Nearshore

Hello All,

Small update on the Bellona. Before continuing on with installing the headrails, I decided that it would be a good time to install the rudder. Figured it would be fairly easy to do, it’s just a rudder right. Well, I did not like the plywood rudder that came with the kit, so I decided to make my own from some walnut stock I had. I used the rudder from the kit as a guide to make the new one. The walnut stock that I had was a bit thicker, so I had to trim it to the proper thickness and taper. Once that was completed, I shaped the hinges that would be going onto the rudder. Once they were shaped, I soldered the 1mm pins to them. The plans called for a 4mm ring to be attached to the rudder for the emergency steering chain. The chain was too small to use the 4mm ring, so I made my own rings to attach the chain to. I also shaped the bracket that they would be attaching to. I blackened the brass and the brass pins that attach the hinges to the rudder and hull. I dry fitted them and then shaped the hinges that would be going onto the ship. I predrilled the holes for the pins on the rudder and the ship's hull. I dry fitted all the hinges and the pins onto the hull making sure that they were even on both sides. Before installing the rudder, I installed the false tiller. After all the holes were predrilled, I cut the pins to their proper length and glued them in place. The rudder came out looking pretty good and I’m happy with the results. Hope you enjoy the pics and as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello All,

Well, this is my monthly update on HMS Bellona. This post marks the 2^nd year anniversary of my journey building this ship. My learning curve has certainly had its highs and lows, but for the most part, it’s been a very challenging and rewarding adventure. I never really thought that it would take this long to assemble, and I now understand that putting a timeline on building one of these ships is sometimes unrealistic. Well with that said, let’s get to where I left off.

I started working on the forecastle bulkhead, first cutting in half an 8mm dowel and planking it. I cut the dowel to the rough size for the round houses and shaped false cat tail piece 109 so that there was a 1mm overhang on the forecastle bulkhead. I shaped the 1mm molding that wraps around the round house by placing an 8mm dowel in my vise and applying heat to slowly acquire the shape. I found that applying thin CA glue to the 1mm molding and allowing it to soak in and dry gave the wood a bit more strength and helped it from flatting out from the pressure and heat during the shaping process.

After installing the upper molding to both round houses I cut, shaped and dry fitted the false cat tail covering piece 110 leaving another 1mm overhang on piece 109. I let piece 110 overhang on the outer edges for the future headrail that will be intersecting at this location. I installed the lower molding to the round houses and bow deck and then installed the doors and hinges for the round houses. At this point the round houses are only dry fitted because there is still one more piece of 1mm molding that has to be applied and doing this is much easier than trying to do it if they were glued in place.

Once the doors were in place, this allowed me to know the location of the last round house and forecastle bulkhead molding. I did not like the way the hinges looked on the doors. They appeared to be way out of scale, and it just didn’t seem right. I fabricated new hinges using some brass stock and a very small punch to simulate the bolts for the hinges. I think they came out ok and don’t stand out so much. Once the doors were completed, I installed the last of the 1mm molding on the round houses and forecastle bulkhead.

After the forecastle bulkhead was completed, I moved onto the head cheeks. I first shaped the 2mm molding with my molding shaper to give it a .5mm groove in the center of the board. I used the figurehead as a guide for the shaping of the head cheeks. In order to find the final length of the head cheeks I had to install the scroll that sits on top of the stem. The detail of the die cast scroll that came with the kit was awful. To fix this I used a .5mm brass wire and coiled it to hopefully improve the appearance of the scroll. I then blackened the figurehead components and scroll to match the rest of the blackened brass fittings that are on the ship.

I installed the hawse hole planking using a combination of beechwood and tanganika planks. After the beechwood hawse hole planking was installed, I completed the head cheek molding. I painted the groove in the cheek molding black to give it an accent and to standout a bit more. For the hawse hole bolster, I used 1mm walnut for this detail. Before assembling the hawse hole planking, I painted the 3mm holes for the anchor lines red.  

Well, that’s all I have for this post. I appreciate you taking the time to read and look at the pictures. I included some anniversary pictures at the end for your viewing pleasure LOL, and as always, your input and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Welcome aboard. You have a great library. May need to hit you up on some information in the future. 

