Barbossa

Finally!

First row on both sides done!  I dont have that much experience in this but I must say that Vanguards has done it again with pre etched patterns etc making this step much easier. The plates also looks much better than what i have on my Snake from Caldercraft. I Probably need to order these for my Diana in the future. Another tip is also to start using a New bottle of CA. Old bottles not have the same consistence and with the frustration of constantly getting "too attached" to your ship you want to make it as simple as possible. 


 

Hi Keith
Way ahead of you on that one, mowed the lawns on Tuesday for the First time, with the lovely weather weve been having we have started to let ollie out, poor lamb gets tired running around though and has found a new resting place, for Amelia-


Foredeck caprails being fitted this afternoon
Thanks for dropping in, stay safe everyone
Regards
Paul 
 

The work on the grating is started, and it is going better than expected.
 
Step 1

Step 2 dry fitting

Step 3 
Painted and installed

Parts for the actual grating

Step 3
Dry fitted the unpainted grating. I leave them like this for a few days. If I still find them ok this way,   then they are painted and glued.

 
Meanwhile. Our mouse terminator in action...

VID_20200324_190912.mp4  
Thanks for following
 
 

Tenerife holidays.
Good news about this, the hotel and the flights have been rebooked to november with a minimal extra cost. 
 
Except for travel to and from my work. I'll just stay home.
The only way not to get corona is avoid contact as much as possible.
 
The model :
The last 3 doors of this model are ready and installed.

And we continue with reason 2 why this build was on hold.... Grating.
Question 1
Should there be grating or no grating on the deck.
Question 2
How does 16th century grating look like.
Question 3
What do we put above the grating in case of bad weather.
 
The only real info I find for now is only on the Vasa. And yes, this ship is 50 years "younger" than my model. But i prefer to continue with the grating on this ship as an example . 
Photos of a real ship show more than drawings and paintings.

It took a while before I understood the complete construction of this grating. But, finally. I think I get it.
My power tools are too big to cut the small grating. So small planks are glued together and then sawed.  The downside is that grating made in this way is quite fragile.
But for the purpose that I need them this is not a problem.

Step 1 has started. Let's hope my plan works.
Work in progress, more about "why and how" follows

Thanks for following, comments and likes
 

Thank you guys for your great comments, much appreciated, I hope the log is of some use to those that follow.
As for the future, uncertain as it seems at present, I do have Chuck's  wonderful Queen Anne Barge beneath my bench, it may well be making an appearance. 🙂
Regards,
 
B.E.
 
 

Sincere congrats
At the beginning of this wonderful hobby I was "a big ship many guns"-addict.
But this definitely whets my appetite for smaller ships ( in the future )

Small update :
- finished stone walls
- the studs are in place
- the first floor roof canopy
- window shutters
- all doors
 
There's still work to be done:
- the tiles in their entirety
- the stairs on the right (stone) and left (wood)
- stone doorsteps
- paving on the floor
- the pillars of support
- overall ageing
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry for returning to finished topics...I did this with the Bomb ketch because I decided to add sails. Technically the ship is unaltered and finished, but now with the lockdown I gave a try making my first diorama and sea. The ship's hull is unaltered, it sits in a recess in the water.
There is also a small dock to scale next to it. I am quite pleased, this was my first attempt making water 

Finally, now it start to look like a really nice ship... sorry I mean Slop-brig.
 
Me and my airbrush are not friends yet so it took a couple of hours to do this and i also sprayed the building stand just to make it abit more natural on my shelf when not Working on her. 
 
What do you think?

Alot of fitting, filing and sanding... innerwalls, and gunports finally done! This will never be perfect, just need to work untill u think its good enough for your build. Next step is to do some black airbrushing and then I plan to start with the copper.

Stunning work and a pleasure to follow your progress.
Reminds me a documentary about Guédelon castle where craftsmen are using the building techniques and tools way back then.

Stunning work and a pleasure to follow your progress.
Reminds me a documentary about Guédelon castle where craftsmen are using the building techniques and tools way back then.

Stunning work and a pleasure to follow your progress.
Reminds me a documentary about Guédelon castle where craftsmen are using the building techniques and tools way back then.

Stunning work and a pleasure to follow your progress.
Reminds me a documentary about Guédelon castle where craftsmen are using the building techniques and tools way back then.

