Beef Wellington

I greet everyone!  
 I continue to build the model, in the photo the assembly of the aft bridge.

P-6E
 
So this one was a snake bit build if there ever was one.  The plastic did not want to take the Tamiya PS camel yellow at all.  I don't know how many coats I ended up using, but I lost a touch of the wing details from all the layers.  Then I noticed a funny thing - it does not like acrylic paint either.  When i tried to touch up the wings from some errant paint from the bi-wing supports, it dissolved the paint and made what looked like a smudge.  Ultimately, I got passed that, but that required adding even more layers of the paint.
 
Eventually I got it assembled and painted.  Added the Future gloss coat, and was ready to use washes and add a little weathering.  I had used the Vallejo wash on the F4B-4 with no problem.  I could leave it on for a good 5-10 minutes, then come back and wipe it off.  Well for whatever reason, on this model, the wash dried almost immediately on the yellow wings!  Looked absolutely terrible.  I almost resigned myself to having to go with a very dirty plane, but remembered how the Tamiya PS paint reacted with acrylic and brushed it on.  It pretty much stripped all the weathering off, hooray!  Wasn't perfect, but worlds better than where I was earlier.
 
By this time, I had rigged the F4B-4, so I knew what I was getting myself into here.  The rigging went on pretty smoothly, and last night, I completed it.  Only had to apply the final matt coat which I was going to do today.  Well, brilliant me, I had the model sitting on a piece of cardboard.  When I lifted the cardboard to put the model away, it slid off the cardboard and onto the kitchen island where I was working.  Mind you it only fell about a foot, but the upper wing popped off, two pieces of rigging completely detached and were lost, and the rear landing gear broke off.  My brain saw all this happening in super slow motion, and I didn't know if I should scream, cry, put my fist through a wall, or what (I just stayed quiet thankfully because everyone was sleeping).  I found the missing rigging pieces, but the landing gear was a good 30 minute search.  Finally found it about 10' away in a corner of the kitchen.  I couldn't go to bed as I was all amped up, so I just glued it all back together.  Only took about an hour - thankfully, most of the rigging was still attached on at least one end, so i just had to glue the other side.  What a pain though!  
 
Well, here is the final product.  All things considered, it's not too bad.  I'm not as happy with the white areas, as the Vallejo white I was using didn't go on very smooth (typical of white paint from what I remember decades ago from painting miniatures).  A learning experience for sure, and a cool marking scheme with the Snow Owl.

 

I decided to organize and upgrade the shipyard.  I built a shelf with some cheap pine and organized my drawer.  It really helps a workspace when there is some organization and everything has a place. 
 
The coppering is turning out ok for the most part.  Having some CA debonder is a must for this job, it doesn't mater how good you get with glue application some will leak out of the seams and cause a mess. 


 

So, last night, I ordered a pair of small, brass micro-planes.  The quality appears decent, on EBAY, and they weren’t terribly expensive.  What I like about them is that the sole is flat for the middle third, but there’s an entry and exit relief that should facilitate light, fairing passes.  We’ll see what comes of that.
 
I needed a good small-work project, so I have decided to tackle the low-relief Mer-Angels that flank the upper finishing of the quarter galleries.  I’m carving these in 1/16” white styrene, and I will begin with the aft-most pair:

It’s good to carve like-figures in tandem, for the sake of consistency.  The forward pair require a little re-drafting, so that they don’t interfere with my aft-most octagonal port.
 
Anyway, this should be a fun little bit of carving.

On the Ships of Scale site, a few members have expressed interest in my carving process.  I’m still up in the air about creating a YouTube account for posting video content.  I thought, though, that these Mer-Angels were a good opportunity to discuss my approach and technique in depth.  The major benefit of what I do is that it doesn’t require a ton of specialized carving tools.
 
Continue, below, for parts one and two of this series
______
 
I thought, perhaps, to demystify my carving process, that I would do short  updates, as the carvings take shape.
 
The first thing, whether you are working from a pre-established ornamental plan, or drawing the ornaments yourself - you are going to want to make sure that the ornamentation is appropriately scaled and detailed in the appropriate style of the nation and time period you are working from.  Ultimately, the quality of all relief carving boils down to the quality of the design and layout.
 
