robdurant
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Everything posted by robdurant
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Thanks Jason. I started by working out a template for the windows (based on the AOTS diagrams extended out in the same way as I calculated the transom shape). Then I printed it out and stuck sellotape over it to stop the pva from sticking to it. I put some cereal box card behind it to give it a bit more substance, and clipped it behind the transom lining up the diagram with the window apertures. I'd already lined the apertures with boxwood. This was boxwood veneer (0.7mm thick officially but actually closer to .5mm when I checked with the micrometer). I cut it to about 3mm for the window surrounds, and to ~0.75mm for the internal framing (using a sharp scalpel and lots of patience). The pre-cut edge of the veneer was always placed facing out to ensure a good square edge: the cut edges I achieved with the scalpel were nowhere near as clean. The verticals were put in as single strips, carefully checking the heights with the digital vernier calipers and using the point of the calipers to mark the wood rather than trying to mark it with a pencil which is just hopelessly inaccurate. Often the strips needed very slight amounts shaving off the ends to fit neatly. Sometimes it would take two or three attempts. Once gently placed in position I used a paintbrush to apply watered down pva to fix the vertical in place. The horizontals were done the same way, but as three separate parts for each horizontal. Tweezers were an absolute must, and it took a lot of attention to make sure the line followed the diagram underneath, but the PVA allows the part to be re-placed as many times as necessary. Finally, I realised pretty quickly that not only was good light a must, but the light needed to be directly overhead, otherwise the shadows make everything look completely out of whack. Hope that's helpful. If you've got any questions, just ask. Rob
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A mini-update... Stern lights... the carpenters glue still needs to be cleaned up a little, but I'm going to let it set really hard first. Once these have clear plastic glued behind them they'll be plenty strong enough
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Hi Jobbie Yes that's right. Just normal baking paper that you use to line cake tins. I sellotaped it over a sheet of A4 paper to give it some strength. I use a mac and in the print box it has a "flip horzontally" checkbox. So it really couldn't be easier. It's also useful for printing out bits of plans for port and starboard. Just hit print and select the checkbox as necessary. Thanks to all for the likes and kind words of encouragement. Rob
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Time for a little update. Remaking window template for quarter galleries to get right size of windows I've continued shaping the quarter galleries. I'd been concerned that the window apertures were too large, and the uprights too narrow. I've remade them and lined the apertures with box to match the stern gallery. (see below for photo) Lining windows These were lined with Boxwood - 6mm x 0.7mm boxwood veneer cut in to 3mm strips. By using the outer edge, a nice square edge is found to go flush with the gallery. Painting decoration on stern gallery I got out my best brush and got to work painting the decoration on the gallery - to my eye this looks so much better than the somewhat heavy brass photo etch which lacks a little something in detail. I tried painting the decoration on the uprights between the windows, but found that too tricky, and the photo etch for these parts is quite nice, so I've used that. (photo before I changed the painting on the uprights for photo-etch) Shaping above and below quarter galleries A lot of time was spent fashioning these 3D puzzles... Each part is unique, and needs checking constantly to get it to fit well. They're not perfect, but thankfully they will be painted, so a little filler will hide a multitude of sins! Lettering on upper counter I used an inkjet printer on baking paper to transfer the lettering onto the upper counter, then painted over the impression. It took about 10 attempts to get the print in the right place, but then it worked quite well... It isn't perfect, but I'm quite happy with it. Crew The crew arrived and were duly painted, ready to help getting a sense of proportion. First attempt at carving I wanted to include the feathers shown in AOTS above the uprights where the wide curve ends on the gallery. So it was time to break out the proxxon engraving set. Taken from 2x6mm boxwood (guitar stringers). Again, as a first attempt I'm reasonably happy, but I think I'll probably end up taking these off and thinning them down - they're a little heavy at the moment. Testing spacing for decorations on stern gallery I placed the white metal decorations provided in the kit onto the stern to check the spacing. It fits pretty well, but the lions really ought to become dolphins, and the centre figure of Diana needs to become a Georgian representation of a male figure of Bacchus, or perhaps Acoetes as per Ovid's Metamorphoses... We'll see how brave I'm feeling. On the plus side, this can all be done off the model, so many attempts are easily possible. I can keep going til I'm happy! And finally, a picture of the pieces in place on Ethalion...
