robdurant

Thanks so much for the likes... I have some more progress to report.

• Driver boom - the jaw was completed (with considerable re-shaping - the kit part seems somewhat oversized to me), the boom painted, and the pin inserted to place it on the mast. The height of the boom above the deck was calculated based based on the gap between the taffrail and the boom when the boom was parallel to the waterline. (I calculated a reasonable gap to be 8mm). It was a bit fiddly, but I'm pleased with the results. (Apologies for the quality of the first photo)
• Hammock cranes - I don't know whether others have had this problem, or whether I was simply not gentle enough when handling the photo-etch, but a good number of the rings on the tops of the hammock cranes had been completely destroyed (or were entirely missing) on my photo-etch sheet. Rather than try and botch a work around, I decided to manufacture my own (with some trepidation). A helpful topic on this site (which I'm afraid I've since lost track of) mentioned some 1mm brass tubing that could be used. Having order some, it turned out to be 0.9mm. Coupled with the small caldercraft eyelets (as supplied with their Pickle kit) to make the rings, and some 1:48 stanchion ends for the uprights (I got these from John Haynes for Cottesmore, and they've come in handy again), I had all the components to solder up some cranes.
  
  Having worked out the dimensions in CAD, I decided that hammock cranes on the open-bulwarks would be somewhat vulnerable, and instead, I would just build the main ones for the waist of the ship. This also meant I had enough materials to get the job done!
  
  A jig was made to ensure all the cranes ended up similar in size using walnut glued to ply (so I could solder without melting things), then work began.
  
  
  The eyelets were crimped into the top of the cranes (this avoided superglue which didn't seem to hold very well, and could stop the brass-blackening working well. Below and to the right, the caldercraft part is below the home-brew part.
   
  Once done, the cranes were blackened, and fitted to the hull
  
• Lines rigged through the cranes, and the netting cut to size (slightly over). The netting is the modelling fishing net. I bought black and white, but white seemed to me to look better.
  
• It's not done yet, but I'm pleased with it so far.

Thanks again for all the encouragement.

Rob

Hi all,

Plenty of progress to report. 

• I finally put the taffrail on.
  I used the violin rib bender to get the curve, which meant it was simply the right shape, and no force at all was necessary to stick it in position.
  
• Gunport lids
  The foremost gunport and three sternmost have gunport lids. These were planked with boxwood veneer, and then the blackened hinges were added. I looked at rigging them, but I wasn't confident I could do a job of this that would look a) to scale, b) neat, not least given the proximity of the chainplates and channels in places, so I opted to keep it simple and neat.
  
• Finalizing Channels
  I finally got round to filling in the gaps in the port side channels where the deadeyes are mounted. This was done with scraps of boxwood, and then the whole sanded gentle down to make neat. (This is stunningly boring stuff, so no pictures!)
   
• Mast bases
  I sanded, painted black and installed the mast bases.
  
   
• Bow pinrail
  Trying to insert the belaying pins into this part demonstrated that it was woefully small, and the pins were jammed against each other (probably because the belaying pins are somewhat oversize). Instead of trying to force the issue, I made a replacement pinrail which was a good 5mm bigger on each side. The results are below (with the original part just in front)
  
  
  
  
   
• The protective parts that stop the anchor damaging the channels (name?) were now put in place (stained with admiralty models ebony stain, as per the Wales)
  
  
  Since then I've been working on masts... but I'll put that progress in a separate post.

Happy building

Rob

Hi Allan,

Thank you so much for your quick and extremely helpful answer. As you say, the pictures say a thousand words. Not sure how I missed that diagram in AOTS. Now I feel confident to proceed. I wonder where the studdingsail yards would be kept when not in use? On the skid beams perhaps? 

So. For my model, I shall have the studdingsail booms represented, but as it is not rigged, the stunsail yards will not be there.

