Glenn-UK

Gun Port Lid Installation Following on from my last post I continued the work with installing the gun port lids by adding the linings to the bow gun port. The linings needed to be painted red. The bow gun port complete with lid The stern gun port lids were test fitted. One gun port lid looks wonky in the first photo (blue arrow), not sure why. The installation is now complete. I did touch up some of the black paint which was still wet when I took the following photos. The top left hand gun port lid has not been glued in place as I will remove it whilst I add the small channel, strops and chain links which is located above it.

Thank you.

Gun Port Lid Assembly Today I started work on the gun port lids. There are 6 gun ports per side which will have lids. The first task was to collect all the various parts, which was a mixture of wooden and PE parts. The various lids were placed in their respective hull positions to ensure I built them up correctly. Using the eyebolts as an alignment guide the various wooden parts were glued and clamped. The next task was to add the hinges. Once the eyebolts were glued in place the gun port lids were painted, red for the inner surface and black for the outer surface. The next task will be to fit the lids to their respective gun ports. Starting with the right-hand side bow gun port I drilled the holes, in the hull, for the hinges and the thread. I took a couple of pictures with the gun port lid dry fitted. I noted that actual gun port opening was wider than the gun port lid and I then realised that I did not add the kit supplied gun port linings so I will need to add them.

Thank you Kevin. There are a few things I could have done better but overall I am pleased with my Indy build.

Deck Work Completed I had a really good day in the shipyard and made much more progress than I was expecting. I have now completed adding all the various deck items. Forecastle Photos Bitts, after the forward belaying rack was reposition. The foremast ring has also been added with the foremast test fitted. Shot garlands Stove and hatch covers Figurehead test fit. I'm not sure why the figurehead's toes away below the stem post and will require a little bit of detective work. Forecastle Deck Gangway Photo A nicely out of focus photo. It took several attempt to fit these ladders and this was the best fit I could achieve. Quarterdeck Photos Main mast ring, bitts and hatch covers Hinged hatch covers and capstan Binnacle, ships wheel and mizzen mast ring. I might add some rigging for the binnacle. Quarterdeck Indy Build Status Photo's The next task will be to fit the channels and gun port lids.

Forecastle and Poop Deck Work It has been a bits and pieces sort of day today. I started by adding the two belay pin racks to the forecastle bitts. I noticed the belay rack(top one) should have been installed the other way around. Thankfully it was an easy job to correct. Next I assembled and fitted the belfry to the forecastle I then turned my attention to the poop deck and added the cleats, flag lockers, skylight and bitts. I normally add the deck eyebolts during the rigging phase as sometimes I find it beneficial to add the rigging to some of the eyebolts off deck. It is an optical illusion that the poop deck rails appear to be leaning forward in the attached photos. The final task was to add the steps and small gangway decks (left and right) up to the poop deck. I will continue to add more deck items over the next few days. I am leaving adding the various channels as one of the last tasks before I start making the masts and yards.

Thank you, I hope to start making the masts in a few weeks time.

Quarterdeck Barricade Rails and Stanchions On my return from Manchester I was able to get a couple of hours work in the shipyard and I managed to completed adding the Quarterdeck Barricade Rails and Stanchions. I started the assembly process with gluing the Quarterdeck Barricade Stanchions in place on the lower rail. I used the hammock cranes and quarterdeck barricade mid rails as guides to ensure the stanchions were in the right position. Next I checked the fit of the upper rail (lower). Everything was looking good. It was then time to paint the Quarterdeck Barricade Stanchions black and to then glue the mid rails in place. The upper (lower) rail was then added, noting the hammock cranes have now been chemically blackened. The final task was to add the upper rail, which was clamped. The completed assembly looks good. The hammock cranes are only dry fitted for the time being, there were only used to ensure all the rails were correctly aligned during the assembly.

