Decoyman

My next project is the Chaloupe Armee en Guerre or Longboat Armed for War. This will be a scratch-built model at a scale of 1:36, from the plans available here: http://www.ancre.fr/vaisso25.htm.
 
I ordered my copy of the monograph and plans direct from ANCRE and they came speedily and at a very reasonable rate of postage. This is the first publication from ANCRE that I have seen, and I must say I'm impressed. The six sheets of plans are drawn beautifully and the accompanying booklet, which describes the boat and the construction process, is very well laid out. There are many illustrations of the construction process, as well as detail photos of a 1:18 version of the same boat. I should note that the original text was in French and has been translated into English by David H Roberts, who has done an excellent job.
 
 
 
Whilst finishing my Agamemnon (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1115-hms-agamemnon-by-decoyman-caldercraft/) I have been collecting pieces of wood I thought might be useful when scratch-building. I discovered The Toolpost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), a treasure trove of woodworking equipment, in Didcot, about 15 minutes drive from where I live. They have a good selection of hardwoods and fruitwoods, mostly in turning blanks, as well as a selection of pieces of boxwood of varying sizes. They were also happy to cut every piece I bought into 1" slices on their bandsaw. This means I can now machine them to exact dimensions on my Byrnes table saw, which is a pleasure to use! I haven't finally decided which woods to use where, but I'm starting with apple for the keelson and ribs and will probably use cherry for the planking. I acquired a box full of odd pieces of wood, including a large amount of ebony, from eBay for a very reasonable sum: I might try turning one of the ebony pieces to make the large bow-mounted cannon.
 

 
The picture above shows (from the top) ebony, apple, box and cherry.
 
Before I could get going on the good stuff I needed to make a mould, over which the basic hull will be constructed. The instructions say to make this from 5 mm ply, which actually measures nearer to 4.5 mm thick. Unfortunately French plywood is not available in England; here we have 3 mm and 6 mm, which isn't much use. In fact the nearest thing I could find was 4 mm MDF, available on the internet in packets of ten 400 x 300 mm sheets at a reasonable price. This is still not thick enough. The mould is made from layers cut to the shape of the waterlines, if the layers are too thin then the whole boat will end up compressed vertically.
 

 
My solution was to interleave the MDF with layers of 0.5 mm cherry veneer, which I happened to have around, so that each layer was 4.5 mm in total. There were some benefits to this method: I could glue photocopies of the plans to each piece of veneer and then cut out each layer accurately using a scalpel. Once that was done I coloured the edges with a black permanent marker. This was so when I sanded the mould to its finished profile I knew that when I reached the black I was nearly there.
 
    
 
The next step was to glue the veneers to the MDF and remove the photocopies. I left them to dry overnight, interleaved with cling film and weighted down, and then cut each MDF layer out with a fret saw, slightly larger than the veneer stuck to the top. Each layer was drilled on the centreline at stations 5F and 5A and then stacked up and glued in order with dowels in the holes to provide alignment. I used dowels instead of the drill bits because I could sand the dowels along with the MDF.
 
    
 
There was a lot of arm-aching sanding to bring the mould to its final form. I used a Surform for quick removal and then coarse sandpaper on a block for accuracy. The end result was pretty accurate but not perfect.
 

 
To check the profiles while sanding I glued copies of the frame profiles to 1.2 mm card, as well as the keel. I used these to check I was getting the shape right, but I also cut them so they would slot together. Once the mould fitted all the card frames and the keel I was just about done!
 
  
 
In the last of the photos above you can see marking out for the recesses to take the keelson and the knee of the stern. To ensure the keelson recess was the right size I made a start on this piece. It's cut from a piece of 2.3 x 6 mm apple on the table saw, which I also used to cut the rebates for the frames. It curves up towards the stern so I soaked it in hot water for a while, then taped it to the mould.
 
   
 
Once the keelson had the correct profile I used it to adjust the recess in the mould. The last thing to finish the mould were two coats of varnish and a polish. The purpose of this is to protect the markings showing the frames and the wales and to try to stop the glue sticking the frames to the mould. We'll see how we get on with this in due course.
 

 
In the meantime the next task is to bend the frames round the mould.
 
More soon!
 
Rob

My next project is the Chaloupe Armee en Guerre or Longboat Armed for War. This will be a scratch-built model at a scale of 1:36, from the plans available here: http://www.ancre.fr/vaisso25.htm.
 
