Mike Y

Mast steps are not complicated, but struggling with pattern transfer. 
Feeling like I miss some obvious tricks? Even thought about making a miniature duplicator tool with toothpicks instead of metal pins
Would appreciate your advice!
 
First I tried to make patterns like on a full scale - by gluing small rectangles on a piece of card. That way works great for real boats, but is very awkward and potentially messy on a small scale.
But I like that tiny plastic vernier gauge! Got a few of those to measure spacing inside the hull without scratching it.

 
Then I just traced a frame pattern on a piece of card and eyeballed the other side. That is less complicated than I thought, but takes a lot of fine tuning (counter light helps too). But feels like an art rather than a reliable and repeatable method.
Though should admit - trimming and cutting card is quite satisfying!
Is that how everyone is doing it or is there is an easy way?   

Practicing the quiet modelling (in preparation for the evening sessions) - tried a coping saw instead of a bandsaw. The dust extraction problem solved itself, vacuum hose fits perfectly between the clamps:

Finally - the rough pear blanks are cut and I hope to shape them into beautiful parts in the upcoming days! 
I really aint much, but a little symbolic step towards the healthy hobby routine

F.H. af Chapman (1721-1808) was a brilliant 18th-century shipbuilder working as a manager for the Swedish Karlskrona navy shipyard. He ended his study in England under Thomas Simpson with a tour around English, French and Dutch shipyards. There he draughted many ships on the stocks and in 1768 he published his Architectura Navalis Mercatoria, in which he presented his drawings, all accompanied by his calculations of draught, stability, center of gravity and more sort like scientific data. 

 
On plate LIX we find (amongst others) the lines of a 64½ feet long fish-hooker, a type that has been in use in Holland for several ages. If you don’t have the book, you can find it on the digitalmuseum site of the Sjohistorical Museet, right here: Digital Museum. You can download the drawing, which is the penultimate one on the page. I will tell more about the ship type later, first I will say some things about building in paper and card.
 

 
For many years I have professionally build wooden ship models, as a method of research. Nowadays I have thrown off the burden of science and concentrate on models that look like real ships. I know we all have our own philosophy about what a model should look like and what it should stand for, but what I try to achieve is a certain degree of realism. Not by duplicating every nail or piece of rope that was there in the real thing, but by creating an impression of the vessel as it sailed in its days. It is more about atmosphere than accurateness. I won’t try to convince you that what I do is the only way to build here, on the contrary, I just tell you what I do for fun and who knows it may inspire you one day to give it a try. The fact that my son Emiel uses my models to create wonderful ‘photoshop-paintings’ has of course been a factor in the decisions I made.
Not only did I leave strictly realistic constructions on scale behind, I also chose for a rather unusual material that makes building a lot easier and faster for the model maker than wood does: Paper and card.
You might call what I do ‘model-building-light version’.
Don’t think I consider my builds examples of how things should look or be done. I have spotted many members on this forum who are a lot better builders than I am, but hey, this is all about fun and not much else. 
Easy building with easy results.
 
About paper
One of the many advantages of building in paper is that it is incredibly cheap. I am Dutch, so I will not dwell on that too much. If you have purchased paper kits you know they are usually not the most expensive way to spend your money compared to wooden kits, but scratch-built paper models don’t cost you anything, except for some paper, glue and paint. Even my largest models never cost me more than a few Euros. So if half underway you think you failed your mission and you decide to abandon ship, make a run for the dustbin and start anew. All you wasted is time and as a model builder you have plenty of that, don’t you? Otherwise you would have spent your precious time on more useful things…
 
Another advantage of paper is the speed you can work with. Some of my models were made within three weeks, although I must admit that the Lenox model took me 5 months. Still an incredible short time for such a complicated ship and in no relation to what it would have taken if executed in wood.
 
A last positive point I would like to emphasize is the mess you make, or actually you don’t make. After working on the model you can simply clear the table and your wife is as happy as before. No wood-dust, no shavings, just some paper snippets to be moved into the dustbin. Everybody happy….
 
