Beef Wellington

Post Eight
 
 
Progressing the planking strakes.
 
I begin with the Starboard aft first strake which is a simpler arrangement than the bow section.

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Dry fitting the aft plank.
 
I imparted a shallow bend to assist the plank to lie flat across Futtocks 8 and 9, followed by a shallow outward bend between Futtocks 10 and the transom. This is to create a concave sweep running into the Flying Transom.
 

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This photo shows the concave curve that will run to connect with the Flying Transom.

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As with the stem, a support block is temporarily fixed to the board to support the Transom and counter any lateral pressure when gluing.
At this point I haven’t glued the aft plank to the transom, I will do that once the second (Portside) plank is fixed, and I can tweak the set up with both in place.
 

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Aft piece shape.
 

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The Transom is held steady for the gluing.

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A small block of balsa is used to support and protect the transom.
 
 
B.E.
13/03/21

Thanks Rusty, sometimes that ‘handle’ feels a little fragile, this is a build that surely concentrates the mind, but enjoyable all the same.
 
Post Seven
 
First fixings
 
I have spent most of yesterday faffing around with the first planks.
 
The final tasks before gluing is to bevel the plank for the bow /rabbet fit and trim the plank to terminate at the forward Futtock ‘O’.
 
The Portside plank went on fairly easily, but the Starboard version not so. To my increasing frustration the ca initially refused to grab on several of the Futtocks.
 
The bow strake/rabbet connection was particularly stubborn and in the end I left it until last and used pva which allowed me to tweak the level to match the Portside.
 

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There is an element of flexibility in the as yet unsupported stem, and it really needs holding in the vertical line whilst the first plank is applied.
 

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I am satisfied with the outcome, and not a little relieved that this first critical task is completed.
 
 
B.E.
12/03/21

Post Five
 
Fairing.
 
I approach this job with a degree of trepidation, being aware of the damage that can be done by a simple lapse of concentration in holding or manoeuvring, or a degree too much pressure put on the frames.
 
Chuck re-iterates this point more than once.
 
Using the fret from the Futtock sheets, I practised sanding the edges with a variety of different grade papers to gauge the removal effect and effort required to achieve it.

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I am using a finger sander with P150 and P240 papers, and Sheet P240 papers were also used.
 
 
Using a fine touch was uppermost in my mind but even so a couple of frames dislodged from the keel at the stern, but it was easy work to re glue them.
 
The process mainly seems to consist of cleaning off the char with actual bevelling only being applicable to the forward four and aft five Futtocks/frames plus the Transom board.
 

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I use a 0.7 x 6mm Boxwood strip to check the lie of the strake across the Frames.
 
 
I am taking this very slowly, a lot of the fairing I do is along the vertical line to clean the char to avoid putting lateral pressure on the frames.
 
This also has the effect of easing the friction when applying the necessary lateral strokes to fair the forward and aft frames.
 
I didn’t do too much fairing at one time lest my natural inclination to complete the job got too much and the speed of working picked up.

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With the test strake fully sitting across all frames at various points I decided it was time to move on.
 
 
A coat of wipe-on-poly is applied.
 

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The planking phase beckons.
 
 
 
B.E.
09/03/21
 
 

Just to show you a different look with the barge here is a friend of mine building it right now.  Early paintings show the planking painting white.......it looks nice.
 

Thanks for your input Guys.
 
Thanks for the advice Chuck.
 
@ Glenn – you’ve got to be working on the kit to appreciate the problem, but I doubt you will have any issues once you get around to it.
 
@ Bradley – useful insight, and yours turned out beautifully.
 
@ Derek -  It’s always worth having one of Chuck’s kits on hand, in fact I’ve also got the Longboat kit  beneath the bench.
There are so many exiting new projects coming along now from Syren and Vanguard, - too many models not enough time – surely does resonate.
 
Post Four
 
 Completion of Keel/frames assembly
 
I did a little more work on the slots and tabs to give the lateral movement necessary to align the frames. I concentrated on the underside and didn’t touch the upper edge.
 
I also took Chuck’s advice and made a pass of the sanding stick across the tabs.

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The keel then fitted much better and I felt confident enough to apply the glue.

