RMC

The lanterns are a bit of a problem. The castings for the lids are about 1mm in diameter smaller than they should be. Partially mitigating the problem I suggest filing the ends of the brass lantern frames. While this improved the fit of the casting over the frame, the frame still was fraction  too large.  So once bent to shape and glued, the exterior corners were then lightly filed, and the interior corners filled with a dab of a water-based white gap filler (For Australians, Selly's No More Gaps)
 
Incidentally,  do not paint the frames before bending as I did. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but as soon as the fitting was bent, most of the paint came off.
 

 
Here are the frames filled, filed and painted.
 

 
The (almost) finished lanterns. The next two photos show the frame still slightly proud of the cast lid.
 

 

 
The following photo shows a slight gaps between the castings and the frame. I have filled the gaps with the gap filler diluted with a little water. I little on the point of a pin put on the gap, then immediately wiped off with a dampened tissue - and ... No More Gaps.
 

 

 
The results are just acceptable, but the yellow and white colour scheme specified tends to highlight any small defects.  With hindsight I would have blackened the castings, and perhaps the frames as well.
 
In a day or two, once the fumes of the CA are gone, I will use Krystal Klear to make the windows for the frames.
 
I have just noticed that photo 379 has been repeated, and I can't get rid of it for reasons which escape me.

I have put one of the figures in to one of the ship's boats as an experiment. Aside from the overload of oars, the same seems to be the case for the boarding pikes (there are a couple of dozen of them) and the anchors (half a dozen). I think in this case, less really is more. At the moment, nothing is glued down, but it does seem to me that putting all the stuff provided for the boats would be considerable over-kill. Comments are welcome.
 

 

 

 

 
This photo shows in the lower boat, four oars, two pikes and an anchor ( I hope eventually to do something a little more stylish with the anchor) - there doesn't appear to be much more that can be fitted in without appearing overly cluttered.
 

 
Now I have to think about where to put the Admiral ....

I have now finished the futtock shrouds for the fore mast.  This has been a very fiddly job and the results are just adequate.
I used a bulldog clip and later an alligator clip hung on the end of the shrouds too keep them taut as I tied them off.

 

 

 
Finished.
 

 
I have substituted Syren thread for the kit-supplied stuff and it has come back to bite me in a small way. The quality of the thread is excellent, but it comes in  Imperial measurements (seems odd, for a republic. ) In each application I have taken the nearest metric measurement of the thread specified.  In the case of the shrouds for the mizzen I have used 0.88mm Syren thread which is specified as 1mm in the kit.  (In fact, if you actually measure the Syren thread it is indistinguishable from 1mm.)  The futtock shrouds for the mizzen are specified to be 0.75mm thread. Alas, I only bought the 0.88 stuff (which is of course quite close to 0.75.)  However to use the 0.88 for both the shouds and the futtock shrouds would not look 'right', so I am now waiting for delivery of the Syren thread which measures at 0.63mm.
 
If there is a lesson in all of this, be careful of measurements if you specify non-kit thread.

Having  painted a couple of dozen oars for the ship's boats, the question then arose, how to fit them all into the boats? It seems to me you can't without the boats disappearing under a pile of oars. I have placed 4 oars in two of the boats and this seems to work reasonably well. If anyone can suggest how to fit in the remaining oars I would certainly be grateful. If not I have a heap of painted oars if anyone wants them.
 

 

 
 

I have decided to use a truss pendant to mount the crossjack to the mizzen mast. As Arthur pointed out, the plans are ambiguous in their treatment (two drawings; two different methods). I have also followed Peterssen and hope it turns out alright in the end.
 
The idea is simple: make a loop on the end of the thread, the length  of which will reach roughly to the deck; make a second separate loop with an eye through which the length of thread passes, and on the end of which is a double block. This will eventually lead to a single block attached to one of the channels towards the stern  (I haven't decided where just yet).

 

 

 
With ropes going every which way it is difficult to see what is going on, but I hope these give the general idea.
 

 

 
This shows the block on the end of the pendant, roughly where it will eventually  be when the whole thing is finally fitted.
 

 

 
I think my next step will be to put on the ratlines, something to which I have not been looking forward.

The jeers for the foremast are now done. I can't now think of a reason not to fit the fore topmast.
 
The photo below has turned out to be quite poor, but I hope it gives the general idea.
 

 
The following photos show the jeers temporarily fitted.
 

 

 

 
With all the blocks hanging off the top as well, it's certainly looking rather crowded.
This is how the whole thing looks ready for the topmast.
 

