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flyer

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Everything posted by flyer

  1. flyer
    Hi Snowy Snowy? in Darwin?🤔 Seriously - I start coppering aft and at the keel and work forward, finishing line for line. The plates are overlapping and the lines brick-like shifted. Gradually the line near the stern gets a bend. Then, after about 6 lines or so, I insert a stealer. The work is tedious but bringing on the plates overlapping - as the prototype was done - leaves room for corrections and basically you only have to trim the plates at the waterline. If you are looking for more detailed information about the construction of the ship I would recommend a copy of: The 74-gun Ship BELLONA by Bryan Lavery from the Anatomy of the ship series. Vanguard is a ship of the Arrogant class which has similar design dimensions as the Bellona class. Cheers Peter
  2. flyer
    The rigging of the guns continues. I will have to put tackles to the 12 of them, which could be visible from above. On this sides you find a lot of great looking, meticulously made rope coils. However, as I'm a bit afraid of hard work I was looking for a simpler solution. Now, if the guns are run out but not ready to fire but fixed in this position, wouldn't you lash the tackles instead of just coiling the ropes on the deck, leaving the guns free to move? Well, this skipper does. Most probably you would fix the gun with the side tackles, leaving you free to take off the train tackles to stow them out of the way. This skipper doesn't. The train tackles will stay in place but lashed with the free end of the rope. This is easier to do, looks tidy and perhaps isn't completely wrong. the skipper checks a finished gun stern Between placing the guns I worked a bit on the stern for a change. The bulkhead was assembled and put in place. Two nail heads serve as door knobs. Also the two ports on the lower counter got their portlids, the toping lifts still missing. glazing of the windows was done with some leftover cellophane sheet - thinner and easier to work with than the kit's part ports on the lower counter The cast stern decoration for Bellerophon is a problem. It doesn't fit well and I can't bend it to follow the curve of the transom. But Elephant has an identical decoration with the exception of the middle part. This, an elephant, was scratched away. Then I made a casting mold from the white metal original kit part and first tried a plaster casting. This came out nicely but was much too brittle to work with. A second try with dual component glue came out quite well and even stayed a bit flexible - probably I made a little mistake in the mixture. I need a few more tries, but this will be the way to go. Elephant decoration with elephant scratched away original cast part, plaster casting and mold white painted cast of Bellerophon made with dual component glue Bellerophon replacing the Elephant
  3. flyer
    the spectacle plate in detail - a strip of cartridge paper and 2 eyebolts upper deck guns and equipment The next task - and test of my endurance - will be installing the 28 guns on the upper deck. 10 of them will be partly rigged and following RMC's very sensible lead I will install just the train tackles and breech ropes as this will be the only - at least partly - visible parts of the gun rigging. I'm a bit worried about guns breaking loose within the already closed decks (a fear shared by quite some of captain Aubrey's contemporaries) and will put a small nail through the carriage into the deck in addition to gluing them down. Those guns are now provisionally placed and will be attached permanently one by one. The blurred paint dividing lines on the hull are clearly visible. I keep telling myself that the prototype was really hand-painted and done by visual judgement only. Therefore a little lack of perfection could perhaps add authenticity... gun carriages will be hold in place by brute force
  4. flyer
    Hi Martin All that merlot I would need to soften all those flaws would take a toll on my liver. Perhaps I could just take my glasses off?🍷🍷 Despite my reservations about her perfection, I admit I do like that big girl as well. Hi Mort Certainly. I will add a picture in the build log. I see you are building Caldercraft's Victory but I cannot find the build log.😉 Cheers all peter
  5. flyer
    After installing gudgeons and pintles the rudder got also a spectacle plate (made from cartridge paper) and eyebolts for emergency steering and securing the rudder. The following painting of the outer hull was even more cumbersome than expected - mainly because I used a much too stiff masking tape for the first side. With a better tape the second one was a bit easier. I used tree paint covers and countless corrections and I still see flaws every time I look at the build. However I keep telling myself that all those imperfections add to the 'handmade' quality of the model. The paints are Admiralty water based paints, with 15% white in the yellow ochre and about 5% white in the dull black. The black looked rather grey on the brush but I like the finished paint. The upper part of the rudder was painted as well and all the lower hinges touched up with copper paint. The inner part of the side galleries and the cabins were 'grey washed'. I used white with just a little bit of black in order to get as close as possible to the impression on the pictures of Victory. After touching up the gun port frames with red and provisionally hanging the rudder it was time for a photo session. seen from a distance, the paint looks ok the captain, inspecting the newly hanged rudder, is dwarfed by the ship
