Fernando E

Finally , hoisting the flags....build completed

A planned windlass kitbash got a little more involved than I had intended (imagine). I saw the Syren windlass mini-kit that involves making the barrel from individual planks/“staves” and was inspired to try to replicate it using a new (to me) technique. I made some “poor man’s CAD” shapes in a word processor to be used as precisely sized templates, then glued them to pieces of wood to cut them out. A little touch-and-go at times for something so small. I messed up the side brackets(?) from another kit that I was going to use, and ended up making new ones in three pieces just like the real thing. Of course I reversed two of those pieces when gluing it, but it looks fine. The ratchet teeth are bits of strip styrene glued to a strip of card stock laid flat, painted, and then rolled into the center groove of the barrel. There will be a couple of carrick bitts with a pawl and a pin rail (and possibly a bell) to finish things off. Hopefully I can get to that soon, but I feel the ominous loom of returning to work this week. After that, just a few of the more utilitarian deck fixtures and I will have to face masts and rigging.

Some progress on the mid-ship section. 
 

 
This part took some time for completion because of two major issues: lack of ladders to go from the gangways to Quarterdeck/Forecastle and the length of the booms supporting the long boat and pinnaces. Fortunately, Tom from CAF Model was very quick to correct the problem and sent me some extra parts to remedy the situation.
 
The assembly of the gangways is done in the following way: 
 

 
It is overall very delicate, but once glued to the bulwarks, it is not too bad.
 
The first issue is illustrated below: How do you go from the gangway to the Quarterdeck (or Forecastle, for that matter)?
 

 
 
 
Obviously, something is missing. Tom was kind enough to design some small ladders with 2 or 3 steps and that solves the issue: 
 

 
The second problem was the short length of the booms used to stow the pinnaces: 
 

 

 
About 5 mm on each side, were missing. Again, Tom designed for me six additional booms to remedy the situation: 
 

 
One of the kit boom was used as a beam at the front of the Poop deck. Overall, we now have a mid-section that looks decent: 
 

 

 

 
I have only assembled half of the main capstan, as I need room to work on the forecastle.
 

 

 
Overall views: 
 

 

 

 

 

 
To complete the quarterdeck, I still need to assemble six small guns: 
 

 

 
Et voila the entire beast. Time to migrate the working crew to the boom and forecastle: 
 

 
I hope you are enjoying the progress of that huge model, as much as I do... :-)
 
Yves

I’m on a roll and assembled the carronades. We know the Mermaid had two carronades (although if I recall, logs/correspondence suggested they were kept below and only occasionally brought on deck as needed). The kit comes with two obviously long gun barrels. I had ordered a couple of 20mm brass carronades a while back (I forget which brand). There is nothing in the records (that I’ve found) that specifies what type of carronades the Mermaid had (slide, etc). I opted for carriages just because I could modify the ones that came with the kit (took a little height and length off of them). The wheels are a little…beefy. Reminds me of the Fisher-Price phone I had when I was a kid.



 

I am now working on the top of the Poop deck. But before doing that, I have to flip the hull to access in a more comfortable position the ceiling of the rear balcony. That delicate operation is done with the help of a friend. The hull is now close to 20 pounds in weight and all the protruding guns are very fragile: 
 

 

 
The Copper tape has been doing great after a few months and is gaining that reddish golden color that makes it so attractive. Most likely, this is the last time I will have to do this kind of acrobatic stunts. Of course, having the Poop deck bulwarks, full and re-unforced, allows to flip the heavy hull without any damages.
 
After working and finishing the ceiling, the top of the Poop deck can now be completed: 
 

 
The kit does not provide chicken coops and other cages for animals and birds to be installed on the Poop deck.
 
Poop deck Railing...
 

 
Ladders.... These are too short from the kit. I had to modify them and add an extra step on the top.
 

 
 
 

 
The veranda to provide light into the main cabins.... and the bitts for the mizzen mast: 
 

 

 
Overall view of the Quarterdeck and Poop deck: 
 

 
I think it is time to move to the middle of the ship and mostly to the bow.....
 

 
Yves

Just a quick update here, I fitted the final layer of the keel over the planked hull and started painting it.

