hamilton

Well hello and welcome back....Like many others on the forum, I've lost some photos on my build log....one has to expect this sort of casualty rate when upgrades, cleanups and backups are going on and I applaud our tireless forum administrators for their behind the scenes efforts!!
 
Eventually I will get to reposting the missing photos - I have them all somewhere and the names are still attached to the missing files so it shouldn't take long - at present, though, I'm so near to finishing that I'd rather press on with the build than re-post past entries here - if you are a soon-to-be greyhound builder and want to see some other photos, just prompt me here and I'll get them back up....
 
In the meantime, yesterday was a special day - my 1-year anniversary of starting on this build! The longest time it had taken me to build a ship model in the past was the Corel Toulonnaise at around 6 months. I had thought this one would be finished by late-November 2013! Ha!! So many modifications and so many issues with the kit definitely put the breaks on things, not to mention a new child and an increasingly busy work schedule and other projects drawing my attention. In any case, I thought I post a few pictures to document what she looks like one year in (though I think there are only about 10 working days left to go).....
 
Last night I made and outfitted the fore topsail yard, and began rigging it - truss, jeers and lifts. Tonight I'll finish the rigging and put on the ensign staff. Anyway, not much left of this one...enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Well hello and welcome back....Like many others on the forum, I've lost some photos on my build log....one has to expect this sort of casualty rate when upgrades, cleanups and backups are going on and I applaud our tireless forum administrators for their behind the scenes efforts!!
 
Eventually I will get to reposting the missing photos - I have them all somewhere and the names are still attached to the missing files so it shouldn't take long - at present, though, I'm so near to finishing that I'd rather press on with the build than re-post past entries here - if you are a soon-to-be greyhound builder and want to see some other photos, just prompt me here and I'll get them back up....
 
In the meantime, yesterday was a special day - my 1-year anniversary of starting on this build! The longest time it had taken me to build a ship model in the past was the Corel Toulonnaise at around 6 months. I had thought this one would be finished by late-November 2013! Ha!! So many modifications and so many issues with the kit definitely put the breaks on things, not to mention a new child and an increasingly busy work schedule and other projects drawing my attention. In any case, I thought I post a few pictures to document what she looks like one year in (though I think there are only about 10 working days left to go).....
 
Last night I made and outfitted the fore topsail yard, and began rigging it - truss, jeers and lifts. Tonight I'll finish the rigging and put on the ensign staff. Anyway, not much left of this one...enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Well hello and welcome back....Like many others on the forum, I've lost some photos on my build log....one has to expect this sort of casualty rate when upgrades, cleanups and backups are going on and I applaud our tireless forum administrators for their behind the scenes efforts!!
 
Eventually I will get to reposting the missing photos - I have them all somewhere and the names are still attached to the missing files so it shouldn't take long - at present, though, I'm so near to finishing that I'd rather press on with the build than re-post past entries here - if you are a soon-to-be greyhound builder and want to see some other photos, just prompt me here and I'll get them back up....
 
In the meantime, yesterday was a special day - my 1-year anniversary of starting on this build! The longest time it had taken me to build a ship model in the past was the Corel Toulonnaise at around 6 months. I had thought this one would be finished by late-November 2013! Ha!! So many modifications and so many issues with the kit definitely put the breaks on things, not to mention a new child and an increasingly busy work schedule and other projects drawing my attention. In any case, I thought I post a few pictures to document what she looks like one year in (though I think there are only about 10 working days left to go).....
 
Last night I made and outfitted the fore topsail yard, and began rigging it - truss, jeers and lifts. Tonight I'll finish the rigging and put on the ensign staff. Anyway, not much left of this one...enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Well hello and welcome back....Like many others on the forum, I've lost some photos on my build log....one has to expect this sort of casualty rate when upgrades, cleanups and backups are going on and I applaud our tireless forum administrators for their behind the scenes efforts!!
 
Eventually I will get to reposting the missing photos - I have them all somewhere and the names are still attached to the missing files so it shouldn't take long - at present, though, I'm so near to finishing that I'd rather press on with the build than re-post past entries here - if you are a soon-to-be greyhound builder and want to see some other photos, just prompt me here and I'll get them back up....
 
In the meantime, yesterday was a special day - my 1-year anniversary of starting on this build! The longest time it had taken me to build a ship model in the past was the Corel Toulonnaise at around 6 months. I had thought this one would be finished by late-November 2013! Ha!! So many modifications and so many issues with the kit definitely put the breaks on things, not to mention a new child and an increasingly busy work schedule and other projects drawing my attention. In any case, I thought I post a few pictures to document what she looks like one year in (though I think there are only about 10 working days left to go).....
 