I ordered my copy of the monograph and plans direct from ANCRE and they came speedily and at a very reasonable rate of postage. This is the first publication from ANCRE that I have seen, and I must say I'm impressed. The six sheets of plans are drawn beautifully and the accompanying booklet, which describes the boat and the construction process, is very well laid out. There are many illustrations of the construction process, as well as detail photos of a 1:18 version of the same boat. I should note that the original text was in French and has been translated into English by David H Roberts, who has done an excellent job.
 
 
 
Whilst finishing my Agamemnon (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1115-hms-agamemnon-by-decoyman-caldercraft/) I have been collecting pieces of wood I thought might be useful when scratch-building. I discovered The Toolpost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), a treasure trove of woodworking equipment, in Didcot, about 15 minutes drive from where I live. They have a good selection of hardwoods and fruitwoods, mostly in turning blanks, as well as a selection of pieces of boxwood of varying sizes. They were also happy to cut every piece I bought into 1" slices on their bandsaw. This means I can now machine them to exact dimensions on my Byrnes table saw, which is a pleasure to use! I haven't finally decided which woods to use where, but I'm starting with apple for the keelson and ribs and will probably use cherry for the planking. I acquired a box full of odd pieces of wood, including a large amount of ebony, from eBay for a very reasonable sum: I might try turning one of the ebony pieces to make the large bow-mounted cannon.
 

 
The picture above shows (from the top) ebony, apple, box and cherry.
 
Before I could get going on the good stuff I needed to make a mould, over which the basic hull will be constructed. The instructions say to make this from 5 mm ply, which actually measures nearer to 4.5 mm thick. Unfortunately French plywood is not available in England; here we have 3 mm and 6 mm, which isn't much use. In fact the nearest thing I could find was 4 mm MDF, available on the internet in packets of ten 400 x 300 mm sheets at a reasonable price. This is still not thick enough. The mould is made from layers cut to the shape of the waterlines, if the layers are too thin then the whole boat will end up compressed vertically.
 

 
My solution was to interleave the MDF with layers of 0.5 mm cherry veneer, which I happened to have around, so that each layer was 4.5 mm in total. There were some benefits to this method: I could glue photocopies of the plans to each piece of veneer and then cut out each layer accurately using a scalpel. Once that was done I coloured the edges with a black permanent marker. This was so when I sanded the mould to its finished profile I knew that when I reached the black I was nearly there.
 
    
 
The next step was to glue the veneers to the MDF and remove the photocopies. I left them to dry overnight, interleaved with cling film and weighted down, and then cut each MDF layer out with a fret saw, slightly larger than the veneer stuck to the top. Each layer was drilled on the centreline at stations 5F and 5A and then stacked up and glued in order with dowels in the holes to provide alignment. I used dowels instead of the drill bits because I could sand the dowels along with the MDF.
 
    
 
There was a lot of arm-aching sanding to bring the mould to its final form. I used a Surform for quick removal and then coarse sandpaper on a block for accuracy. The end result was pretty accurate but not perfect.
 

 
To check the profiles while sanding I glued copies of the frame profiles to 1.2 mm card, as well as the keel. I used these to check I was getting the shape right, but I also cut them so they would slot together. Once the mould fitted all the card frames and the keel I was just about done!
 
  
 
In the last of the photos above you can see marking out for the recesses to take the keelson and the knee of the stern. To ensure the keelson recess was the right size I made a start on this piece. It's cut from a piece of 2.3 x 6 mm apple on the table saw, which I also used to cut the rebates for the frames. It curves up towards the stern so I soaked it in hot water for a while, then taped it to the mould.
 
   
 
Once the keelson had the correct profile I used it to adjust the recess in the mould. The last thing to finish the mould were two coats of varnish and a polish. The purpose of this is to protect the markings showing the frames and the wales and to try to stop the glue sticking the frames to the mould. We'll see how we get on with this in due course.
 

 
In the meantime the next task is to bend the frames round the mould.
 
More soon!
 
Rob

My next project is the Chaloupe Armee en Guerre or Longboat Armed for War. This will be a scratch-built model at a scale of 1:36, from the plans available here: http://www.ancre.fr/vaisso25.htm.
 
I ordered my copy of the monograph and plans direct from ANCRE and they came speedily and at a very reasonable rate of postage. This is the first publication from ANCRE that I have seen, and I must say I'm impressed. The six sheets of plans are drawn beautifully and the accompanying booklet, which describes the boat and the construction process, is very well laid out. There are many illustrations of the construction process, as well as detail photos of a 1:18 version of the same boat. I should note that the original text was in French and has been translated into English by David H Roberts, who has done an excellent job.
 
