etubino

Ship's Boats continued:
 
Not a lot of time in the shipyard this weekend, but a little progress to report.  I've been working on the gratings for the Pinnace.  These are made from 1/32" x1/32" Boxwood stock that Jeff Hayes (Hobbymill) very kindly milled for me with notches, so that task was made a lot easier (thanks Jeff ).  The gratings are quite a tricky shape, especially the stern grating.  They are framed in in Pear wood of the same dimensions.  I also made up a small bow deck, that will go in front of the foremost thwart.  This was made from the same stock as the footwaling. 
 
I've also been furthering my quest for improved photography....
 
Here's a few pics of the parts:
 

 
And here's the "fingernail shot" to show the size of the bow grating:
 

 
This shows the two gratings loosely in place, with the monster hand for overall scale:
 

 
And here's an overall shot with all parts in place:
 

 
I've also prepared the stock for the thwarts.  These will be made from Pear wood trimmed with Boxwood (the opposite colour combo to the gratings), much the same as I did with the Launch.  However, I decided that I'd better paint the exterior of the hull before moving on to fitting out the interior any further.  At this stage, I've just applied a coat of white Gesso as an undercoat.  I've gotta say, I've become a big fan of this stuff - it makes subsequent coats of paint go on a whole lot easier.  More pics once painting is complete - hopefully by next weekend.

Hello Grant,
 
thanks for sharing your method to make ordenary blocks look great, I always thought the "tumbling" was bound to metal work
 
Nils

More pics  of the same.. 

Futtock Staves - Completed
I was able to spend more time than I thought in the shipyard today so I was able to complete adding the futtock staves to the starboard side. Overall I am extremely pleased with how they have turned out.😀
 
Ratlines to be added next. From a little bit of research I have done the ratlines on HMS Victory were set 13" apart. Adjusting this dimension for 64th scale and converting to metric yields a spacing of approx. 5mm (13" * 25.4 / 64=5.15mm) between ratlines.
 
A preliminary estimate is there will be around 24 ratlines on the foremast per shroud and plenty of clove hitch knots. In the past I have found adding ratlines relaxing so fingers crossed 🤞it will be the same again for the Sphinx.
 
I have added a couple of very similar pictures of the completed futtock staves.

Forecastle Deck
The forecastle deck has now been glued to the support beams. I was really happy with the end result. I have also dry fitted all the deck items and everything seems to be a good fit. The belfry assembly has been painted black. The forecastle breast rails / knees have been assembled but they have to be painted black before they can be glued in place. The coaming / grating assembly has had the laser char removed and is now ready to be glued in place. The two foremast bitts have been glued in place but the two crossbeams are only dry fitted as I will need to check the belaying pin fit before they can glued in place. My next task will be to add the inner bulwarks and deck iron work before moving on to adding the two walkway decks.

 

 
I also completed the work on the quarterdeck breast rail assembly. The hammock cranes rigging will be done once all the deck work has been completed.

 
This is a nice view of the three decks.

 

 

This post is going to cover two different areas of the build, the quarterdeck breast rail assembly and the work on the bow area of the gundeck under in preparation for adding the forecastle deck.
 
Quarterdeck Breast Rail Assembly
The quarterdeck rail assembly comprises 4 rails (bottom, middle and 2 top rails), 6 breast rail stanchions and 5 hammock crane supports. The four rails were painted black before the installation phase.

 
The centre section of each breast rail stanchion requires rounding. I used a thin Florey sanding stick and some sandpaper to complete this task. I did add a letter identifier to each stanchion so they could be installed in the correct place.

 
When the bottom rail was added to the quarterdeck I used the hammock cranes to ensure the rail was correctly positioned. A couple of clamps were also used to bend and hold the rail in place as the glue cured.

 
Once the bottom rail was secure the stanchions and middle rail were glued in place. The top rail was dry fitted to ensure the stanchion were correctly aligned. The tops of the stanchion require a bit more black paint before the top two rails can be glued in place.

 
Bow Area Gundeck Work
The various deck items that reside under the forecastle deck were glued in place. The bowsprit and foremast were also test fitted to double check they would fully locate in the slots provided.

 
The remaining 8 cannons, 4 per side were glued in place.

