hamilton

Yards...
 
Putting rigging aside for a wee while to do some work on the yards.  Decided that I'm going to keep the jib boom off for as long as I can as it really does seem to make working on the ship easier (and probably safer).
 
The yards are probably the last point where I think this build could stall, so I'm quite keen to get past this.  Per instructions, yards were shaped with a small davids plane to get a rough shape and then sanded to shape.  I'm not sure the dimensions given in the plans are 100% accurate, but I'm following them anyway.  I will be more meticulous with "Jason" when I get to this point as I'll follow the AOTS book closely.  I've started with the main yard as a prototype and will finish this one before doing the others together.  Additional detailing, cleats and blocks should be fun, but I'll leave that for now.
 
To help secure the yard to the mast I inserted a small length of brass wire and drilled a hole in the mast, as well as installing the sling cleats.  There are some photo etch 'caps' that go onto the end of the yard, not sure these are needed, but they do have some wings on each side, presumably to simulate an iron band.  I don't have a photo, but they were way to thick/big at this scale and removed them.  I will possibly simulate with thin paper strips.
 
The kit provides two soft metal pieces to make up the quarter irons, which are to be joined by brass wire.  These are too thick for scale, but I think the kit can be forgiven for this.  After fiddling, I decided to replace the cast mast band with a thin strip of styrene, but thin card would probably be easier to use.  The hoop for the studding sail yard has two bumps that I'm guessing simulate the  hinge and cotter pin.  These need to be lined up I think and be parallel to the waterline.

 
The various pieces were drilled, glued together and attached to the yard.  To get these to align properly I used a piece of long dowel feeding into each hoop allowed each one to be fine tuned before glueing in place.  Also helped ensure they are symetrical, especially important for the boom irons.

 
Yard dry fitted for first time...

 
I had ordered some walnut dowel for the studding sail booms.  Of course, I now come to find that the alleged "3mm" dowel is in fact 2.5mm   Would welcome opinions on whether this looks OK, 0.5mm seems a big difference.

 
Using supplied 3mm beech dowel (of course, slightly larger than 3mm!) perhaps illustrates whats intended.  No need for a decision now, but it does appear a little more to scale so I'll probably try my luck again and order some 3mm walnut dowel.

Thanks Nils. I'm just trying to keep up with you in the details.
 
Thanks Nigel. You're so right about getting by the guns. Interesting choice to go with no guns on Mordaunt. I have no doubt that it will look great.
 
Thanks Grant. Funny that you should mention housekeeping. My wife thinks that I'm the biggest slob in the world -- the attached current photo of my workspace may just prove her right. or ?
 
Bob

Work on the forecastle is now proceeding. First up was to plank the small bit of inner bulwark with boxwood. After that, I proceeded to do the hances and cap rail. For the hances, I again used the laser cut kit pieces for the carved end and fitted them to the rails which were cut from boxwood sheet, using card stock templates. 
 
As I generally do, the rail assemblies were prepainted black on the edges before mounting to avoid the need for masking. The rail tops were painted in place.  BTW, I am not among the 10 -20 coat painters. For better or worse, I am satisfied with 4-5 coats, particularly with black.
 
After the rails were done, I made the galley stove stack and the forecastle barricade and belfry. The stack was made from styrene tube with wire handles. The barricade and belfry were made from boxwood, with the exception of using the laser cut rail piece from the kit, because it had the square openings for the stanchions cut into it, and I used two shaped stanchions that I had on hand to support the belfry itself. The bell is a brass piece that I had on hand.
 
I'm now moving on to the remaining forecastle work.
 
Bob

Hey all,
 
Robert, Russ, and Sal: Thanks for the kind words on the progress.  Sal, glad you found something useful in my log, take any ideas you find here and run with them, that's why these build logs exist.
 
I have made some more progress and now all these small projects are finally coming together and being installed on the ship, exciting!  
 
I made the cockpit coaming cap rail by gluing on some rough shaped boxwood and filing down to size.
 

