Thukydides

Good job on the planking. I don't think your bulwarks look too high, they are meant to vary in height along the length of the deck. What I did is just planked starting from the bottom and then when I got to the top I let the planks go over the top. Then once everything was glued in place I sanded / filled it all down to match the height of the inner layer.

Well done and fantastic job.

1/1200 Vigilant Class Brig - Painting Part II After painting the hull, the next step was to paint the seascape and attach the masts. Before glueing the masts in place I painted the bottom masts as accessing this area will be hard once they are in place. The seascape I painted in a similar manner as previously discussed. I first laid down a thick layer of may darkest colour (dark sea blue) and then started wet blending in increasingly lighter blues to create contrast and the illusion of depth. I focused the lightest colours on the tops of the swells, the area around the hull and the wake. At this point the sea is done until I varnish the miniature as I don’t want to add the final water effects until everything else is in place. My tying of the yards to the masts has done a really good job of securing them as being clumsy I keep bumping them, but so far nothing has snapped off. You may also notice in the above picture that I added royals as I had forgotten them when I first constructed the masts. Next up was painting the masts and yards and then finally attaching the lower shrouds. This is a very fiddly process and a lot of touching up is required due to paint rubbing off. As the shrouds I am using are oversized, I can’t use the deadeyes and lanyards that come with them (they would look really out of scale). So instead I simulated lanyards by painting the bottom vertical segments of each set of shrouds a pale cream colour to give the impression of lanyards. Though the shrouds are not the correct scale. At this small a size, like the planking on the deck they actually do a pretty good job of selling the illusion of the model. Next up I need to start considering what rigging I am going to show.

I like to work up as I go. So have everything built but not glued together. Then I do the mainmast and all the associated rigging then the topmast etc. The main advantage of this is it lets you make the shroud eyes (and serve them if that is what you plan to do) off model and then slip them over the top of the mast instead of having to try and seize them on the model. For the yards I rig as much as I can on them (this would include the furled sails) off model. It is much easier to do things off model. Then you attach the finished yards to the mast. If you are pinning them, make sure you drill the holes for the pins in the mast before adding it to the model (again much easier to do off model).

Amazing work. She is really coming together now.

1/1200 Vigilant Class Brig - Painting Part I To help with the problem of painting something so small I decided to use my airbrush to spray on the deck colour. I found in my 1/700 models that it was actually hard to get a smooth coat for the deck with a brush given the hard to reach areas. You can see that even though they are out of scale, the upper shrouds look fine at a distance. One advantage of painting at this small a scale is you don’t really need to get your placement perfect as at normal viewing distances it will not really be noticeable. I have the base colours down for the hull, but given the small scale very little will be necessary in highlights. Essentially I will be just picking out the upper faces with a lighter version of the base colour. I recently got some dentist loupes off of amazon (the cheap ones). These are a big improvement on my previous magnification glasses, but they take a bit to get used to as they are designed for proper posture (so I don’t need to bend in close), but I have to unlearn all my previous habits regarding where my hands go relative to my face. To give a sense of scale, the squares on the matt are 1cm and the entire base is about 4cm long. Zoomed in this close you can see some of the printing layers, but they are not really visible with the naked eye.

So if I understand you correctly A would have been thinner than the leading edge of the gripe and from D horizontally to the leading edge of the gripe you did not taper? Or should the leading edge of the knee of the head be the same thickness all the way down?

I second @wefalck's suggestion. I find template really helpful. I had not noticed you started another build till now. Great job so far and I look forward to seeing her progress.

That is a clever trick. I will need to remember that one. The ship is looking great. She really is a lovely model.