Thanks again

Rob

Hi,

I've been looking through the Anatomy of the Ship book for Diana, as I prepare to turn the yards for my model. I notice that in the spar dimensions table, it mentions both studdingsail yards and studdingsail booms for lower, top, topgallant on both main and fore masts. I had assumed that the boom was the yard, so clearly I've misunderstood something. Both are in addition to the yards themselves, which have their own entries.

For example, the main lower studdingsail boom has a diameter of 9 1/4" and a length of 45' 8", and the main lower studdingsail yard has a diameter of 5 1/4" and a length of 26' 1", so they are clearly different spars. Could anyone shed some light, please?

Many thanks

Rob

Wow - that post made me sit up... Hope you don't mind me adding a few pictures of the last (very dusty) radio controlled semi-scratch model I built...  (Also HMS COTTESMORE, in 1:48). Fascinating vessels. That's a beautiful waterline model of her!    

Thanks for all the likes, input and encouragement. I went through the NMM website to try and find that plan of the Diana Main Yard in their collections, but couldn't for the life of me track it down. Anyway - there it is in their prints site.  Given that plan is 80cm across, I make it 38.5cm across at 1:64 scale... and 24.6m across full-size (AOTS translated from 1:96 (26cm) to 1:64 measures 39cm so that's close enough for jazz). That's a serious bit of kit! A quick search tells me that Victory's main yard is around 31m (I remember last time I visited Victory being very struck with the scale of it, struck down on the ground next to Victory's hull, it runs a fair bit of the length of her (57m?) !) I'm sure in a high sea / winds, 12 metres felt like an awful lot longer to climb out.

A question: The TopGallant masts have different types in AOTS (called pole heads?) - what were those different pole heads (stump, common, long) for? Was it different wind conditions? Whim of the captain? 

Progress so far has been in bits and bobs this evening... 

The gratings have been sanded down to height - the following shot shows the before and after left to right... 

The gratings have now been fixed in place, save the one next to the capstan platform, which I've also been working on (using some boxwood from an old ruler which is being gradually repurposed for the coaming surround for the capstan platform and gangway).

I've also FINALLY completed making up the blocks and tackles for the carronades and guns on the foredeck, so those will be fully rigged by the end of tomorrow. (Trust me, that's way too repetitive for a photo...  just look back through this topic for other similar things going on)

I've been gradually planking the 32ft pinnace with what I think is maple veneer... It's painfully slow going, but I'm making progress slowly. Photos to follow shortly.

Finally, I hope no-one will object, but I figured some photos of lovely things happening in the world might encourage us all... so here is a pleasant surprise from a pot I forgot about in the corner over the winter... 

It's my day off tomorrow, so I hope to have more to share with you all then.

In the meantime, happy building, and God bless.

Rob

27 minutes ago, Beef Wellington said:

while browsing in the NMM I found the following print of Diana's main yard. 

Wow... what an amazing plan... that is totally going to be a part of my build now  Thanks so much! Interesting that none of that detail is shown in AOTS. I wonder how many of the yards had woolding?

Rob

Wow. A lot has happened since I last posted. And some of it in the shipyard.

I paused work on the tops, and have worked on the following:

• Rigging quarterdeck guns and carronades (complete) (There's some weirdness going on with the wide-angle lens on the photo below - the carronades aren't sloping down like that in reality)
  
   
• Finish off bow rails (the rails that lead from the cat heads are particularly tricky - I wanted to make my own parts, but it's added a few grey hairs along the way.) These are now fitted and complete.
  