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The forward section went somewhat easier, but I still managed to break the tab on the single frame H, temporarily secured with Tamiya tape.

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Moving on to fairing.
 
 
B.E.
06/03/21
 

Thank you, Jason,
 I found your insights and tribulations regarding the frames of great assistance, and also a little worrying, good that you are returning to the build.
 
Post Two
 
Prepping the frames.
 
With the keel section completed a simple jig/building board is made to hold the keel straight and prevent warping whilst I attend to the Futtocks and frames.

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A slow process but valuable in the sense that it lowers the natural build pace. This is not a project to rush, deliberate movements and soft hands are I suspect essential to avoiding mishaps on this build.

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I started with the fore half and found that futtocks J – F required tape over the tabs to give a good fit, and Futtocks E -B required the building board slots easing for a good push fit. The final two Futtocks ‘A’ fitted without attention.
 
 
One slight hitch, I mistakenly glued a Frame O to Futtock A because the incised reference letter was closer to the O than the A frames on the fret. There are two Frames A and O.
 
My error was quickly rectified but I note it as something to watch out for.

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The aft half of the Futtock/ frames generally fitted without attention, only a couple required slot sanding and the application of tape.

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Before going further I test checked each of the frame bottoms into the keel slots, most needed a pass with the sanding stick to fit in the slots.
 
I hesitated about what to do with the keel slot for Futtock 7. This was narrower because the long central keel slot section was slightly reduced to fit on the keel.
 
I settled on a combination of shaving a fraction off the forward edge of the slot and reducing the frame bottom. I didn’t want to thin the frame bottom too much lest it weakened the structure.
 

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Having checked both slots and tabs the parts will now be taken apart and the building board support blocks added to the underside.
 
 
B.E.
04/03/21
 
 
 

Shipman: Gosh, some folk are never satisfied! Here are some lower viewpoint pics. Hard to do through the acrylic.
 
Thanks again everyone, for your interest and kind comments.
 

Thank you, everyone. So, we come to the end of this particular journey. I appreciate all who have followed along. Happy model-making to you all.
 
BTW, I've no idea what might be next - yet.
 

On with the copper plates.
 
Starting with the starboard side, I laid the first two rows of plates beginning at the keel and sternpost. Thinking that the overlap would be easiest if I used the dimples as a guide, I glued the first two rows. I realised at that this was creating too much of an overlap between plates making the joints look much too thick and as you can see from this photo, a lot needed re-gluing. On subsequent rows I reduced the overlap to the minimum which looks much better.
 

 
I tried various methods of holding and placing the tiles, including using tweezers, and a piece of dowel with Blu-Tak on the end. Finally I settled on using a piece of scrap basswood just smaller in cross-section than a tile and cut at an angle. A piece of double-sided tape on the end provides just enough tack to hold the tile while a dab of CA gel spread is spread across with a piece of scrap walnut strip.
 
 
 
The biggest puzzle so far has been deciding where to put the gore line. There doesn’t seem to be any formula for this, so based on looking at other builds on this forum, I just went with what seemed right. I ran three straight rows and then used tape as a guide to mark the line.
 

 

 

 
So far it seems to be working out…
 
 
Onwards and upwards …
 
 

Hi @BranPie - you're right. This took longer than I was expecting. It's the first time I've done top timbers like this, and it takes perseverance... But no more than a deck full of guns, or a shroud full of ratlines  The main challenge is to neatly cut the walnut to the correct angle for the deck both at the bottom and the top without knocking the corner off. I did this by using a scalpel to cut through the grain on the far side to prevent it splitting out, but it doesn't make it more time-consuming.
 
Once they were all cut down to size carefully, with an xacto saw, I added the pre-cut parts that form the rail. These parts fitted beautifully.  No adjustments were necessary - just care to ensure they were glued with a 4mm gap on either side of the hull. This was achieved using plasticard as packing. Weight was applied to get the parts to follow the curve of the freeboard. 
 
I pre-painted these parts, leaving a small gap on the under-side where it fixes to the freeboard. I didn't fancy trying to cut the paint in along the toptimbers!
 
Here are a few photos of the process.
 
