hamilton

Hi Chief Williams: I realised that I forgot to "follow" your log and have clearly missed a tonne of updates!! She's looking great so far. I think that the main deck hatches only need light sanding for the deck camber - and if the plan is to embed the hatches in the deck planking then this may be more minimal still. I laid a strip of sand paper slightly wider than the hatches along the centre line of the main deck and secured it with a bit of rubber cement. I then very lightly sanded down the hatches to match the deck camber in this way - it did not take long, but I'm not convinced it was necessary for these hatches. Anyways - enjoy the nice weather and bye for now hamilton

Thanks for the likes Yves and Chief Williams So I have not done any actual work on Bellona since the last update, but since this log is still "catching up", I guess that'll be ok for now. This post focuses on the installation of the bulkhead frames. The fit of the bulkheads was pretty good. Some filing of the bulkhead slots on the centre keel was necessary at bulkheads, 3, 4, 5 and 7, while the keel slots on some bulkheads also needed some light filing. I marked a centre line along the outside edge of the centre keel, and used that in combination with templates taken from the drawings and made some adjustments to get a nice square fit. The frames sat pretty fair on the keel, though a bit of bracing to square them properly was necessary in a couple of places. Bulkhead 15 has two filler pieces attached to the aft face - this is the first element of the stern framing, which I'll document in next week's update. The photo below shows them clamped (but not yet glued) to bulkhead 15. A hole needs to be drilled along the centreline of bulkhead 3 to allow passage of the bowsprit. I marked this off using 8mm dowelling and then used a jig to drill out the hole at the proper rake for the bowsprit - cleaned up with a half-round needle file. The final photo below shows the plywood clamp I made to correct for the bowing at the upper edge of the centre keel at the aft end of the f'csl section. I used some 1/4" ply left over from the renovation of our garage. Layign it along the centre keel in line with (and extending fore and aft beyond) the bowed section, I marked out the position of the bulkhead slots and then cut the slots out of the jig on the scroll saw. A few minor adjustment were needed before it slid nicely over the bulkheads and I could clamp it against the centre keel. I then clamped it in place and glued on the bulkheads, being careful not to glue the jig to the framework! Once the glue had cured, I removed the jig, glued the remaining seams that I couldn't access when the clamp was on, and that was that - it corrected the bowing quite nicely. Thats all for now - enjoy your modelling and bye for now hamilton

the story goes that Caligula made a bet that he could ride a horse across the Bay of Naples. He then lashed together a bridge of ships that ran across the bay and made good on his boast - I'm not sure if this was the same horse that he made a member of the Roman Senate, but.....whatever else you can say of Caligula, he was a man of his word hamilton

Hello all: As noted above, I've almost completed the framework to this point, but I'm going to tease the build log out slowly so I can get through a very busy patch at work. I won't be able to return to regular activity on Bellona until later in February. I thought I would begin with a quick overview/review of the kit and some notes on preparation of the centre keel I've built several Corel kits in the past - Toulonnaise, the Flattie and Brittany Sloop, and the Greyhound. I really enjoyed all of them and though Greyhound had serious deficiencies as a kit, it worked up into a pretty decent model. The materials Corel supplies are ok, and this kit - which is at the higher end of their stable - is good quality both in terms of the wood supplied and the other materials and fittings. One needs to set very low expectations for instructions, of course, and the plans sometimes raise more questions than they give answers. But I don't think these are real impediments for people with experience building plank-on-bulkhead kits. The difficulties come when trying to bend a kit into a form designated by the modeller's search for historical accuracy - here it is always a compromise between the structural features of the kit, the information available and the skills (or in my case quirks) of the modeller. The centre keel comes as a single part, including the knee of the head. The part came out with some warping - not severe. A bit of bowing along the length of the keel which was easily corrected by making a building board out of old 3/4" plywood with some 1/4" x 3/4" hemlock strips left over from a cabinetry project (see photo above). The other issue was a bit trickier to resolve - the upper edge of the forecastle section of the centre keel bowed to port by about 1/16". As I'll show later I made a jig out of old 1/4" plywood to correct this during the installation of the bulkheads. I don't have a lot of images of the centre keel preparations, but here is a list: I made templates for the bearding and rabbet lines and marked them out - you'll see in the images that these are quite rough - I did clean them up! The bow filler pieces helped with this I extended lines for the bulkhead slots down to the bearding line as reference for setting the bulkheads and checking for any corrections that needed to be made on the slots I drilled out the gammoning slot and a hole for the main stay collar I dry fitted the bulkheads and noted where slots on the keel piece/bulkheads needed adjustment (shimming/filing out Here are a few shots to show some of the work - not intrinsically interesting, but..... hamilton