Plans
Especially for people who are used to buying kits, it might be useful to explain how an original plan can be used. Looking at the Chapman drawing we see there are several ships on the sheet. We just need the upper part, where we see an elevation (or side view) of the hooker with a body plan and a section to the left. There is also a top view underneath which we will use later when some deck-details have to be filled in.
 

 
1. The first thing we have to establish is the scale. I work with a 1/77 scale because it fits me, but you can pick any scale you want. The length of the vessel is 65 ½ feet, which is 18.25 meters in Amsterdam feet (28.3 cm). On a 1/77 scale that is 23.7 cm for my model. Print the drawing, measure the length, calculate the percentage you need to get the size for your model and print again. 
 
2. Now we can cut out the shape of the side view and paste it to a 1 mm thick piece of card. Lets call this longitudinal part the ‘spine’. Use so-called eskaboard or gray-board, a solid sort of card, used for making sturdy boxes. You can use old boxes, but your art supplier sells it in different sizes and it is not expensive. (in fact I use 1.3 mm thick card, but it depends on what you can find) Use glue from a spray-can, to make sure the paper sticks to the card at all places. Don’t take the top of the bulwarks as the upper side of your spine, choose the line of the deck instead, it is visible on the drawing. Draw your topline one millimeter lower than what the plan says, because your deck will have some thickness and you don’t want to end up with a deck that comes too high. Don’t forget to make cuts for the masts.
 
3. Next double your keel, stem and stern on both sides with the same type of card, so that you get a rabbet.
 
4. Now we need the body plan. What we see on the drawing is the shape of the ship seen from fore on the right side and from aft on the left side. Make three copies and cut one of them in halves over the centerline. Hold one half drawing upside down against a windowpane or lay it on a light box and take over the lines on the backside. Now paste the half body plan precisely next to its counterpart and you have the shape of the full frames. Check the width! Do the same for the other half. If you can manage a computer program to do the trick, even better, but in the end you will end up with this:
 

 
Go back to your printer and print 6 copies of the front part and 8 of the aft part of the ship. Paste them on eskaboard. Now you will have to mark the height of the deck on the frames. The best way is to cut the whole frame as it is on the body plan and draw the height of the deck later.
 
5. Now you will have to bring the spine of the ship and your frames together by cutting slots. Decide how deep your slots will be. Cut them in the spine from the top downwards and in the frames from the bottom upwards. Most of the time the waterline is your best option. If all goes well your frames will butt against the doubled keel and all will be in line. Mark the height of the spine on each of your frames and remove them from the spine. Now you can draw the exact height of the deck on the frame. You can make a mold with deck-camber and transfer it to the frames. Cut slots in the sides of the frames to half the distance to the centerline and perforate the remaining center part with light pressure of your knife, so that the whole part can easily be removed later on.
 

 
6. Take two strips of card of the ship’s half breadth and mark the position of the frames on them. Make slots in them halfway from the inside outwards.
Now carefully fit the strips into the frames, so that the two meet just on top of the spine. This will add strength to the construction. Take the shape from the outside of every frame and cut out the shape of the upper deck. Also cut the hole(s) for the mast(s).
The afterdeck is made separately, as the picture shows.
 


 
7. The last thing to do is to double the parts of the frames below deck level. This is to ensure that you have a good landing once the skin will be applied. The frames fore will be doubled on the front side, the frames aft on the aft side. At the extremities you will have to slightly correct the shape with a knife.
Finally we glue the whole thing together. PVA glue can be used, as well as any clear plastic glue, or whatever you prefer. Make sure not to apply glue to the part above deck, which will be removed in a later stage.
 
What you have now is about what kits offers you, but all done by yourself in an afternoon’s job and at practically no costs.
Next time we will apply the skin of the ship.

Not back in that cabin….take a look at the original draft.   The captains stateroom is on the lower platform….an even smaller space.  These were small vessels and working mainly coastal.  
 