Deck Decorations I made the 5 remaining ladders, 2 for access to poop deck, 2 for access to gangways and one for the quarterdeck hatch. I did a quick check of one of the walkway ladders, seems to be a good fit. The various deck decoration parts were gathered. The first task was to paint the parts black. Next the base parts were glued to the decks The forecastle deck parts were completed. Next I did the poop deck, due to low light I used a flash light for the next photo, not a very good quality photo. I'm off to Manchester for the weekend (to visit new grandson) so no time will be spent in the shipyard to add the quarterdeck decorations.

Quarterdeck Inner Bulwarks There are a few items to be added to the quarterdeck inner bulwarks, such as the cannon eyebolts and shot / belaying pin racks. The eyebolts were chemically blackened and fitted first. With these in place the remaining items were test fitted. Pins were added to the shot / belaying pin racks, using the guidelines provided. The various items were then test fitted. The various parts were then painted red. I also painted the gunwales black before the various painted parts were added to the inner bulwarks. The final task was to add the cannon balls to the shot racks.

Forecastle Inner Bulwarks The eyebolts have been added to the forecastle gunports. When looking at the build manual and plan sheets there are some additional items to be added to the bulwarks, such as belay pin racks and cavels. The various parts were located and painted ready prior to installation. The cavels bottom edge did a slight adjustment so it was fitting flat to the deck. Belay pin racks I do need to clean this area from all the accumulated dust. Cavels

Bow Work Completed Returned to the workshop this morning after a couple of days aways looking after our 3 year old granddaughter as her parents become proud parents to a baby boy (our 5th grandkid). I have managed to complete adding the various rails, ekeing, knees, ledges, seats of comfort and timberheads around the bow area. The cathead knee As the next photo shows there is some touching up required. I remembered to add the polybak decorative pattern, as can be seen in the next photo, to the stem post. Seats of comfort

Bow Work Continues Today has been a day of painting the various bow patterns. The various patterns were first coated with a thin layer of varnish before the painting commenced. It was then a case of adding the various colours to the different patterns. Rails I did use a black edging pen for the thin line black infill. Ekeing I decided to paint the infill area black. Gammoning Knee rails and decorative patterns The edging pen was used for the black infill's. Please note that I did managed to make a repair to the inner bow ledge which has split into 3 separate pieces. The two remaining parts can be sorted when the inner bow ledge is ready to be installed on to the gammoning knee.

Start Of Bow Work I think this will take a few days to complete as these are quite a few bits to paint and fit. As you will see later on in this post I have suffered a bit of a set back. Catheads Once these had been painted they were glued in place. As can be seen in the attached two photos I made a better job of painting the left-hand side decorative front pattern. I will be able to touch up the one below a little bit. Gammoning Knee / Bow V Frame / Bow Rails As per the build manual instructions I added the decorative patterns to the Bow V frames attached to the gammoning knee. According the build manual instructions one of the bow rail patterns is then fed through the gap between the v-fames and decorative patterns. The manual does indicate that it might be necessary to file an angle in the openings in order for the pattern to be fed through. After a bit of filing I was concerned that I might break the bow rail pattern as I was struggling to feed it through the openings. I was also aware that once in place it might be necessary to trim the pattern to suit my build. Therefore I decided to remove the decorative patterns so that the bow rail pattern could be trimmed. Thankfully the patterns were easy to remove, without damage. As shown in the next photo I have been able to trim the right hand side bow rail pattern. Bow Rails and Ekeing Patterns The other bow rails (left and right) are made up of three parts each, which were glued to together. The kit has an inner and outer ekeing pattern (left and right). As far as I can tell, by looking at the various prototype build log photo's, the two inner ekeing patterns (part no. 214, blue arrows in the next photo) are not required. The bow rails and ekeing patterns are ready to be painted. Cathead Knees This was an interesting build project. The kit is supplied with two jigs (left and right) to make the cathead knees. Each knee will comprise 5 patterns which need to be bent, using the jig, before they are glued together. The patterns were soaked in hot water for around 30 mins and then placed in their respective jig(s). Once the parts had been left overnight to fully dry out they were released from the jig(s) and glued together. They will require a little bit of tiding up before painting and fitting. Bow Ledge Inner With the gammon knee assembly (dry fitted) in place I did a trial fit of the Bow Ledges. Although the inner bow ledge seemed to be a reasonable fit around the bow it was not perfect as there was no room on the v frame pattern, as indicated by the two blue arrows, for the outer bow ledge pattern. I made a replicate inner bow ledge pattern using some stiff cardboard and, after making a few minor adjustments, I was happy with the overall fit. I then transferred the markings from the template to the bow ledge pattern and started to make the required adjustments. All was going to plan. The slight adjustment to the front (bow) had been made. I now needed to make a minor adjustment to the back edge to complete the task. As I started to work on the rear edge of the bow ledge pattern disaster struck as the pattern suddenly split into 3 separate pieces, as shown below. I am hopeful that I can still install the bow ledge pattern.