 
The two ropes for the anchors were fed through the hawse holes and forward bulkhead. The rope ends were tied off to prevent them being pulled back out.

 
The forecastle deck support beams were glued in place. I did have one or two issues, mainly with the z beam joint with the longitudinal deck beam and gallery door frame. However what happens under the forecastle deck remains unseen under the forecastle deck but I was able to resolve the issues and the forecastle deck was dry fitted without any issues. The foremast, bitts and stove chimney were also dry fitted to ensure there were no alignment problems.

 
The ships belfry was dry fitted for a photo opportunity, noting it is not sitting fully in the slots in the photo below

 
Finally a nice shot of the hull with masts and bowsprit in place and anchor ropes in place. The items on the quarterdeck and forecastle deck can be seen

 

Stern and Starting Work on Quarter Galleries
When looking at gluing part 29 to part 45b I was not 100% sure about how these two parts should be aligned. I think the alignment should be as shown in the photo below. Does this look correct?
 

 
When I built my V1 build I was confused with build step 220 with regard to the position of part 45c. Thankfully @James H was able to send me a modified picture, which I have added to this post. It should be located directly underneath the middle gallery pattern (part 45) and not as shown in the manual which is on top of the upper gallery pattern (part 45).

 
Moving on with todays progress the outer upper counter pattern was glued in place without any problems.

 
While I let the glue cure I decided to test fit the windows to the outer stern fascia pattern. I recalled on the V1 build the  windows did require a little bit of fettling so thought it would be easier to sort out the fitting before any of the parts were installed. I have added some tape to the windows for identification purposes to ensure the correct windows will be fitted to the right frame.

 
The outer stern fascia pattern was then glued in place. I took plenty of time to ensure the part was properly aligned with the inner stern fascia pattern.

 

 

 
The quarter gallery berthing pattern needs to follow the curve of the quarter gallery patterns. To make the fitting process a bit easier I applied a bit of moisture to the berthing patterns and then clamped them to part 45c. These will be left overnight to fully dry out and hopefully they will have retained the required bend.

Painting The Wales and Strakes
I decided to use the same Plastikote Black spray paint as used on the prototype, and as shown in the build manual. The first task was to prepare the hull. I started with some 4mm tape to mask above and below the wales and strakes. The tape was pressed firmly into place using a steel rule. I then used copious quantities of 50mm masking tape to cover the rest of the hull, leaving middle section of the quarter gallery open also. Finally a coat of wipe on poly was added to the wales and strakes.
 

 

 
The hull was then taken to my garage when I sprayed the hull with the Plastikote Black paint. 3 light coats of paint were applied.

 
Once the paint had dried I applied a wipe of poly coat to seal the paint finish.
 
In the photo of the right-hand side below there is a bit of leakage below the hawse holes. This is not an issue as this area will be coved by the hawse bolsters later on in the build process.

 
This is the left-hand side

 
There is a tiny bit of leakage around the quarter galleries but apart from that it looks OK.

 
 

L, you did an impecable work. It is amazing what you have done with this Scientific kit! Superb!!

Greetings all
Well a little more progress. First rubbing strake painted and fitted, just need to sort the visible holes. Spent a while measuring and masking the hull, I found I had some unopened French blue from my victory build, so I reckon that's good enough for me. I reckon things should start moving along now. Thanks for viewing and your comments. OK photos of progress....DAVID

Greetings all
Hello jerry and how are you. You are really buzzing along still on your half moon, and into the masts!!!! Well done. Ok I have have not posted because I didn't think there was anything worth posting. Right here's a quick update. Nothing to technical. I have fitted the top rubbing strake in position to see if things will look ok once the brass stuff is fitted, and it looks ok to me. I reckon the distance from the underside of the parapet rail to the top of the rubbing strake at the 4 gunports will be about 27mm and the rest of the strake takes care of itself. Well that's my theory. The gunports and other apertures are lined and few windows have been made. Yep I think it will be ok, here's a few photos to show my progress, and I reckon I should now be posting more often now. One never knows. Here we go...thanks a lot. DAVID

Hi David
 
Here's where I am right now on my building of the Caroline. Planking the decks now with boxwwod.
 