 

 
 

The tops are now, I hope, at a stage where I can mount the respective topmasts.  The lifts for the yards are finished and the blocks on the caps are ready (at this stage I don't know what they will eventually do). These are all temporarily installed.  I have not yet put on the safety railings (they look as if they will get in the way at the moment), and it may be useful to do the jeers.  I have posted the following photos mainly to get some reaction regarding the readiness (or otherwise) to finally put up the topmasts. It seems to be easy to overlook some vital step that will be difficult to remedy later.
 
The mizzen top:
 

 
the main top;
 

 
and the fore top.
 

 
This is how it all looks.
 

 

 
Advice is invited.
 
 
 
 
 
 

I have dry-fitted the boomskins will now paint them, and set them aside for as long as possible. Drilling the holes for the pins proved to be fairly easy. I began by drilling shallow holes at right angles to the bulkhead to prevent the drill bit from slipping, then drilled at an angle from the notch in the headrail upwards to the preliminary hole in the bulkhead.  It worked without too many dramas.
 

 

 

 
I guess the masts are next.  Except for a bit of touching up the paint work, the masts are made up and ready to instal. The various fittings - blocks etc are yet to be completed. The blocks for the foretop are now fitted and I have now had the opportunity to use Alexey's serving machine. The blocks came out reasonably well, but I think I need some more practice and to put a bit more thought into just how to do a better job on the remaining blocks. My knot tying is not all that good.The machine certainly enabled me to do a better job and far easier than I otherwise could.
 

 

 
Here are all the blocks fitted to the foretop. I found the plan to be not all that instructive.  Fortunately I remembered that Arthur (AEW)  has a photo of his foretop which cleared up a few of my doubts.
 

 
 

I have now (semi) finished the right side of the model while contemplating Alan's thoughtful remark.  I decided that any response would only end in (my) tears.
 
The stern-most channel did provide some problems.  The rear-most vertically hinged doors again needed to be fudged  a little, and for no good reason, I had quite a bit of trouble getting all those doors to sit vertically. It all seemed to come out reasonably in the end though.
 
While thinking about what to do next, I resorted to that final resort - the instructions.  These then specified that 'boomkins' be added.  Not having a clue just what a boomkin is I then went to the final, final resort - wikkepedia - where a very nice picture of the 'Surprise' may be found, boomkin and all.  I then looked at the main plan and indeed, there are boomkins.  I certainly would have overlooked them until they were quite difficult to install.  Even now it will be awkward, and once I make the pair up, I will only dry-fit them as they are other things that stick out the side, asking for trouble.
 
Here are photos of the stern-most channel etc
 

 

 

 
And how it all looks:
 

 

 

 

 

The channels and chain plates on the right side are now almost complete.  The fore and mid channels are finished, while the stern-most will have the chain plates applied in the next day or so.
 
The lower gun port lids have been dry-fitted.
 

 

 

 
Here are  some views of the fore channel.  There is still a bit of touching up to do .

 

 

 
Here is the mid channel.

 

 

 

 
The result so far has been acceptable enough and has not been as formidable a job as I anticipated. - though there have been a couple of thrills along the way.  Perhaps I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself as the stern chain plates are still to be completed.
 
 

The left side of the model is as complete as I think is prudent at this stage of construction.  The fewer bits and pieces to catch on something the better.
 
The deadeyes and chainplates are now installed. I am reasonably happy with the way they turned out, though with hindsight there a few things that I would do a little differently.
 
For each of the deadeye assemblies I ran a piece of thread from the respective points on the masts to which the shrouds are attached down to each deadeye.  In effect this is a dummy shroud.  This gives the angle of the chainplate assembly for each deadeye. 
 
The following photo shows the thread attached to one of the upper masts.  These were temporarily attached with Tamiya tape.
 

 
I then took a pinand wrapped some tape close to the point.

The pin was then placed in the hole provided in the chain plate strap to mark the hull ready for the hole to be drilled for the nail.  The tape on the point of the pin prevented the stray riding up the pin.

 
Here is how it all worked out.
 
The foremast deadeyes.
 

 

 

 
The main mast. The tiny deadeye at the very end provided a real problem.  There was simply not enough room for the chainplate assembly to go where the plan said it should. As well the assembly as specified was too short to attach to the hull. I ended up using one of the longer straps and attached it to the hull in the only place it would reach without fouling thegun port lid.  I have tried to show it in the following photos.  I don't think it is too obvious, but it rankles a bit. I would also have preferred the the securing straps on the two front assemblies not go below the black stripe. Had I thought of it, I would have at least tried the shorter straps for these. Oh, well ...
 