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Hi Chuck It looks really great! Will the masts be stepped on deck or will a slot be cut out at some point? I wondered whether that was what the black marks were for but they seem too far forward and aft for the fore and mizzen masts respectively? Really fascinating to see your well thought through design coming together. Cedar looks lovely too. Thanks Rob
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Hi Peter, What a beautiful bridge... great photography too! Nice job you're doing on those gun carriages. Once they're all in place, the focus will be on the overall effect rather than the individual detail... are you going to rig them? Rob
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Thank you OC it's very kind of you to say so. It's so great to see others builds and get ideas and encouragement. Thanks to everyone for the likes. Rob
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Another brief update... more work on the quarter galleries. The quarter galleries are a little proud at the moment, but I will be adding a strip for the tafferal (?) so this should fill in that space. It will also neaten the edge of the stern lights. These photos do give an idea of how tricky all the angles are... there's another block to go beneath the one already in place, and then the metal casting below that... On top, there are two more blocks... each has to be carefully shaped, and then duplicated on the other side. I've replaced the four walnut parts per side with two 6mm box parts (although it did feel a little wrong painting it!) Nothing's glued in place yet. I've also filled the grain and painted the stern transom. Happy building! Rob
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I've updated the template above to include a former for the aft edge to provide support for the top and bottom templates. quartergalleries_templates.pdf So, here are the first attempt at the new quarter galleries... I pritt-sticked the templates to the parts on 1mm ply and cut them out (scissors and craft knife), then soaked the fascia and fixed it round a metal cutlery pot to bend it to shape... Soaking the fascia took the paper off, and I managed to build the starboard quarter gallery with the window part upside down! The effect was to make the curve upwards even more pronounced - it really looked odd... I didn't take a photo, but trust me, it was all wrong It didn't take along to get it fixed. I'm much happier with the line... the windows are perhaps a little large - I need to have a re-measure - but I don't think they look out of place. (Note the upper counter is a card mockup and the masking tape came unstuck as I took these photos... ) The black and the white fuzz you can see is the remnants of the paper templates. Also, this evening I finally got round to it and tidied my boat building space.... (will wonders never cease!)
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Thanks Jason, though if anyone ought to be taking off their hat it ought to be me. I may yet give up on it and go the same route. I'll give it a go first though. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that
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To gently ease myself back into working on Ethalion after flu, I installed the first decorative rail along the port side to match up with the starboard. I also used the scraper to create a reasonable supply of decorative rail that will hopefully be enough for the rest of the hull sides and transom. All this was 2x 1.5mm maple. Now, I'm biting the bullet again and getting on with the quarter galleries - I think these have kind of scared me - they're complex, and very visible... So. A good few hours with a computer (Apple Pages), the Anatomy of the Ship diagrams, blown up to 1:64, cereal boxes, scissors, and masking tape... it took a few versions, but here's where I'm up to... Version 1: Swoops down too much - it doesn't maintain the line from the gunports... Version 2 was better... It doesn't look like it, but this took a gentle curve, such that the centre of the panel is lower than the outsides - about 1.5mm across the length of the arc. Here's a comparison with the diagram (although they're not lined up perfectly) I've also put the top and bottom templates in on this photo... The masking tape along the bottom roughly mirrors where the trim will go along the bottom of the gallery - and I'm happy that this seems to line up with the sweep of the ports with a slight lift by the stern, as per the diagram. Also, looking from the stern quarter, the windows match up nicely with the stern lights. And here's the templates I ended up with... I've added a ten centimetre measure vertically and horizontally to check if my printer was behaving and actually printing 10cm as 10cm - turns out it's about 9.96cm when printed. I could compensate for that, but these fit on my model. Also of note, is that these are to fit the scale width stern transom I've made according to AOTS, not to fit the kit transom. The AOTS version is considerably narrower. ethalion_quartergalleries_templates.pdf As an aside (and here's the job I'm avoiding, because I don't want to mess it up!) - here are the steps I fashioned from boxwood with a scraper, files, and patience... I'm happy with the steps, but now they need to be fitted to a hull side with a slight tumblehome... I think I know how to do it, I just need to be brave and get on with it... I don't have any power tools such as a sander with angled bed, so I've made a jig... but I'm struggling to hold onto these little blighters and get them down to the right tread depth, with the right angle to stick out horizontally from the hull... Anyway - quarter galleries first, and then back to the steps. Wow - those close-ups are brutal - they look okay to me in real life! These are going to need some cleaning up... Happy building to you all! Rob
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Thanks OC. I'm well on the mend now and even started building a jig to sand the angles onto the backs of the steps on the hull sides. More progress soon.
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Sorry for the lack of updates... I came down with flu, and I'm just getting back to "tired-but-normal-ish"... spent a week having no choice when I slept - it just happened, and I knew it had happened when I woke up again. Anyway. Looking forward to jumping in and getting on with Ethalion again. Rob
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Brilliant. Thanks Jason. I'll take another look and update it. The logs are available at The National Archives in Kew. You can get a readers ticket for free and order up the logs from stacks. It's a humbling thing to touch the originals.
