dvm27

Hello,
today again only small steps forward. The ratlines of the main shrouds are finished by now.

My rope serving machine has been converted to be able to serve the catharpins
 

I did a little side project, putting together the winch sub-assembly from Chuck’s https://www.syrenshipmodelcompany.com site. This is one of several I have as part of my Cheerful semi-scratch build. This model with the plans, starter kit, monograph, and these sub-assemblies, make entry into scratch building so much easier an experience.

The winch comes in a little baggy of finely lasered parts, mine is in boxwood. I printed the simple to follow instructions from the website and commenced to sand and file away.

The instructions say to bevel the many panels (5 barrels and obviously 8 to each barrel) so that only a brown edge is showing. Not surprisingly my last one was better than the first. The big key is when the instructions say only a little edge is showing, it means a very little tiny barely visible bit of brown edge. This one still needed more filing.

With everything assembled, it’s time to paint using the Golden Cadium Red I’ve selected for the model. This is in a bottle not a tube, but I still mixed it at about 3 parts paint to one part water. This gives it an almost ‘red water’ consistency. I found three coats were enough to make me happy. I painted a scrap piece and after three it started looking a little too thick.
 
I use Admiralty Paint Ironwood Black for the components that are, well, wood meant to look like iron, (so that’s how they got the name…) on a real winch. This is great paint, it took only one coat, any more and it will look more like paint and less like metal. As a side note, more of this paint is one of the items in my lost order from the UK.

I’m a big fan of 400 grit sandpaper, I use it to soften everything to make it feel “warmer” and “worn.” With 400 grit as opposed to even 320 there is no danger of losing shape or too much material.  I also did a little shaping at the top, not too much, its a winch…
 
Because I’m using very thin paint I did have to remove all the laser char otherwise it would show through. That was a bit challenging with the end pieces. So here I'm clearly not done.
My hemostats come in handy to hold things while I’m painting, easy here since I could use a 1/16th stick to hold them.

The final dry-fit. It’s really not this shiny, just the bright light and my iPhone thinking too much.
 
The final step is glue it all together, snip off the rod running through it and add the red caps to the ends. I’m not going to do that until I’m ready to mount it on the ship - a long long time from now - just in case any adjustments are needed on the fit to the deck. So off it all goes to join the rudder and sternpost on a cabinet shelf I keep free of everything but a soft cloth bottom and future parts of my current model. I’m sure a few cannon will find their way to that shelf before they’re ready to mount. I like little projects like this to break up the build process.
 
So now back to the hull.

The Proxxon planer is a superb tool. It uses blades for smooth cutting. But is can only plane to a thickness of @0.060" unless you use a sled underneath.  I use my Proxxon planer to remove large amounts of wood quickly and the Byrnes thickness sander to dial in the final width.

Not sure how you found this list Archjofo but I'm very happy you did. Your work is beautiful, both wooden and metal.

Thanks Grant & Chuck.
 
Main jeer bitts underway

The extension to the standard does run up in a similar curve to the lower rail. It extends right up to the top of the hair bracket scroll. Behind the figure there are three solid layers; the two hair brackets on the outside sandwiching the extension piece. See my sketch superimposed on your drawing as an approximation.

A little step:

I greet everyone!  
 I continue to build the model, in the photo the assembly of the aft bridge.

Folding tool update
 
After the first use of the tool, I immediately made a couple of modifications, which however, I had expected to introduce anyway.
When working with cardboard or paper one needs to ‘overbend’ the folds somewhat, so that they stay at the desired angle. This is different to working with soft sheet-metal. Styrene sheet also will have this spring effect. Therefore, the folding edges were given a 10° clearance angle. An angle of 15° may have been even better, but it works with the 10°. The edges are not really weakened by this.
The second modification was to place a spring washer under the folding ruler. I had in mind to do this right away, but could not find them in the first place. The washers lift up the ruler a bit, so that it is easier to slip the material under it.
 
 
Gun operating platforms and gratings
 
The gun is mounted effectively on a turntable, so that platforms for crew are needed to give them access to the gun, while is being trained left or right. These platforms are made of wire gratings that are placed into angle-iron frames. The frames are suspended from the lower carriage by brackets. The pictorial evidence (photographs, drawings) is not detailed enough to fully understand what the brackets actually looked like and how and where exactly they were attached to the lower carriage frame. Some additional information is given by the Danish instruction model and the Russian clones in Suomenlinna fortress, but the carriages of these guns differ in detail from that on SMS WESPE. So the reconstruction of these platforms remains somewhat conjectural.
 

