Beef Wellington

Very interested in where this goes, great idea for a topic.

Looking good Stergios, it might be worth considering doing the gammoning soon, it doesn't interfere with any subsequent rigging but you might appreciate having it done before the other rigging makes it more difficult than it needs to be.

I seem to remember reading somewhere, can't remember where, that the scuttles near main mast also allowed the pump shafts to be installed/removed. Would welcome confirmation or correction.

I really want to be able to learn and leverage this technique to enhance my current kit build, but am not willing at present to invest in the area of $2000 that it seems it takes to buy a quality cutter. Does anyone know if there are there any service providers who will provide use of their laser cutter if provided with appropriate wood and files for custom small, one off orders? I feel this is something more people would do if the bar weren't quite so high from a price standpoint. Many thanks in advance.

Sorry for not replying guys, been away - Tom, DFell, Sjors, Lou and Michael, thanks so much for the overly kind words, means a lot coming from this skilled group and makes me blush.... Lou - It is a great model, I think you just need to be prepared for the kit to be a little disappointing in areas. Ray's great log highlights a number of these things as well. Honestly, most of the fun I've had has been just looking at photos of models and figuring out the changes I want to make to the kit. Seeing the results of others it builds into a beautiful ship. Andy - I think I used around 6 sheets for the starboard side, I still have the rudder to do but should have enough left over for that. The sheets contain182 tiles, so 1,092 per side. I'm not sure how Amati sells them, the ones I bought came a little bit mixed up as the packets had been opened and resealed...

Joe, that copper looks fantastic, the jig you made is an excellent idea and to use the 'hollow' nail indents makes it look that much better. Really great result and something definitely to try.

Thanks B.E., Mike, Bob, Joe, Pat, Wayne, Jim and the likes for all the support.

Wow, a lot to catch up on, love how the head turned out Bob and the colours of the various woods looks stunning. Nice idea on the mortars, they look great the way you are displaying them.

Joe, lucky I saw this in your signature or could have sneaked by. Great start, love these ships and think the detailing on the Cruizer is slightly nicer than the Snake kit. Are you going to enlarge the gun ports if you're switching to the carronades? Hard to tell from the photos whether you did that already.

Think I've got a bit of catching up to do. Firstly, heres the Captain Cook Monument in Waimea, no undercooked beef wellington shots in this one . Found the beach he landed at, nothing special but couldn't locate the plaque that allegedly marks the spot according to guide books. I have managed at least an interim milestone, the completion of the starboard copper...this task just goes on and on Couple of items I've found to be helpful: Super Solvent - I've found this product to be highly effective at getting rid of any CA glue residue (at least the Admiralty Pro thick stuff). Wiping over the surface of any potential smearing is usually enough Some plates plates require very acute angles to be cut and when using scissors (which I find by far the easiest), the ends tend to curl and distort horribly. I found that cutting these as part of a larger section this problem is eliminated, although care is needed still to separate them. And the results. Some of the photos are before I cleaned to plates with copper cleaner, which I did to ensure that there was no CA residue anywhere. These will need to be done again once all the plates are on as I can guarantee more finger prints. Managed to do the copper plate pattern at the bow that seems to be prevalent on so many models and AOTS drafts, slight discrepancies in the plates will only become less noticeable as the copper ages and darkens. Overall I'm very happy with the Amati plates, and slight plate misalignments that just seem to be inevitable when using CA glue are tolerable. Not sure I could do it any better if I were to do it again, so I think that's the yardstick to meaure to. At the bow, I plated the cutwater first and tried to shape the plates on the planking to match the required curve. Its far from perfect but will do. I think these areas are inherently limited given the thickness of the plates, I suspect using copper tape would allow a more scale appearance. I drilled some small holes in the waterline batten to simulate nails and highlighted with pencil, these are not to scale but felt it gives it a little bit more functional relevance. Et voila! The pinkish hue of freshly cleaned copper reminded me on the AOTS Diana picture, I was very pleased with the lines that appear once the waterline is apparent. Obviously next step is to continue with the other side....

Rigging looks so clean and perfect, definitely aspirational! Seems with rigging that no matter how well thought out the plan of attack is there is guaranteed to be something that turns and bites you. Seriously great work.

Hi Mike, I'd really suggest you do a little research before you start I think your approach to build the kit following the plans and your heart is definitely the way to go, people may have opinions but nothing can be proven. Sure this will build up into a beautiful model. Definitely following this one.

Pat, that ironwork is excellent, you've moved into the teaching band now, even if the learning never ceases

Very nice Hennie

Mike, she really is looking beautiful, well done. The shots in the sun really are spectacular and something to drool over :-)

Looking great Sjors. I'm just wondering if you can squeeze another build in before I finish coppering.

