cdrusn89

How to approach planking the forecastle?? My experience with deck planking usually starts at the center with the "king" plank(s) and using constant width planks move outward until you hit the bulwark and then nibble the ends of the planks until you have filled all the area. Looking at the maple deck and its planking scheme it appears that many of the planks were tapered as they neared the bow and ended at a wider, continuous "nibbing" plank at the bulwark. I decided to try and replicate the maple planking scheme (less the trenails). To affect this I carefully cut the nibbing strake from the maple deck - It was pretty easy to follow the engraved line, but not that easy since I had to do it twice to get an acceptable "sample". That piece is also quite fragile so I decided to split it into two parts with my approximation of a scarf joint. These are the starboard side pieces now in boxwood. I had trimmed the plywood deck to fit but thought I should glue the nibbing starkes to the deck and then the deck to the hull (after installing the fore jeer bitts - I almost forgot). Here is the ply deck with the port side nibbing strake glued and clamped. Starboard side next then the deck goes on the hull. The one nagging worry is that now I will have a deck twice (maybe a bit more than twice) as thick as if I had just put the maple deck down. We are only talking about 1mm or so but....

Thanks Brunnels - it will go slower now as i have decided to try and plank the forecastle and q-deck in boxwood. Forecastle and q-deck beams and carlings in place. I have decided to completely plank the forecastle and q-deck - no "inspection ports". I intend to full rig the model which will make seeing much through the openings very hard so I will (sadly) cover up all the details inside the cabin areas except what can be seen through the gun ports or stern windows. With the three ship's boats in the waist and the blizzard of rigging above there will be poor visibility of what is on the gun deck so I am not sure why I spent all that time rigging the cannon. Oh well, it is a "hobby" after all. Anyway I am waiting for some boxwood strips and planks I ordered to plank the "upper" decks which will be much more visible than the gun deck. In the meantime I am trying to replicate the waterway on the forecastle using some boxwood planks I have "on hand".

Q-deck beams in place. I painted the sides and bottom of the beams forward of the enclosed spaces red to match the bulwarks - not that it is all that obvious in the picture or that they are likely to be visible but... Carlings are next.

Upon returning to the instructions i found I had neglected to add the stanchions and "railings" around the two gun deck ladders. not being a big fan of the PE supplied stanchions I rooted around in the "parts drawer" and found some round, brass stanchions fitted for two rows of "rails". I had to enlarge the holes to get them mounted , blackened them with ATK Burnishing liquid and used some .005" natural line to form the railings. I only had 10 of these stanchions so I better order another 10 (they come in packages of 10) so I can use them on the quarter deck too. NOW on to the q-deck beams.

Based on the shape of the "swooping" part I would think that was additional protection from errant anchor flukes while the anchor is being recovered. The billboard portion I think is to prevent the anchor from getting fouled in the forward most chain plates. It also provides some additional protection from waves boarding through the gun port just aft of it without obstructing (much) the ability to shoot out of the port. I find it interesting that these small (relatively speaking) ships did not have gun port doors on every gun port. I guess it was not a "real" problem or the RN would have "fixed" it. Would seem the gun deck would be pretty wet in most any degree of bad weather.

I have reached another milestone - the gun deck is more or less completed and it is time to start adding the quarterdeck beams. I decided not to use the kit provided "handles for the chain pumps - something about square section material in place of round. So I fabbed new handles from .032 phosphor-bronze wire then painted it black. Since the plan is to have the two sets of handles on opposite sides (i.e the handle on one side up the other side down) it is harder to tell that they are not exactly alike After taking these pictures I noticed that one of the boarding steps is missing (wonder where that went?), the decoration on the stem is missing on one side and the chess tree is missing on one side too. I have been careful not to throw anything away that was not obviously debris so I need to sort through my "extras" bin and hope I find the errant pieces. I think I just forgot the stem decoration as I am pretty sure there are still some pieces left on that PE sheet. So here is what she looking at the moment. Q-Deck beams here we come!

I followed a similar procedure with the forward stanchions and Topsail Bitts. hopefully this all pays off in a few more pages when we get to the pump handles. Speaking of pump handles - I did not glue in the Hand pumps but just stuck them in their holes with the pump handles inboard. they are too delicate and likely "in the way" of something (like a hand or elbow) in the future. I will probably have to install them before the rigging but I will deal with that then. For now they are pretty much out of "harms way". I also left the hatch grating just "sitting there" for now - no sense in precluding having to get "below decks" if it is not absolutely required while still keeping any errant debris out of the lower decks.. I also installed the eyebolts around the main mast and the ring bolts in the deck behind the cannon. Next up is the stove, which is already for installation.