13. The sails (continuation)
Meanwhile the mainsail is finished and hoisted.

Now that this is done, the model is finished. The only thing I have still to do now is making some good pictures to place in the gallery. But I prefer to do that in the painting atelier of my wife because the light is better there. Unfortunately that atelier is located in a house in town that we purchased and remodeled especially for that reason and also to organize occasionally an exposition. With the present lockdown it is unreachable, so the photo session has to wait until Corona left the country.
This morning I made some pictures here at home as a little foretaste.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now I only have to thank you all for your interest and all your enthusiastic reactions. Thanks to your expert advice, I was able to fix some errors that certainly enhanced the model's quality.
The weekly reports of this log stop here, but there are still a lot of projects waiting on my to do list.
 
Keep it all healthy! Till next project.

14.6 Rope fenders
I want to have four rope fenders on board of my boat. I make first some wooden tubes (Ø 8 mm and length 3 cm) and some copper rings (inner Ø 4mm).

Then I pass the rope four times through the tube, in this way I have at each side and end of rope and a loop of rope. I stick the copper ring through start to make half hitches around it.

When I am fully around the ring, I continue to make half hitches, but now in the loops of the previous half hitches.

 

And that continues downwards the tube.

 

When all the half hitches are made the loose end goes through the bottom rope loop. Then the loose end has to be pulled tight until the top loop has the desired size and the bottom loop disappeared in the tube. Before cutting the loose end I fix it by injecting wood glue in the tube. When that it dry, the loose end can be cut off and there is no more risk of pulling out the upper loop from the fender.

I soak the fenders in dark stain to give them a more realistic look.

Two of the rope fenders hanging outboard.

On this last picture you can also see that meanwhile the main sail is hoisted, but that is for next week.
 
Thank you for reading
Thank you to follow
an thank you for the likes
 
Till next week!

A suite for this house.
The half-timbered bricks are done: tedious work!
The walls are being finished, the woodwork is ready to be ironed in stain. The 1st floor is glued, I will be able to complete the walls.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The construction continues quietly with the installation of the openings.
On the back, the stones are part of the outer wall, so they are rougher on purpose. The first bricks between the half-timbering are also started to see what it looks like.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
A little idea of the mess on the desks:
 

 

 

Thanks Jason, Roger Cole did say that he wasn't entirely sure about the Jack being the size of the canton of the largest ensign, but I think there was  a fair bit of leeway in flag sizes and on models the eye is probably as  good as anything.
On square riggers there was the facility to have staffs for harbour display, even when the driver boom came into use, and a staff for the jack was usually attached to the Bowsprit cap.
Not too sure about cutters and the like; on Alert I suppose a staff heel could be  fitted on the aft deck with a bracket on the transom,  but I will fit it to the gaff.
 
Post 82

Making the Ensign

Making your own Ensign frees you from commercial restrictions.

 
This is the pattern I have decided upon.


For sizing I have settled on 86mm x 54mm which equates to a size of 18’ x 11’4”

My primary objective is to have an Ensign that suits my eye on the model.

 
The Ensign is made from Modelspan tissue, overpainted to reduce the transparency.

4810
The Modelspan is stretched over a frame and painted with diluted pva.


4813(2)
The modelspan is then taped over a word doc image of the flag.


481(2)
Run thro’ the printer the image is transferred to the Modelspan.

 

4815(2)
The image is insufficiently strong at this point so it is taped over polythene for overpainting.


The White Ensign is perhaps the most difficult choice because the white ground is not sufficiently white. Red and Blue Ensigns reproduce better.


4816
The Ensign has been overpainted on both sides.


 
 
The next stage is to attach the halyard connection, I am using 0.1mm line. The excess on the hoist is simply folded over the line and glued.


This is a schematic of one I made a while ago.

 

04840(2)

04841(2)
The Ensign is pulled and rolled into shape before raising to the Gaff peak.

4858(2)
 
This post marks the nine month point of the build.


 
B.E.

21/03/2020



 

As always, well done
 
Corona affects all of us here.
My wife is not allowed to go to work. she is now temporarily unemployed.
I must go to work. The chemical industry is too important for the economie from Belgium 
 
official text :
De federale overheid heeft op 18 maart bij ministerieel besluit de sector van de chemie, kunststoffen en life sciences officieel erkend als een cruciale sector die essentiële diensten levert voor de maatschappij en noodzakelijk is voor het socio-economisch functioneren van het land.
 
