Beef Wellington

Thanks once again for all the encouragement and advice! The info on sawdust is fascinating!! I had no idea it could be so toxic!
 
I managed to get the bulkheads off with large wire cutters followed by a chisel and finally sandpaper. I could then plank the inside of the bow and scour the stationary shops and artistic friends in my immediate vicinity for a more of a brown red to paint it, as a bright red felt too flashy.
 
My wood filler query was not so easily resolved. I was reluctant to use the sawdust method at it had dried a lot darker than the surrounding walnut when used between my ill-fitting false keel pieces (ref. my second post). As it turns out, there is no walnut coloured wood filler in South Africa so I went with the closest match, Imbuia. My experience was a rather long and patience-cultivating endeavour. It took multiple layers to fill in my tiny defected (sanding really shows up all one's shortfalls in planking). To my frustration I learnt that being water-based meant that all it took to undo a few layers of work was one layer that was a bit too watery. I also learnt that wood filler can be undone by over-sanding or sanding with too coarse sand paper, or leaving the hull in a hot car... I became a master wood-filler-applicator by the end of the number of times that my mistakes made me redo the whole process!
 
Please don't crucify me, but I decided not to copper-plate the hull (historically accurate or not) as the wood finish is just too beautiful to cover over! I therefore first painted the blue just below the deck (I figured getting varnish on the blue was less critical than blue on the varnish) and varnished everything else. Picking the right varnish was also challenging with the hardware store having way too many options, all unrelated to my needs. I eventually settled on WSP 27 Imbuia colour (whatever that means) with an outdoor seude finish (as the indoor only came in gloss). I was very uncertain in my choice but am super chuffed with the final result!




Much to my sorrow, I didn't get a chance to seal in my wood filler effort with varnish for a few days after completing it for the hundredth time. The delay, together with holding the hull to paint the blue line, seemed to once again undo some of wood filler. I only noticed once I was into the thick of varnishing however, and therefore opted to leave it. Now if the light catches it a that right (or should I say wrong) angle you can see the imperfections outlining some of the planks, as in the photo below. These are not critical, however, and will probably only ever serve to annoy my own inner perfectionist;P

I came to greatly regret my decision to not use tapering and stealers above the bow whale line so as to allow the planks to lie flatter across their width. Wood filler masks minute defects but really seemed to struggle with the clinkering that resulted in this area. The end product is passable but I would definitely do it differently next time!

My original concern was that the stealers would be too noticeable, but after sanding, wood filler and varnish, it's no longer easy to even pick them out. I will definitely take the planks more seriously next time they try to express their indignation at my chosen angle! Despite the shade difference between planks you can see below how well the bow drop planks blended in:

From this point on I have found the instructions to be rather unhelpful in terms of order. I have therefore been doing bits and pieces everywhere to try reach my short term goal of putting the main whale planking in place (the next section in the instructions). In looking at stern fascia pictures I see I was supposed to add a 1.5mm square strip where the planks meet the stern counter. This is nowhere in the written instructions, only a later picture. By the time I saw it, that ship had unfortunately already sailed, but I don't think it looks too bad without it. I also opted to varnish the stern counter instead of painting it black. Below you can see that the stern post thankfully fitted well enough (in terms of being flush with the second planking) despite my earlier ignorance in not cutting enough of a rabbet into the false keel.

One last view for good measure;)

good evening everyone
 
i have tried to get into a routine of doing something on any of my builds every day, its surprising what can be done in a couple of hours, and it is weening me off the PC  (that can only be good)
 
most of the big bits are now started, so at any time i can go from one piece to another
 
most of the hedgehog launcher is done and protection screen
 
NOT MY PHOTO


wip on the engine room skylight

and now the depth charge racks are on the go
 

Good evening everyone
 
thank you for the like and comments, and apologies for not getting around as much as i used to
 
the depth charge racks continue
 
in the last post the outside cahe was completed, now the racks have to be put in

sorry its not so clear

not ready to be fixed in yet

this set is solely for the depth charges, to the right is on e of the 40 odd charges, it has a minimal amount of detail of, but that is removed

this is one of the smallest pieces, 

its a start

also been making up davits and charge storage rack, as well of the charge throwers

A few more hours in the shop sneaked in. Installing the black strake is going better than I expected. Careful preparation with a sanding thicknesser on the wales has so far ensured that the highlight of light at the top of the wale is pretty even along the face of the black strake. That was my biggest concern, a wavy edge between the two. So far, so good....
 
Mark

Skeleton done….  the middle plank locking everything into position required som tweeking to get in place. Had to fill down some angles to make it easier so slid into all of the bulkheads.   

Today I took the Speedy box art shots and then put the box art together, does this look OK?
 
Just have the manual and plans to put together now, all laser and PE have been sent for cutting/etching.
 

It's been over 6 weeks since I was on this model due to being hawked away for more magazine work. 
 
Got to say that I've really missed working on this little beauty, and it was good to get it back on the bench again.
 