 
I got a little excited and tried to get the hull off the jig. I still have painting to do, but I was a little worried and wanted to see how it would go. It did not come out of the jig easily, definitely glad wrap it next time, I’m amazed nothing broke. The remnants of the jig are also attached.


 

Hey everyone, so I have finally gotten around to planking the first boat, which is the 26 ft Yawl that sits in the centre of the main deck. I’ve used the anatomy of the ship to construct the jig. This involved printing out the body lines and using these as template to cut each piece of the jig out of 1.5 mm plywood. These were all fitted into a false keel and the space between them filled with balsa. I sanded them down to give a jig that closely approximates the body lines in anatomy of the ship.


Then I used the jig to bend 1 mm sticks to shape to form the frames, I stained each of these with a dark oak stain.

 
I glued each of these at the top with a spacer piece (I think it was 5 mm length and 0.5 mm thick). I hoped that this would prevent them from sticking to the jig, but in hindsight, I should have covered the jig in plastic to really prevent this.

 
After fitting all the frames, I added another layer of the keel to hold them all in place, the planks would then meet the keel at this height. I also fitted the transom and sternpost and then did some fairing

 
I figured I would lay the sheer plank first to get an idea of how much space I was working with. It was very difficult to measure these things accurately as the boat is so small and my equipment is not really precise enough. I ended up eyeballing a lot of it and hoping things were the correct length. I think I am extremely lucky that it worked out as well as it did.

 
I did my planking from the garboard up. The logic was that if there were problems at the top, I could simply re-adjust the sheer plank to make it all nice. Fortunately, this was not necessary (it is such a little thing!)




 
Then filling and sanding to give a nice finish (this will be painted white). This hull would have been double diagonal planked on the real ship. I was tempted to give this a try, however I figured that it would be a good idea to get practice planking on this one as I would want to hide much of the planks in the finish anyway (because it is inaccurate already). This would help me later when I try and do the remaining 6 boats, 5 of which are clinker planked.
 

 

 
I guess we’ll see whether it comes off the jig...
 

Here is another photo which Any has kindly updated for me by pointing out where the different attachments are to the gaff, which has helped me understand what I am looking at.

Blocks  and pennents for the following fitted 
Vangs
Ensign haliyard
Peak haliyard
Throat haliyard
Mizzen topsail brace blocks
brails blocks
 

So I'm just gonna slink in quietly like I haven't been MIA for two-and-a-half years.  I would offer excuses, but that would require finding a place to plug in my PowerPoint projector! Anyway...a little vacation time is a wondrous thing. I had to spend time carefully dusting the model and cleaning up my work area. I made an effort to finish off the two scratch-built whaleboats. Got them both off the stocks intact (full clinker planking!), but they have been such a labor intensive rabbit hole that I just decided to focus on one. I had decided that I wouldn't be able to stow them on the deck nested anyway. Quite a little skill building side quest, but it had contributed to my overall project delay. Next step is affixing all the deck structures and fittings, then...masts and rigging (which is honestly a little intimidating for me due to knowledge base and skill). We'll see what happens when work starts back up...lol.

 

In the last month, my 27 year career in the Royal Australian Air Force came crashing to a halt. I’ve been medically discharged as a result of a spinal condition. 
 
As a retirement gift, my darling wife graciously allowed the release of funds to purchase a Proxxon DB 250 wood lathe and turning chisels.
 
Whilst I wouldn’t class them as essential, these are certainly making the turning and tapering of masts and yards for the Supply easier. And it’s really a joy to use.
 
The HMS Supply once again replaces plastic kits on my bench. 

The planking of the poop deck is finished. A few more coats of Wipe-On-Poly and it will be perfect (at least in my eyes): 
 

 
Various pictures showing the implementation: 
 

 

 

 

 
Finished: 
 

 

 

 
Merry Christmas to all members of MSW !!!
 
Yves

It's amazing how much detail Chris can design into his 3D prints!

....look'n at you @Blue Ensign ...& @chris watton & @dvm27& @BenD& @mugje
 

I'll do a proper update in a few days, showing coppering, but until then, here's a photo showing the work so far. 
 
Coppering is a fairly quick process, thankfully, and fairly therapeutic. 
 

One of the new parts that I ordered from Tom (CAF Model) was an extended set of beams to support the Longboat, Cutters and other Pinnaces. In addition, when you look at a picture of the Model in the National Maritime Museum, the upper deck is presented with a small beam in the front.
 

