hamilton

Thanks Mark - very helpful - I'll seek out info on the head rails in the other forum.
 
In the mean time, here's a brief update on the cannon rigging. I managed to get the breaching lines done on the 6 cannons aft. The aftmost cannon is only attached to the hull on the forward side, both because the aft side cannot be seen and because it would simply have been too tough to get back there.  
 
Here are the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual!
 
OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed).
 
The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is....
 
All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin.
 
The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers!
 
Now the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello all. 
 
My son and I are off to visit my dad back east tomorrow so there won't be too much going on here for another little while....things starting to slow down with the approach of another school year, too....I always say that the coming year will be easier than the last, but this is never true! I don't know why I continue to deceive myself.....
 
Anyway, my dad is a modeller, too (planes), so I think I'm going to smuggle the Blandford ship's boat kit out there in my carry-on so I can sneak in a little time at his workbench (which is much more well-developed and well-equipped than my dining room table!)....We'll see. I know he'll want to tour me around his latest projects and he may be interested in seeing how these little boats come together and lending a hand, who knows?
 
In the mean time - happy modelling to all
hamilton

Beautiful work Mobbsie!
hamilton

For anyone interested in the little jig I am using to cut the copper tape into plates, here it is.  This is not an original idea, I got the idea from more than one other build logs, SteveM's comes to mind but I am not 100% sure that is where I got it.
 
Pretty simple, Chuck's practicum tells you to cut the 1/4" tape into two strips of 1/8" strips and cut 1/4" lengths from those.  That seems like it introduces more opportunity for human error to compound and produce a sub par product(in my newbie hands at least).  The solution?  Cut 1/8" pieces from the already sized 1/4" wide tape.  I can see that Chuck's method would produce plates with one perfectly straight side length wise for all the plates which would be nice but this method seems to produce acceptable plates.
 
Here are the pictures:
 

 

 

 
Rinse and repeat about 1,500 times and you're done!

Hi Guys,
 
Thanks for the comments and kind words guys, they really do act as a spur.
 
I have a bit more progress to show.
 
Since my last post I have attached the Poop deck and planked it, made and fitted the skylight, cavel cleats, mizzen bit, Poop deck railings and added the ringbolts and cleats.
 
A first for me is the hammock netting on the Poop deck railing, I'm quite pleased with the way it's come out but it played holy hell with my eyes, I only have another 6 long ones to make, hope I can do them justice.
 
I might need treatment after their made.
 
I have a few pics, need to satisfy you know who:-
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
So there we have it, right up to date.
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 

Hi Ian:
 
You should give it a shot. Mine is a bit over-sized for scale (perhaps about 1-1.5mm too tall), but I think it was worth it to take a stab at it. It's one of those things where, as I said before, the more you build yourself the harder it gets to use the kit-supplied parts, mostly because when you do they'll stick out like a sore thumb! The capstan was not too difficult in itself to fabricate - I actually used the kit supplied one to trace the circumferance of both the base and the drum head on thin sheets of basswood. After that it was just a matter of cutting a square section out of the sheet with the traced circle in the middle, trimming it down and then sanding it into the circular shape you see in the finished piece....I used the kit supplied capstan also to mark the holes for the capstan bars on the appropriate circle (before cutting it out) - this was 1mm thick, and sandwiched between 2 .5mm thick pieces. I filled out the holes with the thin edge of a flat micro file and then assembled the head. After assembly I drill a hole through the centre and inserted a blackened brass nail (this protruded out the end and was used as a support when I fixed the central post) . I used a 3mm dowel for the central post and drilled a hole in one end to accept the nail from the drum head. These parts were then assembled together. I then drilled another hole in the bottom of the central post and also through the centre of the circular base. I inserted a piece of brass wire through here again to provide extra support for the whole assembly. The welps were made from 3mm x .5mm basswood, which I rough cut in an upward slope before installing (8 in total positioned between the bar holes on the drum). I then used a hobby knife to trim these further down for a better look.
 
Once again, the capstan is by no means perfect, but I'm happy with the results and I know it looks better than the kit supplied one would after it had been slathered with red paint....
 
Now that I've installed all the cannons, I'm wishing I had scratch built the carriages! The Corel ones are "just fine", but only just....My next step is to build the elm tree pumps, which at this scale could be very difficult...especially the brake handles which will be shaped out of 1mm x 1mm walnut...and the brackets which I'm thinking of fashioning out of wood to simulate iron....anyway, these are very small parts and will test whatever skills I've managed to acquire over the last little while.....
 
hamilton

Hi Hamilton,
Thank you for the nice boost...
As for me, I do wait for your updates, with curiosity for your decision and result about hull ornaments on your HMS Blandford...

