Craigie65

The main and foremast topsail and top gallant yards have now been added complete with tyes and lifts rigged.
 
Here is a picture of the current state of the build.

Now a picture showing the fore topsail yard with the parral beads in place.

The parrel beads around the fore topgallant yard is shown in the next picture.

Next is a photo of the topsail yard lfts which are now fully rigged and belayed.
The final two photos show the lifts for the main topgallant yard, noting I have not belayed which will be via a double block arrangement, with the lower block hooked to an eyebolt on the lower platform.

 

Lovely, well done!
And on to the next, you need to let everyone into your secret for finding so much shipyard time!

A quick update and a question
The cannons are now all rigged except for the last three at the stern, as these will hardly be visible. However, I have been thinking about the course of the anchor ropen. I couldn't find anything about this in the plans or the other  reports. I don't think it was stored directly in the bow, so I have come up with a route. Can anyone comment on whether this is plausible? The final anchor rope will be thicker.

 



 

I love seeing stuff like this, thank you for sharing.

I have a kind of addiction, and it is buying these plans, at times for no other reason than to stare and admire the lines of them for hours on end. I find them fascinating. 

This is one of my latest, it is a particularly beautiful 48th scale plan of the San Josef of 112 guns (reputed to once belong to Emma Hamilton) – and damn do those headrails look nice and simple to transfer into a kit version!
 
In the same tube, I also had an even bigger plan of Caledonia (120 – but rounded upper bow, so probably never do that one), and 2 for the old Roebuck Class 44 gun 2-deckers. Not sure if I shall ever use them, but I would like display all of them one day, if I can ever sell my house and move to somewhere that has the room in my workshop…
 

Polybak, (laser etched) same as I use for Indy. Better than using PE.

first build post day 3
 
day 1
clear room, only long enough to get a good clean done, and did the kit review photos
 
After marking identification numbers on all the parts All the plywood bits removed . shame they dont do this at the stage they are made, after test fitting
 
 day 2
i painted them in Oak, using the OcCre dye, then made the hull up using titebond original

too yellow

day 3
what about walnut?
 
im happier with that, becomes a nice shade on top of the oak
 
lower hold forward half deck
on one side of each plank i marked with a permanent marker - in black 
painted the deck black, laid planks in a 3 shift butt system
drilled holes to represent nails
stained in oak

this is how she stands tonight 
 
 
 

First time trying to add shrouds and deadeyes. I can see why next to planking, many characterize this as one of the hardest parts of making models ships. Definitely a slow process to try to get them close to being right. 
 
There needs to be a seizing at the top between the two halves of the line after it loops around the mast. I did it kind of loose to make sure I could adjust the relative lengths of the two ends to try to make them even horizontally. No magic tricks to doing this, just fiddling and patience. 

finished, will post better photos later
 

Ship's boats. The two cutters (18ft and 22ft) are very similar, with printed hulls and pear fittings, shown in the photo below. Note that the hulls have already been painted, but more on that in a minute.
There is a difference in the rudders. That for the 22ft has the tiller and the blade as one piece whereas that for the 18ft has a seperate, very delicate, tiller, and also has "cheek" pieces either side of the upper blade. I decided to add similar pieces either side of the blade for the 22ft rudder. The two rudders are shown below (the 18ft tiller is on the wrong side). 
Painting of the hulls. I used an ochre colour for the interiors, then decided to add a darker wash to improve the bland appearance of an all-ochre interior. I copied what Blue Ensign did in his build, but whereas his application was successful, mine was a total failure 😬. I've never used a wash before and unfortunately chose one that was far too dark. So, I let the boats dry thoroughly then went over everything with the ochre again, but this time using an almost-dry brush. Success 😁. The wash is still apparent but much toned down. The outside was painted a slightly off-white colour and black trim was applied inside and out.


Pintles and gudgeons were added to each boat/rudder, though the rudders won't be shipped, just lying in the boats.
Care had to taken with the pear fittings as some (the gratings) were very fragile, and I actually broke one of the ones for the 18ft cutter. I glued the halves together with some reinforcements, and the break is barely noticeable. The bow thwart for the 18ft had to be cut into three as it was far too big to go into place. The thwart itself was then glued, and the other two pieces trimmed so the they would fit. When building the 22ft cutter, the first piece to be fitted should be the grating in the bow, then the first thwart. This then allows the centre floor piece (which has two mast steps) to be accurately located, using a dowel to position the forward mast step immediately under the thwart. The rearmost thwart in this cutter, while shown on the plan, was missing from the pear sheet, easily fixed with one cut from the fret. Mast clamps, made out of black card, and ringbolts (for lifting) were added to each cutter.

