gieb8688

As shown above, there's no space in the counter to install linkages for steering the model remotely that wouldn't be glaringly noticeable and intrusive, so, another way to steer the model had to be devised.  The real boat was steered by a tiller.  Some 8 feet long and a foot square at it's largest, tapering down to about 6" diameter, and standing about as high as your hip.  Under way, you could feel everything the boat was doing which made steering Pride often feel like sailing a yacht.  But, if that tiller wanted to go somewhere, it was going no matter who had hold of it.  It either pulled away from you, or took you along for the ride, usually depositing you in a heap in the waterways.

 
To tame the beast, a block and tackle were hooked into an eye-bolt in the waterway and attached to a pendant on the tiller.  Typically, only one relieving tackle was used opposite the weather helm, but on occasion, two were attached.  Maneuvering around the harbor, in and out of the dock, etc, no tackle was attached, but the pendants became a permanent fixture of tarred line turks-headed onto the tiller.
 
Not having a way to hide hard linkages between servo and rudder, I've opted to steer the boat using lines from the servo to the tiller and rig them so they look like relieving tackles.  This isn't unheard of but it will require the tiller to be something more than a varnished bit of wood.  Actually, I started with a varnished bit of wood...
 
 
The real tiller though would be of metal, with the wooden part hiding that fact.  A steel collar was sweated to a copper tiller and the rudder post hole drilled out.  The collar was attached so the set-screw was angled off in a way it could be reached with an allen wrench.
 
 
The wooden tiller was epoxied and screwed to the metal tiller.
 
 
The rudder post rod was cut down so the tiller would be at the right height, and a false rudder head was built up to hide the collar.
 
 
The steering cable will run, port & starboard, from the tiller to a block in the waterway, over to the lazerette hatch where it will go below and to the rudder servo under the cabin hatch.

 
Two brass tube come through the lazerette hatch coaming to guide the steering cable below.  A couple of wood blocks glued to the underside of the sub-deck anchor the tubes in place.  The tubing was cut flush with the hatch coaming and is hardly visible.
   
 
A pair of top masts was made from white pine.  I look at a lot of photos, especially in Greg Pease's book, Sailing With Pride, to get their shape and finish correct for 1981 as they changed, and were even replaced, through the boat's life.  The fid holes are lined with brass tube epoxied in place.
     

A set of beams was installed forward of the fin trunk, to hold the battery.  It will lie flat, as low as possible, and be held by Velcro tabs.

 
The focs'le hatch on the real boat was different than the plans, it was much taller with a hinged lid.  I used the same wood used in the other hatch coamings and built it up in three layers, log cabin style.  I had some notion of putting something up here, like an on/off switch, but I doubt that'll happen.  None-the-less, I made a hinged lid and a hole in the subdeck.
 
 

 
In side the cabin hatch, I put in brackets to carry an aircraft plywood shelf for the rudder servo to mount in.  It's held by screws and will be removable for servicing.
 
 
The parts for the prop shaft and motor couplings came in
 
 
Which meant drilling a hole in the stern post for it.  This was done with a long 3/16" bit, over sized so the brass tube "stuffing box" can be adjusted and surrounded by epoxy.  This is yet another thing that ought to have been done to the keel while it could lie flat, before it was placed on the forms.  JB Weld was added inside to ooze into any nooks and crannies the epoxy missed.
 
 
   
 
Another ordered part arrived - a rheostat type speed controller, with forward and reverse.  This is operated by a micro servo, so I made up a mount to handle it.
 
 
It was fitted inside the cabin hatch on a beam that also serves as a stuffing box support,  painted with that red spray paint, and fixed in place.
 
 

 
 

Another.

I further added details to the forecastle and anchors.