Nearshore

Amazing job on this fabulous build. Can't wait to see your next project. Congratulations!!!!

Nearshore

Just found this build log. What an awesome job you are doing. Can't wait to see the progress. 

  Nearshore

Hello All,

Well, I am doing my monthly update. Seems like I have put myself into a routine timeline and only update every month or so. I haven’t really made significant progress, but I am making some progress slowly but surely. I completed the installation of the larboard side canon port post and moved on to working on the transom. I dry fitted the dicast ornaments to see how things will line up. It looks like I am going to have a bit of a challenge installing the larboard and starboard statues which are not shown in this post but are in a previous one. At this point it appears that there may not be enough room for them once the sheer planking is in place. We will just have to wait and see how things turn out and hope for the best. I completed installing the transom railings. This was a challenging task and took me quite some time before I felt satisfied with how they looked. I started with shaping the handrail and then shaped and installed the first part of the fencing, starting with the outboard fencing first and working my way to the middle. I installed the small decretive PE brass pieces to the station post first before installing them to the deck. When I put the lower deck trim on, I left a small ledge, about .5mm to accept and add support to the railing post and fencing. It worked out pretty good and glad I did it. After all the post and fencing were installed, I glued the top railing in place and clamped it to dry. I was worried that the whole thing would collapse under the pressure of the clamp, but it turned out that it was much more durable than I thought. Before I glued the top railing in place, I installed the 1 x 1 trim on the 2 x 2 railing. After the railing was completed, I installed the remaining PE parts onto the transom. I also installed the 1 x 1 trim around the upper windows and balcony opening. I am not really thrilled with how this came out and will circle back later and redo it until I feel satisfied with the result.  This is as far as I am going to go on the stern for now as I want to move onto the bow and start working on the forecastle. I have begun this part of the build but will provide an update on that later once I have gotten far enough along. Well, I appreciate you reading and taking the time to look at the pics. Hope you enjoy them and as always, your input comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello All,

Well, a small update on my progress on the Bellona. I have been busy the last month preparing for what the forecasters are calling an active hurricane season. Hopefully the shipyard will come out of this season unscathed. I completed the port and starboard Galleries PE parts and trim. I discarded the kit part 240 and used walnut wood in its place. I shaped this piece to match the contour of the transom. It took a few attempts, but I am pleased with the outcome. Once I completed shaping the galleries cap, this allowed me to complete the planking up to the poop deck. I then was able to trim the first layer of planking to the proper shape and level to match the second layer of planking. I completed carving the remaining cannon ports on both the starboard and larboard sides of the ship and prepared them to receive the port post. I then taped off the false cannon ports and applied the final coat of flat black to them. I painted the cannon port post red instead of the black that I originally was going to do. I feel that this added a better contrast to the ports. At this point, I have only installed the starboard side, but the larboard side is prepped and ready. Well, that’s all I have for now, but as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello all,

Well, it’s been a month or so since my last update on the Bellona. I have managed to make a little bit of progress on the stern galleries. I installed the lower windows on the port and starboard sides and the top moldings above the windows. I installed the transom windows starting at the outer corners and working my way to the center, alternating between port and starboard so that both sides met in the middle at the same time. I began to install the transom planking starting with the 1x1 molding board and “L” molding. I did not use the “L” molding that came with the kit and decided to use the 1x2 beach wood and add the 1x1 molding to it to make the “L” so that the color would be consistent. The plans called for installing the molding in this manner for the transom decking and applying the “L” molding supplied with the kit for the remaining trim. The kit molding is I believe boxwood and the color contrast just was not pleasing to me seeing that I am not going to be painting the model but keeping the natural color of the wood. Once I completed that molding, I installed the remaining transom planks and trimmed them to the proper shape. Once I completed that task, I discovered that I had a problem with the next level, primarily the corner where the transom transitions on the port and starboard above the lower windows. I put a blue circle on the attached picture for clarity.  The plans don’t really give any detail on this area, and I assumed that a plank sheer would be covering this area, so it wasn’t too much of a concern. Well, I was wrong. I had to remove the molding and carve out an area on the transom so that the molding would mate in the corners. After this was completed, I continued installing the remaining PE parts on the starboard side up to the last of the windows at the 3^rd level. The windows are only dry fitted at this point as I still have to apply the backing to the pilasters before finial installation. It is at this point that I will finally be able to finish the planking up to the poop deck.  It doesn’t seem that a lot of progress is being made, but the time it takes to get to this point takes far more time than scrolling through the pictures.  Lol  It is true, that a picture is worth a 1000 words.  Well, that’s all I have so far and as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello All,

