dunnock

Thanks everyone for the likes While I’m waiting for more rope, I have put together the anchors that come with the kit. They look the right size and shape according to the AotS and the stocks are in two pieces. The cast metal anchors needed a bit of cleaning up but weren’t too bad. I had always understood that the stocks tapered across the thickness as well as along the length, but this doesn’t seem to be the case looking at the AotS plans. They do clearly show the gap between the two halves of the stock is easily achieved with a bit of sanding of the housings for the shafts. I drilled small holes for the bolts and the treenails with a 0.5mm bit and then sanded the faces leaving the dust in the holes and sealing them with dilute matt varnish. They are barely visible which I think is at it should be. The bolts are the usual dabs of CA gel painted over with iron grey. I cut 2mm ‘iron bands’ from heat-shrinkable tubing, which conform nicely to the taper of the stocks when a hairdryer is used to shrink them onto the stocks. I used 0.6mm dark brown rope for the puddening of the ring, which is 1.5mm brass rod and blackened with brass black. I added the four seizings to each ring but they are hardly noticeable and are not as neat as I would have hoped. Perhaps if I had used a finer or softer rope the seizings would have been more regular. Anchor cable is 2.8mm which is tied with an attempt at an inside clench knot and a couple of seizings applied. There are no stream or kedge anchors in the kit so I will need to order some from CMB. Still waiting for the rope to arrive from Canada (which was dispatched next day) so I'll start the last of the ship’s boats now, the 18ft cutter. Thanks for looking in David

Thanks everyone for the likes. Topgallants are now all fitted. The parral beads that I have are all too big for topgallant yards and in any case, would have been too fiddly to fit, so I’ve attached them with truss parrals as a valid alternative according to Lees. Ties and lifts are also added. I now return to the fore yards to add clues, tacks, buntlines and leechlines. The clue block and sheet block are are joined together and the tack threaded through and held by a tack knot. The tack knot I approximated with a figure-of-eight with an extra turn. The clueline is tied to the yard just outboard of the block on the yard with a timber hitch, runs through the clue block up to the yard block and then is taken through the fore and aft inner blocks under the top and down to the middle sheave on the fore bitts. I’ve found a potential problem with the blocks under the top The only double block I placed was the inner block with the other two being singles. It would be quite difficult to replace the blocks now so I hope that it won’t cause me problems later on. The tack will run down to a block on the boomkin but for the moment I have loosely tied them off to the cathead. I will also add the sheet later to keep the midships area free. clue block, sheet block and tack tied together clue garnets tied off to fore bitts tack lines temporarily tied off to catheads Buntlines caused me to stop and think for a while. I found Lees descriptions of buntline legs and falls difficult to follow. I wasn’t sure if buntline falls were required In the end I went for two blocks stropped together for the falls. The buntline legs are tied with a toggle to stop them running through the block on the yard and then lead through the forward blocks under the lower top down to the fall block, back up through the afterward block under the top and end at the second yard block. One end of the falls is tied to the forecastle rail runs through the lower fall block and back to the rail. The leechline a toggle prevents it running through the block on the yard it roves through the outer block under the lower top and a block is seized in the lower end. A whip is tied to the forecastle rail, passes through the block in the end of the leechline and runs back to the rail. I ran out of 0.25 and 0.35 ropes from Ropes of Scale for the buntlines and leechlines so used the kit-supplied thread but standing back, the contrast between the two (perhaps not obvious in the photo below) is not acceptable so I have sent off to Canada for further supplies to replace them. Thanks for looking in

Glad to hear your mum is OK and hope she fully recovers soon. Planking is looking very good. David

Lovely work David. She really is that tall! Did you go with the long. common or stump pole head? David

