Beef Wellington

I can now see it Chris.

Chris - for some reason I'm not seeing the photo (?).  BTW, I like your confessional, you are now absolved 🙂

Your bowsprit came out very well indeed!  Love the headshots and the bow detailing, really shows off the quality of your work and the period look you've achieved.  I continue to eye your timber heads enviously, hoping I can get something close carving out of wood!

I have attached copper plates directly to unfinished (other than sanded) wood without issue using higher viscosity CA.  One consideration is that using plates invariably leaves very slight gaps (probably depending on skill level!) so having a 'similar' colour underneath helps minimize the visibility of these imperfections.

Your bowsprit came out very well indeed!  Love the headshots and the bow detailing, really shows off the quality of your work and the period look you've achieved.  I continue to eye your timber heads enviously, hoping I can get something close carving out of wood!

Your bowsprit came out very well indeed!  Love the headshots and the bow detailing, really shows off the quality of your work and the period look you've achieved.  I continue to eye your timber heads enviously, hoping I can get something close carving out of wood!

Your bowsprit came out very well indeed!  Love the headshots and the bow detailing, really shows off the quality of your work and the period look you've achieved.  I continue to eye your timber heads enviously, hoping I can get something close carving out of wood!

Post Fifty.
Time to add a coat of w-o-p.
I make my own up using spirit based Black friar clear satin Poly varnish diluted 50% using white spirit.
Applied sparingly with a soft cloth the first application will reveal those areas that may need more attention.
 Application of w-o-p darkens the pearwood, and brings out the richness, but of more importance the overall tone of the wood is uniform and consistent.

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The colour tone is close to what I had hoped for to contrast with the Boxwood and is not far off the patination I would aspire to achieve were I to copper the hull.
 
That’s a story for another time.
 
B.E.
14/07/2023
 

Post Forty-nine
Sanding the hull
For this I’m using a combination of 120 and 320 grit papers for the initial clean up.

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As I go, I collect the pear dust for use in any minor gaps between the planking.
After a full day of sanding and stiffening fingers, I think I’m nearly there.

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I’ll review it in the morning, and once I've had a general tidy up  in my office, perhaps wop a coat of wop on it.
 
B.E.
13/07/2023
 
 

Your bowsprit came out very well indeed!  Love the headshots and the bow detailing, really shows off the quality of your work and the period look you've achieved.  I continue to eye your timber heads enviously, hoping I can get something close carving out of wood!

good afternoon everyone
thankyou or the interest shown, it is very much appreciated
day 137-4
 
 

I decided to tackle the bowsprit. I had been avoiding it as I was unsure as to how I was going to be able to construct the geometry at the bees. I eventually followed the same method I used when building the masts and I constructed the bowsprit shaft and head as separate entities. This meant that I would not have to redo the entire assembly if I botched one of the many cuts that comprise the end section. I then dowelled the two sections together using some 2mm diameter brass rod and the join was covered up by the woolding.

 

As suspected the end section was quite tricky transitioning from a tapered cylinder to a tapered square with an angled cap tenon further complicating matters. I milled out some slots for the bees. The bees and bee blocks were made from walnut. It will all be painted black so the wood does not need to match.  I noticed from several sources that the sheaves in the bee blocks are one each side and staggered however the AOTSD drawings show two sheave holes per side. I went with the one either side staggered arrangement. A 1mm diameter brass rod was inserted to simulate the bolts through the sheaves.
 





The end cap was cut out of some 5mm thick walnut. Getting the holes at the correct angle was quite challenging but I ended up eyeballing it. I drilled a groove down the starboard side of the cap to accept the jack staff and added some simulated bolts as shown in Steel. I should have used a smaller diameter wire for these as they are somewhat oversized. I spotted in Steel that there was an eyebolt midpoint at the top of the cap. I do not know what this is for but saw that HMS Trincomalee has the same arrangement. This does not seem to be in use in its parked-up configuration but I decided to include it anyway as it was no great bother.
 




I scratch built all the saddles and cleats that appear on the bowsprit as I had followed the dimensions in the AOTSD which resulted in the kit items not fitting the larger diameter I ended up with plus the kit items were made from the dreaded walnut ply so were not that appealing. The saddles were all cut out of 15mm diameter dowel sections. I drilled a hole in the center corresponding to the diameter of the bowsprit at the saddle location. The height and profile were then formed using some shaped mill bits. They are quite delicate structures but should be OK once glued in place or so I thought until I realised that I had glued the fairlead saddle askew and then managed to crumble it to dust while trying to remove it.
 




