Sizzolo

Hello all. I’m currently making a few leagers (barrels) and am interested to know if anyone knows how/if barrels were labeled or marked to make it easy to find and pull a required provision? (Exact period;1805, in the belly of an English frigate or higher rated ship). I imagine it’d be frowned upon for sailors to open one and do a sniff test. Equally it could create errors if someone has to refer to a storage chart to select barrels from the correct zone due to potential of things being shifted about when digging around. Perhaps barrels were tagged with chalk or paint mark somewhere that would be visible when in storage? Likely a more permanent marking was common as I’d hate to fill a barrel with 150 gallons of water that was previously storing dried fish! (Or Nelson allegedly!). Wishing you all a reflective and peaceful Remembrance / Veterans Day.

Agents at the port have noticed the captain has ordered the production of yet another launch so that he may more rapidly provide supplies to the ship: (I’ll do a separate build guide for this one but it’s not slowing me down too much - roughly a couple of hrs per day for a week)

Just a text update today. Three steps forward, three back. On larboard wales I wanted to more accurately place the trenails. I found an excellent drawing in Boudriot’s 74 gun ship book, volume 1 which shows a trenail and iron bolt placement for the outer hull. After seeing that I realised I’d placed my nails aligned with every longitudinal foot on starboard instead of putting nails in per frame (far more closely spaced). I intend to improve on the larboard side. However, my original method was to drill holes in the wale every 5mm as this should align well with the frames (if there is not the slightest error in measurements!). However, after getting to the third row of ebony top&butt planks, including bent ones at the bow which were an absolute pain in the top&butt, I sat back and looked at it. None of the trenails were really vertically aligning. I wanted to see nice vertical lines of nails which would give the viewer a better understanding of the underlying construction. It was looking a bit crap considering the time it took. So…I ripped off all the larboard wale planks (v easy as they were just superglued.. I’ve no other glue that works well) and started again. This time I first drew the frames in pencil on to the underlying planking so that I could then put a pencil dot where each hole needed to be drilled in each wale plank. I’ve done the top row now and it’s already looking better. I blame myself for trying to use a method I assumed would be quicker!(5mm spacing). Ho hum! When the wales are done I might briefly distract myself with some more picture frames. I want to try gilding some as a practice piece (stern decoration will have gold leaf). I’m also considering making a cello and a violin as a nod to ‘master and commander’. Making the ships’ boats at an early stage has helped me better understand what’s possible wrt tiny details in boxwood.

Transporting the captains artwork to his new ship. Definitely continuing with wales next! (little boats are fun though)

Pinnace hull all done (will do all masts, oars, sails in future). Time to get back to the wales!

I wanted a fancy design on the sides of the boat and saw the royal barge recently (HM QE II’s commissioned for silver jubilee). The pattern was too intricate to paint so I tried printing my own water transfer decal and it turned out quite well (took a while to colour-match paint vs printer).

Pinnace progress…

Pinnace floors. As it’s the officers fancy boat it will get some fancy treatment…

...quick tip: Rapid scratch building pieces and correct alignment is much easyier if you print the original chart in your own scale (mine is 1:64).

Just a couple of quick pics this weekend as it's been a while since I've updated this blog on progress: I've started work on the pinnace which I'm basing on the following plans from NMM; Again I chose to use the lovely base kit from Vanguard models which I'll be modifying (already have made gratings fore and aft (from left to right, the pinnace, the armed launch and one of the cutters). Under the boats is my first effort at silkspan sails - next version will have much thinner seams. And the wales: I'm using the correct nail pattern on this side and spending a little more time making all the measurements correct. Top and butt is a pain in the b when using ebony!

Perfect! Thank you both. Yes, I saw a pinnace model which indeed represented decorated floors so was thinking of doing that on my model.

Good evening folks. I'm in the middle of building a decent scale pinnace for a heavy frigate, approx 1805 leveraging vanguard models' foundational kit. I've seen some NMM models displaying elaborate chess-board type deck designs but before I plop one into my boat (I like to create unique models based upon recorded evidence) I don't know how they would have produced a 'kitchen floor' type finish for any permanent decking (including cps qtrs, e.g HMS Victory) in a pinnace. I highly doubt any solid floors on a longboat/pinnace would have used tesseral wooden tiles etc so was some kind of patterned sheet used? Can someone direct me to how 'fancy' non-fabric floors were created? I have yet to discover a source for 'linoleum' in 1805 ish! There is a gap in my intel so I'm sure someone here can help (here being my location of info from the absolute best and most experienced sources). Thanks in advance and apologies for my ignorance! I have reviewed my personal copy of May's Boats but haven't seen the answer yet (not to say it isn't in there somewhere!). I'm totally expecting an 8 word, 1 line answer to fill my int gap!