One aspect of model ship-building that begs for a good reference library is ship ornamentation.  The single best book in my actual library, for this purpose, is Andy Peters’s book Ship Decoration 1630-1740.  He covers each national style with sufficient depth to see the evolution of styles across this fairly long time period.
 
I also have numerous books filled with pictures of contemporary models and period portraits by respected artists. What really helps me out, though, is curating several very large databases of period ship imagery on Pinterest.
 
At the end of the day, the more you study the best examples of the shipcarvers’ art, the more fluent you will become with their oeuvre, and the better equipped you will be to draw it.  My operating philosophy is that The point at which I can see something clearly enough in my mind to draw it, is also the point at which it becomes possible for me to make it.
 
Because good carving is so time consuming, it is well-worth the extra time it takes to make extra copies of the ornamental plan so that you can edit directly to the plan, if you don’t like the direction, or slope of a line, for example, or if you find specific aspects of an ornament to be exaggerated.  Once satisfied with your edits, you can make fresh photocopies, and this becomes your new pattern.
 
Once I have a workable pattern, I paste it directly to my stock with a craft glue stick. It should be noted that almost everything I will say about carving these styrene ornaments applies equally to wood. The techniques involved in figure carving, though, are a little more involved.
 
The first objective for one of these low-relief ornaments is to separate the ornament from the bulk of the waste.  I find it easiest to drill a series of closely spaced holes all around the  carving with a micro bit.  Afterwards, it’s short work to connect the dots with a sharp utility knife.



The next step is to set in all of your lines.  In large, full-size relief carving, one would use a V-tool and mallet to do this.  For something this small, I use my #11 Exacto, which I keep razor sharp.
 
The difficulty, in this step, is that the design is full of many short radiuses, and pulling the blade through them can sometimes be quite difficult to stay on line.
 
Having watched engravers, on YouTube, I have discovered a trick that works quite well, enabling me to scribe even the finest curved lines.
 
Engravers use a swivel-vise to turn the work into the path of the graver, so that they only have to make minimal micro adjustments of direction, with their graver hand, while maintaining consistent pressure.
 
What I do is very similar, with the exception that my hand holding the work (on a firm flat surface) pulls and turns the work AWAY FROM the blade tip, which my blade hand is holding with even pressure.  With this technique, it is only necessary to make the smallest adjustments to blade direction, as you go.  This all may sound difficult, but it becomes surprisingly easy with just a little practice.
 
Just as one would practice cutting-in lines on a scrap piece of wood, take a small scrap of your material and draw a series of curved lines, so that you can practice the technique.  Try it both ways; pulling material through and away from the blade, as well as, pulling the blade through the material.
 
I think you will find that it is exceedingly difficult to pull the blade through the work (while holding the work stationary), and stay on-line.  Almost invariably, the tension created by trying to control the large muscle groups in your blade arm, will cause you to lurch off track.  In this scale, millimeters are everything, so even small distortions of line render the design illegible, once the paper is removed.
 
Initially, I like to keep the paper on, while I fair to my lines, around the perimeter. I might begin by using a small Dremel drum sander to take away as much excess as possible. Sometimes the paper begins to delaminate and you are better off removing it. You can, at this point, soak the carving in running water to remove the paper (fine with plastic, but you will want to have used spray adhesive and solvent removal for wood).
 
Once the paper is out of the way, I find it exceedingly helpful to darken (really darken) the whole surface in graphite.  You want the pencil lead to get into your scribe lines.  I then use my thumb to smudge the graphite into the lines.  Doing so also lightens the field enough to see the lines more clearly.
 
Once that’s settled, you work very carefully with a decent set of needle files to get as close to the lines as you can, all the way around the carving.  Don’t worry, just now, about the fine corners and crevasses you can’t get to with the files.  We’ll tackle that in the next installment.

You absolutely can do it, Stephen.  The primary requirements are time, commitment to a standard, and the willingness to just keep at it.
 
I designed and made my first carved piece in 2003.  It was a decent sized inlay for a piece of furniture -approximately 12” X 6”.  I worked very hard at it, and it turned out okay.  Mostly, because I took my time.  Over the years, I learned how to work smaller and smaller - although, never really faster.
 
If it interests you, I would suggest doing a basic relief carving, in wood, and at a reasonable size, just to get your feet wet.  There are plenty of ready—made designs in books, and of course, YouTube.
 