 

 

 

 
The mizzen. The third assembly just touches the left vertically hinged gun door which would make it rather difficult to close. I guess the crew will have to learn to live with it open.
 

 
 

 

 

 
Finally, this is how it all looks at the moment.
 

The channels and the brackets are now fixed to the port side of the ship, together with the other hardware.  The channel stun sail boom fittings are dry-fitted at this stage. Sticking out as they do is an invitation to  catch on something.  Fitting the channels was easier than I expected, though I think that things going well is often more a matter of luck than anything else.  The brackets on the forward channel did just fit.  It remains to be seen if the starboard side will go as well.
 
I will leave the remaining gun port lids off as long as possible; again they are an invitation to disaster.
 
I'm afraid there is a sameness about the photos, but I have sometimes found in looking at other logs, that what I really wanted to see is just out of the picture.  Here I have tried to show as many different views as possible, and hope they may be useful.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Now for the starboard.

The lanyards are now on the potentially troublesome gun port lids and those lids are now installed.  I came across a god way of 'splicing the lanyards to the lids (I think Gil Middleton's log). Take a very fine needle and thread the line through the eyelets.  Once through thread the line through itself once, then again through the other side of the line. Then pull the needle and thread tight and the lanyards attached to the eyelet on the lid. The line is very fine indeed.  Good short vision helps, so this may not be for everybody.
 


 
Now that the lids are complete I have installed the channel brackets on the forward channel and dry fitted the channel to the model.  The brackets come perilously close to the molding, though I think they will just - only just - fit.  If the molding was 1/2mm higher it would make things a lot more comfortable.  I do have a cunning fallback plan if, when the channel is properly installed, the brackets are too close the the molding but at this stage I'll assume things will turn out well.
 
Here are the forward gun port with lanyards.

 
With the channel dry-fitted.


 

 

I have now finished putting the capping on to the channels.  It proved a little easier than I expected. Rather than using the specified 1x2mm strip (I had run out anyway) I substituted 0.5mm strip trimmed down to fit the side sides of the channels (about 1.5mm).  I soaked this in household ammonia and was able to bend it around the edges with their almost 90 degree angles fairly easily. If the wood splits on the corners (as it did once or twice) apply a drop of gel CA to the offending part and smooth it down with your thumb nail. It does work: your nail doesn't stick (or at least mine didn't), and you can do it while the wood is still wet.
 
Here is a sample.
 

 

 

 

 
As well the gunport lids for the three topmost ports have finally been permanently attached.  Putting the lanyards on to the lid with the horizontal hinges proved to be difficult.  The plans specify the two lanyards to go into a single hole above and in the middle of the two hinges. After a very large number of attempts I gave up, finally putting each lanyard above their respective hinges.
 

 
There is a bit of cheating entailed in fitting the first of the vertically hinged split doors too. When I dry fitted the channel above the doors it would have touched the top of the doors in a way that its angle to the hull would have been too great (ie. not horizontal to the horizontal plane (if that is not a redundancy)). The doors have therefore each been slightly trimmed on one side to the angle of the channel. With the channel installed it is not noticeable, though I just noticed that I need to touch up the paint work on one of the doors.
 

 

I have experimentally fitted the chainplates over the two open gun port doors to the correct angles.  As well I played with the angle of the deadeye (part 340) - angling it towards the mast as it would be when properly rigged (not shown in the photos).
 
In all cases the assembly just missed (by about 1/2 mill) the doors.
 
 
 

 
In the following photos, there really is a gap!
 

 

 

 
Here is the rear door - again, the assembly just misses.

 

 
I just looked at the post and the last photo is out of order for some reason.

I have dry-fitted the gun port lids on the rearmost ports and the channel.  My concern is that the channel will impede the opening of the lids. I ran some thread from the mast through the channel to an estimate of where the chainplate assembly would be attached to the hull.  Only the split doors on middle port seem likely to be a problem and I MAY just get away with it.  The middle part of the chainplate assembly (part 292) is the most likely to cause trouble. Replacing it with some brass wire and making the assembly slightly longer may do the job. All of the assemblies will be blackened so I hope if this is necessary it won't be noticeable.
 

 
The left hand door will be very close indeed. The right hand door is probably OK.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Now to see how the other channels go.

Drilling the holes for the gun port lids on the left side went surprisingly well, though with the usual quota of small dramas.  With one exception, I was able to get away with not having to cut into the hull, though it was a close run thing.  The exception is shown below where the molding is cut away completely to provide for the lid. I used a very sharp chisel-shaped craft knife, making a shallow cut where required, then cutting a wedge up to the cut, then repeating until the required depth was reached.
 