Some attempt was made to round off the shafts and handles of the oars, and to thin the tips of the blades, but this quickly came to a stop when the blade of one oar started to split.


Finally, a trial fit of the 22ft cutter on Harpy. Notice that the bow of the cutter almost completely blocks access to the ladder (this is also shown in photos in the manual).

Cheers
 
 

I can definitely say the frame is solid!

Bow area is always an issue, more so with built up forecastle bulwarks. My mandate to myself with this was to try and make this area as strong as possible to help minimise possible distortion that often sets in with such curves around the bow, with some areas looking more angled than curved. But damn that area was a nightmare.... (As in trying to do this so that it is easy for the modeller to understand and build up).
 
I am so overdue designing a kit with a nice simple beakhead bulkhead!

I've worked quite quickly here, so I thought I'd bring you totally up to date with work on this.
 
This does mean my next updates will be in real time, with some work on furniture and fittings while the hull sits on my shelf. I'm also aware that because so much of the skeleton is built at once, that you may need to look closely at the photos for the changed. I'll eventually add some arrows on a good number of these pics, so it's evidently clear as to what you're looking at. This photo shows the hull with all the cannon ports installed. A total breeze to do this. Just remember that every vertical port piece is unique to its position. 
 

 
I now focus on the stern. These parts are very obvious. Note the inner, middle, and outer engravings, and all will be fine.

 
The blank panels can now be removed from the stern bulkhead, allowing the previous parts to be fitted. Just take care with the strips protruding at the rear. These are quite strong, but exercise caution. 

 
These parts are now slotted into their respective positions and glued. 

 
Another two horizontal strips now sit atop the previous ones (slotted into the bulwark ears), from bow to stern. You can see the deck beam positions engraved on them.


 
The quarter gallery doorways are now installed.

 
Note another horizontal strip fitted to the outside of the rear bulwark ears, strengthening that area.

 
NOW....we can glue! Your keel should be 100% straight by now, so it's time to solidify the hull by painting in some slightly dilute wood glue into the various joints and seams. I now leave this to set for a number of hours, while I edit the photos and do this update.

 
Here is HMS Surprise as she currently looks. She's sleek and very impressive!


 
 
More, when I've created the content 🤪
 

Final pic of gun deck before upper deck is added to the old mule...

There are two sub-decks to fit. These add a whole load of rigidity to the hull, as well as securing the longitudinal beams in place. Again, the decks aren't glued at this stage, but instead they are held in place with a series of pegs that slot through the bulkheads, at upper deck height. 
 


 
The forward, main deck section now receives the same treatment. 

 
 
Each deck section is then fitted with an engraved lime faux deck. For these, I just added glue around the edged and centreline, and held them in place with clamps until set. Clamps will remove any threat of deck curling at the edges.

 
Even though this place will barely be seen, the deck gets the full grates treatment, and even a set of ladders leading down into that little orlop area. 


 
The bow now has a little attention. You'll see here, and from Chris's photos, that this is a little different to previous designs. 

 
 
More later.

All those loose bulkheads can now be locked into place.
 
To do this, we use doublers, either side of the keel, inserted from above and then pinned into position, all the way through all three keel layers. 
 



 
After this, we add stability to the outer portions of each bulkhead, initially with these three pieces, inserted on either side of the keel.




 
More longitudinal bracing is added, and it won't be the last.



 
More later.

This kit will have a modern design and not legacy.
 
You might notice that there are two sterns included in the kit, depicting the real Surprise and the one from the books/movie. I'm sure @chris watton will be able to explain better. The parts also show BOTH cannon and carronade options, but I believe the cannon is the one to be included in the kit, and the carronade will be an option to purchase separately. 
 
Thin copper PE can be contentious at the moment, but the supply of it seems to be getting a little easier. You'll see that I have a PE plating set for the hull, with shaped parts for the rudder. Note the copper rudder hinges and horseshoe and fishplate parts, instead of these being in brass. Decals are included for the name and depth marks, plus names for the gun carts too
 
I have a nice choice of furniture for the cabin. I'll choose what looks best on layout, along with what Chris may supply in wooden form too. I might see if I can sneak a glimpse of that area from the film and base the layout on that.
 
Two sets of polybak parts are supplied to me for the stern and bow rail details. One is in ivory and one in natural. This is so I can work out which is most suitable and looks best for the model. The real difference is a slight thickness in the sheets. the colour is irrelevant as they'll be painted anyway. You'll also see the euphroe parts on there too instead of PE.
 