Crew standing on the gratings and operating the gun
 
 

Gratings of the Danish instruction model
 
 

Detail of gratings on a gun in Suomenlinna fortress
 
There are 13 gratings and steps in total, plus the platform for the gun-layer. The original plan was to photo-etch the frames from brass sheet, but with the arrival of the laser-cutter I changed this plan. The drawings were modified accordingly. The obvious solution to simulate the angle-iron frame was to design an open frame and then fold-up the vertical parts of the angle. However, it proved impossible to fold the narrow, 0.3 to 0.4 mm strips consistently and without distortions. Not sure this would have worked with the PE parts either. It was then decided to make the open frame and the vertical parts separately as narrow strips and glue them together with lacquer. After several iterations of drawings and laser-cutter settings to arrive a workable width of the strips etc. I arrived at an acceptable solution, albeit the ‘angle-irons’ are somewhat over-scale.
 

 
Example of a drawing for the gratings and their supporting brackets
 
Assembly was a slow and nerve-wracking process. I did not manage to do more than one grating per evening and it involved a lot of (mental) foul language. Eventually, I got them all together. Zapon-varnish was used throughout the assembly. The finished parts are surprisingly strong.
 

First Version with engraved surfaces of the platform for the gun-layer
 

Final Version of the platform for the gun-layer (5 mm grid on the cutting-mat)
 
The original plan was to simulate the wire-mesh of the gratings by real wire-mesh and I obtained from wires.co.uk some really fine mesh in brass and steel. The idea was to pull every second wire in one direction, as the original mesh was rectangular. It proved, however, very difficult to cut such small pieces (sometimes only 1.5 mm wide) from the wire-mesh. Then a present to wife in form of a box with various (fruit) teas came to my rescue: some of the teas came in bags made from extremely fine but lightly woven fabric. I do not know what material it is, but as it dissolves in acetone, it is probably cellulose acetate silk or Rayon. Such fabrics are also used in silk-screen printing and I had not chanced upon the tea-bags, I would have looked there. This silk-screen or fabric can be precisely and easily cut with a new scalpel blade. The small pieces of fabric were dropped into the frames and fixed at the edges with a light touch of varnish.
 

Tea-bag fabric
 
The platform for the gun-layer is a more complex structure. A 5 mm sheet-metal armour shield is meant to protect him from shrapnel and small-arms fire. The armour shield is reinforced at the edges with rivetted-on metal strips. The original plan was to produce this as a surface-etched part. I realised that the laser-cutter interprets half-tone images as instructions to modulate the laser power so that it does not cut all the way through. Laser-engraving in other words. It did produce the desired effect, albeit with the engraved surface being rather rough due to the digitising effect. However, this part then was so thin and flimsy, that it would not stay in shape, when attempting to shape the round corner. I reluctantly accepted that it would be somewhat over-scale in thickness and cut the armour shield and the reinforcing strips separately. They were glued on top of each other with varnish and then the round of the shield formed over a rod. Folding and gluing completed the process.
 

The collection of gratings and steps
 
I am not entirely happy with the result and tend to think, that etched parts may have looked finer. But then their assembly would have required a lot of very delicate soldering work – I don’t trust CA for metal/metal bonds too much. On the other hand, attaching the gratings to the lower carriage frame is likely to be easier for the cardboard parts than for brass parts. Before that can be done, I need to add the wheels, which requires a lot of handling ...
 
To be continued ...

Hi to all and thanks a lot for accept my request.
 
My name is Fernando, i'm living at Barcelona - Spain and i'm a novel modeler. Last months i've finished the Albatros from Constructo manufacturer. This is an small ship but i think it's not very easy to start; i had a lot of problems with the hull, finally i had to Paint it, impossible to repair except dismount all planking. And about sails, i had to sew it instead other kits with the sails already made. For me, without any experience working Wood, it has been very difficult and sometimes i wanted to do a funeral viking with the sail!
 