  6. flyer
    Hi Martin Thanks. Those flushing toilets are an interesting subject. I didn't know they go back a few thousand years and were quite common in better houses in England 200 years ago. And on a man of war I expected chamber pots or buckets for the officers - but no, they went to war in style! Hi Harlequin Your Bellona is an extremely fine build and with your connection to the original myth Bellerophon would be a logical successor (you seem to react very well to challenges...)😉. Cheers Peter
  7. flyer
    Hi Paul Thanks, this is a great help. A flush toilet for the captain - very ingenious, I had no Idea. However, I think, the water in that rather shallow, open cistern would constantly swap over the edge. Was this possibly used as a collector for a closed cistern below, in the roof of the side gallery? Anyway I will change the design of the side gallery top as sketched below. Cheers Peter
  8. flyer
    Building the side galleries was so far easier done than expected. I started with the 2 parts with windows - they were adjusted to the already installed end-to-end planking - and glued on. Then the adjacent windowless parts could be fit with only a small reworking necessary. The bottom 5mm mdf-part fit also quite well. However the top part of the side gallery needs a bit of rethinking and reworking. The kit asks to build something like a little pool on top of the gallery and this differs from any plans and pictures I could find. I suspect a misinterpretation of plans by the kit makers. I will install a more conventional, two stepped roof and hope to find room for the decorative parts. Some details of the outer hull were also installed including the bolsters for the anchor flukes which are missing in the plans. first side gallery parts attached first four plywood parts attached The roof is not finished, it needs one more step and the whole construction needs more filler. hull details including steps lower part of bolster
  9. flyer
    Hi Martin This is a very special Fly you are building and will be an unique piece of art. Desultory work? Many of us hobby model builders seem to be a bit overcritical when judging our own work. But I say that you should not judge a finished model by every single little detail (which may sometimes leave a little room for improvement) but by the overall impression - which will be great in the case of your Fly. (Of course I repeatedly say the piece with the overall impression to myself to overcome the frustration with my own botched details.) Cheers Peter
  10. flyer
    The coppering of both sides is now finished and the copper is being polished. I use Proxxon nylon-fleece brushes to clean and brass-wire wheel brushes to polish the copper. The untreated polished copper will accumulate a dark natural patina within a few years. For breaks I'm coppering the lower half of the rudder. This itself was a bit reworked: The front edge was angled 30° to both sides to allow the rudder to turn and the back edge was sanded down to 3mm towards its lowest point. Also the painting of the hull was started with the yellow strakes while I start wondering how I will ever get the puzzle of the quarter galleries together. Copper partly cleaned on port side Rudder being coppered
  11. flyer
    Hi Bob Very well done! Perhaps you could treenail the end of the planks at the bulkhead because the planks would probably run up to but not under the bulkhead construction. This bulkhead seems to be a permanent one which needs not to be removed to create a continuous gun deck in action: there are no guns aft of it. Cheers Peter
  12. flyer
    Thanks to all for the compliments. It helps and encourages me to glue hundreds more of those little plates on. (About 3/4 done, only 600 to go!) Still putting them on overlapping is a great help. Only those at the beginning and end of a line need to be trimmed. Martin: Hour? I'm enjoying every second - being rather overjoyed by now. Cheers Peter
  13. flyer
    Hi Bob Made exactly the same mistake. Finally I replaced the botched planks. In Goodwin's book, on page 56, the bulkhead seems to stand directly on a beam while the planks end in front of it . However on page 54 the bulkhead seems to stand on the planks. On page 53 the model shows a vertical plank running across the bulkhead as lower edge of it and the deck planks ending at that plank. 3 different solutions within 4 pages: I think you have a certain liberty how to finish it. Cheers Peter
  14. flyer
    Hi Chris First of all I wish you much fun and success with your newest enterprise and I'm looking forward to more outstanding kits. Of the cutters I would prefer Alert and think it would make a good start for your new line of kits. Small enough for the beginners and possible to build alongside a bigger project (e.g. Bellerophon) for a change. A smaller 28- or 32-gun frigate would fulfil a dream of mine. The ex-french La Tourterelle(28) or a Mermaid(32) would be nice or even an actually launched kit of the Surprise. Do you plan to build in 1/64 scale or would a scale 1/72 frigate model perhaps sell as a nice complement to a ship of the line of the same scale? Cheers Peter
  15. flyer