Amazing work, you are a truly inspiration to us less worthy modelers.

In todays build log post I have detailed the method I used to assembly the ship's steps and the channels. Indy's Steps Assembly There are 10 steps required per side and each step comprises two 0.6mm pear wood pieces which have be assembled at right angles to each other. As these are quite small and fiddly pieces I decided to make a simple jig to assist me with the assembly process. I glued two small lengths of scrap planking material to a wooden base, as indicated by the blue arrow in the photo below. A second length of planking material (yellow arrow) is not glued and will be used as brace. Once the laser char had been removed wood glue is added to the lower part of the back section before it is positioned in the jig, as shown below. The other step part is then slowly pushed into position using the brace and is adjusted left / right as necessary. Once the parts are properly aligned pressure is applied to the brace for a few seconds. The brace can then be removed so the step can be gently eased out and left to cure. It was a fairly quick process to produce the first 10 steps. Channel Assembly There are 5 channel assemblies required per side and each channel comprises three wooden parts, one is the central section and the other two are slightly smaller and to be glued either side of the central piece. It is essential that these parts are correctly aligned so the various iron work parts can be added, such as the strops and eyebolts. A layer of wood glue is applied to one side of the central channel section and using some old broken micro drill bits, located in the holes the first two parts are aligned. Glue was then quickly applied to the other side of the central section and the remaining part was positioned, once again using the drill bits as a guide. It was then a case of adding clamps to the assembly. Once the glue had been given time to cure, the clamps were removed. The locating pins (were added (but not glued at this stage) so a test fit of the channels could be made.

Chesstrees and Side Fenders There is one chesstree and two side fenders to be fitted each side of the hull. The kit supplied parts required various notches cutting so the parts would fit over the rails. I took my time and regularly checked the fitting as I was creating the required notches. Once I was happy with the fit the parts were painted, noting the black and yellow hull colour bands. The parts were then glued in place. As recommended in the build manual I used a scrap length of 4mmW planking to set the distance between the two side fenders. The hull does require a bit of cleaning to remove the unwanted debris.

Stern Decorations The various stern decorations patterns were painted yellow ochre and then affixed in place. I did not encounter any problems with fitting the PolyBak decorations. I did have wet and reposition the nameplate transfer as I noticed that it was slightly off centre. Overall the stern does not look too bad but Captain Pellow needs to get a crew member to clean the cabin windows. The two rear fitting lanterns will be added later on in the build

Looking very nice

Quarter Galleries and Stern Work I have now completed the work on adding the window frames and decorations to the quarter galleries and stern area. I opted for the closed window option for the stern windows. I really liked the kit supplied black card roof shingles which made fitting them so much easier than PE parts. There are more some decorations to be added to the upper area of the stern and the ships name decal also needs to be added. I have added the depth marking decals to the stern and bow areas. The two attached photo's amplifies the imperfections of my workmanship but I am happy with how it looks with the naked eye.