 

 
My idea of using a piece of wood strip with two holes as a jig to mark the holes for the lid hinges of course didn't work.  However a variation on the theme did. Marking a piece of Tamiya tape with the width of the gun port and the position of the required holes worked well. I marked the hull though the holes on the tape with a fine pin. These marks were then used as guides for the drill bit.

 

 
Here is how it has all worked out. At this stage, all of the lids are just dry-fitted. There is still much work on them to be done.  When finally fitted there will be some minor touching up to be done, and some small adjustments  to be made in  positioning and in the angle of the lids to the hull. Regarding the angle, having looked at lids all over the internet, setting them a little above the horizontal seems to be a good compromise (roughly where they are in the photos). I have yet to decide if I will fit eyelets to the bottom of the lids.  It seems a bit like overkill with so many other bits and pieces going on around them.  But then .....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Now that the carronades are finally finished, the gun lid problem looms. I have been putting it off as long as possible. I have not only to drill holes in the paintwork, but do a bit of woodwork on the hull. The latter is because I didn't have the foresight to think about how the lids would eventually have to be fitted over a two or three problem gun ports.  There, wooden molding either prevents the doors being fitted ( the first photo) or the wales partially impede their fitting (second and third photos).
 
I would STRONGLY recommend drilling holes, and (dry) fitting lids BEFORE painting when any mistakes may easily be rectified.
 

 
This photo shows some touching up I missed.. The following two photos show the wale impeding fitting the lids. Unless I can come up with an alternative, I will have to trim a bit to the wale and then hope the touching up will not be noticeable. The yellow paint does not cover well alas (the hull needed up to five coats)

 

 
I have now cut back the molding on either side of the middle gun port on the top deck without damage and, since the photo was taken, satisfactorily touched it up. I used a very sharp craft knife to gradually trim away the unwanted part of the molding, though the process was rather stressful. The other side has still to be done.
 

 

 
I now have to decide how much above the gun ports to drill the holes necessary to attach  the hinges (about 1mm?). I have tentatively made a jig to assist spacing the holes. My plan is to mark with a fine pencil through the holes onto Tamiya tape stuck above each port.  I will mark each pencil mark with a pin, and then drill a pilot hole with a very fine bit. (Of course I have had cunning plans before - which have turned out to be not so cunning after the fact..)

 
Unfortunately, the pencil marks have not shown up well in the photo. In looking at it now, I think I have the holes marked a little too high - maybe down 0.5mm or so would be better.
 

 
IF all these plans are realized, at this stage I will only actually fit the lids to the ports covered by the channels.  I will leave the remainder to be attached as late as possible. Lots of lids sticking out are an invitation to disaster. I wish again I had chosen closed gun ports.

I have finally finished rigging the carronades. For the last three I used Arthur's suggestion wetting the thread with water (in fact I nearly drowned it). I first ran a very wet paint brush up and down the thread, then, with the brush, wet the deck where the thread was to be laid. I then shaped the coil in the wetted area. It worked a treat. I shaped the new coils so that they are consistent the first set which I decided to leave alone.
 
The following photo  shows some of the coils shaped, wetted and held down by a couple of eyelets. They were left overnight to dry, then dilute PVA was carefully applied to the thread and left to dry.  Joy.
 

 
The results:
 

 

 
I ordered and have ordered and have just received Alexey Domanov's Serving Machine 2.0. (My wife rather unkindly asked why I need a serving machine as I already have one. ) At this stage I'm not quite sure what to do with it, but for those who may be interested here it is.  It comes supplied with an instruction video and while I can see the video, the sound so far seems to be missing.
 

 

 
The last photo shows a large and a small gear wheel, neither of which are mentioned in any of the instructions, the use of which is rather a mystery to me. I guess I will have to ask on Alexey's website. The machine appears of excellent quality and the service provided is by Alexey is first-rate.
 

 
 
 

I have finished rigging the carronades on the left side.My efforts on the rope coils turned out to to be disappointing, but at least they're probably adequate. I'm certainly not doing them again. I had mixed results from the acrylic matt. I had hoped it would make the thread behave in a respectable manner, rather than going in every direction but the one I wanted.  Bad luck. It eventually stuck to the underlying paper quite well, but I had obviously applied too much. Once off the paper there was a residual which was obvious and very difficult to remove. I tried a second time, diluting the matt and using a wet paint brush to guide the thread into loops.  Once that was dry I used dilute PVA glue to attach the coils to the deck.
 
Whatever is the knack/skill required to make good coils I something I certainly lack.
 
