hamilton

Not exactly record breaking progress this weekend.  But Chapter 4 has been completed.
 
There are a series of sheaves, 3 per side, that pass through the hull.  Confed has simulated sheaves that add some nice detail.
 
Additional framing was installed to serve as a backing for the sheaves both inside and outside the hull.  Then the laser cut 'shells' were fitted with small slivers of wood to simulate the sheave itself.  These assemblies were glued on to the framing and #68 holes drilled through the hull.  The inner sheave assemblies will not be placed until later after the inside bulwarks are faired.  The sheave shells or housings are 1/16" thick and will match the eventual hull planking.
 
The first photo shows the assembled sheave glued to the new framing.... the through hull holes are drilled:
 

 
In the next photo, I've laid a plank on top so you can see the effect we'll achieve once the planking is in place:
 

 
As I've often said, the smaller things get, the longer they take    .  Overall, I'm pleased with this detail.
 
The next task will be to plank above the wales.  But, in order to delay that as long as possible, I plan to play with some paint first to see where I'm going on the bulwarks colorwise.  Plus, since it's been almost 2 years since I've planked a hull, I need to psyche up and try to recall how I did it the last time (haven't a clue). 
 
In the meanwhile, I wish my English and European friends all the best of luck in weathering the current storm.  Batten the hatches and stay dry!

Thanks for the explanation Richard - makes sense to me. 
hamilton

Stergios/Jim - glad you were able to figure that out in my absence!
 
DFell - thanks for looking in and the kind words.
 
Small update having started the masts...I'll probably be taking this slow and posting lots of pics hoping that people can stop me before I make any catastrophic errors. I also wanted to post plenty of pictures of the basic process as this always seems to be point in many logs where beautiful finished masts suddenly appear as if by magic out of nowhere...
 
First off, cut the dowels to slightly longer than the required length as a contingency in the event of an error. This kit provides dowel that needs to be made square in a number of sections. First off the main mast, center located and appropriate sized square marked out. I'm using a simple hobby vise and hand files so took this slow and steady.

 
Once roughly shaped, needed to decide how to fix the cap. Once again the precut caps don't seem to make any sense, it would have been nicer to have had the cap shape cut and do the any cutouts myself. As it is, needed to make a decision; make a round section in the top of the newly squared mast to fit the precut round hole as indicated in the plans, or as I ended up doing, square out one hole to smallest size possible and adjust the mast top to fit. Made this decision after similar situation with the bowsprit as the tenon should be square (I can live with it being very slightly the wrong size). Photo shows cap prior to adjustment and the square tenon made at the mast top.

 
Having previously made up the crosstrees, dryfit seemed to indicate the right dimension. Everything will need some final finishing but its good to know it all fits together. The extra mast length will be trimmed later. To ensure that the cross trees are as parallel as possible to the waterline these will be finally positioned and glued with the masts dry fit in the hull and the angle on the bibbs adjusted accordingly.

 
Next up, the cheeks and bibbs...

Thanks for the nice comments, Pete and Hamilton.
 
Hamilton
It's indeed a feature. If I want a complete painted hull I can glue the second planking up to the edge of the 2mm bulb area covering. The different types of wood will be hidden by the colour. I want to try the second option and leaving the bottom of the hull covered with the mahogany planking. That means sanding down the 2mm planks and planking the bulb area with mahogany stripes.

Hi Richard:
 
The planking looks great so far!
 
I wonder - what is the purpose of the 2mm planks? Is this a feature of the kit design? I've never seen a kit that uses two different thicknesses of planking for the first planking layer - just curious.
hamilton

Sorry for the focus.....here are the installed parts on the ship...

The ship's boats really bring her to life! Well done Mobbsie!
hamilton

Hi Guys,
 
Mort, Grant & Jeff, Thank you so much for your very kind words, coming from you guys it's a real compliment.
 
As requested some pics of the boats sitting in position on the boat beams, they are not fixed yet because I need to get to some cavel cleats on the gun deck.
 
The boats are in their correct position and order so all that's needed to fix them is a spot of glue on the cradles.
 