Log #19: Beginning the Knee of the Head, Stem and Keel I have begun work on the knee of the head, stem and keel. Step one was to cut the parts out using my scroll saw which I have now found I can be pretty accurate with if I go very slow and use magnification. I also discovered that it is best to glue the pieces as I go. This allows me to adjust the fit of every new piece to match what I had previously cut. As previously indicated, I am gluing the pieces together with a 50-50 mix of heavy body acrylic paint and glue. You can see in the below picture how the glue spills out, but due to it being so thick, it does not stain the surrounding wood. The lines still look a little rough, but that is just due to the fact that even very small discrepancies in the alignment when clamping can lead to the lines looking untidy. Once I start sanding they will look much more neat. You can see how I have used darker glue up to the waterline and white above that. As it is impossible to be super precise with the glue placement, I erred on the side of having dark glue above the waterline as I can always paint in the white line if necessary. I have also cut out most of the other pieces though many of them need final shaping. You can see the current state of affairs below: Once I am done shaping and am sure everything fits properly I will drill the necessary holes. Then I can give thought to sanding and shaping. As I am preparing for final assembly and shaping I have been giving some thought to the thinning of the knee of the head. I have a few questions which I am wondering if anyone is able to help clarify for me. Due to measurements given in the contract I know that the thickness of the knee of the head at point A is 7.5 in (matching the width of the standard which is given in the contract), 15 in at point B (given in the contract), at some point below point C the stem thins to 13 in (the thickness given in the contract “below the hance”) and then finally thins to 11 in at point D matching the width of the keel at the fore end. What I am struggling with is the following: How quickly should the upper stem (part I) thin from 15 in to 13 in below point C? How quickly should the lower stem (part II) thin down to the 11 in given for the keel at the fore end? The thickness of the knee of the head is given at 11.75 in. Where the stem meets it, does it look like option A all the way down until it matches the thickness of the knee of the head, or does it ever become like option B? How thin should I make the leading edge of the knee of the head? There is no indication of the relative ratios in the contract. The fore end of the keel is given at 11 in, does this mean that the leading edge of the gripe would be thinner still?

1/1200 Vigilant Class Brig - The Yards My work on the smaller scale continues and today I am going to discuss the yards. Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of pictures because taking them in the middle of building is really difficult at this scale. So instead I am going to use some diagrams to demonstrate and then show a picture of the finished product. First I took a look at some maritime paintings to pick a sail layout. It is important to plan out exactly what you are planning to do as this will impact the position of the yards and we want to produce a coherent model. After cutting the various thicknesses of brass rod to size, I filed a notch in the middle of each yard to help hold it in the right place. For the gaff and the boom, instead of a notch I used a pair of plyers to squeeze flat one end. I then super glued the yards in place and tied them to the mast with 10/0 fly tying thread. Though this is not a perfect solution, I have found that this is the best way (where I don't have access to soldering) to secure them to the mast and better to do it now then have them constantly falling off while painting. As you will see in the final picture, it is not really noticeable. I first do a single knot at the front and then run the thread under the opposite sides of the yards from which it came and do a single knot secured with super glue at the back. Then after it is all dry I cut off the ends with a fresh scalpel blade. For the gaff and boom I used the flattened area which was now a bit wider to tie on with a single knott (and secured with glue) some more 10/0 fly tying thread. The ends of this were then tied around the mast and both the connection and the knot secured with glue. And here is the finished product ready for basing. The masts are only loosely in place as they will be painted separately before being attached once I have finished painting the deck details. I have chosen to depict her broad reach with the wind on her larboard beam.

This is a very cool construction method. It is looking like it will turn into quite the model.

Not really, th only thing I have is the contemporary model of bellona which shows a very narrow batton. https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-66299 Apart from that it is just what I see most people doing. It is one of those things I never bothered to ask if it was done another way.

Your batten is much wider than what I normally see (it is basically another plank on top). Normally people only use a thin strip. Did you find something in your research suggesting they should be wider?

A bunch of the contracts from the late 18th century mention the lead as well. Fore example here is the wording for Perseus 1776: I am still considering if I want to show the lead or not. We will see. I may just wait till the time comes and see how it matches the aesthetic I am going for. What did you use for the lead, actual lead foil?