 
 
Whilst finishing my Agamemnon (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1115-hms-agamemnon-by-decoyman-caldercraft/) I have been collecting pieces of wood I thought might be useful when scratch-building. I discovered The Toolpost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), a treasure trove of woodworking equipment, in Didcot, about 15 minutes drive from where I live. They have a good selection of hardwoods and fruitwoods, mostly in turning blanks, as well as a selection of pieces of boxwood of varying sizes. They were also happy to cut every piece I bought into 1" slices on their bandsaw. This means I can now machine them to exact dimensions on my Byrnes table saw, which is a pleasure to use! I haven't finally decided which woods to use where, but I'm starting with apple for the keelson and ribs and will probably use cherry for the planking. I acquired a box full of odd pieces of wood, including a large amount of ebony, from eBay for a very reasonable sum: I might try turning one of the ebony pieces to make the large bow-mounted cannon.
 

 
The picture above shows (from the top) ebony, apple, box and cherry.
 
Before I could get going on the good stuff I needed to make a mould, over which the basic hull will be constructed. The instructions say to make this from 5 mm ply, which actually measures nearer to 4.5 mm thick. Unfortunately French plywood is not available in England; here we have 3 mm and 6 mm, which isn't much use. In fact the nearest thing I could find was 4 mm MDF, available on the internet in packets of ten 400 x 300 mm sheets at a reasonable price. This is still not thick enough. The mould is made from layers cut to the shape of the waterlines, if the layers are too thin then the whole boat will end up compressed vertically.
 

 
My solution was to interleave the MDF with layers of 0.5 mm cherry veneer, which I happened to have around, so that each layer was 4.5 mm in total. There were some benefits to this method: I could glue photocopies of the plans to each piece of veneer and then cut out each layer accurately using a scalpel. Once that was done I coloured the edges with a black permanent marker. This was so when I sanded the mould to its finished profile I knew that when I reached the black I was nearly there.
 
    
 
The next step was to glue the veneers to the MDF and remove the photocopies. I left them to dry overnight, interleaved with cling film and weighted down, and then cut each MDF layer out with a fret saw, slightly larger than the veneer stuck to the top. Each layer was drilled on the centreline at stations 5F and 5A and then stacked up and glued in order with dowels in the holes to provide alignment. I used dowels instead of the drill bits because I could sand the dowels along with the MDF.
 
    
 
There was a lot of arm-aching sanding to bring the mould to its final form. I used a Surform for quick removal and then coarse sandpaper on a block for accuracy. The end result was pretty accurate but not perfect.
 

 
To check the profiles while sanding I glued copies of the frame profiles to 1.2 mm card, as well as the keel. I used these to check I was getting the shape right, but I also cut them so they would slot together. Once the mould fitted all the card frames and the keel I was just about done!
 
  
 
In the last of the photos above you can see marking out for the recesses to take the keelson and the knee of the stern. To ensure the keelson recess was the right size I made a start on this piece. It's cut from a piece of 2.3 x 6 mm apple on the table saw, which I also used to cut the rebates for the frames. It curves up towards the stern so I soaked it in hot water for a while, then taped it to the mould.
 
   
 
Once the keelson had the correct profile I used it to adjust the recess in the mould. The last thing to finish the mould were two coats of varnish and a polish. The purpose of this is to protect the markings showing the frames and the wales and to try to stop the glue sticking the frames to the mould. We'll see how we get on with this in due course.
 

 
In the meantime the next task is to bend the frames round the mould.
 
More soon!
 
Rob

My next project is the Chaloupe Armee en Guerre or Longboat Armed for War. This will be a scratch-built model at a scale of 1:36, from the plans available here: http://www.ancre.fr/vaisso25.htm.
 
I ordered my copy of the monograph and plans direct from ANCRE and they came speedily and at a very reasonable rate of postage. This is the first publication from ANCRE that I have seen, and I must say I'm impressed. The six sheets of plans are drawn beautifully and the accompanying booklet, which describes the boat and the construction process, is very well laid out. There are many illustrations of the construction process, as well as detail photos of a 1:18 version of the same boat. I should note that the original text was in French and has been translated into English by David H Roberts, who has done an excellent job.
 
 
 
Whilst finishing my Agamemnon (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1115-hms-agamemnon-by-decoyman-caldercraft/) I have been collecting pieces of wood I thought might be useful when scratch-building. I discovered The Toolpost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), a treasure trove of woodworking equipment, in Didcot, about 15 minutes drive from where I live. They have a good selection of hardwoods and fruitwoods, mostly in turning blanks, as well as a selection of pieces of boxwood of varying sizes. They were also happy to cut every piece I bought into 1" slices on their bandsaw. This means I can now machine them to exact dimensions on my Byrnes table saw, which is a pleasure to use! I haven't finally decided which woods to use where, but I'm starting with apple for the keelson and ribs and will probably use cherry for the planking. I acquired a box full of odd pieces of wood, including a large amount of ebony, from eBay for a very reasonable sum: I might try turning one of the ebony pieces to make the large bow-mounted cannon.
 