Keith

Greetings all
Thanks for all your comments and advice. Just to bring you up to date I have completed all the deck planking apart from two small areas at the bows. I decided to varnish the decks with clear Matt, but was not happy so have ended up using satin as you can see on the photos, which is not yet dry. I also tried out medium oak on test pieces but it darkened the end grain which I had suspected would happen. So another night of boring planking to do tomorrow, plus the inner bulwarks to plank, and then I can start to make some impression on the build. DAVID

Planking going reasonably well so far with no issues. Down eight planks each side and now need to start tapering the new plank ends as it says in the instructions.

Project is coming along with no major issues so far. Great care and strong clamps are required when bending the dummy gun decks at the bow. Take your time and be gentle with the pressure or you will crack or break them. I managed to get away with just a slight crack in one.
 
One thing I certainly didn’t expect with this kit is that all the main decks are now pre planked. Planking wood is supplied but not really required. The decks look OK to me and it would seem pointless to lay new decking on top.
 
One more update To follow them I’m up to speed with the current build progress.

Another quick progress update. Most of the outer hull work is done. I ended up using water based wipe-on poly to secure the photo etch details and it worked out very well. It ended up being pretty easy to do.
 
Its turning out to be a very nice looking model.
 

Progress update. It looks like I'm a little behind on my build log. I finished most of the main hull work, just have to put the photo etch details on. Here is a couple of pics of the progress. 
 
I wanted to show how I'm assembling the ladders. I was struggling to get them squared up properly. I used an angle block to steady things up (shaky hands).
 
Here I clamped one side of the ladder to a machinist square and lined up the slot just a hair above the top of the square.

 
Then I glued the ladder step on with just a tiny bit of CA glue to be sure it didn't stick to the metal. This worked great to make sure everything was square.

 
The ladder step sits flat on top of the square and I used the back of the square as a reference to line up the step.
 

 
I did one step on both sides of the ladder on opposite ends and ended up with this.

 
Then I glued both halves together and finished installing the steps. I reinforced the steps with glue on the back sides of the steps.

 
Current progress. I really struggled with getting the quarter galleries built but it turned out okay. I had to scratch build some of the parts as the kit parts just wouldn't work. I really screwed this up somehow.  I also had to butcher one of the lower pieces of PE to get tit to fit below the lower rail. Not sure why it turned out that way.
 
I'm not sure how I will approach the PE along the port and starboard. A couple of pieces are pretty long and somewhat easy to distort. I don't know yet how I will put them on the model. I may separate them into smaller pieces.
 
I painted the top of the channel knees black to cover up the char that remained.

 
Stern view. The PE on the right is slightly off target and may have to debond and fix it, or not. The stern and the rudder were both kind of like little models all by themselves. I enjoyed the process of completing them.

 
The bow. Not a great picture but I painted the inside of the bow parts blue to cover up the char.

 
I started assembling some of the deck components while I think about the PE. I chose to have the hinges and the door handles face outwards on the forward bulkhead. I just think its a nice detail to not hide. I had to make some adjustments to the deck beams as they were a little too wide. Probably because I couldn't use the jigs after I broke all the tabs off (accidentally). I test fitted all deck beams and most needed some adjustment. Of course that means the deck itself will need some work to get a good fit 🤔

 
 
 
 

I started to install the initial bit of standing rigging and encountered the first series of major mishaps. I began by working on the fore pair of starboard shrouds for the foremast. I had a lot of trouble using the bent wire approach to get the correct deadeye spacing as the wire kept popping out of the deadeye holes. I eventually cut a piece of scrap bass wood with a chamfered edge to match the slope of the shrouds. The deadeyes were then held in place with multiple needles. This was also not that that secure but slightly better than the bent wire option and hopefully have me a better chance of getting the upper deadeyes aligned horizontally.

For the fore mast lower shrouds, I used a length of 1.2mm diameter dark brown RoS rope. This was the closest I had to the 1.13mm diameter as indicated in Steel. I tackled these in pairs starboard to port fore to aft. Once the lengths of the shrouds were determined I served the forward shroud along the entire length as per Lees and continued along the aft leg up to the approximate location of the futtock stave. Serving the larger diameter rope proved quite problematic. The serving thread kept wanting to travel down the spiral of the rope so I attempted to worm the shrouds first to block this passage, which improved matters, but the end result was very lumpy.
 