And here's my first mast using my new setup:-
 



 
Regards
 
Nick

Hi all, Nearly time for masts and I didn't fancy my chances with a draw knife or David plane, so spent the weekend modifying my trusty lathe from the 'rough-but-functional' school of engineering - this was a scrap-heap challenge, so everything you see was lying round the workshop somewhere, so you could argue I built this for nothing. should be self explanatory from the pictures I hope:-
 



 
It's designed to cut any taper (as well as cylinder) within reason with the lathe running, or will taper individual faces and cut parallel square or octagonal sections with the indexing plate and the lathe stationary. In both cases the Dremel does all the work.
 








 
Strangely, it all seems to have worked!


 
Thanks for looking.
 
Nick

Like most other folks on this forum, I'm building a Caldercraft Victory.
 
This is my second foray into the world of ships, the first being a 1/200th Trumpy Arizona that I built by accident, seeing as somebody maliciously stuck the kit under my nose for fifty quid, so what can you do?
 
Here's that one anyway:-

 
SO the Victory, I bought as a 'long term project' in 2007, after, I'm ashamed to say, spending a morning in Portsmouth, recovering from a very drunken stag do and finding myself getting dragged around HMS Victory. Knowing nothing at all about ships, then or now, I was blown away by the thing, and decided to resurrect my model building career by buying this kit.
 
The rest is history, it really did start me building models again - aircraft and after having made a start on her building the basic hull, second planking I ran out of steam after plating one side of the Hull. And got sucked back into aviation modelling again in a big way for the last six years.
 
So she has followed me around after two house moves in that condition until about three weeks ago, where finding some long lost time on my hands, I decided to crack on. I've got the customary few old photos of the 'excitement' of getting the most expensive kit I ever bought started:-
 

The early build is just like everyone else's, so I won't bore you with the same old shots.
 
Here is where I'm up to today:-








 
Thanks for looking and the warm welcome to the forum, I'm amazed how many other people are building this kit.
 
Regards
 
Nick

The second planking is tedious and time consuming and seems to be moving at a snails pace, which I blame on spiling of the bow planks!
 
For a change of pace, I decided to make the display base.
 
I found these little gems, by accident, at the local hardware store.   A little cutting sanding and slotting transformed them into pedestals and saved me setting up the lathe!  
 

 

 
Before and after.
 

 
My next door neighbor, and cousin, is a cabinet maker. A little scrounging in his "scrap" bin revealed a lovely piece of ash. He discarded it because it had a slight bow and he would lose the needed thickness if planed. Since I didn't need a "standard" or set thickness, it was off the jointer and then the planer to remove the offending curve. (He was kind enough to perform those steps for me)
After cutting it to the desired dimensions, (6"x14") I dusted off the router and gave it a Roman Ogee profile - without the top step.
 

 
This is the end result, but nothing is fixed permanently at this stage.
 

 
That's it for now...back to planking....

I really like Michael's "definition" for what I am doing.
It's actually quite true.
 
So....I did some more "juggling the order" and decided to carve the figurehead. It's not that I don't like planking, it's just a tad monotonous compared to other tasks.
 
The figurehead is in 2 pieces and was hand carved from a small block of basswood. The scalpel in the photo is for size comparison.
 
The figurehead appears larger than it really is when dry fitted on the stem because of the angle of the photograph. (That being said - it is probably a little off scale, but I'm happy with and will leave it as is.)
 

 

 

Hey Group
 
An update !  Working on the cheeks - have to say this is my favorite part of the build so far.  This is where the careful work i did almost four years ago on the stem is paying off - everything for the most part is lining up.  You can see I did rework the trailboards vs using the ones Chuck generously supplied - mine needed to be about 1/16 wider at the hawse holes for it to fit and align everything properly.  Some tweaking will still be necessary - my advice for people building the kit is to know going in - this area is probably more of a scratch building exercise than simply using the kit components.  Most will need to adjust/re work  parts  to compensate for the creep that is unavoidable in your build.  I also highly recommend using hardwoods for the cheeks.  
 
Next up will be to finish the cheeks by inscribing the moldings, dyeing the tailboards/stem/adding the carvings, painting the figurehead and installing everything to the model.
 
