Bill Morrison

After receiving the new HMS Speedy kit from Vanguard Models as a Christmas present I was determined to leave it in its box until I’d finished off at least one of the other two model projects currently on the stocks. However as soon as I opened the box I knew I was going to have a hard time resisting the temptation. Chris Watton has done a great job in producing this, the second ship in his new range. I went for the limited edition Model Shipwright version, with boxwood second planking and a host of other goodies. There’s a wealth of information on the kit and its development elsewhere on the forum (Vanguard Models news), and in the first Speedy build log Vane has summarised information about Thomas Cochrane and his famous ship (Vane's Speedy log) so I won’t repeat all that here.
 
Suffice to say, everything about the kit oozes quality.



Everything was well packaged and labelled, and supported by ten sheets of plans and a full colour build manual. The sheer number of parts was eye-opening, especially for such a comparatively small vessel. The parts list itemises nearly 1,000 individual photo-etch components - 1,433 if you include the copper plates. Plus of course hundreds of other metal, wood and resin items. 
 
The first sign that my determination to be patient was crumbling was when I decided to knock up a building board just to be ready when I needed it. Needless to say, the sight of the building board sitting there on my workbench asking to be used quickly eroded further resistance, and I started construction yesterday. I quickly realised that the building board was more or less redundant. The frames were all a good fit on the false keel with zero sanding, and once the lower deck and the various longitudinal beams were added, the whole structure was perfectly straight, square and rigid.


Once the lower deck is fitted, the next task is to attach the last few frames at the bow and stern. At first I was a bit dubious about Chris's advice on these, which is to do the initial bevelling off the model. However in practice this seems to work well, particularly on the half dozen filler pieces which would have been difficult to fair in situ. 

 


 



Today I’m going to crack on with the upper deck and various tricky timbers in the stern.
 
Derek
 

The only other kit of which I am aware is the old Pyro/Lindberg/Life Like plastic kit.  
 
By the way, what changes did you make to the AL kit to convert it to the sloop of war besides planking over the spar deck?  I am curious because I might purchase the kit.
 
Finally, there is one small historical point to make.  Whereas the Frigate USS Constellation was the first ship of the USN, the Sloop of War USS Constellation was the last sailing ship built for the Navy.

I'm trying to remember... mostly details other than changing the way the bulwarks were set up in the kit.  Cannons got tossed as they looked too much like laser cannons from an old movie.  I made Parrot guns to the replace the kit ones.   There's two guns on the main deck at bow and stern, the drop-downs on the bow and stern and then there were some rigging changes.  I added some staysail yards. 
 
Down in my signature is a link to the build and to the photo gallery.  Note that the log is a bit confusing as MSW had a major crash that was unrecoverable and so I managed to restore the photos for the early part of the log.   If you'd like to discuss this, I suggest we do it in my log instead of cluttering up JD's log.
 
Indeed it was.  After that, they went to steam.  She spent the Civil War overseas intercepting Confederate cargo and also the slave traffic.

Jonathan,
 
Believe me, I know.  I bought the HiSModel set for the Alabama to help ease the problem on mine.  I know, it is the easy way out!
 

Your Alabama is stunning!
 
Bill

The only other kit of which I am aware is the old Pyro/Lindberg/Life Like plastic kit.  
 
By the way, what changes did you make to the AL kit to convert it to the sloop of war besides planking over the spar deck?  I am curious because I might purchase the kit.
 
Finally, there is one small historical point to make.  Whereas the Frigate USS Constellation was the first ship of the USN, the Sloop of War USS Constellation was the last sailing ship built for the Navy.

Jonathan,
 
Believe me, I know.  I bought the HiSModel set for the Alabama to help ease the problem on mine.  I know, it is the easy way out!
 

Your Alabama is stunning!
 
Bill

The only other kit of which I am aware is the old Pyro/Lindberg/Life Like plastic kit.  
 