 

 

 
I have now moved the Aggy out of the workroom because I am going to be making sawdust, I don't want to have to be cleaning her up because she's covered in the stuff. I could just cover her but when wielding long sticks about some damage may occur.
 
The length of the Lower Main Mast is 465mm, the overall height of the Main Mast is going to be 974mm off the ship.
 
That's it for now gents, thank you again for your kind comments.
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 

The ship's boats look great, Mobbsie! Great detail - can't wait to see them stowed on deck!
hamilton

Hi Guys,
 
George, Space always seems a problem, we in the UK suffer the smallest houses in Europe unless you want to pay countless thousands for a larger property, my place is a 3 bedroom end terrace and is one of the larger builds in our street, built in 1950 it is solid but still not enough room for all that I would like to build, so deciding on what to build becomes quite important, I was thinking of Dianna but will probably have second thoughts on that due to her size, I will most likely go small until Caldercrafts Surprise is ready, I still want her.
 
Peter,  Thank you for your very kind words. The small boats aren't that difficult but there is a lot of work involved with them, they do suffer some damage to the bulkheads mainly because your used to working on the main hull which is a brute of a lump. I'm pleased that mine are all done.
 
At last the little boats are completed, there was a lot more work in them than I expected but I think they came out OK.
 
The oar shafts are a little thick but the length is right, I got the formular from Milton Roth's "Ship Modeling from Stem to Stern".
 
I do have a few pics which I will post.
 
The 26ft Launch

 

 
The 24ft Cutter

 

 
The 18ft Cutter

 

 
Finally all four boats together as they will be positioned on the ship

 
So there we are, right up to date with where I am, next step is making the masts, the size of walking sticks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Be Good
 
mobbsie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Destruction Part 4. (Hopefully the Last).
 
I have decided to model the two gratings over the stove area in the open position, ie with the actual gratings off, or at least removable.
 
The grating over the boiler area of stove (or kettles as they are more correctly referred to on the Victory) was no problem.
 
The grating over the hearth end was more problematical. The first problem was that all the plans that I have seen in this area shew a grating that is longer than it is wide. This impinges on the area around the fore mast. So I decided to rotate the grating through 90 degrees which resolved this issue.
 
The second problem was that the out of scale beam passes right under the position of this grating. So I cut the hole which revealed that the deck was actually arching up above the beam and was not in contact with it in the middle. So - I put my small chisel through the hole on to the beam, gave a good smack, and with a heart stopping crack it came out. I will have to reinstate its two ends on to the top of the bulkhead extensions other wise the deck has no support at all. 
 
With those ends acting like brackets, and once I have a new beam across the rear edge of the deck it should be OK.
 
The holes for the gratings are cut slightly undersize so that when the coving is made I can adjust the holes to ensure they are square and that all fits OK.
 
There is a bit of damage to the deck planking but this will be covered by the coving.
 
A couple of pictures. The first is a top view to shew the layout of the grating holes.
 

 
The second is a close up. The dear old kettle is hanging there boiling the water ready for a nice cup of tea!
 

 
Hopefully from this point I can put my hammer and chisel away - though you never know what urges may yet overcome me!

Hamilton,
 
I think it is not so much a case of having the guts to do this, more a case of "fools rush in..."!      
 
It is definitely cramped under the fore deck of beakhead bowed ship and I am having problems squeezing two sets of riding bitts in. If I squeeze them together there is no room in front of the hearth for the poor old cook. If I set them a reasonable distance apart then they would foul the lower part of the foremast and its associated bitts. (somebody will now tell me the riding bitts actually go on the deck below on this type of ship.... ). So I am doing some research again. I may be wandering off in to a Corel like fantasy land - with flowers in what is left of my hair - very '60s like - time for some Hendrix.    

OK, the dust has settled
 
A line of sweep port 'frames' has been installed the entire length of the hull.  These frames are 3/8 x 3/8" square stock aligned with laser etched lines on the bulkheads.  The alignment of those lines was checked with a plank prior to setting in the blocks.  Note the double block amidships which accommodates the larger ballast port:
 

 
Once the frames were in place the entire hull was faired for the last time.
 