Lastly picked up a couple Ancre Monographs and am currently studying them for my next builds. I'm pumped !  I should be busy for the rest of my life with these - I intend to build both in 1/48.  
 
Chris

OK Group,
 
An update at last - starting the headrails.  Up first is the lower cheek.  After careful sanding to get it to fit - the next issue was devising a way to get straight groves along the faces of the cheeks.  The solution is simple - create a handle - which I did with a couple scraps of wood - and a brass nail elevated exactly 1/64.  Then all you need to do is run the piece along the nail several times to create a groove - which was then enlarged with a series of larger nails used by hand similar to an awl.  
 
Ive also attached a bow shot - alignment here is so critical - and by my eye the right side is a little lower than the left.  Not much can be done here to correct other than possible adjust the height of the hawse hole boards if need be to compensate for the upper cheek.  We will see how it looks once i remove the black strake above the cheek in order to install the hawse hole boards - hopefully this weekend if the twins allow.
 
 

Hello,
more pictures of the construction progress of the carronades:

 

 
Here the rings for breech rope are made:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Jastrzab: thanks for comments. Next pictures are following special for you .
Sparrow: Jan, I am very glad to serve as a source of inspiration .  Some years ago I was in the same situation, but after busy years in business I have now a lot of time on ship modeling .
The inside of the boat is completely ready, the rudder remains to be completed and then anchor and oars.
 

Fortunately when I got the plans from Gilmer, I got the full set with structural details,  especially a cross section of the structure; because it's not at all easy to tell where the top of the deck is.  This apparently was a problem found by some company doing flooding analysis on her, they were given a profile and not knowing where the deck was, calculated to the top of the rail.
 
As it is, the top of the deck is level with the top of the wale, which was the next piece to be installed.

 
I had a length of screen molding we used as a batten, or spline, when laying out Mark's skiff on the plywood.  It was precisely the width of the model's wales.
 
 
With the wales on, the prop notch cut, and the dagger board trunk installed, hull was ready to get some paint.
First, a coat of primer.

 
Then I found some spray paint that pretty closely matched the color of Pride's bottom paint
 
 
I thought I had a picture of Pride out of the water where the color of her bottom could be seen, but nearly all my shots of her hauled out are black & white newspaper photos.  This image is from 1980 and you can see a little of her bottom color.

 
I hand painted some flat black above the waterline.

 
The wale widens forward at the hawse pipes, this was installed next, but I'm not drilling the hawse holes yet.
 
 
Again, referring to the cross-section, the top of the deck extends to the top of the wale.  This is capped with a waterway log, which itself has a cap.  There's light planking above this to the cap rail.  The portion of the waterway cap that's exposed outboard forms something of a channel down the boat's side, and this part of the cap is painted red.

 
I cut some 1/16" square strips and sanded them 1/2 round.  This was applied to the outside of the hull to represent the outboard portion of the waterway cap rail.

 
At the top of this channel between the wale and the waterway cap, snugged up under the cap are the channels.  This were more white pine, thicker at the hull and tapered to about half their thickness outboard.  One was installed.  Looking back, I'm not sure why I only did one, but

 
Some black paint touched up the faux waterway rail and the channel below it.  Then put a coat of white on the bulwarks, and cut the gunports.
 
 
The wing transoms and fashion pieces were fabricated and installed, and the facny piece and moldings on the transom..
 
 
Something didn't look right with the deck clamp, and upon investigation, I found it was off at the bow and stern.  It was too well attached to just detach and move, so I pulled it out completely.  Had I installed the wale first, I could have more accurately gauged where to install the deck clamp (minus the thickness of the plywood sub-deck and decking).
 
Finding a small container of red paint turned out to be a challenge.  I wound up with a $2 can of spray paint and proceeded to paint the waterway cap.
 
 
Finally, the rest of the channels were installed.

 
And everything painted
 

Hello all,
 
Thought it was about time I had a go at this. Not great with this sort of thing so hope this goes ok.
Started my Agamemnon March this year, couldn't believe how big it was when the box arrived.
This is my 3rd build, HMS Snake ( Caldercraft ) and Racehourse being the others.
Followed Mobbsie and Decoymans Aggie builds and they have been a great help.

