Sizzolo

Oh it’s definitely a flag but I had it laying about and wasn’t planing on using it on a ship so just used it to test my ‘windy-sails’ theory. It’s of the same material as what I intend to use for my sails. 😀 I may paint up a scale figure tomorrow and put it in future pics so one can get a better idea of scale.

Another brief distraction - a very rough test sail (prototype). I had some ideas about how to portray sails in the wind, dented by taught rigging. The test was reasonably successful. Essentially I carved a mould out of balsa wood including trenches for the rigging, wrapped it in clingfilm, then placed over the sail and weighed it down in the correct places. Then I gave it a few coats of diluted wood glue. It needs a final coat of Matt varnish spray (I find cans of Windsor and Newton Matt spray from the art shop most handy as I can avoid using my airbrush… and it’s designed for spraying canvas anyway). The final sail is quite solid but has decent simulated ‘movement/energy’ which is what I’m looking for.

I’m v happy with the way the cannonball box turned out. For those interested, they are cheap 1.5mm copper balls from Amazon, shaken up in a plastic zip bag with steel blackener liquid, dried then poured into the box and touched with a couple of drops of extra thin superglue. The glue wicks around all the balls, setting them in place and adding a nice little gloss touch to them. No major progress today due to spending hours watching Napoleon at the cinema, although I have thought of some theories to create full sails - hope to run a test tomorrow. Pics likely on Friday.

The page from the captains log on 4th Aug 1806 stating the sails raised (inc ‘sky scrapers’ at 11:30, about half way down the page on the right hand side before they see the ‘strange sail’)

I must be v careful of what I commit myself to but I’d be more than happy to pull some specific records for you next time I have a slot scheduled in the archives’ reading room or map room. Unfortunately I probably now have all the info I need for the time being wrt HMS Diana but I imagine I might need to return there in future to get my sails built accurately (sails/masts/yards). Give me a (short) shopping list of specifics and I’ll take some pics. Would save you the air fare! I might even consider a special journey if I’m at a loose end as it’s a lot of fun to pull the records of something nobody has seen for centuries (although the trains have been very professionally and reliably stuffed up every time). I tend to heal my travel tension with a decent pint while mulling over the photos when I get back to my local pub.

Diana had 14x 32 on QD and 4x 32 on FC fitted in Jan 1812 so the painting likely shows her in her final, standardised, bleak state. It might make logical sense then if I stick to my 'transitional' period display with weird sails, a mix of 32's and 24's, some old flashes of red and blue paint on the sides.. . should look nice. It's nice to see the carvings on stern and bow survived, according to the painting.

Ah that's fantastic Morgan - I've never seen that painting! I was just pondering on how to colour her (instead of studying for a tricky interview tomorrow.. . . gulp) so this helps a lot. I might keep some of the style of her earlier blue and red striping though and theorise that perhaps she eventually was normalised with black siding after 1806 perhaps. The RMG plans I showed on page 1 of this blog very closely match your painting so that's a relief. It also underlines the commentary in Gardiner's book about a missing QD port. The plan was dated 18 May 1808 so, possibly she received the additional port on the forward part of the QD after this point. All very interesting! Thanks again for the reference - I'll have to look for more Diana paintings now and possibly buy a full scale print.

Many thanks for all the kind remarks everyone! It certainly helps keeps up morale! I have a couple of teeny details remaining to add, plus I might swap out the masts with accurate lengths in boxwood - currently she's carrying the equivalent of 3 main masts Work has resumed on the ebony wales. The issue I hit with them was that I broke my production line by making a few, glueing them, then making a bunch more. The issue this generates is that inevitably you end up with slightly different angles and measurements in the top-and-butt planking which leads to gaps and undesired knock-on effects. To resolve the issue I'll have to create some unique planks to allow everything to align nicely. There are two methods I could have followed for the wales - cut tonnes of completely identical top-and-butt planks, or more accurately, cut each plank individually and uniquely as per the very handy original planking plan (not many ships have their own external planking plan). So for Starboard I'm going for a bit of both (lots of clone planks and some unique planks to fill the difference in my plank generation). On Portside I will likely make every plank uniquely as it will be mentally more satisfying (but take forever no-doubt!). wrt my research at the National Archives, I found gold. Well - lots of old mould and smelly papers but - some really useful information. For fun I dug up some old 'prize papers' which had to be viewed in the map room. I took a few pictures so I could do my reading and interpretation without the time limit. I didn't find documents referring to Diana in the box but it would have taken me more time than I had to open every package -they're extremely delicate and hard to read. Also I managed to get the captain's logbook of the period I'm modelling Diana in (1806). They are such fun to read - Now that I have pics I intend to go to my favourite pub, order a decent bottle and do the transcribing. I photographed every day in August as that is when she apparently carried Sky sails (aka sky scrapers) which I intend to model. I think Diana at this period would look fantastic with these extended sails, all studsails out, plus the built up barricades, and be a nice example to show the community the ship outside of her original appearance normally modelled. Finally I confirmed the details in Gardiner's 'The Heavy Frigate' by finding the source information for armament in 1806. I read this to mean in Apr 1806 she had the original 8x 9lb Cannon on Qtr Deck replaced by 32lb Carronades.(nice to notice that her original 9lb were of the long type). Previously she received an additional 4x 24lb carronades on the qtr deck in 1794, and 2x 24lb on the focsl. So - in 1806 she would have looked quite interesting. I was hoping this might be the case, hence needing to confirm with the original sources.