I formed the cleats from some 2 x 1.4mm walnut planks. I clamped eleven planks (9 + 2 spare) together in the vise and then milled them all at once for consistency. I then put the bowsprit into the dividing attachment and milled recesses corresponding to the cleat locations. This allowed me to get an even spacing of the cleats though it was quite a fiddly exercise.
 








For the jibboom I started off with an 8mm diameter dowel. I needed the additional girth so that I could mill the octagonal section at the heel and form the stop at the other end. I had painted the bowsprit in the ochre colour with black at the overlap. I decided to keep the rest of the jibboom natural to mimic the mast configuration and I used the miniwax Puritan Pine stain to match the masts. I am now wondering if I should not have painted it in the ochre colour. I think I will wait and see if the natural colour grows on me.
 


I added a strip of stainless steel sheet to simulate the lead sheathing that sits forward of the spritsail sling saddle according to Lees. It is a bit shiny so I will have a go at dulling it down using some paint.
 

The woolding was made using 0.5mm diameter dark brown RoS rope which is the closest I have to the diameter indicated in Steel. I used cherry shims to form the protective hoops as per the main mast. I still must decide if I am going to paint these black or leave them natural.
 



I decided to stop the process here and remove the jibboom as I will be working on the rigging which means that I will be spinning the ship around from port to starboard and the delicate jibboom assembly will not survive a hard clonk against the desk lamp. I may install the bowsprit though as this will allow me to further progress the rigging and add the fore stay and preventer stay.
 





 
 

The boxwood is looking very nice Dave.  Other than the visual benefit of the much nicer Amati plates, the other advantage is that you can lay rows of them as a single piece if you break them carefully from the sheet.  Once glued in position, you would never know, and it can help keep the rows in line more easily....think its also quicker!

The boxwood is looking very nice Dave.  Other than the visual benefit of the much nicer Amati plates, the other advantage is that you can lay rows of them as a single piece if you break them carefully from the sheet.  Once glued in position, you would never know, and it can help keep the rows in line more easily....think its also quicker!

Good ideas, thanks Eberhard and John - that idea had not even ventured into my fading brain cells.  I'll give that a shot and hopefully find a way to 'mimic' the wood with paint.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Hi Eberhard; many thanks for the consideration.  I am slowly getting back into it.  I still have issues with my hands shaking (not Parkinsons) which slows me on many days, but my GP is trying some new meds which may help further.  Due to me laying off for that and a few other factors I sort of lost the 'mojo' (desire) to work on the model and became easily distracted in doing other things in the workshop    I must say that your, and a couple of other modellers, recent updates helped motivate me.  
 
In the past week or two I have restarted work on the spars with the three booms almost complete.  Then I'll start on the gaffs and the upper masts (all upper masts are 'in one' with a combined top, top-gallant and royal mast).  In the meantime I had to continue my research on them, the rigging and the sails which has been progressing steadily.  I needed that sorted to finish the drawings to allow me to make up the spars.  I am still trying to work out ways to make the upper mast as the royal sections in particular are very slender at scale (under 2mm) and I need to insert/show an embedded lightening protection 'copper path' in all spars.  This will be pretty delicate and I am still not sure if I can pull that off.  Anyway, long story short - slowing increasing my time in the workshop doing model related work, but as the parts are repetitive at this point there is not much that is new to put online - but I will put-up some updates sooner rather than later (I know I have said that before  .
 
Again, many thanks for thinking of me; much appreciated.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Post Forty-seven
Nearly there!
With ten strakes to go the trickiest part is the sharp bends and twists where the planks abut the stern post.

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In this example the plank is wider at the end than the otherwise tapered run.

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The planks sometimes take on a serpentine shape.
 
Over the weekend I made a concerted effort to push ahead with the planking and I put in two longish days at the workbench.

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The serpentine shape of the planking runs is evident here but I am now happy that there will be no crowding of the planks at the stem.

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I have concentrated on the bow planking as this is the most critical area, and I am pleased that there is no excessive sny as the planks follow the round of the bow.
 
Two days later……..

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Two strakes left and they will be of pretty uniform shape - I’m relieved to see.

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A small satisfaction to be had when both sides match.