And, to this day, I watch carving process videos on YouTube.  I am particularly interested in the early American long-rifles of Pennsylvania.  Today’s master-makers are experts at the art of low-relief carving.  Many of these guys have videos, online, that take you step-by-step through their relief process.
 
This guy, Jim Kibler, is particularly instructive in his method:
 
 
Really, the techniques employed  are applicable to any kind of carving, at any scale.  His focus and attention to detail are very high.
 
Once you get a feel for it, anything is possible.

In this second installment, I’ll discuss the initial planning and approach that goes into modeling the carving, while introducing the tools that I use the most, and discussing the techniques that have given me good results.
 
At the stage pictured, below, I’ve invested about four hours cleaning to my outlines on each carving. I’ve used the smallest diameter drill bit I have - roughly 1/64” - to get in-between the head, wings and arms. Doing so, even to this minimal degree will greatly ease the cutting-in later. The carving blanks have good symmetry. I made one small drilling error in the bell-flower garland, near the hand, on the left blank. In the end, this small mistake won’t be noticeable, and certainly it does not necessitate a redo of the blank.

Below are the primary tools that I used, today, to begin carving the tail. With the exception of a few Dremel burrs that I use to do some of the initial wasting, most of the cutting-in and sculpting I do happens with my EXACTO (for deepening lines of demarcation), and my hooked BEEBE knife for paring, digging and scraping.
 
This hooked knife, in particular, is invaluable throughout the sculpting process because its versatility enables you to achieve fine results without an arsenal of carving tools.
 
The occasional drill bit also comes in handy when you need to define a small radius within the work - as, here, along the flowing hem of the figure’s blousy skirt.

So - even though, at this point, I have made a number of similar sculptures for this project, every carving is unique and demands that you think your approach through before you begin.
 
While not a fully rounded figure, this carving is, nonetheless, fairly involved, with the area around the head and wings providing the greatest challenge.
 
Personally, I like to begin a carving in an area that is a little less daunting until I find my confidence, again, and the resulting momentum allows me to work through the carving by increasing degrees of difficulty.
 
In this instance, I have decided that the tail is the best starting point because, while contoured, it is a shape that I fully understand, right now.  Unfortunately, the line of demarcation, here, is the blousy skirt that has a somewhat involved hemline that one must clearly define, first.
 
Bear in mind that the blank, in this case, starts out as 1/16” thick.  As a general rule, I will reduce to 1/2 thickness along lines of demarcation, in order to convey a sense of depth.  In this case, that means that the skirt steps down, roughly, 1/32” to the tail.
 
In order to begin cutting in this line of demarcation (on the tail side of the line) I like to take the smallest round burr I have and run it in the Dremel at the next to lowest speed; because this is plastic, you don’t want to generate too much heat, thus making a molten mess of your waste.
 
The absolute key to “relief” carving is to relieve an area for the waste to pare away easily, without having to apply too much pressure on the blade. To facilitate this, I run my Dremel burr along the line, but not on it.  You want to get to within 1/32”, or so, of your line so that you can gently pare to the line with your knives.  For the most part, I like to use my EXACTO to pare to lines, and the BEEBE to pare and scrape the surface down smoothly.
 
Although it isn’t so evident in the picture below, I’m plunging the tail lower at the sides, than in the middle because, ultimately, I want the tail to take on a domed appearance.  In the finished carving, it is this very slight rounding of a surface that creates the play of light and shadow that gives the carving a sense of depth.

The other thing to be aware of is that, as you sculpt down through some of your reference lines, you will occasionally need to pencil-in a few guidelines as a reminder of where you are going. In the example below, I’ve penciled-in a crease line that ever so slightly favors one side of the tail, towards the top, but centers at the bottom, where it meets the foliate flipper.
 
I have found that, sometimes, working just off-center enhances the dynamic “movement” of a carving. Also - however subtle they may be, hard crease lines define shadow and light in a way that benefits the finished carving. Developing a sense for this is simply in the doing of it, but it is useful to at least be aware of that, as you begin sculpting.

Another design trick for creating a greater sense of movement and vitality is to create undulations or “waves” of varying depth.  Some examples of where I have previously done this on this model are the motto banner and the rudder dolphin’s tail.
 
