exwafoo

Got the Port side Bouy and Anchor rigging done.
 
Jesse
 

It's been a while, been pretty sick. 
Well, I worked on those anchors. Filled in the holes and gaps with CA glue and filings from the thicker anchor. Primed them for painting. Made the iron rings and served them. Painted them with flat black enamel. I just couldn't use the metal stocks. Made them out of wood.. Made the iron bands from the black pinstripe tape provided in the kit.  They seemed to turn out pretty good. Shaping the bouys now. Will make them out of wood.
 
Jesse 

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

for small bits  -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_122&products_id=434
 
for PE tools in general   -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=77_79
 
Alan

for small bits  -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_122&products_id=434
 
for PE tools in general   -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=77_79
 
Alan

for small bits  -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_122&products_id=434
 
for PE tools in general   -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=77_79
 
Alan

for small bits  -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=77_122&products_id=434
 
for PE tools in general   -  http://www.radubstore.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=77_79
 
Alan

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

yep. Had this book for years. Updated to the latest edition a couple of years back. Cost me about £12 new. Worth every penny.
 
Alan

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

yep. Had this book for years. Updated to the latest edition a couple of years back. Cost me about £12 new. Worth every penny.
 
Alan

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

Hi All
A number of years ago, I bought the first copy of a part works magazine on building a 1/96 HMS Victory. The reasons were, it was only £1.99 (starter price) and it had some nice colour pictures for reference, some nice pieces of thin plywood (always hard to find in the UK) to be used as bulkheads. It also had a gun kit comprising barrel, carriage (in 3 pieces), trucks, capsquares, a length of brass rod for axles and some small brass nails to hold the capsquares on with. This kit has been sculling around in the bottom of my toolbox for a while now, so I thought I’d have a bash at a bit of a diorama in a bottle as a side project.
 
This was just meant as a general ‘illustration’ of a gun station, no particular ship in mind, and I fully realise that some parts are not to scale or particularly accurate. A bit of fun really.
 
I used oak strip from www.stripwood.co.uk for the deck and hull, and the Salt Box. The Sponge Tub was made from 1mm wide strip cut from a piece of veneer (not sure what wood), coloured black on one side then stained Light Oak. Similarly the Match Tub, although this was easier as it has a solid wood former under the strips. The Handspikes were carved from dowel and stained. The Rammer was bamboo stick thinned down with the Rammer part turned and stained, similarly for the Sponge, however the head was painted white to simulate fleece. The Powder Scoop was bamboo stick with the scoop fashioned from pieces of styrene tubing and then painted; the Worm was bamboo with a coiled bit of wire painted black. I turned the Cartridge Case from a bit of Elm, as I believe the originals were.
 
The piece of Grating was made from some mahogany strip and some white wood strip, the cannonballs were self coloured air drying modelling clay, the rack was a bit of mahogany strip.
 
As to the gun itself, the carriage took a bit of rework to get the parts to fit and then be shaped so that it looked ok. The supplied trucks were enameled metal, so I used them to get dimensions, and used these to turn some new trucks from Elm, as this was used in the real thing.
 
Brass wire painted black was used to make the ringbolts on the gun carriage and for the lashing points on the hull. I carved the blocks from a length of mahogany strip, used some thin brass wire to strop them and used thin thread for the rope. Once in place I soaked the thread with dilute PVA glue to stiffen them in place. I showed the tackle loosened on the diorama.
 
The breeching rope was a thicker bit of thread; it was thick enough so that I could actually whip the eye (with a spot of glue just to make sure) after passing through the ringbolts.
 
The small brass nails supplied to put the capsquares on were far too big so were replaced with smaller ones.
 
The Capsquares were actually too big for the trunnions, (the barrel could fall out), so I shimmed them with some thin walled brass tube. All painted black.
The bottle is a small spirit bottle, probably quarter size, about 6 inches long overall. The inside is about 3 inches long, with a top to bottom taper that caused a bit of fettling to get the deck to fit. It then took a bit of trial and error to get the deck fixed in position. CA didn’t want to know, I tried UV cured glue, but that was curing too quickly in the bright daylight (it does happen in the UK sometimes) so I used a couple of bits of Milliput in the end – not the prettiest solution – I would rethink this bit if I ever try something like this again.
 