 
The picture above shows (from the top) ebony, apple, box and cherry.
 
Before I could get going on the good stuff I needed to make a mould, over which the basic hull will be constructed. The instructions say to make this from 5 mm ply, which actually measures nearer to 4.5 mm thick. Unfortunately French plywood is not available in England; here we have 3 mm and 6 mm, which isn't much use. In fact the nearest thing I could find was 4 mm MDF, available on the internet in packets of ten 400 x 300 mm sheets at a reasonable price. This is still not thick enough. The mould is made from layers cut to the shape of the waterlines, if the layers are too thin then the whole boat will end up compressed vertically.
 

 
My solution was to interleave the MDF with layers of 0.5 mm cherry veneer, which I happened to have around, so that each layer was 4.5 mm in total. There were some benefits to this method: I could glue photocopies of the plans to each piece of veneer and then cut out each layer accurately using a scalpel. Once that was done I coloured the edges with a black permanent marker. This was so when I sanded the mould to its finished profile I knew that when I reached the black I was nearly there.
 
    
 
The next step was to glue the veneers to the MDF and remove the photocopies. I left them to dry overnight, interleaved with cling film and weighted down, and then cut each MDF layer out with a fret saw, slightly larger than the veneer stuck to the top. Each layer was drilled on the centreline at stations 5F and 5A and then stacked up and glued in order with dowels in the holes to provide alignment. I used dowels instead of the drill bits because I could sand the dowels along with the MDF.
 
    
 
There was a lot of arm-aching sanding to bring the mould to its final form. I used a Surform for quick removal and then coarse sandpaper on a block for accuracy. The end result was pretty accurate but not perfect.
 

 
To check the profiles while sanding I glued copies of the frame profiles to 1.2 mm card, as well as the keel. I used these to check I was getting the shape right, but I also cut them so they would slot together. Once the mould fitted all the card frames and the keel I was just about done!
 
  
 
In the last of the photos above you can see marking out for the recesses to take the keelson and the knee of the stern. To ensure the keelson recess was the right size I made a start on this piece. It's cut from a piece of 2.3 x 6 mm apple on the table saw, which I also used to cut the rebates for the frames. It curves up towards the stern so I soaked it in hot water for a while, then taped it to the mould.
 
   
 
Once the keelson had the correct profile I used it to adjust the recess in the mould. The last thing to finish the mould were two coats of varnish and a polish. The purpose of this is to protect the markings showing the frames and the wales and to try to stop the glue sticking the frames to the mould. We'll see how we get on with this in due course.
 

 
In the meantime the next task is to bend the frames round the mould.
 
More soon!
 
Rob

I think  this comment might be fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is I'm having trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for rebuilding my Agamemnon log.
 
However, despite the lack of evidence and a coherent storyline… I have actually finished! The whole thing!! It's taken me 11 years, 2 months and 3 days exactly. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on it, but it's a lot. The entire build was done on our kitchen table, which meant having to clear away before every meal and share it with my children when they did their homework. There are two lights hung quite low above the table, and when I got to the masting stage I bashed them nearly every time I moved the model from the top of the piano to the kitchen. Nevertheless she's still in one piece. Here are a couple of pictures:
 

 

 

 
She's very difficult to photograph most of the time because either she's against a wall, which results in an overlay of confusing shadows, or she's on the table with the lights in the picture and the kitchen clutter in the background. I took her out into the garden for the final shots, but even that isn't perfect. I'm considering getting some professional pictures taken in a studio, but for that I'll need a car with a higher roof.
 
I hope you like it!
 
Rob

I think  this comment might be fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is I'm having trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for rebuilding my Agamemnon log.
 
However, despite the lack of evidence and a coherent storyline… I have actually finished! The whole thing!! It's taken me 11 years, 2 months and 3 days exactly. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on it, but it's a lot. The entire build was done on our kitchen table, which meant having to clear away before every meal and share it with my children when they did their homework. There are two lights hung quite low above the table, and when I got to the masting stage I bashed them nearly every time I moved the model from the top of the piano to the kitchen. Nevertheless she's still in one piece. Here are a couple of pictures:
 

 

 

 
She's very difficult to photograph most of the time because either she's against a wall, which results in an overlay of confusing shadows, or she's on the table with the lights in the picture and the kitchen clutter in the background. I took her out into the garden for the final shots, but even that isn't perfect. I'm considering getting some professional pictures taken in a studio, but for that I'll need a car with a higher roof.
 