By the way, what changes did you make to the AL kit to convert it to the sloop of war besides planking over the spar deck?  I am curious because I might purchase the kit.
 
Finally, there is one small historical point to make.  Whereas the Frigate USS Constellation was the first ship of the USN, the Sloop of War USS Constellation was the last sailing ship built for the Navy.

Jonathan,
 
Believe me, I know.  I bought the HiSModel set for the Alabama to help ease the problem on mine.  I know, it is the easy way out!
 

Your Alabama is stunning!
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Believe me that I was in no way criticizing your model. Indeed, I have used the same plans, and my goal was to get as close to an historical representation as well.  I also like the green bulwarks. They are quite striking.  But, I also like the yellow ochre that I have seen referenced elsewhere, and thought it possible that the CSN might have deviated from the apple green used in the USN.  I am deeply impressed with your model!
 
Looking at your photos, I did not see the rake. Perhaps this can be attributed to the angles taken in your photographs.
 
Anyway, I forgot to mention that I replaced the kit cannons with the Cottage Industry set specially made for the Revell model.  Well done!
 
Bill

Wow!  This thread  is a great find!  I have been working on these same conversions for the Revell model, although my paint scheme is somewhat different.  See the painting I use in my avatar.  I painted the inboard bulwarks yellow ochre. I also used the cloth sails and wood blocks and tackle from HiS Model, which are great! However, I have an autistic grandchild who loves my models; unfortunately, he broke my Alabama, and I have been gradually repairing the model. 
 
I do have one question. I notice that you did not step the masts with a pronounced rake as in the real ship. May I ask why?
 
Thank you!
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Those are beautiful photos of the original ship!  By the way, the profile drawings you provided were also once published in the defunct Seaways Periodical back in the 1990s, along with the equivalent drawings of the sloop of war.  The ships are in no way alike except that they both carried three masts and cannons.
 
Bill

Greetings!
 
First, you are doing a great job! I love your planking!
 
Second, you cannot build the original frigate with this kit. It represents the 1854 sloop-of-war, which was a very different ship that was being built as a new ship as the original frigate was being broken up.  They have different hull lines, the frigate had a square transom, not the rounded transom found in the model, a feature of the sloop of war.  The model depicts a separate  quarter deck and forecastle as in the frigate, but the sloop of war had a continuous spar deck.
 
The issue became confused when the current USS Constellation in Baltimore was advertised as being the original when it first opened as a museum ship.  That advertising continued into the 1990s in spite of much criticism and research disproving the premise.  It has since been advertised as the sloop of war.
 
Anyway, I mean no criticism of your model. You are doing a terrific job with it.
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Those are beautiful photos of the original ship!  By the way, the profile drawings you provided were also once published in the defunct Seaways Periodical back in the 1990s, along with the equivalent drawings of the sloop of war.  The ships are in no way alike except that they both carried three masts and cannons.
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Those are beautiful photos of the original ship!  By the way, the profile drawings you provided were also once published in the defunct Seaways Periodical back in the 1990s, along with the equivalent drawings of the sloop of war.  The ships are in no way alike except that they both carried three masts and cannons.
 
Bill

Greetings Bill,
Thanks for your comments. I think i read somewhere that the original plans for the early ship had gone missing or were lost which is a shame. I like to research what i’m building but it’s been difficult to find reference to this ship. I’m mainly using the photos of the sloop of war as some reference but i do understand that it’s not the right ship. I do find many ships are changed over their years of service, finding photo reference is aways fun. I have an old billings kit of the SMS Seeadler with it’s fittings I picked it up cheap at a boot fair. All the wood needs replacing and i need to scratch build the hull but thats another ship that has a long history with many changes. Anyway i’m glad you like the build even though it’s not exactly correct.

Greetings!
 
First, you are doing a great job! I love your planking!
 