 
I used an idea that Sal came up with in his log to line the cockpit with a strip of painted material to make it look nice and neat.  I used some vellum paper painted white.
 

 
This is a picture of installing it in the cockpit.  Here you can see the cockpit coaming installed with its cap rail.  I had test fitted this coaming multiple times and then when I went to install it, it cracked a bit so I had to glue it, leaving another little line in the cap rail.  
 

 
Then I shaped the cockpit grating with my template I used to carve the sunken cockpit.
 

 

 
The wheel house installed with the grating in place.
 

 
I made some make shift seizings that I am installing on all of the stropped blocks.  This jig is a number drill held in a vise and the string is wrapped around several times and glued with some thin CA.  I also drilled a hole through a little piece of brass that is used for breaking the glued siezing free from the drill bit shank.
 

 
The traveler I mentioned that was installed last time with siezings in place.
 

 
Here are the bollards for the deck.  I made them out of some boxwood and some of the thin black wire supplied with the kit.
 

 
Here they are installed.
 

 
And last but not least, a top view of the aft deck nearly completed.  I think all I have left is to install the stove pipe (being painted right now), the wire frame that will protect it, the skylight, and the navigational lights which might be put on hold a little while longer until the fore deck is also completed so that I don't accidentally knock them off repeatedly which seems like an inevitability if I install them now.  Oh, I guess the fife rail also needs to be installed before the aft deck is complete.
 

 
Hope you enjoyed this update, I know I have been enjoying actually installing all these things to the ship, hard work is finally paying off!
 
Best Regards,

Hey everyone,  
 
Been finding a bit of time to build lately but I have been kind of all over the place with what I have been working on.  I got the chain plates and cap rail fixtures installed, have completed building the deck houses, and have been working on a plan of action to tackle the sails and rigging for this ship even though 1) I'm not there yet and 2) this model is not typically displayed with sails.  
 
Before I get into pictures I want to welcome Wayne back to the log, glad to hear from you again man.  
Also Sal, who is building a beautiful rendition of this model over in his build log and where I am drawing a lot of my inspiration. I got the chain plate technique from him and will likely be stealing another little trick he used on his Phantom, the lining around the sunken cockpit.
 
Now for progress and pictures!
 
Last time, I left you with the blackened chain plates and they are now installed.  When hammering in the nails, some of the blackening agent came off of both the chain plates and the heads of the nails, the one pictured here is one of the better looking ones but some lost quite a bit of their finish as shown in the second picture.
 

 
I'm not sure yet if I will just paint them black or leave them because it really doesn't look terrible, maybe it adds a little character?  I'll have to see what the admiral thinks.  Also, if you guys have any opinions on whether to paint them, leave them, or some other idea, let me know in your responses.
 

 
Here is a picture of the hull in pretty much its current state with the chain plates, eye bolts, and belaying pins installed on the cap rail.  Also, you can see the cleats are painted black and the deck has been wiped down with some wipe on satin poly.
 

 
Next, I have been working on the deck fixtures.  I built most of them a while back, before MSW 1.0 went down into the deep abyss, but there were still some details needing to be finished.  
 
Here is the progression of the companion ways' hatches.  This first picture shows the rails and the front and back of each hatch.
 

 
Once the hatch frames were assembled, I realized I needed to thin some more boxwood strips for the hatch roofing planks.  This is a simple jig I made which works quite well.  It is just a couple strips of brass which are the desired thickness (in this case 1/64"), the strip is placed between them, secured with thumb tacks, and sanded until the strip is flush with the brass strips.
 

 
Here are a couple pictures of the hatches .
 

 

 
I was really surprised to see the difference between the raw wood and the wood with the wipe on poly finish so here is a good comparison picture.
 

