Doreltomin

Building the new Vanguard Resin 26’ Launch.
 
Partly out of curiosity I decided to get one of Chris’s new hot off the press resin launches. It will provide an interesting exercise in woodifying the resin hull and allow me to compare with the wooden kit versions.
It may also help to lay the ghost of my failure with the Indy kit version, and if nothing else I will avoid the frustration of breakages.
 
A look in the package

4748
This is what you get.

4743
Internally the Keelson is represented together with mast and davit steps.
The solid floor footwaling is represented by broader planking sections for which there is historical evidence.
 
My current Medway Longboat also has much broader floor  planking.

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The moulding is very nicely done and looks to need very little clean -up beyond washing the resin.

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I note that there is no indication of external planking strakes, possibly thought unnecessary because the hull must be painted and they would be pretty fine and not show thro’ the paint.
 
The oar arrangement is for double banking, which is appropriate given the Admiralty order of 1783 regarding Launches.

4745
The significant feature of a Launch, the windlass, is also supplied in resin. I am pleased that this feature has been included, these are tricky to make at 1:64 scale, I know, I made one to go with the Launch for Sphinx.

4746
The remaining Resin fitting is the davit.
 
I don’t think there are any instructions with these kits but then there is not much in the way of construction required to complete the model. All the hard work has been done, internal framing and the all-important thwart supports are moulded in.
The thwarts and stern sheets are of 0.8mm Pearwood and look to simply slot into place with minimal effort.
 
The key factor in producing a fine model is all in the painting with this medium, we’ll see how I get on.🤔
 
Both the Resin and the alternative wooden kit versions are the same price at £29.00. The difference is that with the wooden version brass etch grapnels and boathooks are included, along with a good serving of tricky building time, but it doesn’t have the windlass.
 
I wonder if the Resin fitting would be appropriate to supply with the Pearwood Launch version as an optional extra?
 
 On with the assembly.
 
B.E.
21/05/2024
 

I worked in two different barge and river boat yards in Pennsylvania and Kentucky and in both we launched everything sideways.   We did have one disaster when one of the four restraining systems was not released to allow the vessel to slide down the ramp so it turned and went off the greased rails.   What a mess that was.   
Allan

Good Evening Masa;
 
In the Eighteenth century most ships of any size were built or repaired in a dry dock. An existing ship would be floated in on a high tide, and as the water receded, the hull would be propped up with a large number of shores, whilst her keel would settle on a line of timber blocks. The base of the dock sloped towards the river, both to allow the water to drain away thoroughly, and to facilitate launching on a slipway. Once the dock was empty, a pair of gates would be shut across the entrance to keep the water out. In earlier periods, the dock would be closed with a bank of clay and stones. 
 
The floor of the dock was made of stout timbers, called the 'ways' which were set in like railway sleepers. The blocks to support the keel, and the shores, would be nailed to these ways to prevent them moving.
 
A new built ship could be launched by opening the gates and allowing the dock to fill with water; this was best done with extra high tides. On the other hand, if there was no high tide soon, the ship could be launched  down the ways; this was done by setting down timbers like a railway track, called a slipway, running into the water. The ship was fitted with launching cradles at the bow and stern, which sat on the slipway, and the blocks under the keel were knocked away. The ways were well-greased. Sometimes the ship would slide down the ways easily, other times she needed a good pull to get her moving. 
 
The book 'Building the Wooden Fighting Ship', by James Dodds and James Moore, describes the build process in detail, with a large number of hand-drawn, good quality illustrations, and also covers the launch. There are several models of ship on the ways ready to launch, including the well-known model of the Bellona, and the Victory of 1765. 
 
All the best,
 
Mark P

 
 

Thanks for all the likes.
 
Druxey, I don't know how many I'll make, but the purpose right from the start was to work out how to make multiples without too much waste effort. Not the same as my usual builds, where the research and the figuring out are as much fun as the making. It'll be a bit of a sideline which doesn't make too many demands on my problem-solving abilities, just more of a relaxing thing when I have a bit of spare time. I've already got about half a dozen hulls cut out ready to go further. Not really in any hurry.
 
Steven

Yes, a lot of fun & what a nice boat. Sort of a large verandah with a paddlewheel. And it floats.

Almost finished, just in time for an exhibition by the modelling club I'm in.
 
It's a little rough and ready because it's a prototype, but that's OK. When I come to do the finalised one I'll put the lessons I've leaned doing this one into practice.



 
In the meantime, a bit more paintwork, (adding the vessel's registration number and name) and I really need to re-do those little red gates amidships - a bit *too* rough and ready!
 
And here's the real thing.

Steven

So here it is with the whole length toothpicks.
 

And trimmed, with the railing just started.
 


 
My lovely wife has solved at least one problem on this build for me - I'd wondered how to get the wavy border on the awning. Turns out she has a pair of scissors (think: a variation on pinking shears) that cuts paper and cloth with just the right wavy edge. Amazing!
 
Steven

Seats added. Ready to add the awning and railings.
 



I've learnt from doing this one that for the "good" version I need to make some sort of jig to ensure all the seats are identical. I was a little too casual about making these ones.
 
Steven
 

Oh, yes . . .

