jim_smits

Nice bit of progress in the last couple of days. Added belaying pins to the four pin rails, and added cleats to the various points across the hull and deck.
 
Still need to add a few more eyelets to the deck and the hull but I want to confirm which of these require a block to be seized before fixing the eyelet in place.
 
And then I shall be moving onto shaping the masts and bowspirit.
 
 

Jim, Mobbsie and Frank...welcome aboard!  Always appreciate more people looking over my shoulder.
 
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
 
Wish I could take pictures of 'thinking' and 'fiddling' because I'd have more progress.  Wanted to get caught up on a few things before I lose sight of them.
 
The stern and counter:
Heres a current state photo of the stern.  I built up the rearmost bulkhead by laminating some additional waste ply to the forward face to hopefully give me a bit more surface area to play with and glue planks to when I get there, same is true for the shaper pieces attached to the keel former.  You can see how I'm hoping then sandwich in a replacement section in boxwood for the exposed sternpost.  Some additional scrap was used to provide some additional strength here as well as the stern is hanging of a relatively thin extension until I get this installed.  The starboard side has had only rough shaping, I'm still working on the port side.  It was apparent that the rabbet for the first planking needed to be extended further up than indicated in the plans.
 
I have decided to leave the troublesome transom profiles (26 & 27) off until last possible moment, and use the gunport positions to help determine the vertical position of the quarter galleries and the stern fascia.
 

 
Interior of foremost frames:
The kit indicates that interior planking on the upper deck should terminate at bulkhead 4.  I wanted to bring this as far forward as possible to give me some options as I may want to add some additional detail in this area (forward bitts, manger etc).  However, the upper deck forward frames are thicker than required so I had to reduce their thickness at the upper deck level to be consistent with the other frames.  The was a bear to do, and wish I had done this before the frames were installed, you can see where I've inadvertently disfigured other parts of the bulkheads.
 

 
The other thing to note is the additional ply added to frame 3.  The plans indicate that gunport 1 sits right over the 3rd frame, which is just plain poor design by Caldercraft.  To hopefully give me some options to cut gun port in the correct place, I built up the rear so to maintain structural stability in the event I cut through the original bulkhead.  Hopefully with planking in place this should be enough
 

 
Decking:
Have started the upper deck planking.  I replaced the supplied tanganyika decking material with maple which seems a pretty cost effective alternative to holly on such a large ship.  Edges were still quite jagged, and rather than sanding each strip individually I used a small jig to line multiple strips and sand all together to get a smoother edge.  Definitely quicker!  You can see the comparison of the maple against the supplied tanganyika which has lots of brown stripes and flecks - didn't like it.
 

That's another testing of the lowermasts 
 
And for first time this is a dry-fitted placement of all the masts (except the bowsprit) of the model. 
I think I'm ok as far as the posterior tilting/inclination of the masts is concerned...

Will also echo the sentiments that the serving machine is excellent. Makes serving a doddle!
 
Build also looking fantastic!

I have now managed to assemble the two deck pumps and add to the build.
 
Always find putting these together a bit of a faff. Anyway, filed down all the white metal castings and ensured that all the hinge points met and would take a pin. I used a length of walnut dowel for the base of the pump and drilled a hole down the centre to take the deck pin and pump assembly. Also cut a notch in the side to make gluing the housing of the handle a little more solid.
 
primed and painted the metal parts and reassembled with a touch of cyano in places. Had to touch up the paint in a couple of spots. Finally pinned to pre-drilled holes in the deck.
 

 

I have now managed to assemble the two deck pumps and add to the build.
 
Always find putting these together a bit of a faff. Anyway, filed down all the white metal castings and ensured that all the hinge points met and would take a pin. I used a length of walnut dowel for the base of the pump and drilled a hole down the centre to take the deck pin and pump assembly. Also cut a notch in the side to make gluing the housing of the handle a little more solid.
 
primed and painted the metal parts and reassembled with a touch of cyano in places. Had to touch up the paint in a couple of spots. Finally pinned to pre-drilled holes in the deck.
 

 

I have now managed to assemble the two deck pumps and add to the build.
 
Always find putting these together a bit of a faff. Anyway, filed down all the white metal castings and ensured that all the hinge points met and would take a pin. I used a length of walnut dowel for the base of the pump and drilled a hole down the centre to take the deck pin and pump assembly. Also cut a notch in the side to make gluing the housing of the handle a little more solid.
 
primed and painted the metal parts and reassembled with a touch of cyano in places. Had to touch up the paint in a couple of spots. Finally pinned to pre-drilled holes in the deck.
 

 

I have now managed to assemble the two deck pumps and add to the build.
 
