Beef Wellington

You are rather quick to pick things up again Jason. I'll follow along, search for my seat ...

Good to see work has restarted Jason. 👍
 
 
B.E.

Really nice work Jason.  Very detailed and great images of your work.
 
Robert

Brilliant to see Snake back on the Table Bud .. Nice reworking also.. Have to say she looks a treat !
 
All The Best J.
 
Eamonn

Thank You Michael, Chuck, Ryland and to all the 'Likes'.
Ryland, it's really nice to be able to find your way to the workshop and especially to be able to reuse your right hand. Shaving with the left hand is not always very safe. 😅
 
I finished all the carvings.

They are now in place and I am not unhappy to have opted to use them.


I steel have to order the wood for the base. And it will be my first completed project 😁
 
 

Thanks to all the 'Likes'.
 
The Queen Anne cypher was glued on a scrap piece of 1/8" thick cherry. I used some Uhu stick's glue. When everything is dry and strong, I started by removing the residue of laser chart and rounding the edges using a sharp #11 blade.  I referenced the drawing found in the appendix of the instruction manual. The arrows added on the drawing are very useful to know the right direction of cutting.


Finally, I made a light sanding with a small piece of sandpaper. I have to hope that the separation with the backing piece goes well...

The carving of the next 6 pieces will probably be more complex but I will mark beforehand with a pencil the stop cuts on the drawings and on the carving blanks.
 

Beautiful result BE, I do love the colour tones of your builds and cleanness of your rigging...and very educational to boot .  Looking forward to seeing your Queen Anne Barge take shape, more QAB can't be a bad thing!

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

Hi Gremreeper - Unfortunately I don't think there is a magic, secret solution to your problem.  Wood strip, even as thin as 0.5mm just wont really bend in multiple directions readily, you don't mention whether you have tried soaking the planks or not, if not, then worth a try.  Other than that, I think CaptPoison's suggestion to use a drop plank terminating in the area of the bulge is something worth pursuing.  Another option would be to try and first heat bend a strip using a hairdryer to give a strip a slight curve across the width of the plank, and then try to fit on the curve of the hull, this may be sufficient to prevent breakage.
 
And, if you haven't already, strongly recommend reading the planking tutorials as they are pretty comprehensive and provide great information on approaching this tricky step.

Interesting subject Andy, definitely want to see how this plays out.

Hi Gremreeper - Unfortunately I don't think there is a magic, secret solution to your problem.  Wood strip, even as thin as 0.5mm just wont really bend in multiple directions readily, you don't mention whether you have tried soaking the planks or not, if not, then worth a try.  Other than that, I think CaptPoison's suggestion to use a drop plank terminating in the area of the bulge is something worth pursuing.  Another option would be to try and first heat bend a strip using a hairdryer to give a strip a slight curve across the width of the plank, and then try to fit on the curve of the hull, this may be sufficient to prevent breakage.
 
And, if you haven't already, strongly recommend reading the planking tutorials as they are pretty comprehensive and provide great information on approaching this tricky step.

Interesting subject Andy, definitely want to see how this plays out.

Welcome aboard Bob, and thanks for the interest from all:
 
The upside of social distancing and resting in place is that there seem to be a few more hours in the evening with no commitments.  The remaining keel sections have been installed which is a little bit of a relief as it should provide a little more strength, especially at the sternpost.  The instructions indicate the thin center keel section is a little oversized and can be trimmed at the aft end.  I'm a little concerned that for some reason I needed to shorten this to the extent that the slot for the frame is noticeably narrower than others, which will surely require some attention before frames can be attached (center of 3rd picture below).  Open to suggestions on how this slot should be widened (centered, widen forward or aft).
 

 
Its very difficult to get a sense of size from isolated photos, and it must be said that this barge at 1:24 is far from small.  In fact, from stem to stern its nearly exactly the same length as His Majesties sloop of war Snake, but significantlymore susceptible to damage..
 

Hi Gremreeper - Unfortunately I don't think there is a magic, secret solution to your problem.  Wood strip, even as thin as 0.5mm just wont really bend in multiple directions readily, you don't mention whether you have tried soaking the planks or not, if not, then worth a try.  Other than that, I think CaptPoison's suggestion to use a drop plank terminating in the area of the bulge is something worth pursuing.  Another option would be to try and first heat bend a strip using a hairdryer to give a strip a slight curve across the width of the plank, and then try to fit on the curve of the hull, this may be sufficient to prevent breakage.
 
And, if you haven't already, strongly recommend reading the planking tutorials as they are pretty comprehensive and provide great information on approaching this tricky step.