Smaller crew and even smaller spaces.  Heres a look at the original draft and cabin spaces.
 

 


 

Why scratch?
I always had a high requirements for a wood quality and fitting quality. Unfortunately, even expensive kits were never that close. After getting a first pack of boxwood, I would never go back to any inferior wood. Hence, only scratch. Not that scary though, I do most of the parts from scratch anyway.
It's a pity that kit producers do not offer a wood upgrade. For a serious build, cost is spreading over a number of years, so is it really so important?
Speed of the build is not important, I enjoy the process. As Remco says - "Treat each part as if it is a model on its own, you will finish more models in a day than others do in a lifetime".
 
Why Hahn?
For a weird reason, don't like the realistic framing style, like David Antscherl suggests. First - you don't see anything between frames, and second - uneven spacing and shape of frames make me feel dizzy when I look on them. Physically. I know it sounds weird, but I just can't. So - frames would be spaced evenly, even if it's unrealistic. So what, I'm not adding a rocket engines to my model
Also, Hahn's method for a frame construction looks easier. Yes, the wood usage is higher, but again - why that matters? I will build it for 5 years at least, so paying a bit extra for additional wood is not a problem. And I truly like the design of Hahn's jig!
 
Why Beavers Prize / Oliver Cromwell?
This ship has no honorable history. It was built in 1777 in Philadelphia, started a pretty good career - capturing 7 ships in 3 months after a start - but then was defeated by british HMS Beaver. Was downgraded from 24 cannons to 12, and served remaining time guarding british coast. Died in a hurricane after a number of years, slowly degrading and having a continuous problems with discipline onboard.
But there is something in the lines of that ship that touches me. Look on the model - hull proportions are pretty nice. It's not too high, and not too low, and I was looking for that photos a lot, admiring its beauty:
 

 

Hmm, where was I? What is this thing? 

With an active family life and outdoor activities I barely had energy in the evening to plan the next step of the build. And while kids even nudged me to make some sawdust - the main problem was the planning. Planking does not take much brainpower once the markup is done, but now I need to make mast steps, breast hooks and so on - need to analyse plans, mark out locations, get the necessary dimensions, etc. These details are omitted in the Hahn plans, and I wanted to build the model after the British modifications (including the fore mast that was moved ahead two feet).

Just imagine - once everyone is asleep you open up books and plans, mark and measure and scratch your head, and in no time the brain just says "nah, lets watch some movie and go to sleep" 😇 
Next day you are really worried about mistakes the tired brain might have done, and so you get a mental block and put it on hold.
 
But now I am trying to break that barrier and spend some quality hobby time while family is away for Easter. Feeling very rusty, forgot a lot of things (including the location of some tools) and everything is slower than it was before. Also discovered that my Proxxon disk sander broke entirely (motor is humming, but not moving).
 
It was slow to start before and was a bit unstable (I think I bumped it during an apartment move), but after a couple of years of downtime it failed entirely. Could not find any obvious failure once opened it up, so really hope Byrnes shop would eventually reopen and I can upgrade to the sander I was dreaming about.

Shaping thick parts without it would be quite a challenge...

Well, in that case: (here come the commercials) wait for my new book, containing several tutorials for scratch build paper models, like for instance this one:

smalschip.mp4 Prepared frames and hull sheathing, rigging details, etc. A perfect model to enter the field of freedom! :-))
Soon to be on the market.
Ab
 

Hello,
 
Welcome to my build log of the Hayling Hoy. David Antscherl's excellent book on this build says that it is suitable for a first time builder attempting a fully framed model. Well, I am certainly a first time scratch builder and this will be my first fully framed model so I hope he is correct! I decided to attempt this build as I wanted to stretch my skills and techniques and also because I knew it would be a very long project. I really don't have that much spare space to display finished models and so the longer I can keep one on the building board the better! I was impressed and encouraged by previous first time scratch builders who have also attempted this build, notably @Stuntflyer and @Seventynet and I hope I can come up with something that even approaches their excellent work.