It’s been a month or so since I updated my build log on Bellona. I have completed both port and starboard planking to equal levels of assembly just below the top portion of the galleries. As stated in my last post, I think that I may have an issue with the way the angle of the planking is running on top of the galleries. Both port and starboard are equal in the way the angles lay, so if it is a problem, at least I was consistent. 😊 I installed the chain plates, for lack of a better term, on both the port and starboard and install the additional plank just above the wale on the port side. I began to start laying out the photo etched brass pieces that are to make up the galleries on the stern and port side. The parts look very similar, especially the pilasters, and they all have the same part numbers. So, once I remove them from the brass sheet, it is very easy to mix them up and lose track of their positions. As a temporary means of attaching them to the ship, I used two-sided tape and tracing paper. I put the tracing paper on the plans and secured it in place so it would not shift on the plan drawing. I then applied the two-sided tape to the tracing paper and stuck the brass parts lining them up carefully according to the drawing. Once that was completed, I cut off the excess tracing paper and applied the two-sided tape to the areas I was dry fitting. This worked out well and I didn’t have to worry about the individual pieces shifting or falling off from the areas I was working on. During the dry fitting of the first row of windows on the port side, I found that the wooden piece below the window was not thick enough to fit the two wood trims properly. I had to add a small shim to extend it down to be able to fit both wooden trim pieces. The kit came with bass wood for pieces 240 and 241. I decided that I would use walnut instead of the material that was supplied with the kit as these two pieces will be visible from all points of view. I installed the remaining stern planking and trim. The trim took me some time to miter as it was a compound miter and I wanted it to look somewhat presentable. I painted the transom black as well as the side galleries to help blend in the blackened brass pieces once installed. I blackened the brass that makes up the first row of windows and completed installation of the planking and trim up to where the brass will be installed. I will be shifting my efforts to the starboard side so that both port and starboard are at equal stages of assembly before I glue the first row of brass windows. Well, that’s all I have for now, and as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome. Enjoy the pics.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hi Hamilton,

Your planking is looking great. I like the way you are going to present your ship, it will be much more colorful than mine. LOL You are doing a great job!!!

Nearshore

Fantastic job!!

Nearshore

18 hours ago, hamilton said:

Planking looks excellent!

hamilton

Thank you!!

Nearshore

Hello All,

Small update on the Bellona. I finished off the hull from the wale planks to the keel with three coats of WOP, sanding between coats with a 400-grit paper. I managed to tidy up the false keel from the dents and dings she received during the planking task. I have begun installing the remaining planks and trim up to the sheer planks. I managed to shape and dry fit the shear planks and dry fitted the dicast metal ornaments to find the radius of the bulwark and shear planks. I used a series of dowls and my small iron to shape the curve of the plank. I started with a 6mm dowl and reduced to a 4mm dowl to achieve the final shape. Installing the remaining planking, I discovered that the bulwarks were too low and needed to be raised. I installed about 2mm of planking material to bring it up to the proper elevation and angle. I also cut out the remaining cannon port that I was saving till this point so I wouldn’t break the small stub off. I would have thought at this point that the remaining planks would be a breeze, but I am quite wrong about that. There is still quite a bit of tapering that needs to be done for a proper fit. I am at a point where I am going to hold off on installing the remaining planks above the gallery. I am pretty sure I have a problem with the way the angle of the galleries are set. I am going to begin working on installing the bits and pieces that make up the stern galleries to try and figure out how far off I am. Not installing the remaining planks above the gallery may give me an opportunity to fix and hide my mistake. Well, that’s I all got for now, and as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hi Yves,

Your attention to detail is impressive!! This is definitely one of the best builds that I have seen on MSW. You have certainly set the bar for perfection!!!

