hamilton

Good luck Hamilton.  All I can do is watch

Hi Hamilton nice work on the decks.
 
Re the Quarter gallery.
 
Drawing D4/2 is quite difficult to picture in 3d, I would imagine it is not quite as angular as it looks, but rather had a slight round to it. The little roof which would be slightly concave would possibly have been tiled in decorative shingles, using overlapping semi circular discs of lead.
 
I’m a little puzzled by the broad timber running from the cill to the rail as the dotted line looks to be the transom line, and I’m struggling to see the relationship between that timber and the gallery.
 
I think you initially need to make up the basic shape and see how it looks on the model, and think about the mouldings and decoration later. Had you considered using sculpey to form the lower finishing, I would imagine it would lend itself to forming those fancy shapes as shown in the drawings.
 
One other thought drawing D4/1 shows a Quarter badge similar to Pegasus, it can be made either flat or canted as Andy (realworking sailor) has done on his build, and there you have how he went about the job.
 
At least with that type you would have a reduced number of glazing bars for the lights. Certainly the flat version can be cut from thin sheet and the window frames made up on the base. Styrene strip could even be used to form the  curves and glazing bars if they are to be painted.
 
Cheers.
 
B.E.

Hamilton,
I had a similar issue with my Constellation.  There's about 3 pics showing how I scratched them but no text.  <sigh>  But the Constellation had a round stern so probably not much help except maybe as inspiration for you to do better.
 
Is there a top view anywhere?  Plans, etc.? Other reference work?
 
You might go to the ME site and download the Constitution plans.  As I recall, the galleries are shown and how to make them.

It would be worthy to follow how you would solve the problem. I believe that you would handle it in perfect manner...

Ok - a small post after a bit of progress followed by another post with a question or two for you all....
 
I've now finished planking the deck, which brings my planking pretty much to a close (except for building up the transom)...Yay!! The next phase - hull, deck and bulwark detailing has begun....
 
My first step was to add the margin planks at the forecastle and quarterdeck, using 1mm x 3mm walnut - pretty basic stuff here....measure, cut, glue.
 
I then added two half-bulkheads beneath the forecastle as outlined in Goodwin's Anatomy of the Ship. I tried these a couple of nights ago using quite thin (1/32") basswood sheet, but the basswood kept splitting and the one unit that I finished looked awful. So then I decided not to make this particular feature.....
 
But (in a rare moment) I decided that it would really detract from the build if I did not include this small element, so I had another go and am quite pleased with the results - i used 1/16" basswood sheeting for the backing, 1mm x 2mm walnut for the frames and 2mm x 2mm walnut for the posts. 
 
Next I added the moldings around the hatch openings using 1mm x 2mm walnut. 
 
I also added the waterways on the main deck using 1/16 x 1/16" basswood filed and sanded into a roughly triangular section and painted red as with the bulwarks. It is very hard to notice on a cursory glance, but I think it turned out quite well....
 
Here are the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok - a small post after a bit of progress followed by another post with a question or two for you all....
 
I've now finished planking the deck, which brings my planking pretty much to a close (except for building up the transom)...Yay!! The next phase - hull, deck and bulwark detailing has begun....
 
My first step was to add the margin planks at the forecastle and quarterdeck, using 1mm x 3mm walnut - pretty basic stuff here....measure, cut, glue.
 
I then added two half-bulkheads beneath the forecastle as outlined in Goodwin's Anatomy of the Ship. I tried these a couple of nights ago using quite thin (1/32") basswood sheet, but the basswood kept splitting and the one unit that I finished looked awful. So then I decided not to make this particular feature.....
 
But (in a rare moment) I decided that it would really detract from the build if I did not include this small element, so I had another go and am quite pleased with the results - i used 1/16" basswood sheeting for the backing, 1mm x 2mm walnut for the frames and 2mm x 2mm walnut for the posts. 
 
Next I added the moldings around the hatch openings using 1mm x 2mm walnut. 
 
I also added the waterways on the main deck using 1/16 x 1/16" basswood filed and sanded into a roughly triangular section and painted red as with the bulwarks. It is very hard to notice on a cursory glance, but I think it turned out quite well....
 
Here are the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok - a small post after a bit of progress followed by another post with a question or two for you all....
 
