Craigie65

Yip, I will be watching out for this one being put on sale.  Plus should be small enough to hide from the admiral 🤞

Again, congratulations for putting the more unusual in front of your public, Chris. It's amazing the variety of smaller vessels that plans are available for from that period.

Very cool model!

Yip, I will be watching out for this one being put on sale.  Plus should be small enough to hide from the admiral 🤞

Yip, I will be watching out for this one being put on sale.  Plus should be small enough to hide from the admiral 🤞

Yip, I will be watching out for this one being put on sale.  Plus should be small enough to hide from the admiral 🤞

Yip, I will be watching out for this one being put on sale.  Plus should be small enough to hide from the admiral 🤞

Yip, I will be watching out for this one being put on sale.  Plus should be small enough to hide from the admiral 🤞

OK, just a little update.
 
I have been very busy, if not producing stuff, then trying to carry on with my next two smaller developments.
 
Today I finally completed the hull detail for kit number 15, the gun brig Adder of 14 guns (1797 - Acute Class). 12 x 18 Pounder carronades and 2x24 Pounder carriage guns. I think this has taken three weeks in total to get this far, perhaps two weeks for masts and rig.
 
Size wise this fits neatly in between Alert and Speedy. The designs were a lot more involved than I initially anticipated, with the bluff bow and foredeck drooping down as it goes forward, presumably to help negate the recoil of the large 24 Pounders.
 
As with Trial Cutter, it has drop keels, and all hull detail above main wale is pre cut and engraved, meaning very little planking required, which is also painted (or coppered) anyway.
 
This was meant to be a nice cheap and simple kit, but as usual, I went too far, and ended up with a very detailed little kit with many laser cut and engraved sheets.
 
Scale - 1:64th (of course..)
Hull Length - 406mm
Overall Length (Rigged) - 606mm
Height Overall - 464mm
 
This class was a Henslow design, and if you don't like the name, there is quite a choice:
Acute
Adder
Asp
Assault
Biter
Blazer
Bouncer
Boxer
Bruiser
Clinker
Contest
Cracker
Crash (!!)
Sparkler
Spiteful
 
All ordered and built in 1797
 
Adder was actually lengthened in 1798 to 97' along the main deck, so I doubt she was ever coppered in the as built guise. Most seem to have been coppered at a much later date after their launch, hence the white bottom.
 
No idea how well this will sell....

Post One Hundred and Twenty-nine
Gudgeons
With the rudder in place the line of the straps can be marked.

1782A
The straps are easily lined up on the hull to butt against the  Gudgeon centres.
Trickier to fit than the rudder straps and care must be taken to avoid ca spread. The tape helps a little with this.

3216

3217
The Laser Board straps adhere well to the hull.

1787A
A touch-in of black paint on the stern post edges finishes the effect which should be the look of complete iron brackets attached to the hull.
Has the design achieved this; in my view it has.

3221
This is also a convenient time to apply the Horseshoe and Fish plates to the lower hull.

3227
These are brass etch versions, but they are another item suitable for Laser Board production.

3219

3222
A carronade assembly session looms, what joy.🙄
 
 
B.E.
10/01/2024
 

Spent yesterday and today continuing to apply the first layer of planking. Not getting too obsessive over it since it will be sanded down and covered, but still trying to make it a somewhat realistic practice for what is to come with the second layer. It is very satisfying when you get the bends just right and the plank pushes straight into place without needing to be forced against the previous plank. Definitely getting more intuitive about how I need to bend each plank to make that happen.
 

 
Found the most efficient way of transferring the markings from the bulkheads to the plank is using calipers. Not worrying about what the measurement actually is, but just using it to mark the plank. Then I just connect the marks with a ruler and knife.
 



 
The garboard strake was tough to figure out exactly how far to continue into the bow and what the profile should be, but am pretty happy with where it ended up.
 



 
Continued on from there. Getting close!
 



 
Hopefully I can get those final 8 planks sorted in an evening of work.
 
On the anchor front, I used some black masking tape to simulate the metal bands on the stocks.
 


