Craigie65

The instructions show the old gun carriage style.
But Chris now includes the newer version  of them where you half assemble then place the gun and then complete. You can see  the new pieces
 
 
 

Various hatches in, pumps installed

 

Post One Hundred and fifty-one
 
All things brass
A few days taken up with the fitting of deck eyebolts, stanchions, and hammock cranes.
3810
These items are beautifully crafted by Chris particularly the waist cranes with integral retaining hooks and eyes.
 
Cranes also line the Qtr deck bulwark and are placed atop the Qtr deck breast rail.
Before removal from the fret I clean with fine steel wool which aids the subsequent blackening process.

3813
Once removed the Qtr deck cranes needed careful cleaning up to remove all traces of the fret nubs and are then trial fitted to reduce handling later.
They are given an acid bath, followed by the blackening procedure.

3818

3819

3814
I use 0.5mm ø brass tubing to maintain the line whilst progressively fitting the waist cranes.

3815

3816

3817

3823
I did notice that cranes or stanchions are not provided for the Fo’csle rails between the timberheads. 
Should there be, I don’t know. 🤔
Victory was equipped with cranes, and the Sphinx model has stanchions around the Fo’csle.

The contemporary model of Amazon (32) 1773 had stanchions around the Fo’csle between the timberheads.
 
I am inclined to think that 'Indy' may have had them for safety on the exposed Foc’sle, particularly as we know these razees were prone greater rolling.
 
I’ll have a ferret thro’ my spares box and see how they look.
 
 
B.E.
29/02/2024

😱

Good evening everyone
big lesson learnt
i didnt mess up, but i did try to go my own way on this build and work fwd to aft on the rigging, well im not clever enough for that, and lost my way, i will always remember the fact the sequence  of rigging is for a reason, nothing is lost or damaged, just looks a mess at present untill i catch up

so i am back to plan 16 with just some upper ratlines to do, and then move onto 17 and progress the main and mizzen backstays 

 
 

😱

Enjoy your well deserved break!

😱

Enjoy your well deserved break!

😱

Enjoy your well deserved break!

Enjoy your well deserved break!

Enjoy your well deserved break!

OK, plans, manual and box label all now fully complete for Sherbourne. Was up all night completing manual, and then the box label this morning.
 
Gonna have a couple of weeks off now..

Thank you Ron, and Allan for your input.

3787
Chris has done a great job on designing and producing the  strops/chain link combinations to allow the fitting of these with the minimum of fuss, and with an excellent result.

3789
The trade-off is that the middle link chains of necessity have a tiny gap that is necessary for linking the strops to the lower chains and is a simplification much appreciated.
 
The middle links should retain that elongated oval shape and personally I don’t think they are improved by either turning them into effectively an iron strap with eyes either end, or  trying to squeeze  the gap together that risks deforming that perfect oval shape.
 
David Antcherl does indeed cover the making of chains from scratch very well, but in this case, and at this scale, even my inner pedant recognises that rejigging the chains is simply not worth the effort of messing with Chris’s excellent set-up.
 
 
B.E.
 

It is always a balancing act with prices. For these, I decided to subsidise them even more than I usually do, Sherbourne especially, in the hope they will attract newcomers and other modellers who haven't yet tried one of these VM kits and have no clue about the materials that make up the kits - hoping the dividend will be more people taking up the hobby, rather than being permanently put off.
 
Prices will have to be higher in the future, though, as pear and PE brass have just risen very sharply, but I had the materials and PE before the price hikes for both Adder and Sherbourne. The cost of PE brass especially has just gone through the roof.
 
Adder was almost abandoned last year, as I wasn’t sure how popular it would be (and the costs of producing these is great), so started to do Sherbourne instead. But as I kept looking at Adder, it grew on me, and ended up looking so much better than I had hoped.

Agreed, Adder especially seems good value, not much more than Trial. 

I have just completed the final job for Adder, the box label. Now onto Sherbourne.
 
Also now have final prices:
Adder - VM/15 - £246
Sherbourne - VM/16 - £149 (For first run of kits)
 

Futtock Shrouds - Completed
It was a intense day in the shipyard yesterday as I wanted to complete the futtock shrouds as I will have very limited shipyard time over the next few days.
 
Working in to the early evening the shrouds were finally completed. This is another milestone reached with this project but there is still a few more months work ahead to complete the build.
 
The completed fore mast futtock shrouds is shown in the next two photos.

The completed main mast futtock shrouds are shown in the next two photos. I might need to redo one of the catharpins which looks a bit odd in the photo below

The completed mizzen mast futtock shrouds are shown in the next two photos. I might redo the aft catharpin which is a bit oversized, as it is a bit long as can be seen in the second photo below.

Finally a few pictures of the Indy. My white backdrop is not big enough for taking pictures of the Indy.

Things have slowed up in the last week or so, the Admiral has got us doing another project in the house (decorating the kitchen) so modelling time at a premium! 
 