I've now finished planking the deck, which brings my planking pretty much to a close (except for building up the transom)...Yay!! The next phase - hull, deck and bulwark detailing has begun....
 
My first step was to add the margin planks at the forecastle and quarterdeck, using 1mm x 3mm walnut - pretty basic stuff here....measure, cut, glue.
 
I then added two half-bulkheads beneath the forecastle as outlined in Goodwin's Anatomy of the Ship. I tried these a couple of nights ago using quite thin (1/32") basswood sheet, but the basswood kept splitting and the one unit that I finished looked awful. So then I decided not to make this particular feature.....
 
But (in a rare moment) I decided that it would really detract from the build if I did not include this small element, so I had another go and am quite pleased with the results - i used 1/16" basswood sheeting for the backing, 1mm x 2mm walnut for the frames and 2mm x 2mm walnut for the posts. 
 
Next I added the moldings around the hatch openings using 1mm x 2mm walnut. 
 
I also added the waterways on the main deck using 1/16 x 1/16" basswood filed and sanded into a roughly triangular section and painted red as with the bulwarks. It is very hard to notice on a cursory glance, but I think it turned out quite well....
 
Here are the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yet more impressive work Ferit! Can't wait to see the rigging once it gets going!
hamilton

Alright - the hull is planked and finished and the deck planking has begun....photos follow, but here is a brief digest of the progress
 
1. Second hull planking - in the last episode, I had lined off the hull and laid the second planking in band "A". I needed 2 dropped planks on both sides in the first and third strakes below the waterline. In band "E" (close to the keel) I ended up needing a great number (4 on each side!) of steelers....Clearly my planking skills need work.....I was less concerned about this on this particular build, however, since the hull is finished below the waterline and the actual structural dimensions of the planking would be hidden - I suppose I could have simply said that the planking went perfectly and without a hitch!
 
2. Keel/stem/sternpost planking - the kit calls for 1mm planking to be used here - no way!! It's much too thick. I used .5mm beech supplied for the deck planking instead. A very straightforward process - I planked the stem semi-vertically from the waterline up, and horizontally the rest of the way. Very straightforward.
 
3. Hull finishing - The top of the stem from the lower wale upwards is painted blue. There is a patch of exposed wood between the lower wale and the waterline at both stem and stern. The lower hull is "tallow", though I painted it Titanium White. Marking the waterline was a pain, since the jig I built (a pencil taped at an appropriate location to a block of basswood) was a little unstable. But eventually I got it. I followed advice given by Randy (lamarvalley) and Nigel (NMBROOK) and applied several coats of poly to the unfinished hull. I then stained the upper portion with Golden Oak, waiting for it to thoroughly dry. I then masked the waterline, sanded below and gave it five good coats, sanding between. A final coat of poly to finish.
 
-- One issue I encountered was with masking. In my impatience to finish the hull, I used scotch tape to mask the waterline. My experience using Scotch has been good - a nice clean line. The issue is that because it is transparent it is really hard to see....As a result when I peeled the tape back there were some jags at the waterline. I quickly went out, bought some Tamiya tape, re-masked at those points that needed correction and  using a scalpul blade (and paint where necessary) made the corrections.
 
4. Deck planking - the f'csl planking was very straightforward. As for the quartedeck - Goodwin clearly shows a nibbed margin plank. At first I attempted to replicate this, but my efforts were both unsuccessful and exceedingly frustrating. In the end, I went with this simpler planking scheme. Goodwin shows no butts on either q-deck or f'csl. The main deck is planked in 60mm lengths in a 4-butt shift. This is shown clearly in his book - I determined the plank length using the deck planking calculator in the MSW database - very handy! I've not yet completed the deck planking, but you can see it in process below.
 
5. The stand - I constructed the stand - the parts took a lot of modification, but eventually I got a good fit. The hull is not permanently mounted yet - I won't do this until a bit later in the build.
 
Anyway, that's it - more regular updates will follow now as I move into the next stage of the build. In the immediate future I will be:
 
-- finishing the deck planking - considering trunneling the deck, but with 3mm plank widths I'm not sure I could take it!! What do you guys think?
 