All the channels are in place as well as those gun port lids which are between the chains. To improve the stability of the chains I tried to close the middle link with some tin-solder. It doesn't look perfect but seems more stable.
While constantly turning the hull for and back I came across our hero's sculpture every time and was more and more irritated by his brown breast armour. As higher Greek ratings anyway were entitled to a metal protection I replaced his leather by metal and even offered a heroic gold plating - means I painted his breast golden. It looks now more in line with the other colours, simpler and better.
 

mizzen channel
 
 

fore channel
 
 

our hero looks good in his new, shining armour
 
 
scuppers
 
Perhaps it's just another one of my obsessions but I try to install scuppers on all my models. They should show that ship's hulls are just fragile and leaking eggshells  and the water which comes in has to go out again.
Learning where to install scuppers was difficult. Finally I found a note in 'Bellona' from the AOTS series saying that there are 6 per side on the gun deck and 7 per side on the upper deck. However no plans where to install them were included. I think that those on the gun deck could be installed similar to those on frigates where I found some information and for the upper deck I will try to find logical positions. It seems that scuppers:
- are about evenly spaced in the central part of the deck
- are not below a gun port and therefore covered by a gun
- may be in the form of a slightly bigger pump dale near the mainmast
Scuppers on the upper deck should additionally not be above a gun port or a scupper of the gun deck.
The locations were chosen accordingly and the one near the mainmast on the gun deck is a pump dale and therefore slightly bigger.
I used again ferrules from the electric compartment with a diameter of 1,5mm respective 2mm for the pump dales . As they are all placed within the black wales I painted them black as well.
 

all scuppers except the foremost on each deck
 

main channel with scuppers
the second scupper from the left on the (lower) gun deck is a slightly larger pump dale
 
 
 
 
stand
 
Originally I planed to step Bellerophon onto 3 pilars mounted on an oak base, similar to Pegasus, Pickle and America.
I like those stands because the model almost seems to float on them. But while handling that rather heavy hull and thinking of the rather sof MDF which should hold the 3 screws which in turn would take all the strain I started to have doubts. Some destruction tests with  leftover MDF slid into the pilars' slot did nothing to dispel those doubts.
Reluctanly I accepted the kit's craddle as final support for the model. Painted with palisander stain it achieved a colour slightly darker than the aged copper but lighter and more elegant than the dull black shown on the kit's box.
 
 
Most of the still missing, fragile details on the hull will have to wait until the rigging is completed. I think the fuselage could be delared completed and it's time to start on the wings. Also this is the time for a celebration beer - I'll check if there's still  some Corona brew in the cellar.
 

ready to launch...

Well, it has been a while since my last update . . .
 
Currently progress is very slow. I built a nicer stand for my model (images 1 – 3) following Chuck’s initial example on his Syren. I also experimented with hanging my jolly boat from the rear davits and noticed a few things:
-        If I hang the jolly boat ready to be lowered it does not cover up the stern carvings and its details are displayed best (images 4 – 8).
-        Although I have some pear wood accents on my Syren model, building the whole jolly boat out of pear wood does not match the color scheme of my Syren and looks far too dark (images 4 and 5).  So I had to rebuild the jolly boat a second time using bass wood with box wood accents. Image 9 shows the work in progress.
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5
 

Image 6
 

Image 7
 

Image 8
 

Image 9
 
 

Beautiful result BE, I do love the colour tones of your builds and cleanness of your rigging...and very educational to boot .  Looking forward to seeing your Queen Anne Barge take shape, more QAB can't be a bad thing!

Interesting subject Andy, definitely want to see how this plays out.

Westwood... yeah that’s going back a few years! 
 
From photos, CPR kept the transom windows until the cars were scrapped, it’s likely, though, that the fancy etched glass was replaced. At Delson there’s also a restored official car that has its etched glass in place:

 
Andy

Hi Gremreeper - Unfortunately I don't think there is a magic, secret solution to your problem.  Wood strip, even as thin as 0.5mm just wont really bend in multiple directions readily, you don't mention whether you have tried soaking the planks or not, if not, then worth a try.  Other than that, I think CaptPoison's suggestion to use a drop plank terminating in the area of the bulge is something worth pursuing.  Another option would be to try and first heat bend a strip using a hairdryer to give a strip a slight curve across the width of the plank, and then try to fit on the curve of the hull, this may be sufficient to prevent breakage.
 
And, if you haven't already, strongly recommend reading the planking tutorials as they are pretty comprehensive and provide great information on approaching this tricky step.

Hi Steven.
Yes I intend to, I just haven't been working on it lately, but soon.
And yes, the detail is Way more than the 1/700 just with the photo etch alone.
(Here are the pics from the 1/700 model)
 
Sergio
 

Post 84

 
Completion shots continued.

 
Upper rigging detail

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Thoughts about the Alert kit.

 
As I am the first builder on MSW of this new kit offering from the talented Mr Watton it has fallen to me to be the first to record my experience of the kit and build.