Yes Yves! I've looked in on your CAF build - it is intense!! I got myself the CAF Granado (part 1) as a Christmas present - inspired by your Bellona. But since that kit seemed well out of my reach (and I already had Corel's kit on the shelf)....I'm sticking with this "little cousin". Thanks for stopping by! hamilton

Hello all This is becoming a terrible habit, but I've decided to take another break from Bluenose and venture onto another build - one that has been sitting on the shelf for a very long time and that I've been thinking about since I got this kit (I think back in 2012) - Corel's Bellona. I have to give fellow MSW members Chief Williams and Harlequin acknowledgement as inspirations and for providing impulse to begin this build - and this log! I've always thought it strange that there weren't more builds of this kit on MSW, and I hope that this log can serve some purpose for the community. The history of Bellona is well known, and I'm not going to rehash it here. But my plan for the build is to represent the model (as per the kit) at her 1780 refit. As reference I'm using Brian Lavery's Anatomy of the Ship HMS Bellona - though his drawings cover both the pre- and post-refit and are sometimes confusing in terms of what is being depicted. This is most obvious with the rigging, which I've used James Lees' Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War to determine. A few years ago I started plotting out the build by making a detailed (some might say insane) parts list and rigging and belaying tables to supplement the information supplied on the Corel plans and to plan out approaches to the various elements. This is my usual way of working through a complex build and allows me to think through the construction of each element and to engage in intensive study of the plans and source material. Hope it pays off! In any case, in terms of build progress at the moment, I've nearly finished putting the framework together. But because I have a young family and a demanding day job (at least one that's very demanding for ten months of the year), I am only able to work on the model for a few hours each week, which makes for slow progress. So I'll be posting weekly updates here to cover stages of the build up to where I am now. In the meantime - here's the box and the centre keel. Build updates will start next week. In the meantime - enjoy your modelling! hamilton

Of course! Water! Never a doubt! Looks like we're at about the same stage in the build - I've glued up the frames and main deck on the keel (except the stern frames, which I've assembled but which need some tweaking). One thing I've been considering is adding main deck coamings and planking prior to installing the poop deck and f'csl - though the kit plans show the full assembly of the hull framework complete prior to planking the main deck, but I feel like the poop deck and quarterdeck would make this more tricky than. it needs to be...just a thought! In preparation for this option, I marked out the areas of the hatches/capstan platform/ mast partners, and painted them black to add depth beneath the hatch gratings. I'll probably build up the coamings and plank around them if I can find time on the weekend.... In any case, looking forward to more updates - at the risk of annoying the admins (since I have already one languishing build log here already) I may end up starting one here for Bellona too! Take care - hope the heat doesn't get too bad down there hamilton

Looks like a neat fix. I actually just started working on this kit, too - at the stage where I've installed most of the bulkheads (barring 15 and the stern framing). And I also made a gigantic spreadsheet - a parts list, rigging tables, belaying info, etc. I find this an incredibly useful exercise in complex builds like this, as time consuming as it is - a great way to prepare and map out the build in a more intentional way. I decided against carving a rabbet joint into the centre keel after doing a test on a small section in mid-ships - the material is too cheap! The veneer just crumbles and flakes and the interior material is so soft and spongey that it seems impossible to get a clean line. I'm not going to be keeping a log - my full time work limits my modelling time, and I have a semi-active log for another build on the go here, but I'll follow you here and hopefully be of some help if you hit any snags along the way! hamilton