I hope you like it!
 
Rob

I think  this comment might be fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is I'm having trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for rebuilding my Agamemnon log.
 
However, despite the lack of evidence and a coherent storyline… I have actually finished! The whole thing!! It's taken me 11 years, 2 months and 3 days exactly. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on it, but it's a lot. The entire build was done on our kitchen table, which meant having to clear away before every meal and share it with my children when they did their homework. There are two lights hung quite low above the table, and when I got to the masting stage I bashed them nearly every time I moved the model from the top of the piano to the kitchen. Nevertheless she's still in one piece. Here are a couple of pictures:
 

 

 

 
She's very difficult to photograph most of the time because either she's against a wall, which results in an overlay of confusing shadows, or she's on the table with the lights in the picture and the kitchen clutter in the background. I took her out into the garden for the final shots, but even that isn't perfect. I'm considering getting some professional pictures taken in a studio, but for that I'll need a car with a higher roof.
 
I hope you like it!
 
Rob

My next project is the Chaloupe Armee en Guerre or Longboat Armed for War. This will be a scratch-built model at a scale of 1:36, from the plans available here: http://www.ancre.fr/vaisso25.htm.
 
I ordered my copy of the monograph and plans direct from ANCRE and they came speedily and at a very reasonable rate of postage. This is the first publication from ANCRE that I have seen, and I must say I'm impressed. The six sheets of plans are drawn beautifully and the accompanying booklet, which describes the boat and the construction process, is very well laid out. There are many illustrations of the construction process, as well as detail photos of a 1:18 version of the same boat. I should note that the original text was in French and has been translated into English by David H Roberts, who has done an excellent job.
 
 
 
Whilst finishing my Agamemnon (http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1115-hms-agamemnon-by-decoyman-caldercraft/) I have been collecting pieces of wood I thought might be useful when scratch-building. I discovered The Toolpost (http://www.toolpost.co.uk), a treasure trove of woodworking equipment, in Didcot, about 15 minutes drive from where I live. They have a good selection of hardwoods and fruitwoods, mostly in turning blanks, as well as a selection of pieces of boxwood of varying sizes. They were also happy to cut every piece I bought into 1" slices on their bandsaw. This means I can now machine them to exact dimensions on my Byrnes table saw, which is a pleasure to use! I haven't finally decided which woods to use where, but I'm starting with apple for the keelson and ribs and will probably use cherry for the planking. I acquired a box full of odd pieces of wood, including a large amount of ebony, from eBay for a very reasonable sum: I might try turning one of the ebony pieces to make the large bow-mounted cannon.
 

 
The picture above shows (from the top) ebony, apple, box and cherry.
 
Before I could get going on the good stuff I needed to make a mould, over which the basic hull will be constructed. The instructions say to make this from 5 mm ply, which actually measures nearer to 4.5 mm thick. Unfortunately French plywood is not available in England; here we have 3 mm and 6 mm, which isn't much use. In fact the nearest thing I could find was 4 mm MDF, available on the internet in packets of ten 400 x 300 mm sheets at a reasonable price. This is still not thick enough. The mould is made from layers cut to the shape of the waterlines, if the layers are too thin then the whole boat will end up compressed vertically.
 

 
My solution was to interleave the MDF with layers of 0.5 mm cherry veneer, which I happened to have around, so that each layer was 4.5 mm in total. There were some benefits to this method: I could glue photocopies of the plans to each piece of veneer and then cut out each layer accurately using a scalpel. Once that was done I coloured the edges with a black permanent marker. This was so when I sanded the mould to its finished profile I knew that when I reached the black I was nearly there.
 
    
 
The next step was to glue the veneers to the MDF and remove the photocopies. I left them to dry overnight, interleaved with cling film and weighted down, and then cut each MDF layer out with a fret saw, slightly larger than the veneer stuck to the top. Each layer was drilled on the centreline at stations 5F and 5A and then stacked up and glued in order with dowels in the holes to provide alignment. I used dowels instead of the drill bits because I could sand the dowels along with the MDF.
 
    
 
There was a lot of arm-aching sanding to bring the mould to its final form. I used a Surform for quick removal and then coarse sandpaper on a block for accuracy. The end result was pretty accurate but not perfect.
 

 
To check the profiles while sanding I glued copies of the frame profiles to 1.2 mm card, as well as the keel. I used these to check I was getting the shape right, but I also cut them so they would slot together. Once the mould fitted all the card frames and the keel I was just about done!
 
