Krelis

Much more regarding the details of why I chose this ship to build; history of the ship; and other items of interest can be found on my web page for this project.  This "log" is to replace the one that had been posted here before the forum crashed and lost a lot of data.
 
Beginning
 
Having the plans already in the size I wanted saved a lot of time getting started, and I used the Model Ship Builder article as a guide at first.  A bit of scrap particle board from a remodeling project was used as a building board.  The forms were cut from scrap wood paneling, and the keel was some 1/2" scrap birch plywood from a cabinet I built.  This was all stood up by the end of March, 1999.
 
 
Then I discovered a book;
William Mowll's Building a Working Model Warship:HMS Warrior, 1860.

Mowll covered his forms with battens instead of planking and covered that with gummed brown paper packing tape over which he applied masking tape to create a plug for making a fiberglass mold. The masking tape was to give the texture of Warrior’s cast iron plating. I happened to have a large roll of the brown tape, and got the idea of using this method to make a plug and cast 3 hulls in glass fiber.  I didn't need the masking tape as Constellation wasn't iron plated, I would use the brown tape to impart planking details to the mold.

 
So, moving forward with this plan, I battened the forms with scrap white pine strips...
 
 
 
...and proceeded to cover that with the brown paper tape creating what would be a plug for a fiber-glass mold.
 
 
The tape shrinks a bit when it dries and can be sanded.  Once the form was covered diagonally I began applying a second layer in the form of strips to represent planking, gunport lids, and even copper bottom plating - all this detail would be picked up by the mold and imparted to the glass hull when it was laid up.  The plug still needed more details, like quarter galleries, but none of the drawings available gave these details, so I had to go digging.

 
In the meantime we sold the house and bought a small farm where we kept some horses and I commuted 65 miles one-way to work.  The plug went into the barn, covered in plastic, and wasn't touched from 2003 till 2008.

 
Next: Work resumes.

I have decided to have two knights to raise the yard which would have been heavy and will make a capstan to assist.
 
Here is an illustration from the Trombetta manuscript showing, I believe, a knight in situ. Other people have suggested that this is a person but this is clearly not the case
 

 

 
 
Cheers
Dick

Morning coffee when you didn't sleep well ...
 

 
Genious picture, picked up somewhere on internet
 
Nice represents state of mind when body rised up, but head still stayed in bed. Kids come home over 00:00, talking untill 01:00, reading book to 02:00, wake up 06:30, if I can call this "wake up"

This you can see from pub
 

 
In front is one of the famous Belgrade hundreads pubs on water

Hello again to all.  
 
Thanks for the likes and comments.  I am glad that I can pass along some of the tips, tricks and techniques from my own teachers and from decades of trials and lots of errors along the way.
 
This will be the final installment of this build log.  The model is done and is waiting to be picked up for crating and delivery.  The final touches include: the stern lantern; mounting the anchors and anchor buoys; fitting the ship's boat and the spare spars.
 
The lantern was done in the round French fashion, rather than the hexagonal English style.  This meant that I had to scratch build it, rather than buying one of the well-designed and detailed ones from Syren Models.  In any event, here is how I went about it:
 
The lantern is not really round so it cannot be simply turned to shape, as you can see from the reproduced sections of the plan it is skewed towards the stern.  The central body was the most difficult to create.  Attempts to carve wood and acrylic were both completely unsatisfactory.  Starting from a cylindrical shape I could not get the proper angle to the lamp body.  Instead, I tried Sculpey, a clay that is hardened by baking in an oven.  After shaping it to the basic form by hand it was hardened according to the package directions.  When cool and hard it was still easily refined and smoothed by sanding.  The brass rod is for convenience in holding and shaping.
 
1
 
Here is a close-up of the body.  Examining the photograph I saw that I still needed to bring down the sharp ridge between the upper and lower portions.
 
2
 
When the body was brought to shape it was given several coats of primer, then a final light grey color coat, with light sanding in between.  The cap was carved from pear wood in a floral design.  I tried to get 16 petals around the circumference, but this proved too fiddly, so I have 12.  The finial on the top is turned from pear.  The mullions to hold the glass are cherry veneer cut to 0.030” x 0.015” strips.  Each was wet bent at the top end then glued in between the petals.  When that was dry and hard the rest of the strip was glued down the body of the lantern.  I put in the first four to quarter the body then marked out thirds in each section for the rest.
 
3
 
Here is a composite photo with two views of the lantern with all the vertical mullions installed.
 
4
 
The cross pieces were cut from the veneer strip and individually installed in three bands around the lantern.
 
5
 
A floral base was carved and a round drop at the bottom were made out of pear.  The finished lantern was sanded to remove any sharp corners then finished with a light stain/neutral carrier mix.  I let the stain pool a bit in the corners, which gave the panes some depth and shadow.  Each section was filled with white glue which dried to create a glossy ‘glass’ pane.
 