 
Also planning to add ‘bolts’ going through them, but am still figuring out what to use. Tried some options on a bit of scrap. First thought was just a mark with a pencil would do, but that didn't work at all. Next idea was to blacken the pins that came with the kit (1mm heads), but I decided they felt a little too big for the relatively thin stocks. Last test was using .8mm wire, which when blackened, seems like the way to go.
 

 
I like the amount the non blackened wire is protruding to give some dimensionality. I pushed the blackened one in just a little too far, and is essentially flush with the wood.

Time flies, I see that it has been nearly a month since I last wrote anything in this log. My wife bought me the set of pearwood blocks from Vanguard for Christmas so work can now continue.
Backstays
First off is to make the long block. The ends of a 3 and 4mm block are filed square and glued together with pva. A 0.45mm rope is seized on and threaded through the pendant block down to a 2.5mm hook that fixes to an eyebolt in front of the 5th gun port.
The block of the falls are hooked into an eyebolt forward of the 4th gun port and the falls lead twice through the long block and are belayed to the cavel cleat.


I can now tighten up the main stay lanyard but I will leave finally tying it off for the moment.
 
Driver Boom
Parrel beads from the kit are used on both driver and main booms. I was hoping to leave it later in the build but I had to fit the topmast because the mast cap has to be in place to run the rigging for the gaff and I couldn’t fit this without the topmast.

The blocks at the mast head were originally tied to eybolts but I removed them and tied them on with strops made from 0.45mm served line. I also added cleats to the forward side of the mast head to prevent the strops from slipping.

I will have to remove the main yard lift blocks from the eyebolts and tie them to a strop clove-hitched around the mast cap which I think is as they should be. I have made this awkward now. It should have been done before fitting the driver boom.
 
The lower block of the peak halliard is hooked into the eyebolt on the boom and is fed through the block on the mast and run down to the bar of the main bitts The gaff halliard is seized to the eyebolt on the cap through the blocks on the boom and the double block on the mast head and belayed at the rack on the starboard side.

The flag halliard is then set up and the tied off to the bar on the tafferel. The gaff and flag halliards are finally set up together to achieve a balanced tension in the two ropes.
 
This where I got a little puzzled. The plans show the lower block of the flag halliard to be on the starboard side of the bar and then tied off at the port side. The photos in the manual show that the block and the belay point are both on the starboard side of the bar. When it comes to fitting the main boom the latter arrangement makes more sense so this is what I have gone with.

Thanks for looking in
David
 

Post One Hundred and Twenty-eight
 
Shipping the rudder
I thought I would add the rudder now as fitting involves positioning the hull for access.
The rudder has a central Pear core with facings engraved to represent the tablings and other sections that properly make up the rudder of a large ship.

1754a
As I won’t be coppering, all this detail will remain visible.

3198
Before assembly of the rudder it is a good idea to check the fit thro’ the rudder port and against the stern post.
I found I needed to fettle the port a little to get the head of the rudder into position.
 

5434
With regard to rudders I have mostly used the Syren system which produces a moving rudder on individual pintles and gudgeons.

2271(2)
On Sphinx the kit provided ‘faux’ pintles/ gudgeons (above) were a thin brass etch affair which didn’t do it for me, and I used the Syren system.
 
The arrangement on ‘Indy’ is a much-improved resin version of a pintle/gudgeon combo and with laser board straps replacing the brass etch.

1750a
Chris has done a fine job in replicating these items and I am sufficiently impressed to use them on my build.
 
These little widgets slot into the Rudder beautifully, and the corresponding gudgeons match to the slots in the stern post.

1759a
The strap positions are marked on the rudder for the pintles, for accurate fitting.
I think it is also a good move to make the straps out of laser board, saves all that brass blackening and then messing it up during fitting.

1778a
The manual indicates use of brass pins inserted into drilled holes on the straps. I prefer to represent the bolts on the straps using blobs of pva applied with a toothpick.
 
The final addition to the rudder is the Spectacle plate.

1763a
This is chemically blackened brass etch.

1767b

1786a

1765a
The fit of the rudder is excellent, with a good push fit.
With this system there are no worries about getting a close fit to the stern post.
 
Well done Chris.👍
 
 
B.E.
09/01/2024
 
 

Spritsail Yard
For the last few days I have been working on building the spritsail yard. It was an interesting element to construct and I am happy with the end result. The process I followed was as follows.
 