I persevered with my effort hoping that the ratlines would disguise some of the lumpiness. I tied the shrouds off at the top and seized the deadeyes to the ends. Once I attached the lanyards and tightened them up, I experienced catastrophic failure of the deadeye strops. I had made these out of black annealed wire and despite sanding off the coating at the joint, the solder was not strong enough to hold when tension was applied. I tried two and broke two which is a 100% failure rate. I am going to have to replace all of these and have placed an order with Amati for some photoetch examples. These are etched out of a sheet of brass so there is no joint to fail. It is going to be a problem changing all of these as access is a bit compromised now that the build is further advanced but I suppose the silver lining is that they failed early in the build rather than the end when I was about to place the finished model on its display stand.
 

 
While waiting for the strops, I served the first pair of port shrouds. I took some more time over these, tried to keep an even a tension as possible on the serving thread and dispensed with the worming. This turned out a lot better than the first attempt so I was forced to cut out the starboard pair and remake them as the first attempt looked quite shabby in comparison.
 


As a parallel exercise I had a look at the deadeye strops for the futtock shrouds. I had some 3mm PE strops for these from HiS Models but they are too short and do not extend sufficiently below the tops which results in the hook that attaches the shroud to the strop sitting uncomfortably against the copper rubbing strip on the side of the tops. I made a custom version using 0.41mm diameter black annealed wire using the most basic of jigs that looks like a distressed stick figure. These look the part and are closer to the detail on HMS Trincomalee and HMS Victory but this was all done prior to my discovery of the weakness of the soldered joints of the lower deadeye strops. Now I am not so sure how to proceed. I could probably get adequate joint strength if I use plain brass wire but I then have the problem of painting it black after it has been attached to the deadeye. Glum times in the shipyard. I think that the stresses exerted by the upper shrouds should be a lot less than the lower ones but I shall have to do some destructive testing to see if they hold up. Perhaps I should have a go at scratch building the hammock cranes to really push myself over the edge.
 





Still no strops so I had a go at finishing up the supplementary rigging for the main top. This was done in the same fashion as the fore mast with a couple of failed experiments to try and improve the look of the seizings. Just the mizzen to complete but I noticed the courier company has said that a package is due today so I am hoping it is the new strops so that I can achieve the dream of getting some standing rigging on the model.
 



 

 
 
 
 

I carried on doing not very much. I think it is an avoidance strategy as the rigging stage is looming large. I went ahead and rigged and installed the carronades. I was quite disappointed with the end result . With the cannons, I had the entire lower deck to practice on before I got to the upper decks but no such luxury with the carronades. On the positive side it does mean that all of the guns are now in position unless I decide to add swivel guns to the tops.








With the guns in place and rigged it did allow me to glue down the remaining deck furniture. For the most part I drilled holes into the legs so that I could insert 0.5mm diameter brass rods to act as dowels in the hope that they give some protection against an errant elbow later on in the build. I also took this opportunity to fix the lower masts in place. For these I used the merest dab of glue to position them. I am relying on gravity and rigging to hold these elements. To be fair, once rammed in, they sit quite snugly in their holes.
 






 




 
 

I continued wading through the myriad of pieces that make up the masts. I ran the lower foremast through the table saw and replaced the top with something that was more in keeping with the proportions. I had to remake the cap for a second time as the new top did not fit and I had placed the eyebolts slightly off in the previous one. I then had to give the lower mizzen mast the same treatment. I was somewhat disappointed to find out that, according to Lees, the top of the lower mizzen also has battens. These are quite fiddly to make as you have to notch the rear so that they sit flush over the metal bands.

 

I then turned my attention to completing the elements that comprise the main mast. I had already finished the lower main but needed to make a new collar for the junction at the base to account for the increased diameter. This also had to be larger so that I could cut out a notch to accept the front fish. I had to start with a 20mm diameter beech dowel which was too large for the lathe so I had to resort to the milling machine and some freehand dremeling. As the hole in the middle had to be large enough to pass over the lower metal bands there was an unsightly gap between the collar and the mast once I got it into its final position. I fudged this by introducing another band at the deck level that should fill the gap and not be too noticeable when painted black.
 