   
• Rigging fore-deck guns and carronades (in progress)
• Shape topmasts (foretopmast and maintopmast done) and dry-fit with fids, and start looking at the cross trees
  
  
  
• Shape driver boom for mizzen and jib boom to assess out full length of model when complete. (complete)
  
   
• Make up belfry, barricades for fore-deck, and mount along with galley-chimney, quarterdeck capstan and hatches (complete on fore-deck). This involved sanding down the height of the hatches significantly as originally I made them the same height as the gun deck hatches, which looks odd. I've decided to live with the width of the coamings being too wide... It's too tricky to sand these down evenly without power tools (which I don't have)
  
   
• Replace kit supplied ship's wheels with the after-market Caldercraft 24mm ship's wheel. I've always felt the kit supplied wheel was somewhat insubstantial as a single layer of brass etch... This substitution was WELL worth it. I have a picture of the difference below. (Kit on right, after-market on left)

All in all, I think I'm getting close to topping out the hull, and the focus will be much more on the masts, spars and rigging pretty soon.

Very happy building to you all. 

Rob

Wow Peter, this is great progress - you'll storm past me in no time. That gun rigging looks really neat! I used Casey's Brass Black and didn't have any problems with the blackening rubbing off afterwards, although I did read that it needs to be a thin layer, otherwise it can cause problems. I did find the brass black brilliant for all the eyelets that are required... painting them didn't appeal somehow. I did the whole batch in one go, along with lots of the photo-etched bits, so they're all ready to use now. (Nasty stuff, that brass black, mind you! Definitely one for goggles and gloves!)

1 hour ago, chris watton said:

I think I am just a little run down...

Hope you feel better soon Chris.

Those stunning pictures of HMS Bristol on your website keep on grabbing my attention. If you were to make a kit of her, I think I'd find that very hard to resist! With that said, as I watch others building your new kits, pretty much any 1:64 frigate kit designed by you would be like a syren calling, too. (And I was so sure my next build was going to be something smaller!)

Hi Barbossa, OC, 

Thanks for the likes and encouragement. Yes, I was really pleased with how the contrast worked out. Having looked at the AOTS book and seen the planking marked, it seemed like a good choice.

A little progress to report on the tops. I've added the eyelets, and the cross trees with holes for blocks underneath. 

I may have mentioned that I was a little concerned because the fore and mizzen tops had a bit of a twist in them that was about 3-4mm from side to side... enough that it was irking me. Well, I've recently acquired a rib-bender to help me in a new hobby I'm dabbling in - making a violin... and it turned out to be perfect to steam these parts straight.

At 250 Celsius, with water applied to the underside of the top, I could infuse the part with steam, and it became malleable and I was able to hold it flat until it cooled. Not sure I'd recommend it just for fighting tops, though! (I've included two sneaky pics of my first bash at bending violin ribs... It's rough and ready, but I'm learning! Amazingly, once the ribs are bent, they simply hold their shape. There's no force at all necessary to get them to stay put.)

Anyway - back to Ethalion!

I've also continued making up the training tackle for the quarterdeck armament.

The tops dry-fitted in situ.

Rib bending iron used to flatten out the misbehaving tops...

\

My first attempts at something new!

The main top with eyelets and swivel gun bases added. Also, the paint has been touched up around the edges.

The view from above gives a little idea what it must have been even only at the top of the main mast when working these ships!

Holes drilled for the blocks... And more blocks for the quarterdeck armament... 24 pairs to do, of which 14 with rope, and 7 without rope are complete so far... I've lost count of how many times these have pinged out of my fingers. A real exercise in patience, but I'm on the home stretch with the guns now.

Right. That's it from me for this evening. 

Rob

Oh, how disappointing. I typed out the whole message, and then it disappeared when I hit Submit... 

Oh well. Let's have another go.

Thanks so much to everyone who has offered likes, encouragement, advice... it's so helpful, and a great spur to keep going on what is now a four year project!

I've been busy rigging the weapons on the quarterdeck - not much to show, really... breeching ropes, and training tackle, just like the gun deck. All the breeching ropes are fitted, then I use watered down PVA to fix them so they look like they're falling naturally (or at least that's the plan).

In the meantime - as I wait for the glue to dry so I can have my tools, which are keeping them in place as they dry, back, I've been working on the crosstrees. That meant first fitting the cheeks to the mast. These were pre-painted so that the lines between the black and the ochre were really crisp, then glued in place.