She's really coming along Harlequin! Great work hamilton

I received this book as a gift from my wife's business partner several years ago - it's coverage is very broad and the illustrations are clear (and often very beautiful), though I'm not sure it could be used as more than secondary reference for model building - admittedly this may be a result of my own limitations as a modeller! hamilton

Some very fine joinery on a standard-setting build! Love following your work Mike hamilton

An exciting start - I just ordered this kit, but probably won't be starting it for a while. Will be nice to watch your work here in the meanwhile! hamilton

Just ordered session 1 of this kit.....lots on the shelf, but happy to add this to the pile! hamilton

That is a cool device - at first I thought it was a drill balanced on a set of miniature parallel bars. In any case your Unicorn is shaping up nicely! hamilton

Great work! Looking through your log brought back some very fond memories of building this kit many years ago - one of the most fun kits I think I've encountered. Hope you're enjoying it! hamilton

Hello Tim: Thanks for coming bye - great to hear from you! And great also to hear you're coming back to the shipyard - I took a long hiatus too - at least from regular modelling and active participation here (though constantly a "lurker" in 90s internet parlance). I hope that, if you get going on CS that you'll start a build log here - I'm meditating on what to do when Bluenose is done (even though at my current slow pace this won't be for some time) and I think it will either be the Corel Bellona or the Model Shipways Flying Fish. If it ends up being the latter maybe we'll be building in parallel once again! Still very thankful for the extra parts you sent for my America and hope to be able to return the favour one day! Bye for now hamilton

Looking good! hamilton

Looks great, despite product quality! It's been a while since I made a Corel kit (the last was Greyhound, you'll recall!), but Bellona is up next and I well remember how ginger you need to be with things like the chain plates and other metal parts - sometimes they're just unrefined looking, sometimes, they're just so fragile that they break while they're still in the little containers they come in! Anyways, poor parts in good hands still produce fine results, as your Unicorn shows! hamilton

I have the Corel Bellona kit, but this one looks incredible - and HUGE! Yikes! Looking forward to watching her come together here hamilton

Nice work so far! Glad that Harbour Freight made good on the scroll saw!! hamilton

Incredible work Bob, as usual! hamilton

Looks great! Very clean planking job so far hamilton

Hello there: Work on Bluenose has slowed as I've had to reduce my modelling hours to Saturday mornings - October-December is a very busy time at work and home so I'm feeling like a very dull boy indeed with all work and no play.... In spite of this I've managed over the last couple of weeks to plank the main deck. The joggling of the deck planks adds a significant amount of time to the process, and I'm not sure about the results - from a distance they're adequate and (judging by the photos below) my camera lens is extremely forgiving. But like everything in modelling it's about practice and getting a better feel for things with each attempt. And once all the deck furniture and fittings are added later things will blend in. The quarterdeck planking is not laid parallel to the centre line like the main deck planking - it curves more or less in line with the tapering of the deck towards the stern. This will no doubt take longer even than the main deck, but I won't have a chance to start on this until next weekend, unless by some chance I can carve out some modelling time tomorrow. In any case, slow and steady..... Enjoy hamilton

looking back through your log, I wish I had stumbled on it earlier, as I might have been able to provide some assistance with the odd stern bulkheads. on my Greyhound kit, bulkheads 9 and 10 were WAY off - I had to add 3/16" x 1/32" to the edges of those bulkheads. I used a test batten across all the bulkheads to gauge how thick these extra shimming strips needed to be and to gauge the area of the bulkhead edge they had to cover. It was a very time consuming and frustrating process as i recall....anyway, this is definitely a manufacturer issue! And a big stumbling block for the modeller...despite many criticisms of them that can be found on this forum, I actually quite like Corel kits and have made a few - this one, though, had some problems! hamilton

look how it improves with elbow grease!! The planking looks great! - Nice solid foundation for the next layer. Keep on! hamilton