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My shipyard assistant casts a critical eye over my efforts, is he impressed, hard to tell, but I'm satisfied. 🙂
 
Cheers,
 
B.E.
11/07/2023.
 

I started the tedious phase of building and installing the gun port lids. One quarter of the vessel, at a time....
 

 

 

 

 
CAF Models provides enough PE parts to make them movable and fully hinged. On my model, I have simplified the articulations and glued the lids into the ports. Just a couple of dozens to go.....
Yves 
 
 

Well done Alistair, I also have these beauties in waiting and you've set a very high bar.  Love the wick, just out of interest what did you use?  Your thought on the wire support seems a good one.

Might I suggest...
If you dilute white PVA glue in water (50/50) and brush this on the rope it will dry in the shape you set it.
Don't use CA glue as eventually the rope would become brittle and fall apart.
Alan

the tiles were not treated in any way, straight off the roll, but with a week interval, one side is more tarnished than the other, i have now listened to @James H and have now rubbed with fine wire wool, and coated with a water based varnish, the shineyness has gone

That looks a ton better.

Post Forty-six
Planking continues.
One of the downsides of the ‘Indy’ hull is the sheer size and weight which becomes very wearing given the constant need to turn it about and shift it from inverted to upright and back again to check the run of the planking.
I’ve obviously spent too much time on small hulls in recent times, I think back fondly to those fine little fishing boats and even Sphinx, which at the time I also thought was a big beast, but seems quite small now.
 
Not moaning, just musing, - on with the show.

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I have now re-marked the hull with the plank widths at each reference point. Sixteen 5mm planks are now required at the two central bulkheads ‘M’ and ‘9’.
 
Another week and this is the state of play, now four months into the build.

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I am now planking alternatively from wale down and keel up, it is a slow business and I’m achieving around two strakes a day.

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I am closely watching the run of planks at the bow, and at this point I will re-mark the runs, hopefully for the last time.

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Tapering is now a feature from around Bulkhead 11 to the stern, but towards the keel the boards also broaden out a little.

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Little by little the gap is closing, and the finish line is in sight. Ten strakes are now required, and another week should see the second planking completed.
 
B.E
08/07/2023
 

S t u n n i n g  build, there, Jason. Very well done indeed. Congratulations.

Thank you, Gentlemen, for the kind words and the likes.  I hope I will not alienate too many of you with my next foray into the unconventional.
 
I have always liked the painting of the backboards on the Dutch ships.  A few stellar examples of Herbert Thomesan’s work:





I pulled these images from my Pinterest board Navies of Other Euro Nations.  Herbert is a master of color, texture and shade.  I take much inspiration from his use of vivid, complementary colors, and naturalistic painting of ornaments and the backboard paintings that illuminate the ship’s namesake.
 
I have started painting my backboard.  I want Apollo and his four horses to appear as though they are coasting just on the periphery of our atmospheric realm.   Key to this effect is a softly diffuse transition from our earthly cerulean sky to the deep blue of the cosmos.
 
It occurred to me, though, that the plank seams that I scribed into the backboard would make this effect near-impossible to achieve because the successively thin layers of ultra-marine would want to bleed along the seams.  My solution was to putty-in transitional arcs to both sides:

The horse carvings will distract the eye from these small areas where it is visible that the plank seams disappear.
 
A base coat of cerulean blue went down first, over the entire field.  I then applied successively thinner coats of ultra-marine from the top center, feathering out to the sides.  This was just a patient process of application (maybe 10-12 thin coats) and adjustment with a wet brush.  I got the diffuse effect I was after:

Now, to tone-down the brightness - a thorough slathering in walnut ink:

Once this dries, I take a wet brush and begin pulling away most of the color until I’m left with just enough patina to make it interesting:

There is still adjustment to be made with the weathering, but that will be a blending process after the backboard is attached to the model.
 
Next, I can sketch-in the Zodiac symbols.  I bought a fine-line acrylic paint pen to make that easier.  The clouds will be painted white and washed with grey.  The ornament will get the usual two-tone gold, except for the three fleurs on the coat of arms, which will be bright gold.
 
 
My plan is to also mask for fine shards of sun light, in gold and silver gilt, to be emanating from behind Apollo and his horses.  This will be difficult to achieve without overdoing it, or otherwise ruining the blue backdrop.
 
Thank you for your continued interest.  More to follow..