hamilton

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

not been on for a while and only just today started building Bellona again after ferrying my daughter around the country playing and training at her chosen sport of rugby. Anyway looking great Hamilton

Very nice, Hamilton.  Colors are really popping now!

I sense that ratlines are coming in the near future...  bwahahaha......    Ok.. they're fun. And aggrevating.   At the same time.

Sjors, the hook and tackle department is working hard to meet the challenge...
 

Norman - although I found them to be the devil to assemble and paint, I'm glad I tried.  Next ship I'd like to do a few more cannons which I enjoyed making up quite a bit more.
 
 
Stergios - the deck blocks were the first thing I glued, sliding beds were then attached to these (with supplied painted brass wire and CA glue).
 
Little bit of progress on carronades, prob won't post more until I've made some progress on slide tackles.  Planking under capstan is made from walnut strips rather than the ply part supplied.  Mizzen pinrails still need a fair amount of tidying up and not fixed.  Not much deck space left at the stern!
 

A little bit of info on the technique I'm using on the breech rope, I'm using the Victory carronade photo below as reference.  
 
1)  One end of the breech rope is knotted to eyebolt and seized (I believe a 'half-hitch').  1.0mm Amati line was used for breech rope (purchased separately) and 0.1mm Caldercraft line was used for the seizing.  Used the Amati line because the supplied 1.0mm line just did not look good (flat and loosely wound).  The seizing looks a bit overscale in the photos but I'm happy with how it looks in person.  Dilute PVA was used to secure before trimming.
2) Threaded the unfinished end through the various ring bolts.
3) Used a spare bed as a jig and drilled holes in same place as on the ship to get correct length at 'fully recoiled' position.  Note why I had spares' below.
4) Knoted and seized the unfinished end and its ready for installation.  Photos below show ends both finished and untrimmed
 
The height of the elevation screws has also been reduced as these seemed to be too high as supplied.  This needed to be done after installation as screw thread gets ruined.
 
Other side note for those considering the aftermarket CC carronades.  I encountered some problems with the screw thread not being drilled correctly which resulted in a stripped elevation screw.  Only solution was to buy replacement barrels/screws.  Next problem was the supplied barrels were missing the screws, so had to buy yet another replacement as it was pretty hard to determine who was at fault. (These were purchased through Cornwall Model boats as there is no US supplier which means high shipping costs for trivial items)
 

Thanks, Tim!
 
A little progress...
 

 

 

 

 

Good one on the mast top holes,in this picture of the foremast not sure if you can see the hole i had to drill but the thread goes through that single block and down.I'll need to do a hole on the mainmast as well looking at sheet 5.If you're not sure where things go look at the plan sheets 4,5,6.I have'nt done this enough.Just get your shrouds tight,you can pull them in just under the mast tops like i did i think it's called the cartherpins.

Yes John ---- I noticed.  Only thing I can do is work faster (which is the opposite of what I had planned).......and try to outrun the fauna and flora    .
 
With that in mind, here's the latest update:
 
CHAPTER ONE   is completed.
 
I promised Sjors a picture of the rabbet so here we see it completed now near the stem:
 

 
I can't label the photo but I think it's easy to see how the laser drawn line on the bulkhead former (the lighter wood) has been slightly tapered down to meet the 1/8 x 1/16 rabbet strip and then the stem sits on that.  The result is we have a nice clean, uniform slot which is the rabbet.  This extends from stem to stern and shall be where the edge of the garboard plank (as well as the ends of the remaining planks) sit.  EASY --  and no carving involved.
 
In addition to the stem and keel now being fitted, here's a detail I like:
 

 
The keel uses 2 vertical scarph joints along it's length.  On the 1:1 ship, these were bolted together.  Here, we've simulated those bolts with #70 drilled holes filled with tinted wood putty.  This technique is similar to what I will be using for treenailing.
 
Here's a photo of where we currently stand.  Note that the false keel has been fitted and that the stem and keels have been stained.  Using Minwax products, I first pre-stain then stain using a mixture of 50% 'Natural' and 50% Light Oak.  This process will be used numerous times throughout the build.  I generally apply several coats of WOP later on.
 

 
Finally, things wouldn't be complete without introducing my infamous 'one size fits all' keel clamp ---- AKA the Dremel mini work stand.  It holds her firmly and straightly in place as we proceed.  I know SJORS also uses one but I got mine back when they were $ 9 (US) and I still had hair.     
 

 
Today is our 40th Anniversary so no more building is on the docket.  But the next step will be fitting the 16 bulkheads and to say I'm looking forward to that is an understatement.
 
All stay well
 

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Thanks BE, Wayne, Ferit, Mark, Alistair & Michael!
 
The scale is very tricky....much of my scratch work ends up being more or less overly large for 1:100 (the belfry knees and kevel bitts are cases in point), but I'm happy overall with the results....
 
Through this build I have developed great admiration for this class of vessel - more than I have for others I have built. Building it as the Blandford out of the Corel kit has at once led me to appreciate the lovely lines and composition of the Blandford, but also to feel a lot of frustration that I have not been able to realise it as neatly as I feel I could at a larger scale - due to limitations both in my skill and in the kit itself, which is not altogether suited to this kind of modification, as I think I've said before....More recent victims of these limitations have been the anchor linings and the aft gunport lids.....I don't think the build is much the worse without them, but they would have added another little bit of interest for the eye.
 
