Keith S

I'm new to the forum and only just spotted this log. It's a pity the era of screw driven steamers with full sailing rig was so transient, because I consider them to be the most beautiful of all ships. I like the details you're creating for this one. With respect to that large white bullet-shaped object, is it possible it was a fire extinguisher? Had they invented those yet by this time? It's the same size and shape as the ones you still see around small airports, although they are painted red and have big spoked wheels on them. Also with respect to the white tub with handles you see in the pictures, could it have been the grog butt? Did American sailors do that? If they had a grog tub it was probably their favourite thing in the whole world. Maybe they liked having their pictures taken with it! (I'm being cheeky) Another thing I'm curious about are the funnels. Were they retractable for some reason? In every photograph of this ship, they seem to be a different height!

Cutting them back one or two frames will work perfectly and not be too much trouble. Staggering the joints will help keep it smooth too.

Here are a couple more pictures of the deck arrangement with the new pieces. I pulled out the stanchions forward of the main mast and made longer ones that put the warping heads at the height depicted in shipyard plans. The warping heads are made by turning down a dowel in my dremel and the "iron" fittings are made with brass sheet and pins blackened in "jax" solution. I've included the picture I pinched from the NMG collections website. I hope this is OK, someone let me know if it's not. It shows some of these details that are not included in the kit. Although these depict the ship in her pre-1845 engineless configuration as she would have appeared on the Antarctic expeditions. Also, I've noticed in looking through all the build logs on this site, how clean everyones' work-benches are. I take perverse pride in what a knavish shambles mine is at present.

Here's some more progress on the Terror. At this point I've deviated from the kit enough that I am mostly scratch-building everything using Mr.Bett's blog and diagrams from the museum in Greenwich. I made a curved fife-rail and jeer-bitts aft of the mainmast and the posts forward that support the bearings for the pump cranks and the bearings for something called a "jeer bitt warp-end" which, I have to admit, I don't know what that does so if anyone else here knows I would appreciate an explanation! They seem to be horizontal drums- I kind of assume they are meant to carry a messenger-cable forward from the capstan. Or maybe to use the capstan to help hoist the main yard? Anyway, moving forward I've made the jeer bitts for the foremast which are also depicted as having one of these "warp ends" which I have completed. I think it looks pretty good, but I am just following drawings now and I wish I had more information, because the drawings do not depict a fife-rail for the mainmast and bowsprit running rigging, only these jeer bitts. Maybe there's a spider-band or something. I will have to sort this before I can rig the ship. The kit depicts a pair of pin-rails straddling the bowsprit, but I don't think this is accurate so I've left them off, although you can see I left room for some belaying-pins on the jeer bitt stanchions. Ps I have no idea if I'm even using terms like "warp ends" and "jeer bitts" correctly. I am in way over my head with this model.

I wish I had thought of that. You've done a nice tidy job there.

I'm looking for some opinions about the likely location of fife-rails on the HMS Terror. I'm in the process of building deck fittings around the foremast on my model. I already know that the OCCRE model has some inaccuracies in this area, and have scratch-built a windlass and bell tabernacle. I'm running into some confusion pertaining to a seeming scarcity of belaying pins at the foremast in all the drawings I can find of this ship's actual configuration. The model kit has bitts straddling the bowsprit where it enters the deck, with pin racks between them, but these are not depicted in any drawings of the actual ship I can find. The thing is, these drawings DO show pin-racks on the port and starboard rails, as well as a fife-rail aft of the mainmast. Again, The drawings do not depict any spider-bands or pin-racks at the base of the foremast or the mizzenmast. Adding to my frustration, photographs from the wreck herself clearly show a spider-band on the mizzen. I'm unable to find any rigging information on the Terror or the Erebus, so I'm reduced to making educated guesses, only I'm NOT educated. I'm wondering if anyone here can volunteer an opinion about what might be missing, if anything, from the drawings of the foremast. It's either a spider-band, a fife-rail, or maybe the running rigging of the foremast simply all terminated at the side pin-racks?

You are correct.

Here is not so much a progress report as some entertaining pictures to look at. I was bumbling about my house today and noticed a sunbeam someone had left on the floor. The angle it made to the floor planks reminded me of the Terror's deck, and then the beam itself reminded me of a sidescan sonar image. So I got the model and put her in the sunbeam to make my own "side scan" images. As for progress, I have done a couple of belaying pin racks, but most of my time has been taken up making iron rings for the propeller-well cover and the hatch just aft of the mainmast. It's a lot of work for not much difference, but I am not in too much of a hurry to complete this model. For once in my life I'm enjoying the process and not worrying too much about the result!

Eggs! Well I'll be darned. Never heard that before. I only just started reading this build. The weathering and detail are incredible. You're using some of the same techniques as guys who build 16mm scale live-steam powered garden railway stuff. That's 1:19 scale, the metal work and wood weathering are very similar. I never knew about this kind of boat before. I'm off to do some Sunday reading about the "Philadelphia".

What a first-class job on this model. I am unable to see any part of it, however small, that I would have done differently. I am building my first wooden model right now and I already can see that it will not be even close to how nice this one is. It looks like you've been building these for your whole life! Also the subject model is a very pretty little ship. I like models like this, not the big famous principle ships from a historical event but the smaller more obscure ones. I can imagine being the young Lieutenant with his first command, accompanied by a couple of warrant officers and a few men, speeding on their way with despatches from the fleet. I very much enjoyed reading about this build. Thanks!

Wow,I'm amazed at what a good material card is for models. I never thought about it before. This has given me an idea for how I might make some details on my "Terror" model that I previously thought would be too small to include!

I joined this forum to see ships, and now I'm in love with a canoe. What a work of art this is turning out to be. I can't wait to see it once the varnish coat goes on.

I think you're doing an excellent job of work on this model. Everything looks like it's in the right place to me.

What a pretty little boat. I'd say she's more of a "dory" than a "dinghy". You've done a great job. Makes me want to go for a boat ride, maybe jig for a nice fish for tea.

Did a bit more work last night on Terror. I made the little ratchet thingies on the windlass (don't know the nautical term) that also will support the bell when I install that. Altogether this part of the windlass is now complete. I also made the forward companionway on which I tried to make a better hatch and finer planking than the aft one, but this is all so darn small that the differences between the two are hard to spot. Unfortunately in this tiny scale if you zoom in too close it doesn't look so great. A grain of dust looks like a rock. Anyway here is the windlass- I think it's pretty close to the real thing.