hamilton

I think we'll all be looking forward to seeing what you come up with.  No rush.. we seem to be a patient bunch.

Thanks a lot Andy, Augie, Ferit & Mark! Your compliments mean a lot - especially coming from such great craftsmen. I don't know about going to the dark side......yet....though in secret I've been looking at a couple of lumberyard kits.....
 
Tonight I finished the port side quarter gallery, and so now it's a nice pair. I still have to make the decorative finishing elements on the bottom of both pieces. I'll do this tomorrow. Here's how they currently look on the model.
 

 

 

 
Next up is the transom - I have to say that I feel a lot more confident in making this now that I've made the quarter galleries. It's not going to be incredibly decorative, though I've been on the hunt for things that I could use as decorations in a pinch....Hopefully I'll be able to build the transom in such a way that I can add elements (if I find them) later but if I don't it'll still look ok....
 
Until next time
hamilton

So I haven't been setting the world on fire. But I have gotten a couple of items assembled. It always amazes me how I can work for hours and not have much to show.  It's the journey and not the destination! right?! 
 
So I've assembled the ships wheel

 
It's not pictured, but I ended up painting the brass cap at the top of the handle.  The wheel was very light, so I applied several coats of dark walnut stain.
 
The kit didn't include the fire bucket rail, so I built one.  I purchased the buckets. I made the rail as close as I could to the actual ship's rail.  Different photos of the ship over the years show slightly different arrangements of the buckets as does the different plans. I went with what made the most sense based on the size of the buckets that I had. .  I drilled holes through the uprights, through the rails and the tops. Then I put bronze pins through the assemblies in an attempt to give it some strength.  When I was drilling the holes for the buckets I evenly spaced them.  Dumb, I forgot to adjust the spacing for the spindles.  I realized after it was all glued in place.  It will be a mistake that I can live with. 
 
 The photo is of the assembly almost finished.  The tops weren't glued in place, so there is some misalignment in the photo

 
I also built the hen coops. The coops are kit bashed to match the actual ones.  The kit had brass pins going around the coop with no door.  The actual coops have sides and doors in the front.  Although they aren't pictured here, I also put the rings on the sides which tie down the coops to the deck.
 

 
Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks Augie - it's actually not that bad - it's about time I revisited this work anyway, since I'm at the stage when it's really going to start to guide my work. This final revision will make it almost like a kit-basher's tool kit for the Greyhound. 
hamilton

Looking good Ferit! You'll be starting the rigging in no time!
hamilton

Thanks to you both for posting and answering.  I just came across this issue myself and thought it was a bit strange.  Now I understand.

Knightheads usually had sheaves running tho' them two, sometimes three, and often with  belaying pins horizontally thro' the top part.
 
Lees shows lines attaching to knightheads in his rigging plans of ships of the first quarter of the 18th century.
 
B.E.

Chainplate...

I'm sorry about the do-over.  I know you put an awful lot of work into your original rigging plan.
 
Hope the new one is everything you want.

OMG! Brilliant minds build alike!  
 
BTW, earlier, your build led me to get a copy of the AOTS Blandford book. Not necessarily to build, but to get a better picture of how these floaters are put together. (It's probably the cheapest AOTS)  Thanks!
 
Brian

Oops. The Mamoli intructions only say to taper (see the plan's cross-section earlier), not to blend with the planking below. I know I read somewhere that the wales were to blend, but I can't come up with the reference.
 
@hamilton --- Thanks! Perhaps it's just one of those (many) things that the builder is aware of, but not obvious to onlookers. ( Like the starboard edge of my quarterdeck being a half a millimeter lower than the port edge and I've had to compensate................)
 
Cheers,
Brian

Such beautiful words Hamilton! Much appreciated...
Thank you very much...

Cheers Hamilton - Look forward to seeing the resolution of your next challenge.
 
Fun!? 200 kph (130 mph) winds last Thursday and 9 metre (27 feet) waves in Cook Strait (my new avatar gives an idea of what that's like)!!
 
Enjoy the summer.
 
Alistair

Hello
 
Started this about 2 years ago. Building this was only possible by learning from all the great builds on this forum - so thanks to all of you.
 
To date have done the Yards with Stirrups and Footropes. Pictures soon.
 
Regards
 
Doug
 
 

Hi Hamilton, took the liberty of uploading my transom. I used the hideous metal part supplied and turned it into this. Its by far from perfect but doesn't look too bad.

Hi Hamilton
just catching up with your Blandford log. Great work and great tenacity on your part to work through problems and make significant improvements. I'm going to get going on Fly very soon - watching you and others has got the modelling juice needs flowing again. Inspiring.
 
Look forward to your updates.
 
Cheers
Alistair

Hi Hamilton......I used the metal supplied transom, with your permission I'll post a pic of what I did with mine. Anyway your Greyhound / Blandford is coming along splendidly.

Again - really beautiful work here Ferit - everything is finished to such a fine tolerance you would never know you were looking at a model (except for the fact that these photos are on a ship modelling forum!) - excellent craftsmanship!
hamilton

Hi Guys,
 
Thanks for looking in and the good words and encouragement given, it does really help.
 
A quick progress on the coppering, IT'S FINISHED, the port side took me about 25hrs to do with a few fopars along the way.  
 