 
When installing the hatches to the companion ways, one of the hatches was not very square and did not sit flush so I clamped it down and let it dry.  The clamps made a great tripod for the photo :lol:
 

 
Last, a picture of the deck fixtures as they stand right now.  You can see the companion way doors are also installed in this picture, they are each two pieces of box wood with little notches cut out and filled with pencil lead for handles.  I think I will do some touch up painting before installing them and the wheel definitely needs a new paint job.  
 

 
I have made a little bit more progress but forgot to take pictures so I will do that when I get home but I made and installed the traveler and the cockpit coaming is done and has its own cap rail installed on it.  I am also really excited about the sails, I have bought some material and have been trying different techniques for the stitching and other details.
 
Hope you all enjoyed,

Hey all, work has been getting done in the dry docks.  First, the fairleads have been installed on the cap rail.
 

 
The splash rails have also been installed.  I glued these in two parts to get the right bend in them.
 

 

 
The chain plates have also been coming along nicely.  I followed Chuck's instructions here.
 

 
After cutting and inserting the standing rigging line (.25mm), I crimped the loops down to hold the line in place.  The rigging line I am using on this build is not the supplied line, instead it was ordered from morope, they make really nice rigging line.
 

 
Last, I thought the kit supplied kits had way too thick of heads so i filed them down a bit, here is a picture of the unaltered vs. the filed nails.
 

 
Next, I will be installing the chain plates and start the first step of rigging, securing the dead eyes to the chain plates.

I have now completed making the rest of the mast parts,some differ from the plans as I have cross referenced them with AOTS Diana`s drawings, and I am going with the books drawings, for instance the fore mast, the top mast has no eight square section. All the sections were profiled in my umimat lathe, and all square or eight square sections
filed ,some square sections were built up as required.
As showed in the last photos the masts have been dry assembled (so if they look slightly out of line that’s the reason why).The lower masts and tops will be stepped into the hull next after the tops have all the required blocks fitted to them, and the rest of the mast parts held over for now, as I will next make and add the burton pendants and the shrouds to the lower masts before working up the masts.
 







 
Masts Dry Fitted to Hull

Hamilton, Mike - thanks for the comments, and also to all for the likes.
 
Sjors - 'fast' is maybe relative 
 
Progressing with the rigging and have started tying off on cleats and pinrails.  Delicate procedure that did result in one of the bulkhead cleats coming loose - mustn't have glued it well enough.  It was a real swine to get back in straight with all the rigging, pin rails and carronades in place.
 
Question:  I'm tying off using the standard figure of 8 around the pin and using a dab of GS-Hypo glue to make doubly sure its secured, do people typically just trim this line off at the pin?  I was planning to simulate rope coils and thinking I can just make all these when everything is done and droop over each pin hiding any loose end.  
 

Thank you for looking in and your comments,  Amfibius.
 
I think I have finally finished !!!
 
Have made up a deck pump from a combination of one from Caldercraft and an Amati one. Although I still have another one to do I may not fit them on the ship as there is really no space - gets a bit tight. The handle had a bit of walnut strip added both sides and sanded round otherwise it would have been flat brass.
 

 
Anchors fitted.
 

 

 
Rounded lump added for the sling to sit on - plus having been very impressed by Beef Wellington's (Jason) serving thought I'd have an attempt on the slings.
 

 
Final photo
 

 
Thank you for looking and and all the comments and those on the old site whose build of the Supply helped me get started. Hopefully I may have helped someone in return.
 
Again thank you
 
Regards
 
Doug
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Incredible detail and wonderful craftsmanship - I don't cease to be impressed by your metal work, Ian - and your modelling skills overall! Beautiful stuff
hamilton

I have completed the length of chain required. In the end I produced one with about 240 links. In fact once I got me eye in it didn't take long - about 15 minutes to create 30 links and then about 15 seconds each to add a link to the chain. Need the jewelers lens to do this.
 
Nenad, I suggest you rope in your local knitting circle if you want to produce large quantities of chain this size.
 
I also produced a few homemade split pins with 0.6mm eyes and a few slightly larger round links to hook the chain to the spectacle plate. 
 