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Looking great! I don't think you can go far wrong with balsa fillers. I find it so helpful to give an idea of the contours of the hull when I'm fairing the bulkheads, and it helps with adhesion for the first planking where the hull has the greatest curves, too. The other thing I do is mark the edge of the bulkhead with a sharpie - that way when I'm fairing if the black disappears completely, I know I've started to reduce the overall shape of the bulkhead. Hope that makes sense. You can see the black line left along the sternmost edge of the forward bulkheads in the photo below...
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Okay - I promised I'd pass on the logs as I managed to transcribe them... Here's the first year of master's logs. EthalionLogTranscription.20180330.pdf I've tried to maintain the layout of the documents as far as possible. Happy reading.
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Hi Jobbie, Thanks for starting this log. I'm half way through building a Caldercraft kits too. I've brought a cushion for the pew, and look forward to seeing this one come together. Looks like you've made a great start. It's surprising how thin the stern needs to be to accommodate all the planking, isn't it. If you're still wondering how you can get it slightly narrower, one option (an option I've seen others use on this site) is to only take the first planking up to the bearding line... This means the part that reaches the sternpost only needs to be planked once (the second layer of planking) straight onto the keel former. You can see the rabbet at the bearding line for the first planking in the first photo below, and the first planking completed in the second photo. I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job regardless. Your previous builds look great! Rob
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Thanks for the kind words Jason. And thanks to everyone for all the likes. I'm also planning to wait until the quarterdeck is on before putting on the higher rails. I have found it a challenge to visualise precisely where the deck edge Will be so won'tfeel confident I'm putting the top rail in the right place until then. I do want to make up the rails in one go though as if I lost the scraper it would be tricky to make one just the same. I shall scrape them an store them until the right moment. I haven't thought much about the headworks yet other than to keep an eye on where they terminate on the hull. I want to get the stern sorted and the quarter galleys first. My son and I are making two p51 mustangs side by side now... he seems to be having fun but time will tell whether the bug really bites
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So, I took those vertical pieces off... fenders? - I wasn't happy with the colour, so I used some very watered down Admiralty Paints Yellow Ochre as a wash just to tone them down a little... I don't want everything to be exactly the same colour (that's the beauty of wood, surely) but close enough that it doesn't whack you in the face when you look at it... It looks better to the naked eye - these close-ups are brutal! I took the opportunity to narrow them down equally (to 1.6mm at the bottom), and align them better... the photo makes them look uneven, but the ruler tells me the vertical centre lines are parallel. I also added the paint, although this will need touching up. Overall I'm closer to happy with them. Side steps next. I have a scraper lined up for them. The fenders now...
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Oh, and I forgot to mention, the profile is 2x1.5mm maple scraped using a custom scraper and painted with yellow ochre.
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I'm still transcribing the logs for Ethalion - it really is fascinating... They're very matter of fact, recording this sort of thing from Thursay 12th April 1798. HMS Ethalion had just left Spithead and was passing the Needles. I found this description of the "bridge" at the Needles... From the following link (with which I have no connections - just found it googling: http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/specials/pilot-the-isle-of-wight-the-needles-to-st-catherines-point-3161/2 Now, I appreciate I'm no professional sailor, but no matter how professional you are, that's got to be a bit of a heart stopper when heading for a thousand tons of wooden ship bumps along the bottom at sea! Anyway - it all adds to the picture as I begin to detail the hull... Having shaped these strips (don't know what they're called?) I'm not entirely happy with the colour - they are box, but they're much whiter, and look more like maple... I'll see if they tone down, and otherwise might remove them and remake them... we'll see. The paint at the top also needs touching up, and the yellow adding, but I just wanted to get the boundary line marked on before I stuck them in place. The top rail is clipped in place so I can measure up and check how it's all working out. It will be trimmed to go to either side of these verticals when the time comes.
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Looking really good. As far as the photo rotation goes, there are two ways of rotating a photo on a computer... one is to actually change the file data to be the rotated image (this is a fairly big job as all the compression maths that keeps the file small probably has to be reworked). The second is to just set a parameter in the file metadata (Exif)that says e.g. "display this file rotated90 degrees clockwise" . The second option is much quicker and many desktop computer programmes and cameras use this function... so it will look rotated in your screen. However internet browsers / websites often ignore this data so an image rotated the second way will appear as it originally was. The solution is to find a programme that actually rotate your photos as per the first method. Hope that makes sense. Rob
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Thanks Zappto. The cut pieces of tile can be really fiddly but the results are worth the pain
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