Captain Poison

Well, I finished the planking today so here are some photo's. A nice milestone. I am really enjoying the journey so far.
Next, I will be spending some time working out the colours scheme and the treenails. I will make up a panel with some of the scrap planks and practice a bit before I go any further on the model.
Peter.

I have partially completed hoisting the mainsail. It was quite tricky and needed more than 2 hands. After struggling for a while I gave in an invited my wife to help. There followed a tense period of instruction but fortunately no divorce.
 
I find that I need to get the sails up with the halyards quite loose, and then progressively tighten them as I complete the sail hoop attachment. The photographs are taken at the stage of the 2nd hoop attachment with the sail still without any real tension.
 
Fortunately I remembered to install the deckhouse, it does not go in with the boom installed.
 
Anyway here are the photos:-
 
 
 

Richard, Kees, John, Greg.
 
Thank you for your supportive comments. Also thank you to all the other visitors who hit the like button.
 
Greg,
 
The slitting saw is 80mm x 0.8mm x 108T. Bought cheap through Amazon - I have bought a number over the years and all have been fine.
 
I finished off the fairleads. The rollers were a bit of a fiddle. Drop them on the bench and they disappear. My eyes are not what they were!!!!!
 
Polishing is quite a satisfying pastime.
 


I also made the fuel / water fillers.
 

Progress is slow but time flies by.

Welcome to my Winchelsea build which will be done alongside Hayling. It will be based on Chuck's version II design. I have chosen to build the ship mainly from Cherry. It will be a P.O.B. model, using the laser cut parts and mini-kits that Chuck will offer. This will be a fun build for me and I'm looking forward to the many challenges that are ahead.

The build starts with making the Knee of the Head from Chuck's laser cut kit. Cherry, being a softer wood than Boxwood, cuts somewhat cleaner and the pieces fit together quite nicely. Only a gentle scraping with a #11 blade was needed to remove the loose char. I used a #2b pencil to darken all the joints (optional) which were then joined with Elmer's Carpenter's Wood Glue. No clamping was necessary. The upper area from the stem down to the forward edge of the bobstay piece was gradually tapered from 3/16" to 3/32". The bobstay holes and gammon slot edges were softened as well.

Mike

I managed to complete the forecastle deck hook and the breast hook over the last few of days. Both of these required a lot of fiddling in order to get them to fit properly. The angle of their inside edges changes constantly due to the changing angle of the hawse pieces.
 
Bolt holes were drilled through the hooks with a #75 drill. 24 gauge copper wire was used for the bolts. The position of each hook was set prior to gluing and clamping with copper wire. The wire being inserted into three of the holes that were extended about 1/32" into the hawse pieces. After the glue was dry, copper wire was snipped to a pointed shape and pushed firmly into the holes with a needle nose plier. The wire was snipped off leaving about 1/64" showing. Using a wide flat-tip nail set, the remaining wire was pushed (not hammered) into the hole until flush. I was wondering if this method would aid in holding the hooks in place, so I made test piece without using glue. I found that I could not pull it apart easily. I would recommend using this method as it is easier to do and avoids using glue which can be messy. Thanks for the tip, druxey! Liver of Sulphur was diluted 10:1 and applied to the copper wire for blackening.


Mike

I'm trying to make the small decorations of the false bottle:

Thanks so much Elijah, Denis and the "likes".
 
Elijah, all of the unpainted wood is finished with Minwax satin wipe-on poly. One or two coats, usually applied with a cloth, rubbed down with 000 steel wool, and buffed with a soft cloth.
 
Bob

As a break from work on the guns, I decided to complete the detailing of the aft portion of the decks. This involved making and mounting the topsail sheet bitts, finishing and mounting the pumps and permanently mounting the deckhouse/companionway.
 
The bitts were easy, consisting of boxwood strip pieces slotted with a file for a secure fit together, and pinned and glued to the deck.
 
The pumps were more work. The tubes had been made and fitted previously (as shown in a prior post). At this point they were completed by making up the mechanism. This consisted of handles cut from styrene sheet, filed to final shape and drilled for small dowels and wire, and brackets for the handles made from wood strip, but painted black to simulate metal. The completed pumps were then mounted through the openings previously made through the upper and lower decks. 
 
The deckhouse/companionway had been made previously (as shown in a prior post) and was merely glued in place at this time.
 
Now it's back to rigging guns.
 
Bob
 
 

and beams and riding bitts

Hi Mark;
 
They are all available as photocopies.  Some are hand-written,  and some are printed,  with the dimensions filled in by hand.  They follow a fairly standard formula,  but vary slightly in the amount of detail they include. 
 
The majority of them were written for ships built in merchant builders' yards,  to ensure that they built to the same standards as the Royal Dockyards;  but at least one,  Culloden 1770,  was for a Royal Dockyard. 
 