Progress continues on the hull planking but I thought I'd update you on a rabbit hole I went down recently. You'll see earlier advice in this thread about the sail scale and appropriate materials. I decided to do a little study on what 'thin' cloth might be suitable but based upon the cloth weight to-scale instead of focussing on weave density. Sails were made from canvas which were given a number based upon their lbs per bolt. According to Steele, bolts were 24" wide and 38 yards long. Therefore, the following can be said for Canvas sizes of 1,2,3,6 and 7 in their GSM weight (grams per sq meter - a weight given to modern cloth). Now if I look at scales from 1/10 through 1/16 we can see what the GSM equivalent is: I found that a standard mens handkerchief was equivalent to <>96GSM and has a night tight weave. This is equivalent to roughly Canvas number 1 in 1/10 scale which was used for Main Course sails and others. You can therefore imagine how thin the material would need to be in 1/64 scale. I then knocked together a sample two bolts wide in 1/10 scale, using a handkerchief, lightly stained with a tea bag, so that I could see how it looked and reacted to light: This would then help me better appreciate how thin the material would be at 1/64 scale. You can see how the sail is translucent with the light behind it and the seams stand out well. The stitches are approximately 1mm -2mm long. The seam between the bolts is a little too wide as it should be about 4mm wide max (sample shown is around 6mm). This was actually another successful test for me here as I wanted to get an idea on how wide the seam would appear in 1/64 scale. After making the sample (which was quite an enjoyable project on its own, including the fancy roband rigging) I realised what an amazing curtain a well made sail based upon Steele's guide would make in 1/10 scale! I have a window which would fit a Main Topsail and if it was fully rigged it'd be quite nice to raise and lower it authentically! It should be around 1.4m at the top and 2.3 at the bottom. Future project! I have bought some perfect cloth in 80GSM and will need to buy a sewing machine (no way am I hand stitching every stitch to-scale!).

Main structure done. Masts, sails and a boat cover next. I’m not happy with the colours so it will be repainted black. Current colours represent HMS Diana’s original colour scheme but I’m building to early 19th century design and have seen a couple of nice paintings of the period with ship’s boats being black (likely under the hull too). That would more neatly match Diana later scheme when they’re stored in the qtr davits.

I got tired of doing portside planking so needed a brief distraction - have done a day on one of the ship’s cutters (24’). I’m using one of vanguard models’ old version 3d printed hulls (clinker) and bits from one of their lovely pearwood cutter kits. I’ve studied quite a few paintings, books and photos of the boats at Chatham dockyard and am settled now on how to paint her.

Incredible work and extremely inspiring. I hope you’re enjoying the feeling of completion and find a nice spot to display her.

Upper painted strakes almost complete on starboard side. Likely there’ll be a long pause now while I repeat the last few months of work on the port side (but better, having learned from small errors on stbd). I’m sooo looking forward to the end of the plank trenails!

Sorry - It’s been a while since my last update! I’ve been busy with work but recently continued planking above the wales on starboard side so that one side is complete before I move to Port. This way I can make all my mistakes and skill improvements on just one side. This is supposed to be my progression/learning project after all. lessons on the upper planking: boxwood comes in many colours - ideally select wood of consistent colour as you move along the hull or it can end up looking patchy as if some planks were replaced over the years. As you might spot in the picture - I’m trying to stay true to the thickness of the planks which are stated in the original outboard planking plan. Plank finish - oil and/or wax. I should have realised this earlier but oil makes the trenails quite dark against the plank, whereas wax is less ‘darkening’ and has a more natural look when comparing to hms victory etc. Ebony vs painted boxwood: I think the benefits of working with boxwood outweighs the colour aspects of ebony. Ideally I’d stick to ebony for the upper bulwarks but it’s horrible to work with (chips, is oily, doesn’t bend consistently, requires superglue but can still break off easily). You can see my upper blank planks above the gun ports look quite good - they’re painted boxwood with walnut trenails inserted after the paint process. (You’ll also spot a few errors in trenail placement on other planks and dark trenails/ planks - all of which I hope to learn from on Port side). For those that didn’t read earlier in this blog; each plank has holes drilled for every trenail and the wood trenails are then individually inserted and are to-scale (roughly 0.6mm). I’m expecting once all these bloody planks are out the way progress will accelerate rapidly!