  
 
In the last of the photos above you can see marking out for the recesses to take the keelson and the knee of the stern. To ensure the keelson recess was the right size I made a start on this piece. It's cut from a piece of 2.3 x 6 mm apple on the table saw, which I also used to cut the rebates for the frames. It curves up towards the stern so I soaked it in hot water for a while, then taped it to the mould.
 
   
 
Once the keelson had the correct profile I used it to adjust the recess in the mould. The last thing to finish the mould were two coats of varnish and a polish. The purpose of this is to protect the markings showing the frames and the wales and to try to stop the glue sticking the frames to the mould. We'll see how we get on with this in due course.
 

 
In the meantime the next task is to bend the frames round the mould.
 
More soon!
 
Rob

I think  this comment might be fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is I'm having trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for rebuilding my Agamemnon log.
 
However, despite the lack of evidence and a coherent storyline… I have actually finished! The whole thing!! It's taken me 11 years, 2 months and 3 days exactly. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on it, but it's a lot. The entire build was done on our kitchen table, which meant having to clear away before every meal and share it with my children when they did their homework. There are two lights hung quite low above the table, and when I got to the masting stage I bashed them nearly every time I moved the model from the top of the piano to the kitchen. Nevertheless she's still in one piece. Here are a couple of pictures:
 

 

 

 
She's very difficult to photograph most of the time because either she's against a wall, which results in an overlay of confusing shadows, or she's on the table with the lights in the picture and the kitchen clutter in the background. I took her out into the garden for the final shots, but even that isn't perfect. I'm considering getting some professional pictures taken in a studio, but for that I'll need a car with a higher roof.
 
I hope you like it!
 
Rob

I think  this comment might be fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is I'm having trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for rebuilding my Agamemnon log.
 
However, despite the lack of evidence and a coherent storyline… I have actually finished! The whole thing!! It's taken me 11 years, 2 months and 3 days exactly. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on it, but it's a lot. The entire build was done on our kitchen table, which meant having to clear away before every meal and share it with my children when they did their homework. There are two lights hung quite low above the table, and when I got to the masting stage I bashed them nearly every time I moved the model from the top of the piano to the kitchen. Nevertheless she's still in one piece. Here are a couple of pictures:
 

 

 

 
She's very difficult to photograph most of the time because either she's against a wall, which results in an overlay of confusing shadows, or she's on the table with the lights in the picture and the kitchen clutter in the background. I took her out into the garden for the final shots, but even that isn't perfect. I'm considering getting some professional pictures taken in a studio, but for that I'll need a car with a higher roof.
 
I hope you like it!
 
Rob

I think  this comment might be fairly obvious, but the fact of the matter is I'm having trouble maintaining my enthusiasm for rebuilding my Agamemnon log.
 
However, despite the lack of evidence and a coherent storyline… I have actually finished! The whole thing!! It's taken me 11 years, 2 months and 3 days exactly. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on it, but it's a lot. The entire build was done on our kitchen table, which meant having to clear away before every meal and share it with my children when they did their homework. There are two lights hung quite low above the table, and when I got to the masting stage I bashed them nearly every time I moved the model from the top of the piano to the kitchen. Nevertheless she's still in one piece. Here are a couple of pictures:
 

 

 

 
She's very difficult to photograph most of the time because either she's against a wall, which results in an overlay of confusing shadows, or she's on the table with the lights in the picture and the kitchen clutter in the background. I took her out into the garden for the final shots, but even that isn't perfect. I'm considering getting some professional pictures taken in a studio, but for that I'll need a car with a higher roof.
 
I hope you like it!
 
Rob

The next step was to fit the dummy cannons on the lower gun deck. I chose to blacken the metalwork using Carrs Metal Black for Brass. I found that, even after cleaning the larger pieces with Surface Conditioner, the blackening wouldn't always take first time, but a second clean and another dip into the blackening bath seemed to work. Here is a picture of progress part way through blackening the dummy barrels.
 

 
The blackened barrels have been polished with a piece of kitchen towel after cleaning off the solution. They're still a bit uneven and I'm not sure I would choose to blacken them another time. On the other hand I think black paint looks a bit plain, a bit stark and possibly too close in colour to the surrounding planking.
 
I needed to set the dummy barrels at the same height and horizontal position in each gunport. To help with this I made a guide for my drill. It's only a simple block of balsa of the same height and width as the gun ports, with a hole in the middle for a drill bit. Although the balsa is soft the smooth shank of the bit rubs against it and there are only 28 ports to do, so the hole stays tight enough for the drill not to wander.
 