I completed the tops to match the other two and made up the lower crosstrees. for these I used the kit supplied cross trees but remade the trestle tees. The bibs and cheeks at the hounds were remade as 2 separate pieces as per the Steel drawings with the bibs splayed. I also added the faux bolts to attach the cheeks to the mast.

 

I then moved onto the main topmast. The tables in Steel note that this is the same diameter as the fore topmast but the AOTSD indicate that it is slightly larger in diameter. I went with the AOTSD dimensions as they are the ones that I had decided to follow but at this point I can no longer remember if I had not got confused and mixed and matched at some point. At 1:64 scale though the tolerances inherent in my shoddy workmanship should render that concern moot.
 



The below photos show the parts of the three masts broken down. Sadly, these are not complete yet as I still must add rigging blocks and other sundry items., It does however indicate that I am coming to the end of the fabrication stage of the model. I only have the yards and the bowsprit left and then it is all rigging. I just realised that I also have the hammock cranes, netting, anchors, and the ships boats to complete. Seems like I am nowhere near the end of the fabrication stage. Of course, I am forgetting the giant base but it is still 50/50 as to that happening.



I mocked-up the masts in-situ with all the elements balanced somewhat precariously to give myself an idea of the final size of the model and I was quite surprised at how tall it is. I hope that I have not bungled the mast dimensions. I suspect the lack of rigging and yards is exaggerating the slenderness ratio making them appear taller. I also opted to use the long pole head which adds to the height. There is always the option of switching these out at a later date if I feel like it.




 

 
 
 
 
 

My strops arrived from Amati. The delivery was quite swift. I opened them up to accept the deadeyes before giving them a coat of rattle can matt black. I figured that I would do less damage to the paintwork if I just had to close them rather than open and close them once painted. I added a splash of weathering powder and then give them a spray of poly to give the coating a fighting chance of staying on but it is a slim chance.
 


I employed the same jig as before and attempted a version of the complicated twisted lashing around the deadeye as detailed in Lees. It is a real exercise in frustration to do and the result is quite clumsy. Still once all the ratlines and lanyards are in place, they should not be that visible. I gave the lanyards an experimental yank and this time everything stayed in place. Happy days although tempered by the knowledge that there are many more still to go.
 



In an attempt to get the served lengths of the shrouds to line up I clamped a length of wood to the mast although this was only marginally successful as the served length ended up getting longer as I worked through the shrouds and have a distinct downward slant rather than the neat horizontal I was aiming for. Not the end of the world as it is barely visible.
 

After plodding away for a while, and taking many sanity breaks, I completed the lower foremast shrouds. The spacing between the shrouds is not the best. They are too widely spaced in some areas and are too narrow in others such that they interfere with the cannons. In an ideal world these should be relocated but it would be too catastrophic to try that now so I am just going to live with it. As I progressed the stack of shrouds at the tops continued to grow to an alarming height. This seems to be higher than others I have seen. Perhaps I did not tamp them down firmly enough when installing them.
 





To break up the shroud installation I had a go at completing the strops for the futtock shrouds. For these I resorted to plain 0.5mm diameter brass rod. It is slightly thicker than the annealed black wire I was using previously. The result is not as good looking but I can get a much stronger solder joint using the plain brass variety. I hope they will be passable once they have a coat of paint.


I tightened up all the lanyards and attempted the convoluted lashing pattern as shown in Lees but with an additional hitch at the top to prevent them unravelling. They are a bit of a mess but that is what comes with learning in the job.
 










I installed the futtock stave at the top using a 1.0 mm diameter black annealed wire pulled straight I normally use the two-plier method but for the larger diameter I had to resort to wrapping it in the vise and then pulling upwards while standing on it. These were lashed in place using some dark brown Gutterman thread. I mocked up the futtock shrouds and these distort the lower shrouds quite dramatically. I will have to install the catharpins first before I rig these.
 


 



I guess I should have a go at some ratlines now rather than wait until all the lower masts are finished. That way I will break up the tedium of doing them all in one go.
 