I finished the planking, I have spent more or less 180h to plank the whole hull...

I'm going to upload this step by step as fast as I can, but remember...I have a lot of pic of the progress so, be patient my friends 
Cheers,
 
Ricardo.

Hello to you all fellow builders,

As you know , Mobbsie has ordered the HMS Agamemnon for me and finally she is in dry dock in Schiedam.
I will not start on her .
I have first finish the Le Mirage.
But when you have a new kit in the house , you want to show it.
That's the reason why I open a build log…...
First of course a little history lesson and later on the pictures of all the stuff that is in the box.
When I start on her I know I need a lot of help and advise from all of you.
I have a few great examples of other Aggy's and I know that Mobbsie will be there for me if needed.
So let the lesson begins and hopefully it will not take to long when I can start building her.




Caldercraft HMS Agamemnon 1781 1:64

HMS Agamemnon 1781 64 Gun 3rd Rate Ship of the Line 1:64 Scale.




The Agamemnon was one of seven ships built to the same design, drawn by the same naval architect that designed the famous Victory, Sir Thomas Slade. Agamemnon was the third to be built in the class, the first two being Ardent in 1762 and Raisonnable, laid down in 1763. Third was Agamemnon, followed by Belliqueux in 1778, Stately in 1779, Indefatigable in 1781 and finally the Nassau in 1783.




A Third Rate ship of the line like Agamemnon was an expensive warship to build. The construction of the ship’s hull with yards and masts fitted cost the Admiralty £20,579 (in today’s terms, approximately £12 million), a figure that did not include ordnance, sails, hemp, copper plating and other hardware.




For three of the most crucial decades in British naval history, Agamemnon always seemed to be at the centre of the action, having no less than eleven battle honours.




Agamemnon’s maiden voyage was on 9th July 1781 under the command of Captain Caldwell. Her first engagement was at the battle of Ushant on 12th December 1781 where the British fleet under Rear Admiral Kempenfelt defeated the French fleet and captured a significant number of ships, including the convoy the French were escorting. Agamemnon’s next major engagement was at the Battle of The Saints on 12th April 1782 where Rodney and Lord Hood’s fleet defeated Comte de Grasse’s French fleet.




On 7th January 1793, Nelson learned from Lord Hood that he had been chosen to command his first ship of the line, the Agamemnon. Although initially disappointed that he had not been given command of a 74, Nelson soon grew fond of Agamemnon. Nelson wrote to his wife, Fanny. She was, he said, "Without exception one of the finest ships in the fleet, with the character of sailing most remarkably well". He also wrote after twelve days in a storm in the Mediterranean in "Gales and lumping seas but in Agamemnon we mind them not; she is the finest ship I ever sailed in, and were she a 74, nothing should induce me to leave her while the war lasts". Even a French Commander Admiral Alemand expressed the view that Agamemnon was one of the fastest ships in the British Navy. That, coupled with Nelson’s inspirational command made her a very potent fighting unit.




Nelson commanded Agamemnon, or "eggs and bacon" as her crew affectionately called her, until 10th June 1796. In that time Nelson had proved to be a great Commander, tactically and physically.




It was during his command of Agamemnon that Nelson lost the sight of his right eye. When at the Siege of Calvi in 1794 during the morning of 10th July, Nelson was hit in the face and chest by splinters, stones and sand that were thrown up by an enemy shell that hit a battlement during a shore action. On 13th June 1796, Nelson’s broad pennant was transferred to the 74 gun Captain at anchor in San-Fiorenza bay. He watched the worn out Agamemnon sail to England for a much-needed refit. She was refitted from the bottom up at Chatham. When re-commissioned in 1797 she was ordered to join Admiral Duncan’s squadron off Yarmouth, which was keeping watch on the coast of Holland. She was immediately caught up in the naval mutinies of that year. Agamemnon was however considered untrustworthy by Richard Parker the leader of the Nore mutineers and had the guns of the mutinous ships trained on her to ensure she did not ‘blackleg’. Subsequently in the proceedings that followed all thirteen of Agamemnon’s crew who were tried were pardoned.




