ccoyle

Hey, I forgot to add a shot of the name plate, also added back in December.
 

 
Swivel guns should (hopefully) be on the way soon, after which I will post a set of final photos.
 
Cheers!

Hey, I forgot to add a shot of the name plate, also added back in December.
 

 
Swivel guns should (hopefully) be on the way soon, after which I will post a set of final photos.
 
Cheers!

Hey, I forgot to add a shot of the name plate, also added back in December.
 

 
Swivel guns should (hopefully) be on the way soon, after which I will post a set of final photos.
 
Cheers!

OK, the updated Speedy is now live:
 
HMS Speedy – Version 2023 – VANGUARD MODELS
 
These will be ready to ship early next week, as I have the printed stuff arriving at the end of this week. The old manual is still avaialbel to download and the updated manual is now also available to download.
 
The ladders and gratings option have been deleted, as these are all included with the 2023 version.
 
Regarding Trial Cutter, it is very frustrating for me, as I am still waiting for a delivery date for the phot etched sheets. These are all I am waiting for, with everything else ready to go.

Ugh. One down, thirteen to go.  😑
 

 
If you ever see me complaining about card radial engines, this is why!

I added stump masts today. I think these make a huge visual difference, as now the knowledgeable viewer knows this is supposed to be a hull model and is not simply an unrigged model.
 

 
BTW, I did not glue the masts in, just in case I ever get a wild hair and decide to add real masts -- an unlikely event, I feel, but one never knows.

Rather than spend a great deal of time creating spare masts to stow the ship's boat on, I decided to display the boat on the stand. I glued down a couple of pieces of strip wood with a slot between them to hold the boat's keel.
 

 
I had planned to install the hammock cranes, but I've discovered (or perhaps rediscovered) that the cranes came with the upgrade kit, not the original kit, and there are thus no cranes shown on the plans. I will have to peruse some other build logs to figure out the spacing for them.

Side ropes done. Moving on to hammock cranes.
 

More progress.
 
The Swan-class sloops had a very small number of belaying pins, located in racks along the quarterdeck railings. As usual, these off-the-shelf pins benefit from being chucked in the ol' Dremel and being turned down a bit.
 

 
And the hammock cranes are done as well. No netting -- sorry. Just don't feel up to the additional effort. The black line is also a little on the thin side, but I didn't have anything on hand that looked 'just right', and all the other available cordage was too thick.
 

 
Believe it or not, there is not much else to do. I'm planning to replace the kit swivel guns with parts from Vanguard Models once they are back in stock, and I also plan to add one or two of the anchors to the display. I also ordered a brass name badge -- she deserves at least that much. So, once all those things are in place, I will report back, but that's pretty much it for now.

Hey, I forgot to add a shot of the name plate, also added back in December.
 

 
Swivel guns should (hopefully) be on the way soon, after which I will post a set of final photos.
 
Cheers!

Hey, I forgot to add a shot of the name plate, also added back in December.
 

 
Swivel guns should (hopefully) be on the way soon, after which I will post a set of final photos.
 
Cheers!

I had some issues with kit rigging plans. The kit omitted an important part, so the main mast and aft-mast didn't work well. I confirmed the missing parts from the contemporaty model of Portuguese museum sites. After I fixed it, everything went very smoothly. 😎 I'll post the modified rigging plan when I finish her.

Welcome aboard! That is some fine workmanship on display.
 
Cheers!

Welcome aboard! That is some fine workmanship on display.
 
Cheers!

I continue to pick away at the frieze on the side of alert. The sections below were a bit more tangly to do as I had already installed the channels and the deadeyes.

I had to break out the magnifying glasses as I only have about 3.5mm of width to work with.

Time for another work in progress picture. I have been slowly working on Salacia (the wife of Neptune). After a few test versions, mostly to try and plot out the layout, I dived in. One thing I have found is that it helps to have a lot of reference photos of the subject. These come in two types:
 
1) On model pictures (such as the Marshall painting) for getting down the colour and style: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co521412/cutter-alert-oil-painting
 
2) The subject depicted in other artwork to help with context:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salacia#/media/File%3AAffreschi_romani_-_nettuno_anfitrine_-_pompei.JPG
https://www.encirclephotos.com/wp-content/uploads/Belgium-Antwerp-Salacia-Goddess-Statue-954x1440.jpg
 
This is my progress to date:

I feel much better about the cloth on her than I do about Neptune. I plan to depict her holding the stick wth the leaves as she is portrayed in the statue I referenced above. I think this will add balance and contrast where they are both mirroring each other holding an object, but the objects better represent who they are.
 
EDIT: And i got the counter done. I also adjusted neptune a little. Next on to the sides.

Hey everyone! 
 
