brunnels

Got to work on making a jig for the copper plates. I decided to just keep the plates fairly simple with an outline of the nail divets around the edges. The jig is simple and could be improved, but I wanted to keep it simple and uncomplicated for my first go around. Here is my jig, I have yet to stick any of these on the model so it could be a waste of a night making them, but I think they will work out great. Here is my jig and materials i use. I made the jig out of some scrap lazer cut plywood. The gap between the two long pieces is 5mm, and i cut a slot 20mm from the edge. The sroll wheel tool is a saw blade attachement from a dremil between two pieces of scrap material using a nail as an axle and a couple plastic bushings to keep it straight., I originally tried a few cheap pounce wheels from amazon but found the spacing between divets to large and the divets themselves were too large for the scale of the model. My first step was cutting a strip of tape. I found cutting much longer than this was getting hard to manage. Next I slide a piece of wood across the stip to help flatten the curve out of it and remove as many wrinkles as I can I then lay the strip in the jig. I put a piece of 4mm wide wood on top of the tape. This gives a 1mm gap to run the scroll wheel down the side. Running the scroll wheel down the first side. I then move the piece of wood up and scroll the other side. Here is what the strip looks like after the first scroll stage. I then scroll the vertical lines, I match the stip up to the edge of the board and scroll which gives me a 20mm strip, I then align the vertical line i just scrolled with the edge and scroll again repeating the process until the whole strip is done. One could easily cut multiple gaps in the jig every 20mm to speed up this task, but I wanted to keep it simple to better control the process and it really doesn't take long at all. Here is what the strip looks like after the vertical lines are run. My ceiling light was directly above so the strip looks way messier in the picture than it really is. Again with the lighting directly above it was hard to get a good detailed photo, but here is one completed strip, I can either lay these down in a strip or cut each piece individually to lay down. Once I got the hang of the process, I could produce a strip about every 30 seconds. I found it really neat how much these strips stiffened up just by running a few lines of very small dimples down them, it really shows you how effective stamping metal is.

Yes it did have copper plating, in fact from what I have read the Beagle even had it's copper plating replaced several times during its life. There are a few ways to do it, you can buy kits from companies like Amati that are pre made copper tiles you glue on, or you can use copper tape from amazon which comes in a roll like masking tape. I already have a few rolls of copper tape from building electric guitars so I am going that route. I will share my process when I find what works best for me, but many people seem to use ponce wheels on the tape to simulate the nail dents. I think sealing the hull before coppering should be fine, I will probably seal mine first just to add another layer of protection to the wood. From my research the copper plates should be sized 20mm x 5mm.