 
The next picture shows some of the dummy barrels in place.
 

 
Next the cannons and carriages for the upper gun deck.
 
Rob

The next step was to fit the dummy cannons on the lower gun deck. I chose to blacken the metalwork using Carrs Metal Black for Brass. I found that, even after cleaning the larger pieces with Surface Conditioner, the blackening wouldn't always take first time, but a second clean and another dip into the blackening bath seemed to work. Here is a picture of progress part way through blackening the dummy barrels.
 

 
The blackened barrels have been polished with a piece of kitchen towel after cleaning off the solution. They're still a bit uneven and I'm not sure I would choose to blacken them another time. On the other hand I think black paint looks a bit plain, a bit stark and possibly too close in colour to the surrounding planking.
 
I needed to set the dummy barrels at the same height and horizontal position in each gunport. To help with this I made a guide for my drill. It's only a simple block of balsa of the same height and width as the gun ports, with a hole in the middle for a drill bit. Although the balsa is soft the smooth shank of the bit rubs against it and there are only 28 ports to do, so the hole stays tight enough for the drill not to wander.
 

 
The next picture shows some of the dummy barrels in place.
 

 
Next the cannons and carriages for the upper gun deck.
 
Rob

We now get to one of the more interesting parts of the build - the prow. I found this quite fiddly in the way the kit is designed to go together: the V-shaped frames which form the cross-sectional shapes of the headrails are quite clunky, not particularly accurately shaped I suspect, and have quite small details which are cut from a relatively crumbly ply. As a consequence corners tend to fall off. Nevertheless I managed to put everything in place, although I fitted the main head rails too far forward which, once this was pointed out, meant that they had to be redone. In my defence I did follow the plan, but the plan is wrong in this respect. Jotika again came to my rescue by sending me replacement parts.
 
Here are some progress photos of this area:
 



 
It's not entirely obvious, but the head rails are too far forward in the previous shot. In the next shot you can see more clearly that I have now bevelled off the corner of the beakhead bulkhead and temporarily clamped a replacement rail in place.
 

 
Finally here is a view of the prow with the replacement rails fitted and painted (and looking a lot better). I must say that I have found the constructive criticism offered by the members at MSW very helpful, and I think I am producing a better model as a consequence of their comments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my previous blog.
 
I am now off to finish fitting the mizzen topsail yard. More later.
 
Rob
 

The next step was to fit the dummy cannons on the lower gun deck. I chose to blacken the metalwork using Carrs Metal Black for Brass. I found that, even after cleaning the larger pieces with Surface Conditioner, the blackening wouldn't always take first time, but a second clean and another dip into the blackening bath seemed to work. Here is a picture of progress part way through blackening the dummy barrels.
 

 
The blackened barrels have been polished with a piece of kitchen towel after cleaning off the solution. They're still a bit uneven and I'm not sure I would choose to blacken them another time. On the other hand I think black paint looks a bit plain, a bit stark and possibly too close in colour to the surrounding planking.
 
I needed to set the dummy barrels at the same height and horizontal position in each gunport. To help with this I made a guide for my drill. It's only a simple block of balsa of the same height and width as the gun ports, with a hole in the middle for a drill bit. Although the balsa is soft the smooth shank of the bit rubs against it and there are only 28 ports to do, so the hole stays tight enough for the drill not to wander.
 

 
The next picture shows some of the dummy barrels in place.
 

 
Next the cannons and carriages for the upper gun deck.
 
Rob

The other bit of progress achieved before I started my log was to install and plank the upper gun deck. Since then I have made the various fittings, including gratings, bitts and the stove.
 
Like most kits the gratings come as notched strips like coarse combs. I found the easiest way to assemble these was to fit them together dry and then to dip them in dilute PVA. Once the glue had set I trimmed off the excess timber and sanded the top, bottom and sides. Here are some step by step photos:
 

 
Some of the gratings dry-assembled. A 'grid' is made to suit the overall size of each grating:
 

 
Next the gratings were dipped in dilute PVA and then the excess dabbed away using kitchen towel:
 



 
Finally each grating was trimmed and sanded smooth:
 

 
Once this stage was complete I added the coamings around each hatch, some of which incorporate the openings for the companionways between decks. 
 

 
Here is an example of one in situ. The corners were cut square and butted. I believe the real ones were half-lapped at the corners, but I didn't think this would be visible at this scale.
 
And here are a few more. On some of these you can see that i have added shot garlands along the sides.
 



