jim_smits

The barricade has now been painted black and I think looks better for it, the ships wheel has also be painted and made up, and the rail on the great cabin roof has been fixed on.
 
Black barricade


 
Ships wheel


 
Cabin roof rail

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Result!
 
Managed to get the technique to work and I will now be applying this to all my future block stropping.
 
Looped some thread around the block and fixed with a tiny spot of cyano.
 

 
Threaded an eyelet over one end of the thread and doubled back over the block and fixed with a clip.
 

 

 
Next, seized the three lengths of thread together to give the impression of a simple loop around the block and eyelet.
 

 
Once the seizing was completed, I soaked the area in diluted PVA and allowed to dry. Once dried, all the loose ends were trimmed off with a sharp knife. This left a very nice tidy block stropped to an eyelet. Very happy with the result.
 

 
Repeated for four sets of blocks and glued in place on the bulwark. Fixed the carronade in place and threaded the rigging through all the blocks. Really pleased with the result and just three more carronades to go.
 

Time to complete making up the quarter deck fittings and add them the the model, I first added the pin rails all of which had the holes opened up to take the belaying pins, next came the deck cleats (which were drilled and pins added) then I added the eye bolts to the deck and the channels, here I did make a boo boo and drilled the holes the wrong side of the main mast hole, so now there are eye bolts right around the mast hole. Next the cavil blocks were modified to bring the top away from the side of the bulwark this will allow ropes to be tied to them see photos, if not altered you could not tie off on them. I made up the barricade a bit fiddly but not to bad at the moment I am undecided as to whether to leave it unpainted or paint it black.
 
 
Pin rails


 
The barricade



Barricade dry fitted

 
Cleats

 
Cavil blocks


 
 
 

Hi Jason,
 
Yes, the barrels were drilled out as well. The casting process tends to leave one side of the barrel filled in.
 
Picture as requested....!
 

Cheers as always Eamonn.
 
Made a start on the carronades today. The kit supplied carronades are pretty basic, there are simple blocks for the stand with no rear wheel detail, the elevation screws were very bent and one had snapped, and the carronade itself does not have a ring for the breaching rope.
 
First step - cut off the dodgy screws and replace with some 1mm brass rod. Not perfect but it will do.
 

 
Second step - cut a notch out of the rear block and sanded the two remaining square to rounded 'wheel' shapes.
 

 

 
Third step - drilled a couple of small 0.5mm holes and added small 0.5mm brass wire for the breaching ring.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat for all four carronades, drill holes for eyepins and paint.

Hi Jason,
 
Yes, the barrels were drilled out as well. The casting process tends to leave one side of the barrel filled in.
 
Picture as requested....!
 

Cheers as always Eamonn.
 
Made a start on the carronades today. The kit supplied carronades are pretty basic, there are simple blocks for the stand with no rear wheel detail, the elevation screws were very bent and one had snapped, and the carronade itself does not have a ring for the breaching rope.
 
First step - cut off the dodgy screws and replace with some 1mm brass rod. Not perfect but it will do.
 

 
Second step - cut a notch out of the rear block and sanded the two remaining square to rounded 'wheel' shapes.
 

 

 
Third step - drilled a couple of small 0.5mm holes and added small 0.5mm brass wire for the breaching ring.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat for all four carronades, drill holes for eyepins and paint.

Cheers as always Eamonn.
 
Made a start on the carronades today. The kit supplied carronades are pretty basic, there are simple blocks for the stand with no rear wheel detail, the elevation screws were very bent and one had snapped, and the carronade itself does not have a ring for the breaching rope.
 
First step - cut off the dodgy screws and replace with some 1mm brass rod. Not perfect but it will do.
 

 
Second step - cut a notch out of the rear block and sanded the two remaining square to rounded 'wheel' shapes.
 

 

 
Third step - drilled a couple of small 0.5mm holes and added small 0.5mm brass wire for the breaching ring.
 

