hamilton

Just playing catch up... very nice work.  So when you start "Big Blandford" you'll really start detailing?    

I got accustomed to your habitual details and nice works, Hamilton...

VERY nice work, Hamilton! 

That's impressive work, getting the subtle curves and fineness of the head rails is difficult at any scale and using timber, even flexible beech, at 1:100 scale is a severe test.
 
I would certainly have approached the job with a fair degree of trepidation, and probably cheated looking at styrene strip as a substitute if the finished job were to be painted.
 
On my Pegasus build I used lining strip as masking to create the blue panels on the head timbers.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

So another update - quicker than I thought.....Tonight I made the forecastle rail with belfry and installed some stanchions for rope railings around the companionway hatches - quite a bit of work. 
 
Here is the drawing of the foc'sl rail and belfry from Goodwin
 

 
And here is the part supplied by Corel.
 

 
The Corel part is designed to serve as the forward support for the spare spars that are used for propping up the ship's boat. Since I built a set of forward gallows to perform this function, I could easily dispense with the Corel design and go with Goodwin's drawing. I used lime throughout - 2mm x 2mm for the timberheads, 1.5mm x 3mm for the belfry posts, 3mm x .5mm for the rail and the base, and 4mm x 4mm piece shaped to make the belfry roof. Here are some of the belfry parts - very straightforward.
 

 
I used the Corel belfry roof as a template for my own, laying it down on the 4mm x 4mm stock and tracing around it...
 

 
I then just cut it to shape.
 

 
Here is a comparison of the Corel foc'sl rail and my own, in process...
 

 
It seems I'm unable to upload any more photos with this post, so I'll continue in a new one
hamilton

So I've spent the last few days on the head of the ship - a scary part of the build for me, seeing as I have only ever built one set of head rails in my time and that was on my second build, the Sultana, about 3 years ago.....
 
Seeing as I had scratch built all of the cast parts to this point, I could not possibly use the metal cast head rails....at the same time, getting the right curves and overall shape into the rails was a bit difficult to conceive and to plan out. In the end, I used lime for the head cheeks and cheek knees, which ended up coming out fine. For the rails themselves I used some  4mm x 1.5mm beech left over from the Corel Toulonnaise build. This stuff is a special "bendable" beech that Corel included in that kit for the cap rails (and that I think is also included in the Bellona). I had to trim it down to 2mm x 1.5mm and taper and bend it to an appropriate shape, but I think they came out ok. 
 
For the head timbers I used 1/32" thick brass strip, blackened and then painted. At this scale I think the result is ok - and less crazy-making then trying to custom fit little pieces of wood! Cutting corners again!
 
It was difficult to think of how to finish the rails. Painting them a yellow ochre would have looked out of place (since there is no other yellow ochre on the build). I had thought black with a recessed molding painted yellow ochre, but in the end decided on just a straight black - if anyone has suggestions for adding colour details on the rails I would love to hear them - I don't think it's too late to take a stab at it....
 
Strangely, the element that ended up being most thorny in this part of the build were the hawse timbers. From Goodwin, there seemed to be a backing piece ( a simple rectangle) fronted by another smaller piece with half-round sections filed out for the hawse ports. As you'll see from the photos below, when I first installed them they looked really clunky and bad. I trimmed them down a bit and restained them and widened the holes and now they look better, though still far from perfect.
 
Unfortunately, I do not have photos of the construction process for the head rails - my phone was inaccessible while I was working and it's my only camera. In any case, here are the photos I do have....enjoy!
hamilton
 
1. I traced the inside line of the stem post on a piece of lime and carved it out. Then I traced the line with a compass set to 2mm

 

 
2. The head cheeks and cheek knees were then painted black - here you can see how rough the hawse timbers turned out at first....

 

 
3. Head timbers installed and unfinished

 

 
4. head rails finished

 
5. head timbers installed

 

 

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

The first of September must have seemed an eternity away! It seems I'm not the only one who can't wait between builds!! Off to a great start Augie
hamilton

What a tangled web we weave.......
 
Showing 'progress' to date with dead eye rig. Also picture of rudder chain and some rope detail on bowsprite and on mast.
 

 

 

 
 
Doug
 
 

No way! After all the work my Pickle sails with two boats.
 
I‘ve made a little modification on the fore yard stirrups. They are not made from brass wire but the same black thread I used for the footropes.
 

 

 

 
The gammoning and the lower mast shrouds (fore mast) are rigged.
 

 

 

Today, 29-August-2013, we begin construction.
 
The first photo summarizes the early steps which are still in progress.
 
The bulkhead former is supplied in two sections having a combined length of approx. 30".  It is necessary to join these and assure an arrow straight backbone.  The two lengths were aligned and epoxied together between 2  weighted glass sheets.
 
The next step was to pre-bend a 1/8 x 1/16 strip around the bow section.  This 'rabbet strip', which will carry back right through the stern, is 1/2 the width of the bulkhead former and serves as the basis for the rabbet.  This is Chuck's method and I've used it in the past with good success.  The pre-wet strip is seen drying at the bow in the photo.
 
Also depicted is the dry fitting of the laser cut stem pieces.  They will be sanded, pre-stained and joined prior to final sanding and tapering toward the bow.  As this assembly will be a natural finish rather than paint, the joints have been highlighted in #2 pencil to accentuate them.
 