First, the parts were tacked together at the joints with masking tape, and laid on top of the hull to check the layout. The parts were left in place while the individual parts were glued to ensure they would eventually fit.
 

 

 
Then the parts were painted, and glued in place one by one, with the packing around the sides to ensure they were lined up with the freeboard...
 

 
Because the walnut has quite a lot of grain, the parts were sanded and then painted again a few times to smooth them out, and to knock off the very sharp edges. This is especially important where the end grain meets the edge. Sand with the grain, not against it... otherwise it could splinter out.
 
I worked from the stern towards the bow.
 

 
And here's the end result...
 

 
There's a little touching up to do, but I'm very pleased with how it's come together... The contrast between the white and black is very striking, along with the tanganyika and walnut of the deck. Onwards and upwards!
 
Rob
 
 

Hi all,
 
A little update. I've cut and glued all the uprights (top timbers?) along the edges of the deck (the bulwarks). About 160 of them in total ... all checked with a spirit level to try and get them vertical to the waterline. Now I just need to finish cutting them back to the tops of the bulwarks.
 

 

 

 
They were slightly adjusted where necessary to clear the holes that come through the bulwarks. 

Bowlines
 
Back to the running rigging!
 
Having debated whether or not to rig these lines they actually turned out to be relatively straightforward, the main difficulty being weaving them through all the existing rigging and finding space for them on the already crowded bitts. I eventually counted some 19 lines on the bitts abaft the foremast alone.
 
As usual, I started with the lower yards and worked up. However in describing the setup I'll cover all the bowlines on the main mast then all those on the fore. The kit suggests 0.1mm line for all bowlines, but I chose to use 0.25mm for the lower and topsail yards as that seemed closer to the rope sizes given in Lees' Masting & Rigging. 
 
Main yard - I tied the standing end just outside the first quarter, using a couple of half hitches and taking care to keep the knots under the yard and out of sight where I could dab them with CA and trim them neatly. I also had to be careful to avoid pinching other lines running along the yard. I used the same approach for the standing ends of all the bowlines:

From the yard the line runs down to a 3mm single block near the foremast then up to belay on the bitts:

For once I'd thought ahead, and hadn't fitted these blocks in advance. I prepared them off the model, complete with eyebolts, which meant I could thread a block on the bowline then glue the bolt into a pre-drilled hole in the deck. 
 
Main topsail yard - the bowlines reeve through the outermost of the blocks rigged to eyebolts in the rear edge of the fore top, then down to belay on the fore bitts:
 

Main topgallant yard - these 0.1mm lines run through holes pre-drilled in the rear of the fore trestletrees, then down to belay on the fore bitts:

Foremast yards - I'm not sure an exhaustive account will be of much value here as it's all in the rigging plans. Suffice to say, all bowlines run to blocks attached to the bowsprit and jibboom, back through holes in the saddle and then on to belay on bitts at the foot of the bowsprit. Seeing these extra lines running through the saddle made me glad I'd decided to rig them:
 

Next, it's on to the lower yard tacks and sheets (and tidying up all the crowded bitts!).
 
Derek
 
 

Braces
 
I've made a bit of progress in between jobs around the property, starting with the spritsail braces. These required a single long length of 0.25mm line which I clove-hitched round the fore stay, leaving an equal length each side:

Each end then reeves through the pendant blocks previously rigged to the ends of the spritsail yard, then back up towards the foretop:

Difficult to see in the photo, but the braces reeve through the inner sheaves in the double blocks under the front edge of the foretop. The next part was one of the trickiest in the whole rigging process, as the lines then have to reeve through the double blocks under the rear edge of the top. This was hard enough with the buntlines and leechlines on the foreyard, but the space under the top was more crowded and tighter now, and I couldn't thread the line through from the front and hope to get it through the rear block in one go. In the end I had to push the line as far as I could from the front then fish around with tweezers until I could pull it through from the rear. I then had to grip the rear double block with needle nose pliers and gently twist it round so I could thread the line through in the right direction. I was relieved that I hadn't rigged the blocks too tight under the top, meaning I was able to twist them round far enough. It was then an easy job to take the braces to their belaying points.
 