A few little bits have been completed:-  I made some slightly larger stern knees and added belay pins for the aft braces I'm going to fit and the flag halliard.  Assembled and fitted the catheads, I painted them to hide the parts construction but masked off the fine detailed etched into the sides; also added stopper cleats and cathead supporters as little extras.  The tiller arm although assembled is not permanently fixed yet.
 
Next up as and when I get time is to rig and fit the ordnance.  To that end I have made a little dummy gun port for rigging up the cannon before fitting to the model.  I now also need to get some supplies to continue the build, so that and DIY might slow me up for a while.
 
Thanks for looking in 

Post One Hundred and forty-eight
 
Fitting the Main ordnance 
The design of the 24 pounder carriages is such that it allows the guns to be fitted much later in the build, to reduce the risk of knocking them out of position.
 
The carriages were pinned to the deck earlier, and the guns are slid thro’ the ports to locate the trunnions in the open cap squares.
Quite a snug fit and it helps to have the port line at eye level to do the job.

3731
For fixing I used ca on the trunnions and bent nosed tweezers to press them into position.
 
For the eight waist guns, with each fitting the model is rotated to check that the barrels are squarely located on the carriages.  
For closed decks this aspect won’t be seen.
 
The simplification of the ‘open’ capsquares has no relevance because any view of them is severely limited, and the tops of the trunnions will masquerade as the capsquare tops.
 
Port Lids
These are pre-cut in Pearwood and supplied with etch hinges.
For the Qtr deck and Bow port lids a sheet of corrected lid patterns is supplied to replace those elements included on the main laser sheet of lids. All these lids are port specific.
 
As with the channel chains, the hinges are chemically blackened.
 

3737
I re-made the lids for the Main deck ports as I wanted a match to the existing hull planking in Boxwood.
 
I had a fancy to show at least one port closed.

3736
I decided to torment myself with trying to get the aftermost port lid sitting flush and lined up with the wale.

3739
It did take a bit of fettlin’ to get a decent fit.
 
In the end I decided to close three ports and have one open.

3744
The bow port is shown closed and the gun run in.

3760
My mainly open Foc’sle deck  gives a clearer view of one of the Twenty-four pounders.

3747
Three after port lids in position.

3748
The port lanyards have been fixed into position from the inside.
 
The suggested tackle line of 0.1mm (1½” circ) is a little thin.
I used 0.3mm ø Syren line which equates to 2½” circ.
(Lavery comments that in the 1780’s port ropes were usually of 3” rope.)

3749
I was a little surprised by the inclusion of a single lanyard for the port lid tackle, particularly as the hull is that of a sixty-four.
The general arrangement for this period, except perhaps for smaller vessels, was for two lanyards per port, with lifting rings attached to the iron hinge straps.
On the kit this would entail drilling thro’ the straps, so the kit arrangement is probably a simplification to aid construction.
 
An alternative to aid ease of fitting would be laser board straps.
I have gone with the kit arrangement but if it annoys me enough I will re-visit.
 

3752
I’ve yet to fit the Qtr deck port lids, but as these are painted I will use the Pearwood laser parts.
 
 
B.E.
22/02/2024

 

good morning everyone
 
day 359-48
 
i have never ever classed myself as a good modeler, messy/untidy, and lack of attention to detail spring to mind,  but i love the hobby, and the satisfaction of (i did that)
i also share my attempts with others that are interested, therefore  most of my posts are shared with two other forums Flory, and Locate and cement, formally All Scale Modeller) , and Facebook, in the forums which are mainly plastic i have been asked to detail some of the rigging lines, so here goes, 
main yard/spar 
with all blocks and lines ready to fit, the mast and spar have been drilled and pinned 

 
the pinning allows the spar to be placed intro position, and ease handing
 
 
the spar is support by large blocks called Jeers and  slings


 
to keep the main spar against the mast, a series of ropes called truss are used,  and the lines that keep them in place are called the truss pendant

 
the line above it stops the slack in the line and is called the nave

 
 
the jeers and now laced up

 

Work done for the day.
 

IMG_7923.heic

Bowsprit Shrouds
I have managed to reattached the broken sword to the figurehead. I also reattached the rails.
 
It was then a case of adding the 4 shrouds for the bowsprit. The rigging of the shrouds was relatively easy to do.
 
Next up will be to add the foremast stay and preventer.

 

Update to show the progress so far on the hull.  I wanted to show someone looking at the model where the nominal waterline would be ( as the white goes up to the underside of the wale) and so wanted to add some indication of waterline fouling.
 
This has been a bit of Trial and error! Weathering is always subjective in model kits and striking the right balance between realism and something that just isn't "nice" to look at is difficult.  So having built up some washes and grunge/fouling, I have decided to knock it back and maybe with a bit of judicial sanding away of the top coat reveal a little more waterline fouling, but I'll take it steady.  Once fully hardened it will need a flatting with very fine abrasive and old towelling to make the surface clean again, macro photography shows all that up nicely! 😣
 
Also added a few rudder details, like the rudder coat and ring as shown in the plans and rudder chain.

I did rush the rig, cut a lot of corners, meaning it took around 5 days from shrouds to braces - but I only need the model to look presentable for box art...