Initially, it’s just a simple matter of using a Dremel side cutting, straight burr to create these waves:


Note that the angle at which you introduce these undulations matters; it can either affirm natural movement or run contrary to our intuitive expectations of how tails behave.


Once that’s established, you can begin really contouring the tail.  Usually, I’ll begin a rough paring with the BEEBE.  Then, I’ll smooth the surface and try to define my crease with the triangular And round needle files - so far as I can without cutting into adjacent sections of the work.  Finally, I will scrape micro-facets with the BEEBE - particularly around the perimeter.  This helps me achieve the soft rounding.

The foliate tail “flipper” represents a small increase In degree of difficulty.  Before I begin sculpting the leafy tail fronds, I want to achieve a sloping taper from the head of the flipper to its tip.  This is easily achieved with an emory board.
 
Next, I want to introduce a similar sense of movement with waving undulations, just as we did before with the tail body:

Sculpting of the flipper fronds, themselves, begins by re-scoring the outline of each frond with your EXACTO blade.  I like to “draw” a very light line with the blade, on the first pass.  Then, I’ll make a few deeper, scoring cuts along this line.
 
Finally, I’ll flip the blade and drag it through my score cut, with the spine of the blade leading the direction of the cut. In this fashion, the blade tip essentially engraves a successively deeper line into the plastic. As described, this same technique works essentially the same way on wood - particularly, across the grain.  The more parallel your cut runs with wood grain, the more you will have to alternate your direction of cut
 
Any time I’m trying to sculpt something small and leafy like this, I basically try to scrape two facets along a centerline, for each frond.  Mainly, I use the BEEBE for this.
 
I also like, where appropriate, to introduce concave hollows around round openings.  There’s a small shallow gouge that I use for this, but I didn’t have that with me today.  I’ll be discussing that more in the next installment.

Basically, these few techniques will enable you to methodically work your way through any carving.  I probably won’t do detailed updates of every step in the process, but I likely will discuss the bell-flower garland, as well as the head and wings, in some depth.
 
Until then, be well and enjoy this extended American weekend!

Today scraped the deck and applied one coat of shellac. Then I went for an easy task. Constructing the two ladders was light relief after decking for several days. Although I enjoyed doing it, joggling every strake of planks required a lot of concentration. I couldn't resist dry testing the deck furniture again just for the sheer pleasure of seeing Speedy looking more and more like a ship. I'll probably add some more coats of shellac before finally securing all the deck fittings.
 


 



A few hull details tomorrow - boarding steps etc.
 
Derek
 

A couple of weeks since the last post so time for an update.  progress has been slow but steady...we inch forward!   I completed the chain links on both sides of the hull and then inserted the deadeye blocks into the strops - not all fitted well as can be seen.  I then soldered (actually my son did) the eyes closed.   
 
The choice was how to attach the block to the upper chain links.  The instructions direct the use of 0.5mm wire; I tried this but could not get a uniform line, the all had very slight kinks, were uneven in shape and were all of differing lengths - marginal but apparent to the eye.  I therefore followed Ray's advice and used 0.5mm black cordage.  By tying a slip note at one end, the line can be pulled under tension to give a even set of upper chain links.  Once they are all complete I will wash them in dilute PVA which will help preserve the tensions.  Not perfect yet, for a first time, they are not too bad.   I have completed the stbd side and will crack port over the next few days. 
 
You might notice that one gun has a line around its barrel; the glue has been dislodged and it is now loose on the gundeck! arrgghh! I didn't want it to fall into the innards of the ship, hence the line.  I will have to think about how to re-secure it! 
 
Peter 

I inserted four of the eyebolts and attached the slide to the base and attached the rear wheels.  The carronade sits on the central spigot allowing rotation whilst elevation is controlled by brass elevation screw - I have yet to fit the handle.  I will then work the front of the carronade and insert the rest of the eyebolts.  
 
Progress is maintained - 5 of the 8 made so far.  
 
P

Tying blocks is a little repetitive so for variety, I cracked on with the carronades.  As I mentioned above the instructions and supplied parts didn't align, however Jason forwarded to me a revised set (see below) which helped clear up the confusion.  The assembly is a little fiddly but reasonably straight forward. 
https://modelshipworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=610306
 
I followed the sequence in the attachment and the product (not complete) looks good. Remember to drill out the brass holes with a 1mm drill - the fittings are tight and easily jam therefore this saves much frustration.  The fittings for the trunnion brackets on the slide are too tight and I had to length them gently with the 1mm drill; likewise the 1.5mm wire fits neatly through the slide but the hole in the main carriage is only 1mm wide - again needs rejigging.  
 