Thanks Ronald - It is certainly "taking shape". Have added the coaming and ladders to the gun deck. I assembled and added the chain pumps and the aft pump rod supports. Knowing that there will be hardware connecting the chain pumps and after support stanchions I thought it wise to check that the necessary parts were more or less aligned. Better make "allowances" now instead of trying to move things around later. So I cut a short piece of piano wire and used it to align the aft stanchion, Main Jeer Bitts and the aft side of the chain pumps. I had to move the aft support stanchion up a small bit and the chain pump down a hair to get the wire to look level. Similarly on the other side. Everything is firmly in place now so on to the eyebolts and such before I moving on to the top sail bitts. FYI - the holes in the gun deck (at least mine) need to be "finessed" a bit with a small file as even the least bit of misalignment between the ply deck and the maple deck will make getting the various pieces through "difficult".

A milestone (of sorts). All the deadeyes and chain plates are rigged and touched-up, interior bulkheads outfitted and installed. Here is my version of step 349, except I have all the cannons installed and rigged. Now on to the "inerds" in earnest.

Thanks Brunnels - I thought of one m ore reason why doing the cannon now helps out - no worry about getting a chain plate in front of a cannon. Probably should not be a problem in any event but... Here are the bulkheads ready for the windows. I used the kit provided door "knobs" but used the Syren 3/16" small door hinges instead. I used the "window maker" in the window frames and will mount the windows when that is dry.

This is as far as i can go until I get the bulkheads "outfitted". I have the hinges and door knobs on and has a coat of polycrylic flat applied. Now it is time for the windows and window frames. I may try the "window maker" again since you would have to be pretty spry to actually be able to look through them.

The cannon install saga continued. I started on the port side working forward to aft. After i got the first five installed I started to wondered about how to handle the last five and having enough room to get the bulkheads fitted and installed. So I glued the two bulkhead together and started fitting them (they were too wide by a mm or two) and it was quickly obvious that the 8th and 9th cannon would have made getting the bulkheads in place impossible. So I will add cannon number 6, 7 and 10 and then install the bulkheads (suitably outfitted and varnished) before putted the last two cannon in. There appears to be sufficient room to work but you never know until you try. Bottom line - yes installing the cannon before the centerline "stuff" works great BUT you have to have the bulkheads ready for installation and fitted (not necessarily glued in place) before installing the the last three cannon on one side.

I remember someone asking where to get more pins. I got these from Historic Ships and they are 7.5mm long (a bit shorter than the ones that came in the kit) and are black and magnetic so they are not "colored" brass but of some magnetic material (iron/steel most likely). I plan on using them on the chainplates so I don't have to paint the heads of the brass ones plus they may not need to be cut off like the ones included in the kit.

The Syren kits come in both 1/48 and 1/64 scale so the 1/64th should be the same size (more or less) as these. I did notice that there appears to be a PE version of the stern lantern on the PE sheet (PE-30). If you are familiar with bending PE into shape this might be a faster solution. I have built the 1/48th Syren stern lantern (for Wincheslea) and it takes a steady hand - you have to glue each side of the lantern to the base keeping the sides just in contact. I think it took me three tries to get one acceptable lantern. You can see the final one in these photos.

I can state now that doing the cannon first made that as easy as it can be. I would go so far as to say adding the eyebolts to the inner bulwarks before they are installed on the hull would have made that job easier (IMHO). I will reserve judgement for now on how easy installing the "inerds" is until I actually do it. I have many of the pieces (capstan, chain pumps, stove, etc.) already assembled and painted so it should not take long to have an answer.

You are a better (and likely more careful and skillful) man than I to attempt to rig the cannon with all the "interference" inside the hull I took the "chicken" way out and am mounting the cannon before I start adding the interior "features".

Port side cannon in place and rigged. (Blue tape is to keep debris out of the lower deck). I used one of the long 6 pounders in the forward most port because i messed up one of the long ago assembled cannon trying to get it adjusted. I will put another long 6 pounder on the starboard side to "match". At one point I thought about not installing the aft two cannon on each side until after the bulkheads were installed. I am glad I didn't decide to wait. There will be precious little run along side the aft cannon with the bulkhead installed. I would not want to try and rig the cannon with just this much space in which to work. I may pay a TBD price when I get to the bulkheads but that is yet to come.

Yes, that is the general idea. I rigged the breech rope to a split ring which I then captured in a home made eyebolt (twisted #28 wire). I need to adjust the length of the breech rope with the cannon as it will be onboard the model. I use the jig to set the distance to the bulwark and the length of the eyebolts (which are way longer than the bulwark is wide. I rig the other tackle and when "tight" stiffen the line with diute PVA. When dry I can (usually) lift the tackle which has hooks on both ends off the eyebolts on the bulwark, pull the breech tackle eyebolts out of the jig and transfer it to the hull. Then reinsert the breech line eyebolts and attach the other tackle to the bulwark eyebolts, square up the carriage and put a drop of medium CA under each rear wheel. When that has set grab the bitter end of the other tackle and glue it to the deck under the bulwark block and add a rope coil. I usually have to adjust the breech rope to get the same length on each side and get the slack down by the rear wheels.

