robdurant

Hi all,
 
I've often been very taken by the Joseph Marshall paintings, and in particular by the paintings of the admiralty model of Portland from the bow and stern quarters. (Here in low-res courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
 

 
That led me to explore the National Maritime Museum archives, and I came across the plans for HMS Bristol, her sister ship. That accompanied, with my stumbling upon RIf Winfield's book The 5o Gun Ship, which includes plans for another Portland class ship, Leopard meant I was well and truly smitten. 
 
A good number of plans survive for Bristol on the National Maritime Museum, and so, I figured (probably foolishly) that it would be wonderful to try and create as closely as possible the admiralty model shown in Joseph Marshall's paintings of Portland, but as her sister-ship Bristol. Having completed a model of HMS Diana, the Artois class frigate (as her sister ship Ethalion), and having made my way through a fair bit of Barque Stefano, both of which I have modified a fair bit as I've gone, I'm reasonably confident I'm up to the task of doing this as POB, but the big question is, how to recreate the frames... I don't think I'm up to fully framed yet - that will probably be the model after, so some POB / Joseph Marshall-painting-style-POF mash-up is the aim, with frames showing below the wales, and planked bulkheads above... As I'm designing it, I'm reasonably confident I can make this work, but there'll be plenty of planning before I make any sawdust.
 
So. Right now, I have the following plan as a high res printout - this low-res version is from wikicommons (I couldn't stretch to the £100 license to buy a digital copy) and lots of low-res images. I'll add to the collection as I go. This is enough to begin planning internal structure.
 

The full size plan is in 1:48, and it's stunning! From that tiny snapshot of history where the Admiralty had plans drawn up on completion of a ship, as well as at the beginning of construction - hence the decorations are all drawn out.
 
So. This post is as much as anything a pin in the map - a starting point, and a statement of intent. If you'd like to join me for the journey you're extremely welcome. It'll be slow going, I'm sure, but it should be fun, and if it turns out anything like the picture in my head, it'll be really wonderful in the end  

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!
 





 

So those numbers above have been refined again by cross referencing back and forwards from the half breadth and station plans... I got to the stage where I wanted to see how things fitted together, and particularly the deck levels and openings on the decks, and where the masts land compared to the stations, etc... 
 
So here is a 1:192 styrene half hull in construction. It's only got half its stations in so far, but it's starting to give an idea of how the whole might look.
 

 

 

First Planking - Bow Lateral Plank Bending
The hull planking will be split in two sections. Section 1 is from the bow to bulkhead 9. Section 2 is from bulkhead 9 to the stern. This post details the method I plan to take for section 1.
 
After taking some measurements of the various bulkheads I entered the data into a spreadsheet and made some calculations. I have allowed 28mm, 6mm will be from the top as the first plank has already been fitted and 22mm will be taken from the bottom. This will allow me to plank downward in 3 bands, with 8 planks fitted per band. The following picture shows my planking data calculations.

 
With a plank held in position around the left-hand side of the hull I marked the positions of bulkheads 1 to 9 on to the plank. I then transferred the required measurements on to the plank. I used 3mm at bulkhead 1, 4mm at bulkhead 2 and 5mm at bulkhead 4 as the main reference points. The start of the taper is halfway between bulkhead 6 and 7. With a line drawn connecting the points the plank was tapered. Using the tapered plank as a template I repeated the process for another plank which would be the right-hand side of the hull. The printout shown in the photo below was my first draft, before I updated it.

 
 
When the tapered left-side plank was offered up to the hull it looked to be a nice fit but needed a little bit of force to push up tight against the already fitted plank. The photo below shows the plank clamped in place with a natural flow. With reference to Chuck’s lateral bending method the blue arrow indicates the widest gap between the planks.

 
The plank was then taken to a makeshift bending station and clamped in place, with the point indicated by the blue arrow in the previous photo at the centre of the bend point. I made sure the plank had an even bend, by counting 5 divisions either side and bring the plank down to the same level as indicated by the two blue arrows.

 
After brushing some water on the plank heat was applied using my heated plank bending tool. When the plank was released, it had held the lateral bend. When the plank was then offered up to the hull it followed the upper plank much better and without the need to apply any force.

 
This seems to be the way to go forward, noting it is going to take quite a bit of time to plank the hull using this method. I am unsure if I will taper the planks between bulkheads 9 and 18 and will probably make tapered test plank before deciding.

First Planking -Stage 1 The Upper Section
With both forecastle bulwark patterns clamped in place I carefully drew the lines where the lower plank will fit.

 
With the first plank held in place I marked the 9th bulkhead position, where the plank will be split, as indicated by the blue arrow in the ensuring photo.

 
Although the planks were flexible and could be glued and pinned around the bow section without any pre-bending I did opt to bend the plank using my crimp plank bending tool. With the bent plank clamped in place it was a great looking fit.

 
The first planks (both left and right sides) were then glued and pinned in place.

 
Somehow I loaded two pins in my pin pusher tool on one occasion.

 
The outer bulwark patterns were then clamped in place in order to plank the area between the gun ports.

