albert

Hi Johann your work is fantastic.

Log #29: Researching the Figurehead
As the structure of the model gets closer and closer to being done, I have been turning my attention to trying to finalize my research on the things that will impact the next stage of the build. Much like my post on the wales, I am documenting the current state of my thoughts now to see if anyone has anything to add before I make firm decisions.
 
In the background I have also been working on revising the research document to include parts of Chapter III (which will discuss the bow of the ship) as well as revisions and corrections to the already released sections incorporating feedback I have received as well as more information I have discovered. I am planning on releasing this revised version in the next week or two.
 
The Figurehead
Figureheads are in many ways one of the most striking parts of the 18th century sailing vessel. In the 17th century the majority of Royal Navy ships had a lion as a figurehead, but towards the later part of the 17th and into the 18th century the figures began to increase in complexity.
 
By the late 18th century figures relating to the name of the vessel were the predominant choice, but at times the relationship to the name was tenuous at best. This was sometimes the result of renaming, but in other cases it is unclear why a particular figure was chosen. In his book Old Ship Figureheads & Sterns Carr Laughton recounts one particularly egregious example where the frigate Blonde was given a figurehead of a bearded warrior.
 
Figureheads in the late 18th century were looked on with great pride by their crews. Even during the economy of Lord Spencer in 1794, when most new construction received only scrollwork in place of a figurehead, crews often took it upon themselves to add figureheads to their ships. There are accounts of crews adding painted detail to their figures with one captain writing that the figurehead of another sloop was “painted in colours with a bloody nose and a real broomstick in her hand.”

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. FHD0120.
 
Despite the prevalence of figures, the lion remained common and there is no definitive evidence in the primary record to indicate what sort of figurehead Perseus was given. The contract for Perseus and Unicorn states that the ships were to receive figureheads, but does not specify beyond stating that they should be “lion or figure with a double trailboard as shall be directed.”
 
Lion figureheads had a long history in the Royal Navy by the time Perseus was constructed and there are numerous examples in the historical record documenting them. One of the few figureheads that have been preserved from the 18th century is of a lion, likely the figurehead of an English 4th or 5th rate circa 1720.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. FHD0088.
 
A similar depiction can be seen in a 1741 model of a 24 gun sixth rate sloop. Most contemporary models seem to have depicted the figureheads painted gold or unpainted. However,  many of these models were created by the shipwrights and the painting of the figureheads in more realistic colours was often done upon request or after launch by their crews.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. SLR0461.
 
Only four of the ten Sphinx class ships launched have their figureheads documented by the Admiralty. Plans for Sphinx, Camilla, Daphne and Vestal all show the carved decorations including the figurehead. In each of these cases, the figureheads are unique to the vessel and relate to their name. Though Perseus and Unicorn were not built in Navy Yards, it does seem to suggest that it is more probable that the figurehead related in some way to the name of the ship.
 
Launched 85 years after Perseus 1776 at the end of the sailing era, Perseus 1861, a 17 gun Camelion-class wooden screw sloop, includes an image of the figurehead in the Admiralty plans. The figure is the upper half of a Greek warrior with the traditional forward curve on the helm seen on many contemporary statues depicting Perseus. He is clean shaven, wearing scale mail and is depicted without any limbs. The figure is in the style of other mid 19th century figureheads which dispensed with the full figures from the time of Perseus 1776.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. DIC0111.
 
Probably the most compelling evidence for a figure of Perseus is the blurry figure visible in the image of Perseus on a bowl from 1790. Though it is impossible to say definitively, the figure in the image appears to have an extended arm. Classical depictions of Perseus tend to depict him with the head of Medusa held out in front of him. It should be noted that the idea of having a figure with an extended hand was not uncommon in the period. Termagant, a 22 gun ship launched in 1780 , features a figure with their left hand extended forward as did Leopard 1790.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. AAA4434.
 