Always find putting these together a bit of a faff. Anyway, filed down all the white metal castings and ensured that all the hinge points met and would take a pin. I used a length of walnut dowel for the base of the pump and drilled a hole down the centre to take the deck pin and pump assembly. Also cut a notch in the side to make gluing the housing of the handle a little more solid.
 
primed and painted the metal parts and reassembled with a touch of cyano in places. Had to touch up the paint in a couple of spots. Finally pinned to pre-drilled holes in the deck.
 

 

Now I'm dealing with the mizzen mast..
Everything is dry-fitted except the platforms of the fore- and main- lowermasts.
Thank you.

I have now managed to assemble the two deck pumps and add to the build.
 
Always find putting these together a bit of a faff. Anyway, filed down all the white metal castings and ensured that all the hinge points met and would take a pin. I used a length of walnut dowel for the base of the pump and drilled a hole down the centre to take the deck pin and pump assembly. Also cut a notch in the side to make gluing the housing of the handle a little more solid.
 
primed and painted the metal parts and reassembled with a touch of cyano in places. Had to touch up the paint in a couple of spots. Finally pinned to pre-drilled holes in the deck.
 

 

Jim, Jason and Mort
thank you, again for your support!
 
Wanted to pre-shape all the yards of the ship. Giving a rectangular shape to the mid-section of each dowel and planking it with walnut thin planks was so easy. I liked Jason's technique so I decided to follow that way even with 4mm dowels...

I have now managed to assemble the two deck pumps and add to the build.
 
Always find putting these together a bit of a faff. Anyway, filed down all the white metal castings and ensured that all the hinge points met and would take a pin. I used a length of walnut dowel for the base of the pump and drilled a hole down the centre to take the deck pin and pump assembly. Also cut a notch in the side to make gluing the housing of the handle a little more solid.
 
primed and painted the metal parts and reassembled with a touch of cyano in places. Had to touch up the paint in a couple of spots. Finally pinned to pre-drilled holes in the deck.
 

 

Hi Jason
 
Looks like you've made a really solid start to your Diana. Can't believe I've missed this build so far.
 
Will unashamedly be making notes as I will move onto Diana, eventually, once my Snake and Ballahoo are completed.
 
Jim

Beautiful stuff Jim.. she looks the absolute business !
 
All The Best
 
Eamonn

I agree with Jim -  Its better to get the mast positioned correctly and determine the position of the hole than rely on the 10mm indicated.  The plans are not accurate enough to blindly rely on them.

The 1.5mm dowel that is passed through the hole will rest on the trestletree assembly of the mast below and is in essense what 'holds' the mast in place. What you will want to do is ensure that the hole is at the correct hight so that the transition from square profile to round profile of the mast sits within the wooden brace that holds the two masts parallel.
 
Thats probably about as badly explained is it could be but my brain seems to have gone on holiday today.....

Right. Time for an update.
 
Channels are complete, so have moved onto to completing the last of the deck furniture.
 
Added the bowspirit post. It is drilled and pinned into the deck to add strength and ensure that the rigging does not cause any problems. Deck cleats are still to be added to the top.
 

 
Also put together the companionway housing. Spent a while cutting out all the separate parts and sanded smooth from 120 grit down to 320 grit. After dry fitting each part I added some small off cuts of walnut to the inside edges to aid fitting the pieces together.
 
To finish the housing, I stained with 50% light oak stain to bring out some grain and then very lightly sanded back and then added a coat of satin varnish.
 
Finally, drilled holes to insert 0.5mm brass wire to give handles on the doors and hatch lid. Hinges were added by drilling several shallow holes and using a blade to link the holes. Four small lengths of 0.5mm brass wire were then sunk into the gaps and fixed with a spot of cyano.
 

 
The build so far.
 

 

Right. Time for an update.
 
Channels are complete, so have moved onto to completing the last of the deck furniture.
 
Added the bowspirit post. It is drilled and pinned into the deck to add strength and ensure that the rigging does not cause any problems. Deck cleats are still to be added to the top.
 

 
Also put together the companionway housing. Spent a while cutting out all the separate parts and sanded smooth from 120 grit down to 320 grit. After dry fitting each part I added some small off cuts of walnut to the inside edges to aid fitting the pieces together.
 
To finish the housing, I stained with 50% light oak stain to bring out some grain and then very lightly sanded back and then added a coat of satin varnish.
 
Finally, drilled holes to insert 0.5mm brass wire to give handles on the doors and hatch lid. Hinges were added by drilling several shallow holes and using a blade to link the holes. Four small lengths of 0.5mm brass wire were then sunk into the gaps and fixed with a spot of cyano.
 