Starting with a suitable length of dowel the tapers were applied. The  central section is a hexadecagon, i.e. a 16 sided polygon. Using a simple jig to hold the dowel in place I was able to file and create the 16 flat edges required for the hexadecagon. Next I marked and drilled the holes required for the eyebolts and footrope stirrups. A hole was also drilled for the pin that would help secure the spritsail yard to the bowsprit.
 
After the eyebolts and footrope stirrups had been blacked they were added to the spritsail yard along with the various cleats. The spritsail yard was then painted black.
 
Next the various blocks and thimbles were seized and secured to the spritsail yard. You may note in the attached pictures that I did forget to add two blocks, which are located at either end of the spritsail yard.
 
The final task was to add the footropes. The two outer footrope loops could have been more even with each other for a better symmetrical look. However once all the rigging has been added I do not think it will be that noticeable.

I now have to decide what task to tackle next. My intention was to add the bowsprit to the Indy and the foremast stays and then continue with the adding the fore topmast and fore topgallant mast. On  the other hand I might move on to constructing and installing the both main and mizzen channels and then adding the masts and their associated shrouds and ratlines.
 
I also need to paint and fit the figurehead.

Progress continues....whilst it's summer here in Australia, more rain than sunshine combined with a broken foot allowed me to spend the day on the next steps.
 
So, for now I've left the hold/lower deck with just a coil of rope.  The only other items included were a few barrels. I'll modify them by sanding off the wooden turned bands, and replacing with black tape for a more scale-like appearance.  I'll also add more barrels, plus some timbers and perhaps crates or sacks of supplies for the new colony.
 
One item I'll add when I get home is an upright piano - according to records I found, the Sirius carried the new Governor's piano. So I should add this!
 
Work then moved to the mess deck.  I replaced the laser-etched kit gratings with new ones built up, whilst still a bit oversized, the photo shows the comparison and improvement. 
The hold ladder was built, and posts and knees added to the hold. These will be painted later after a bit of putty has been applied to gaps.
 
Next step is the furniture and fittings for the mess deck - tables  hammocks, lockers, etc.
 
More updates soon hopefully! 

Thanks for watching, next updates should be more frequent. 
 
Darren
 

Excellent build and a credit to your fleet.
You powered through the rigging in short time.
 
The name plate is a nice touch.

Excellent build and a credit to your fleet.
You powered through the rigging in short time.
 
The name plate is a nice touch.

Excellent build and a credit to your fleet.
You powered through the rigging in short time.
 
The name plate is a nice touch.

Excellent build and a credit to your fleet.
You powered through the rigging in short time.
 
The name plate is a nice touch.

So the voyage is done. Best build I have done in terms of fun and quality of the kit. Unsure what to do next. Will need to look around.
 

 
And finally Pellow and Hornblower discussing the state of the build
 

 
Thanks for all the comments and support.

Snowy day up here in Vermont. Good excuse to spend the day inside working on the Flirt.
 

 
I’ve been doing a bunch of reading about planking techniques, but at a certain point need to just dive in and get the experience. Although of course the first planking will be covered, my plan is to spend some time on it to get a feel for what the final planking will involve.
 
Taped off 3 belts which will use 5 planks for the top and bottom, and 6 planks in the middle. By my measurements, I should only need to taper the planks at the bow, and the stern should work out to the correct spacing (without reaching the very bottom of the deadwood as that will be sanded down anyway). Could be totally off on that, but as I said, this first layer will be all about learning!
 

 
Used strips of card and a planking fan to subdivide the belts in the bow where they taper and marked.
 

 
Still figuring out how exactly they will be tapered as they reach the garboard plank. Thinking I should make the garboard and that will give me a better visual of how everything else will need to work. Looks to me like the tip of the garboard should hit the stem post right about at the bottom of the lowest slot.
 
My plan is to start with the upper belt, followed by the lower belt, then fill in between them.
 
Put together a bending rig using some scraps and clamps ala Chuck and others. My wife was not excited when I commandeered her fancy/expensive iron, so I've got a cheap travel iron from amazon heading this way.
 

 
…and got to it!
 