I have no background or experience in woodworking and whilst I do own a few of the machines that may help with this build, eg table saw, thicknesser, mill etc I haven't had a great deal of experience using them to date and so this will be a learning experience for me on those tools as well as in regard to the techniques of scratch building a fully framed model. There will be plenty of mistakes and do overs on the way but I'm not worried about that as it will all be a part of the project. I will of course welcome any advice and ideas from people who feel that they would like to contribute. I know I have a lot to learn and I am looking forward to it. Progress is going to be slow as I don't get that much time each week to devote to modelling but hopefully I will keep going forwards! 
 
Being based in Australia I really don't have access to the lovely types of wood I often read about on this forum but there are of course native options. I have decided to use some myrtle that seems to be in readily available supply. So far I have only purchased a couple of small pieces just to get started with. The myrtle seems very like pear wood (to my untutored eye at least) and hopefully will make a lovely coloured model with fine graining.

I have spent that last few weeks getting ready to start this project and that included getting the plans copied and making my building board. I used some mdf for the base of the board and added some pine battens underneath. I have seen a couple of builds that use t track as part of the building board and so I decided to copy that idea and I also made some wooden squares to use with the t track. I added a couple of coats of white paint to the board and then glued down the plan using some spray adhesive. It seemed like a good idea to add a coat of artists' varnish over the plan but clearly that was a mistake as it only succeeded in introducing lots of wrinkles - so that wasn't a good start. Either I hadn't glued the plan down sufficiently or the spray varnish just didn't like that particular paper. So off with that plan and on with another copy, this time glued down with lots of Bostick blu stick - and it seems to be sticking well so far. I didn't bother with the varnish this time around. I also extended the lines of the frames out onto the board which should hopefully make things easier to line up and keep square etc down the track.

Today I actually made a start on the build itself and began with cutting out the pieces for the keel. The keel is made of three separate pieces joined with scarps joints. The rear two pieces are simply 12" square lengths and I deliberately made them over long as I wanted to make sure I had plenty of excess to work with in case I made a mess when cutting the scarph joint. The scarph joints were cut on the table saw and then the faces of the cuts tidied up with a small chisel. 

Strangely, the keel sections look far from square in that photo above but it must just be the perspective - they are square honestly!
 
Next job is to tackle the forward section of the keel with the boxing joint.
 

Part 001
 
The next Book Nook type diorama I’m building is “Sailing Memory”. I figured a ship themed diorama would more fit with this forum. It is the least complex kit so far, but it does throw some “Curve Balls”, so follow along.
 
This first part will show the contents of the kit. Construction will start in Part 002.
 
The first thing to note, is that except for the book cover parts, none of the plywood sheets are printed on the back, like the other two kits were. For the most part, this is not a problem, but it does present problems for the chair and table, so far. Both are printed in a mahogany wood grained color, which was hard to match. As I like to paint the lasered edges, this was a problem, especially the chair which has raw wood on the inside of the arms. Also, this model has many more colors than the previous kits, and trying to come close to the right colors on the exposed ply edges, has been a challenge!
 
One thing of importance on this kit, about a year and a half ago I bought what I thought was this kit, for far less than the price of the other vendors. That was a huge mistake, and I should have known better! What I got was this kit, but with all the “details” printed on the insides of the covers, no 3D detailing at all, and the printing was fuzzy to boot! If you are getting this kit, find a vendor that shows the 3D detail up close, not just a shot of a completed kit!
 
I have already progressed in the construction, and while I took pictures as I went, there may be some gaps in this thread. I missed taking some pictures along the way. Normally I write the sections as I go, but life threw me some challenges the last few weeks, and I’m just now getting to the writeups.
 
Here are the contents of the kit.
 
This is the picture from the cover of the instructions of the completed kit. The box is just plain white cardboard, so no picture of that.
 

