Jim Rogers

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

I  will be a set or two just for my stash of parts.

When will the Capstan kits be ready?
 

How is Chapter 4 coming along?

Chuck that is some beautiful work. What size are the decking planks going to be? I want to mill them now.

That will be the perfect companion piece for the Winnie.

HI
 
IMHO - the Winchelsea is pretty much the best 1:48 Frigate “kit” out there, it is perfectly designed and the laser cut parts supplied by Syren are excellent - this gives the builder the best chance to complete a really good looking model and I guess that’s why it’s so popular.
 
 

I  will be a set or two just for my stash of parts.

It seemed to work out just fine....But I will let you guys be the judge.
 
These are so small.  But they will save so much time.  They are very difficult to photograph being black....ish.
 
These take a while to cut so please comment on yea or nay.   I dont want to make a bunch and then nobody buys them.  I would say $10 per set to cover all the guns on the Winnie.
 

Making the guns..
 
There are 8 cannon.
 
First sand the char off both sides of each laser cut sheet of carriage parts.  Do this before removing the parts.  Its just easier.   Then proceed to remove the char from the edges of all pieces.  Dont sand too much.  Just a light touch is needed.  The two sides or the "brackets" of teach carriage are laser cut with all the holes for your various eyebolts etc.
 

Then if you intend to paint the carriages...do that on all parts before assembling.  Its just easier.  Note the axle are left bright as well as the wheels (trucks).
 
In addition, this chapter will come with a carriage jig.  It is a simple jig.   Add the center piece of the jig first.  Then it is best to add the two axles in position so you can better position the other two jig pieces.   Position the two jig elements on the far sides of each axle so they can be easily slipped in and out of the jig.  Dont make it so the axles are too tight in the jig and hard to remove.   Finish up the the jig with the final fourth piece which is used to secure the brackets at the correct width apart from each other.   
 

Then you can glue the two brackets to the axles....after they dry remove this assembly from the jig and you can repeat for all eight carriages.
 

Next up...add the front (transom) and the back (bolster) atop each axle between the brackets.  Note the stool bed and quoin ready to go in the next step along with some 3/64" dia brass rod.  
 

Insert the longer brass rod (not included) through the carriage.  The stool bed will sit on this.  The two smaller lengths simulate the transom bolts.  Normally this would go through the transom from one side to the other.  But in our case they wont.   They are just cosmetic.  Just fill the hole so it looks like it does.  They can be be blackened.
 
Then I glued the quoin atop the stool bed in advance.   Then glued this on top of the bolster and long brass rod.  See the photo.

Small eye bolts were made with 24 gauge black wire and inserted according to the plans.   Many of you will be familiar with this repetitive task.  I also made ring and bolt for the breech line.  Even though the photos show it on the carriage, they will be removed for now.  It is easier to add them to the breech line itself and then insert them into the carriage sides.  That is if you intend to rig the guns which I do.  I also turned the quoin handle from some scrap 3/64" boxwood strips.   But you guys ,ay choose a commercial option of using a belaying pin...if they dont look too out of scale and huge.   Which they almost certainly always look out of scale.

To finish up the carriages I drilled the holes along the stepped sides of each bracket.  I inserted 30 pound black fishing line to simulate the bolts.  I also added the the trucks (wheels).  To finish up the trucks a small length of either 24 gauge black wire or even 25 pound black fishing line can be used to simulate the truck keys.  The keys are run through the laser cut holes in each axle.

The cannon are resin...they are cleaned up and finished with some weathering powder as I usually do.   The trunnion were sanded shorter to match the width of each carriage.
 
The capsquares are interesting.  I hate making these. So this time around I spent basically an entire day figuring out how to laser cut them.   Thats right....laser cut.  No 3d printing or casting.  I designed and laser cut the capsquares in one piece.  They do have some 3 dimensionality to them.   I am quite pleased with how they turned out.  It took many many failed attempts.  Just clean them up and weather them if you like.   Then glue them on....

 
The finished product...
 

 
 
 

Questions or comments are always welcomed.

To scupper or not to scupper.
 
Most contemporary models do not show the scuppers.   In fact the contemporary model of Speedwell doesnt show the scuppers. I didnt add the scuppers on my Winnie build which was typical.  But I am going to show them on my speedwell.   Nothing fancy.   These arent too crazy to do.   Not like the hawse holes will be.  But you do have to be careful.  You need to carefully measure them inboard and outboard so they look like they line up.  You can actually use the deck planking templates because I have marked the inboard locations for all of the scuppers.
 
When I drill my scuppers I dont even try to drill them all the way through.   That adds unnecessary difficulty.   I drill shallow holes only about 1/16" deep or slightly more.   Inboard, I start with a small pilot hole with a small drill bit.   Then in this case, I used a #47 drill bit afterwards to make them larger.   Finally I used a round file to smooth out the hole’s insides.   I lightly sanded the inboard bulwarks over the scuppers with some 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out any fraying.  This will require some paint touch-up later when they are all done.  The scupper holes were made flush with the deck level or just a hair above.
 
I prefer to use a soft pencil to darken the inside of the holes.  I made sure to cover the entire inside surface of the scuppers including the back of the hole.   Then I touch up the red bulwark paint.  On this model I drilled the scuppers before I added the waterway.  I just wanted to try something new.  It worked out really well for me.  No chipping or fraying of the water way at all.  You can do it whichever way is more comfortable for you.
 
The picture below shows the holes drilled and darkened with the pencil.   They are nice and dark.  I touched up the red paint as well on the bulwarks afterwards.  You can see the waterway strip also prepared in advance and ready to be glued into position.
 

The waterway is a 3/64" x 3/64" strip of cedar.  I sanded one of the four corners of the strip down its entire length.  I used an Emory board or sanding stick.   Basically I made it triangular in profile.  Then I held it in position so I could mark the positions for the scuppers along its length.  I really tried to get these exactly where they should be located.  I used a round mini file to make the half round openings along the length of the waterway where the scuppers were marked out.  Once in position this really looked good.   I used the same soft pencil to darken the round notches I made along the waterway as well.   Below you can see how the scuppers inboard turned out.  I made the waterway in two pieces for the gun deck rather than use one long strip that spanned across the whole length.
 

I also prepared the waterway for the poop deck, port and starboard.   This was easy...no scuppers, LOL.   Just make the strip triangular.  Dont worry about trying to make it concave or anything fancy.   
 
Here is a photo.
 

Finally to the outboard side.  No difference here really.   I used those outboard templates we used way back when....remember those.   If you have to shift the template fore and aft a bit to line them up with the inboard scuppers you made on the opposite side of the deck/hull its no big deal.   But this template will give you a really good start and can be rested atop the wales.
 

 
I drilled with a small drill bit first and again made the holes larger using the #47 bit.   I cleaned them up a bit and darkened them with a soft pencil.  Once again...no need to drill all the way through and hope you meet the same scupper hole you drilled on the inboard side.  Fake it ...till you make it .....I always say.   I drilled part way through once again.   Make sure you really darken them inside the holes nicely and completely.
 

Dont add the waterway on the fcastle deck yet.   I think it best to drill the hawse holes first.   I will be doing that next me thinks.
 

I started on the Stem assembly next. Everything fit well. Took a LOT of sanding and tapering to get Mercury in proper position.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

Next I painted the figurehead. I plan on painting and staining my model as I always do. 

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.

The thing I love about MSW is that you can ask questions of Chuck (Syren)  or Chris (Vangard) and they take time from their busy days to answer.