The stand is a piece of MDF covered in Oak Veneer, and the bottle supports are Oak strip.
 
Turks Head knot to finish off.
 
A work colleague suggested I name the pieces, so from left to right:
Salt Box - wooden box with leather hinges to hold a couple of cartridges - the salt soaked up any moisture
Cartridge container - lidded wooden container used to carry the cartridges up from the magazine - usually by the ships boys, the Powder Monkeys
Handspikes - resting against the cannon - substantial shaped levers used to train the gun carriage around
Sponge Tub - filled with water - used to sponge out the barrel after a shot to make sure no burning debris before putting in the next cartridge
Match Tub - conical, half filled with water. A fire precaution on ships. The burning ends of the match were fed over the top. If knocked over the water put out the match. The match was used if the flintlock on the gun failed.
Rammer, Sponge, Worm and Powder Scoop
 
Happy Modelling
 
All the Best
 
Alan

Trial fit with a pen for scale
 

The Bad Guy's  View

The layout

And again

All Done

This book is mentioned elsewhere in the forum, but it wasn't until I was snooping through my party host's bookcase that I discovered this gem. What a book! 3700 articles arranged from Aalesun, a seaport on the Norwegian coast, to Zulu, a type of fishing vessel peculiar to the NE coastal ports of Scotland. (We learn here, among much else,  that carvel hull had a pronounced rake and that they were rigged w/ a dipping lug foresail and a standing lug mizzen. The model pictured in the book is a beauty.) 
 
Copyright 1988. High quality paper, crisp text, with binding that makes it a pleasure to hold.  Bought it used online from you-know-who.Com.  $4.99. 
 
Can you beat that? 
 
Merry Christmas, all 

Thats a good question.  Right now my ship yeard is in flux.  We are expecting a little one in February so I need to get my workshop out what will be the baby's room.  I am getting a murphy desk so I'll move my workshop there.  
 
From there I have a few projects.  More sibs of coarse but I've also gotten into a miniature naval warfare I made up and now play with my 5 and 8 year old.  The rules are simple enough for them to play and I play as a sort of dungeon master making up ships and monsters that we fight.  I want to make more miniature ships for that game.  I'm doing 1:1200 scratch built ships like my Queen Anne's Revenge.  I might do a Xebec or bermuda sloop at this scale. 
 
 

All done. 
 
 

Mike,  No long slack lines no.  While puting the masts in one at a time is not new I did take on a new technique as far as the rigging is concerned.  I used paint brush bristles which stay straight but still bend with out breaking and will spring back into place.  All of the rigging was made from paint brush bristles.  I cut the lines precisely so they would line up where they met the hull, masts, yard arms or bowsprit.  Once in I dabbed some glue and glued them down.  I didn't have to cut any lines in the bottle at all.  Just careful manuevering and glueing.  

Hi Dan,
Sympathies - been there as well. You'll get there
 
Alan

I came across this book a few years ago, but did not buy it - just added it to the maybe list. But the work looks very good. It may help out
 
http://carvingbook.weebly.com/english-pdf-version.html
 
Al

Thanks every one.  Work continues.  So far my idea is working  The masts are completely removable and the rigging goes right a long with them.  
 
 

Life has got in the way of my hobbies since my last post, renovations/painting on the house, washing machine cratered; my eldest son slipped a disc in his back, work is busy, and we finally got my youngest son’s 73 Nova SS on the road. So henceforth no man cave time whatsoever. Today I finally got back into the build and started on all of the yards/spars and built myself a gizmo from an old Phillips shaver to taper the ends on the yards and spars.

First two pictures is the work started for the upper cross trees.



 
Next 2 pictures is the gizmo I built from the can motor and Frankenstein power supply. Inside the shaver is a step down transformer from 110 AC to 6 volt D.C. I mounted the transformer in a box and the can motor on a swiveling pedestal. The stone is from a Dremel tool glued to the little blue ring gear.



Next picture is start of all of the spar and yard work. Sewing Needles and extremely small diameter wire for the aforementioned.


Next picture is the upper cross-tree and the braces I have to model coming off of the tree to keep the standing rigging from fouling with the yards.


Last picture is the upper Forecastle area with the port and starboard running lights installed.



More to come eventually... Jeff P.S. my youngest son got me back into playing Chess as a pastime as well!