I do not believe that any of these are available online.  They are all A3 size sheets.  The printed ones are around 24 pages.  At least one of the handwritten ones runs to 80 pages (although it includes not much any different;  it is just written in a large script;  although that makes it easy to read!)
 
They should show up under a search on the collections website under the keyword 'contracts',  or 'specifications',  filtered to the 18th century.
 
To purchase,  send an email to pictures@rmg.co.uk ,  quoting the ADT number I have given.  When I purchased mine,  they were bought from the plan store,  but the system is different now.  They might be available now as a digital download;  I do not know.
 
A further item of interest,  and apparently a very rare survivor,  is ADT0253,  a rigging warrant for HMS Monarch,  1765.  This lists every conceivable piece of rope for the whole ship:  its diameter,  length,  and associated block type and size.  It was used for the issue of rigging stores from the dockyard,  when the rigging of the ship was set up after launching.  I don't remember ever seeing this referred to in any book,  rather strangely,  as it is very important for anyone rigging a 74.
 
If you intend to set up rigging,  this is invaluable.  There were a lot of changes to ships' rigging in the 1770s,  but as this warrant is earlier,  it would apply to Bellona.
 
All the best,
 
Mark

Hi Mark
 
This is very interesting. Looking up the list of ships similar to the Bellona, I see that Saturn, Elephant and Bellerophon are all of the Arrogant Class, which Brian Lavery notes has the same design dimensions as the Bellona class. The Elizabeth class, which includes the Berwick and Bombay Castle, is just a foot longer in design dimensions, and so likely close enough for the scale I am working at.
 
So even though these are almost a quarter century more recent than the Bellona, they are likely to have the same scantlings. And there is nothing to be found closer to the Bellona's 1758 design date anyway.
 
Are any of these available online, or for purchase from the NMM? I did not have any success finding any of these on the NMM website (although I did find the Lieutenant's logs for the Bellona from 1760).
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark
 

Good evening Mark;
 
Concerning your query for the siting of the wing transom knee, I think that the important word is in the contract reference where it says that the knee is scarphed 'upon the spirketting'.  I would interpret this to mean that the spirketting is fixed first,  and the knee afterwards,  on the spirketting.  As you mention above,  the spirketting adds to the strength of the ship,  and I cannot believe that it would be terminated at the beginning of the knee.  Especially as the knee is 16' long,  much shorter than a strake of planking would be.  It cannot mean upon as in the sense of 'on top of',  as the wing transom is not higher than the spirketting.
 
Ed:  I have some information from the NMM on the contracts that they hold,  and for 74s they have the following: (there may be others I was not told of,  though)
 
Saturn,  January 1782 (contract dates given here)  ADT0102
Elephant,  February 1782.  ADT0030
Bellerophon,  January 1782.  ADT0011
Bombay Castle,  September 1779.  ADT0009
Berwick & Ganges,  May 1778.  ADT0012
Culloden, Thunderer Class,  May 1770.  ADT0166  (note that this Culloden is an earlier vessel than her namesake listed below)
 
The contract for Ganges,  ADT0012,  I have recently suggest to the NMM was actually Fortitude (1778) which has now been agreed by the Museum,  and will be re-catalogued as set out in their email below:  
 
Dear Mark,
 
I have taken a look at the above contract and my conclusions are as follows:
 
The black dimensions (i.e. the ones the contract was originally written for) – Fortitude (1780), as the only one from the Albion class to be built by Randall in that period.
 
The red ink dimensions (written above the black ink) – This matches the Ganges class of 1779. If we were to assume the Randall builder was relevant to this amendment then the two ships they built from this class are Ganges (1780) and Culloden (1782).
 
The green in dimensions (written below the black ink) – This matches the revived Elizabeth class of 1760. Again, if we assume the builder is relevant to this amendment then the ship here is Defiance (1783).  The old catalogue mentions Berwick of the same class, but she was built at Portsmouth.
 
I will make the amendments to the catalogue.  I hope that this is of interest.
 
Yours sincerely,

 
 

I believe that the scarph was arranged as in the first version you posted. The purpose of this was to 'bind' the stern framing from separating away aft from the sides of the ship, not to prevent hogging. I've never seen an illustration of the second arrangement of a scarph that you've sketched.

Mark,
 
I would concur with the scarph arrangement you have shown - the first one.
 
You may not need the contract specific to Bellona, but only one from her era and for the general 74 class.  These may or may not exist for her time, or if ships of this type were all built in Admiralty yards.   Frigates were commonly contracted out.   Contracts I have were specific to the frigate type but were fill-in-the-blank on dimensions.  I used the contract for the Artois class, but the text is identical for smaller classes of frigates.  I recall Gary B (garyshipwright) having a collection of contracts for 74's so they must have been used at some point and something close should be obtainable.
 
Ed

On reflection, maybe the hooked scarph joint looks more like this. This would bring more wood fibers into resisting the tension along the joint.

