RMC

I have finished the first of the poop railings. It proved quite time-consuming and again, a rather fiddly job.  I had been putting it off as making a mess of it would have been very obvious and spoiled the whole model. It looks as if it will come out acceptably - I am now waiting for the PVA glue I have used on the top of the railing to properly set.
 
I decided to do all of it in stages.  First, the rear support was glued (parts 116 and 201 (see above)) as an anchor and a guide for the rest of the supports. Then support 115 and 110 were added. Care was need to make sure the supports were vertical - hence the piece of balsa supporting the railing.  PVA glue was used as small adjustments need to be made.  Once these were accurately glued, the remaining supports to the right of part 115 were then glued using Gel CA. Incidentally, when viewed from the side, the supports may appear to be 'wonky' . In fact this is exactly how they look in the plans.  They provide three gun ports for the carronades.
 

 

 

 

 

 
Once I got to this stage I had a minor disaster.  I dropped the remaining supports (127 - 130), so that when I retrieved them, I couldn't easily tell which was which. It took an hour or so and the use of a slightly expanded vocabulary to sort it out.  For the next railing I will be more careful in labeling them. I used the bulldog clips to hold the supports so that I could paint their edges easily - note the numbering, something I didn't do the first time.

 
Finally, here are all the supports in place. Make sure to check the heights of the supports as small adjusts may be needed.
 

 

 
The top railing being glued.  The clips are very useful, though I am a bit worried they may mark the railing. I should have put a strip of thin balsa on top of the rail to act as a cushion. Next time...
 

 
 
 
 
 

I am back to shipbuilding after a two week break - played very moderate golf on some beautiful courses on the far south coast of New South Wales.  Highly recommended.
 
Aside from that, finishing the poop is taking far longer than I expected.  There are some quite tricky little bits. Positioning the small timber heads in the opening shown below without spreading glue all over the place is one example.
 

As well I couldn't  find a part number for them (still can't) and thought that were the same size as all the others and needed to be trimmed to fit. I stumbled across the correct ones while looking for something else. As well the part number shown in the diagram for the capping of the side rails was transposed (reads 59; should read 95) caused a bit of grumbling.
 

 
Putting on the capping was fairly straightforward, but needed care. I cut the gaps for the gun ports on the model.  Here, having the holes for the railing supports about 1mm further apart would have made things a bit easier. The following photos show how I went about it.  First the gaps in the caps were marked with Tamiya tape. 
 

 
The markings were cut using a very fine hand saw.
 

 

 
Once all the gaps had been cut, I moved to the stern fascia knees.  Getting them to be vertical was another of the tricky things. I used  Tamiya tape as a guide.  Gel CA was dotted along the bottom of each one, but no glue on the rear. The gel allows a little time for adjustment, so that once each knee is properly aligned stem to stern,, it can be adjusted to the vertical.  Having no glue on the rear allows adjustment without spreading glue all over the stern fascia.
 

 

 

 
Here is progress to date.
 

 

The planking of the poop deck is finally complete. Some of the filler used to represent the tree nails when sanded back shows up on the photos for some reason, but fortunately it cannot be seen when looked at 'in the flesh".  I fact rather than sanding back with glass paper, in the main I have used a fairly blunt Stanley Knife blade to scrape back the deck planks.  I gives a very  good even result.
 

 

 

 
I have finished most of the deck furniture and will put things together over the next day or so.

I am back to shipbuilding after a two week break - played very moderate golf on some beautiful courses on the far south coast of New South Wales.  Highly recommended.
 
Aside from that, finishing the poop is taking far longer than I expected.  There are some quite tricky little bits. Positioning the small timber heads in the opening shown below without spreading glue all over the place is one example.
 

As well I couldn't  find a part number for them (still can't) and thought that were the same size as all the others and needed to be trimmed to fit. I stumbled across the correct ones while looking for something else. As well the part number shown in the diagram for the capping of the side rails was transposed (reads 59; should read 95) caused a bit of grumbling.
 

 
Putting on the capping was fairly straightforward, but needed care. I cut the gaps for the gun ports on the model.  Here, having the holes for the railing supports about 1mm further apart would have made things a bit easier. The following photos show how I went about it.  First the gaps in the caps were marked with Tamiya tape. 
 

 
The markings were cut using a very fine hand saw.
 

 

 
Once all the gaps had been cut, I moved to the stern fascia knees.  Getting them to be vertical was another of the tricky things. I used  Tamiya tape as a guide.  Gel CA was dotted along the bottom of each one, but no glue on the rear. The gel allows a little time for adjustment, so that once each knee is properly aligned stem to stern,, it can be adjusted to the vertical.  Having no glue on the rear allows adjustment without spreading glue all over the stern fascia.
 