Well at this moment is finished and i've started another ship, the Terror from OCCRE, as you can see both easy-to-intermediate level. I'll put photos of the Terror in a different thread. I'll ask you with my doubts in future and i'm sure you'll help me! and sorry with my english, it's very bad 😔 
 
For me, these models are the way to disconnect from work and burn the hours in this moment of quarantine, so the result for me itsn`t the main objetive,... well at least be able to show it to the friends 😄
 
Some photos of Albatros, if you make zoom you can see the defects of a novel modeler 😅
 

It's like a chess game.  You have two think five moves or, in this case, two decks, in advance.  Beautiful work ben.

After 3 years working on a side project,  I have finally completed the transcription of every newspaper article I could find mentioning the very first HMS Bellerophon, her crew, and builder.
 
The 156  typed pages contain more than 520 items, from 84 different newspapers, covering the years 1731  to 1836.  The last 63 items being the period serving as convict hulk.   Through calls at various ports, weather, court martials, the Haitian Revolution, battles (Retreat of Cornwallis, Trafalgar, Nile), providing protection off Newfoundland (where I am certain my ancestors saw her), the capture of Napoleon, escape of convicts, attempted murder of the captain, including the builders marriage, bankruptcy and death.  Then finally her being ordered to be broken up.  There is even the false reference to an earlier bomb ketch of the same name.
 
It is now being reviewed.  If anyone is interested in receiving a copy, please PM me with your e-mail address and I will send you a PDF.  It is FREE, no charge, as I cannot imagine there being a very large group interested in this collection, so attempting to sell it would be foolish.
 
This will be Volume 2 of the book to accompany my build.
Volume 3 will be a record of the journey of the build itself... which I admit is moving at a snails pace.

Hi, Kurtis.
 
As a wee correction, 74s were generally considered 3rd-rates. You are correct about the guns -- heavier guns were carried on the lower deck. There wasn't a standard for the size of guns though, and they varied from one navy to another and over the course of the ships' histories. As a rule of thumb, 74s would have carried 24-32 pounders on the lower gun deck, 18-24 pounders on the upper gun deck, and 6-12 pounders on the forecastle and quarterdecks, although these were often replaced by carronades once those came into use.
 
Cheers!

Over the memorial day weekend I completed glueing of all the aft half frames to the deadwood.  I still need to drill and install treenails to all of the half frames, fore and aft.

Today I worked on what I call the Horn Timber/Spider leg assembly, the cant frames are bolted (OK, glued) to this.  It is not very big but it has some complex shapes.

I made patterns and fabricated it in three parts, the horn timber, and two spiderlegs on each side.

That is the horn timber and below is one of the spider legs
Below the Horn Tiber/ Spiderleg assembly is being test fit in the fixture. You can see the rudder port behind the stern post.

This is the underside:

There are five pairs of cant frames that attach to this assembly and, of course, the transom is fixed to the back where my thumb is.
 

Really like those shaped barrel staves, Tom. Just like the real thing.

It's like a chess game.  You have two think five moves or, in this case, two decks, in advance.  Beautiful work ben.

It's like a chess game.  You have two think five moves or, in this case, two decks, in advance.  Beautiful work ben.

Rudder blade rebuilt or reneved.
Karl
 

It's like a chess game.  You have two think five moves or, in this case, two decks, in advance.  Beautiful work ben.

It certainly has, and very well laid out, too. Just finished the standing rigging. Here's a progress photo:
 

It's like a chess game.  You have two think five moves or, in this case, two decks, in advance.  Beautiful work ben.

Yes, Johann, I use 000 steel wool as a final finishing.

Great question, Mark! The answer is that I either cut a very deep score at a transition under another fitting (for example within the mast caps) or did not dye some items like the bibs that should have been.  I found that even with deep scoring and tape some of the Fiebings dye invariably wicked up the boxwood on the other side. But those bibs and other items are now properly blackened courtesy of my writing partner (David Antscherl). The trestle trees were all dyed off the model.
 
Now I just need the US/Canadian border to reopen so I can retrieve Speedwell and get to rigging! BTW Volume Two of our Speedwell book is now at the printers and should be released soon.

It's like a chess game.  You have two think five moves or, in this case, two decks, in advance.  Beautiful work ben.

Well, it's all conjecture anyway, Dave. Nobody really knows what the keelson looked like here. If you lightly affix a strip of 120 garnet paper to the flat and curved keel surface you can very quickly determine the bottom of the keelson shape by using a scrap piece of wood rubbed over the sandpaper until it glides.