All these items were then blackened.
 

 
They were all then fitted in place. I put a baton across the stern in which to mount the split pins. I looked at various models and actual ships to try to decide where to position it. The incorrect stern shape and lack of stern post required somewhat of a compromise. The outer ends of the chain are just hanging for now.
 
 
 
 

Hipexec, BE, Alistair, Eamonn, Mike, Hamilton - thanks for the kind words, means a lot coming from you guys.
 
Tim - I'm still struggling with this a little myself but definitely getting my eye in I think.  Thanks for the kind comments
 
Small bit of progress - ratlines are now completed, I say again, ratlines are now completed!  Little bit of a celebration, I haven't found these too bad and have figured out a rhythm that works.  What most bothers me is that I deliberately tried to avoid using line that was too thick to keep it looking the right scale, - I think I ended up with line that still looks a little thick to scale (not horribly so) but I will do differently next time.  Not everything is finally fixed yet, but she's starting to look more like a ship.
 
Started securing some of the various topmast back stays.  I followed the plans on these - why use just a couple of blocks when you could use more!  Next job will be to secure to the pins.
 

A bit of progress on Fair Rosamund:
 
The deck - came in the same rather disappointing ply as the bulkheads - kind of fuzzy and messy, but a little more solid. Had to fix the bulkhead extension slots to fit the framework - no big deal. Marked the deck up for planking (centre line & positions for the deck planks. Here are some photos
 

 

 

 
Margin planks - not featured as part of the kit - I borrowed this feature from Meredith, who included them on his build. I may have cut mine a little wide, but they'll eventually be partly thinned by the inboard bulwark planking. I guessed at a measurement of 7mm by looking at Meredith's build log and judging the width of his margins relative to the sub-deck. I decided to make the margins in 4 sections, scarfed together.
 
I made templates using bristol paper and transferred these onto 10mm x 3/64mm lime - unfortunately I only had enough of this material for the first 2 planks port and starboard and the plank across the stern....my local wood supplier only had 1/32 or 1/16" sheets, so the last 2 planks on both sides are 1/32 - eventually I'll sand the others down to match. Here again are some photos of the process - the same process was used for each of the margin planks
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Next steps - fairing the frames & deck planking/finishing - fun times ahead!
 
hamilton

Just repeating what everyone else has already said - WOW! Excellent work - Chuck's method of making the great cabin floor certainly produces wonderful results
hamilton

Beautiful work Mike - now you're on to the fun part!
hamilton

Got the old girl outside today for a few pics, it was such a gorgeous day.  Rigging will probably continue to look a bit scrappy until everything is in place (maybe thats why this tends to be a less photographed stage of any build).  I'm following the principle of avoiding tying things off until absolutely necessary to try to avoid things getting in the way, and continuing to work from stern to bow - its serving me well so far.
 
The main topmast with the shrouds and stays rigged, its quite the stack.  Backstays have not been finally secured.

 
Main stay and preventer stay arrangement - these will be finally tensioned and tied off later.  The violin blocks do look rather clunky despite trying to round these off.

 
Couple of overall shots - she does still look as if she has her curlers in with all the loose line!

Given my log has slipped to near the bottom of page 2 on the 'my contents' tab it looks like I've been slipping - work, visitors, garden all playing a factor in the snail like progress.  I'll save some photos for a little later when I have something concrete to report.  In true MSW tradition, I'm going to attempt to disguise the lack of progress by showing my next kit which I'll be tinkering with when I can to take advantage of the nice weather.
 

After considering several methods of creating the Great Cabin floor, I decided to use Chuck's method.  In my experience, doing so is never a bad idea!
 