 

 

 
Here is progress to date.
 

 

Again I have no idea what happened to the post I just wrote. Here are some progress pictures of the dreaded Nelson checker.  The painting shown in the photos has not yet been touched up.  The Tamiya tape gives a very clean line between the colours and touching up is comparatively easy, and gives an almost perfect finish.

I am back to shipbuilding after a two week break - played very moderate golf on some beautiful courses on the far south coast of New South Wales.  Highly recommended.
 
Aside from that, finishing the poop is taking far longer than I expected.  There are some quite tricky little bits. Positioning the small timber heads in the opening shown below without spreading glue all over the place is one example.
 

As well I couldn't  find a part number for them (still can't) and thought that were the same size as all the others and needed to be trimmed to fit. I stumbled across the correct ones while looking for something else. As well the part number shown in the diagram for the capping of the side rails was transposed (reads 59; should read 95) caused a bit of grumbling.
 

 
Putting on the capping was fairly straightforward, but needed care. I cut the gaps for the gun ports on the model.  Here, having the holes for the railing supports about 1mm further apart would have made things a bit easier. The following photos show how I went about it.  First the gaps in the caps were marked with Tamiya tape. 
 

 
The markings were cut using a very fine hand saw.
 

 

 
Once all the gaps had been cut, I moved to the stern fascia knees.  Getting them to be vertical was another of the tricky things. I used  Tamiya tape as a guide.  Gel CA was dotted along the bottom of each one, but no glue on the rear. The gel allows a little time for adjustment, so that once each knee is properly aligned stem to stern,, it can be adjusted to the vertical.  Having no glue on the rear allows adjustment without spreading glue all over the stern fascia.
 

 

 

 
Here is progress to date.
 

 

I am back to shipbuilding after a two week break - played very moderate golf on some beautiful courses on the far south coast of New South Wales.  Highly recommended.
 
Aside from that, finishing the poop is taking far longer than I expected.  There are some quite tricky little bits. Positioning the small timber heads in the opening shown below without spreading glue all over the place is one example.
 

As well I couldn't  find a part number for them (still can't) and thought that were the same size as all the others and needed to be trimmed to fit. I stumbled across the correct ones while looking for something else. As well the part number shown in the diagram for the capping of the side rails was transposed (reads 59; should read 95) caused a bit of grumbling.
 

 
Putting on the capping was fairly straightforward, but needed care. I cut the gaps for the gun ports on the model.  Here, having the holes for the railing supports about 1mm further apart would have made things a bit easier. The following photos show how I went about it.  First the gaps in the caps were marked with Tamiya tape. 
 

 
The markings were cut using a very fine hand saw.
 

 

 
Once all the gaps had been cut, I moved to the stern fascia knees.  Getting them to be vertical was another of the tricky things. I used  Tamiya tape as a guide.  Gel CA was dotted along the bottom of each one, but no glue on the rear. The gel allows a little time for adjustment, so that once each knee is properly aligned stem to stern,, it can be adjusted to the vertical.  Having no glue on the rear allows adjustment without spreading glue all over the stern fascia.
 

 

 

 
Here is progress to date.
 

 

The planking of the poop deck is finally complete. Some of the filler used to represent the tree nails when sanded back shows up on the photos for some reason, but fortunately it cannot be seen when looked at 'in the flesh".  I fact rather than sanding back with glass paper, in the main I have used a fairly blunt Stanley Knife blade to scrape back the deck planks.  I gives a very  good even result.
 

 

 

 
I have finished most of the deck furniture and will put things together over the next day or so.

The planking of the poop deck is finally complete. Some of the filler used to represent the tree nails when sanded back shows up on the photos for some reason, but fortunately it cannot be seen when looked at 'in the flesh".  I fact rather than sanding back with glass paper, in the main I have used a fairly blunt Stanley Knife blade to scrape back the deck planks.  I gives a very  good even result.
 

 

 

 
I have finished most of the deck furniture and will put things together over the next day or so.

The planking of the poop deck is finally complete. Some of the filler used to represent the tree nails when sanded back shows up on the photos for some reason, but fortunately it cannot be seen when looked at 'in the flesh".  I fact rather than sanding back with glass paper, in the main I have used a fairly blunt Stanley Knife blade to scrape back the deck planks.  I gives a very  good even result.
 

 

 

 
I have finished most of the deck furniture and will put things together over the next day or so.

The planking of the poop deck is finally complete. Some of the filler used to represent the tree nails when sanded back shows up on the photos for some reason, but fortunately it cannot be seen when looked at 'in the flesh".  I fact rather than sanding back with glass paper, in the main I have used a fairly blunt Stanley Knife blade to scrape back the deck planks.  I gives a very  good even result.
 