 
Used PVA and pins. Starting to get the hang of the bending, but there definitely is a learning curve (no pun intended) and figuring out where the apex of the bend should be and how much to bend isn’t easy. With these first two the pins ended up needing to hold more than I would have liked, but I’m going to keep going and expect it will get easier and better as my mind wraps around it. Note that the 2nd plank at the 3rd bulkhead has an uneven edge in the photo above. I think it got gummed up when being clamped in my bending jig, which has since been cleaned up with a couple scrapes of my knife, but a good reminder to be careful with how I’m clamping them.
 
While I was fighting with the bulwarks and waiting for them to soak and dry multiple times, I started working on some of the deck details. Can’t say I love removing char, but I do enjoy tackling little mini projects when I’m frustrated by something else.
 
Started with the capstan.
 

 
In general I’m trying to smooth out the pear wood grain as much as possible. To my eye, nothing kills scale like overly pronounced wood grain, especially on painted parts. This may have bit me on the capstan though, as after sanding the surfaces, there were gaps in the joints. Since this is painted, I used wood filler to close up the gaps.
 



 
While working on this, I got to thinking that it might be fun to rig the capstan with the messenger cable and bars as if it is mid pulling up the anchor. Plenty of time to ponder that before I’ll need to make any decisions.
 
Moved on to the anchors.
 

 
Glad I double checked the fit of the shank through the stock, as the slot in the stock needed to be significantly deeper than the laser had cut. Adjusted a little at a time with my knife until it was a snug fit.
 

 
Decided to taper the stocks as well, since it seems like the would have come to more of a square profile at the ends (photo above was mid process, and ended up tapering more)
 
After seeing the above photo, I decided to bevel the edges of the MDF anchors as they looked wrong with the perfectly sharp corners. Not the easiest thing to do with the MDF since the texture makes it very hard to see what you’re doing, but I think it’ll be an improvement to the look once painted. There were some gaps where the flukes meet the arms which I used wood filler to smooth out.
 

 
Next I cleaned up and assembled the ladders.
 


 
That pen in the foreground of the photo above should give you a sense of their actual size. Note that the ‘sawtooth’ parts where the treads slot into are quite fragile at their thinnest points. Managed to break one of them while sanding the char, but luckily was easy to glue back together when inserting the treads. These will not be painted, so I did my best to remove all the visible char and not simply smooth them. Also note that a small portion of the sides of the treads will be visible, so removing that char before assembly would be easier than the very careful sanding I did after the fact.
 
Part of me wants to ‘cup’ the steps as if they’ve been worn down from years of use. My tendency is to want to make things that feel lived in, but it seems the more common approach in ship modeling is to go for a perfect, brand new appearance. We’re not talking WWII tanks covered in mud here, but I do like the idea of representing a ‘used’ ship. Could see weathering and staining quickly looking messy and like mistakes, so I’m a little wary to even try it. Something for me to think about.
 
Should probably go shovel some snow, and then back in to continue planking!
 

Post One Hundred and Twenty-seven
Channels
 The channels each comprise laminations of three parts. The core centre part is rounded on the edges and extends slightly beyond the upper and lower pieces to create a decorative profile.

1748a
In practice the edges of the channels were open to receive the deadeye strops, and a cover strip was nailed over the top, decorative or otherwise.
Quite a straightforward business prepping the channels; largely making sure you have the correct cores and matching outer pieces, carefully applied to each side of the core, and aligned with the slots and holes.

1740a
The Main channels require more bevelling on the aft side to account for the greater tumblehome.

1739a
The Fore channels require bevelling and a little fettlin’ to match the round of the bow and take a little more time to fit.

3192
The Mizen and stools for the main and Mizen backstays require little attention and there are location holes in the hull for accurate fitting.

3194

3189
A well-designed set-up by Chris for what can otherwise be a tricky exercise.
 

1733a
Whilst in the area of the Poop I added a lead sheathing to the Gallery roof, this will tone down to a dull grey over time.

1731a

1744a

1745a
Before I permanently fix the channels I think I will return to the deck and inner bulwark fittings.
At this point the channels will just present another incumbrance to be careful about when working inboard.
 
 
B.E.
07/01/2024
 
 
 
 

Hello All and belated Happy New Year and best wishes for 2024.
 