Fore yard braces
 
Following advice in the kit instructions I'm leaving the main brace until last, otherwise it will get in the way of other rigging. The fore yard braces don't present that problem, but I soon realised I should have studied the rigging plans more thoroughly before I got to this stage, as I found myself having to rig pairs of blocks to the main stay in order to rig these lines. It wasn't too big a deal, especially with the quadhands. I found the best technique was to rig the blocks in the middle of the stay where they were more accessible, then slip them to their final position before final tightening:

I actually 'cheated' here slightly. I should have rigged all the blocks on the main stay, but I couldn’t get the lower pair as close to the foremast as I wanted (deadeyes in the way) so I moved them to the preventer.  As with the spritsail, I made the fore yard braces from a single length of 0.3mm line, clove hitched round the stay as shown above. Form the stay the braces reeve through the pendant blocks at the ends of the yard, back to the upper pair of 5mm blocks on the stay, down to the 5mm pair on the stay near the foremast, then down to belay on the bitts. Photos later will show this more clearly.
 
Topsail yard braces
 
The fore topsail yard was straightforward - a single 0.25mm line clove hitched around the main stay, running up to the pendant blocks on the topsail yard, back to the pair of 3mm blocks on the stay then down to belay on the main bitts.
 
The main topsail yard was trickier. Again, I'd failed to look at the plans far enough in advance, and found I now had to seize blocks and lines to the fore topmast shrouds. Not easy with several lines in the way. I started by seizing a 3mm block in the centre of a 6" length of line (deliberately long so I had plenty to work with in the tight confines of the shrouds):

I made two of these, fastening one to each of the rearmost topsail shrouds. I had to use a pair of tweezers in each hand to pass the strop lines round the shroud then tie them with a reef knot. I did the same with one end of each brace ( I used two separate lines for the braces this time), tying it to the same shroud as the block, a couple of ratlines higher. A dab of CA and a trim later and this was the result:

The brace runs from the shroud to the pendant block on the main topsail yard, back to the 3mm block on the same shroud and down to belay on a pinrack.
 
Here's a shot with these various lines finished:

Starting to feel like the home straight now! 
 
Derek

Topsail yard ties
 
I just went slightly off plan with these. The kit instructions say the ties start off tied to the crosstrees, whereas I believe they were normally tied round the masthead. Starting with the port tie on each mast, I seized an eye in one end, passed it between the masthead and the topgallant mast and fed the free end of the tie through the eye on the starboard side. The starboard tie starts off on the port side in the same way:

I subsequently blackened the parts of the ties showing above the crosstrees with india ink as they just didn't look right otherwise. Aesthetics trumps accuracy again (although I could pretend the ties were served😬). 
 
Back to the port tie. This passes down between the forward and middle crosstrees, inside the stays and down to reeve through the double block in the centre of the topsail yard, then back up to reeve through the 5mm block suspended under the port side of the crosstrees. The tie passes forward to aft through this block (NB I chose to use 5mm blocks here as I felt the 3mm ones shown in the plans were too small). This is the set up once both ties have reached this stage:
 

Each tie ends in a 5mm block to which the falls attach:

 The fall links to another 5mm block hooked to the channels on a long strop, bringing the block well above the bulwarks.  All this is very clearly set out in the rigging plans.
 
I rushed ahead of myself at this point, rigging the topsail yard lifts then the topgallant yard ties and parrels. Unfortunately I didn't capture each stage on camera so I'll try to rectify that tomorrow so I can update the log properly. But in the meantime here's a quick (and badly focussed) shot of the current state of play:

Derek
 

Development for this particular kit has certainly been very intensive. Jim's model is actually the third prototype, the first two were mine, one a basic hull assembly, to iron out potential larger issues, the second to sieve through smaller issues, which leads to the production parts, which still need a further 'sieve' to help 'fine tune' the designs. Many, many parts have been tweaked over the past few weeks, and all for the better.
 
Tangible models need to be made, I know that when I design them in CAD, when I assemble in 3-D, all looks perfect. However, for wooden model kits, they never work out exactly how they look on the PC screen, too many issues can be very easily overlooked if the time wasn't put into assembling progressively better prototype models from the designed parts. At least, this is how I work, knowing the pitfalls of designing these things, and having to take into account all of the slight differences from one model and modeller to another. 
 