Thanks for the likes and comments. Thanks Dave but the separate oars that Chris sells are too short. For single banked boats they should be 2.5 times the beam so at least 12mm for my boat. After the interlude of making the 24’ cutter, I’m off my crutches and mobile again so it’s back to the main ship and adding the topsail yards. The yards were made a while ago with the blocks, stirrups and horses completed. I began with the mizzen topsail yard and the parrals (or is it parrels, I’ve seen both spellings?) The kit supplies some black beads for the trucks but they are quite round rather than more barrel shaped. I searched all the bead sites looking for seed beads that are a better shape but have found nothing. I ordered some bugle beads but they are too cylindrical. In the end I had some wooden beads in my box of bits that I decided to use, although they are still not as they should be. The ribs are blackened brass ones left over from HMS Fly. The parral rope is threaded over the yard and the ribs and trucks threaded on taking care to keep the ribs the right way round. The yard is pinned to the mast and glued with CA simplifying the job of fitting the parral. The ropes pass around the mast, over and under the yard and then back over the groove in the ribs. This is repeated two or three times and then tied off around the yard in a simple knot. The tie is next, which on the mizzen threads through a single block up through blocks suspended each side of the mast head and ends in long tackle blocks to come below the lower mast top. The lower block of the halyards is hooked to an eyebolt on the stool. The rope is tied to the long block runs down to the lower block through the long block back up to the long block and is tied off at the cavil block. The lifts a long strap with an eye in each end is clove hitched around the cap. The lift is hooked into the eyelet runs down to the sheet block and back up to the sister block then down to the pin rail where it is tied off. The parrals of the main and fore topmast yards are rigged in the same way as on the mizzen topmast. I chose to follow Petersson in rigging the tie. A double block is tied on each side of the topmast head on a long strop. I think that these two blocks should be on the same strop which is then tied around the mast head. I couldn’t do it like this because the topgallant is already in place so separate strops it had to be. The tie has an eye spliced in one end and passes around the topmast head, through the eye and down to the double block on the yard. The port tie passes through the forward sheave and the starboard the aft. The halyards are tied off to eyebolts on the main mast stool just forward of the aft-most topmast backstay. The lifts on both fore and main topmast yards are set up in a similar fashion to the mizzen mast. The main lifts coming down to the barricade and the fore lifts to the cleat on the third shroud. David

Thanks Allan your praise and encouragement is much appreciated David

Thanks Andrew. If that ratio of case to kit price holds true for Diana, I'm in trouble! David

Nisha looks very happy in there Andrew. Did you make the case yourself, or is it custom made? David

Thanks for the likes and comments: always much appreciated. The bulkheads came away quite easily – a bit too easily in places as a couple came out in their entirety and I had to cut back and glue in the floor supports. Because I mostly just used glue between the planking, clean up was much easier this time around. The ribs were placed as previously using Tamiya tape to give even 6mm spacing and the transom supports were fitted using a scap piece of 4mm strip wood as a guide. I followed the AotS Diana’s plans for the cutter which shows it to be single banked and shows only three knees per side – a blessing as they are so small and fiddly to sand and fit. I copied the half deck plan from the book to give me a guide for the placement of the transoms an correct positioning of the main mast step and eyebolts. Two pieces are provided for the breast hook (CFT26) where only one is shown on the plans but it looked a neater finish with both pieces in place which I then sanded back to look more like one piece. Rather than cut into the hull sides for the rowlocks as the instructions show, I added the wash strakes using some left over planking strips. There’s not much for these to stick to but they are surprisingly firm once the glue has gone off. I thought that this change might make the boat higher sided than it should be but compared to the AotS cross section, the finished boat is less then 0.5mm higher which I think is fine. I painted the hull in Valejo off white based on other contributors recommendations. Comparing the cutter to the pinnace and launch that I made before, I have to agree with them so at some point I will be repainting the other two boats to match. Because I have made the cutter single banked, the provided oars are too short. Steele gives a table of oar measurements for beam widths of between 4 and 7ft but also says that oars can be between 2 and 3.5 times the beam. I will think about what length might be in proportion and make a set but that’s for another day. Thanks for looking in David

Thanks for the compliment but not my idea Dave. Just following the master! David

Thanks Jason, and thanks again for posting your method for clinker planking. David

Thanks everyone for looking in and for all the encouragement you are giving me. Planking with pear strips is completed and I’m quite pleased with the result. I scraped the hull down and followed with a light sand which gave me a decent surface to continue with the second layer of clinker planking. My thanks to Jason (Beef Wellington) and the detailed description he gave in his HMS Jason log. Without it, I think that I would have been struggling to get as good a result as I have. https://modelshipworld.com/topic/7219-hms-jason-by-beef-wellington-caldercraft-164-artois-class-frigate-modified-from-hms-diana-1794/page/23/ The hull is marked out at each bulkhead using tick strips. I first tried a couple of strips of heavy paper (Conqueror) but it was too thin to provide a noticeable edge between planks. I stripped them off and began again with thin card (about 0.3mm). The angle of light and close focus shows that things could have been better but the first side generally went OK and the strakes look quite evenly spaced to my eye. I understand that the strakes at bow and stern do not overlap so I tried to keep to this pattern as closely as possible. The port side proved a little more troublesome. After 6 strakes I realised that the bow section was going out of line so removed the last three strakes and tried to correct it. This worked to some extent but when it came to the final strake, a fair bit of shaping was required. Although the strakes look to line up at the bow. I think now that the first strake runs a little to high at the bow and it’s this that has thrown things out. To consolidate the outer layer I have given the hull a couple of coats of dilute matt varnish. The next stage; removing the hull from the building board and breaking out the bulkheads is always the most nerve-wracking. David