Chuck provides a template to align the sweep ports.  Here it is attached to the hull:
 

 
The template allows the ports to be marked with a pencil.  It is the planking which will actually define the ports later on:
 

 
Two items remain before planking above the wales begins.  Firstly, I need to construct and install 6 simulated sheaves to pass through the hull.  Then, some fun is at hand establishing the color for the ports and bulwarks...but first things first.
 
 

The next view is from the fore deck looking back across the opened up waist area. The area under the quarter deck is now very visible. However, once the chain pumps, main mast, gallows and steps are in place the view will be more restricted.
 
If I had put the companion way behind the capstan (as in the Lymm) then it would have been worth modeling the lower part of the capstan which would then have been on view.
 
One of the out of scale beams is on view, but this should be masked later by a scale beam which will go across the fore edge of the quarter deck.
 

 
Finally a view from the quarter deck looking forward with the stove's flue pocking up through the fore deck.
 

 
Time to settle down to some planking inside the bulwarks. Now that is going to be fiddly.

The Destruction Part 3.
 
I have finished chopping out bits from the waist area and have beveled all the edges to make them look tidier (and looking a lot less like three ply). I have also cut out the hole in the fore deck for the flue. I will work out some suitable sizes for the steam outlet hole and the hole for the grating above the hearth end of the stove. I need to be careful on this because the Unicorn has a beakhead bow so there is restricted room on the foredeck.
 
Some photos. The first two are before and after the destruction phase as comparison.
 
Waist as was........
 

 
Waist is it now is.............
 

 
The four holes in the deck were ones that I made a long time ago for the Coral version of the rigging and are now redundant. I will have to fill them up. 

Alright Alistair - as per your second request - here is the best shot I could get of the 2mm blocks. Please keep in mind I'm taking pictures on my iPhone - not exactly the best quality image! It's as close as I could get without the autofocus adjusting to the background. Anyway....2mm blocks in action! And a shot of the main ratlines thrown in for good measure....Thanks again, Alistair!!
hamilton
 

 

Alright Alistair - as per your second request - here is the best shot I could get of the 2mm blocks. Please keep in mind I'm taking pictures on my iPhone - not exactly the best quality image! It's as close as I could get without the autofocus adjusting to the background. Anyway....2mm blocks in action! And a shot of the main ratlines thrown in for good measure....Thanks again, Alistair!!
hamilton
 

 

Alright Alistair - as per your second request - here is the best shot I could get of the 2mm blocks. Please keep in mind I'm taking pictures on my iPhone - not exactly the best quality image! It's as close as I could get without the autofocus adjusting to the background. Anyway....2mm blocks in action! And a shot of the main ratlines thrown in for good measure....Thanks again, Alistair!!
hamilton
 

 

Alright Alistair - as per your second request - here is the best shot I could get of the 2mm blocks. Please keep in mind I'm taking pictures on my iPhone - not exactly the best quality image! It's as close as I could get without the autofocus adjusting to the background. Anyway....2mm blocks in action! And a shot of the main ratlines thrown in for good measure....Thanks again, Alistair!!
hamilton
 

 

A really lovely looking model, Hamilton.
 
Bob

Well I thought I would just quickly update the results of my re-doing of the mizzen crowsfeet (and adding the crowsfeet on the main mast). Thanks to Alistair for the encouragement & BE for the tips on materials.
 
Now that this is figured out I can finally move ahead - first to the main topmast and then to the foremast shrouds & stays and on and on....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

OK let's try the photos again....Enjoy!
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

It's always good to step back once in a while and enjoy what you've done.  Very nice......and really small!

Wow Hamilton. That is seriously small. To see that does make your work so much more impressive. Thank you for obliging, wow, wow, wow. Hats off to you. Fantastic!
 
Now I need a close up of those 2mm blocks in place...
 
Cheers
Alistair

No mistaking her as a sixth rate of the early eighteenth Century, a very pretty model hamilton, and that photo really does demonstrate the small scale you have been working at.
 
B.E.