Agamemnon’s next major fleet engagement was the battle of Copenhagen on the 21st April 1801. Unfortunately she was grounded on a shoal for most of the action, but Nelson won the battle and a truce with Denmark was negotiated. On the 21st October 1805 Agamemnon took part in the battle of Trafalgar. When Nelsons favorite ship hove in sight a week before, with Nelsons old friend Sir Edward Berry in command of the Agamemnon, Nelson was delighted "Here comes that damned fool Berry! Now we shall have a battle." At Trafalgar the 27 British ships of the line defeated the Franco Spanish fleet of 33 line of battle ships in a victory that ensured British supremacy of the sea for the next 100 years. Later in Agamemnon’s career, she served in the West Indies, taking part in the battle of Santo Domingo, and then in South American waters. Agamemnon was wrecked in Maldonado Bay off the coast of Uruguay on the 16th June 1809. Divers have recently discovered the remains of HMS Agamemnon on the bottom of Maldonado Bay, after a six-year search by marine archaeologists. Strewn around the site are hundreds of copper plate, as well as a 24 pounder cannon, parts of the pumping devices as well as a significant amount of shot, bolts and copper nails. Also discovered was a silver pocket seal, complete with fob chain. On its face of translucent stone it bore a star shaped emblem with the name ‘Nelson’ in mirror image incised in a curve above.




Agamemnon was laid down at Bucklers Hard in May 1777 and launched on the 10th April 1781. Her dimensions were as follows;




Gun deck - 160 feet 2 inches


Keel- 131 feet 10 1/4 inches


Beam - 44 feet 5 inches


Tonnage - 1384 tons


Guns;


Twenty-six, twenty-four pounder - Gun deck.


Twenty-six, eighteen pounder - Upper deck.


Twelve, nine pounder - Quarterdeck.


Complement - 491 officers and ratings.




The Caldercraft Agamemnon kit features: Double plank on bulkhead construction, Keel and bulkheads are CNC cut in Birch ply as are all the major constructional parts. Extensive use of CNC cut Walnut has been employed for the majority of visible structures and fittings.


The wood strip pack contains Lime wood for the first planking, Walnut for the second planking and Tanganyka for the decks. Ramin dowel is supplied for the masts and yards.


Walnut and etched brass stern gallery windows, with the remaining tafrail decoration in finely cast white metal. Scale brass cannon barrels with walnut carriages.


Rigging thread is supplied in natural and black to rig the model as depicted in the photographs. Beechwood deck gratings and Walnut Blocks and deadeyes. Shroud cleats, trucks, stunsail yard brackets as well as CNC cut Walnut tops, crosstrees, trestle trees, mast caps and a wealth of unique detail parts. Copper plates are provided to sheath the hull bottom.


Fully detailed full size plans and a comprehensive construction manual.



Specifications:


Scale: 1:64


Length: 1300mm


Width: 490mm


Height 945mm


Planking: Double

The main mast is finished. As I said before, when working on the masts, I am completing as much as possible before stepping them on into the ship. This may seem unorthodox to some, but for me it is a matter of necessity. When assembling the masts and rigging them, especially with sails, it is necessary to rotate them many many times in order to access all sides. With the sheer size of this model and the fact that my work bench is in a corner of the room, rotating the whole ship with the masts in place is very cumbersome and somewhat hazardous. Having the mast in a movable table vise makes it very easy to rotate in any direction, even tilting if necessary. After the mast is stepped, it will still be necessary to rotate it some in order to finish the lower shrouds and attach the running rigging to the deck belay points, but nowhere as much as with the masts assembled on the ship. For this model, this methed has worked very nicely for me.
 