Finally got some time to work on the ship. My AC went out and it's been way to hot to do much of anything other than sweat.
But, I did manage to get the decking glued down (Need to get bigger clamps!), added boards to the walls(?), and painted them white.
The paint from OcCre ran especially thin and seemed to clump up a little bit as well. A bit of sanding will help and i may add some weathering to make the seems between boards pop.
Next steps is sanding everything to get prepped for planking. Unsure if I will do it the way the guide says, or try my hand at planking it more realistically.

I started the tedious phase of building and installing the gun port lids. One quarter of the vessel, at a time....
 

 

 

 

 
CAF Models provides enough PE parts to make them movable and fully hinged. On my model, I have simplified the articulations and glued the lids into the ports. Just a couple of dozens to go.....
Yves 
 
 

I’m nearly done with chapter 9 and want to show some of my progress.  As you can see, it hasn’t been without problems.  I broke the forecastle rail on both sides.  I’ve repaired the port side, which broke at the third timberhead opening while I was sanding the edge.  The starboard broke the same way, but got much worse while I was trying to finish the installation.  It was back together and then came apart while I was trying to slide the rail into the right elevation.  I’m going to let the glue dry on the timber heads and then fix the railing.  I’m pretty sure I can fix it and hide the repair.
 

I remember this taking much longer the first time. It’s been so long I’m not really sure where I got to. 
 
Now that I have a better understanding of fairing the hull this part may go better. 
 
Fair a frame MS105 was good enough to square up the bulkheads. I built it to hold the hull. I got it a try for it’s intended purpose. Not my favorite tool, but it did the job. 
 

 

 

Hi there everyone, wherever you are I hope you all had a great Canada Day and 4th of July! 
I have now got the lower hull planking completed
I used my miniature hobby vise and reversed clothespins to push the final strakes up against the completed part of the hull.
Here is the lower hull completed, and with wood filler applied to even out any divots and other rough patches, after sanding.



Most of the wood filler is in the bow area, and that will be covered by a steel shoe that was fitted to help St. Roch push through the Arctic ice. The hull will also be painted which will cover the remaining filler.
 

Almost there! Need to do the shrouds and make some rope coils and I’m calling her complete. Took some creative liberty in a few areas, such as cleats becoming small sanded pieces of basswood and some rigging not completely right.

Anything glaring that I’m missing? Eager to finish this up but would like to know if I am missing a main piece of rigging or something (other than the shrouds)
 
 
 

I have finished the pinnace. When it was completed I went back to the gig whaler to fix some problems that I discovered after the last post. when I looked at the pictures, I saw that the keel was not level for its entire length, it  was too long on the stern end. So I corrected that and I was not satisfied with the paint on the hull. I took all the hull paint off, re-sanded the hull and repainted with new paint. I used some old paint and the white had yellowed after a few days. I used the same techniques on the pinnace as the gig whaler so I did not document all the same steps. There were some new challenges  on the pinnace. The first was how to make the oar  locks. JSGerson used a Byrnes table saw to make his. I do not have one so I put a circular cutting bit on my rotary carver and made the small channel in a 1/8 x1/16 cherry wood strip. I put my rotary cutter on its stand and made the channel, then sawed the oar lock off, and then made the next channel. Having a long  wood strip to hold onto helped the process. The second challenge was to make the very small corner braces. For this i put a diamond flame bit on my rotary carver and cut a half circle in a piece 1/16"  cherry wood and then cut it off with the same cutter bit I used on the oar lock. I have not made the rudders for either boat yet, I will wait and see how the boats fit on the deck before making that decision.  I ran out of styrene for the ribs on the remaining 2 whalers. I only ordered 1 package and it had 10 12" strips, I should have ordered 2. I also have not installed the footrests in either boat.  Have not figured out how to make them yet. I also have not installed cleats as that metal work is outside my comfort zone.

Hi All
Thanks for the comments and likes.
Small update on progress...
Cannons are now installed but not without a few small issues shown below.
The plans asked for dummy cannon blocks to be installed at the framing stage in the pre defined slots  shown in the top left image with the intent that holes are drilled into the blocks to accept the dummy cannons.
Top right image, the wood gauge shows the depth from the dummy block to the edge of the frame (pencil mark). The unpainted part of the cannon is of a lesser diameter than the barrel and is to fit in the hole drilled in the block.  However following this course of action would lead to the cannons being far recessed inside the hull.  To overcome this blocks were made and the cannons fixed to these to effectively increase the length of the cannon as shown in the bottom image.  The assembly was then glued against the dummy cannon blocks....the thread was was used as a recovery mechanism in case the cannons fell inside the hull whilst the glue was setting


Cannons are now installed and I'm onto the running rigging
 


 
 
Thanks for dropping by
 
Mark

I have  been  doing a  bit  of photo  editing  in my  Lightroom  and decided  to re  post  these  -  they  show  the  damage  to the  upper  bridge  after that  German  shell  passed   through  it,   and   a  general  scene  of  both  remaining  hull  parts  before  she sank.
 
OC.