druxey

Beautifully executed work Gary!. The photo etch bender looks like a nice device to have in the tool box.

That's neat metal working, Gary. Great construction details and explanation.  

Exceptional metal work, Gary.

Thank you, Keith A, Paul, Jacques, and Keith B, for your comments and support!  And thanks to all for the "thumbs up".
 
 
I’ve begun work on the Pelicans’ four gallows frames and this post describes some of the preliminary work.
 
The purpose of these frames is to hang the heavy tow blocks slightly over the side of the boat at about 4 to 5 feet above the main rail. The blocks function as tow points for the trawl and are also used to deploy and retrieve the gear with the main winch.
 
The screenshot below shows one of the frames outlined in blue. The green lines point out three braces that structurally secures the frame to the boat.
 

 
 
 
There are no details of these frames provided on the plans, so I drew up my own from a few basic dimensions I pulled from the plans and from photos of period boats.

 
 
I took the drawing apart to provide cutting templates for the individual components. The main legs are Evergreen styrene “H” columns, and the top plates were cut from .010”(.25mm) styrene sheet.

 
 
The pieces were arranged on the assembly templates and solvent cemented together.
 

 

 

 
 
There are several different types of brackets required for each frame and I made them all from brass. After drawing them in CAD, I began by slicing brass sheet into strips of the required widths. In the past I’ve made strips using shears (which curls and deforms them), or by scoring and bending until it fatigue breaks. I’ve even used a guillotine style paper cutter that in certain situations works fairly well. But these methods are not very precise and with some of these strips being quite narrow (.073”(1.8mm)), I wanted to try something a little different.
 
I used a stainless steel sheet (cutting surface), a carpet knife, a stout straight edge, and 2” wide double sided masking tape (sticky on both sides.)
 
The secret sauce is the heavy duty masking tape. One piece of tape holds the brass to the stainless and a second piece holds the straight edge to the brass. The tape holds everything very tightly in place to the extent that the straight edge is quite difficult to remove and reposition for the next cut. One could easily bend and ruin a thin metal straight edge doing this.
 
The setup below is ready for slicing off a quarter inch strip, and as you see from the score marks in the stainless, I’ve already cut several strips of various widths.
 

 
 
The carpet knife is sharp, hard and stands up to abuse like this far better than a hobby knife blade. And due to its geometry, the blade is less likely to chip off, but needless to say I wore proper eye protection. I found repeated light cuts produces a better edge than trying to blast through it with only a few. The brass here is .008” (.2mm) thick, so it only took about seven passes to free the strip from the sheet. The passes feel sticky until the stainless is reached at which time the blade glides easily through. This does leave a bur along the cut edge, but a few swipes with a fine flat diamond file licks them right off.
 

 
 
First to be made are the six bracket pairs (12 total) that secure the gallows frame bracing to the whaleback or pilothouse structures.

 
The strip is stuck to the template with two-sided cellophane tape and the fold and cut lines are scratched on.

 
 
The bracket is clipped from the strip with flush-cut diagonals and the edges are eased with a diamond file.

 
 
A bolt hole is drilled through with a pin vise.

 
 
The piece is placed into a photo etch bender.

 
 
Positioned and squared up.

 
 
Then bent.

 

 
 
The gallows have brackets at their feet to allow them to tilt out over the rail.

 
 
Eight pairs (16 total) of these will be needed.  Holes for the bolt shanks will be drilled later.

 
 
A pair of brace brackets on the back side of the frame.

 
 
A total of eight brackets are needed. 

 
 
Each frame gets two chain cleats.  Soldered phosphor bronze.

 
 
The rod that extends from the center of the cleat will be clipped to length once installed.

 
 
And the rod loop which the tow blocks will hang from.

 
More prep work to be done on these frames, but that's it for now.
 
Thanks for looking.  Stay well.
 
Gary
 
 
 

I think that’s a fair point, materials make some of the detail in the geometry be lost. I’ll look at the best of both worlds for future logs.
 
Added some more detail to the hold, as well as some sheaves and bitts. Also added are some of the lantern rooms. From now on, I’ll be going deck to deck doing the final detail passes. The hold needs a major one, as does the orlop; then it’s to the screens of the upper gundeck and quarterdeck. Last will be the furnishing, and then off to rigging. Then, Substance Painter materials!
 
I may need to revise my base hull mesh and add more polys beneath the waterline, as faceting is visible on the hold interior. Same for the lower gunwale. While I’m not aiming for low poly, I also don’t want to go too high. More detail is warranted, however. In my below image, I deleted the “non-visible” faces; I think I will add those back where they’ve been removed (support knees also) as I want to showcase the different layers of the ship. Thus, they will be visible. I’ll also construct the frames, in this case. Again, not going 100% accurate, but that will likely be the case for my next model.
 
I will add the images of the sheaves and bitts in my next post.
 

Hello all!

This is my first ship building project in 3D (of many, I hope!), as well as my first post on this forum. I've always been very interested in the third rate ship of the line, and with the abundance of plans for the Intrepid class I decided to model the HMS Anson, in her pre-razee 64 gun configuration. While I am not modeling the frames behind the hull planking and making it as they were built in real life (though I have some seen some projects like that here, amazing! Perhaps for another project I will attempt that.), I am going for accuracy in every other area, but just not modeling things that will not be visible. I could add the framing later, however.

