dunnock

Thanks Andrew - the band is just a trip of black card David

Thanks to everyone for the likes. This is just a short update because I realised that I had missed off the cathead knee and cleat when I was making the headworks so these are now added. The knee was cut from 3mm boxwood sheet using a tracing taken from the AotS as a pattern and reduced to the correct scale. The cleats were made from 3x3 boxwood strip. It is easier to cut and file them to shape before finally cutting off the parent strip The knees were fixed in place and then the cleats were pinned and glued to the cathead David

Thanks Andrew, although I claim no credit or originality for the cardboard template which has been used by a number of other builders - I just copied their ideas. David

Thanks to everyone for the likes A while ago, I made up three sections of the open rails of the quarterdeck as a trial. It seemed to work well enough and so the same method has been used to complete all the other sections. A cardboard template was used to maintain the line. For the trial pieces, the timberheads were cut from walnut ply but I switched to pearwood strip which is easier to shape gives a much cleaner finish. The top rail (the fife rail?) is also made from lime which although a bit soft, is easier to bend from one piece and once painted it hardens up. The strip was first soaked and edge bent to the shape of the quarter deck and then the final downward curve at the forward end of the rail was made with the help of a sample bottle ('The Driver's Dram') of Kilchoman whisky acquired during a recent visit to the Isaly distillery. As an aside (and I have no connection to the distillery except to enjoy its produce), I think that this is the only Scottish distillery to grow and malt its own barley for some of its whiskys. Despite trying to be as careful as possible with measurements against the template, there were still some supports that were too short and needed replacement to make the rail to run smoothly over its entire length. Once I was happy that it all lined up, the rail was pinned and glued in place and left overnight. The taffarel fife rail was next to make up, again using lime strip. I wasn’t sure whether the supports were meant to be round or square. The kit says use 2mm dowel but I opted to make them from 2.5mm square section boxwood. The rail was cut oversized and first edge-bent and then curved to follow the lines of the stern. The four supports are in line with the stern-light frames and were pinned and glued in place and the whole assembly painted black. When test fitting this to the taffarel, I realised that the arrangement of the quarterdeck rail was not going to work. Looking again at the photographs of the ship models of Diana in Gardiner's The Sailing Frigate, the plansheer of the aftmost section of rail should continue to the finish at the level of the stern and meet the taffarel fife rail. The top quarterdeck rail finishes at the final support. The final section of the quarterdeck rails was carefully removed and replaced. I was able re-use the supports so only had to cut a new section of plansheer. When matched up, the fife rail was cut to length and glued and pinned in place. I’m pleased to have got this section completed, which apart from the headworks, has been the most difficult so far. I think though, that the effort has been worth it and although the rails may not bear the scrutiny of the close-up photo, from normal viewing distances, I am happy with the result. I'm continuing with the carronades and started to make up the kit version but comparing them with the plans in the AotS, have decided I can't live with them and have ordered a replacement set from Chris Watton as an early birthday present from my wife. David

Thanks Andrew and I'm sure you're right that I will eventually succumb. Perhaps I'll find a few other thing to tempt me to make the shipping cost worthwhile. I’ve not done very much work on Diana for the last three weeks as I’ve been away touring the Inner Hebrides. The weather on the west coast of Scotland has been pretty poor but on the bright side has meant that I have had plenty of time to tour a few distilleries and to read Chris Watton’s Vanguard Ship Models’ log from beginning to end. What a fascinating story. I have already bought a few fittings for Diana from Chris but my next ship model is certainly coming from Vanguard. It's always difficult getting back after a long break, trying to remember what I was working on. However I have now completed the gun port lids and fitted them to the hull. A bit fiddly, especially the one tucked right under the mizzen channel. The kit knightheads were used for the forecastle and have been pinned and glued in place. They look quite vulnerable so I will have to be careful when it comes to rigging the guns. The belaying points around the foremast had me puzzled. The kit plans show 6 eyelets should be placed on the deck around the mast but the AotS show only 3 and this seems to be confirmed by Lennarth Petersson’s Rigging Period Ship Models. I have gone for three on the basis that should it be necessary, it shouldn’t be difficult to add the others. Before going away, I realised that the forward bits should have three sheaves in each leg, which I had not allowed for, so I remade them in 2x6mm pear. This has completed the deck fittings for the forecastle which are now pinned into position but nothing is glued yet.