I know that most kits in the past (talking European kits, as these are the only ones I have experience with) leave the onus on the purchaser to sort problems out due to shortcomings. I wanted to address this by making a kit so complete (although you still need to pay attention and take your time), that the onus is on me, not you - most who are fairly competent at model building should really have any issues building this, but it's still not a quick build, due to the sheer amount of parts. But at least they are parts you won't have to make from scratch, some just require a little finishing..
 
Mad kit....

Hello,
 
Have enjoyed looking through this log several times.  Thank you!
 
The design and construction reminds me of fine furniture.  That is the core is a less expensive wood, popular in furniture, MDF in this case; with a veneer of expensive wood.  It’s a smart technique that’s been used for centuries.
 
Another advantage of this kit is less time is spent on the tedious shipbuilding tasks, like say cutting and fitting of small bits of wood associated with hull and bulwark construction.
 
More time can be spent on say the rigging, and adding additional detail - if that’s necessary, because as others have said what the kit offers out of the box is exceptional.
 
Another thought is the design goes easy on the builder - for example the breakaway bulkhead on the stern that protects the bulkhead ears.  This means the builder is setup for success. 
 
Time is priceless.  What normally takes many months for the skilled builder or even years for a newcomer, can be accomplished in weeks.  
 
This design solves the biggest problem with model shipbuilding - most people give up before finishing the ship.
 
This fine, unique kit may seem expensive, but in my opinion the time savings, quality, and ultimately the satisfaction, make the kit well worth the price.  Tremendous value.
 
Congratulations on your ingenious design Mr. Watton.  You certainly have made a significant and remarkable contribution to the craft.

And as a special extra, some months early, I checked the display stand fits. I what to install it permanently at the point when inverting the gull becomes too risky.  And as it happens I manage to spring one of the cathead by inverting it to install the bow cheeks.  Fixed that with a little thin CA, and can protect them easily enough, so will revert to the cradle until the gunwales are on.  But this looks pretty sweet I think:
 


 
The slots in the columns were just under 5 mm wide, and the copper-coated keel just on 6 mm, so I had to file 1 mm of brass out of the columns.  Filing parallel slots with a small file is beyond my skills, but turned out fine, and with a spirit level the pitch of the deck is exactly horizontal at the main mast, and the mast itself (or the place-holder dowel) dead plumb athwart-ships.  Those following closely will recall I left two captive nuts under the copper and keel.  Two 50 mm bolts come up through the stand and the columns to engage the nuts.  Just as sweet as can be.

And the third instalment: bow cheeks

Not much to it really.  Bit of care with the angles to get a good fit.

And here are the catheads.  For the first time I embellished the kit design: rather than just drilling four holes where the catfall would run through the sheaves, I drilled-out and then-chiselled out slots into which I could fit some sheaves.
 
Holes drilled at an appropriate angle to be vertical when installed.  Reverse side shows that the dremel is only a fair drill press

 
Best description is probably gouge-, not chisel-out the slots.

 
 
Here they are with 1 mm discs cut from 3 mm dowel.  Centering the holes in the discs proved beyond me.  A trial fit using two pins (nails) seems to look ok

 
And the finished product now pinned in place with 1 mm brass rod


 
Quite a lot of fun!
 
 

The straps on the gudgeon and pintles (you can never use those words too ofter) are done, and with it everything to do with copper is completed. I'm happy with the outcome, but I must say I found it more frustrating than expected.  I attempted to followed Jason's, @Beef Wellington, workflow of: bend strap around a dowel, glue at the bend onto the gudgeon/pintle, drill for a trimmed nail and attach the strap square to the stern-post.  In fact I did this on the rudder and I rather messed it up as the glue was remarkably reluctant to bond.  This arose because I had pre-painted the straps with undercoat and two coats of copper, and between them adhesion was not strong enough.
 