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello All,

Well, I have an update on the Bellona. I was able to get some shipyard time in over the holidays in between working on a life size project, remodeling the master bath, and entertaining with friends and family. I also added a new top to my workstation desk extending it another 10 inches. This has made a big difference and gives me quite a bit more surface area to work on.  I feel I have reached another milestone completing the planking from the wale strakes to the garboard strakes. This was a very challenging task, and it did take quite a bit of time to complete. I did not update this log during this task because, well its planking and quite boring. I am including pics though of the progress from where I last left off to current. I had a few challenges, as the plans call for installing 3 stealers in the planking detail. When I lined off the hull, I could not figure out how to plan for installing these 3 stealers. I would have had to taper some of the planking at the stern to less than 2mm which would have been more than half the stock plank width. It took 24 planks from the wale to the garboard on both port and starboard at the bow and 25 at the stern including the stealer.  The way I lined off the hull, only one stealer would be required at the stern. I did not want to force the issue as the planking was lining up very nicely with the way I lined off the hull and I am not very experienced in planking. The last time I planked a hull was 37 years ago. Well, I still have a way to go, cleaning up the false keel from all the nicks and scratches from the planking battle (should have seen the other guy) to finishing up the planking above the wale. I applied a coat of WOP on what I have completed so far and still have a bit of sanding and touchup. Enjoy the pics and as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore  

Hi Hamilton,

I don't think you have a big problem here. I am assuming that you are referring to the planking that terminates on bulhead 16 and that you did not continue the planking around the stern. If you fair down the planking to give it a smooth transition the second layer  lanking will butt up against the planks on the transome and shouldn't cause you a problem. I attached a pic as referance although I did plank around bulkhead 16. If memory serves me, i think the instructions suggest doing it the way you are doing it. You may have a bit of fairing to do, but i think your in good shape here.  Your build is looking great! Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello All,

I have a small update on the Bellona. The second layer of planking is taking some time to accomplish. The width of the planking that came with the kit, on average, is 4.25mm in width and what I need is 4mm to match the proper number of planks that are needed. As you can imagine, .25mm can add up fast and throw off the number of planks that have been calculated. The measurement from the garboard strake to the wale at the longest measurement on the hull is 96mm. Dividing that by 4mm gives me the even number or planks at 24. This matches the number of planks that are shown on the plans excluding the 3 steelers at the stern. Not trimming the planks to this width would definitely cause me problems the closer I get to the garboard.

After adjusting the width of the planks, I started by tapering the bow planks first and then shaped them with the plank bender. I found a pretty cool tool while wandering around the craft store. It’s a petite press by Oritz. It is basically a miniature iron. It works very well shaping the planks while they are on the hull. It’s not very useful in making the sharp bends at the stern, but once the shape is close using the plank bender, it’s very useful as a press to help maintain the plank shape against the hull. I worked each plank from stem to stern and then back to the stem fitting the stern plank to the stern trim piece, and then adjusted the stem plank by trimming it down so that there was no buckling. I always dry fit 2 planks and then glue one plank and shape another plank so I always have 2 planks that are dry fitted. This gives me a bit of a look ahead and I can adjust accordingly if there are any errors. This technic has been working well and I am pleased at how the strakes have laid up at the stern. I still have a way to go, so it’s still bottoms up for now.

As I have stated earlier in my log, the kit directions do not provide a clear sequence of assembly. It has taken me a while to come up with my strategy on this build. My strategy is to complete the second layer planking, and then move on to the galleries and then the forecastle and bow before I move on to the interior. I will complete the main deck first and work my way up to the poop deck, that being the last deck that gets installed. I temporarily have pinned the poop deck in place to help protect the fixtures that I have already installed. This is a very complicated model to assemble and has certainly challenged me and is a real fun project. Well, that is it for now, and as always, your comments and guidance are always welcome.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hi TJM,

Looking good so far. Look forward to watching your progess. This is a great site and there is an abundance of information available. Good luck on your build.