The clue is in the caption - a "naval odometer" according to Vitruvius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvius )
 
Steven

I wasn't aware that there were paddle wheelers in the middle ages.  😁

Wire will make the strongest, especially if you use steel wire.  I’m not sure of the diameter of the stanchions and rails but at the scale I would guess they would be in the 1 to 1,5 mm region,
You could consider different materials like plastruct extruded sections ( ABS material ) which can be joined by solvent welding, but they might not be strong enough take even light handling.
Brass is easy to cut, solder and finish.
If you use steel wire - do not use the wire available in model shops, as this is Piano wire ( music wire to our US cousins) which is high-carbon, very hard and stiff and therefore quite difficult to cut to identical lengths, bend to repeatable curvatures, etc.  Engineers would say it is almost glass-hard.
Soft iron wire is probably too soft, but is easy to work, bend and solder*.  Samples are florists wire and some fence wire.  Bunnings do big hanks of garden wire - might be worth a look.
 
Piano wire can easily be tempered back to a useful hardness - same as your Uhfbert sword, but much faster ‘cos of its thinness.  Heat to dull red and allow to cool in air will produce very soft temper
 
*With the correct flux!
 
Sorry, I have rabbitted on too much.  
soldering easily learned - especially when shown the method.
Probably Pat’s resistance soldering setup is readily controllable and he might share his wisdom about it

4 secrets** of good soldering:
Cleanliness
Cleanliness
Right Flux
Cleanliness 
Enough Heat!
 
**. Like the Garden of Five Surprises

And... the magic begins to show! Lovely work, as ever, Gary.
 
Off topic, the eclipse: If one believes that it is all a coincidence in size and distance.... BTW, in Niagara we were almost totally cloud covered that day. Sigh.

My kit version is for the 1970 edition McLaren. However, the kit contains parts to backdate this version to the 1969 version which had a high wing rather than the shorter wing struts seen in the previous photos on my last post.
With Imagna's help, I learned my kit instructions showed the installation of parts that interfered with the optional installation of the high wing struts found in the 1969 team McLaren version which I want to model. 
Pictured are my kit instructions and then the photos of my kit with the correct long struts installed for the high wing. Note that I needed to make my own bracing rods that run from the roll bar to the long wing struts. My kit did not include bracing rods long enough for the high wing struts, but it's no big deal to make a longer pair of rods from styrene rod stock in the correct diameter.
 

 
If you decide to build the high wing 1969 version like I did, leave out part numbers C53, C56, and C57, and attach the longer set of struts directly on top of the rear axle hubs.

Need to add the decals, windscreen, and a few small parts then this one is done.
 

Steven, nice add with those crewmen tightening the shroud... but allow me to disagree there! I remember having seen a photo from the early fifties of the last century with two people doing this job on a small English schooner, much smaller than this one, and they used a small lever to tighten the shrouds. If you have the book "Schooners" by David R MacGregor just look on page 93, down right.
 
I mean, the tension on the shrouds is such that you can't properly do it by hand, and surely not by merely pulling it down with his hands as your guy is doing it!
 
More likely they had the upper pulley attached to a lanyard and used his weight on a strong lever propped to another lanyard tied to the lower pulley to pull it down!

The shrouds are pulled tight by a number of blocks. On a few of my models, I've used all four. Depending on the wind direction, a few are sometimes not used if the sail is broken in such a way that it would rub against the shrouds. The shrouds that are left out are then attached to the leeside.
See the drawing


On port side are all four shrouds in use, on starboard only two. Because of the blocks these are easy to handle.
Constant

Steven, nice add with those crewmen tightening the shroud... but allow me to disagree there! I remember having seen a photo from the early fifties of the last century with two people doing this job on a small English schooner, much smaller than this one, and they used a small lever to tighten the shrouds. If you have the book "Schooners" by David R MacGregor just look on page 93, down right.
 
I mean, the tension on the shrouds is such that you can't properly do it by hand, and surely not by merely pulling it down with his hands as your guy is doing it!
 
More likely they had the upper pulley attached to a lanyard and used his weight on a strong lever propped to another lanyard tied to the lower pulley to pull it down!

In general I have completed work on the small boat. On the drawing it comes without metal fastenings for the mast, after some thought I decided to do it as on the drawing. What is left to do is to cover it with oil, make two slipways and install it inside the  longboat.

Hi Ian.
Steel-wire, cable-laid, 21 strands, 70 mm diameter in all, runs aft from the main steering-barrel in front of the chart-house, down from the Liverpool-House to the after deck over two rollers, mounted in these "slots", further aft then through some horizontal on-deck rollers to the tiller below the poop. And please don´t forget: 21 strands it has to be .
Cable-, not hawser-laid :-)
Gx Marten

Maybe TMB comes instead from "Too Many Boxes" (Kits in the stash)? 🤨

Maybe TMB comes instead from "Too Many Boxes" (Kits in the stash)? 🤨

Maybe TMB comes instead from "Too Many Boxes" (Kits in the stash)? 🤨

Maybe TMB comes instead from "Too Many Boxes" (Kits in the stash)? 🤨

Maybe TMB comes instead from "Too Many Boxes" (Kits in the stash)? 🤨

Maybe TMB comes instead from "Too Many Boxes" (Kits in the stash)? 🤨