I knew this would get interesting!
 
The only primary sources I have for this are:
 
The image of the half model of HMS Ajax 1767, showing a straight fore and aft arm, without an S-curve. But as best I can see, this model does not have spirketting and the arm appears to fay onto the frames themselves. (I see this in Lavery's Bellona, p. 27.)
The image of the repair Rob Napier did in this area on the contemporary model Princess Royal 1773. Again, a straight arm without an S-curve, and in this one the knee abuts the spirketting. See p. 58.
And then there is Mark P.'s contract for the Bombay Castle, noting a hook scarph to the spirketting. this is 1782, almost a quarter century after the Bellona.
I tried staring down into the image I took of the Bellona at Chatham (see below) but too far in the murky depths to see...
 
Secondary sources are:
Goodwin's drawing of the knee on page 30, abutting the frames, no S-curve. (the members in this drawing have always seemed out of scale to me, by the way).
John Franklin's model of the Egmont 1768 in Goodwin, page 45 showing the wing transom knee as straight and abutting the frames. As far as I can see, he did not include spirketting, or I cannot see a later image of this area that would show.
 
The one common feature is a straight knee, with no S-curve, while the primary sources disagree in showing one on the frames and another on the spirketting. But both primary sources are stylized models to a certain extent, and therefore not entirely reliable as guides one way or the other.
 
I am inclined to think that Ed and druxey, who think like shipwrights solving problems, have the right idea. The spirketting continues aft to the transoms, and is scored for the wing transom knee. otherwise, the upper strake of spirketting would basically stop at the fore end of the knee, weakening its longitudinal strength at this critical aft location.
I think the knee fore and aft arm is probably straight, not S-curved, for this 74.
 
So, the wing transom knees have to increase their transverse dimensions to include the distance they would be set into the scores in the spirketting, leaving them still 6" proud of the spirketting at the fore end, if Goodwin has this dimension right.
 
Ed, your score looks about halfway into the spirketting; I will follow suit!
 
Mark
 
 

I've completed the Foresail Halliard, Jib Halliard and the inhaul and outhaul.
 
Hard to see in these pics but they are there.
 
Sorry Bob but you're really gonna have to strain to proof these.
 
 

 

 
Here is the lower yard sling and the sling in place on the yard.
 

 

 
As I made both yards earlier I'm hoping to make a good deal of progress in the next couple of days.

A bit more progress as the remaining fore cants are now installed. Two machinist squares and a Q-tip hold things steady while cant #5 sets up.

Mike

The bollard timbers and hawse pieces are now completed. I left room for final fairing later on after all the frames are in. I didn't notice it earlier, but it appears that the upper limit of the air spaces should be shaped to a point and not square. Guess I will need to come up with a solution to achieve that and not do damage to any of the work already done.

Mike

After turning my attention back to deck fittings and furniture, the first item was to make up the guns. There are six 3 pounders (very small ). I decided not to use the carriages and white metal barrel castings provided by the Lumberyard (the barrels were too large when compared to the plans), and substituted carriages and brass barrels from Syren. I used the 1:64 6 pounders (1 11/64" barrels) which fit the plans almost perfectly. I made one modification. The trunnions appeared too small, but I did not want to get involved with trying to drill through the brass barrels to add larger trunnions, so I added tiny bits of tubing to build them up.
 
After making up the carriage kits, I added the needed eyebolts and ring bolts from blackened brass. I also added the quoin handles, using the smallest brass belaying pins that I had on hand. 
 
I then started to rig the guns with their breech ropes and tackles. For the tackles I am using Syren 1/8" (3mm) blocks, which are the smallest that I can handle at this point, and Syren .008 line. After rigging two of them, I had had enough, so decided to mount them and move on to something else for a while. After mounting, I added separate rope coils to the tackle lines.
 
Bob
 
 
 

Been too long since this has been updated.  Things around the household have become rather busy and hopefully a calm is coming.
 
I'm doing the inner planking and fitting the planks to the gunports as I go.  Rather fiddly but it's cut, glue and then sand to shape.   I'm trying to cut the planks more to the size between the ports just cut down the amount of sanding to fit.  I have at least the bottom of the ports done which will give me clearance and a clear demarkation of the ports, Hopefully the rest of this will go a bit faster.
 

 

Excellent work montañez! I like the precision in the details, an exquisite work.

A colossal job Gaetan, I never tire of seeing the images! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. For me a very appreciated source of information..

Peter,
 
(;-))))) One very last back and forth volley (from me) about this build's schizophrenic personality of have and have nots.
The 1/10th (yes, I now know that it is a poor representative) also has treenails on the weather deck. Hmmmm
 
Let's see how the new month-by-month DeAgostini 1:65th kit comes out in all of these areas. Apparently Fred H. is also very involved with this project.
PS: Do please keep me (us) updated - Your knowledge is so nice to read about.
 
Cheers,