Yes Stergios, think it best to leave boomkins and the associated rigging until as late as possible, they are rather delicate.

Glad I found your new builds before you progress too far. Will follow you with interest and admiration.

That is some gorgeous coppering Wayne, very nicely done. I think the tape turns out nicer than the kit supplied plates, but your skill has a lot to do with that I'm sure.

Very nice work on the carronades Jesse, these things always seem to take way longer than they should :-) Love the detailed close up pics, really nice.

Well, as promised here are the pics from my visit to Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island. Not build-log related but sort of relevant. Top photo is from the beach, interesting comparison to the contemporary print, more overgrown but thats to be expected. The locals try to limit access to beach (its prime snorkelling water) but all that has done has resulted in a tour companies dropping people off by boat, hence the scores of people in the background. Anyway, what has not really changed is the rugged nature of the rock which does come across in the print, even on a calm day it must have been quite challenging to keep boat alongside to pick up the shore party. There are some ruins of Hawai'ian drystone walls amongst the trees which does support the 'village' in the print's background. Bottom pic is me looking as happy as I could at the Cook monument, I took the 8 mile walk down which is only way to access by land on a brutal path of volcanic rock path in sweltering heat. Monument is officially British soil, and is close to where he died. There is another plaque (which I couldn't find) that also marks the spot which also states that 'nearby' Cook was killed. Trip has moved on, I'm now on the Island of Kaui, which interestingly was the place where Cook first stepped ashore in the Sandwich/Hawai'ian Islands. So will need to bookend this trip with a visit to that spot as well....

Hi Peteri, I would agree with Paul on the Lenarth Pederson book. Just have the confidence to know that whatever approach you take it is unlikely to be disastrous, but will prove to be fiddly and awkward . Seriously, the reason I followed the Peterson book so much, as well as Lever (Young sea officers sheet anchor) was because the Snake plans are not that great. I'm glad I took the approach that I did, it worked for me, to build up the masts and standing rigging as you go before moving to the yards, but I'm sure there is no right answer. Would suggest doing the ratlines and futtock shrouds before putting any yards on. Your Snake is really coming together now, looking great.

Correct Jim, Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawaii. I'm always a sucker for historical sights and locations.

Cheers Christian, Scott, Jim and the likes.. Carl - you've hit on the conundrum that I posed back in post #264 :-) To represent the plates being applied from the stern and bottom up, its necessary to have the nail lines on the bottom and aft side to simulate the overlap. Once that's done, the die is cast as it means that there will not be nailing on the upper edge next to the waterline (only potentially an issue on the topmost plates). However, all is not lost because the waterline batten was in practice applied/nailed over the copper plates so its not necessary to have the nails showing on the uppermost edge. That's my justification anyhow, and I still need to simulate the nails on this batten... Likely not much progress for a while as I'm off on holiday/vaction. Location to be disclosed if I can, as I plan to visit the site of a rather famous naval death back in 1779. If you would care to offer a guess, then please submit your answer on the back of some Amati 1:64 copper plates...

Sjors - maybe these photos will help you make up your mind The planking is not as beautiful as I think you think because of the different woods used, copper was always the plan. Believe I reached a point to deliver a verdict on the Amati plates and share some progress now that copper has met boxwood. I know that there seem to be many diverse opinions on coppering, and it does present its own uniquw challenges. Its also amazing how many varied diagrams there are of copper plate layouts. In the end, I probably ended up somewhere between what is shown in the AOTS Pandora book and TFFM book 2. So, some thoughts on the Caldercraft:Amati copper plate matchup. First off, I cannot believe how much more fun it is to work with the Amati plates vs my experience with the Caldercraft plates (which do still give a nice result). Because the plates come in sheets, its possible to apply in some cases in multiple plates at a time. This is a real bonus when its necessary to shape some which otherwise would leave a tiny sliver to be attached. This results in less wastage..at least so far. The thin profile of the PE plated I think attaches much more easily (in my experience) using the Admiralty Pro thick CA glue. This also allows any needed overlaps to be achieved easily without having to hammer out the distinct nail head profiles on the CC plates On to the photos and little bit of the method I've found works well for me. I started working on the stern as this will likely be the most challenging due to the hull shape. I'm not sure what these are called, but determining the flow of the plates where they need to fan out is the first challenge. Because the plates don't bend and can't be spiled, the problem is a little more intractable. I found that by using a small sheet 2 tiles wide to find the natural lines of how the plates lie well on the hull was the simplest method, it just takes time and fiddling.... Once the lined had been figured out, household painters tape helped me keep the lines straight at these transition points (I go through a lot of tape) From above (the view as I work), the lines of the plates does appear a little erratic... ...however, the appearance from normal angles is much more acceptable