I am currently on my second go at this model. I find I learn new things and better methods along the way, and I have greatly improved the process and accuracy of my build. As of now, all the framing is in place, though I need the lower supports on the main gundeck. Now going through the "detail" interior pass. The exterior needs a pass as well, with the sheaves in the hull added, netting, further detail on the beakhead, figurehead, and stern gallery.

The plans I am utilizing are from Wikimedia Commons, with better looks at interiors from HMS Leopard (1790) cutaways. The configuration I am going for includes the higher walls on the quarterdeck and the chequer pattern as seen on Agamemnon, using the latest ochre from Victory.

I'll be posting more updates along the way! I've attached some progress pictures below, including the materials I created in Substance Painter on my first attempt, which I can thankfully reuse, though they need improvement. Haven't really focused on the material/render too much, so I'll be improving those and making them more photoreal later on down the road.






 

Sharing the previously mentioned sheaves and bitts, with belaying pins added. I also went ahead and added the lower knees on the gun decks, and the ropes/furnishings for the gunports and guns themselves as well as their tools (sponge, worm, ramrod) will be added later.

Thanks for the encouragement! Definitely going to see this through - the finish is in sight.
 
Half of the remaining exhaust pipes formed and in place:

Stick to it, Greg, it's coming along beautifully!
 
John

Now the coolant can make it into the radiators! The front half of exhaust pipes are made and attached as well. The remaining eight exhaust pipes have a slightly different shape; while the front eight point down, the rear eight have a bend and point aft. They will be a little harder to form.

In retrospect, I should have attached the exhaust pipes earlier as now there is a reduced amount of work space and it seems my depth perception has been reduced as well! 
 
By the way, I fell back on soldering a short piece of brass tubing to a piece of soft brass wire to form the basis for each exhaust pipe. The wire was bent and cut to shape and black shrink tube was put over the wire to finish.
 

Superb. That's all one can say.

Potential buyers please note that this model is based on the 1724 rebuilt ship, not the original 1682 yacht of King Charles.

The rear side is ready for painting
Painted, some painted parts could be better. But that is for later..
With the general shape seems to be ok. The fore castle is on hold for a while.
First I will continue with the gun deck.
(And i forgot to drill the holes for the swivel cannons. I see now....

 
Current status

Not a lot of steps completed but that doesn't mean a lot wasn't done... Finished 33-34B
 
33 Painting the Hull
     This was much more involved than painting the Dory... I primed everything in white and now I kind of wish I would have gotten some red primer hahaha... the outside of the hull was, as you'd expect, easy to paint. With the giant flat surfaces and the primer almost the same color as the paint, it was very smooth sailing (heh). The inside,  however, was a much different story... Seems that everyone agrees that multiple thinner coats of paint is the best approach to painting and that is what I did for the inside. I think 6 coats later, it is done. It came out pretty good I think! Funnily enough, the Admiral pointed out that it is the same color as a Dr Pepper can (that I had been drinking at the time).
     I ended up painting the rub rails as well as the top section of the stern transom. I don't know why, just seemed like a good idea and I like the way that it turned out! I guess that's all that matters.
     Painted the dagger board and rudder as well and threw a coat of matte varnish on everything. I have to touch up the dagger board a little bit as the fit in it's case was too close and it rubbed some of the varnish and paint off 😅
 
34A. Floor Boards
     This was made trivial with all the pre-work I did before! a simple matter of placing glue on the cleats and putting them in place. I did have to sand off some paint to ensure a good fastening. One small thing I'm not 100% happy with is where the two sections of floor boars meet, they are not lined up on the outside edge. It's pretty hidden by the midship thwart but I'll always know it's there.
 
34B. Installing thwarts and stern sheets.
     This also went very smoothly all that was needed to do was sanding a bit of paint off and gluing them in place!
 
Next up is the Tiller assembly.... I have cut out all the pieces and read the instructions but decided to stop and write this up and then study some other build logs for this step particularly.
 

I ordered silicone for molds. While I'm waiting, I made a figurehead on a CNC machine. Then I made ship holders from bronze.

General view of the ship.

I've made all the gratings and ladders. I'll sew up the middle of the deck with slats and take on the guns.

The steering wheel control lever works.

WOW!!! Beautiful work!!
Rick

The entire propeller-rudder system is pre-installed on the cruisers hull.
The blades will be twisted and the propellers will be fully polished later, before final installation.

After this I do a preliminary polishing of the screws.

The four propellers are soldered together using a silver-based solder.
These photos show the propellers after soldering and cleaning them from carbon deposits using a citric acid solution.

You absolutely should keep your process proprietary, Chuck. The time as well as cost you've invested should produce a return for you. You didn't invest in all that to produce a dozen 'me too' knock-off merchants.

The after deck framing
 

The central thicker deck planking in place
 

The outer thinner deck planking in place. Gratings in place.The waterway will be added when the deck is finally attached
 

The two upper decks are removable which allows completion of the main deck and facilitates finishing off the upper deck furniture etc
 
Cheers
 
Dick