The crosstrees are glued together, but not attached to anything yet... However, dry-fitted it all goes together really nicely... Here are the pictures...

Thanks again to everyone who looks in, and happy building!

Rob

1 hour ago, Old Collingwood said:

Very nice work - what a Superb looking Frigate.

 

OC.

Thanks OC. It is a fabulous model to work on. My only problem with it is that I simply can't find the boat to follow it with. This really was - and continues to be - my dream build. With that said, some of Chris Watton's future offerings look very tempting. It would just be a question of space. 

Having build a Frigate, I don't think I'd want to do anything with more guns. I find the the repetition is somewhat wearing beyond a certain point. I'd also need to find somewhere to put them!

Anyway - plenty of work still to do on this one yet.

2 hours ago, Beef Wellington said:

Something I remember reading somewhere (never seem to be able to remember where), was that rigging lines would have been secured to the open rail, the pin rails would only have been needed once the bulwarks were built up.

That would make perfect sense... it would also explain how they avoided that area becoming horrible cramped when rigging the guns... it really is quite a challenge to fit it all in (especially if the carronades are going to have training tackle going diagonally out from them - which I neglected to think of until all the holes were drilled!). Having got all the pin rails in, I think I'll have to live with it now. Not sure I'm brave enough to try and undo all that, and get it sanded, painted without messing up the deck. 

Thanks for the encouragement. Hope you find some good quality maple soon.

Rob

And some nicer photos of progress so far...

A little more progress. I did a little more work on the bowsprit, and got some more paint on it. I was surprised how much I needed to sand, and paint, and sand and repaint the ramin dowel to get a good finish, but I think I'm getting there now. I slightly modified the layout at the outboard end to match the AOTS plans more closely. This included adding in a board in between the Caldercraft parts.

Now I'm placing and removing the bowsprit continually, I'm so glad I put the hole for it right through the bow - it's so sturdy. I think I got this idea from Jason (Beef Wellington) - so thank you! A very worthwhile modification.

I also did a little more work on the tops. The fore top now has the strip added, and the mizzen top is underway. I have a little bit of twist in the fore top, but I'm hoping I'll be able to pull that out gently when I put the shrouds and futtock shrouds on. It's not crazy, but enough to bug me!

Happy building!

Rob

A little progress to report...

I've got the pin rails on the quarter deck. I replaced the kit belaying pins with the newer ones Caldercraft do (purchased from Cornwall model boats). I came across these making HM Schooner Pickle, and to me they look far more the part. Because of the open quarter deck rails, these were shortened at the bottom so that they didn't touch the deck.

Now that the pin rails are in place, I'll know where I can put the attachments for the carronades and guns, and the other fixings on the bulkheads.

Happy building.

Rob

Hi all,

Thanks for the likes.

A little update as I work on the tops. I wanted to make sure the pattern of battens was correct on the tops, so looked at AOTS which only shows the outline of one of the tops.

Looking at the Caldercraft plans they aren't symmetrical (and it's worth noting that the diagram of the tops in the manual is at a slightly different scale to the plans as well, which is a little confusing.) Anyway... here's my best estimate of what these might look like drawn out in CAD and exported as PDF (screenshot below, and the download link below that).

Once the markings were drawn on, I glued the outer edge to the planking and clamped the tops down to try and prevent them from warping (which seems to be something of a losing battle at the moment!

Tops.pdf

Also, I decided to do a bit of work on the bowsprit. I worked out where the bits went on the bowsprit, and picked the bowsprit gammoning stops to do first... I created another template to allow me to line up the nine stops neatly, which is below. By my reckoning they need to cover 2/3 of the diameter of the bowsprit. It works out at 9x 1.2mm strip stops (I used 1mm), with 8x 1.2mm gaps in between. I marked the curve of the line of the stops on the bowsprit (further forward on top, further astern as they move further down the sides of the bowsprit. By cutting out the white space in-between the stops, I was able to fasten this round the bowsprit.