I painted the components before removing from the brass sheet...it came off in assembly!   No problem - touch up at the end.
 
P 

Good Afternoon Mark;
 
See below a few photographs of the model, taken while she has been on display at the NMM. Unfortunately this meant that I was not able to photograph the port side or the stern. These will be invaluable in working out the location of the seats of ease, though, and much of the other detail. The discharge chutes seem to be sitting on the headrails, which presumably gave them the support they needed. The final photo is from 'Endymion', a 44 gun ship, but shows the location of the chute clearly.
 



 
All the best,
 
Mark P
 

"Fascinating, complex geometry" you say? Just wait until you get to the head timber geometry - your head will spin! The notches for the head rails get progressively angled as you go forward. It's a challenge.
The aft end of the lower rail may need to be a moved little more toward the centerline? Would that solve the discharge tube issue (pun intended)?

Hi druxey,
 
Thanks for the idea, I was able to move the rails outboard by about 4 inches, by reducing the outboard curvature of the aft-most head timber. This helped with spacing looking more like the Bellona model in a number of areas. But there is a limit to how far this outboard curvature can be flattened out before it no longer looks like the Bellona model. And changing the curve moves the middle and lower rails in a set relationship to each other, since their outboard faces align with the outer curve of the head timber. So I can't get that much greater clearance between them.
 

This results in the following rail locations. The location of the seats athwartship is based on my reading of Mark P.'s latest photo, which shows the fore-most outboard corner of each seat sitting on top of, but not projecting beyond, the outer face of the middle rail. And as I read the photo, the fore-most seat does indeed discharge onto the top of the lower rail, by about its thickness. I think through a great team effort here, I have located these as well as I can until I start building and get another perspective entirely!
 
Mark
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Great to see you making progress again, very nice rigging and attention to detail.  Love the anchor buoy, you really captured the feel of the real thing.

Alan, that bowsprit is a thing of beauty in of itself!

Looks great Lou, how much of this detail will be visible - I hope lots!

The Mizzen has arisen:
 
I can see why build logs tend to neglect rigging relegating it to a bit of a dark art - its so hard to reach a point where one can step back and say 'done' because nothing quite seems to get finished before its necessary to do something else before its too late.  Anyway, the mizzen rigging is now essentially complete.  This area proved to one of the more challenging so far 'learning the ropes', but also just because of the increased fiddliness factor and decreased access.  The plans also proved more challenging in this area due to their either lack of clarity or incompleteness.
 
Before starting, this was my last chance to address some things that have been annoying me.  The kit supplied ladders going to the stern platform just seemed too bulky, so these were ripped off and replaced with custom made items that just felt a little more to scale, and less visually obtrusive.  These proved challenging to make in walnut due to the splinter factor, but necessary to avoid introducing a new wood.  The ships wheel was also given some coats of a wash to try and make it a bit attractive from the flat brown colour I had used way back when I started (Pre-fix situation below):
 

 

 
Rigging could then proceed, planning ahead proved key due to the many elements that need to be fitted in a very tight space, especially below the tops (tye, parrels throat halliard etc).   Petersson's Rigging Period Ship Models and Lever's Young Officers Sheet Anchor provide invaluable to bridge contradictions and lack of clarity in the plans.  Items of note as follows:
Boom Sheets - went with single vs a double arrangement as illustrated on the plans as I couldn't find another example like this Gaff throat halliard - the positioning of the gaff is slightly different on each plan, I had to lower my original placement to allow for the two double 5mm blocks, luckily the pin hole was obscured Single boom horse - Common practice seems to have a knotted horses on either side of the boom.  I just couldn't get this to look right and the image of a young schoolboy with rather large and unruly ears kept coming to mind....so in the end I just went with a single and it seems to do the trick other than to purists. Blocks for main topsail brace - One of the first blocks I had installed has to be removed, a double block on the mizzen for the main topsail braces as indicated on the plans.  It was clear that this just wouldn't work with the crossjack and gaff in place as it needs to sit above the gaff.  I elected to remove and replace with 2 single 5mm blocks with a longer clearance from the mast to avoid interfering with the various rigging elements in this space as illustrated in Petersson.  These are held temporarily in place with sewing thread. Close up pictures of where things ended up that hopefully can assist others (errors are of course mine):
 

 
Finally, some overall shots...