 
That detail is missing from the kit and I decided to use one of the the short boats stowing beams, as a substitute for that missing poop deck beam.
 
This is where we are: 
 

 
The beam is glued under the poop deck sub-floor: 
 

 
It finishes the poop deck in a much more realistic way:
 

 
Now is the time to build the starboard bulwark and to do a lot of dust: 
 

 
The main railings are glued: 
 

 
And this is where we are: 
 

 

 

 
Ready for planking: 
 

 
Yves
 
 

Before closing the second half of the poop deck, it was necessary to assemble four more 9 pounder guns: 
 

 
Again, the bulwark is built and strengthened with pieces of wood. Note that the triangular sides of the bulwarks provided in the kit are not large enough and need to be extended for a full coverage of the poop deck. 
 

 
Yves

OK, I streamlined the pricing options and now have the box details for shipping.
 
Here are the prices:
 
VM/12           HMS INDEFATIGABLE  (February 2023 Release)                                                                                              £1350
VM/12/Box    HMS INDEFATIGABLE  Boxwood Planking (This replaces all pearwood and red alder planking (Decks)        £1800
VM12/D1       HMS INDEFATIGABLE  Laser engraved deck set (Very Limited supply - Red alder planking still included)     £120
VM12/CP01   HMS INDEFATIGABLE  PE copper plate set (Including rudder shape PE)_                                                        £150
VM/12/PB      HMS INDEFATIGABLE  Pear block and deadeye set (This set replaces the standard set)                                 £140
 
Box details:
Box weight – 14.5kg
 
Length – 990mm
Width – 370mm
Depth – 195mm
 
The box weight is well over double that of even Sphinx. The box dimensions are those for the shipping sleeve. I wanted to keep the length under 1 metre, as I know some postage rates go up a lot past this point.

Whilst waiting to figure out what to do next with the ships boats and other bits and pieces I thought I would make a start on fitting the various blocks, foot ropes, stirrups and flemish horses  to the various Yards.
                                       After reading several different accounts as to what and where to fit blocks I eventually decided to stick with ' The masting and Rigging of English ships of war from 1625-1860' by James Lees. There are several differences between the plans supplied by Caldercraft and James Lees book but mainly the Jeers on the lower and topsail yards and the topsail lifts acted as the topgallant sheets.The jeers instead of the 4 blocks ( 2 on the yard)suggested by the plans I have gone with a 3 block system 2 single and one double on the yard as explained in Lees book page 64 for 5th and 6th rate and smaller.I  think the picure on page 64 around about 1640 ad looks like what he might be getting at and with only one fall I also understand that the Endeavour replica is different to this aswell, with a few modellers going down this route. As I have started with Lees book for the rest of the masts yards and rigging, I thought it would make sense to continue with Lees book for the Jeers and top sail and topgallant Tyes.
       
 
 



           I also found that the blocks suppled by the kit are way to big so I have used smaller blocks where ever I can, but still trying to maintain a difference where ever I could between the lower yards, topsail yards and the topgallant yards.
          I still need to add the blocks to the Spritsail and Sprit topsail yards once i have figured out what rigging is required for these yards. Assuming they will be the same as the Fore and Main topsail and topgallant yards but will need to double check this
 
 

Nice update!
 
OK, I can now finally give hard details about release dates and costs.
 
All of the production for Indy is now fully complete, photo etched brass, all castings and laser cut parts. Production started at the start of this year, but I have had to produce a lot of our existing kits in between.
 
The time for each kit for laser cut parts is nine and a half hours. This is only for actual laser cutting time, and does not include removing and setting up each batch of material on the laser table (plus laser/extractor maintenance etc.), so the real time would be more like 11-12 hours dedicated to each kit for laser cutting. There are a total of 51 individual laser cut sheets, and with the (very limited) engraved deck option, 53 sheets and an hour added to that overall cutting time. This is all done on my large laser machine, and for the main construction parts, materials twice the size of Sphinx.
 