Next up is to step the mast and finished it's rigging. That is a fun part that I really enjoy.
 
Vince P.

I finished the topgallent and royal yardarms
 

 
Here are all the yardarms.
 

 
 
Now on to the spritsail yard, spanker boom and spanker gaff.
 
 

I finished the Fore, Main and Mizzen lower yards
 

 

 

 

 
One of the draw backs with using oil paint to simulate the bright colors is that it tends to rub off with ahndling and will nedd to be touched up. No big deal.

The framing for the upper deck has started.  Hopefully it will look better than the lower deck framing.  The biggest difference between the two decks is that there are hanging knees at every beam, slowing down the process considerably.  In order to accurately mark the centerline I have wrapped a loop of thread through the ventilation spaces of the hawse pieces.  A second thread is secured to this loop and attached to the stem.
 

 
The carlings are dry-fit (and at least one of them needs replacing ) and still need their notches for the ledges cut.  The pillar has a tenon superiorly to fit into a mortise on the undersurface of the beam.  Inferiorly it is simply glued to the deck.  The large gap between the hanging knee and the frames occured because I have chosen to omit the ceiling below the deck clamps. 
 

Fiberglass
 
With frames set in and the hull's shape stable, it was time to glass the outside.
 
I started with the transom

 
Then the portside
 
 
Once that had set-up, it was on to the starboard side

 
There, that wasn't so bad

 
Excess resin went into the bilges and on the lower frames.
 
 
After the glass set-up and was sanded, there were some blisters where the glass didn't lay and bond to the hull, these came off while sanding and were filled with auto-body putty.  More sanding and another coat of resin brushed on, then sanding again.  Some clean up and degreasing and it's...
 
Wale Ho!
 
On this model the wale isn't the structural member it is on a real ship, but I did want it done in an anchor-stock pattern as it would be visible on close inspection.
I started by cutting a block of white pine, as used for the rest of the planking, to the offset anchor-stock shape, then slicing off 1/8" thick planks.
 
 
I started on the starboard side by marking the positions of each plank on the hull from the bow aft, and actually started gluing them on amidships.  I used CA to attach them to the hull, and Titebond III to glue them to each other.
 
 
Clamping them to the hull took some thinking at places, as did clamping them to each other without lifting them off the hull.
 
 
At the bow the pieces needed to be precurved, so the SBJ (Sophisticated Bending Jig) was employed.  The pieces were wet, clamped in the jig, and left overnight.
 
 
It took a little over a week, but the starboard wale was done.  Now to the port side!

 
I took a slightly different approach this time.  Clamping the pieces to the hull was quite tedious, so I used the nails I used to hold the planking with during construction to hold the pieces onto the hull here.  This made things go much quicker and smoother.
Before starting though, I cut out a gunport just for fun.  I was afraid the hull would flex with the ports cut out, but I need them cut before I frame up the hull thickness behind them, because that framing sets into the gunport opening a bit.  Actually, the planking is set back creating a rabbet for the lid to close against.
 
 

 
My friend Mark was building a crabbing skiff at my place, and while he had the epoxy out, I stole a bit to give the wales a couple of coats
 
 
I then started carefully cutting out each gunport opening.  Once all the gun ports are cut out along the gun deck, the internal framing will go in around each one, making the hull the right thickness as seen through the gunports.  The focs'le and quarterdeck ports will be cut after they're framed and the external moldings have been installed.
 

Recently I was doing grating and would like to talk about a device that made my friend Sergey from Russia.
I think the principles of easy to see from the photos.
I myself could not do it out of iron, but I made out of wood and it works the same way.
I hope it will be useful to many.

While I'm figuring out what to do about this latest challenge. here a some more better pictures of the coppering, taken outside and I after applying the first of several coats of yellow ochre.  When I got done with the coppering I noticed that much of it was tarnishing quite badly, so I got some rinseable copper polish, polished the whole thing up nright and shiny, then sprayed on a couple of coats of satin finish clear polyurethane.  I like the finish.
 
Patrick