I used shellac on the decking and had no problems with bleeding.

Hi Dave, Just catching up on your log. It may be that with better wood you'll not have problems with a marker pen but thought I'd add my ten penn'orth. I've used Pigma Brush pens. It's easy to run the fine tip down the edge of the plank and not had any problems with bleeding. David

Thanks to all for the likes and for continuing to look in. A little more sanding was require to achieve a fair run before I started planking. Two planks each side fitted and I noticed that bulkhead 11 wasn’t seated correctly in the keel so they had to come off again. Unfortunately as I was trying to correct one mistake I made another and the transom broke away. I was able to CA the transom back, temporarily reinforced with strips of boxwood either side until there were sufficient planks in place to hold it firmly. After these trials, planking has gone quite well. I have used a dab of CA at the prow and then sparingly applied PVA on the edges of each plank. I also brushed dilute PVA into the joints.. I applied PVA to BH11 and the transom and only to the other bulkheads where necessary to maintain the line. Three more strips each side should complete. David

Thanks for all the likes A change of plan. On Monday I had a procedure to fix my damaged Achilles tendon which means I cannot put any weight on my left leg for the next 10 days. This makes it impossible to work on the main ship so I have gone back to the ship’s boats to start work on Vanguard Models’ 24 foot cutter. Cutters were normally clinker-built and I will try to replicate this by planking first with the pear provided and then apply a second layer of card planks in the manner of Beef Wellington as mentioned in a post above. The main mdf bulkheads fitted easily into the provided building board but the final two pearwood parts required a little fettling. Unfortunately the tabs on the transom piece broke off during sanding but the slot and square hole provide enough location to be able to secure it at the correct angle. The bow filler pieces were roughly shaped before gluing to the keel. From building the pinnace and launch, I know how vulnerable the stem and stern are during fairing so I added some reinforcement using bits of mdf taken from the centres of the bulkheads. Despite this I have managed to ping off the stem when checking how my fairing was going. I have recovered the broken piece and I am hoping that I can complete planking without it and then glue it back afterwards. I think I have faired the bulkheads enough using scrap wood to check the run but will give a final check with the pearwood planking. Thanks for looking in. David

Thanks for your kind comments Dave and no problem about asking questions. I don't have an airbrush system so it's all hand painted. I don't use any special methods either- basicially I just slap it on and hope for the best. The black is Tamiya XF-1. I apply a coat and when dry, sand it back with 600 grit wet/dry. I usually apply 3 or 4 coats. The slight sheen is just how it comes out. When using other acrylics like Admiralty Paints or Humbrol, I usually dilute them quite heavily because I find that they are too thick to apply straight out of the bottle. The problem I find with Tamiya paints is that they dry too quickly and it's quite difficult to apply a consistent coating. I haven't tried adding a retarder. I think that the next model I build I will try Valejo paints. David

Cutting the rabbet is well worth the effort even if, like me you don't get the engles completely right. Those chisels look nice Dave. Where did you buy them? David