One done, 19 more to go. Although I may wait on the aft four until I have the cabin walls up.

Speaking of cannon. A number of years ago when I was building Confederacy I thought it "wise" to invest in some better cannon than were included in the kit and so I built a number (should have been 26 but...) Syren cannon using the then "standard" brass cannon. I chose the "middle" size of the then Syren cannon sizes and built most of the required number. Imagine my surprise when I got the gun deck completed and the cannon were too tall to fit through the gun ports. So I built more cannon of the correct size and consigned the too tall ones to a storage box. I even had the breech rope rigged complete with eyebolts ready for installation and breech rope length adjustment. I had great fun gluing those little pieces on each wheel - 2 pieces per wheel, four wheels per carriage, twenty guns - you get the idea. I had planned on using the cannon on Wincheslea but they were too small as Winnie is 1/48th scale. So now I have Sphinx and they are going to fit. I built a jig based on Sphinx dimensions so I can fit the cannon and adjust the breech rope and cut the eyebolts so they will seat completely at the bulwark. Here is one cannon in the jig - you can see the white glue on the breech rope connection The clamps are holding the ends of the eyebolts which will be trimmed flush with the outer "wall" of the jig and the excess breech rope cut off. My plan is to do one cannon and then mount it onboard in case the technique needs to be modified. In addition to the Syren canon I also built several more sizes to have something with which to populate the forecastle and quarterdeck since nothing is provided in the kit. I built 6 pounder (long barrel), 6 pounder (short barrel) and 4 pounder cannon all by Vanguard. Here is the long barrel 6 pounder. Interesting is that is cannon comes with a loop for the breech rope to pass through while the two smaller do not. Also the six pounders (both) come with three holes in each side of the carriage while the four pounder only has two. The short barrel six pounder. and the four pounder And to give an idea of the relative size here are all four cannon in one picture. Compared to the nine pounder cannon provided in the kit the six pounder long barrel is a hair longer but not as big around. I may replace the forward most cannon with the long barrel 6s which might have served as bow chasers in the forward most gun ports.

Starboard side hull completed (except for chain plates/deadeyes). Before I do them I want to work on preparation for the gun deck cannon. I think I can get the eyebolts that I need for the guns with the hull on its side in the foam cradle and I do not want to take a chance on the deadeyes/chainplates getting messed up in that arrangement. So now to eyebolt (and there are a few cleats too) installation.

Certainly when a sailing ship is heading dead down wind (by and large I believe was the term) the wind comes from aft to forward. the relative wind onboard being the difference between the actual wind speed and the ship's speed. As the ship moves off that course the apparent wind (what it feels like on the ship) moves forward until with the real wind on the beam, the relative wind is now likely coming from ahead depending on the difference between the true wind speed and the ship's speed. So in many cases the apparent wind onboard would be from ahead of abeam and thus the galley doors would provide some shelter. Plus keep crew members from coming in contact with the hot stove in the event the ship moved unexpectedly while they were in the vicinity. I suspect the doors were necessary (as opposed to a solid wall) because access to the rear of the stove was required for some type of maintenance or cleaning.

When I decided to do the rigging for my guns Chuck did not have the single sheave 2mm blocks available. I think they are almost too small to work with, at least for my hands, so I went with Model Expo 3mm "beautiful blocks". They are "all set" (stropped with standing ends attached and hooks on the ends) ready to rig as soon as I get to the point where mounting the guns makes sense - which I think is not too far in the future. I think I am going to do that before any of the bulkheads and other "stuff" is in the way. I think I would be very likely to damage the items along the centerline if there were there when I added the guns and their rigging.

I assembled and mounted the hull side steps on the port side. The steps are 4mm from top to top as best I can measure from the drawing (Sheet 15). Also the drawings shows eight steps while the picture in the instructions only shows seven. I painted the three on the wales black but will leave the top one natural as I have no faith in my ability to paint it "to match". After some touch-up painting this completes all the hull work on this side - time to "turn it over" and work the starboard side. I considered adding the deadeyes and chain plates now but decided to wait. I ordered some black pins that I want to use instead of the brass ones to keep the touch-up painting to a minimum.

I got the numerals on without (more or less) incidents. Some of them could be a little straighter but they are so small and moving them around is not so easy. I used thick CA but still it sets faster than these old hands can move the numeral around to exactly where it should be - assuming my old eyes would recognize that if they saw it. It turns out the numbers are 5mm from the top of one to the bottom of the next. I started at the stern and fudged things around so that I did not have to try and glue one of the numerals on top of the rudder braces. I think it worked out okay - the XV may be a bit higher than the drawing (Sheet 15) shows but then I may not have the waterline exactly where it shows on the drawing. So with the stern done I measured up from the waterline to where the XV was and put the bow XV the same distance above. Then spaced the remaining numerals 5mm down - top to bottom. I think it looks okay, except the copper color sort of blends into the pear siding but...