Well the theme of last week was "One step forward, two steps back", so I unfortunately didn't take as many pictures of my progress as I would have liked. I wanted to finally finish the deck and inner bulwarks of the ship. I decided to use shellac on my deck and inner bulwarks, but ended up with an unfortunate shellaccident. I have used Bullseye brand amber shellac for years and I had bought a new can for a project just a couple months ago, so I was pretty confident applying the shellac. I used a brush and started applying thin coats as I normally do with shellac but noticed while applying the first coat that it was gumming up almost instantly in spots, not sure if that is a reaction with leftover glue or the shellac had just gone bad, but my deck ended up very uneven and spotty as the shellac was not allowing me to spread it very evenly with a brush because of how "gummy" it had turned in spots. I ended up getting the deck cleaned up to a point that I'm not really 100% happy with, but a point where I felt it wasn't worth sinking any more time into fixing spots that would hardly be seen. The sides of the "inner bulwarks" (if that is even the proper term), were a big mess as well and it was VERY difficult to clean up properly with all the little rail pieces that the model has. This would have taken me days to clean up to an acceptable level, and I was already kind of throwing around the idea of painting the inside walls of the ship in Red. I like the look of the red on the British ships, and from what I have gathered it's not unrealistic for the time that the HMS Beagle might have had red paint at some point instead of the natural wood finish the model instructions suggest. Plus Red paint will add a few knots to the speed of any boat, maybe a few racing stripes will really get the boat moving. Sorry for the wall of text with so few pictures, hopefully the red doesn't make too many Beagle builders eyes twitch. I first taped off everything using Yellow Tamiya tape, and various sizes of painters tape. I then started with a primer. I then went with Vallejo Red 70926, I had seen the color recommended here a few times so I decided to give it a go. I don't mind the color, but its a little darker shade than I was expecting. I will probably try a different shade or brand on my next model. I did struggle with how thick Vallejo acrylic paints are, even after thinning the paint out I still battled with paint building up in low spots and corners. Here is the red after 3 thin coats of red. Don't mind the messy edges where the deck meets, those will be covered up by waterway boards in the near future. At this point I also started priming the outer hull as you can see in the image. After priming the outer hull, I applied 3 thin coats of Model Shipways Black "MS4830", and 3 thin coats of Model Shipways White "MS4831" for the racing stripe that adds another few knots to the ships speed. The outer hull paint went pretty smoothly, I think I have the hang of acrylic paints on wood now. On this model I wanted to try brushing the paint on to see how it applied, but I will probably use an airbrush on my next model, airbrushes are just hard to beat for painting large areas evenly. I'm pretty happy with how the paint turned out, I think the Red paint looks pretty sharp on the beagle and will make the model stand out a little from the other fantastic Beagle builds. My next step is tackling the copper plating before I start on the more fragile parts of the boat. Side note, I can't recommend this Yellow Tamiya masking tape enough, I saw it recommended all over this forum and wish I knew about this stuff years ago. This tape will have a permanent place in my tool box, I will even be using this for home projects. This stuff really holds a line, any bleed through I had was due to my lack of preparation, not the tape failing.

Those look great, I like the simplicity of the right one personally. I just took my doors off the model again this morning as I am not happy with them, I might have to steal your door idea.

Thanks for confirming the AOTS size, I actually already have a few rolls of copper tape from building electric guitars, so I am going to go that route after a little homework on a jig.

What type of bending iron is that? It looks like it would work really well. Solid job so far, I will definitely be following.

It's a book series called "Anatomy of the Ship", they have a whole book dedicated to the Beagle.

I'm probably not the best person to answer that question, I'm only a few weeks into the hobby myself. But from just studying the hull images there are a few small variations like the aft cannon ports are planked over in the book, gangway steps aren't on the model, other builders have commented that the rigging holding the cannons in the model is poorly done, but these are all things that so far can be tweaked pretty easily as you build the kit. I haven't even attempted to compare the rigging yet.

Quick update. Last night I got the keel glued in place, I was pretty nervous about how hard it would be to get everything to line up, but I managed to do it without much trouble. It took a bit of trimming and fitting at the rear where the rudder will attach, but I'm happy with how it looks. It's amazing how much difference the keel makes to the model look, it's really starting to look like a proper ship.

Great start, looks like a few of us just started the Beagle all around the same time.

I just posted an update late last night if you haven't seen it yet.

Looks great, your making solid progress. I'm not looking forward to bending those metal rod pieces on the back, for some reason that just looks like it is going to frustrate me.