The 9-pounders were made up in much the same way as the 18 pounders covered earlier in this log. Once again, I used the kit pieces for the carriages but swapped the trucks for those that I bought from CMB: 5mm for the front and 4mm for the rear. These are thicker than the walnut ply versions which meant that the axle didn’t protrude from the truck. To add a bit more realism, I cut back the axles on the carriages by half to make room for stub axles made from 2mm dowel which were pushed into the truck cut to the length and glued onto the axle. The photo below shows carriages with and without the stub axle. I would have found it impossible to drill holes into the axle to add lynch pins so I cut small splinters and glued them each side of the axle. The gun barrels are from the kit but once again no GR monograms are supplied and the only source seems to be Syren. The actual monograms are reasonably priced but shipping to the UK makes them nearly three times the price. However, as the guns are on open view, I may have to bite the bullet (cannonball?). Before getting on with the fiddly task of making up the tackles and breeching I decided to finish off the outer hull. The numerous eyelets have been added and the fixed blocks for the main sheet, which I had left off until I was more certain of there position. There are two more eyelets to add shown in the AotS either side of the anchor stock but I will add them when I know the anchor’s final position. The anchor lining supplied in the kit is in 1.5mm walnut ply which would not sit well with the boxwood. Replacements were cut from boxwood sheet using the kit piece as a pattern. 5mm strip was added to the face to match the hull planking. The AotS shows that the anchor linings sit on bolsters which are not supplied. I made them from 3mm square boxwood strip, cut and sanded to shape.They need to fit comfortably around the bow immediately above the main wale so they were soaked and bent around a large radius pan borrowed from the kitchen. The gun port lids are a work in progress. I have used the supplied kit parts and added boxwood strip to the face. The PE straps were blackened and fixed with CA. the kit provided copper eyelets were used on the outside but they looked too big for those on the inside of the lid so I made some up from 0.4mm (26gg) black coated wire using a 0.65mm drill bit to form the eye. The nails need to be added to the straps before fitting to the hull and I'm wondering about making the hinge look a bit more realistic. David

Thanks to all for the likes and to Dave B. for the very kind comment David

…And the gratings proved to be every bit as challenging as I expected. It has taken three weeks of work on and off (a week bird watching in Iceland intervened) and a lot of bad words but I think I have now got there. The main framework was made from 2.5mm square boxwood planed down to 2mm. The carlings were pre-curved which made cutting the joints a bit more difficult but I was afraid of the whole thing falling apart if I tried to bend the completed structure afterwards. I originally tried to follow the jointing pattern in AotS but it was too delicate, the space between carlings was to wide and after two attempts the idea was abandoned. In any case as the whole thing was to be painted black, the joints wouldn't be seen. So finally I made the carlings in one piece and cut housing joints for the cross pieces. Having completed the basic frame and checked the fit, leaving 1mm on the main rail for the false rail, the ledges were added using 1mm square boxwood. These were just cut to size and glued between carlings without attempting any fancy joints. and some of the pile of matchwood left behind The final stage was to fit the ledges between the after cross piece and the hull. The kit provides two pieces cut from walnut ply but as others have commented, there is too much wood and too little space. However I thought that with some work, they could be made to look something like so I carved away the slots to leave 1mm ledges and thinned down the frame a little. The false rails were cut from 1mm styrene sheet from a tracing taken from the AotS and glued using G-S Hypo, however before finally gluing them in, I thought it best to drill holes ready to take the boomkins while there was easy access. The seats of ease are not fixed, waiting for me to fashion the actual seat and looking a the final photo, I need to sand the base a little more to make them sit level. While waiting for glue to set, paint to dry and generally not getting on with it, I have started making up the 9 pounders but that’s for another post. Once again thanks for all the likes and comments. David