-- adding the rails - the plank sheer between the gunports on the main deck (which extends fwd and aft); the main cap rail (with similar extensions), the f'csl rail & the quarterdeck rail
 
-- adding the quartergalleries (I'm using the kit-supplied ones, but I may have a stab at making new ones from scratch following the simplest of the suggestions in Goodwin
 
-- building the transom - this is going to be a real challenge for me....but hopefully it will turn out ok.
 
Alright - enough talk! Here are the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, then - I thought I'd just give a brief update on the (rather slim) progress on the second planking. I spent a quiet afternoon yesterday touching up the paint on the gunport linings, sweep ports and wales. Not a lot done. 

 

Today I lined off the lower hull and managed to get "Band A" on the starboard side planked - using 1mm x 3mm lime. Eventually, this will be painted white below the waterline and stained at bow & stern where the planking rises above the waterline.

 

Band "A" required 2 dropped planks - not the most sightly, nor perhaps strictly speaking correct. But so far so good. Here are a couple of shots to whet the appetite. I will probably hold off on further updates until the lower planking is completed and finished up...Until then....

hamilton

 



 



 



 



 

Ok - a small post after a bit of progress followed by another post with a question or two for you all....
 
I've now finished planking the deck, which brings my planking pretty much to a close (except for building up the transom)...Yay!! The next phase - hull, deck and bulwark detailing has begun....
 
My first step was to add the margin planks at the forecastle and quarterdeck, using 1mm x 3mm walnut - pretty basic stuff here....measure, cut, glue.
 
I then added two half-bulkheads beneath the forecastle as outlined in Goodwin's Anatomy of the Ship. I tried these a couple of nights ago using quite thin (1/32") basswood sheet, but the basswood kept splitting and the one unit that I finished looked awful. So then I decided not to make this particular feature.....
 
But (in a rare moment) I decided that it would really detract from the build if I did not include this small element, so I had another go and am quite pleased with the results - i used 1/16" basswood sheeting for the backing, 1mm x 2mm walnut for the frames and 2mm x 2mm walnut for the posts. 
 
Next I added the moldings around the hatch openings using 1mm x 2mm walnut. 
 
I also added the waterways on the main deck using 1/16 x 1/16" basswood filed and sanded into a roughly triangular section and painted red as with the bulwarks. It is very hard to notice on a cursory glance, but I think it turned out quite well....
 
Here are the photos....
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks beautiful in the sun, Andy!
hamilton

I'm a little late in adding my praise to your log but here it is - amazing work, sir!
hamilton

Slight change of plans.  Here is a photo update of just the main and fore topsail completed rigging:
 

 

 
Be a few days 'til the topgallants go aloft........darned summertime
 
 

Yet more impressive work Ferit! Can't wait to see the rigging once it gets going!
hamilton

Thanks all for your comments and support!
 
Andy - I hope I can get to the level of precision you've attained in the masting and rigging of your Pegasus (which I believe I mistook for the Fly in an earlier post! - apologies!!)
 
BE - yes, indeed. It's a relief to get over the hump, so to speak, with the planking! 
 
Augie - the scale has already defeated me! At least as far as the trunneling is concerned....I've pretty much decided against it - I think I could probably sort something out, but the idea of so much tedious work is overwhelming to me....I will definitely trunnel the deck on the Syren when I come to it - and the Bellona after that.
 
Ferit - I'm honoured, as usual, by your compliments! Starting on the deck & hull details, I hope to get somewhere close to the cleanliness of your efforts on the Berlin!
 
Mobbsie - thank you for coming by! Your Agamemnon is beautiful - and not to worry, more will come! I'm not sure if I'm sad or grateful that Sjors has not yet discovered my build log! (though I've been spying on his!)
 
Harlequin - thanks! As mentioned, I'm also not going to bother with trunneling the deck....too frustrating, even for someone like me who normally relishes repetitive and tedious work! However, I do see a few complexities coming up in the near-ish future...I'm going to try scratch building a new transom, which I started working on a design for yesterday. This may lead me into a scratch building of the quarter galleries (it's likely that the contrast between the scratch-built transom and the kit supplied quarter galleries will be too garish)....I'm also concerned about the head rails and cheeks, which I'm also planning on scratch building...I've only ever scratch built one ship's head before - the Sultana, my second build...but I really want to take a stab at building it myself - as much for practice when the Bellona hits my table as anything....
 