Other differences in this kit are the gorgeous little 3D printed hand pumps, and 0.2mm windows for the bulkhead screens and stern/quarters, so the windows and PE sandwiches will nicely fit into the timber. They also have a much more realistic clarity than the thicker acrylic sheets.
 
On this kit, the mast tops are made in three layers, adding a little extra realism to the completed assemblies. There will also be toggle detail for the connecting rigging blocks on the underside.
 

 
As Chris said, this isn't the complete kit yet, and it's quite unusual that I have this at a stage where he hasn't even completed the second planking layer on his own prototype. I have less than 2 weeks before I go on holiday, so I'm seeing if I can get a few bits done before then. 
 
 
The hull is 725mm long. 
Overall length is 1175mm. Height is 745mm and width is 350mm.
 

I decided on including two stern options because the original is bereft of any decoration, not even pillars in between the windows - and I knew some would question this, after watching the film. (I agonised over this for weeks...)
 
So, as standard, the stern is slightly reworked to include pillars in between the windows, and also the shape of the windows have been given a little more 'flare' towards the ends. The reworked stern also has windows that can be posed open, as per the Indy. I have also worked both sterns so you can have the stern chaser ports open and a 6-Pounder in place if you so wish.
ETA:
Here are the profiles for Sphinx and Surprise. The Sphinx would look more like the film Surprise (which is based on HMS Rose, a 20 gun mid-18th Century ship, and exactly the same size as Sphinx). You can see the real Surprise was quite a bit longer, being 126 feet along the main deck.

Jim hasn't got all the parts yet, as I am yet to complete designs for the upper works (inner bulkheads etc.). I asked my wife to add all the furniture, so Jim can see what will work best, there will be some laser cut parts for these too, like on Indy.

I've not photographed the planks or dowels. You'll all know what those will look like. 😉

Ok, here are the parts sheets. I've not gone to town on these too much as they won't be used in the manual. These are just to satisfy everyone's curiosity. 
 

1: 64 HMS Surprise prototype build - Vanguard Models

Before we can tuck into a plate of 'eggs 'n bacon' next year, we have the not very small matter of HMS Surprise to attend to. We believe this kit will make many, many folk very happy indeed! There's been so much interest in this that it was about time we saw it released in typical VM style. This is the build which will feature in the instruction manual and here you'll see mostly images that will appear there, plus maybe a few other less polished photos which show the clutter that I really surround myself in!
 
Here's an in-progress profile that Chris is currently working on, of Surprise. This will feature in the plans, along with a whole ton of extra folding paper for you to study.
 

 
This extremely heavy box arrived about an hour ago. This isn't the complete kit either, but there are two sets of everything to build the hull up to and including planking. Chris has used an Indy box to ship this in, so those of you who've built Indy, will recognise this behemoth of a packing box. So far weighing in at around 12kg.

 
A statement? A fact?
Definitely one of those.

 
I'll shortly be digging through all of the contents and doing a few iPhone photos for this build log.

...coming very soon 🤪
 
 
 

Before moving on to the next stage I realised I had not added the catharpins to the fore and main tops masts.
 
I have refined my method in this respect which should ensure they are all made to the correct length, 2 off required for each topmast.
 
I started the process by making a loop in one end of the thread. The thread is wrapped around a 1mmD copper bar, held in the quad hands and the seizing is then added.

I then made a jig, using two lengths of 1mmD copper bar set to the required distance. The catharpin thread is then placed over one of the copper pins. The other end of the thread is wrapped around the other pin and then held in place using the quad hands, as can be seen below.

It is then a simple task to add the seizing so the second loop is formed. It did not take long to make the four catharpins. I did add a small amount of ca clue along the length to stiffen them.

The final task was to secure these to the shrouds. A length of thread was secured to each catharpin loop using a simple reef (square) knot. The thread were then passed around the futtock stave and toed off, once again using a reef knot.

The excess threads were then cut off.

OK, the other day, I had my final STL file for one of the two Aubrey figures. Unfortunately, my white primer went a little 'bitty', so doesn't look the best, but you can see the general details - this will be included in the kit:
 
I also decided to design the hand pump bodies and brackets for 3-d printing, as having to make up 6 of these would be a little boring to do for the modeller.
 

My sample Surprise photo etched sheets are also now with me, all I have to do now is finish building up the hull and take pics for Jim to work from - Time is just melting away...

I have completed adding the ratlines to both the fore and main topmasts.

Fore topmast

Main topmast

Next I started to add the main and fore topmast stays and preventor stays.
Main topmast

The main topmast stay and preventor have been fed through the blocks located on the fore mast and are now ready to be belayed.

The final photo shows the current state of the build.