 
The build so far.
 

 

Right. Time for an update.
 
Channels are complete, so have moved onto to completing the last of the deck furniture.
 
Added the bowspirit post. It is drilled and pinned into the deck to add strength and ensure that the rigging does not cause any problems. Deck cleats are still to be added to the top.
 

 
Also put together the companionway housing. Spent a while cutting out all the separate parts and sanded smooth from 120 grit down to 320 grit. After dry fitting each part I added some small off cuts of walnut to the inside edges to aid fitting the pieces together.
 
To finish the housing, I stained with 50% light oak stain to bring out some grain and then very lightly sanded back and then added a coat of satin varnish.
 
Finally, drilled holes to insert 0.5mm brass wire to give handles on the doors and hatch lid. Hinges were added by drilling several shallow holes and using a blade to link the holes. Four small lengths of 0.5mm brass wire were then sunk into the gaps and fixed with a spot of cyano.
 

 
The build so far.
 

 

Right. Time for an update.
 
Channels are complete, so have moved onto to completing the last of the deck furniture.
 
Added the bowspirit post. It is drilled and pinned into the deck to add strength and ensure that the rigging does not cause any problems. Deck cleats are still to be added to the top.
 

 
Also put together the companionway housing. Spent a while cutting out all the separate parts and sanded smooth from 120 grit down to 320 grit. After dry fitting each part I added some small off cuts of walnut to the inside edges to aid fitting the pieces together.
 
To finish the housing, I stained with 50% light oak stain to bring out some grain and then very lightly sanded back and then added a coat of satin varnish.
 
Finally, drilled holes to insert 0.5mm brass wire to give handles on the doors and hatch lid. Hinges were added by drilling several shallow holes and using a blade to link the holes. Four small lengths of 0.5mm brass wire were then sunk into the gaps and fixed with a spot of cyano.
 

 
The build so far.
 

 

Right. Time for an update.
 
Channels are complete, so have moved onto to completing the last of the deck furniture.
 
Added the bowspirit post. It is drilled and pinned into the deck to add strength and ensure that the rigging does not cause any problems. Deck cleats are still to be added to the top.
 

 
Also put together the companionway housing. Spent a while cutting out all the separate parts and sanded smooth from 120 grit down to 320 grit. After dry fitting each part I added some small off cuts of walnut to the inside edges to aid fitting the pieces together.
 
To finish the housing, I stained with 50% light oak stain to bring out some grain and then very lightly sanded back and then added a coat of satin varnish.
 
Finally, drilled holes to insert 0.5mm brass wire to give handles on the doors and hatch lid. Hinges were added by drilling several shallow holes and using a blade to link the holes. Four small lengths of 0.5mm brass wire were then sunk into the gaps and fixed with a spot of cyano.
 

 
The build so far.
 

 

Now all the shrouds have been added to the fore mast I decided to tie the rat lines on this mast, and not when all three lower masts have had the shrouds rigged,as it would break up the dreaded rat line tying into sections.
 





 

Shaping thοse 4mm dowels for the upper 1/3 of the masts is a really nightmare.
After 3 efforts and additional broken dowels, the 4th try was succesive...

Started work on the channels.
 
The kit comes with deadeye strops that fit into a hole drilled in the channel notches. These strike me as not only a poor shape, having a flat profile as opposed to circular, but also the strop is 'split' and seems weak to me. So I decided to create my own deadeye strops from 0.5mm brass wire.
 
Firstly created a coil of brass wire by wrapping the wire around a 6mm diameter dowel. I then used a pair of snips to cut rings from the coil to use as the strops.
 

 
Each ring is manipulated to bring the ends together with a good edge and the tension holding the ends together, ready for soldering.
 

 
Added a little blob of silver solder and flux paste.
 

 
Used a butane soldering torch on a low flame to carefully solder the ends together to form a complete ring.
 

 
The ring can then be bent around a deadeye to form the strop.
 


 
I completed three deadeyes and strops, added the rest of the chainplate assembly and painted with primer and then black. Added the three assemblies to the channel and then glued the capping bar in place.
 

 
Glued and pinned the channel to the ship just below the capping rail and drilled and pinned the chainplates to the wale and touched up with black paint.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat another three times.....
 
 
 

Another quick update. (in the correct build log this time......)
 
Last for a few days as I am off camping in Weymouth for a few days.
 
Just a slight update on the carronade rigging. Decided to frape the loose thread around the tackle to leave a tidy finish, painted with diluted PVA and then trimmed off the excess thread. Might not be historically accurate to any degree but it leaves a neat and tidy finish I am happy with.