Second, you cannot build the original frigate with this kit. It represents the 1854 sloop-of-war, which was a very different ship that was being built as a new ship as the original frigate was being broken up.  They have different hull lines, the frigate had a square transom, not the rounded transom found in the model, a feature of the sloop of war.  The model depicts a separate  quarter deck and forecastle as in the frigate, but the sloop of war had a continuous spar deck.
 
The issue became confused when the current USS Constellation in Baltimore was advertised as being the original when it first opened as a museum ship.  That advertising continued into the 1990s in spite of much criticism and research disproving the premise.  It has since been advertised as the sloop of war.
 
Anyway, I mean no criticism of your model. You are doing a terrific job with it.
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Believe me that I was in no way criticizing your model. Indeed, I have used the same plans, and my goal was to get as close to an historical representation as well.  I also like the green bulwarks. They are quite striking.  But, I also like the yellow ochre that I have seen referenced elsewhere, and thought it possible that the CSN might have deviated from the apple green used in the USN.  I am deeply impressed with your model!
 
Looking at your photos, I did not see the rake. Perhaps this can be attributed to the angles taken in your photographs.
 
Anyway, I forgot to mention that I replaced the kit cannons with the Cottage Industry set specially made for the Revell model.  Well done!
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Believe me that I was in no way criticizing your model. Indeed, I have used the same plans, and my goal was to get as close to an historical representation as well.  I also like the green bulwarks. They are quite striking.  But, I also like the yellow ochre that I have seen referenced elsewhere, and thought it possible that the CSN might have deviated from the apple green used in the USN.  I am deeply impressed with your model!
 
Looking at your photos, I did not see the rake. Perhaps this can be attributed to the angles taken in your photographs.
 
Anyway, I forgot to mention that I replaced the kit cannons with the Cottage Industry set specially made for the Revell model.  Well done!
 
Bill

Jonathan,
 
Believe me that I was in no way criticizing your model. Indeed, I have used the same plans, and my goal was to get as close to an historical representation as well.  I also like the green bulwarks. They are quite striking.  But, I also like the yellow ochre that I have seen referenced elsewhere, and thought it possible that the CSN might have deviated from the apple green used in the USN.  I am deeply impressed with your model!
 
Looking at your photos, I did not see the rake. Perhaps this can be attributed to the angles taken in your photographs.
 
Anyway, I forgot to mention that I replaced the kit cannons with the Cottage Industry set specially made for the Revell model.  Well done!
 
Bill

Wow!  This thread  is a great find!  I have been working on these same conversions for the Revell model, although my paint scheme is somewhat different.  See the painting I use in my avatar.  I painted the inboard bulwarks yellow ochre. I also used the cloth sails and wood blocks and tackle from HiS Model, which are great! However, I have an autistic grandchild who loves my models; unfortunately, he broke my Alabama, and I have been gradually repairing the model. 
 
I do have one question. I notice that you did not step the masts with a pronounced rake as in the real ship. May I ask why?
 
Thank you!
 
Bill

Howdy @Bill Morrison, I had complied as many ship reference drawings of her as possible and went with the rake example from these:
 

They are the authentic plans of CSS Alabama from the #290 Birkenhead Iron works plans 10-09-1861, another problem I had ran into was the plastic kept popping up and had to apply more adhesive to stop it. The Revell kit has been a excellent basis for the build which I have been trying to get as close to a historical representation as possible. The green for the bulwarks came from some historical research indicating that was the color used for her.

Wow!  This thread  is a great find!  I have been working on these same conversions for the Revell model, although my paint scheme is somewhat different.  See the painting I use in my avatar.  I painted the inboard bulwarks yellow ochre. I also used the cloth sails and wood blocks and tackle from HiS Model, which are great! However, I have an autistic grandchild who loves my models; unfortunately, he broke my Alabama, and I have been gradually repairing the model. 
 
I do have one question. I notice that you did not step the masts with a pronounced rake as in the real ship. May I ask why?
 
Thank you!
 
Bill