I was looking at the model this morning and realising that the positioning of the double wale may alter how the cheeks and hawse pieces run....but this is still a bit in the future...in the near term it's the transom and quarter galleries that are occupying my thoughts....
 
In any case - thanks again all for coming by! Much appreciated - hope you're all enjoying the weekend! (though for some it may already be over!)
hamilton

Let's not call it laziness... I'm doing 1:64 and I'll not be treenailing.  The planks are only 1/8" (about 4mm) wide and that's a tad small for these eyes.  Then on top of it, they should be almost invisible anyway as a plug of the same wood used for decking was used to put in the hole..   Not worth the aggrevation, in my opinion.

Congrats on job well done, Hamilton.  The planking looks super nice. On treenailing... there's been a lot of discussion on this over the years.  Anything smaller than 1:64 seems to be "no".  1:64 is "maybe"... bigger, "yes".  But the issue is also one of "are they actually seen on the real thing?".  I think its' modeler's choice.

Thanks all for your comments and support!
 
Andy - I hope I can get to the level of precision you've attained in the masting and rigging of your Pegasus (which I believe I mistook for the Fly in an earlier post! - apologies!!)
 
BE - yes, indeed. It's a relief to get over the hump, so to speak, with the planking! 
 
Augie - the scale has already defeated me! At least as far as the trunneling is concerned....I've pretty much decided against it - I think I could probably sort something out, but the idea of so much tedious work is overwhelming to me....I will definitely trunnel the deck on the Syren when I come to it - and the Bellona after that.
 
Ferit - I'm honoured, as usual, by your compliments! Starting on the deck & hull details, I hope to get somewhere close to the cleanliness of your efforts on the Berlin!
 
Mobbsie - thank you for coming by! Your Agamemnon is beautiful - and not to worry, more will come! I'm not sure if I'm sad or grateful that Sjors has not yet discovered my build log! (though I've been spying on his!)
 
Harlequin - thanks! As mentioned, I'm also not going to bother with trunneling the deck....too frustrating, even for someone like me who normally relishes repetitive and tedious work! However, I do see a few complexities coming up in the near-ish future...I'm going to try scratch building a new transom, which I started working on a design for yesterday. This may lead me into a scratch building of the quarter galleries (it's likely that the contrast between the scratch-built transom and the kit supplied quarter galleries will be too garish)....I'm also concerned about the head rails and cheeks, which I'm also planning on scratch building...I've only ever scratch built one ship's head before - the Sultana, my second build...but I really want to take a stab at building it myself - as much for practice when the Bellona hits my table as anything....
 
I was looking at the model this morning and realising that the positioning of the double wale may alter how the cheeks and hawse pieces run....but this is still a bit in the future...in the near term it's the transom and quarter galleries that are occupying my thoughts....
 
In any case - thanks again all for coming by! Much appreciated - hope you're all enjoying the weekend! (though for some it may already be over!)
hamilton

Alright - the hull is planked and finished and the deck planking has begun....photos follow, but here is a brief digest of the progress
 
1. Second hull planking - in the last episode, I had lined off the hull and laid the second planking in band "A". I needed 2 dropped planks on both sides in the first and third strakes below the waterline. In band "E" (close to the keel) I ended up needing a great number (4 on each side!) of steelers....Clearly my planking skills need work.....I was less concerned about this on this particular build, however, since the hull is finished below the waterline and the actual structural dimensions of the planking would be hidden - I suppose I could have simply said that the planking went perfectly and without a hitch!
 
2. Keel/stem/sternpost planking - the kit calls for 1mm planking to be used here - no way!! It's much too thick. I used .5mm beech supplied for the deck planking instead. A very straightforward process - I planked the stem semi-vertically from the waterline up, and horizontally the rest of the way. Very straightforward.
 
3. Hull finishing - The top of the stem from the lower wale upwards is painted blue. There is a patch of exposed wood between the lower wale and the waterline at both stem and stern. The lower hull is "tallow", though I painted it Titanium White. Marking the waterline was a pain, since the jig I built (a pencil taped at an appropriate location to a block of basswood) was a little unstable. But eventually I got it. I followed advice given by Randy (lamarvalley) and Nigel (NMBROOK) and applied several coats of poly to the unfinished hull. I then stained the upper portion with Golden Oak, waiting for it to thoroughly dry. I then masked the waterline, sanded below and gave it five good coats, sanding between. A final coat of poly to finish.
 