 
It was then a simple task to plank upward and to clear the gunport openings.

 
The next task is to glue the outer bulwark patterns in place. You can never have to many clamps. I used the glue bottles to keep the hull upright while the clamps were in place.

Tomorrow my wife and I are looking after our youngest grandson, so my shipyard time will be limited to about an hour during his afternoon nap time.

The “Nisha” is now in it’s new home, decided that having gone to the trouble of adding sails it needed protection from dust. 

I continued to potter about with the display stand. I decided that I was not find of the slipway with sloped sides in no small part to the fact that it would be hard to construct. I thought that a hybrid drydock/slipway would be more my liking. As this is not meant to be historically accurate it gave me free reign to incorporate anything I felt like. The first effort was a tad deep so I reworked it to make the sides lower and I think that I should probably stop with the virtual world at this point and think about how to build it in the real world. First off, I have to source some sizeable timber planks as the biggest I have at the moment is only 5mm thick. This is proving to be more difficult than I first anticipated as I only need a small order and what is on offer would require a small truck to transport. I think that I have spotted somewhere that deals in more modest quantities but I will have to pay a visit to see what they have in hand. While I ponder my next move on this, I thought that I should go back to working on the much neglected ship.
 






I carried on where I had left off which was the lower main mast. I used Dunnock's advice and used the plane on a beech dowel to get it down to a more manageable size while ensuring that it remained straight. I then I finished it off in the mill and lathe. Third try was a charm. I fashioned the front and side fish from some maple and milled out the filling pieces from beech dowel. Metal bands were the supplied black cartridge paper cut into 2mm thick strips. Wooldings were added using 0.5mm Ropes of Scale dark brown rope. The protective timber hoops were 0.5mm thick cherry soaked and bent around a curling iron. Cleats were added at the base as per the AOTSD drawings. I had to modify the mast hole in the quarterdeck as the front fish extends all the way to the orlop in the Steel and AOTSD drawings although I cheated a bit and stopped this at the upper deck. This is not a disaster as it is not visible and I had no good access to make the hole in the upper deck any bigger.
 







My head section looked a bit odd. When I was double checking the dimensions and proportions against the Steel drawings, I realised that I have bungled the head section on all of the lower masts. I had made them square in plan and introduced a taper to all four sides but on closer examination the taper is only pronounced on the port and starboard sides and the geometry of the head section goes from rectangular at the hounds to square at the head. This meant that I had to run the lower main mast through the table saw and dowel in a new head section using some 2mm diameter brass rod. Luckily this is going to be painted black so I could use another timber as I only had walnut that was a suitable size. On the plus side it was easier to incorporate all the fiddly details when it was not attached to the rest of the mast. I think that building this separately would be the way to go, even if I had not botched the initial try, as you have a lot more control rather than trying to lathe and mill the entire assembly out of a single dowel.

I added the battens and iron hoops using maple and cartridge paper. I had to scratch build the cap as the supplied one was not quite dimensionally correct and had two circular holes rather than the square and circle. I used this opportunity to add some bolts in the pattern suggested by Steel. These were 0.8mm brass rod filed down almost flush. The eyebolts were located according to the Steel and AOTSD drawings.








I now need to move back to the fore mast and modify the head section to match the geometry of the main mast. Nothing worse than having to redo that which you thought was completed.
 
 
 

Thanks everyone for looking in and for all the encouragement you are giving me.
 
Planking with pear strips is completed and I’m quite pleased with the result. I scraped the hull down and followed with a light sand which gave me a decent surface to continue with the second layer of clinker planking.
 


My thanks to Jason (Beef Wellington) and the detailed description he gave in his HMS Jason log. Without it, I think that I would have been struggling to get as good a result as I have.
https://modelshipworld.com/topic/7219-hms-jason-by-beef-wellington-caldercraft-164-artois-class-frigate-modified-from-hms-diana-1794/page/23/

The hull is marked out at each bulkhead using tick strips.
 
I first tried a couple of strips of heavy paper (Conqueror) but it was too thin to provide a noticeable edge between planks. I stripped them off and began again with thin card (about 0.3mm).

The angle of light and close focus shows that things could have been better but the first side generally went OK and the strakes look quite evenly spaced to my eye. I understand that the strakes at bow and stern do not overlap so I tried to keep to this pattern as closely as possible.


The port side proved a little more troublesome. After 6 strakes I realised that the bow section was going out of line so removed the last three strakes and tried to correct it. This worked to some extent but when it came to the final strake, a fair bit of shaping was required.

Although the strakes look to line up at the bow. I think now that the first strake runs a little to high at the bow and it’s this that has thrown things out.

 
To consolidate the outer layer I have given the hull a couple of coats of dilute matt varnish.



The next stage; removing the hull from the building board and breaking out the bulkheads is always the most nerve-wracking.
 
David

Gradually I continue with the next level - top masts.

Thank you Chuck, and Druxey, and all of you for your likes and encouragement. I've been playing a little with freecad (3D cad, whereas QCAD is 2D), as I discovered I can lift the 2D cad drawings into it and line them up at the correct distances... If I can join these together, I'm hoping it might make defining the difference from front to bad of each frmae inside and out more quickly than the paper and pencil method I've used before... We'll see, but I'm in no hurry, and the learning is fun... Here's the progress so far. 