The floor will be made from walnut and boxwood 3/16 x 1/32" strips.  A paper template of the area to be covered was made and a piece of 6 x 6 x 1/32" plywood was used as the base.  First, the strips were cut to approximate length and glued to the plywood base:
 

 

 
The curvature you see is created by the camera.  Next, a jig was made in order to create 3/16" strips to be cut with an Exacto blade:
 

 
The individual strips were then cut:
 

 
The strips were offset and then edge glued together to create the pattern:
 

 
The paper pattern was then used to cut and sand the floor for a tight fit.  Here's what we got:
 

 
Finally, just some overall shots.  The floor was finished with natural stain, WOP for protection and Dullcoat to give a flat finish:
 

 

 
Although most of the floor will be covered by the (open) upper decking and deck beams, I think we have a nice overall detail.  I'm pleased 
 
Will be closing the shop for the upcoming Holiday festivities (Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans).  When we return, the strains of DECK PLANKING music will be heard in the Rockies.
 
Oh, we have just passed 600 hours into the build.

Deck planking on the quarterdeck is now complete. I began by doing the center section of planking. This provided coverage around the hatches and masts and a base for the capstan and wheel. I left the aft section open to give a view of the cabin. After completing this , I tried out a variety of options for additional planking to mount guns. To my eye, the best was to do enough planking to mount the forward two guns on each side. I'm sure that others would probably come to different conclusions, but that is the choice I made. I did also add two small planking strips at the stern to support the transom knees.
 
I also made up the hatches and the ladderway coaming from boxwood with the kit gratings. As before, the deck planking is holly with pencil "caulking" and golden oak filler "treenails", finished with Wipe-on Poly.
 
I'm in the process of making up cleats, ringbolts and eyebolts for the quarterdeck bulwarks. Drilling for them and mounting will be next.
 
Bob 
 
 

So, that's the easy part done. Next the masts, spars, rigging etc etc.
 
Before I start here are some views from the mast before I start them!!
 

 

 

 

 

Hello all!
 
I have now finished the hull ! There are a few accessories like barrels etc to add but they will wait until I come to the end as I don't want them rattling about. A few bits to do on the launch as well but they also will wait.
 
Thought you would like a few pics. For the purists amongst you out there I have made a couple of minor modifications and I may give prizes for anyone that can find them!!!. The fact that it is not painted is not a modification but personal choice so no prizes for that.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Well there are no close-ups of the deck, but in the following shots you can see the blotchiness....Not happy with it, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done, and I know it will be covered up will all kinds of detritus to distract the eye....onwards, then, armed for the future with the insight not to do this again!
 
In other news, I've spent a couple of days just focusing on fairing the hull and working out the installation of the long single-piece bulwarks. It's quite tricky to install these, but they were not nearly as finicky as the ones I installed on the Pinky. In the end, I think they went on well - I took quite a bit of time to get the symmetry right...
 
Anyway, here are the photos - hope you're all doing well
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

Well there are no close-ups of the deck, but in the following shots you can see the blotchiness....Not happy with it, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done, and I know it will be covered up will all kinds of detritus to distract the eye....onwards, then, armed for the future with the insight not to do this again!
 
In other news, I've spent a couple of days just focusing on fairing the hull and working out the installation of the long single-piece bulwarks. It's quite tricky to install these, but they were not nearly as finicky as the ones I installed on the Pinky. In the end, I think they went on well - I took quite a bit of time to get the symmetry right...
 
Anyway, here are the photos - hope you're all doing well
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

Well there are no close-ups of the deck, but in the following shots you can see the blotchiness....Not happy with it, but I'm not exactly sure what can be done, and I know it will be covered up will all kinds of detritus to distract the eye....onwards, then, armed for the future with the insight not to do this again!
 
In other news, I've spent a couple of days just focusing on fairing the hull and working out the installation of the long single-piece bulwarks. It's quite tricky to install these, but they were not nearly as finicky as the ones I installed on the Pinky. In the end, I think they went on well - I took quite a bit of time to get the symmetry right...
 
Anyway, here are the photos - hope you're all doing well
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

A bellated  well done from me Hamilton.......not been building much as of late but will start again soon on Bellona.