 
I'll pick this up once the rabbet has been carved and the stem tapered.

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

Here are a couple of shots of the completed belfry....you'll notice the knees installed in the second shot....
 

 

 
And finally, here's a shot of the stanchions for the rail around the aft companionway hatch on the main deck - self-explanatory....
 

 
Thanks for coming by!
hamilton

To be perfectly honest, the only thing I see hampering your build is the scale of the kit. You've done an absolutely amazing job of it so far, despite her small size, you don't need to be envious of my build. There's far less modifications (read: upgrades) to mine than you've had to perform.
 
Keep up the good work.
 
Andy

CaptCraig, Ferit, Mort, Sjors and BE - thanks gents for the continuing support.
 
Some slow but steady progress, finally getting a chance to try the various different things that I've thinking about for the last month or more:
 
Have one carronade attached with breech rope.  Unfortunately my seized knot ended up looking more like a baguette than a knot after all the manhandling, hopefully this will get a little easier with practice.  I'll probably play with this some more to get final placement so it looks natural.
 
Made up a couple of hooks and attached to a double and single 3mm block to see how this would look.  Hooks are made from the small 0.3mm brass etch eyebolts bent to shape.  Once rigged, managed to get one of the crew to test things out - thumbs up.  Pretty happy with the way my first carronade is shaping up.
 
I'm probably going to frap the tackle falls around the blocks as per current practice on HMS Victory rather than cheese them on the deck - no Admirals inspection for me...
 
As always, suggestions welcome.
 

Thanks Lou. 
 
More pics-nothing you haven't seen before.  I put the rubbing strakes on one side now so I stained and clear coated (more coats later) to see how it looks.  They are on slightly differently than instructions call for.  Any opinions on the "nail heads" showing?

While continuing to psyche myself up for this build, I've been catching up on a few things long overdue.
 
As many of you are aware, Chuck is now providing (through his Syren Model Company), some beautifully made rigging blocks.  Not to be outdone, Gjdale in his Victory log gave us a nice tutorial on how to scratch our own blocks. 
 
This reminded me that, buried somewhere in the shop for the last 5 years, is a MS 'Blockbuster' which I picked up on sale for about $8 and never evaluated:
 

 
It's a pretty simple device consisting of a plastic jar, some laser cut plywood that assembles quickly into a mandrel, a shaft and some sandpaper.  I replaced the supplied sandpaper with 150 grit having a self adhesive backing.
 
Not really expecting it to work, I tossed in some left over 3/32" and 1/8" blocks and gave it a whirl (6 minutes) on my drill:
 

 
The 4 blocks across the top line are typical untreated blocks (no extra charge for the off-line holes).  The lower half dozen are after treatment.  As one can see, there has actually been some improvement in appearance.  And it sure beats trying to hold these little fellows and having a go with a sanding block.
 
I am by no means advocating this device but I have seen several mentions of it without any 'review'.  At the right price, it's worth having around as a quick and simple way to improve kit-supplied blocks.

HAMILTON -  Will be giving some thought to replacing some of the basswood for perhaps decking and hull planking.  I'd like to work in some Swiss Pear.
 
John - Yes, she would be impressive fully rigged.  In fact, I'm almost sure that's how Andy is planning to do his once he finishes Peggy.  But I just don't have the space around here. 

Hamilton, thanks for the support, the bulwarks were a little bit tough and I ended up shedding some blood, making a late night trip to the ER and getting my first stitches ever.  They better look good!  If you are interested, when I was carving out the bulwarks at the aft end of the ship where the grain of wood is not ideal for carving the way that is needed for the bulwarks and the wood gave way and I learned very quickly to make sure the area behind whatever you are working on is clear.  I wanted to just use some gap filling CA and call it good but the wife insisted we go to the ER when she saw that there was fat coming out of the wound, probably the right call. lol.
 
Mark, welcome to my build log and thanks for the kind words!  Feel free to ask away if you think of any questions, I'll answer to the best of my ability.  
 
As for the build, I have been working on carving out a new cap rail since the one I carved out originally did not fit properly and it was not wide enough to cover the bulwark stanchions.  It has proven difficult because the wood at the aft end (same area that broke and gave me stitches) keeps breaking and then I have to re-glue it together and make a little more progress before it breaks again.  I will post pictures once I finish carving it out.  
 
On a side note, I think I underestimated how little time I will have for the next few months to work on this build.  Again, I will work on it when I can but my courses will take up most of my time.

Hi Andy:
 
Great shot! Your rails look perfect - I wish my build was as clean as yours....The real issue for me is maintaining the overall colour scheme and not adding anything new in one section of the build that isn't reflected elsewhere....I had thought about staining the rails with Golden Oak, and using black (or blue) on the vertical timbers, but this went out the window once I decided to use the Corel flexible beech instead of cutting the rails from a thicker sheet of lime....
 
This is certainly a tricky part of any build and I look forward to an opportunity to do better! 
hamilton

Thanks Augie - after following your Syren I'm pretty positive you could do the head rails! In fact - won't you have to do them for the Confederacy? I'm sure you'll nail them
hamilton