Been a long week so just now catching up on my progress. I first finished sanding down the first planking layer. I definitely saw a lot of ways I would have done things different for my next build, but I am happy with the first layer for my first go. I then spent the next couple days planking the second layer. I really struggled with this layer for multiple reasons, first I found the very thin material much harder to work with, it tended to tear and crack apart at the ends of the plank very easy, the area next to where my keel connects is embarrassing because all the ends just keep cracking and flanking apart. The other reason I struggled was it was my first time using contact cement and it was much more messy than I was expecting and it also set with the thin material almost instantly which I also wasn't expecting. I'm still trying to clean up the edges as much as I can, but it's a work in progress. Next I got to work cleaning up the cannon ports, and started on the outside bumpers. I have really started to love these little hobby saws for areas that need to be cut but you don't want crimp marks from snippers. In the AOTS Beagle book, I saw they clearly mention the very rear firing ports were planked over but clearly marked. I used the port doors and glued it to a piece of wood, which then fit perfectly on the edge of the port quarters panel. I then planked over and re- added the outer ribbing. Completed the ribbing and started on the vertical ribs (probably a proper term for these haha) Next I added the Anchor chaffing pieces, this actually took way longer than I was expecting. I wasn't really planning on copper plating this model, but I kind of want to cover up my hideous plank job lol, plus I am trying to make the model more accurate than the kit in a few other areas as well, so might as well add the coppering in the mix. A question for the veterans, are the AOTS plans accurate for length of plate in the image below? If I use their scale in feet and convert it to millimeters and scale it to 1:60 I am getting 20x5mm, which is close to Amati's 1:64 Scale plates which are 19x6mm so I feel like the book must be correct. I already have a few rolls of copper tape from building electric guitars, so I think I will try that route. Also in the image below you can see gangway steps which aren't in the kit's plans, so I plan on fashioning a set of those as well. That's where I am at for the week, still have lots of clean up to do on the hull. I still haven't decided on if I want to paint the inner bulwarks or just leave it bare, and I am also considering refinishing the deck in something a tad darker. I'm starting to understand why some of these projects take years to complete, the "to-do" list just seems to grow.

I ended up pulling the nails out just because i didn't want to deal with them while sanding. It only took about 20 minutes to pull them out. I think I will use light wood putty as needed and then sand and add more to fill gaps if needed. A couple HMS Beagle questions for the more knowledgeable, I'm still trying to learn more about these old boats. 1. The kit comes with a TON of brass metal pieces as I'm sure most kits do. Would these historically have been painted black or any other color? I assume they used mostly Iron covered with paint to prevent corrosion, but the kits instructions and just about every HMS Beagle build log or video has shown the builders leaving the brass mostly untouched. I have brass blackening already, so not a big deal if I need to blacken these parts, I just want to make sure I'm being somewhat historically accurate. 2. Were the inner bulwarks and inner gunports of the HMS Beagle painted or did they leave them in a more natural finish like the kit suggests. 3. I'm not a huge fan of the kits fake hammocks that go on top of the bulwarks, if I were to fashion some fake hammocks out of cloth what type of cloth do you all recommend for this task? Trying to get a copy of the AOTS Beagle book to help research, but I have yet to acquire a copy.

Decided to try my hand at planking the first layer of the hull over the weekend. This was my first time planking and I was pretty nervous getting into it, but once I got started I actually really enjoyed the process. I know it isn't the prettiest so take it easy on me since it's my first time, I still need to sand it down and trim all the edges and put a little wood filler in a few spots. What size gaps are acceptable for these first layers?

Got a little more work done over the past couple evenings. Planked the Castle and Poop decks, fit and glued them in place. I then worked on the Bulwarks. Initially I was pretty nervous for this step, while I have wood working experience I have never soaked and formed wood to any certain shapes, and the kit only comes with one set of Bulwarks so I was pretty nervous about snapping the pieces. I let them soak for 20 minutes and started rolling them over a can and they formed up very easily. I then tacked them to the boat while damp and went over them with a heat gun while they were tacked in place. I did have some curse words to say while gluing them in place, but that was due to me buying the wrong size nail pusher and it pushing the small little nails in every direction except the direction I wanted, lesson learned not all nail pushers are the same. Next I planked the Bulwarks and cut out the gun ports. I still need to sand the gun ports a bit more, but I figured It might be best to wait until the outer hull planking is done to do it all at once. There is a small gap where the Bulwarks meet the deck due to my previous error of cutting the deck slots and having to add more planks, I am thinking about just adding a running board along where the bulwark/deck meet on each side, It's just hard to judge how much spare material the kit gives me to work with for extras like that. Lastly I decided to remove the brass laser cut windows so I can paint them black, and I may just repaint the doors a solid brown color as I'm really not satisfied with how sloppy my doors currently look.

I have started watching this series as well, he seems to give lots of great tips for beginners.