Hi Allan, Thanks for looking in and for your thoughts. I haven't any further evidence other than following the drawings shown in the AotS. The ship models I have always assumed to be incomplete in their detail, only being built to show the main design features of the vessel. The models purportedly of Diana do not show many of the smaller details like oar ports, even the binnacle is omitted and nor do they include the quarterdeck pin rails. All the best David

Well that took some time and a lot of reworking but I have finally made some headway on the head… The gammoning knee was remade to a better fit. The base of the head timbers from the kit were chamfered to match the curve of the prow. I didn’t like any of the kit parts for rails and head grating so they will all been made from various sections of boxwood. The bottom rail first looked to be the simplest so I made it first however I found it very difficult to get everything aligned. I was constantly assembling and disassembling. I didn’t glue the head timbers and knee together as I was worried that they would break during all the cutting and filing that was going to be needed. With hindsight it might have been better if I had. Before further work could continue, other things needed considering. Both the main and eking rails need to meet the catheads so these were made first, laminated from 3.5 square section and two pieces of 1mm strip. The rear sheave holes are drilled at angle towards the back to allow the tackle to hang vertically. The kit plan shows the cathead is set at an angle of about 11° but the AotS plans give a steeper angle 30° This looked too much to me and would also have created difficulties fitting them in the focs’l walls and capping rail. 20° looked better and the sheave was drilled to this. They were positioned relative to the hawse holes and bolster, slightly forward of the kit plan and pinned and glued into place. The capping rail (plansheer?) was next but the position of the forward pinrail needed to be considered. Again the kit piece is inadequate so a replacement was made from boxwood strip more in line with the shape given in the AotS. I have bought smaller, 6mm belay pins for this rail to give more space between them. The capping rail in the kit is too narrow even when measured against Caldercraft’s plans. Strips were glued to each side to give a width of 6mm. Having completed catheads and capping rail I could move on to the main rail. I have cut it from one piece of 3mm boxwood sheet. Cutting the head timbers again required a lot of (not so) fine tuning. I could now glue the gammoning knee and head timbers in place. When downloading photos taken over the last few weeks, I realise that I have not taken shots of many of the intermediate stages. Some photos therefore combine different steps and not necessarily following the order in which they were made so sorry if this confuses things. I left off the main rail at this stage to give easier access for positioning the eking rails. These posed the biggest problem of all. The cathead support is scale 26.5mm long and curves and merges into the eking rail. I spent a lot of time wondering how to tackle these two parts. Thankfully Blue Ensign was at a similar stage in his build of HMS Sphinx and I thank him for helping me to think through the problem. I had a few attempts at trying to make it from one piece using laminated strips or cutting it from 3mm sheet and bending the rail. In the end, I opted to make the bracket and rail separately and then chamfered them to fit together as best I could. To allow for the curve and sweep of the rail, it was made from 6x2 boxwood. After many attempts to get the right curve without breaking the wood, I finally achieved a reasonable shape and with a bit of filling at the join they don’t look too bad at normal viewing distances When it came to fixing the main rails, gaps appeared between some head timbers and rail. Maybe I should have fixed them in place before finishing the rails – anyway a bit more work on the head timbers using spacers and a bit of filler and trimming the rails was required to get a proper fit. Looking at these final pictures, I've noticed that the painting of the inner face of the port cathead doesn't match the starboard and I think that I might have created some difficulties for myself when it comes to the face pieces. The next challenge will be the gratings and getting all the carlings and cross pieces to follow the curve of the head. Thanks for looking in David

You are correct that the Diana support is beefier in that it is a scale 26mm long and 3mm thick. I measure the angle to be 30deg in AotS. The kit supplied support is set at 11deg and is about half the size of the AotS drawing. I have lengthened the sheaves on the underside according with the drawings. Attempts at getting a sufficient bend in the eking rail are ongoing and I am working on the capping rail while I ponder further. David

Thanks for the tip on lamination. I will try that and see how it works out. I noticed too that you reduced the angle of the catheads to 20deg. I was thinking of doing the same because the 30deg shown iin AotS looks very steep and reducing the angle would make them sit better within the bulwarks. Like everyone else, I'm overawed by the quality of your Sphinx and the details of the build and techniques in your log. David

Thanks BE - I've been wondering how to tackle the cathead supports and eking rail transition on my Diana. Your solution looks excellent so I am going to attempt to follow your method.