Thanks everyone for all the likes and comments The Lower Yards. I began with the crossjack yard and worked forward. I used Steele’s tables to calculate the appropriate size of rope and referred to AotS, Lees and Petersson for the run of the ropes. The crossjack is pinned and glued to the mast with CA for ease of working. The truss pendant is 0.35 rope spliced around the yard on the starboard side of the mast. It leads through a thimble spliced to the yard on the port side and ends in a long tackle block. The fall is 0.25mm and a single 3mm block is hooked to an eyebolt on the deck and the business end tied of to a cleat on the mast. The slings are lashed together with 0.25mm rope wound through each thimble as many times as would comfortably fit and then frapped around the front of the wraps. It is too fiddly to tie off each end with a seizing so they are tied off with a half hitch and fixed with dilute pva. The lifts are next. A single 3mm block is tied to an eyebolt on the cap. The running part is tied to the block at the cap runs through the block on the yard, back up to to the block at the cap and is tied off at the foremost pin on the after belay rack. Main and fore courses have a truss pendants (0.6mm) each side of the yard which are spliced on to the yard. The jeers (0.7mm rope) are also threaded up before the yard is lifted into place, pinned and fixed with CA. The lifts (0.6mm) are spliced to the yard arm and lead up through long tackle blocks on the mast cap, the small block on the yard arm and back to the long block. They are tied off to the timberheads on quarterdeck and forecastle. I had missed the timberheads on the forecastle because they didn’t appear on Caldercraft’s deck plans. Unfotunately I couldn’t position them as shown in the AotS belay plan because a 9 pounder is in the way. They were fixed slightly aft of where they are indicated but I think the run of the lifts is still fine. I am moving on to rigging the topmast yards at this stage leaving the further rigging of the lower yards till later.

Lacking room to house a model the size of Indefatigable, I'm going to have to live it vicariously. I'm looking forward to following your build BE along with the other logs already begun. David

Thanks Allen. I have both books that you reference and will have a go at clinkering the cutters when I get to them, leaning heavily on Beef Wellington's excellent description in his build of Jason.

Thanks Ross and Andrew for your kind comments It's quite simple using a needle to thread the line back and forth through itself two or three times. The following photos should make it clear. To make it easier to see and photograph, I have used 1mm thread and a curved needle but it works with any size of thread and straight needle. It's best here to tighten up the loop around the yard or whatever else you are making the eye-splice for. A third pass through is ideal but not mandatory! The finished splice Secure it off with a dab of dilute pva. Have fun David

The whole 9 Yards… Thanks for looking in and for the likes and comments. I made the yards according to the measurements in the AotS, although they mostly correspond closely with the Caldercraft plans. The central octagonal section was pshaped first using files and 400 grade sandpaper to finish. The round taper sections were completed in my Proxxon lathe starting with coarse 80 grit if a lot of wood needed removing, then 120 and finishing with 400. The sizes and patterns of cleats were taken from Lees rather than the plans. Lees describes stop cleats on the fore topsail yard rather than the sling cleats shown on the plans. I have followed Steele’s tables as closely as possible for the sizes of blocks. I would have liked to have used the correct pattern for the sheet blocks but I couldn’t find any commercially available. Perhaps next time I'll have a go at making them myself. Slings are made from served rope made into a loop with a false splice. A thimble is secured in the middle with a seizing before looping round the yard. I have adopted the kit pieces for the boom irons on the lower yards. The soft metal yard-end pieces are big and bulky. They were cut and filed down until they looked more in proportion. For the outer rings I used some brass pieces left over from HMS Fly which looked more in proportion. When it came to the irons for the topsail yards, I found that using the kit pieces was unworkable, they just looked too big and ugly, so I scratched them from brass rod and styrene tube painted iron grey with Tamiya XF-18. All horses and stirrups were made from 0.5mm rope stained with wood dye as described in an earlier post. The horses are looped around the yards using a false splice The stirrups are fixed at the correct length with a false splice and the the tail wrapped around the yard three times and fixed with dilute pva. The footropes will need some work once the yards are fitted and rigged to get them to lie correctly. David

I like the idea of displaying Diana on keel blocks and was planning a similar presentation so it will be interesting to see how you progress with it. BE used a similar approach to display his model of Pegasus ... https://modelshipworld.com/topic/15526-hms-pegasus-by-blue-ensign-finished-victory-models-164-scale/page/9/#comment-489642 Regarding the main and fore masts, I also had the the problem of the diameter being too large for my Proxxon lathe. I made the section below deck to the diameter in the plan. A cheat but as this area can't be seen, I thought it acceptable. The mast above the partner is sized according to the AotS. If I remember rightly, I planed the main mast from 13mm dowel and sanded it in the drill until the top section would fit in the lathe. David

Congratulations David, on starting your build of Diana. I'll be following along with interest. I'm with DavidEN on the gunports. I adjusted their position to miss bulkhead 3 but there are consequences further down the line. Particularly affected are the channels and positioning of shrouds, which in turn affects the quarter deck gun placements. David