I'm definitely considering making my own, I saw another build log in which someone went that route and it looked like a great alternative.

Yes I have been watching, although I guess I wasn't paying as much attention to their videos as I thought I was.

Hello all, I got a start on my first wooden ship model over the weekend. I have had a great time so far, with a few frustrating moments created by myself, an injury at the dockyard and a realization I am terrible at small scale painting. I do have some modelling experience, I built quite a few plastic model airplanes, cars, and military equipment in my youth so I do know some techniques but it has been 20 years since my last model, and as I have found out wood is a completely different animal. I do have some questions on the paint colors, other than the picture on the box it doesn't seem like there is any guide in the instructions on what color parts should be painted. I bought a paint kit for HMS beagle from Model Expo, but I'm just not sure what colors should be used for, I could definitely use a hand explaining some of these colors I have never heard of. I'm still learning sailing/ship terminology so please be patient If I name something incorrect. Anyways here is my start on the HMS Beagle log. Here are the colors that came in my kit, any help on these would greatly be appreciated. Here is the assembly of the skeleton of the ship, nothing much to look at yet just lots of glue and making sure pieces are squared away. Once I had the frame glued together my next step was to start planking the deck. I used a pencil to line the boards, and then lined them at 60mm and added nails. I know the pencil caulking and nails are controversial, but I wanted to try the process out for myself and see how it looked. Veterans of this kit will notice a mistake I made at this point, I still wouldn't notice it for another night. The next day I started to assemble to fore and aft interior ship walls and started to add planks to the walls. After dinner I sat down and started to look over the instructions, I then noticed my deck looked "off" compared to the instructions, and it hit me that I got a little carried away trimming the deck cutouts. Maybe I shouldn't watch American Football Playoffs while I work on the model...... This is where the dock workers should have stopped for the night and started fresh the next morning. A little frustrated at my mistake I decided to try and see if I could pull up a few of the planks and replace them. The only tool I could find to fit the job of prying the piece up was a razor blade, I got one piece up without too much trouble and then started on the second piece. This is when the razor blade slipped out from the wood and straight into my right hand behind my thumb, it was a very deep cut. The dock medic quickly came over and we cleaned the wound and closed it up with some super glue, no workers comp granted for this dock worker. Getting back to the model I decided just adding planks on top of the old planks and sanding them down a bit was the safest solution. The spouse says you can hardly notice the mistake, but as most model builders know your own mistakes are the most obvious. I also finished planking the fore and aft walls, you can also see a closer view of my correction, not super noticeable from afar, but if you inspect closely you can see the extra wood. Next up was the doors. I wasn't a fan of the solid laser cut brass doors and couldn't find much info on what color the doors should be so I settled on using the American Walnut paint (not stain) that came with the kit and giving it a white outline to kind of match the ships color. I have not painted with material this small in a long time, and I understand why so many of you have magnifying glasses now. My doors look terrible, but I came to the conclusion that it was the best I personally could do with what I have, and to not spend too much time getting hung up on them. I'm still not satisfied and may come back to them, but I'm really not sure I will be able to do much better. That's all I have for now. If you read through all of that, I appreciate your time. I am new to the hobby so any advice, tips, hints are greatly appreciated. Being a new student is one of the most fun parts of a new hobby. My main lesson I've learned so far is you really need to pay attention to the instructions on these kits, and I am starting to follow other Beagle build logs to help along the way.

Just wanted to say hello, I am Barry from Oklahoma. I have been wanting to build a model ship for a number of years and finally decided to jump in the water. I just ordered the HMS Beagle kits from Occre, supplies, tools and I am chomping at the bit for them to get delivered. I'm trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can in the meantime from this forum and YouTube videos, I do have woodworking experience and used to build scale models quite a bit when I was younger. My favorite part of every new hobby is just being an open student and learning from others who have years of experience. You will see me around, and I will try to start a build log once the kit arrives as long as i don't get so wrapped up in the project that I forget to document and take pictures.