(English)
On 18 March, the federal government officially recognized the chemical, plastics and life sciences sector as a crucial sector providing essential services for society and necessary for the country's socio-economic functioning.
 
Time to ask for a raise of my  salary ??

Thank you Gary and Michael!
 
It are weird days! Since yesterday noon Belgium went into lockdown. Our youngest daughter left for a three weeks trip to Thailand with her boyfriend ten days ago, just before the Corona epidemy became exigent in our part of the world. We hope that they can return home without too much troubles. Maybe they are now safer where they are now than here. The good news is that I didn't hear yet of contagions in our family or circle of acquaintances. I hope that that is also the case in our modelshipworld community.
Now that we have to stay home  a lot of time goes to the execution of small jobs with are waiting already a long time to be done and to modeling. During the last days I planked the hull:
 
9. Planking the hull  
 
Once again: this will be a dissected model, so only the portside will be planked and even in that port side I will omit some strakes.
I start with the garboard.  To determine the shape of it, I lay a straight and flexible lath around the hull at the height where I want the have the upper side of the garboard.

Then I measure the width of the space between the lath and the edge of the garboard notch in the keel along the frames and mark it on the lath.

I draw the frame lines on the plank which will become the garboard. That plank has a straight side. From that side I mark the measured widths on the plank.

The edge of the garboard is obtained by connecting all the marks with a fluent pencil line. I use a flexible strip of wood and some weights to draw my line.

After being sawn an sanded.

Gluing the garboard on the model.

Between the wale and the garboard come eleven strakes. I mark the strakes on every third frame. Measuring the length of the frame between the wale and the garboard with a strip of paper.

With the help of a proportion diagram I divide the strip in eleven equal parts...

and I bring over the division on the frame.

 

The upper side of the garboard is straight, so I assume that I can put a strake beside it which has also a straight edge and a curved upper edge. To determine the curve I measure the strake markings on the frames and mark them on the plank, measuring from the straight side.

 

With the help of my flexible lath and the weights I connect the pencil marks with a fluent curved line.

When the plank is sawn and the edge smoothly sanded , it can be glued beside the garboard.

When I lay my straight lath besides the edge of the just laid plank, I am pleasantly surprised to see that I can make next strake again with a straight side.

And here it is also glued.

I am out of long planks, so I saw some and plane them to 2.5 mm. I have no dust extraction system on my table saw therefore the sawing is done outside in a corner of the garden where no one is bordered by the noise and the saw dust.

Planing them to 2.5 mm thickness.
 

At this side I stop the planking of the bottom side of the hull. Between the last placed plank and the floor heads thick stuff there will be left open two strakes. I now start the with upper side. The wale is a straight plank so the upper side of the new plank will also be a straight side. The lower side is tapered according to the subdivisions on the frames. On the pictures the plank is sawn, sanded and glued.

 

Almost unbelievable: Next to the tapered side I can place again my straight lath so the upper side of the next plank will again be straight with a tapered side at the bottom. Below that plank I will leave again two strakes uncovered.

 

The floor head thick stuff (on this vessel that plank is as thick as the other planks).

The adjacent planks at both sides have to be lofted (my luck cannot last forever). Below a summary of the lofting process of the bottom plank. I use the method as taught by Tony Levine in the Half Hull Planking Project. Instead of tape I use short paper strips to tape along the strake (I am afraid that a 70 cm long strip of pieces tape will deform too much when taking it off the model). Here I tape the paper strips on the model and mark the edge of the strake as well as the frames with a strake subdivision.

 

The strip is taken of the model and glued on the plank which will become the strake.

Measuring the strake width on the model and marking it on the paper strip.
 
All the marks are connected with a curved line and that is the shape of the final plank.

Now it is sawn and the edges are smoothly sanded.
 
Gluing the final plank.

 
Thank you for reading
Thank you to follow
Thank you for the likes
and thank you for your constructive comments,
 
Till next week and keep it healthy!

8. The cockpit coamings
While making the rail at the portside (see part 7) I made also the coamings around the cockpit.
Round the opening of the cockpit comes a coaming to prevent the flooding of  the water which is splashing over the deck .
I draw the deck rounding on the forward and astern plank with the same template that I used to draw the deck beam shapes.

 


... and saw them out.



Fitting the forward plank.


 


Gluing the planks.