Hi Jason! Many thanks for your remarks and I’m glad you’re finding the blog interesting! I’m still doing the Port side and my RL jobs have had to take a priority too unfortunately. Hopefully some new progress pics in a few weeks. Anyway, wrt the coppering - I started a post on it a while back and it seems it’s not quite clear cut. Have a read here - interesting discoveries!

Starboard plating complete. I removed the false keel so that I can plate under it before applying an ebony one (larboard needs plating first though). I added the dovetail plate and horseshoe plate shapes using plumbing tape under the copper so that you can see the impression show through. These were apparently inlaid and plated over. Learnings - the copper tape shows every imperfection in the planking so it’s even more important to make sure your planking is perfect with no gaps.

Here is the channel I made out of walnut. the sides of the channel are the same width as the tape (maybe very slightly wider to avoid the tape jamming). Notice the slight shims on the sides which are very slightly raised over the base - this assures correct alignment with the tape. This is what I refer to as the rivet barrel: I searched for washers of the correct spacing but then had an epiphany - I made them out of hardwood (pear) and got the thickness exact with my Byrns thickness sander (0.65mm). The wheels are part of a three wheel set made in China and comes under various branding. I bought my last one on Amazon (uk). You’ll need at least 7 boxes because each box only has one of each size (so it gets expensive) Here’s the set up in action - I hang the copper tape reel over a spindle so that it feeds smoothly. Roll the wheel with your thumb (meaning you can roll backwards and forwards over a short length for a heavier effect. If you do this over a longer length there’s a chance the holes might not align, leading to double holes). Drag the tape forward with the rivet barrel and your thumb and put something good on the telly while you feed through a few meters. Make sure the tape lays carefully on the floor as it can sometimes come apart from its baking at this point and ruin a length. Cut the tape into tiles (this tool assures every tile is identical) Run a rivet tool down one short edge (the edge depends on which direction you will create the overlap so will change on larboard and starboard) … then get sticking! The tape has sufficient stick so you don’t need any additional glues. Here is what I settled on as far as plate pattern - see my other thread on plate overlaps. My plates start at the top near the wale and go from stern to bow - so every plate lays on top of the plate behind it and above it. I started with one row of plates which follow the waterline. I tapered these at the stern due to curvature (a) but not at the bow. (b) is an insert of triangular shape to allow for the extreme concave shape there. The following picture is from 'The Introduction and Use of Copper Sheathing - a History' paper by Mark Staniforth (link). It's an excellent paper and is what I leveraged to get the exact plate dimensions and placement of the nails. (c) all these rows are parallel with the keel as is the case for as much of the hull as possible. (d) you will see curves upwards following the shape of the bow. You can draw on the planks how these should align by placing a 1cm paper strip flat on the hull and see how it naturally moves upwards. (e) by the time we get down to this level it’s worth doing another paper strip and have following rows angle further upwards. By the time you get to the forefoot they are parallel with it (30 degrees ish). (d and e) I took this design from a painting from the period. Hope that helps!

I think I’ve reached my happy-place now as far as super accurate plates. I’ve adjusted the gaps between the nail lines very slightly and now I rub down each plate before I consider it ready for my ‘pot of plates’ which I dip in to when plating the hull. I timed myself and, each plate takes roughly 8 seconds to produce for all steps now that I’ve settled into a good production process. The plate in the lower part of the picture is one that has been ‘rubbed down’ (I use my fingernail or a wine cork) to reduce the protrusions that the barrel of rivet wheels produces. I think this results in a very accurate representation of the plates in 1/64 scale. (The tiny nail marks glitter subtly from some angles to show the viewer that extra effort was made. At other angles it appears to be a clean copper plate). If there’s interest I can make a post showing the tools I built to make the pattern. I also owe an answer to Thukydides (above) to show the pattern of rows I settled on. I’m super happy with it so far (but you can see my first rows are a bit clumsy and as I work down the hull the nail pattern and accuracy improves considerably).

Still working on the exact pattern… lots of copper on the floor now but after all the testing it’ll be repeatable for future projects. (Plan is for all ships to be of same scale, same period) My other thread on coppering has some great input and pics from others.