BowspritGammoningStops.pdf

Once the glue's properly dried, I shall sand these down so they taper in. Pretty pleased with how they went on, though.

I think that's it for this evening  

Hi all,

More progress... just chipping away at various bits, really, while I summon the energy to finish off the bow.  

The tops make a nice mini-project. I didn't want to simply paint them all black, so I've used some of the remaining 0.5x4mm maple to plank them before putting on the diagonal strips.

As it stands the black parts are just sat on top. I want to sand them down again and get another coat of black on before I stick them together. I'll probably mark the diagonals on before I glue them together as it will be easier to get a ruler onto the planks.

Happily, these parts seem very close to the AOTS plans, so I didn't see any need to scratch build these (other than the planking).

I'm really pleased with the contrast made between the maple and the black surround. Hopefully I shall have more progress to show soon.

As always, happy building!

Rob

Thanks zappto

More work on the masts:

So far, so good  - there are a few wooldings still needed on the foremast, and I've left the masts slightly long until I have the caps ready.

Rob

Thanks Vane,

And thanks to everyone for the kind comments and encouragement.

I completely agree with everything you've said and really enjoy photography myself. However, I think my problem this time was more an issue of laziness and lack of time... Below is a photo I took a couple of days ago, when I took the time to get the shot set up properly (and get out the right equipment)

When I get a little more time, I shall get the models out and take some nicer photos... I was just grabbing the opportunity to catch them together while they were all out

Interestingly, the background in the above shot is a kind of fabric... it's weed barrier from a local DIY store. Again, it shows what a difference lighting makes.

Rob

Definitely time for an update. Unfortunately I haven't been very well for a number of weeks so, quite rightly, work, family, etc... took priority, and almost nothing happened to Ethalion.  Thankfully, I'm over the worst, so it's back on with the project. I needed a break from the things I'd been doing to get my head back into Ethalion, so I decided to start work on the masts. I've been itching to see what the lower fore, main, mizzen would look like and work out the colour scheme. Here is my first attempt.

And finally, I've been moving my previous models into a new cabinet to display them, and it gave me the opportunity to get a few pictures of the fleet  - all are Caldercraft - namely, the Schooner Pickle, and the cutter Sherbourne.

Apologies for the quality of the photos... I'll try and get some better ones another time when I have more time, and more energy  I was utterly shocked by the difference in weight between the smaller craft and Ethalion. I'll have to get some scales out at some point, but suffice it to say, it's significant!

Next steps are to think seriously about the fittings needed for rigging on the quarterdeck (pintails, etc..); rigging the carronades and cannon, which are just loosely sat in position at the moment, and then whatever takes my fancy next

Happy building 

Rob

Hi Peter,

The Blue that Jason (Beef Wellington) and I have been using is Tamiya XF-18 acrylic - "Medium Blue".

i see what you mean about the transom in the second pic you posted but you seem to have it well in hand

Rob

18 hours ago, yvesvidal said:

...Women should refuse their bed to all men who are partaking in wars. That would put an end to it, immediately.

Not a new idea... In fact, Aristophanes did the thought experiment in his play Lysistrata around 411BC! ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata )

I too wrestle with loving the craftsmanship and skill that went into making these "wooden walls", when held in tension with the idea of firing tonnes of metal and high explosive at fellow humans. 

Anyway - Yves, the model looks amazing. Looking forward to seeing those engine compartments come together.  Thanks for putting so much effort into this fascinating build log.

Rob

Hi Robert

You may already have seen this but Caldercraft also make a metal primer which I believe etches into the metal a little to provide a more stable base layer. Don't know how effective it is on brass but I have had good results on the britannia metal castings.

https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/ap9205w.html

Really enjoying following this build! Your willingness to go the extra mile is bringing some excellent results.

Rob