 
Rob

Back in the years before starting my original build log one of the reasons why I wasn't getting on with my ship was lack of space, particularly in our old house. I was however able to make the ship's boats.
 
I followed the instructions pretty much to the letter and, by and large, this was OK. The wood provided is thin, which means it bends easily to the profile of the hull, but it is also relatively coarse-grained, so the edges tend to splinter. In fact the edges are often rough straight out of the box (which is a problem with nearly all of the timber supplied with the kit). I overcame this in the usual way - filler and paint.
 
I'm not entirely happy with the floors of the boats, which are flat and too high and not very prototypical. I added oars made from bits of scrap (there's plenty of spare wood available), and these hide quite a lot of the floor.
 
Here are some photos of three of the finished items. I'm afraid I didn't take any progress photos of the boats.
 


 
You can see in the second picture how high and flat the floor is.
 
Finally here are pictures of all four boats finished off the ship:
 


 
And in their final position in the waist.
 

 

But that's no different to where we are now, with mass-produced castings. In a kit it's inevitable that mass-produced techniques are needed. With a scratch-build one-offs are needed more often than not, and Seasick is right to point out how much work is involved in creating the computer model before the 3D printed component is produced.

We now get to one of the more interesting parts of the build - the prow. I found this quite fiddly in the way the kit is designed to go together: the V-shaped frames which form the cross-sectional shapes of the headrails are quite clunky, not particularly accurately shaped I suspect, and have quite small details which are cut from a relatively crumbly ply. As a consequence corners tend to fall off. Nevertheless I managed to put everything in place, although I fitted the main head rails too far forward which, once this was pointed out, meant that they had to be redone. In my defence I did follow the plan, but the plan is wrong in this respect. Jotika again came to my rescue by sending me replacement parts.
 
Here are some progress photos of this area:
 



 
It's not entirely obvious, but the head rails are too far forward in the previous shot. In the next shot you can see more clearly that I have now bevelled off the corner of the beakhead bulkhead and temporarily clamped a replacement rail in place.
 

 
Finally here is a view of the prow with the replacement rails fitted and painted (and looking a lot better). I must say that I have found the constructive criticism offered by the members at MSW very helpful, and I think I am producing a better model as a consequence of their comments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my previous blog.
 
I am now off to finish fitting the mizzen topsail yard. More later.
 
Rob
 

The next stage was the coppering of the hull. The plates supplied with the kit are easy to use, although they are not strictly prototypical as they don't overlap each other. I used thick CA in a blob on the back of the plate which, when the plate was applied to the hull, spread out just enough to stick firmly. It also stayed loose long enough to allow the plate to be slid exactly into position. The relatively small size of the plates meant that smooth lines of plates could be made without generating unsightly gaps as I progressed around the hull.
 
Some of the plates weren't embossed properly, judging by the way these mostly came stuck together, I suspect they had gone through the embossing machine in pairs. However there were so many spare that this wasn't a problem. In the following photo the one on the right has not come out properly; the one on the left is fine.
 

 
Where cuts were necessary I was able to score the plate along a straight-edge and then flex it until the two halves came apart.
 
I started along the keel and worked my way up to the waterline.
 

 
Here are some views of the completed job. You can see how the plates mostly adjusted themselves around the three dimensional shape of the hull; only a couple of rows of stealers were needed at the stem and stern.
 



 
I also coppered the rudder and blackened the hinges. I was subsequently told that the straps should be copper, so I will have to paint these using copper paint as part of the final snagging when I am provisionally finished.
 

We now get to one of the more interesting parts of the build - the prow. I found this quite fiddly in the way the kit is designed to go together: the V-shaped frames which form the cross-sectional shapes of the headrails are quite clunky, not particularly accurately shaped I suspect, and have quite small details which are cut from a relatively crumbly ply. As a consequence corners tend to fall off. Nevertheless I managed to put everything in place, although I fitted the main head rails too far forward which, once this was pointed out, meant that they had to be redone. In my defence I did follow the plan, but the plan is wrong in this respect. Jotika again came to my rescue by sending me replacement parts.
 
Here are some progress photos of this area:
 



 
It's not entirely obvious, but the head rails are too far forward in the previous shot. In the next shot you can see more clearly that I have now bevelled off the corner of the beakhead bulkhead and temporarily clamped a replacement rail in place.
 

 
Finally here is a view of the prow with the replacement rails fitted and painted (and looking a lot better). I must say that I have found the constructive criticism offered by the members at MSW very helpful, and I think I am producing a better model as a consequence of their comments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my previous blog.
 
I am now off to finish fitting the mizzen topsail yard. More later.
 
Rob