 

 
Just need to repeat for all four carronades, drill holes for eyepins and paint.

It is important to get a good fit. It is a balancing act however, between drilling a small enough hole to get a tight fit for the eyelets and making the hole too small and not being able to actually fit the eyelets. They have a tendency to bend under the slightest pressure, so very careful use of fine nosed pliers to push the eyelets in would be advised. I think I use a 0.5mm drill bit for the holes and then some thick cyano applied to the eyelet when fixing in place.

Thanks for all the likes everyone!
 
Bit more progress. Put together the grates and surrounds, sanded the corners round and also a slight curve to the top of the grates. Varnished and glued to the deck in the appropriate position. Also added the mast bases and sanded a circular hole for the rudder.
 
Next steps:
 
Drill holes for all the deck eyelets and carronade rigging points.
Put together the carronades and rig up.

Just got back from the southwest model and hobby show. Had a fun day at Royal Bath & West show ground and there were several ship clubs in presence but I was greatly surprised at the lack of tall ships on display.
Just a single Victory model and that was it. Rest were modern warships, fishing boats and yachts.

Ebony cannon
 
Well, after turning 8 barrels from boxwood (I had decided that it would be overkill to try casting from resin, and it did only take a day to do) I did decide to follow Nigel's suggestion and turn the cannon in ebony after all. It seemed to me that boxwood allowed a little more accuracy, but the appearance after painting wasn’t as nice as that of ebony.
 
I also decided to make the carriages at the same scale as for the 3pdr cannon. I won’t go into the process of making the carriages smaller, as I used the same techniques as for the 3.5pdr carriages that I made last time.
 

 
To make sure I didn’t go off the line too much when drilling out the bore, I used BluTak (a kind of putty) to act as a depth gauge.
 

 
Holes for the trunnions
 
I had not covered in my last posting how I drilled the holes for the trunnions. This had caused me to think a while because I needed to drill a horizontal hole through a barrel that has a changing diameter along its length.
 
In the end, the answer was simple. Using the CAD drawings I found that in order to lay the barrel so that the centre line was perfectly horizontal, I’d need to raise the edge of the muzzle swelling by 0.45mm. So I rested and held the barrel on a plank with some BluTak and placed the muzzle on some feeler gauges that combined to a depth of 0.45mm.
 
This assembly was fixed to my x-y table and a 1mm hole drilled through so that the top of the trunnion went through the central line of the bore. You’ll note the faint pencil mark in front of the reinforce ring that shows the centre line of the barrel.
 

 

 
The trunnions
 
The trunnions themselves were again made from strips off a bamboo chopstick pulled through a drawplate to 1mm diameter.
 

 
You can see the different barrels from ebony, boxwood and painted pear when compared to the original barrel below.
 

 
Finally, you can compare the carriages and barrels as they went through their evolution. (For those with questions about the acrobatic abilities of the captain, he is not standing on the barrel, but is behind).
 

 
Should you ask whether it was worth it to make a small difference to the size of the cannon and their carriages, all I can say is that they now fit the cannon ports much better. That as well as the fact that I've improved my skills slightly as a result of all this fiddling around.
 
Now I will be working on the rigging for the cannon, and I've started to plan for the belaying pins and racks.
 
Tony
 

Quick update.
 
Varnished the deck twice and now have a lovely hue to the maple decking. Also added the bulwark rails. The rear piece wouldn't fit properly, so I cut a new piece from the sprue that was slightly wider and gave a better fit. Finished off the rails with black paint.
 
The rails give a great final look to the hull now. Now onto adding fixtures and fittings.....

Quick update.
 
Varnished the deck twice and now have a lovely hue to the maple decking. Also added the bulwark rails. The rear piece wouldn't fit properly, so I cut a new piece from the sprue that was slightly wider and gave a better fit. Finished off the rails with black paint.
 
The rails give a great final look to the hull now. Now onto adding fixtures and fittings.....

Planks between the deck fittings have been replaced as per advice - thanks Jason.
 