A 1:48 scale build of the Blandford would be a really fun project. There is (or was) one on the go that I found on another forum while I was researching this build - this was a really beautiful scratch PoB build, but hasn't been updated since 2012, and I'm not sure if it's still on the go or what....In any case such a project will have to wait for my retirement - 25 years or so from now!! Between now and then, there will be other larger scale projects. 
 
In other news, I've now pretty much finished the hull - since last update I made and installed the channels and backstay stools; put on the lower shroud deadeyes; installed scuppers and added a few more ringbolts for the ship's boat lashing, etc. Tonight I'll finish things up by adding the smaller (3mm) deadeyes on the stools for the backstays, putting on the molding pieces to hold in the deadeyes/chainplates & make the ballast port doors. The last hull elements will be the 36 sweep port lids I have to make, but to avoid breaking them off during rigging, I'm going to save this till the end....
 
I'll post again with photos either later this evening or tomorrow....
hamilton

It seems I have to split this into two posts....here are the rest of the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

As promised - here's a quick update with photos. I've now pretty much finished the hull - saving the sweep port lids, the figurehead, and the beak gratings, which I'll install after the bowsprit is on. 
 
Tonight, I installed the moldings on the channels, the backstay deadeyes and the ballast ports. I have to say I'm pretty happy to be moving on to the masting and rigging - it'll be nice to start building up! Enjoy the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I too want to put in a word for "artist" acrylic paint. In tubes or in small jars, manufactured by Golden, Liquitex or whatever. All of them are water based and can be mixed with other brands. Full strength or thinned to nearly nothing at all, acrylic can be anything from a stain to an thick opaque coating. Water is all you need to thin or clean up. The paint dries as fast as water dries and when its dry its no longer water soluble and will stand up to U.V. light, changing humidity and who knows what else? Acrylic artists paint is available in nearly any size, from a very small tube the size of your pinkie on up to gallons, and in every color. Its possible to find "student grade" acrylic colors and these will have a "hamburger helper" dumbed down pigment content but the artist grade paint will contain the best sorts of pigments available anywhere and the pigment content is listed on the container- something I suspect other hobby paints won't do for you. Note that the use of the finest pigments includes poisonous ones like cobalt and cadmium which should NEVER be used with a sprayer. Sometimes the "student grade" colors are better for what you have in mind and they cost about 1/3 less than the Artist Grade ones. You can't use Acrylic over unprimed metal though, nor any sort of smooth ceramic like surface. But it will stick fairly well to plastic. The shelf life of the paint is pretty good. If you leave a tube of acrylic paint sealed it will still be fine a year later. 

I use artists acrylics almost exclusively. There are literally thousands of colors and they are cheap and easy to find at any craft store. Most brush and spray very well, but others are a bit more work. It seems the difficulties I have  are more color dependant than manufacturer dependant, so if Folkart's "fire-engine red" (just kidding Brian ;-) doesn't mix or spray well I'll try a similar color from anothe manufacturer.
 
I do totally agree, bright colors on a period ship can make an otherwise great work look "cartoonish". Dull down those bright colors guys!

Thanks BE, Wayne, Ferit, Mark, Alistair & Michael!
 
The scale is very tricky....much of my scratch work ends up being more or less overly large for 1:100 (the belfry knees and kevel bitts are cases in point), but I'm happy overall with the results....
 
Through this build I have developed great admiration for this class of vessel - more than I have for others I have built. Building it as the Blandford out of the Corel kit has at once led me to appreciate the lovely lines and composition of the Blandford, but also to feel a lot of frustration that I have not been able to realise it as neatly as I feel I could at a larger scale - due to limitations both in my skill and in the kit itself, which is not altogether suited to this kind of modification, as I think I've said before....More recent victims of these limitations have been the anchor linings and the aft gunport lids.....I don't think the build is much the worse without them, but they would have added another little bit of interest for the eye.
 
A 1:48 scale build of the Blandford would be a really fun project. There is (or was) one on the go that I found on another forum while I was researching this build - this was a really beautiful scratch PoB build, but hasn't been updated since 2012, and I'm not sure if it's still on the go or what....In any case such a project will have to wait for my retirement - 25 years or so from now!! Between now and then, there will be other larger scale projects. 
 
In other news, I've now pretty much finished the hull - since last update I made and installed the channels and backstay stools; put on the lower shroud deadeyes; installed scuppers and added a few more ringbolts for the ship's boat lashing, etc. Tonight I'll finish things up by adding the smaller (3mm) deadeyes on the stools for the backstays, putting on the molding pieces to hold in the deadeyes/chainplates & make the ballast port doors. The last hull elements will be the 36 sweep port lids I have to make, but to avoid breaking them off during rigging, I'm going to save this till the end....
 
I'll post again with photos either later this evening or tomorrow....
hamilton

You did a great job, Hamilton.

Good stuff Hamilton
I find it hard to grasp your scale at 1:100 - it is extremely small and makes your work all the more impressive. I'm just getting my head around 1:64. Go for 1:48 next time!
 
Cheers
Alistair