 
 

Well done david with those pesky CC deadeye wire strops. I had the same problem with them on my Endeavour build. I like your idea of using a polystyrene block and pinning them to get the correct distance apart. I used a similar idea which but made jigs instead of the polystyrene. I think the next time I do the lower chain plates I will end up soldering them. Good luck you are going great guns. 
Here is a photo of how I managed it . Not my initial idea,but it worked pretty well. Hope this helps.
 

Thanks for the likes. Appreciated as always.
 
Rather than move the eyebolt which would leave a hole to be filled that might be obvious, I added another on the forward side of the gun port to accommodate the main sheet standing part. Sheets and tacks now completed.

 
The pinnace has been tidied up and is lashed to the spare topmasts in the waist. I have also nested the 18’ cutter inside the pinnace. I am still undecided on how to mount or display the launch and 24’ cutter but I have glued the boat cradles in place.

The stay tackles have been added. Getting them to hang realistically took some time and I eventually followed BE's lead on Pegasus and propped up the stay with scrap dowel before applying dilute pva to the rope and weighting with clips.
 
On to the spritsail yard.
The sling was made according to the second option in Lees; putting an eye in one end and threading the other end through and seizing it to itself. I used 5mm Amati rope served with Gutterman thread.


I had missed adding the eyelets for the jibboom guys and the yard lifts off model so now added them. As with the other yards, I replaced the brace pendants with a longer version of 8mm.
The spritsail yard halliard consists of a 5mm long block and a 5mm single block. The fall runs to the starboard side of the pin rack at the bow. It’s a bit tricky tying off here with little room to manoeuvre.


I used 0.45 RoS rope for the jibboom guys. They have a 5mm block seized to the end. The falls thread througn this block, through another seized to an eyebolt on the forward side of the cathead and tied off at the timberhead.



Spritsail lifts are rigged with the standing end seized to an eyebolt at the bowsprit cap. The running end passes through the block on the yard, through another block seized to the lower eyebolt in the cap and leads back to the bow pin rack.

I’m left with only the braces to complete the rigging of the yards before moving on to the gaff and driver boom.

Thanks for looking in
David

I sent for some longer Amati oars for the cutters but they are pretty ugly and much oversize. I attempted to whittle them down but gave up because they are made from limewood and I thought they wouldn’t stand much thinning down.
In the end I made my own from 1mm brass rod and 4x1 tanganyika that I had.
 

They are from the left, Amati, Vanguard Models, my versions for 18’ and 24’cutter.
 
In the meantime my ropes arrived from Ben so I continued with a bit more rigging. Belaying the tacks proved to be less of a problem than anticipated although access under the gangway and around the guns is still tight. However I have run into a problem with the main sheets. The photo below illustrates the problem in that the standing part cuts across the barrel of the carronade. The eyebolt for the standing part is a little close to the gunport lid but moving it aft wouldn’t alter the fact that the rope would still cross the gun. I think this is a consequence of my moving the quarterdeck guns around to fit the open rails. If the gun was a little further forward and the eyebolt a little further aft, I might have got away with it. Too late to change now.

My solution is to move the eyebolt forward of the gunport as shown in the photo below.

Not ideal but...
 
Thanks for the likes and for looking in.
David

Your likes and comments are much appreciated as always.
 
It’s a few weeks since I’ve updated the log due to commitments in the garden and I’ve had a week away in The Lakes, which has meant a slowdown in work on the ship.
I’ve completed the main and mizen mast rigging. Getting clean runs of the rope becomes more of a challenge as I progress and there were a few accidents with already completed rigging along the way. The deck was beginning to look like a nest of snakes so I have also started adding hanks and trimming off the excess rope at the belay points. A few photos follow showing the current state of Diana.




 
For the moment I propose to stop work on the rigging and continue with finishing the ship’s boats and deciding which ones to mount on the skid beams. But I’m in a bit of a dilemma. Should I mount the boats, in which case it could be difficult to tie off the sheets and tacks or add the sheets and tacks, in which case it may be awkward to mount the boats?
 
Diana seems to be gobbling rope at a rate of knots, 😄 -I’m using far more than I anticipated so Ropes of Scale has received another order from me which hopefully will be sufficient to complete the rigging when the time comes to return to it.
 
Thanks for looking in
 
David