Cheers

Nearshore

I'm pretty sure the shape has something to do with they didn't have welders back then. It would have been easier to bend a peice of flat stock then to forge separate peices together. Just my opinion on the reasoning behind the shape.

Nearshore

What an amazing build. You skills are very impressive!!  You have given me some ideas to use on my build.

Nearshore

1 minute ago, allanyed said:

VERY happy to see you back here on your Bellona build log.

Hope all is well in KW.  My better half and I are hopefully taking a drive down for a couple days as she has been reading that the town is decorated for the holiday very nicely.  Plus I get to meet with a client so a nice write off.😀 

Allan

 

Hi Allen,

Yes its been slow progress. If you are coming all the way to KW, please look me up. Would be great to chat for a bit. Let me know and ill PM you my contact info.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hi Hamilton,

Glad to see you are back working on the Bellona. Looks good so far and you will probably catch up to me soon. LOL As far as the first planking and whether to carve the rabbet and bearding lines, that’s what I did on mine. I then had to carve them out again to accept the second layer of planks. If I can be of any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I will be watching you progress and look forward to having a partner building the same ship.

Cheers

Nearshore

Hello All,

Small update on the Bellona. Before I started installing the wale strakes, I noticed that the false cannon ports were not lining up with the strakes as shown on the plans. I applied some tape to check the alignment and saw that the ports were too low by about 2mm. So, I marked them out accordingly and adjusted the openings up to where they would line up according to the plans. After I adjusted the cannon ports, I installed the planking on the stern and installed the remaining wale strakes. I only planked the stern area that was required so that the wale strakes overlapped the stern planking. After I installed the wale strakes, I cut out the cannon ports using the port post that I made earlier as a guide to achieve the proper size opening. After the cannon ports were completed, I installed the garboard strake as this helped with getting the proper measurements for the remaining strakes. I made my tick strips and measured off the space between the garboard and bottom wale strake. I used a planking fan to find the sizes of the ticks on the tick strips and then transferred these to the hull. I have begun the second layer of planking, starting at the wale strakes and will work my way down to the garboard strake. It’s going to take a while to complete this phase of the build, so it’s bottoms up for a while. Well, that’s I all have for now. I appreciate your viewing and as always, your comments and suggestions are always welcomed.

Cheers

Nearshore

Amazing craftsmanship!!!

Nearshore

Hello All,

A bit of an update on the Bellona. I completed the inner bulwark planking and cut out the remaining gun ports. I trimmed the stern balcony deck to its final shape to accept the trim that will be installed later on. I cut the bearding and rabbet lines to accept the final layer of planking and applied stain to them to help conceal any flaws. I have started the second layer of planking, installing the first trim piece #56 that sets up the line for the wale planking. I installed pieces #57 and trim piece #58, which is the last of the trim above the wale. As I progressed, I realized that I need to start tapering the remaining planks starting with the first plank after trim piece #58. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until I already glued the first plank on. This through off the line of the planking, but fortunately I was able to recover and get it back in line. I diminished the thickness of the wale planks before the rabbet at the bow stem as suggested by Allen in an earlier post. I completed the planking down to the lower gallery and stopped at this point. I made a jig for the gun port post and assembled them all. I figured it would be easier than trying to install them in the gun port one post at a time. It worked out well as I used the preassembled port post as a guide to cut out the gun ports. It did take a lot of time getting them to fit just right but I am happy with the results. I have completed the starboard and port sides and it took me a couple weeks, only working on it a couple hours at a time. I was undecided on whether to keep the port post their natural color or paint them black. I have decided to paint them and dry fitted them to make sure they still properly fit after painting. The instructions really don’t explain the sequence of assembly very well. It appears that they tell you to cut out the gun ports after the planking has been completed. I felt that given my skill level, that if I covered them up, I would probably make a mess of things trying to locate them without having a very good reference of their exact location. Well this brings me up to date on my progress. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed. I will provide another update when I have completed the planking down to the wales.

Cheers

Nearshore