The festive period did not allow for much model building, but that is not a complaint as we did enjoy meeting up with family and friends and indulging in too much good food and drink. 
 
What I have got done on the Trial has been very enjoyable.  Not much building as such, just added the side mouldings and wales, but these have made the model suddenly look very different.
 
Most of my time was spent variously painting, varnishing and washing parts and using Danish oil to seal and bring out the wood of the deck and Bulwarks.
 
After painting, I gloss varnished all the parts of the model I wanted to add washes to and then used dark washes on the inner bulwarks and light washes on the wales, to bring out all Chris's lovely details.  I did briefly toy with painting the sides in yellow ochre but in the end was so pleased with how the wood looked after a few coats of Danish oil I am glad I didn't!  The addition of the black upper edge to the bulwarks in addition to the black wales looks like two "go faster" stripes! 😁
 
Hope everyone had a good holiday period and also got some modelling done.  Thanks for looking in.

Onward! Faired the bulkheads to be as smooth as possible. A plank seems to flow over them without gaps.
 


 
Since these photos I thinned out the deadwood a bit more and fixed the slight asymmetry in the stern.
 

 
Attached the inner stem post.
 
And here is where I ran into some trouble. Same challenge with the bulwark patterns DelF ran into with his Speedy build.
 

 
Per the manual I soaked the plywood bulwarks in hot water and clamped them into place while they dried. I could see major gaps at the bottom so I tried pinning to those bulkheads.
 

 
Pins weren’t able to hold the lower edge in place, so I ended up re soaking the parts and clamping them into place with rubber bands and some MDF scraps to focus the pressure.
 

 
This got the overall shape closer, but with lots of wavy spots caused by trying to distort a 2D shape into a compound curve.
 


 
Glued into place, you can see the wavy bulwarks.
 
To fix the problematic areas I wet them and used the fat part of my soldering iron to form the bulwarks back into the correct shape. Going to find my wife’s iron was probably the correct answer, but I used what was within reach.
 



 
Not pretty, but close enough that with some sanding after the first planking it should work just fine. Due to the ordeal of trying to get the compound curve sorted out, the starboard bow bulwark at bulkhead 3 and 4 ended up about 1mm lower than the port side. Part of me wants to pull it off and adjust, but I’m going to just live with it for the sake of forward progress and my original goal of trying to NOT get overly obsessive and burning myself out. I’m also assuming it will be less noticeable when the bulkhead tabs aren’t there.
 
Guess that means I’ll need to figure out how to plank this thing! Time to brush up on the ‘Chuck’ method.

Bowsprit Topmast
It has been a hectic few days with family staying and spent all my free time with the grandkids so no work in the shipyard. Peace and normality has returned to our household this morning although the peace will be shattered once again at the weekend when the grandkids return for a quick overnight visit.
 
I was able to return to the shipyard this morning and decided that I should make the bowsprit topmast. I think it is important to make sure it will fit through the bowsprit end cap before the end cap is glued to the bowsprit.
 
Starting with a length of 6mm dowel I reduced the diameter down until I could pass the end cap down to the required position. This was accomplished using my Proxxon mini lathe. Once I was happy I reduced the diameter of the end section so the PE part would fit over.
 
Next I used a sharp blade to create the next section which is conical shaped. I was pleased with the work so far.

The next task was to add a octagonal section. Using a simple jig which holds the dowel in place I was able to make a reasonable job of the octagonal section. After the first flat was filed I rotated the dowel through 90 degrees and then filed the next flat edge. Once I had repeated this two more times the dowel was then rotated through 45 degrees for the next flat edge. After three more 90 degree rotations the task was complete.

It was then time for a dry fit check with the bowsprit and everything seems to match the plan sheet. I will need to shape the top and bottom edge of the edge cap, as indicated by the blue arrow.

All that was left to do is to create an octangle section of the other end of the dowel. Using the same method as detailed above it was a simple task to complete. I did use a scrap piece of planking material, cut to the required width of the octagonal flat edges as a guide during the filing process.

I also made the flying jib this morning and was very pleased with the dry test fit, as shown below. There is still plenty of work required to complete the bowsprit assembly, such as adding the various blocks to the bowsprit, making the spritsail yard, etc.