The last couple of days have been almost a nightmare for me, I've had the droppsies which, when you think about it doesn't seem so bad, a bit frustrating perhaps, but I'm talking blades here, I have picked up a few cuts along the way, nothing serious, some I didn't know I had, a bit scary though when you see a craft knife falling and heading for the bulbous belly, this happened a few times, picked up a few puncture wounds with that.     
 
Tweezers with very sharp points sticking in the palms of my hands, my thoughts at that time were similar to " blast that really shouldn't be happening ".
 
The final straw was the Aggy falling from it's foam matt onto the floor, not too much damage though, just a little crushing of the stern post and a few popped plates, the stern post just needed to be trimmed and the plates stuck back on.  
 
I had to pull a few plates of the bow as they were not following the correct line, the old glue then had to be scrapped of and the plates replaced.
 
The rest was pretty well straight forward with no major problems.
 
I have learned one lesson though, when I next plate a ship I will be overlapping slightly, Caldercraft plates have rounded corners and as you can imagine these leave an unsightly gap.
 
OK I have a few pics.
 
The offending area that needed stripping and replating

 
Stern view.

 
Portside view

 
Now the fun begins, cutting in the waterline

 
More cutting in

 
The finish

 

 

 

 
So there we have it, all done.
 
Next step is to place the rest of the trim on and complete painting her.
 
mobbsie

Please let me learn the names of this furnitures... Thanks already for the knolwedge...

My cable internet was out a couple hours, couldn't start this post, and was beginning to have MSW withdrawal symptoms! Completed planking down to and including the wales.
 
To plank around the quarter lights opening, I made a quarter-light-shaped block and tacked it in place with two dots of glue so it could hopefully be easily removed (it worked). This was to have minimal or no trimming of the plank ends. This left a ledge for the light to sit on so the frame could fit flush with the planking, rather than mounted on the surface like the transom lights.
 
I popped them off after two strakes, cleaned off the dots, and replaced them. A nice, snug, press fit.
 

 
The Admiralty drawings I've seen don't show it having a quarter badge. I'll likely try some kind of decorative trim, not too ostentatious; haven't decided yet.  ( Hmmmm, maybe some Victorian gingerbread and lacy curtains..........)
 
The kit supplies eight 2x2 mm walnut strips for wales and other things. The wales were to be (most of) three of these per side. The pieces varied in color and I couldn't get six similarly dark ones as I would wish. I was hoping for uniformly dark! I decided to use some of the 2x4 pieces I got from HobbyMill for another aspect of this build, and planed them to 2x3 mm. Two 3mm pieces per wale instead of three 2x2. Here's the color difference:
 

 
The wales are to taper downward to be flush with the 1 mm lower-hull planking. I pre-tapered the pieces with a plane to get most of the taper started, and holding two together on a flat surface, sanded to get more of it done. More will be done in place after gluing.
 
The wales as a whole are to taper a bit (unspecified amount in the instructions) at the bow. I tapered about three inches, taking off the top of the upper strake only, about 3/4 to 1 mm. Planed a bit of bevel on the top edge of these, especially the second, for a better fit.
 
I used full-length strips, maybe not "scale", but I like the clean look better for this part. Here are two views of the better side.


 
I had cut/trimmed the gunports previously, but have a little more sanding to do on those. Starting to look more ship-shape!, getting that bland first planking covered.
 
I'll probably back up and get the quarterdeck planking done and the inner bulwarks covered. Tired of looking at those incomplete sections. (Or is he making an excuse to delay hull planking???.......)
 
I may have found a historical reference to Rattlesnake in cpt Tom's Supply II build log. From a wikipedia article, an American ship Rattlesnake was a candidate for the First Fleet to Australia (transporting convicts), but was rejected for the trip. Rattlesnake was sold out of service that same year, so this is likely her. The article is at:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Supply_(1759)
 
Enough for now, I guess...
 
Cheers,
Brian
 
 

I know preiser figures are not the cheapest, but I'm of the opinion that if it can save me some time and frustration, then the cost is well worth it.
 
I think you could very easily turn a pair of prancing horses into unicorns to go on either side of the stern lights.
Maybe resculpt some people laying down to look like mythological characters over the lights..
Then have have a look at some costume jewelry, maybe there's something there to go on as some sort of central decoration.
 
Just a thought, anyway.
 
Andy

Another thought, if you have a Michaels near you, have a look at the costume jewelry section, there might be something there too that could be useful..
 
http://canada.michaels.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-MichaelsCanada-Site/default/Search-Show?cgid=products-beads&srule=Newest%20first

Well... since you seem to have a good model train store, why not have a look at Preiser figures? At least as a starting point.
 
Grab a Walthers catalogue (Walthers is the North American importer) of have a look here: http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?manu=590&category=Figures&split=30
 
Dafi has used scale figures in his build, and performed some nice mad scientist surgery to make them look like they fit the period... a slice here, a little glue there... tada... Franken-figure...
 
There are even animals and the like, you don't need to stick with people...
 
Andy

For what it's worth, I really like those honeycomb shaped windows.  You can tell folks you brought in bees as consultants.
 
Heck, I use spiders for rigging (as does Jim Lad).