Last night I made and outfitted the fore topsail yard, and began rigging it - truss, jeers and lifts. Tonight I'll finish the rigging and put on the ensign staff. Anyway, not much left of this one...enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Well hello and welcome back....Like many others on the forum, I've lost some photos on my build log....one has to expect this sort of casualty rate when upgrades, cleanups and backups are going on and I applaud our tireless forum administrators for their behind the scenes efforts!!
 
Eventually I will get to reposting the missing photos - I have them all somewhere and the names are still attached to the missing files so it shouldn't take long - at present, though, I'm so near to finishing that I'd rather press on with the build than re-post past entries here - if you are a soon-to-be greyhound builder and want to see some other photos, just prompt me here and I'll get them back up....
 
In the meantime, yesterday was a special day - my 1-year anniversary of starting on this build! The longest time it had taken me to build a ship model in the past was the Corel Toulonnaise at around 6 months. I had thought this one would be finished by late-November 2013! Ha!! So many modifications and so many issues with the kit definitely put the breaks on things, not to mention a new child and an increasingly busy work schedule and other projects drawing my attention. In any case, I thought I post a few pictures to document what she looks like one year in (though I think there are only about 10 working days left to go).....
 
Last night I made and outfitted the fore topsail yard, and began rigging it - truss, jeers and lifts. Tonight I'll finish the rigging and put on the ensign staff. Anyway, not much left of this one...enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

Well hello and welcome back....Like many others on the forum, I've lost some photos on my build log....one has to expect this sort of casualty rate when upgrades, cleanups and backups are going on and I applaud our tireless forum administrators for their behind the scenes efforts!!
 
Eventually I will get to reposting the missing photos - I have them all somewhere and the names are still attached to the missing files so it shouldn't take long - at present, though, I'm so near to finishing that I'd rather press on with the build than re-post past entries here - if you are a soon-to-be greyhound builder and want to see some other photos, just prompt me here and I'll get them back up....
 
In the meantime, yesterday was a special day - my 1-year anniversary of starting on this build! The longest time it had taken me to build a ship model in the past was the Corel Toulonnaise at around 6 months. I had thought this one would be finished by late-November 2013! Ha!! So many modifications and so many issues with the kit definitely put the breaks on things, not to mention a new child and an increasingly busy work schedule and other projects drawing my attention. In any case, I thought I post a few pictures to document what she looks like one year in (though I think there are only about 10 working days left to go).....
 
Last night I made and outfitted the fore topsail yard, and began rigging it - truss, jeers and lifts. Tonight I'll finish the rigging and put on the ensign staff. Anyway, not much left of this one...enjoy the photos
hamilton
 
 

bit more progress at the transom

First planking now completed. Not much filler needed to produce a clean smooth hull. The outlines of the next gun ports have been marked out. Now the fun begins. That's a lot of the prep work out of the way. I always find the first planking annoying simply because of the amount of work involved but will ultimately be hidden from view. Some of the deck planks will be added next to the bow and stern transom.

I like the paint scheme a lot Collingwood - distinct and interesting - the red gives a nice warmth against the tones of the wood - she's shaping up into a real beauty!
hamilton

Hamilton - Cheers mate.  I don't have Lees, Lever indicates that when used, the cross catharpins would be installed in addition to the catharpins going athwartship, basically forming an 'X' so that the starboard foremost shroud is catharpined to the aftmost larboard shroud and vice versa.  If I ever build HMS Surprise, she will have to have cross-catharpins  .  I'm growing to love the Lever's Young Sea Officers sheet anchor and am following the order outlined there so far.  
 
On your second question, I'm probably going to go with the wire and use epoxy again to secure them, but as usual will reserve final judgement until necessary.
 
Quick additional update on progress...main mast catharpins are all on.  Pederson has a nice picture showing that these would have been lashed to the futtock stave with thinner line.  Its not really practical at this scale, so I sort of got thesame result by threading the eye with two pieces of thread to try and keep the catharpin in line with the shroud.  Pretty happy with the way things turned out (and not a pin or rubber band in sight).
 

The frames were then fitted around the lined holes.
 

 
Once the frames were glued in to place I did a test fitting of the stove and its flue.
 

 
Then the gratings were tried for fit.
 

 
The gratings should be curved to match the camber of the deck but I left them flat to match the existing gratings. The frames are also rather too thick in cross section but again this matches the existing fittings. 
 
Then I had a Homer moment. I looked at Dan Vadas' Vulture and realised the lip supporting the gratings should only go across the ends not down the sides. I should have used thinner lining down the sides. Doh!

The AL kit looks nice judging from the photos - I haven't seen extensive photos of the OcCre one outside of Mike's build log......I'll have to do a bit more research....
hamilton

Thanks for the follow up Ulises and Mike - Mike I'll check for your build log....Ulises - that's very weird about the scale......I'm sure there's a history there we may never know....
hamilton

Hello there, I am actually building the OcCre Bounty at the moment and have a build log in progress. No sure how to a link but I listed it as OcCre Bounty by Mike Dowling.
Hope this helps.