 

 

 
I have finished most of the deck furniture and will put things together over the next day or so.

I have exhumed the missing photos, though I have no idea what I have done.
 
This shows a complete three butt shift.

 
Below is one 'row' of the three butt shift taken to the stern. I had forgotten to put in a margin plank at the stern, and consequently had to cut off the four end planks to make provision for it - which was a bit nerve-wracking. The margin plank in the photo is only dry-fitted. On looking at it, it seems a bit wide (though consistent with the plan), but it's a bit late to change.
 

 
I shall now do 'rows' alternately on either side of the centre line to gradually plank the entire deck.  This allows any adjustment to be made to the width of each 'row' (the planking timber varies slightly in width), so that exactly the same number of planks are on each side of the centre line, butting up to the margin planks on each side.

I have received most of the replacement rope from Syren. Some of the sizes were in short supply and I will order the balance when they are available.
 
The quality looks to be excellent and it was delivered promptly. Below are some photos of some of the different sizes - light and dark brown, rather than the black and light tan of the kit.
 
When I first bought the kit about 3 years ago, for some obscure reason I hung some of the black thread over the top of a door and then forgot about it. It was in a light room, but not in direct sunlight.  It has not aged well. It is now an uneven dark tan and extremely furry.  Perhaps beeswax would solve the problem.
 
Here are the different sizes of the brown. Unfortunately the packaging tends to obscure the thread inside.

 
I hope this gives a better idea of the quality. It was taken in sunlight.

 
Here is the light tan.

 

Good progress has been made on planking the poop deck.  The following photos show the completion of the starboard side and fitting the margin planks to that side.  The margin planks require quite a bit of time and care, and so far I am happy with the results.
 
These shows the steps in fitting the margin planks. Before cutting the notches in the margin planks, on the underside at the point where the notch will be cut I put some gel CA, to prevent the very thin strip from splitting.
 






 
This is the first plank completed.
 

 

 
The second plank completed.
 

 

 
How the planking looks before the margin is fitted and glued (white PVA applied with a hypodermic syringe for all planks).

 
 

Good progress has been made on planking the poop deck.  The following photos show the completion of the starboard side and fitting the margin planks to that side.  The margin planks require quite a bit of time and care, and so far I am happy with the results.
 
These shows the steps in fitting the margin planks. Before cutting the notches in the margin planks, on the underside at the point where the notch will be cut I put some gel CA, to prevent the very thin strip from splitting.
 






 
This is the first plank completed.
 

 

 
The second plank completed.
 

 

 
How the planking looks before the margin is fitted and glued (white PVA applied with a hypodermic syringe for all planks).

 
 

Good progress has been made on planking the poop deck.  The following photos show the completion of the starboard side and fitting the margin planks to that side.  The margin planks require quite a bit of time and care, and so far I am happy with the results.
 
These shows the steps in fitting the margin planks. Before cutting the notches in the margin planks, on the underside at the point where the notch will be cut I put some gel CA, to prevent the very thin strip from splitting.
 






 
This is the first plank completed.
 

 

 
The second plank completed.
 

 

 
How the planking looks before the margin is fitted and glued (white PVA applied with a hypodermic syringe for all planks).

 
 

Good progress has been made on planking the poop deck.  The following photos show the completion of the starboard side and fitting the margin planks to that side.  The margin planks require quite a bit of time and care, and so far I am happy with the results.
 
These shows the steps in fitting the margin planks. Before cutting the notches in the margin planks, on the underside at the point where the notch will be cut I put some gel CA, to prevent the very thin strip from splitting.
 






 
This is the first plank completed.
 

 

 
The second plank completed.
 

 

 
How the planking looks before the margin is fitted and glued (white PVA applied with a hypodermic syringe for all planks).

 
 

I have exhumed the missing photos, though I have no idea what I have done.
 
This shows a complete three butt shift.

 
Below is one 'row' of the three butt shift taken to the stern. I had forgotten to put in a margin plank at the stern, and consequently had to cut off the four end planks to make provision for it - which was a bit nerve-wracking. The margin plank in the photo is only dry-fitted. On looking at it, it seems a bit wide (though consistent with the plan), but it's a bit late to change.
 

 
I shall now do 'rows' alternately on either side of the centre line to gradually plank the entire deck.  This allows any adjustment to be made to the width of each 'row' (the planking timber varies slightly in width), so that exactly the same number of planks are on each side of the centre line, butting up to the margin planks on each side.

I have now glued on the poop deck base.  I'm hoping that nothing has been forgotten as putting it on is rather final.
 
I cut part 32 down the centre to make it easier to fit, though this may not have been necessary. I got a bit carried away in trimming  the sides of part 32 to fit, then had to add pieces of strip to fill the gaps I had created.
 