 

 

 

 


The reinforcements of the after corners of the coamings are at the same time bollards.



The two forward corner pieces are just reinforcements.



The model in its current state.


Thank you for reading
Thank you to follow
Thank you for the likes
and thank you for your constructive comments,
 
Till next week

Post 81
 
A question of Ensigns
 
I like to add an Ensign to a model it adds a splash of colour and making flags and getting them to hang realistically is an interesting exercise.
 
One thing that has puzzled me in relation to the Hawke model is the Union flag at its peak.
We know that the rigging of Hawke is original, but a question mark hangs over identification of the model.
 
There is no Naval cutter named Hawke listed, and perhaps the absence of a Naval Ensign is another indicator.
 
The NMM has described it as a Revenue cutter.

 
Revenue cutters did have their own ensign dating from 1694 – a Red Ensign defaced with a ‘castellated gateway’ badge. (1707-1784)   
 
Alert, however, was certainly a Naval Cutter and an ensign is appropriate.
 
Alert was attached to the Squadron commanded by Admiral Augustus Keppel, Admiral of the White, so a White Ensign it is.
 
Unusual in modelling, Roger Cole in his build of Alert goes into some detail about flag sizes.
 
Alert would have carried a complement of five different size ensigns or flags ranging from her number one, down through number four, plus a Jack.
 
 In size, the fly of the number one was generally about equivalent to the molded beam of the vessel, the hoist was 5/9ths of the fly at this time.
 
 The other ensigns were proportional and stepped down where the hoist of one became the length of the fly on the next smaller ensign.
 
The Jack was equal to the canton of the largest ensign.
 
https://www.craftsmanshipmuseum.com/Cole.htm
 
 
Given that the beam of Alert was 25’10” (The fly) the hoist would be 14’ 4” quite a large flag for a cutter.
At scale this would be 123mm (fly) 68.26mm (hoist)
 
Using these proportions, I scaled out the ensigns;
 
The Number one or Battle Ensign does look huge in relation to the model, but the Number two looks a tad small for the model display purposes.
 
No 1 - Battle Ensign

 
No 2 Ensign – General Service

 
No 3 – Storm Ensign

 
No 4 – Harbour Ensign.

 
Jack

 
Many contemporary paintings show the Union flag with a narrower diagonal white cross representing the Scottish saltire. The ground of the flag is also shown as a much darker blue.
 

I have adopted this design which I prefer to the broader white cross and brighter blue ground of many of the commercially available Ensigns.
 
 
The trick now is to reproduce this as a viable Ensign which will be the subject of my next post.
 
 
B.E.
20/03/2020
 

Post 80
 
The Anchors
 
I had an initial look at the anchors back in Post 47, at that time it was clear to me that while the anchors were ok the kit provided stocks did not pass muster.

3987(2)

4783
Boxwood replacements were made, using the Alert book drawings.
 
 
The white metal anchors are nicely formed, the only modification I did was to drill thro’ the shaft for the ring.
I did need to tweak the anchor shaft a little so that the stock sat square to the arms. Holding the square in a vice and a gentle turn on the arms brought everything into line.
 
 
According to Steel the Anchor ring would scale to an 8mm outside diameter, with a 0.9mm thickness of ring.
 
I thought the provided kit item a little on the small side and by virtue of its pe origins lacked a round profile. I replaced it using 1mm ø brass wire.
 

4774
I chemically blackened the white metal anchors using Carr’s Black for Brass; this doesn’t always work, but in this instance it did.
 

4769(2)
I used Morope 0.4mm line for the ring puddening, and 0.1mm line for the four seizings.
 

4786(2)
To represent the iron bands, I took my usual approach of using slices of heat shrink tubing.
 

4788(2)
Saves all that fiddling with Brass strip and silver solder.
 
 
Fitting the Anchors

4792
Clinching the cable to the ring, a tricky business at the best of times.
 
 
Starboard Sheet Anchor.
 

04794
Awkward things to position without fouling other items.

04797(2)

04798
The anchor is secured by the Cat stopper and Shank painter.
 
 
Port anchor
 

04801
These anchors do look large for the model, but they are scaled to size.
 

04804
For display purposes I decided to leave the port Bower hanging from the Cat block.
 
I am undecided whether to complete the Stream and Kedge Anchors, but I can defer that decision until later.
 
I can now carry one and finish dressing the anchor cable.
 
 
B.E.
14/03/2020