The maple strip that I was waiting for finally arrived – it seems that my payment had not gone through but when I called CMB to put my order through again, they were very quick to despatch it. So now I have finished planking the galleries. The quality of the wider maple strip was not as good as that used for the rest of the deck and I’m not altogether happy with the finish but it has passed the ultimate inspection so will probably leave it as is. While waiting for the strips, I started work on some of the deck fittings. The ship’s wheel supplied in the kit was never going to satisfy so I bought the better brass version from Jotika and made it up. Not sure how Captain Faulkonor was expected to navigate his ship without binnacle and compass. None is supplied in the kit but the mini kit from Vanguard Models makes up very nicely. I added some small bits of square section and dowel to give an idea of compass and lamp and glazed the windows with PET film. I’m now not sure whether to paint it red, stain it darker or simply apply a couple of coats of matt varnish. I have also made up the forward bits using the kit stanchions and 4x2 walnut and did a little bit of shaping to improve the look. The open rails looked quite a challenge, firstly deciding what size they should be and then how to make them up. I started with a card template and then made up three sections at the stern as a trial using lime for the plansheer, because it is easier to work and will be painted over, walnut ply for the timberheads and boxwood for the stanchions. I’m quite pleased with the way they have turned out but having proved the principle I will put them to one side because of the risk that they will get knocked about while working on the deck fittings. I am now turning my attention back to the head works. Somewhere along the way the the upper cheek on the port side disappeared so a replacement had to be made. Then I noticed the gammoning knee that I made a while ago no longer looked to be a good enough fit when I tried it so that will be replaced too, then maybe finally I can get on. Thanks for all the likes and for following my log David

Thanks for your kind comments Dave. I'm sure that you will anyway, but be sure to check out Beef Wellington, Robdurant, Ray and also DavidEN's new log among others too. I'm about 2 1/4 hours away but thankfully the ticket is valid for 12 months so I will definitely be making a return trip to Hartlepool. I've taken up birding in the last few years and the coastal marshes around that area are full of interest which makes another good reason for a return visit.

A disappointing visit with the Admiral on a cold and windy March day. to the NMM at Hartlepool. I particularly wanted to look around the quarter deck and foc’sl but it was unfortunately closed off for repair work and nobody seemed to know when it would reopen -although certainly not that day. On the upper deck evidence of rainwater leakage was obvious from the buckets scattered around. Still it was interesting to see the differences in layout of Trincomalee compared to Diana. PHOTO The planking of the focs’l is finished and I’m quite pleased with the result. It all went fairly smoothly although cutting the plank around the steam grating took a few tries to get right and there was some trimming and recutting of the final two planks on each side to achieve a reasonable symmetry. Like the quarter deck, there was a lot of scraping and sanding required to get a smooth finish... ...and after 3 coats of shellac I was hoping to continue with planking the galleries but the wider planks that I ordered looked more like lime than maple so I am waiting for fresh supplies. In the meantime, I have been working on something that has been bothering me for a while: the quarterdeck bulwarks. I replaced the stern section some time ago but I was never happy with the two 9 pounder ports as they seemed too deep and now wish that I had replaced the whole run at the time when channels and deadeyes were not in the way. I made up one of the 9 pounder guns to provide a reference and also a great help was Rob Durant’s CAD drawing of the open rails on his Ethalion, which I downloaded from his log of Jason. Thankfully It wasn’t too difficult to remove the offending sections and replace with fresh lime strip. The new carronade and gun ports have been cut in after rechecking that there was no danger of shooting away the shrouds and I have started to line them out before I add the boxwood planking on both the inner and outer walls. Hopefully it will all come good. Thanks for all the likes and comments David

Lovely work David and I agree with Theodosius, no improvement required on the gun carriage

