Craigie65

Wonderful work.  Looking forward to watching your log of Speedy.
Enjoy Shetland!

Wonderful work.  Looking forward to watching your log of Speedy.
Enjoy Shetland!

It did, but the stock looks like it is on upside down?

Lower half of starboard side done and much better than port side as used a hairclip to hold shrouds spacing at the top. 
 

 

 

Top of the bulwarks painted black.
Then channels and upper rails fitted.
Gunwales painted black and glued. Eyebolts added to the inner bulwarks.


The gunwale across the stern needed to pre-formed to get the correct curve. I soaked it and let it dry for 24 hours.

On the stern the outer stern board was added followed by the rudder post cheeks. Then the aft gunwale and the black trim on the stern. 
I need to try a different white pain to touch up that matches the spray can white better. 
 
 

It would.  I used files on my first build to square off the top of the mast.
 
You can also go the other way of using square stock and rounding off the trunk of the mast.  Particularly useful for top masts given the change in shapes across the length.
 
 

Made a jig for the shrouds. Working ok so far.
 

 

 

 

I would think so but I´m not an expert about ratlines. But just by logic I would say it should be easier and safer to fit the shrouds and ratlines. But I would make sure that the mast is properly secured and fixed, if the mast collapses the entire work is ruined and you start again.
 
Micha

Thanks Micha. Me neither I've only done them once. Got the knot for the ratlines right about half way through? I was thinking without the yards fitted they might survive! This time I've test fitted the mast so I know it'll go in ok once it's got lots of delicate parts attached.
 

Like I said, I´m not an expert in ratlines or rigging yet but that`s how I would have done it anyway. Sounds logical to me at least. I´m confident you will make it properly and it will work out fine. I´m still fighting my Roar Ege from Billing Boats lol...

Micha

The Conning Tower & Attack Periscope Room
The kit comes with the starboard hull molded in clear plastic but the conning tower has the port side molded in clear.   Why, I can only guess.  It doesn't seem right and it begged to be corrected.  I basically had to cut out a viewing port on the starboard side.  Now we are in business!  A brief note: I had used Eduard's PE on the tower, then realized that it wasn't the look that I wanted.  After assembling the tower I made the switch to RCsubs PE and I should have just purchased these to begin with.   What you see here has the Eduard PE on it.  There will be more photos of the tower in a future update.
 

Starboard side with the corrected view port to the conning tower
 

Inside views thru the view port


Interior of attack periscope room during light test.
 

Crew member coming up topside.
 


 

 


Navigation lights added
 


This portion of the assembly was tedious.  Tolerances are minimal and paint needed to be scraped off slotted areas in order to fit properly.
 

And now it's time to re-create Capt Willenbrock from Das Boot
 

I am terrible with figures, but I think it turned out rather nicely.



Just a test fit of all the conning tower figures.   This is all coming together.
 
One suggestion to all who are building or contemplating this build, refrain from adding exterior railing until the very last.  There is no sense in installing it this early into the build and you will risk breaking pieces and regretting it.   There will be more on the tower which will include photos with the RCsubs PE added.
 





 

A few days away will be nice

Main mast prepped and fit checked, not fixed in place.
 

 
Bowsprit shaped and fitted. Then became apparent that this put it out of line vertically and horizontally. Not horribly so but enough to annoy. Removed and filed so the alignment is good. I'll sand out the file marks next time.
 

 

Post One Hundred and Seventy
 
Completing the Cutter.
 
Apart from painting the bottom Ivory, and the wale Black/grey, the boat will be finished using w-o-p only.
 
The rudder is a plain laser cut affair intended I think to simply display in the sternsheets of the boat. There are no fixings to hang the rudder either on the stern post, transom, or rudder.
 
I chose to add these fittings including a tiller of the yoke type.

4287
Still requires a little further fining down, this is the third attempt which may still break.

4289
Trial fitting the rudder.; a few tweaks required.
 
One consequence of changing the rowing arrangement from double to single banking is that the provided oars are too short for purpose.

4290
They are fairly easily modified but it does require using two oars to produce one. 
To improve the look of the oars the blades should really be thinned towards the tip.

4295

4298

4299

4311
Set -up for single banked rowing.

4302

4306

4307
I quite like the look of her on the skids and the Pinnace and Cutter don’t obscure much of the Main deck.
 
B.E.
16/04/2024

Wasn’t sure how far I’d get today but has gone well. Except for two of my new drill bits breaking. Shame as the smaller ones have been really good. Both on the topmast so just bad karma
 
All gone together nicely and a couple of coats of black. I’ll varnish once dry and that should do for now. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

That´s the way to go my friend
 
Greetings from the North (East Coast) to the East Coast

Measuring, marking and slowly filing and sanding. Turned out nicely.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I use a mini bench clamp vice and put my dowel / mast in there (to have it nicely fixed and not rolling when sanding) and then use a file or sanding block (often on blocks to keep a steady height). Then I turn the dowel / mast by 90 degress and go on with the same procedure.
 

 
The benchtop clamp vice was (years ago) a tenner... so not breaking the bank but a nice helper for sure.
 
Micha

It would.  I used files on my first build to square off the top of the mast.
 
You can also go the other way of using square stock and rounding off the trunk of the mast.  Particularly useful for top masts given the change in shapes across the length.
 
 

It would.  I used files on my first build to square off the top of the mast.
 
You can also go the other way of using square stock and rounding off the trunk of the mast.  Particularly useful for top masts given the change in shapes across the length.
 
 

It did, but the stock looks like it is on upside down?

I think I have another 2-3 months on designs and building hull to check everything, maybe longer. Those pics are literally the very first cut of the very first designs, and much needs amending. The end result will be a kit of an 18-gun brig with great history in real life, and with partial lower deck detail, including stove, scale spaced deck beams (all pre-cut in pear, and with the correct curves/camber, as usual) - and always trying to make it as painless to assemble as I can, but keeping the detail.

I remember doing Snake/Cruiser 25 years ago, that was the last time I did an 18-gun brig. To me, the Diligence Class has more pleasing aesthetics, with a sleeker hull and rake - like a much larger Speedy, but with a much bigger bite* - you can see the natural progression from the Childers and Speedy Class to the Dilligence Class almost 2 decades later, followed by the 'less curvy' Cruiser Class.
 
*Childers/Flirt/Speedy had a single broadside weight of 28 pounds, whereas the later 18 gun brigs like Harpy had a single broadside weight of 262 pounds

Main mast breast and shifting backstays, main topsail mast back stay and main topgallant mast backstay
After a few days work all the various backstays required for the main mast, the main topsail mast and main topgallant mast have been rigged and belayed. I am very pleased with how the Indy is now looking. Moving forward the next few days will be spent adding the various backstays for the fore mast, the fore topsail mast and fore topgallant mast. I have attached a photo of the completed main backstays.

The next two photos show the completed breast backstays, which have now been belayed to one of the main shroud cleats.

The photo shows shifting backstay and the topsail and topgallant backstays. 

The next photo shows the belaying of the shifting backstay to a belay pin

The final photo is a close up of the shifting stay eyebolt and block

 
 

Just a little progress. Not absolutely perfect but happy with these as they're so delicate. Worked from the top down and used a little flexible masking tape between parts to try and keep things even. A tiny dab of gel CA on each piece so there's a little bit of working time to nudge into place. Then once dried a coat of varnish to hopefully make things secure.
 

 

 

Busy work week so not as much time to work on the ship but finally able to finish the lower shrouds and ratlines