Perseus was a Greek mythical hero who is most famous for killing the gorgon Medusa using a polished shield given to him by Athena and winged sandals lent to him by Hermes which allowed him to fly. Perseus cut off Medusa’s head and Pegasus (a winged horse) and Chrysador (either a giant or a flying bore) were born from the severed neck. Perseus rescued Andromeda the daughter of Cepheus, the king of Aethiopia from being sacrificed to the sea monster Cetus before marrying her and founding the Mycenaean kingdom. Pegasus is often associated with Perseus as many later depictions show Perseus riding to Andromeda’s rescue on Pegasus. 
 
Contemporary artwork available from the period appears to universally portray Perseus holding the head of Medusa. In most of these examples he is portrayed as clean shaven. The stern carvings for Pegasus 1776, a 14 gun sloop launched the same year as Perseus, portray Perseus as a clean shaven man with a sword in his right hand and the head of Medusa in his left.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. ZAZ4782.
 
A statue depicting Perseus from the mid 19th century is held at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The statue shows Perseus in armour with a sword in his right hand and the head of Medusa held out in his left. Perseus can also be seen in a set of constellation cards dating from approximately 1825. Perseus is depicted again holding a sword in his right hand and the head of Medusa in his left.

Victoria & Albert Museum. Mvsei Vaticani. Cat 969.

National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. AST0049.

I completed my rebuild of the orlop deck… or so I thought.

The grating runs along both sides and at the bow. The lodging or (horizontal) deck beam knees are installed as are the standard (vertically upwards) knees.
I decided to add the top end of the futtock riders… faux riders. To hide the missing detail I installed the flush orlop deck planking over the area. Planking either rested in a notch cut into the beams or on a separate support ledge. I decided on the latter as it was easier then cutting more notches.

I was able to re-use the three stairs I had built, two at the bow and one at the stern.

The one detail I need to remake is the very last aft grating on both sides. I had decided to keep the support ledgers fore and aft and the battens port/starboard… but for some unknown reason I skewed the last aft set. These will be torn out and made over.
 

Before starting on the gun deck (again) I decided to install the wales.  Per the contract the wales are hook and butt and a photo of a model of the Bellona shows this quite clearly.

I drew some 20 foot long hook and butt planks at 1:64 scale using DraftSight to make a straight plank template.

I measure off the NMM plan and converted the measurements from 1:48 to 1:64 scale. These were transferred to my timbers.

I then attached sheets of tracing paper to the model and transferred these marks to it along with some other details (gun port openings, hawse pipes holes, butt to stem post and end at the aft).

This curvature was then transposed to transparent graph paper. The printed straight plank template was cut out and slipped below and my curved templates were traced onto the graph paper.

I will be using black walnut for the wales. This stock will be cut and sanded to thickness and then two sheets rubber cemented together to allow me to cut both individual identical port and starboard planks at one time. I cannot use my black carbon paper to trace these shapes as it will be difficult to see the outline on black walnut so I’ve ordered a package of white carbon paper for the job!

Safety note: Black walnut sawdust may be toxic to some, so proper precautions must be taken when cutting and sanding. Some individuals may experience respiratory irritation if exposed to large amounts of black walnut sawdust
 
Like everything else on this build... this will be my first attempt, so wish me well.
 

Hi all,
My partner Liu has decided to continue with the 1:36 prototype, and several model builders are preparing pear-wood version in 1/4" scale as well as another two sets of pear wood version in 1/3" (1:36) scale.So I'm continuing to develop this project, even though it has been on hold for 4 years – that's way too long,say so sorry.
 


 

 


 

My main goal now is to construct the stern balcony enough to get drawings to Chuck for the fretwork. But before that I have to build a stub deck at the end of the quarterdeck. But before I can do that, I had to build the stern of the upper deck with the rudder cover and benches, since they will be covered up once I install the stub deck above. And before I could build the rudder cover, I needed to mock up the rudder head to ensure it will turn freely in the rudder cover. And on it goes.....
 