Here are the results of a very large part of a day - not that I'm bitter.

 

 

The carronade saga is continuing. This is certainly one part of the build that I have not enjoyed, though most of the problems are self-inflicted.  I have rigged two carronades  and the others now should be straight-forward, though I have thought that before. I regret drilling holes in the bulkwarks to receive the  the eyelets for the rigging,  It would have been far easier to simply put eyelets into the deck. For the forward-most carronade there is no choice but to do so. For the sake of consistency, I will do the starboard-side guns the same way as the port.
 
The guns are rigged so that they are partially run out. If they were fully run out the rigging would not 'drape' realistically, and the two blocks on either side of each gun would have been uncomfortably close together. The ropes are not coiled and I'm not sure at this stage how to do the coiling. Suggestions are very welcome.
 
The following photos give some idea of progress, such as it is. There is still some minor touching up to do.
 

 

 
This is the forward-most carronade.  It is dry-fitted here and only the breeching rope is fitted. The photo shows the eyelets for the rope in the deck rather than the bulwark (well there really isn't one).

The carronades have been far more time-consuming and awkward than I anticipated. I have now completed the hardware, and now have to do the rigging. Having looked at carronade rigging all over the website, it now appears there are as many ways of rigging them as there are members. I have decided to go with the 'full' rigging shown in the instructions. While it may not indeed be 'full', it seems to be a reasonable and fairly elegant compromise.
 
This is how I have done the breaching ropes. I have made up a jig to enable the rigging to be more or less done off the model. Among other things, it enables the ropes to be of consistent length.  I will rig the blocks etc in the same way. The remaing difficulty is the get the various eyelets into the holes drilled into the bulwarks. The is very little room and for the forward-most carronades on each side, there is no bulwark to drill into. I guess I will have to attach the rigging to eyelets set into the deck near the bulwarks.
 

 

 

 

 

Substituting the Caldercraft carronades turned out to be not one of my best ideas.  Things were going along nicely until I dry fitted one to the stern-most 'gunport' under the side railing. It didn't fit; it was too high. (The others were fine.)  After much playing around, and a certain amount  of muttering about plots against me, there were only two alternatives. Use the Amati all-metal carronades with their drawbacks; or use the slightly smaller Amati barrels on the Caldercraft bases with some adjustments where necessary.  After more muttering, I opted for the latter, though with some trepidation.  This required drilling 1mm holes in the bottom of the barrels to accommodate the Caldercraft method of mounting them.
 
The first photo shows the relative sizes of the barrels.
 

 
Here is one of the holes drilled.  At this stage no touching up had been done, nor in any of the subsequent photos.
 

 
The Caldercraft mounting.
 

 
The composite dry fitted.  For the last port on each side the bases of the carronades also had the be sanded back to further lower the carronade to give easy clearance.  None of this is noticeable. In all it has turned out quite well, though a bit heart-stopping, and I think the result has been worth it.  But I certainly wouldn't recommend it, and none of this would have been necessary for the other two ports.

I have begun putting the hinges on the gun port lids. I have made a jig similar to  Arthur's to enable their consistent positioning. As well, I added a piece of strip (seen nailed below) to assist spacing of the scuttles. When they are placed in a pair of tweezers, the tweezers held against the strip provides consistent spacing for the scuttle from the top of the lid. (I hope this all makes sense.)
 

 

 
In attaching the hinges, I fitted an eyelet through the hole in the hinge (see photo above). Applied gel CA to the hinge; placed the eyelet into the hole I had drilled in the lid, then slid the hinge down onto the lid. To my pleasant surprise, it resulted in perfect positioning of the hinge, without spreading glue everywhere.
 

 
 
Here are some  of the finished articles.
 

 
 
 

 
Since taking these photos I have done some minor touching up.
 
Over a miserable, rainy and windy weekend some progress was made on the carronades. They have proved to be a little more demanding than I expected. The quality is very good, but with one disappointment. There is no eye on the barrel through which to put the breaching rope. I have glued small eyes onto the barrels in the same way as I did for the cannons.  Once the rope is passed through them, I hope it will disguise any shortcomings and the result will be acceptable.
 
 

The hammock nettings and the other bits and pieces are now finished. Here is how it all turned out.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I have dry-fitted the ship's boats, and it is a very tight fit indeed. At this stage I am not sure just how to attach them permanently.

 

 
As you can see there is very little space.  The largest boat is a little higher than the other two which just gives enough room for the two smaller boats to fit under its sides.
 

 

 

 
 
Aside from putting together the carronades - I'll do that next weekend - I'm not sure what the next step will be.