Thanks to all for the likes and for continuing to follow this log. The planking of the quarterdeck is now complete. As expected quite a bit of scraping and sanding was required to get a good finish. It was then sealed with several coats of shellac. Shellac gives a good finish but viewed in this nice early spring sunshine that we are having, is perhaps a bit too glossy so I may eventually tone it down with matt varnish. Having completed the quarterdeck, I was tempted to do something a bit different but was inspired by Beef Wellington’s treatment of the forecastle so I pressed on. I needed to make the two coamings and gratings. As per the quarterdeck, these were made from 6x2mm boxwood and sanded back to 3mm depth. For the chimney, I strayed from both the kit plans and the AotS and went with my interpretation of the images of ship models in The Sailing Frigate. I made a solid deck fitting from 3mm boxwood sheet and painted it with Tamiya Dark Iron. I thought that this makes a nice continuation between the two gratings and has the added advantage of avoiding having to plank this small area. I made a completely new jig for the planks with only a slight taper from 3.6 to 3.4mm which I hope will be sufficient. The first four runs of planking are complete and the bowsprit partner installed. It maybe a bit late in the history of this model but next week, I am finally making a trip to the NMM in Hartlepool to visit HMS Trincomalee. Although built nearly 20 years later in Mumbai (formally Bombay), I'm still hoping for further inspiration and pointers as to how to continue with HMS Diana.

Thanks David that's kind of you but for an exemplar on planking, take a look at at Beef Wellington's log of HMS Jason

I'm just catching up with your log again. Superb work on the planking Jason. I will soon be at the stage of planking the forecastle and I think that I will take your approach rather than joggling the planks into the waterway as depicted in the AotS. I makes a much neater finish to my eye. David

I have now completed planking on the port side of the quarterdeck. I laid planks on each side to maintain some symmetry until the last four strakes. At this point I needed to consider the waterway which I had laid out to be made from 6mm maple strip to allow for any accommodation of variation in planks. The waterway plank was soaked and edge-bent to take up the curve of bulwark and marked up to butt up against the last plank. A bit more fettling than I would have liked was required at the stern but now that the port side is completed I am reasonably happy with the way it looks so I will repeat the exercise on the starboard side. If I were to start again, I would take more measurements along the length than the every 50mms I chose to do. Every 20mms would give better accuracy and result in a better graduation of the curve of the planking. The thickness of the planks are very variable so the deck is going to take a lot of scraping and sanding once laid.

Lovely work David and your 3d printed work around are a vast improvement on the kit. David

Hi Dave, I'm just catching up with your log having been away for the weekend. Your Diana is looking really good and it's nice to see that you are putting your own stamp on the kit. I can't believe this is only your second wooden ship build, I think that you must have picked up a lot of expertise from other fields of model making. I too really liked that ladder jig and although I didn't use Jotika's, wish I could have used something other than kit supplied ladders. For boxwood, I have used two suppliers, the first for stripwood and sheets is Original Marquetry https://www.originalmarquetry.co.uk/product-category/inlays-lines/lines-stringing/ The second is Timberline who supply 6x2mm boxwood that I used for coamings https://shop.exotichardwoods.co.uk/castello-boxwood-guitar-banding-800-x-6-x-2mm.html I will be following your log with great interest. David

Thanks Jason and for all the likes

Thanks again for the discussion on the quaterdeck scuttles and David, it would be great to see a log of your build of Diana. Following on from the discussion on the quaterdeck scuttles, I removed the planking that I had so far laid and then the coamings. I filled in the spaces with scraps of ply (which would have been lot easier if I had done it before fixing the deck) and started the planking process once again. I had completed 6 strakes each side and decided that I wasn’t happy with the way it was turning out. There seemed to be a pronounced convex curve developing towards the stern on the starboard side so it all had to come off again. I decided to start from scratch and check all my measurements across the width. I again took the average of three measurements at each station and found some differences so made up a new jig. I shape 10 strips at a time starting with coarse grit sandpaper and then getting progressively finer. The first four strips either side of the centre line are laid without joins. Before moving on to shaping the next batch of strips, I have rechecked the widths and adjusted where necessary. 9 strakes on each side are now completed and I’m happier with the way it is looking. No doubt more adjustments will need to be made as I go along.