-- One issue I encountered was with masking. In my impatience to finish the hull, I used scotch tape to mask the waterline. My experience using Scotch has been good - a nice clean line. The issue is that because it is transparent it is really hard to see....As a result when I peeled the tape back there were some jags at the waterline. I quickly went out, bought some Tamiya tape, re-masked at those points that needed correction and  using a scalpul blade (and paint where necessary) made the corrections.
 
4. Deck planking - the f'csl planking was very straightforward. As for the quartedeck - Goodwin clearly shows a nibbed margin plank. At first I attempted to replicate this, but my efforts were both unsuccessful and exceedingly frustrating. In the end, I went with this simpler planking scheme. Goodwin shows no butts on either q-deck or f'csl. The main deck is planked in 60mm lengths in a 4-butt shift. This is shown clearly in his book - I determined the plank length using the deck planking calculator in the MSW database - very handy! I've not yet completed the deck planking, but you can see it in process below.
 
5. The stand - I constructed the stand - the parts took a lot of modification, but eventually I got a good fit. The hull is not permanently mounted yet - I won't do this until a bit later in the build.
 
Anyway, that's it - more regular updates will follow now as I move into the next stage of the build. In the immediate future I will be:
 
-- finishing the deck planking - considering trunneling the deck, but with 3mm plank widths I'm not sure I could take it!! What do you guys think?
 
-- adding the rails - the plank sheer between the gunports on the main deck (which extends fwd and aft); the main cap rail (with similar extensions), the f'csl rail & the quarterdeck rail
 
-- adding the quartergalleries (I'm using the kit-supplied ones, but I may have a stab at making new ones from scratch following the simplest of the suggestions in Goodwin
 
-- building the transom - this is going to be a real challenge for me....but hopefully it will turn out ok.
 
Alright - enough talk! Here are the photos
hamilton
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks all for your comments and support!
 
Andy - I hope I can get to the level of precision you've attained in the masting and rigging of your Pegasus (which I believe I mistook for the Fly in an earlier post! - apologies!!)
 
BE - yes, indeed. It's a relief to get over the hump, so to speak, with the planking! 
 
Augie - the scale has already defeated me! At least as far as the trunneling is concerned....I've pretty much decided against it - I think I could probably sort something out, but the idea of so much tedious work is overwhelming to me....I will definitely trunnel the deck on the Syren when I come to it - and the Bellona after that.
 
Ferit - I'm honoured, as usual, by your compliments! Starting on the deck & hull details, I hope to get somewhere close to the cleanliness of your efforts on the Berlin!
 
Mobbsie - thank you for coming by! Your Agamemnon is beautiful - and not to worry, more will come! I'm not sure if I'm sad or grateful that Sjors has not yet discovered my build log! (though I've been spying on his!)
 
Harlequin - thanks! As mentioned, I'm also not going to bother with trunneling the deck....too frustrating, even for someone like me who normally relishes repetitive and tedious work! However, I do see a few complexities coming up in the near-ish future...I'm going to try scratch building a new transom, which I started working on a design for yesterday. This may lead me into a scratch building of the quarter galleries (it's likely that the contrast between the scratch-built transom and the kit supplied quarter galleries will be too garish)....I'm also concerned about the head rails and cheeks, which I'm also planning on scratch building...I've only ever scratch built one ship's head before - the Sultana, my second build...but I really want to take a stab at building it myself - as much for practice when the Bellona hits my table as anything....
 
I was looking at the model this morning and realising that the positioning of the double wale may alter how the cheeks and hawse pieces run....but this is still a bit in the future...in the near term it's the transom and quarter galleries that are occupying my thoughts....
 
In any case - thanks again all for coming by! Much appreciated - hope you're all enjoying the weekend! (though for some it may already be over!)
hamilton

You've been busy!
 
Very nicely done
 
Andy

Good progress Hamilton, she's really starting to look the part now
 
B.E.

That's a LOT of progress!  She's coming together very nicely.  At 1:100 I'd only use the 'poke and fill' method for treenails to make them as subtle as possible.  Others might be able to actually draw nails that size but I personally wouldn't go that route.
 
Well done!

Wow Hamilton!...
A lot of progress...
I should have known... a long silent period then a beautiful job...