Rudder Firstly I must apologise to Chris and Jim for not fitting the copper plates to my build and that my copper painted hull does not show off the lower half of my Indy build in the best light. I fully accept that this might distract from the wonderful design of the Indy which was not my intention. My models are not being built for display on completion, I just enjoy building them therefore I can accept some limitations with my model(s). With that said I have assembled and fitted the rudder, and I did not account any problems with the assembly and fitting. I really liked the kit supplied 0.2mm black card for the rudder gudgeon and pintles which were so much easier to fit. I have added one photo showing the rudder in position, noting I still have to fit the depth marking decals. Fitting Quarter Gallery Windows and Frames This turned out to be an interesting task with regards to fitting the window panes. As can be seen in the first photo there is an opening for the window frame and pane. The window frame will sit with the recessed area and the window pane fills the open space. The window frame was dry fitted to make sure it would fit within the recess. At this stage the window pane has not been installed. I could not find an easy method to fit the window panes in the opening so I opted to fit them to the back of the window frame, using very small amounts of glue to hold them in place. The window frame & pane assembly was then glued in place. I just have to repeat the process as I fit the stern and right-hand side gallery window frames and panes.

Many thanks, it was not my original plan but I am happy with the end result

Copper Plating The Hull (below the waterline) This kit is supplied with 50m of copper tape and this needs to be cut in to approximately 2400 plates, each plate 18mm L. As noted in a previous post I bought a great tool that enabled me to cut the required plates accurately and efficiently. I thought it would be a simple task to fit the copper plates as they are self-adhesive backed. I started by fitting plates on the bottom of the keel. One plate long edge was aligned with the centre line which allows the other plates long edge to be folded over on to the hull. When I looked Jim’s build log photos this appears to be the same method he used on the prototype build. I also used cotton buds to help smooth the copper plates in place. I found it very difficult to get the plates to line up as I wanted, and I did try several different methods and many plates were ripped off as I was not happy with how they looked. I found my progress was extremely slow and much slower than when I was fitting copper plates with super glue to both my Caldercraft’s HMS Victory and Vanguard Models Speedy models. I did consider if I should switch to fitting actual copper plates. I noted that Cornwall Model Boats has a nice selection of suitable copper plates in stock, but as they are quite expensive, I ended up rejecting this as an option. I then decided to experiment with applying a metallic copper paint. I bought a can of Plasti-Kote Brilliant Metallic Spray Paint – Copper. After taping the hull above the water line the hull was coating with a WOP. I then sprayed the hull with a light grey primer. I then filled and sanded the hull and then resprayed with the light grey primer. After a couple of these fill, sand and paint interations the hull was looking much smoother. I then applied a couple of coats of the copper paint. I was not looking for a perfect smooth finish and was happy to retain some some imperfections for the Indy. I have taken a couple of pictures once I started to apply the copper paint. I have now removed the masking tape and I am pleased with the end result. I have not been able to take any decent pictures due to the low lighting levels and reflections on the copper painted surface(s). The following are the best of a bad bunch. I have been striving to improve my skill set and techniques with each model and I’m generally pleased with my progress in that respect. I only tend to only look at the rigging and the decks on my completed models. Therefore, as much as I would like to add the copper tiles for historical accuracy and for improving my modelling skill set I am more than happy with a simple copper painted hull below the waterline. My models, once built, are not prominently displayed in our house so the only real critics of my models of the readers of my build log(s).

Many thanks

Copper Plate Production The kit is supplied with a 50m length of copper tape. It is estimated that between 2200 and 2400 copper plates, 18mmL will be required. Based on a quick time and motion study I am able to cut between 6 to 8 plates per min. Therefore it will take me approx. 6 hours to cut the required number of plates. I have been debating if I should bite the bullet and just get all the plates cut over the next couple of days or to alternate between cutting plates and adding them to the hull. The cutter tool (£85) I bought has proven to be a very wise investment. I set the end stop to 18mm and then positioned the tape in place, as shown in the photo below. The copper tape was then cut with very little effort and produced a nice looking copper plate. After about 30 mins of cutting I had a nice collection of copper plates, with a very consistent size profile. The copper tape supplied is 50mL so I should have the capacity to cut 2750 copper plates, which means I should have more than 350 spare copper plates. This is good news as I am having to use a little bit of quality control as can be seen in the next photo, where there are some sections where the copper tape manufacturing process is not so good. I am still cutting the tape from the affected sections in to plates, but they are being placed in a separate container and they will only be used if absolutely necessary.