Sam, What did that pan look like, and how was the stove mounted in it? Your prototype is mounted only on a plate, but your drawings show something that looks like wooden beams below the plate. Do you have, or could you draw, a picture of what it should look like?
 
While thinking about the stove mounting, I installed and rigged the first six guns. For this I used blocks and rope from Chuck. I can say without hesitation that I am a satisfied customer. I've used Morope in the past, but I like Chuck's stuff a whole lot better and intend to do all of the rigging on Essex with it. After ordering a variety of sizes, I settled on the 1/8" blocks, the .035" line for the breeching rope and the .008" line for the tackles. 
 
I also made and mounted the main cable bitts. These were done in boxwood and are merely a larger version of the fore riding bitts, previously done. I also added the first ringbolts to the deck.
 
Since I am waiting to receive more carriage kits from the Lumberyard, I will probably do some more work in the bow area, rather than moving back along the gun deck for now.
 
Bob
 
 

stern planking. The small gaps will be filled with slithers of wood, and prior to the second planking the stern planks will be reduced quite considerably in thickness.  

couple of first planking pics. Took a long time coming. Not a lot of filler will be required and the gun ports need finishing. 

hi shihawk.......sorry for the late reply......the quality of this kit seems pretty good to me as are the instructions. I have been kept away from Bellona for a considerable time due to other of lifes various commitments. One of my daughters has made the England girls rugby team so lots of ferrying about, and with three other children to keep occupied. But hopefully once i start to see progress on the first planking i will post a few pics. I would say if you havent already done so, buy this kit as it really is a gorgeous looking ship.

looking realy nice hamilton, hope your well.

Looking superb Hamilton. My Greyhound was involved in a slight accident ( wife took it out with a flailing arm whilst drying her hair) but luckily no damage done ( to the wife that is)  My new workstation has been located and well underway with bellonas first planking. Pics to follow. It is very interesting to see how we both coped with Greyhounds peculiarities and two very fine models have been the final outcome. Bellona has presented no real headaches yet compared to Greyhound, but I do have a massive infinity with the old girl because of the difficulties. I think you have done a better job than me because of the changes you have made to the original kit.  

Hello Hamilton. The build log was lost, but here are some photos. For some reason I can't find photos of the finished model.
Will try to post them later.
 

Hello Ian:
 
Excellent work on the Unicorn - you know what they say - slow and steady....
 
Loved the pictures from the NMM, too - the ship models you posted photos of are featured heavily in Goodwin's book on the Blandford - and the second one approximates the look I'm trying to achieve for my Blandford build - I'll be adding the sweeps as a finishing detail. I would love some day to go there - we stayed in Greenwich for a while last time I was in London (which now is a long time ago), but at that time my interests were more in chasing donkeys across the common (not literally, of course!) and other youthful pranks than this noble history....
 
hamilton

A change of address and a change of name here on MSW! I've been missing your updates - hope there's more soon - such beautiful work should be shown! Bye for now
hamilton
 
PS - just edited this to change "you're" to "your"! This is embarrassing....I've read too many student papers that make this exact error!! 

Well hello....it's been another while - I see now that my last update with photos was before Christmas!! Shameful....but there are some photos now. The last shots were of the mizzen crossjack yard. Since then, I've constructed, outfitted and rigged the mizzen topsail yard, the main course and topsail yards and made & outfitted the main topgallant yard - to be rigged soon (Thursday with any luck). The list of things still to be completed is shrinking. And as I've been kept away mostly from building, I've made due with plotting out my next two builds - finishing rigging tables for the Fair Rosamund (OcCre Dos Amigos) and the Yacht America (Mamoli). Both will be made more or less out of the box, I think (after all the modifications and corrections on the Blandford, I'm looking for something more or less straightforward....I may replace some parts on both but no major modifications on these...
 
Anyway, here are the photos documenting the progress to date on Blandford - you'll notice in the first couple perhaps that the mizzen topsail yard is a little jaunty - I fixed this as I hope is visible in the final shots. Hope you're all keeping well and having fun!
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Jason:
 
Excellent work all around! I have a couple of questions. First, above you mention both "cross catharpins" and "regular catharpins" - I rigged catharpins on my Blandford (clumsily, I'll admit) using information I found in James Lees' Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War. Just for curiosity's sake (and further to future endeavour) I'm wondering what the difference is and which one Lees represents....
 
Second - a few posts back you documented your trials on the lower topmast shroud deadeyes and the rigging of the futtock shrouds. I, too, used thread for these on my Blandford (at 1:100 scale, I found that the thin wire I had thought of using was very fragile and would not take the tension when I rigged the futtock shrouds). 1:64 might be more forgiving for the wire, but for myself I actually found the thread easier to work with - I'm just wondering where your thinking is on this part of the build....?
 
Anyway - love this ship and your build
hamilton