 
I need to work out how to define the frame at the Aft Perpendicular... I presume this is a case of extending the lines from frame 25 to the transom (these are on the plans) and then seeing where they interpolate. When I get a few hours, I shall make a more concerted attempt, but my battery is dying, so it won't be this evening

Thank you Chuck, and Druxey, and all of you for your likes and encouragement. I've been playing a little with freecad (3D cad, whereas QCAD is 2D), as I discovered I can lift the 2D cad drawings into it and line them up at the correct distances... If I can join these together, I'm hoping it might make defining the difference from front to bad of each frmae inside and out more quickly than the paper and pencil method I've used before... We'll see, but I'm in no hurry, and the learning is fun... Here's the progress so far. 

 
I need to work out how to define the frame at the Aft Perpendicular... I presume this is a case of extending the lines from frame 25 to the transom (these are on the plans) and then seeing where they interpolate. When I get a few hours, I shall make a more concerted attempt, but my battery is dying, so it won't be this evening

Thank you Chuck, and Druxey, and all of you for your likes and encouragement. I've been playing a little with freecad (3D cad, whereas QCAD is 2D), as I discovered I can lift the 2D cad drawings into it and line them up at the correct distances... If I can join these together, I'm hoping it might make defining the difference from front to bad of each frmae inside and out more quickly than the paper and pencil method I've used before... We'll see, but I'm in no hurry, and the learning is fun... Here's the progress so far. 

 
I need to work out how to define the frame at the Aft Perpendicular... I presume this is a case of extending the lines from frame 25 to the transom (these are on the plans) and then seeing where they interpolate. When I get a few hours, I shall make a more concerted attempt, but my battery is dying, so it won't be this evening

Thank you Chuck, and Druxey, and all of you for your likes and encouragement. I've been playing a little with freecad (3D cad, whereas QCAD is 2D), as I discovered I can lift the 2D cad drawings into it and line them up at the correct distances... If I can join these together, I'm hoping it might make defining the difference from front to bad of each frmae inside and out more quickly than the paper and pencil method I've used before... We'll see, but I'm in no hurry, and the learning is fun... Here's the progress so far. 

 
I need to work out how to define the frame at the Aft Perpendicular... I presume this is a case of extending the lines from frame 25 to the transom (these are on the plans) and then seeing where they interpolate. When I get a few hours, I shall make a more concerted attempt, but my battery is dying, so it won't be this evening

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!
 





 

Thank you Chuck, and Druxey, and all of you for your likes and encouragement. I've been playing a little with freecad (3D cad, whereas QCAD is 2D), as I discovered I can lift the 2D cad drawings into it and line them up at the correct distances... If I can join these together, I'm hoping it might make defining the difference from front to bad of each frmae inside and out more quickly than the paper and pencil method I've used before... We'll see, but I'm in no hurry, and the learning is fun... Here's the progress so far. 

 
I need to work out how to define the frame at the Aft Perpendicular... I presume this is a case of extending the lines from frame 25 to the transom (these are on the plans) and then seeing where they interpolate. When I get a few hours, I shall make a more concerted attempt, but my battery is dying, so it won't be this evening

Thank you Chuck, and Druxey, and all of you for your likes and encouragement. I've been playing a little with freecad (3D cad, whereas QCAD is 2D), as I discovered I can lift the 2D cad drawings into it and line them up at the correct distances... If I can join these together, I'm hoping it might make defining the difference from front to bad of each frmae inside and out more quickly than the paper and pencil method I've used before... We'll see, but I'm in no hurry, and the learning is fun... Here's the progress so far. 

 
I need to work out how to define the frame at the Aft Perpendicular... I presume this is a case of extending the lines from frame 25 to the transom (these are on the plans) and then seeing where they interpolate. When I get a few hours, I shall make a more concerted attempt, but my battery is dying, so it won't be this evening

Looking forward to see tis develop!

That looks pretty darned good.  A lovely project. 

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!
 





 

So those numbers above have been refined again by cross referencing back and forwards from the half breadth and station plans... I got to the stage where I wanted to see how things fitted together, and particularly the deck levels and openings on the decks, and where the masts land compared to the stations, etc... 
 
So here is a 1:192 styrene half hull in construction. It's only got half its stations in so far, but it's starting to give an idea of how the whole might look.
 

 

 

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!
 





 

Thank you for your kind encouragement.

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!
 





 

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!
 





 

Progress on the 1:128 mockup from my CAD drawings. I've finished cutting out the stations and added the quarterdeck, fo'csle and poop. It's been a helpful exercise in seeing the lines of the vessel, any conflicts in terms of masts / deck cutouts / etc... Now, it's helping me think through how the stern will be constructed. I'm pleased to say that none of the frames look particularly out, except for one (frame 5) where I suspect I probably cut over the line a little... But now I can go back and take a look at this before I move onto the 1:64 scale version!