Pricing:
 
VM/12               HMS INDEFATIGABLE - £1350
VM/12/PB         HMS INDEFATIGABLE  Machined Pear block and deadeye set - £140
VM/12/Box        HMS INDEFATIGABLE  Boxwood Planking set -£450
VM12/D1          HMS INDEFATIGABLE  Laser engraved deck set -£120
VM12/CP01      HMS INDEFATIGABLE  PE copper plate set  -£150
 
I have stock for 50 kits. (Complete kits with all masting and rigging materials, as usual)
 
For the pearwood block and deadeye set, I have 30 sets in stock.
 
The boxwood planking option includes all hull planking strip, including deck planking, in boxwood. Right now, I have ordered enough for 5 kits, but 2 of the 5 have already been pre ordered. If people want this, I will order more. This is due in January
 
The laser engraved deck option is very limited, due to the sheer amount of scrap wood not suitable for the job. I was meant to have at lease 30 sets, but only have 8.
 
The PE copper option will be available by the time of the kit launch, but is now quite expensive, and did not include in the kit for this reason (copper tape is included, and is what Jim will use). I was not sure I could even get this until a week ago.
 
The kit will be available for pre order next week, with the actual release being mid-late February

Time for an update here.
 
The hull was varnished and sanded back a couple of times, helping to seal any open grain before applying paint. This was instead of using a primer, which you can of course use. Yellow ochre was then applied. I used Humbrol Linen as I wasn't in possession of the VM acrylic paint at the time. This paint was airbrushed over the hull and rubbed back successive times over a week or so, to make sure I'd got it right and it looked reasonably homogenous. The reason for painting all of this in ochre was that it's easier to see any fault areas that needed fixing up, before applying black paint.

 
 
The hull was then painstakingly masked off before applying black. It's always tricky cutting a mask line across the longitudinal rail, and this took a few bits of touching up to get right. The effort is worth it though. The rails were also then painted in ochre and the gun ports touched up again after ochre overspray. 



 
 
I used a Prismacolor silver pencil to add a waterline on the hull, and made sure this was a few millimetres below the eventual one. The plan is to then use that as a guide and copper above it. Once coppered, I'll add another regular pencil line at the correct height and score a line along it before removing the copper tape above the waterline.

 
 
 
A 50m roll of 6mm self-adhesive copper tape is included. This is reduced down into 18mm lengths. It sure does take some time, so I recommend a tool like this for making them. Each plate is exactly the same length and with perfectly square ends. 


 
 
Ok, it's about time to start coppering this hull...
 

Preparation of the Poop deck. The original poop deck in the kit (Session #5), did not fit at all. Tom of CAF Model sent me a replacement part that is better but will require some adjustments as we will see.
 

 
The replacement part came in one single and enormous part. Because of the negative curve on the top of the hull, it is not possible to insert it directly. My first job was to cut it into two symmetrical parts (picture above). Then patiently, I adjusted each side to fit in the best possible way.
 
All these attempts make me think that there are probably very few (if not none) modelers who have reached that stage in the construction of that kit.
 

 
The front view of the upper deck, clearly shows that it is missing one beam, not provided in the kit. I will be offering a solution soon.
 

 
The rear need to be reworked extensively to accept the rounded ceiling, above the rear balcony.
 
Finally, an overall view of the model, showing that most details are now completely occult-ed: 
 

 
Yves
 
 
 
 

The two curved windows are installed, taking advantage of the hull internal access: 
 

 

 

 
Now, finally, at this stage, the internal doors to the heads/galleries can be installed.
 
Yves 

This is where we stand: 
 

 

 

 
A few more guns to be built, before I can seal the quarterdeck with the poop deck.
 
Yves

I think it is time for a small update. I finally completed the starboard gallery.... The following pictures are showing the sequence of the build:
 

 
The lattice is 3D printed in resin.
 

 
I am not really following the kit (lack of) instructions, neither am I using all the parts provided in the kit.
 

 
Paint and Future Floor.
 

 
Gluing the rails.....
 

 
Building of the roof....
 

 
Installation of the window panes....
 

 
And the pilasters to complete the gallery.... Et voila.
 

 
The port side....
 

 
Again, make sure that you have access through the inside of the hull, to the galleries for the final installation and correct positioning of the window panes.
 

 
The doors can be installed later on.
 
Yves
 

Guns factory: 
 

 
Putting together the remaining 18 pounders and starting some 9 pounders to go on the quarterdeck: 
 

 

 

 
Yves