6
 
Mounting hardware was fashioned from a 0.062” brass rod with two pieces soldered at right angles.  The mount was bent and trimmed to fit a trio of holes in the stern.  After blackening the mount was installed and the lantern fitted to it at an appropriate height.
 
7
 
And here is how the lantern fits in with the look of the rest of the stern.
 
8
 
Next I turned to the anchors.  In an earlier segment I went through how I constructed them.  Here are the two finished sets of four anchors for each model.
 
9
 
To hang them I needed a triple block for each of the largest ones which would be mounted at the catheads, as well as an anchor buoy for each.  The blocks were made from 7mm triple blocks which were detailed by drilling a second set of line holes and rounding the resulting ‘sheave’ in the middle.  The hook was bent up from 0.035” annealed iron wire with the shank wrapped around the block in a deepened strop groove.
 
The buoy bodies were ¾” long, turned from maple.  Two ropes were seized together forming a small loop and spot glued at either end.  The lines were led down the body and under a cinch line about ¼ of the way from either end.  The vertical lines were doubled back on themselves, glued and trimmed. 
 
10
 
Here are the anchors mounted on the starboard side.  They are the two middle sized ones.  They are hung with strong lines from timberheads at the rail as well as the hooked block at the cathead.  A sense of weight is imparted by hanging a weight from the anchor then stiffening the supporting lines with dilute white glue.
 
11
 
Here is the buoy tied to the shrouds with a loop of line that is ultimately secured to the anchor shank.
 
12
 
And here are the two on the port side similarly secured.  These are the largest and smallest of the set.
 
13
 
The final tasks were to secure the ship’s boat in the waist and add two spare topmasts and large spars.  These sit between the gaps in the rails at the edges of the foredeck and quarterdeck.
 
14
 
Various rope coils were added to each belaying point, the model was cleaned and a few spots of paint were touched up. 
 
So here she is, ready for pickup and shipping. 
 
15
16
 
And one final photo of a future crewman, grandson Eli, who is almost four and already very interested in what his Poppy Dan does with his boats. . .
 
17
 
It was an interesting build, and radically increased my appreciation and respect for those modelers who rig sails.  As always, questions, comments, and critiques are very welcome.
 
Back soon with another project, the SS Andrea Doria in 1:200 scale.
 
Till then, be well,
 
Dan
 
 

In my country it is said : "Snow does not fall to cover the hill, but to every beast shows its mark"

Thx Mark. Great quote. Similar thoughts can be find in works of classical writers as Remarque, Hemingway, very often with Russian writers from middle XX century. If you are reading a lot, you actually are doing a fine sanding of your soul, shaping your points of view and personality, and preparing you on some way to hard times that eventually you have to face with.


It is hard, very very hard ( yesterday night urgent surgery to save Her life - stomach complications, thx good she wake up) but I think that in war things can be more more harder than in illness.

Fortunately my family and friends had no consequences during civilian war on Balkan, but stories we have heard .... better not to write about

Piet, great to see the model in full, nice touch, great details, I am sure the "Marine Museum" would be more than interested to organize a complete exhibit around her

Piet, great to see the model in full, nice touch, great details, I am sure the "Marine Museum" would be more than interested to organize a complete exhibit around her

Piet, great to see the model in full, nice touch, great details, I am sure the "Marine Museum" would be more than interested to organize a complete exhibit around her

Hello everyone, well, as I have mentioned a few posts ago, the only thing left for me to do before closing this build log is a few final pics.  Out of the roughly 50 pics I took yesterday I picked only nine.  
I want to thank everyone for following this build and your encouragement.  A special thanks to those who gave me advice and assistance in procuring photos, drawings and hardware like  Gino, Remco, Amateur Jan, Mark T.  If I missed anyone, please forgive me, I have thanked you on the spot in one of the earlier posts.
 
I will monitor this log for a short while and respond but please keep it on topic.  If you have questions send me a PM and I'll answer to the best of my ability.
 
I have really enjoyed doing this build with all of you looking over my shoulder.  Your friendship I will treasure and hopefully I'll see you all again in my VOC ship dockyard.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Cheers,
 
 

Thanks for all the enlightenment!
 
I also found this picture showing wadding on top of the ball...

 
with comment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzzleloader)
"On most naval cannons, one piece of wadding was used to hold the powder in place and served the purpose of creating a better seal around the shot. Another was used to act as a plug to stop the shot rolling out because of the swaying of the ship".

Nenad, on msw there is a sound of silence with your blog on hold, but in that silence we are with you. All the best with wife, Jan

Nenad, on msw there is a sound of silence with your blog on hold, but in that silence we are with you. All the best with wife, Jan

Nenad, on msw there is a sound of silence with your blog on hold, but in that silence we are with you. All the best with wife, Jan

Hi Guys,
 
Another quick update on some progress, I'm a little cheesed off because I have some other pictures on my phone and for some reason I'm unable to access them.
 