 
The next two pictures are the outsides of the book covers/shell. I’ll show the printed insides when construction gets to that point. (Mostly because I forgot to take those photos when I was shooting these, and had already started construction, when I noticed their lack.)
 

 

 
The next few pictures are of the remaining plywood sheets. Matching colors for all those edges will be fun, not! You can see the woodgrain detail printed on the sheets.
 


 
This sheet has the back wall of the diorama, with the fancy window.
 


 
This sheet has the cabinet front that the white translucent sheet glues to, in the lower right corner.
 

 
The accessory bag has the LED assembly, and a sheet of glossy clear squares, that I think are to put over the small books in the model, after you build them. I probably will not use these, as I think the flat finish on the printed covers looks better.
 

 
Here are the contents of the bag. The LED assembly, a ceiling fixture, A small sanding stick, and the folded sheet with the glossy squares. Another reason I don’t think I’ll use the squares, is that when I opened it to see what it was a couple of the squares stuck to my fingers, and were ruined.
 

 
This is the printed paper sheet with several details. There are pictures for some picture frames, maps to be glued on, the book covers that will be glued to wooden book blanks, and a carpet for the floor (much more on the carpet later).
 

 
Lastly this is a translucent sheet with two pieces to be glued on. The colored seascape is glued behind the ornate window at the back of the display, and the white blank goes behind the front of the cabinet that sits against the back wall.  This is similar to the Japanese style with paper “window” covering, like the old-style houses.
 
When the model is finished both of these will be backlit, for a nice effect. This may be a little incorrect for the cabinet, but it will still look good.
 

 
I have jury duty next week so there will a gap in the writing of the thread.

Now for some analysis of geometry and construction. 
 
Fifteen years ago, I built the stern frame based on my observation of the first Bellona model, and the Admiralty drawings. I did not understand what I was building at the time, I just followed what I saw. And now I understand as I get into the details.
 
In the model, you can see a couple of strange things. first, the tops of counter timbers with the dovetail joints stand proud of the horizontal transom tying them together. This leaves a gap of about 2". I now realize that these gaps provide a space for the bank of sash windows to slide up into. It means that the windows can be opened at the bottom by about 9"; not a lot, but better than no opening!
 
Second, the side counter timbers, effectively the end of the hull frame, project out from the bottom of the balcony upwards. that is, the bank of windows are recessed back relative to the balcony, creating a shadow line between the upper and lower parts of the stern. There is no functional reason I can see here; it is a visual trick to emphasize the sweeping serpentine curve of the balcony from one side of the composition to the other.

That creates some complication in how this is constructed. The green line shows the aft most edge of the side counter timbers, or hull. There is one moulding along the tops of the window bank, just under the balcony, in red below. Another moulding runs along the base of the balcony, in orange below.
 

 
when the balcony swings out from the stern, the two mouldings split from each other:
 

The next item I did not fully appreciate until I started constructing the stern is how its design needs to reconcile  two geometries working against each other; the upper sweep of the sheer, and the flatter sweep up of the decks (red lines below). The conflict shows a little where the gun ports cut into the sheer in odd places.

But at the stern they really need to be resolved. One of the most important, I discovered, is that the moulding at the tops of the windows must align with the sheer of the deck at its upper edge (orange line below), since it sits flush under the deck itself; but its lower edge must conform to the sheer of the hull (dotted red line below), since it turns the corner and runs along the side of the quarter galleries that align with the hull's sheer.
 

And then one more thing about the stern. In 2014, ten years ago, I posted a question about the stern geometry (posting #173). I noticed a discrepancy in the drawings relative to the roundup of the quarterdeck. If I continued the deck aft with its normal roundup, it was a couple of inches lower than the deck as it was shown coming out into the balcony. There was a lot of discussion around posting 173 as to whether this was a mistake in the drawing, or something else. I finally found in Steel that the quarterdeck does indeed increase its roundup as it approaches the stern balcony, to give a lighter, more springy feeling to the visual lines of the stern. So the drawing is correct, and this needs to be accounted for:
 
 

So, construction next!
 