    Hi Michael The cannon looks very good. I think you'r right about the position of the dolphins: They would help handling the barrel and therefore would best be placed above the centre of gravity. If the barrel stays more or less horizontal if you hang it by the dolphins it should be ok - otherwise you could try to move them. But in my opinion another point is more important. As far as I understand the trunnions are part of and cast with the barrel and should give the impression of being of the same metal as the barrel. Wood wouldn't be able to hold the heavy carriage to the fast recoiling barrel when firing the cannon. You are on a fascinating journey with this build - thank you for taking us along. Peter
  16. flyer
    Hi Rob Your Ethalion looks wonderful and I admire the way you build an unique model with this kit. Having had the pleasure to build those ***** shot lockers for my Bellerophon I would like to share a few thoughts and hope you don't mind. In my kit the supplied cannonballs were much too big and I had to replace them. In the case of your Ethalion the 18 pounder shots should have a diameter of about 5 inch or 2mm in scale - they look larger. Then I think you should try to settle those balls a bit deeper into the locker - now they are in danger of getting loose in just a bit of a sea and shots rolling across a deck could be mistaken as a first sign of an impending mutiny, as Jack Aubrey tells us. My solution was to take 1mm wood strips, drill 1mm holes into it and then drill with a 2mm drill bit nearly through it. Taking the shots out now might be a bit of a fumbling but they will not accidentally drop out. Cheers and keep up the great work Peter
  17. flyer
    Hi Bob You are making great progress with your Granado. It seems you finally got over your Vanguard withdrawal syndrome. Only scratching just the outline of those lids ,I think, is out of the question in a quality build as yours. However the lid should sit flush in the counter and you will have to cut out the opening in the finished counter. I had the same problem but perhaps half an hour work with a sharp scalpel provided the desired result - although I had to rebuild at least one lid because it was suddenly too small... Cheers Peter
  18. flyer
    First (port) half of the coppering is done. Me, I'm looking forward to a nice diversified work, like knotting ratlines. The copper will be polished after both sides are done. The amount of copper plates was just sufficient. By careful use of trimmed leftovers I managed to keep enough full plates to cover rudder and keel. the scale figure of the captain shows just how much expensive copper was put on such a ship of the line
  19. flyer
    Hi B.E. Looking great. And that moulded strip is made ingeniously and looks good too. If there is nothing worse you have to 'live with' you are really living very well. Cheers Peter
  20. flyer
    Hi Martin You obviously don't believe in taking the easy way. Your Fly will be a unique gem. Would there be a story behind that pile of hypothermic needles which you could tell over that beer? Take care Peter
  21. flyer
    Hi Dave Thanks. The linked article is a great one about a fact every modeller should be familiar with. Adding 15% white seems be a bit much in scale 1/76 - but for the yellow colour on my Pickle build this could be about what I actualy took while the black there was right out of the can. Generally I would and will add less white to black - a few drops up to perhaps 5% will make a big change already. Cheers Peter
  22. flyer
    hull details, coppering After installing some hull decoration strips I marked the waterline and put a1x1mm strip on it. It was then painted dull black. To give it a more realistic finish I mixed in some white. (In a book, written by a professional model railroad landscape builder he explains about colour scale. By that he means that if you look at a model in scale 1/100 from a distance of 50cm it should look the same as the prototype from a distance of 50m. And from that distance colours look less bright because of the air absorbing some of the intensity. He says that's the reason that models tend to look like toys if you use original colours. He recommends to always mix in a bit of white or grey and to avoid shiny colours. I think it works.) Below the waterline strip I painted a copper strip to cover eventual irregularities at the edge of the coppering. As on previous builds I broke of single copper plates and glued them on individually and overlapping, starting at the stern and the keel. After putting on the first leaf of copper plates, I had the happy idea to check how many there are. 2400. 2400! I just hope the skin on my fingertips will endure that as I have to peel off dried CA glue (and some skin) after each coppering session. To have some variety I do small projects in between, such as adding outer hull details or more shot garlands - seems I can't stop making them, now I know how. waterline marked and coppering started waterline coppering details additional shot garlands
  23. flyer
    Hi Martin No deck above - no chimney needed.? And maybe not my carpenters are at fault but they probably get sometime some strange instructions which they follow without questions. That's the navy, I think. Cheers Peter
  24. flyer
    Not only have you finished a outstanding and truly beautiful masterpiece, also your build log is a treasure of 'how to do's' and full of tips and tricks. Thank you very much for sharing. Peter
  25. flyer
    Hi B.E. The planking looks good, especially in pictures 1295 - 1298, which show the most important viewpoints. However, if I'm interpreting your assistants facial expression correctly he's only appraisal criterion is: edible? yes/no Good luck in convincing him to do the treenailing.😉 Cheers Peter

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