They are mainly of the Margin Planks, so I'm afraid there will be a jump from Margin Plank template to half planking.
 
I have had a bit of bother finding a decent Veneer to use an after a couple of orders on line which proved totally useless I found a supplier about 7 miles up the road.
 
Speaking with Grant yesterday, he asked what veneers they were and I was unable to tell him, embarrassing really. I have since done a search on line and they are Cedar and Maple, I quite like the effect and so I hope you guys also like it.
 
Some Pics
 
Starboard side Margin Plank template

 
Stern Margin Plank

 
Bow Piece

 
Starboard Margin Plank

 
Starboard side planking, sorry about the big jump.

 

 
Starting the Port side planks

 

 
Once the planking is completed I will be experimenting with treenail colour and material.
 
So your right up to date now guys, I will post more as progress is made.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 

Nenad, on msw there is a sound of silence with your blog on hold, but in that silence we are with you. All the best with wife, Jan

courageous, soaking the keel in a bathtub, but the warp is also at filling blocks level I guess? A little warp is not the end of story, I have both a longitudinal and a hogging warp in the keel of my model, its only when you have it on a flat table and against the sun, or keel up and with an eye along it that it catches the eye

courageous, soaking the keel in a bathtub, but the warp is also at filling blocks level I guess? A little warp is not the end of story, I have both a longitudinal and a hogging warp in the keel of my model, its only when you have it on a flat table and against the sun, or keel up and with an eye along it that it catches the eye

courageous, soaking the keel in a bathtub, but the warp is also at filling blocks level I guess? A little warp is not the end of story, I have both a longitudinal and a hogging warp in the keel of my model, its only when you have it on a flat table and against the sun, or keel up and with an eye along it that it catches the eye

courageous, soaking the keel in a bathtub, but the warp is also at filling blocks level I guess? A little warp is not the end of story, I have both a longitudinal and a hogging warp in the keel of my model, its only when you have it on a flat table and against the sun, or keel up and with an eye along it that it catches the eye

Galley Stove 2
 
The Pot Arms were filed from brass strip :
 
 

 
 
There are two Boilers - a large round one and a smaller oval one. The lids for these were made from Box :
 
 
 

 
 
The inside was painted Matt Black and the 0.5mm Grating Bars were fitted :
 
 

 
 
Paper Pot Lid Handles and Spit Support Brackets were added, also all the rivets which were made from rounded brass wire. The dowel on top of the Cowl is a support for the Chimney :
 
 

 
 
Finally two small hinges from the PE set were added for the dummy lid :
 
 

 
 
The whole stove received a coat of Matt Black :
 
 

 
 
The Ash Box, Side Rails and Spit :
 
 

 
 
The Lifting Rings have been fitted and the stove has been dry-brushed with silver to highlight the various components. The brasswork has also been added - this will be left as brass for a little contrast and better visibility :
 
 

 

 

Upper Deck Companions
 
The Upper Deck Companions are made the same as the Lower Deck ones :
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Forward Room Bulkheads
 
The only variation of note in the construction of these bulkheads from previously detailed ones is the double rabbet in the fore-aft bulkhead stanchions which allows the planking to sit flush with one face of them. The rabbets were cut on the saw in one full length of stock and the stanchions were cut to size afterwards. The stanchions are vertical to the waterline, so the planks needed to be cut at the appropriate angles to compensate :
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
This is the athwartships bulkhead at the aft end of the Bosun's and Gunner's Rooms :
 
 

 

Hi Gang,
 
After a hiatus due to my wife and I having twins, she's dusted off and I'm hoping to recommence this build.  I've attached some not so great photos from my iphone - the idea here is just to get a log started and motivate me to get back in the shipyard - for at least a few hours per week.  
 
This build was started back in November of 2009 using Chucks plans that later were used in the Model Expo kit.  The woods used were swiss pear from Hobby Mill for almost exclusively with the exception of boxwood for the decks and a little bit of ebony for the false keel and checkerboard flooring in the great cabin.  Im a big fan of Fiebings dyed swiss pear and used this method for all black areas with the exceptions I just mentioned.  I used three finishes, pure tung oil for the hull, Watcos Danish Oil for the deck fittings and beams, and diluted sanding sealer for the deck.  
 
My goal is to at least get the 6 lb guns rigged and installed along with the ships wheel hopefully by the end of the month so i can begin the headrails this summer if the twins cooperate....
 
Thats it for now - by the way the photo posts looks a bit different than the old Modelship World - any tips on the best size to upload so they look more standard/fill the screen ?
Chris