Mark
 

Well, at 1/96 scale most woods would have really a too coarse grain, particularly those commercial decks made from veneer.
Unlike wooden shipmodels, where the builder may want to show his woodworking etc. skills, plastic models usually are finished to show how the ship (may have) appeared in real life.  Mixing visible wood with plastic may look incongruent in style.
 
My personal choice would be to replace the injection moulded deck with some styrene, lightly engrave the plank seams, lightly scrape down any raised burrs, and build up the coamings etc. from styrene strips.
Then paint the deck in wood colour (I use these days mainly Vallejo acrylics), seal this paint with gloss varnish, take a black 0.1 mm felt-tip pen and draw out the seams, wiping off any excess immediately, so that the black only stays in the engraved lines. Seal again with satin varnish and then slightly tint each individual plank with veery light washes of burnt umber. Afterwards apply a very light white wash all over. The result should look like this:

Some more photos

This solves a mystery for me. A few years ago I bought some "boxwood" strips from Model Expo and received this same rough yellow stuff. I was at a loss to understand why everyone raved about boxwood so much. I could see no improvement over the basswood strips I was intending to replace. Now that I understand I want to try some of the real thing.
David 

Volume 2 is released now and is available in the museum shop!
You can also find it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vasa-II-Rigging-material-archaeological/dp/9188909115
 
However volume 1 is sold out everywhere  is available in a second hand market for ridiculous collectible prices (3-5k USD, sky is the limit)

Volume 2 is released now and is available in the museum shop!
You can also find it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vasa-II-Rigging-material-archaeological/dp/9188909115
 
However volume 1 is sold out everywhere  is available in a second hand market for ridiculous collectible prices (3-5k USD, sky is the limit)

I am not sure if I will add those details yet.   I am still mulling it over.   The reason why we builders add those fun details is to set our models apart from the many that will end up being made.   It also means I have to build another set of every table and chair again so I can write the instructions for them...LOL.
 
But the Speedwell project moves forward at any rate.
 
Now working on fcastle details.
 

 

 

Based on popular demand and multiple requests, a package of smaller door handles is now available.   This multi-pack gives you 30 each of the 3/16" tall handles and now 1/8" tall handles.
 
In addition ....a multi pack of smaller door hinges is also available.   You get 16 each of 1/8" and 3/16" tall Hinges.   In both styles....
 

 

See my post above.....cheaper and premium quality.  You just cant beat the quality for the money.  If you are building Syren I recommend you get  3/64" thick strips. Although I dont remember what actual thickness I used when I designed that prototype.  It was such a long time ago.   That was my first kit design which I sold to Model Shipways.   I believe I recieved a $500 gift certificate for Model Expo products for that design.  I think they got a good deal on it, LOL.  So best to check out the materials list in your kit and just replace with whatever you prefer from Joe.  Cedar or Boxwood.
 
And fun fact...this is why I started my own company and it is named for this very first ship I ever designed a kit for.  

Limber strakes
I guess these strakes are for the most part hidden. Still, having never made them before I decided to give these a try. I used the plan drawings as usual for the templates. Rather than shape them exactly to the template, I left some wiggle room in case adjustments where needed. The rabbet on the inside edge was cut with a simple scraper made from a hacksaw blade.
 
After adding the center section, I proceeded to add the fore and aft sections while trying to maintain as smooth a run along the outer edge of the strakes as possible. Both the aft and fore sections have a twist which needs to be taken into account one way or another. I was able to twist the aft section with wet heat and hold it in position while the slow drying CA set. I couldn't get enough twist in the fore section. If these were made from AYC rather than boxwood, it wouldn't have been a problem. Rather than torture myself, I went with some very expensive and exotic tools in order to give me a helping hand.