Also, added the nibbling and planking at the port bow section. as before replaced the margin plank amidships. Still need to finish the stern section and then sand down the deck for a fully smooth finish.

Some good progress on deck planking last night.
 
I'm using 120mm deck planks, sanded to size and to give a smooth finish, then a coat of satin varnish is applied to the edges and allowed to dry before using a sharpie to colour the edges black to simulate caulking.
 
I've started with the centre line of the deck and gradually working my way out towards the margin planks. The margins are not yet glued in place as I want to be able to cut the nibbles and 'caulk' the margins outside of the ship before fixing in place.
 

 
Made a start on nibbling the foremost margin plank on the starboard side. Using test deck planks for the moment, but got the first three nibbles cut in place. Used a heavy duty x-acto blade and VERY carefully cut the nibble. I used the test planks to mark the two points at which the deck plank 'intercepts' the margin to mark out the size of cuts to make. The test planks were then shaped to fit for a final check on the shape. Minor adjustments made using a needle file.
 
Happy so far with the process but it is quite stressful the more nibbles are cut as there is more work to lose if an error is made. If in doubt, cut less and then file to shape.....!
 
Once all the nibbles are finalised for each margin plank, it will be varnished, 'caulked' and glued in place. The proper deck pieces can then be cut to fit and glued in.
 

Quick update.
 
Varnished the deck twice and now have a lovely hue to the maple decking. Also added the bulwark rails. The rear piece wouldn't fit properly, so I cut a new piece from the sprue that was slightly wider and gave a better fit. Finished off the rails with black paint.
 
The rails give a great final look to the hull now. Now onto adding fixtures and fittings.....

Crazy decking fun today!
 
Completed the starboard side of the deck. Nibbing and joggling initially went well and got the first few sets of planks fitted properly. However ran into a potential problem with the planks amidships, with the last plank laid leaving a gap of only 2mm. Gave it some thought, and decided to redo the margin planks from amidships back to the stern. Used a wider plank, shaped to fit the bulwark but left the other side flat to fit against the existing planking. This gave a good result but took a while to redo.
 
Dry fitted all the pieces and ensured everything was correct, and then removed them all, varnished the edges and coloured with a sharpie. Then glued all the pieces back into place starting with the margins.
 
Just need to repeat with the port side of the decking.
 

Quick update.
 
Varnished the deck twice and now have a lovely hue to the maple decking. Also added the bulwark rails. The rear piece wouldn't fit properly, so I cut a new piece from the sprue that was slightly wider and gave a better fit. Finished off the rails with black paint.
 
The rails give a great final look to the hull now. Now onto adding fixtures and fittings.....

Quick update.
 
Varnished the deck twice and now have a lovely hue to the maple decking. Also added the bulwark rails. The rear piece wouldn't fit properly, so I cut a new piece from the sprue that was slightly wider and gave a better fit. Finished off the rails with black paint.
 
The rails give a great final look to the hull now. Now onto adding fixtures and fittings.....

Jeers:
 
Although topmasts are pretty much ready to go on, the jeers have been nagging at me.  These seem to be pretty awkward to get in, especially once the topmast shrouds are in place so I've decided to install these before the proceeding further.  Getting the right length required quite bit of trial and error.  As always, suggestions welcome.  For some reason photos came out particularly badly tonight, so apologies in advance.
 
Block double stopped and kept in place with few drops of GS-Hypo.

 
Loop added to provide correct 'length', the three stands then seized near the top of the block.

 
Loose ends trimmed, and additional seizing put on.  I did this in accordance with the Grenado AOTS diagram (i.e. unserved), although it seems that these were also commonly served.  Frankly I didn't have the patience to attempt that...but suspect that the method could work just the same.

 
Mocked up the installation to check again length is appropriate.  There is not much room for error here, and it took multiple attempts to get length correct.  Looks OK to me.

 
Jeers will be lashed to the mast cleat on opposite side, this again is just a temporary mock up to prove it works.