 
 

Ok Folks .. Both Gaffs are completed.. Next Up the Boom    (No drama This Time.. Honest  )
 
Thanks For Looking In..
 
Eamonn
Oh, there's a quick Deck Shot thrown in too .. 
 
 

Amidships metal deck, it needs to be quite dark looking at the original photos. One I’ve done the red and white now I can work it a bit more. 

...and for an encore, my 6 (and 3/4s daddy!) year old son wanted to show some pictures, we're building 1:700 HMS Hood and he is very proud of his progress.  Perhaps not enough for its own build log but I'll maybe post more if there is interest (he also chose the emoticon!) 

So the next obvious question is how does the figurehead get into the roundhouse?

RAF Coastal Command Hudson drops an ‘Airborne Lifeboat' to a downed crew somewhere wet! Designed by Uffa Fox, they could be carried by several types of a/c Sorry about quality of photo w/c 14” X 10”

Thanks gents for the continued support and kind words.
 
@ Eamonn - Honestly feel like I bit off more than I can chew here, but the end does seem within reach now which is a good feeling
@ Carl - its a mind game!  The rope tends to stretch a little after installation, so its a constant matter of installing, but not securing, and tying off in an order that doesn't cause a problem by taking away access....feels like playing Jenga.
 
Before I continue with much more rigging I need to get going on a ships boat that I'd like to install.  None are provided in the Snake kit, so I'm high-jacking one of the ship's boats provided in the Diana kit.  I'm therefore keeping the building of these boats in that log (link below) to avoid confusion as it comes from that kit, even though hopefully a finished product will eventually appear here....
 
 

Sorry for the delay to recognize the kind comments and likes!  
 
24 Foot Cutter:
 
Work has started on the 24' Cutter.  I'm recording my progress in this log as it seems more logical coming from this kit, however, I hope to mount this boat on my other build, Snake.  I leaning toward not mounting any ships boats on Jason, at least directly, so this seems a good opportunity to stick my toe in the water on these smaller boats without risk of serious catastrophe if things don't turn out as planned...I'm determined to make the best show of these as I can building from the kit, so we'll see.  Many other build logs seem to show the finished article so I wanted to try and record progress as I stumble in the dark.
 
The frame parts fit together pretty easily, however what is not clear is how these would ultimately go together to end up as a cutter.  The instructions essentially say 'plank this as you did the main hull' which isn't too much help.  The first decision was to figure out where the frames should be set in the keel former.  Looking at the profile and the lines, it seemed the best option was to sit the frames approx. 1mm above the keel bottom.  This will mean that planking will be pretty much flush with the keel former so an external keel will need to be added.
 

 
Straight away the stern fascia looked far too small so a replacement was made from the same 1.5mm ply.

 
The formers at the bow we reduced and beveled as best could be estimated envisioning the final hull shape and how the plank will sit, and some limewood shaped at the stern.

 
The instructions do indicate the floor should be glued in position, however I want to leave the option open to remove this as it seems to sit a little high (should be at same hight as the keelson), and put the floor planking (footwalling) in as low as possible once the hull is completed.  Profiling the frames also indicated another challenge, the 1.5mm play is rather soft and pliable, and very thin in places.  To try and reduce the strain, some limewood reinforcement was glued to the most delicate frames.  Even with this, this requires a light hand.
 
Planking could then commence using 0.5mm walnut provided.  The usual frustration here, the kit supplied walnut is poor....no more need be said.  The main challenge at this stage is that the planking can't be glued heavily to the frames as these will need to be removed later on, and the keel former is rather bendy.  Small amounts of PVA glue were used to keep planks in position on a few frames only.  CA glue was used to attach the walnut strip at the bow.  A second strake has been added so far using the same approach, only some PVA glue was applied to the strip edges to try and bond these.  Once set, dilute PVA glue was brushed onto the installed planks to try and give it a little more strength at this stage.
 
We'll see where this goes...