Mike

Well this is a very different build experience. But enjoyable.
Here's the list of parts, the quality looks to be very good.
 

 
Started with the airframe
 

 
essentially the styrene is reinforced with thin plastic parts.

 
And then you start to build up the nose of the plane
 
I made a mistake here and put the large support on the wrong way around 🙄, fortunately I realised in time...
 

 
Here it is corrected
 

 

 
Next is to add more supports and magnets
 

 
And then I got to put part of the body on
 

 
and that's where I got up today.
 
There's a guide to score and bevel the exterior body parts and the instructions are fairly straightforward, unless you're like me and can't read them and put his in the back to front!
 

 

some steps forward:
everything is still only provisionally resting, I haven't fixed anything yet
 







 
 

Rusty, Chuck, Thank you!
 
Keelson
I've been working on the keelson for a while. A little bit here a little bit there while fairing the frames. I went with boxwood as usual and milled scarph joints. I used 30lb (.023) black mono for the bolts. I noticed that the keelson would slip and slide a bit on the frames so I pinned it in two locations. This enabled me to center it port and starboard while saving a lot of eyeballing when gluing it down. 

Mike

Hull planking
Fairing the outer hull was fairly straight forward. There is plenty of extra meat on the frames which gave me lots of wiggle room. The fairing cap edge should remain untouched, if at all possible. Easier said than done! Final sanding was done with 400 grit. Btw; I totally forgot to take some photos of the outer hull after the fairing was completed. Sorry!
 
Once everything looked good I added the first strake (the upper wale). This was done with three planks. I did my best to eyeball the run as I added each plank and not to strictly rely on the drawn line which I made from Chuck's hull template.

From there on it was just a matter of adding the two remaining wale strakes and a few more strakes above the upper wale. I also added the small filler piece which goes between the lower wale and the square tuck.

With the added support given by these strakes, I decided to fair the inner hull. This ended up being more time consuming than I thought it would be. It took me several days to complete the work. Working the bow timbers, even with a Dremel or 80 grit, was slow. Once I was close I switched to a miniature curved scraper to smooth out the work.
 
You can see just how thick the wood was in places.

When fairing the area around the lower gun port sills, I found that a simple depth gauge came in handy. Including the 3/64" outer hull planking, the width of the sill should be 3/16” or maybe a hair less. I made this simple “T” shaped jig that I could place against the frames and then mark the width of the sill from inside the hull.

Ready for the keelson

Mike

Yves, thanks for sharing your model. I was aware of a kit, but I have never seen it! It looks like you did a very nice job of it.
 
scrubbyj, the history of the Bellona in Brian Lavery's Anatomy of a Ship has the ship paid off in 1762 after her initial service, turned into a guardship, briefly recommissioned, and laid up in ordinary in 1771. Then she was given a major repair in 1778, completed in 1780. this was now 20 years after her original launch. I can only assume that the first model represents her before the major repair, and the second one represents her afterwards. Adding that railing on the roundhouse bulwarks was very typical of designs of this later period, as best I can tell.
 
Visiting my son in London last year, we visited the National Maritime Museum and toured around endlessly disappointed that they had removed most of the models. Then we walked into the room devoted to the Napoleonic Wars, and there were two representative models, the first and second Bellona models side by side! At last two decent models, and they were the Bellona! In this photo you can see that the second model is larger than the first, which I never realized until seeing them side by side.
 

Busy day outside the shop, not as much done on the Bellona as I had wished...
But I did get a chance to color the stern quarter galleries based on my reconstruction:
 

 
 
 
 
 

Mark,
 
That is a fantastic study, analysis and attempt at re-creating what could have been the stern of Bellona. Personally, I like the second and more modern interpretation and that is probably because it is what is provided with the CAF Model kit, that I recently (almost) completed. I hope you do not mind the picture below:
 

 
However, I have to say that I really like your drawing as it combines elements of both interpretations and may result in a fantastic and beautiful stern. And nobody will ever be able to contradict what you did, as we simply don't know.
 