 
There is a lot to like about this kit, cutters make fine models of relatively modest size, altho’ at 1:64 scale Alert is large enough for extra detailing and has space when it comes to the rigging stage.

 
It is clear that Chris cares about his customer base and has put a lot of thought into the make-up of the kit providing pre-made parts for many of those areas that new builders may find tricky, but which more experienced builders may wish to replace.

 
That I made extensive modifications is no reflection on the validity of the kit. I accept the limitations of kits and personally I am prepared to take the hit on the additional cost of material and fittings upgrades.

 
Although I have had reservations about some of the supplied fittings, builders of the second edition revised kits will benefit from the improvements made by Chris in relation to the guns and other fittings, and latterly a laser printed deck, and Pearwood grating sets.

 
This is a visually attractive kit, which offers the kit basher a lot of scope whilst providing builders new to the hobby a good oob experience.

 
It has been very tricky deciding how to rig this model given the many variations prevalent at the time, and the often-conflicting information given in the reference sources.

 
The two existing Alert models by Roger Cole, and Irving Kingman differ in their appearance and rigging, and Roger Cole made many changes to both the deck layout and rigging of his model from the Peter Goodwin book which as I have discovered has many conflictions and omissions to confuse the model maker.

 
Irving Kingman also made changes to the deck layout and rigging but did acknowledge that some of the reconstruction of Alert is based on conjecture and therefore possibly not accurate.

 
There is one other Alert model kit on offer, a 1/72 scale card version by Shipyard. A nice-looking model but has the Topmast before the masthead and is rigged in the later standardised form.

 
Part of the appeal of the Alert kit is that it represents a cutter with the earlier style of rigging with the aft placed T’gallant mast and a Square sail set up.

 
I have concluded that there is no definitive example of how Alert was rigged, and I have used many sources to arrive where I am.

 
I certainly don’t advocate my Alert build as the way to go, and I still have many conflictions in my own mind, but the information I have gleaned may be of some use to those that follow and may serve to inform their own decisions.

 
Sources.

The Naval Cutter Alert -Peter Goodwin

The Masting and Rigging of English Ships of War – James Lees.

Eighteenth-Century Rigs and Rigging – K.H. Marquardt.

The Global Schooner - K.H. Marquardt.

Elements of Masting, Sail-making and Rigging, – David Steel.

Seamanship in the Age of Sail – John Harland

Rigging period Fore-and-Aft Craft – Lennarth Petersson

Alert Provenance and Construction – Roger Cole

Modeling H.B.M. Cutter Alert-1777 - Irving H. Kingman

NMM plan of Alert.

Contemporary Hawke model (NMM)

Model of a cutter circa 1785. (Science Museum)

 
I have also scoured the internet for examples of cutter rig, and referenced cutter build logs on MSW.


 
I have enjoyed building Alert despite the frustrations at times and I commend the kit to the members.


 
B.E.
25/03/2020

Post 83

 
All but done

Still a base to make but for all practical purposes the model is complete.

So here are the final shots of the completed model, I will add my thoughts on the kit and build experience in a separate post.


First the close-ups


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The next post will show the upper rigging shots and full model shots.


 
B.E.

25/03/2020

 
 

Thanks Jason, Roger Cole did say that he wasn't entirely sure about the Jack being the size of the canton of the largest ensign, but I think there was  a fair bit of leeway in flag sizes and on models the eye is probably as  good as anything.
On square riggers there was the facility to have staffs for harbour display, even when the driver boom came into use, and a staff for the jack was usually attached to the Bowsprit cap.
Not too sure about cutters and the like; on Alert I suppose a staff heel could be  fitted on the aft deck with a bracket on the transom,  but I will fit it to the gaff.
 
Post 82

Making the Ensign

Making your own Ensign frees you from commercial restrictions.

 
This is the pattern I have decided upon.


For sizing I have settled on 86mm x 54mm which equates to a size of 18’ x 11’4”

My primary objective is to have an Ensign that suits my eye on the model.

 
The Ensign is made from Modelspan tissue, overpainted to reduce the transparency.

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The Modelspan is stretched over a frame and painted with diluted pva.


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The modelspan is then taped over a word doc image of the flag.


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Run thro’ the printer the image is transferred to the Modelspan.

 

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The image is insufficiently strong at this point so it is taped over polythene for overpainting.


The White Ensign is perhaps the most difficult choice because the white ground is not sufficiently white. Red and Blue Ensigns reproduce better.


4816
The Ensign has been overpainted on both sides.


 
 
The next stage is to attach the halyard connection, I am using 0.1mm line. The excess on the hoist is simply folded over the line and glued.


This is a schematic of one I made a while ago.

 

04840(2)

04841(2)
The Ensign is pulled and rolled into shape before raising to the Gaff peak.

4858(2)
 
This post marks the nine month point of the build.


 
B.E.

21/03/2020



 

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