So, here is the mocked up rudder head, checking clearances:

And then the rudder cover itself. Note in the first photo, I somehow built it too wide. The second photo below shows the trimmed down version. I had to selectively deconstruct the cover, then slice out the excess, and reassemble. It reminded me of chopping tops for hot rod models when I was a kid!
 
 

I discovered that if the rudder cover top surface stays below the level of the stern lights, there is not enough room under it to ship the rudder. It will have to be removed and then reinstalled after the rudder is in place.
 
So when I built the benches on either side, I made all of this a slide fit so the rudder cover can be taken out later to ship the rudder when I get around to building it.
 
The benches proved to be unexpectedly difficult to build. They had to accommodate different curves at different levels, since this is all sitting on the fore side of a convex upper counter whose curves are different from the upper deck upon which the benches sit. It was a lot of tedious trim and test, trim and test, for several days. But now it is done, ready to be covered up by the quarterdeck stub deck above. At least I could get some sense of the standard of living for the officers. Not bad, sitting on the bench, elbow on the window sill, looking out at the sea through the wall of windows....
 
Mark
 
 
 

Hi Johann your work is fantastic.

Progress continues and today I got the lower counter glued on and faired in so I could finish the planking belt on the stbd side. The lower counter is laser cut with some extra material on it. I centered it over the gunports and positioned it so that it was sitting level on each side then clamped it down

once it’s in place it can be glued from
The Backside with CA, just don’t glue to the jig pieces! I also wetted the inside face of it so that it wanted to curl in the right direction.
Once it’s in place you can see where things need to be sanded. I also trimmed the lower part of the counter about halfway up The wing transom, I’m going to take an additional 1/32-3/64th off so the mounding can rest there.

Once completed the counter should have a nice curve into the outboard stern framing and the aft cant frames


once this is done the last planking strip can be added and work can resume on the last few belts.

I finished up the last remaining lower planking belt before the main wale. I will start on the black strake tomorrow and finish with the main wale and 1-2 planks  below that. 
Also testing one of the QG’s and the printed drop, which is actually going to be boxwood.

Hi Johann your work is fantastic.

Stbd side channel wales done today, except for the forward upper plank. After I get a few more planks attached to the front I will pull the forward jigs and fair out the forward portion of the inner hull and then permanently install the beam and finish the last two planks. 
 

Hello and thanks for your nice comments a d likes
 
Today I cleared the deck from rope ends, at least from the shrouts. The next thing to build is the sail. I ordered Silkspan, and it should arrive here someone next week.

Thank you very much for yours comments and likes.

Amalio, number one.

Amalio, number one.

druxey, scrubby, Albert, Chuck and Marc, thanks so much for your kind comments. I am feeling so slow on progress these days, even though I am working at it pretty diligently. It really helps keep me going to get these great notes of appreciation from all of you!
 
I cannot sing the praises of Chuck's work enough. Working with exceptionally tight tolerances, his window frames fit like a glove. The filigree work above is going to be an even greater exercise in close tolerances, and I am still working on how to captures these in rabbets strong enough to hold against a surface curved in two directions. I'll post some drawings when I get a little close to a final idea.
 
And I continue to be amazed at the design of the Bellona in all of its detail. Those guys really knew what they were doing!
 
Mark

Fantastic work.

Hello,
John, today it is to be 27°C here and sunshine, but next week again it is only 22°C and rain. And it's a nice boot you have build. Did you have Viking genes?
 
Today I finished the standing rigg. And I know now exactly, why I don't like rigging. These stuborne and nasty twines, who go always the directin you don't want ☹️ It was realy loud yesterday in the basement!
But the result is great, I think. Now the ship looks fuller, more compact. Enjoy the pictures. The strongest rope is the forestay with 0,7 mm Ø, the shrouts and forestay have 6,5 mm Ø

I went a little further with the masts:
 





 

Thank you very much for yours comments and likes.

Cheers from Antalya!
 
 

Thank you very much for yours comments and likes, photo Anson.

Thank you very much for yours comments and likes.

Thank you very much for yours comments and likes.