The having cutting the part, the next step is to attach the cross -member.  It needed to be trimmed on each end, and again I overdid it.  It is not really serious but will need to be rectified later.

 
Here is the deck dry-fitted

 
There is a small gap on either end of the support that will have to be disguised.
 

 
Checking that the masts are as they should be.  Adjusting the hole in the poop  for the Mizzen would be too difficult (it's far to close to the screen on the upper deck for comfort) after that deck is fitted.

 
Actually gluing the deck to its supports proved more difficult than I thought. The thing really didn't want to fully bend. I used clamps where possible and some lead sinkers to weigh it down. They are probably better used here than on my fishing efforts.

I have begun putting the decking on the poop deck. Something odd has happened in loading the photos. My editing program refuses to load about 3 photos for some reason.
 
First I ran a piece of strip centred on the deck base, then pencilled a line on either side of the strip to provide a guide.  This shows the guide.

 

 
I have also penciled onto the base, a grid in quarter plank lengths before gluing the planks in a three butt shift pattern. The (I hope temporarily ) lost photos show this in more detail.  Now to go and do battle with the computer.
 

I have now glued on the poop deck base.  I'm hoping that nothing has been forgotten as putting it on is rather final.
 
I cut part 32 down the centre to make it easier to fit, though this may not have been necessary. I got a bit carried away in trimming  the sides of part 32 to fit, then had to add pieces of strip to fill the gaps I had created.
 
The having cutting the part, the next step is to attach the cross -member.  It needed to be trimmed on each end, and again I overdid it.  It is not really serious but will need to be rectified later.

 
Here is the deck dry-fitted

 
There is a small gap on either end of the support that will have to be disguised.
 

 
Checking that the masts are as they should be.  Adjusting the hole in the poop  for the Mizzen would be too difficult (it's far to close to the screen on the upper deck for comfort) after that deck is fitted.

 
Actually gluing the deck to its supports proved more difficult than I thought. The thing really didn't want to fully bend. I used clamps where possible and some lead sinkers to weigh it down. They are probably better used here than on my fishing efforts.

I have received most of the replacement rope from Syren. Some of the sizes were in short supply and I will order the balance when they are available.
 
The quality looks to be excellent and it was delivered promptly. Below are some photos of some of the different sizes - light and dark brown, rather than the black and light tan of the kit.
 
When I first bought the kit about 3 years ago, for some obscure reason I hung some of the black thread over the top of a door and then forgot about it. It was in a light room, but not in direct sunlight.  It has not aged well. It is now an uneven dark tan and extremely furry.  Perhaps beeswax would solve the problem.
 
Here are the different sizes of the brown. Unfortunately the packaging tends to obscure the thread inside.

 
I hope this gives a better idea of the quality. It was taken in sunlight.

 
Here is the light tan.

 

I have finished rigging the guns and have attached all the various hatches etc.
 
The barrels of the cannons do not have any provision for an 'eye' through which to thread rigging rope. I used the head of the eyelets supplied gluing them with CA gel. I now use the gel almost exclusively.
 
 

 
An intermediate stage in the rigging:
 

 
and finally, finished.
 

 

 

 
I have not yet fitted the assembly for the hammock netting.  It looks fairly fragile.  I am debating the next step, but at his stage I will probably do the poop deck, then finish off the upper deck bits and pieces, and hope I don't destroy anything in the process.
 
Incidentally, the hole provided for the mizzen mast in the poop deck base (part 32) is about 2mm too far to the stern.  The mast is very close indeed to the screen. With some rake of the mast it almost touches the screen at the top.The screen is also very close to the gunports immediately in front of it: so close it is difficult to rig the guns.  While this may all be historically accurate, setting the screen back about 2mm would make things a lot easier.  This would mean moving a bulkhead, so I guess that's not going to happen.
 
 

I have begun putting the decking on the poop deck. Something odd has happened in loading the photos. My editing program refuses to load about 3 photos for some reason.
 
First I ran a piece of strip centred on the deck base, then pencilled a line on either side of the strip to provide a guide.  This shows the guide.

 

 
I have also penciled onto the base, a grid in quarter plank lengths before gluing the planks in a three butt shift pattern. The (I hope temporarily ) lost photos show this in more detail.  Now to go and do battle with the computer.
 

I have begun putting the decking on the poop deck. Something odd has happened in loading the photos. My editing program refuses to load about 3 photos for some reason.
 
First I ran a piece of strip centred on the deck base, then pencilled a line on either side of the strip to provide a guide.  This shows the guide.

 

 
I have also penciled onto the base, a grid in quarter plank lengths before gluing the planks in a three butt shift pattern. The (I hope temporarily ) lost photos show this in more detail.  Now to go and do battle with the computer.