Armed Ship’s launch finished! I may revisit and touch up with some spots of paint at some point. Also might stick the furniture down as it’s all still moveable. Design-wise I used the original plan on previous page for the basic structure but took a lot of ideas from my visit to Chatham a couple of weeks ago (lots of boats there in the lifeboat museum), plus some ideas on how she might have been rigged from various other random sources. I expect I’ve got a few bits incorrect wrt the date certain bits might have appeared - she’s supposed to be around 1806. Style-wise I’m doing my usual ‘lived-in’ look, as if the object is in the middle of doing something or being prepared. I love the perfect and clean look of some models but personally I prefer the rougher look for a number of reasons - I like the aesthetic… making perfect clean pieces requires a lot more time and skill than I have, and… it allows me to hide mistakes! Anyway - back to the frigate wales next. The boat took about a week with < > 3hrs per day. It would have taken a lot longer without using Vangard Models excellent 26’ launch kit as the foundation.

Something to do whilst waiting for hangover to leave: box made out of one of the planks from the Vanguard Models kit:

Almost finished!

Footboards

Armed launch bits…

Just got back from Chatham dockyards after private viewing of the two HMS Diana models. Unfortunately I can’t post any of the images on social media so apologies for not sharing! I highly recommend a visit though for anyone building this ship. As you know, the AoS book on Diana has pics of these models but they’re in black and white. My main takeaways; Upon seeing them in person you’ll be able to recognise they were certainly built by the same group of craftsmen - the details, measurements and materials are exactly the same. The model shown in the slipway is heavily varnished but it’s a clone of the other model. Likely part of the same commission. The museum curator leaned towards them being built ‘after’ Diana was launched and being presented to the owner and/or 1st captain. (They are not admiralty draft models). Therefore the stern decoration is likely more accurate for her launched appearance than the drawings in the AOS book or the unmodified Caldercraft kit. The cabin skylight has a metal lattice instead of wood which is odd (and not glass windows as per AOS). Needs more research as I don’t know what it’s representing or why/when etc. Officers quarters have detailed internal walls with framing and painted panels. Only 8 of the quarterdeck cannon placements are fitted to receive cannon rigging (rear-most). 3 on either side and the two stern ports had iron fittings. None of the focsl ports appeared ready for cannon (rings) but the chasers are. Perhaps ports were built to allow for movement of cannon to different positions, but the ironwork was not - likely meaning they would only fit the iron work when needed if a cannon port was destroyed? Ie they are spare ports if main ports are destroyed and cannon were not rapidly swapped ad-hoc. I took pics of the planking jogging so will compare with the plans to see if they match. Hull planking and framing accuracy is exquisite: it’s what you might expect from a cnc laser cutter or 3d printer. After viewing the models, being chatty/curious I was shown 2 models of HMS Victory’s main mast, built from wood retrieved from the original Victory (like every wooden object in that decade I expect) but the modeller had replicated the exact detail of every strike the mast had received: both models had exactly the same dimensions and damage positions - main mast, lower section, approx 7 foot in length. If CSI were there they’d probably agree some of the most penetrating shots were face on - through and through, likely when she was heading directly at the line. Other shots showed severe splintering and exit damage from more obtuse angles.

Armed launch progress

After hitting minor Pythagorean problems with my wales I turn my eye to the ship’s launch; My plan again is to leverage one of the fantastic vanguard kits but modify it to represent an armed launch, as per plan attached. Planking - completely replaced to reflect the plans. I’m happily surprised the thin ebony planks are holding nicely with wood glue instead of superglue. I’m taking this slowly so as not to stuff it up.

Eventually found this in a different book; So- it’s late in her career but also aligns with the drawing of her in 1808 - so I’m likely moving in this ordnance direction unless/until I find more details. I was hoping to model her around the 1804 period.

A day in the archives but no luck finding HMS Diana ordnance yet…

Good news for the project - 1. Appointment at the Kew National Archives this week to investigate the ordinance and hopefully confirm exactly what she had between 1804-1810 2. Appointment at Chatham next week to be shown two of the original HMS Diana models. Please do let me know if you want any specific details confirmed and I’ll do my best. I’ll take pictures where/when possible.

I just found an old video of my recent stay at Bucklers Hard where I built up all the cannon carriages in the Master Builders hotel. I highly recommend a stay for any ship fans. When booking, make sure there’s no weddings going on (v different experience!). IMG_4012.mov

For info, the process followed is; - cut the plank to the correct dimensions, - drill holes for the trenails using a pile drill, - soak then bend the plank with a bending iron and repeat until until it fits perfectly without needing any tension when test fitting, - push the tiny trenails in to the holes, glue on the backside of the plank then sand down front and back surfaces - glue the plank (wood glue for the boxwood, superglue for ebony) - bring the surface up to a high polish - add finish (oil/wax/varnish etc). To retain the contrast of the walnut trenails on the ebony wales I will polish them and use wax on the planks before glueing so that the oil is less likely to effect them. The other hull planks in boxwood will receive Tung oil. I’m trying to avoid using oil until the planks are glued in case it affects the glues. Red and Blue planks will receive an Ink coat before a satin varnish sealant which is consistent with the oil and wax finish.

Ebony wale. I’m testing here if dye and ink makes much difference (above/below) on the trenails. I think walnut nails on the wales is the way to go.