On the hull I marked a pencil line square to the sternpost held the strap in place and then marked for drilling at the extreme hole.  I trimmed a nail to about 3 mm long, and then inserted.  The nail were leftover from my Artesania Latina build as they had round, un-countersunk heads.  A 0.7 mm hole gave a slight interference fit with the nail, so no glue was needed.  I then did the extreme hole on the reverse side.  Drilling and nailing the other holes then completed the strap.  The concave nature of the hull naturally pulled the strap tight around the pintle.
 
Getting the nail heads to sit flat was a struggle and I wasn't willing to brute force them (given my experience with fitting the false deck all those months ago).  I also don't much like the paint finish.  In retrospect I certainly wouldn't add the the copper paint before attaching.  So as in everything to do with this project, I reckon I know a lot more at the end of task than at the beginning.
 
And here are the results of that journey:




 
What next?  Bow rails I think.

Just spent a very happy day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - torrential rain, but that just meant staying below deck, and in clear spells going “upstairs” or into the museum.  Spent my time looking at details with a view to informing modelling.  Some of relevance to Snake, others for the future.  These are from Warrior and Victory, with one from the museum.
 


 
When I rigged the breechings, I followed the books on how to secure them to ring bolts.  Didn’t really believe that a single knot with a little seizing would be strong enough, but seems that is what is used:
 

 
Here’s some more carronade rigging - though the breechings seem a little loose

 
Petrejus says that the bits had copper caps and ends…


 

 
I rigged a galley flue just like this:

 
I want a binnacle, just like this, but can’t fit it in

But I can have an elm tree pump like this

 
The new ( to me, anyway) access to the dry dock means you can see things up close.  I had wondered what the horseshoe is for, now I know:

 
But gudgeons and pintles - entirely familiar

 
Have occasionala thought of rigging some boats for Snake.  Beautiful set of models in the museum.  Here’s one

 
 
 

One of the nicer little point on this kit is that the bearding line is etched on the keel parts.    The etching is only on one side but once that is cleared it's easy to replicate on the other side.      The keel is made from 6 mm walnut and is made up of 9 different parts which fit together very well.

This weekend I was able to get the basic hull structure completed with the gun deck subfloor placed.     So far the construction is pretty straightforward.   But I definitely see some issues cropping up in the future.   Not too hard to solve but it will take some ingenuity.    As I look ahead the instructions leave quite a bit to be desired.   In the past, kit instructions would generally tell you what types of wood stock to use and usually give you dimensions.   In these instructions it continually refers you to the plan sheets which are to  scale.   So you have to measure off the plans and then choose a corresponding wood stock to manufacture any pieces.   There are lots of computer generated pictures but little in the way of descriptions.
 
With this kit you really have to think and plan the construction phases.   For instance, if you follow the instructions it talks about planking the inner bulkheads and to remember that the inner planking is to butt up against the transom.   But the pictures and instructions don't talk about installing the transom.   So unless you install the transom first you can't accurately butt the planking.  
 
In someone's previous build of this model they mention there is really no way shown to install the transom.   You are left to create your own method.  And the instructions say as much.   Plus there is almost no connection point for the transom.   For the most part it is just going to hang out there at the stern until the outer planking can be installed.    It's going to be very fragile.
 
Construction order as listed is probably not the best.    The hull filler blocks are not to be fitted until the upper inner planking is done.     It will be vastly better to install these before any planking commences. 
 
As you can see in the 3rd picture.   The position of the mainmast has a bulkhead running right through it.   No mention is made of modifying the bulkhead.  Why was that not accounted for in the design????
 
All in all, I still love the model.   But this will be by far the most difficult model that I have ever built primarily due to the lack of directions.

Good Morning,
You are not alone in finding this kit to be a real challenge. I'm sure by now you've seen my abortive build log and how I ended up abandoning this project.  While I look forward to some challenge in every project, I found the tsunami of problems this one presented to be both perplexing and overwhelming. You've identified a few already. I don't mean to be too discouraging, but there are many more to come.
 
It sounds as though you have some experience, so with any luck you'll be able to overcome the inherent problems. I sincerely wish you every success and I will be following with interest to see how you solve the various issues!
 
All the best,
David

Love the way all the details are coming together in such a detailed, authentic and harmonious way!