Yves

Thanks so much, Marc, Hakan, Allan, Mark and Dan. It really means a great deal to me to hear from all of you. I have a meeting with a pain specialist on Friday, and hopefully I will be able to get past this soon!
 
In the meantime, I have been working away on what has been the biggest challenge for me so far, the stern. I plan to make a number of posts on this, starting today with an overview of the end goal; what will it look like?
 
I have always aimed to base my model on the original design and the first model, shown here:
 

 
Although this model shows mainly the framing system, it does have a hint of what the original design intended on the stern at least down to the bottom of the captain's balcony. Everything past this is speculation for a reconstruction!
 
The second model, made twenty years later after a major refit of the ship itself, shows much more detail (see below). At first glance, this provides information on all of the detail not shown in the first model. But the second model changed the original design in ways I did not find pleasing. It added an ugly railing above the roundhouse (nice for the sailors, bad for the aesthetics). The balcony railing makes a sharp turn into the stern one bay inboard on each side, whereas the original model has a nice sweeping serpentine curve across the entire stern. The original model has nicely proportioned vertical supports (painted red) with nicely detailed fretwork, whereas the second model skinnies those down and punches crude holes for detail. The first model carries additional carving down to the bottom of the railing adjacent to the large corner post carvings of women, linking things together visually. The second model unsatisfyingly smashes the balcony into the corner sculpture.
 
And in terms of color, the second model uses white for the balcony fretwork and the pilasters on the band of windows, which I find visually jarring relative to the rest of the ship. There are a few other examples of white windows, pilasters and fretwork on other roughly contemporary ships, most notably the Princess Royal in the Annapolis museum; but not many either in models or paintings of the period. This is not typical, in other words.
 
I suspect this was the modeler's effort to give visual "punch" to his model, not a reflection of common practice in the actual ships. I suspect the Princess Royal model has white details like the Bellona second model because it was built by the same modeler; the friezes on both ships are identical in painting style and technique, and the models were likely built at the same time. It may be two different modelers used the same frieze painter, but given the rarity of this look in most other ships, I think we are seeing the personal signature of a modeler here. I would be very interested to hear if others have another view of this.
 

 
So, how can I reconstruct the original model, from the incomplete information in the original model? Here, for better or worse, is my first shot at a reconstruction (see below).
 
I reproduced the balcony geometry, the carvings, and the wider balcony vertical supports with the more elaborate fretwork. I picked up the little bust carvings below the balcony from another contemporary ship. I accepted the pilaster design from the second Bellona model, although in the spirit of visual harmony I  continued the red down from the balcony into the boards behind the pilasters. In the same spirit of visual harmony, I propose to keep the pilasters and the window frames natural wood, along with the carvings and mouldings.
 
The second model friezes and paintwork on the upper and lower counters are really quite delightful (just like on the Princess Royal). So why not use them, with no other sources to draw upon for this? I propose to reproduce those paintings in my model, including the tone and hue of the background blue paint.
 
I would be very interested to hear any opinions as to whether I am on the right track on this reconstruction.
 
Next posting will discuss the very complex geometry in this stern, and my efforts to bring it under control for construction.
 
While I am working on that, I am also working with Chuck of Syren models, who is going to laser cut the window frames and balcony fretwork for me, using my drawing templates. I had long wanted to make everything on this model myself, but I finally had to face the reality that I did not have the skill to make window frames just .023" thick, or even worse, the pierced fretwork. And after a long and fascinating chat with Chuck at the Admiralty Models workshop on carving in Annapolis in October, I came to see that this is just using another tool to achieve my modeling needs, still based on my drawing. Thank you Chuck!
 
By the way, Chuck also pointed out to me that the very fine details like window frames were made of ivory in original models, because it could hold the detail better than even boxwood. Most models seem to have colored this; the second Bellona model builder maybe put up the freshly cut window or fretwork and thought, "looks good as is!"
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark