at the front.
 
Little progress.
Since I retired a year earlier than planned, I am building faster than the research I had already done.
In the meantime, more is happening on the Corel yacht kit model
Only extra holes have been made in accordance with the rear castle.

And after measuring with the laser, the entire fore castle appeared to be a bit crooked in relation to the hull.
This has now been corrected. If I didn't tell anyone, no one would have noticed... 😇

 

Next ,although not required, painted hatches and capstan base

 
 
Next sail locker, really need to clap on veneers to prevent curls. Also orient veneers so plank lines align around
 

 

 
Blue Ensin and Glenn UK took photos of brick pavers to print a base.  As I do not have a color printer decided to do something different. Used scrap base then cut out wood bricks from some 1x3. Then glued them in staggered pattern.
 

Filled with wood filler

Then painted red and rubbed down

 
Added white wash for mortar lines and rubbed again then light rubbing again with red paint

 
Next painted stove and added metallic filings to age it and mounted on faux brick base
 

 
Of course did not glue stove pipe chimney, that comes much later
 

 

Hi photo Anson cants frames.

Thanks SaltyScot 
Thank you giampieroricci
Cheers CiscoH
Cheers davec 👍
 
A little bit more of an update - Today I tackled the limber channel which I've been putting off since I completed the frame work.  To me its one of those jobs that you only get one go at and its nerve racking!!!!



I also gave it a real good clean up inside and out and finished the port side with the same shellac

I also repaired the damage to the counter timbers so they are now fine again

My next job is going to be planking the stern vault - The timbers have a shiplap joint and I have already cut them and are good to go.


Thanks for re-following my build and honestly thanks for the kind comments - Mark
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hi guys a bit more progress. I'm pleased how its looking at the moment its my first experience in planking hard work but well worth it  

Once all the partitions were in place, I dryfitted all the deck beams after sanding the char off the tops. A few needed a touch with a sanding stick to properly seat, but otherwise all was good. There are three beams that cross the sail room. The latter was put in place, not glued, and the fit of the beams checked. The location of the stove relative to the beams fore and aft was also checked. Finally, as this is the last time before the deck is closed off, dowels were used to represent the masts and pump outlets and inserted to make sure their respective mounting holes were clear. The three bitts were similarly checked. The sail room and stove were then glued in place. I too have copied B.E. and put a base under the stove. After finding a downloadable tile pattern that I liked (not as easy as you might think), I fiddled around on the computer to get a 6x3 print that seemed to be of an appropriate size. It was edged with 1x1mm pear. The stove is not glued in place in this photo. Cheers

Thank you Chris and Nipper it's satisfying to know that my Logs  are of use to others. I too am grateful for the logs of others who also help me along the way.
 
Post 19
Topsides
The beautifully detailed Topsides save a lot of effort in planking around the gunports and what look like sweep ports.

0165

0170
Before I started, I marked the station lines down the hull to assist the planking.

0171

0174
The pattern was soaked at the forward end and clamped to the hull overnight to take the stress out of the bow curve.
 
 A useful innovation designed by Chris are gunport alignment jigs.
These are handed Port and Starboard and fit the ports  from  2 at the Bow to 10 at the stern.

0177

0178
Before I applied glue anywhere near the patterns I dry fitted with the jigs in place. The jigs need a little cleaning-up by removal of any fret nubs to ensure a perfect fit. Once gluing is in progress you don’t want to be fiddling around trying to get the jigs into place.

0182
Once I was happy with the fit of the jigs I glued the two sections together.
 
I did find that I needed to finely shave the bow end of the pattern by degrees to allow alignment with the ports, several dry fit checks were necessary before I committed to glue.
This is a critical part of the build and it has to be correct.
 
Gluing is a tricky business given the length of the pattern.

0184

0187
I chose to start at the bow, gluing and clamping along to the third port whilst checking the alignment at the stern. The pva was applied to the hull.
I did find it necessary to pin all along the bottom edge of the pattern to counter the tendency to curl.
I used slightly thicker pins than those provided for this purpose.

0186
I then progressively glued along the hull at three port intervals, constantly re-checking the fit of the jigs, and removing/ replacing them to avoid any risk of stray glue sticking them.

0191
It has taken the best part of a day to get one side fitted.

0193
A main consideration is to guard against marring the surface of the Pearwood veneers. Unwanted pva or ca will be problematical, and I have both clean water and Acetone handy to immediately clean off any spills.
 
Onto the Starboard side.
 
B.E.
13/01/2025

The propeller is installed in its place together with the rudder.

After polishing and adjusting the blade profile, the propeller took on a finished look.

Thanks for all the likes. This latest starts the deck furniture, in this case the manger or at least half of it. This occupies the space aft of the hawse holes and forward  of the bowsprit step. The manger consists of a space contained by removable planks which contains and drains any water entering through the hawse holes. It is also a convenient place to house animals, hence the name. It probably won't be seen on completion of the model but what the heck, I know it's there!



 
Cheers
Dick

That square tuck looks much neater with your framing arrangement.  Great thinking on your part although I realise you haven't defintely decided to go with it.
 
This is a good example of how your blog is so helpful.  Your willingness to go off-piste in order to improve a model (even such great ones as Vanguard's), helps me to think a bit more outside the box as well (pun unintentional but it's appropriate!).  Little alterations such as these make the model more personal and more satisfying.  
 
Nipper

Hi Maurice,
 
She's looking good. These fashion pieces look much better than that shown on the prototype build.  The Speedwell has exactly the same arrangement on the lower counter,I suspect that would be fairly common construction practice back in the day on small ships still using the older style square tuck . I'm currently chipping away at the boxwood carved figures of the two ladies ornamenting Speedwell's tafferel,then there are other smaller pieces to be done. Heigh Ho,get there eventually I guess.
 
Dave 
 

JD,
You might want to post that here:  https://modelshipworld.com/#:~:text=Traders%2C Dealers%2C Buying or Selling anything%3F - Discuss New Products and Ship Model Goodies here as well!!

Thanks Dave, obviously it would be a faux  arrangement as I'm constrained by the kit bulkhead set up, but hopefully it would look a tad more authentic than end grain planks.
I wish you good fortune with the carving, keep you chisels sharp and cuts small. I always find the tension rising as I get towards the completion of a piece, particularly if I am  pleased with it, there's always that worry.....
 
Cheers,
 
Maurice.

Well after a very long wait for me I eventually got my workshop back in November.  I did however revamp it with a bigger work area and decorate it too.
 
So back to building Le Rochefort at very long last!  In my last post I had to remove a few planks and have a good clean up.  Since then I've been happily getting the planking done.  I think the comments above sum up the issues I had so I think pictures tell a better story than words.
 












More tree nails






Final sanding a a very light coat of shellac sanding sealing



 


Some of my joints leave quite a bit to be desired but on the whole I think it looks OK.  I could have made life so much easier by using much thinner planks but I wanted to stay true to the drawings and scantlings.  Next time I will not use black archival ink for the joints either as I think it just looks far too stark.  I would probably use brown ink or just a HB pencil as my dodgy joints would not stand out so much!
 
I've learnt how to spile planks now too and I have found that once you get your head around it the process is very easy to do.
 
The ship has sustained a bit of damage in the process and as such I need to repair the counter timbers a little and remake the taff rail stantions.  Its no big deal - I think it was druxey who a long time ago said that they probably wouldn't last the distance during the build - he was right 🤣  I wanted to remake them anyway as I had missed out the detail on them which would have been difficult to do in place.
 

The new and improved taff rail stantions which I knock out earlier on the mill

So thats me back at it and although I've been participating on the forum there's nothing like actually building 
 
My next jobs are to cut the limber channel and shape all of the frame spacers on the port side.  I'm then going to concentrate on the stern just to beef it up a bit as it's too exposed at the moment.
 
Another job is going to I'm going to make a heavy duty keel clamp.  I didn't enjoy chasing the hull around the work bench and I've seen that others have made one too. 
 
Thanks for your patience  - Mark
 
 

Hi Maurice,
 
She's looking good. These fashion pieces look much better than that shown on the prototype build.  The Speedwell has exactly the same arrangement on the lower counter,I suspect that would be fairly common construction practice back in the day on small ships still using the older style square tuck . I'm currently chipping away at the boxwood carved figures of the two ladies ornamenting Speedwell's tafferel,then there are other smaller pieces to be done. Heigh Ho,get there eventually I guess.
 
Dave 
 

Thanks for looking in SaltyScot, early days but I think she's shaping up.
 
Post 18
Square Tuck or what?
Post 36 about planking below the lower counter has set a hare running in my mind.

Harpy kit prototype build..
What we are looking at here is a Square Tuck arrangement and the idea that the hull planking with open grain ends finishing atop the vertical planking seems somewhat impractical and may simply be a kit simplification.
 
My mind went back to my Cheerful build and the arrangement designed by Chuck, with framing for the Tuck, and boards inserted leaving no open ends.

Chuck's Cheerful arrangement.
 
I decided to use the engraved pieces for the tuck but play around with a frame arrangement that at least gives a nod to the set-up for a square tuck as seen on small vessels.

0160

0163
The frame shapes were cut out on the jigsaw and this is the arrangement very much in the rough. The hull planking will butt against the frame which will cover the grain ends, which is always good carpentry practice.
I will infill with planks to sit flush with the framing.

0164
This is not a big issue in terms of the overall look of the model and the planking will proceed as per the kit arrangement.
I will re-visit this once the planking has been completed and decide which version I  prefer.
 
B.E.
12/01/2025
 

Post 17
Dressing the Hull
As a break from planking the time has come to fit many of those engraved Pearwood veneers that complete the outer look of the model.
These essentially replace the need for individual planking of the topsides and stern counters. I am mostly at ease with these simplifications as a similar system was used on the Sphinx model and I like the look of her.

0154
Firstly, additional veneer pieces representing the Knee of the head, including the Fiddle scroll, keel and stern post are glued and pegged into place.

0136
The stern post pieces needed a little fettling to fit. A gentle touch is required, these are fragile parts.

0130

0139

0148

0142
I have not yet fitted the pre-printed lower stern boards, I have something in mind for that area.
 
B.E.
11/01/2025

Great,another Speedwell build for me to enjoy following. My scratch 1:48 scale POB version from David Antscherl's plans started around 5 years ago will hopefully be completed later this year. Another kit success story from Chuck's stable. 
 
Dave 

A 'stone' is 14 pounds (weight).  Even in modern Britain this is still the common way of describing body weight. 
So, 16 stone = 224 lb.