Hi Ian:
 
You should give it a shot. Mine is a bit over-sized for scale (perhaps about 1-1.5mm too tall), but I think it was worth it to take a stab at it. It's one of those things where, as I said before, the more you build yourself the harder it gets to use the kit-supplied parts, mostly because when you do they'll stick out like a sore thumb! The capstan was not too difficult in itself to fabricate - I actually used the kit supplied one to trace the circumferance of both the base and the drum head on thin sheets of basswood. After that it was just a matter of cutting a square section out of the sheet with the traced circle in the middle, trimming it down and then sanding it into the circular shape you see in the finished piece....I used the kit supplied capstan also to mark the holes for the capstan bars on the appropriate circle (before cutting it out) - this was 1mm thick, and sandwiched between 2 .5mm thick pieces. I filled out the holes with the thin edge of a flat micro file and then assembled the head. After assembly I drill a hole through the centre and inserted a blackened brass nail (this protruded out the end and was used as a support when I fixed the central post) . I used a 3mm dowel for the central post and drilled a hole in one end to accept the nail from the drum head. These parts were then assembled together. I then drilled another hole in the bottom of the central post and also through the centre of the circular base. I inserted a piece of brass wire through here again to provide extra support for the whole assembly. The welps were made from 3mm x .5mm basswood, which I rough cut in an upward slope before installing (8 in total positioned between the bar holes on the drum). I then used a hobby knife to trim these further down for a better look.
 
Once again, the capstan is by no means perfect, but I'm happy with the results and I know it looks better than the kit supplied one would after it had been slathered with red paint....
 
Now that I've installed all the cannons, I'm wishing I had scratch built the carriages! The Corel ones are "just fine", but only just....My next step is to build the elm tree pumps, which at this scale could be very difficult...especially the brake handles which will be shaped out of 1mm x 1mm walnut...and the brackets which I'm thinking of fashioning out of wood to simulate iron....anyway, these are very small parts and will test whatever skills I've managed to acquire over the last little while.....
 
hamilton

Very nice work, Hamilton.

Great work Hamilton.
 
Love the capstan and gallows. It inspires me to improve my capstan which is a bit basic.

Hamilton,
 
Excellent work on the fiddly bitsl    You continue to do very clean and precise work on very tiny parts.   Wow!

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual!
 
OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed).
 
The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is....
 
All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin.
 
The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers!
 
Now the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Mark - very helpful - I'll seek out info on the head rails in the other forum.
 
In the mean time, here's a brief update on the cannon rigging. I managed to get the breaching lines done on the 6 cannons aft. The aftmost cannon is only attached to the hull on the forward side, both because the aft side cannot be seen and because it would simply have been too tough to get back there.  
 
Here are the photos.
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual!
 
OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed).
 
The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is....
 
All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin.
 
The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers!
 
Now the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice and precise work here - the addition of the masts really makes her come alive.
hamilton

The comment from BE, my #1 ultimate 'kit-basher', says it all

I have to agree with the impressive assessments.... You're doing to amazing things with this kit (although you're almost to the point where the term "kit" could be used loosely)
 
Andy

Good work Hamilton. Very good work. Fantastico is the right word.
 
Cheers
Alistair

Like the pics hamilton, she's looking very good;
 
Nice bit of scratch building, an achievement at only 1:100 scale.
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.

Fantastico!... Impressionante!... Gusto!...

Assembly of the masts.

The two parts of the lower masts. The lower parts are 6mm dowels and the upper parts are 4x4mm walnut.
 


Fore top and main top are fitted. The top must sit parallel to the waterline when the masts are fitted into locating holes.
 


And the same procedure with the topmasts.  This time the lower parts have to be sanded to an octagon.
 

 



Ready for painting.
 

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual!
 
OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed).
 
The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is....
 
All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin.
 
The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers!
 
Now the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual!
 
OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed).
 
The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is....
 
All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin.
 
The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers!
 
Now the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement Mobbsie! Much appreciated as usual!
 
OK - time for another update. The cannon rigging continues, but I've decided to break it up a bit by completing some other parts of the build at the same time - namely, the ship's wheel, the capstan, the main jeer & topsail sheet bitts (the latter fitted with gallows) and the forward gallows (positioned just forward of the forward hatches and not yet installed).
 
The forward gallows are not included in the Corel kit nor do they appear in Goodwin's drawings. They do, however, show up in a photo of a model in Goodwin's book, and I've used that photo as support for the decision to install these gallows. In any case, I need them as forward support for the spare masts that act as a cradle for the ship's boat (about which I asked an extremely stupid question in another area of this forum). So there it is....
 
All the parts were scratch built with the exception of the ship's wheel itself, which I did not even try to attempt. The supports for the wheel that were included in the kit were these spindly metal pieces - they looked like metal pillars that had been repurposes as a ship's wheel. I derived the design for the ones I built from Goodwin.
 
The capstan was a lot of fun to make, and even though it did not turn out perfect, I'm more or less happy with the results. I could have made it again, but I feel pressure to move along with the build - I may have mentioned earlier that we're expecting another child in late November, so once that happens, there will be precious little time for modelling - and lots of time for bouncing the little person on my knee and teaching our son how to change diapers!
 
Now the photos
hamilton