There's not really too much to report on at the moment except to say that I've now added the wales and a few other bits. Thee wales are pre-cut in two parts per side, perfectly interlocking along the length. They really do make a hell of a difference the appearance. I also cut out the timber from the gun ports to open them up and added the cap rail sections. These needed to be carefully aligned to allow further laser cut parts to be fitted. 
 
As a slight change in working order, I have also added the transom. This isn't shown as fitted for a few stages yet, but there's no reason why it can't be added now and the preceding hull stages then completed before the bowsprit is made. 
 
Again, I am loving this build!
 





 

Yes as I understand alot of the ships in Nelson Navy was designed by him when he was working for them 15-20years ago such as the Agamemnon etc. 
 
He also worked for Amati/Victory and designed Lady Nelson, Pegasus and Vanguard.  And we are all waiting for the masterpiece HMS Victory in 1:64 to be released. 
 
Now with Vanguard models we can expect him designing a whole new line of 1:64 Royal navy ships. Just looking at the Alert and upcoming Speedy its clear that these brings the kitmodels to a complete new level of details and design for making it more easy for the modeller.
 
Caldercraft really need to start upgrading their old kits if they are not going to be outrunned by the new competition. Nelson Navy was a gamechanger 20 years ago. I recently bought the amazing Diana kit. Its one of the best looking models in my view, but opening the box you realize that plans, instructions, precuts, etc is very poor compared to newer kits. Even though you are building an advanced model, there is no reason to let the modeller basically scratchbuild alot of parts and guess the details of the design. Their newer kits such as the Granado shows how much kitdesigns deveped between 1995 and 2005. And now we are 15years more into the future. 
 
 

Work has begun on the main mast.  The Proxxon lathe made the tapering straightforward.  The square section at the top of the mast is supposed to be a piece of 7x7mm walnut.  Unfortunately it was missing from the kit.  This did not make my day.  Having said 'Gosh, what a nuisance' or words to that effect, I found some 8x8mm boxwood and sanded it down to the correct dimensions.
 

Dry-fitted:
The bibbs supplied in the kit are plywood of very indifferent quality.  Aside from this, as I will not be staining the masts walnut, the light-coloured mast and the walnut bibbs will, I think, make a poor match.  I have made up replacements which I hope will not look out of place.  The top part of these will eventually be painted black.
 

 
 
 
 
 

Thanks, druxey, Marc and Vane. I think this is probably more common that I would have thought, to live for the process more than the finished product! And also, projects that last decades...
 
In between numerous summer visitors, I have slowly been working on the black strake above the main wale.
 
A few points of possible interest in the photo below:
 
1. I finally settled on the black artist tape for locating the run of planking. I kept dislodging the string when messing with measuring the plank widths, and fitting the pieces. The tape allowed me to draw a firm and continuous pencil line on the hull, which enables me to move the tape back to the right position when it dislodges. On my solid hull, the tape pulls smoothly for developing a fair line and gives me an accurate line at any point on the hull; for plank on bulkheads, or an accurately framed model with spaces between the frames, I imagine the string will work equally effectively in marking at intervals on the frame. Each to his or her own, I imagine.
 
2. See the little wedge of planking under the first porthole. In principle, the wale below should have raised up to the edge of the port to avoid this skinny wedge. But after looking at numerous Admiralty framed models, I have seen not a single example of the wales--main or channel-- raised up or down to portholes to avoid this problem. I can only imagine that the wale did raise up or down, but it was thinned down to the adjacent planking at these points so as not to interrupt the flow of the wales. The end result visually is a thin wedge above or below ports. That is my story and I am sticking to it!
 
3. The offset of just 1 ½" in thickness between the main wale and the black strake means that there is a very fine reveal between the two. The slightest variation in thickness for either, or an inadequately clamped glue job, will show as a wavy, varying width in the reveal. To help ensure absolutely even clamping, I turned to some planking clamps I bought from Micro-Mark many years ago. They screw into the hull, and closely spaced they really pull the black strake evenly to the hull. The hole will obviously be covered up by later planking higher up. I did have to modify them, with a card pad on the clamping side, and a thicknesser above the screw to ensure that clamp grabbed evenly all the way across the plank.
 
4. I may have to make up a special sanding block to sand both the main wale and the black strake at the same time, ensuring a constant reveal between the two. We will see how close it is before I resort to this.
 
Best wishes,
 
Mark

Speedwell is up in Canada receiving her carvings so not too much to report from the shipyard. Her deadeyes are dyed with Fiebings brown stain and a new tiller created. The old one was built up from hollow square tubing and round tubing but I never quite liked the way it looked. So I replaced her. Basically, I started with oversized square stock and turned the round tapered handle on the lathe. I then cut each side of the square stock on my Byrnes table saw with slitting blade until the matched the round stock. The small ball was silver soldered in place and the new tiller blackened. Much improved!
 
To forestall building the masts and spars I decided to build a binnacle. David Antscherl designed a simple version which would be appropriate for the sloop. I built three because...why not. But only one has a compass.  I would be happy to give the other two away to anyone who can provide proof they purchased our Speedwell book (a photo on your desk will suffice). Just send me a PM.
 

Very nice work, a true scale model.
 
Regarding the cupola, was it common for these to be copper, or specific to this particular class, do you know?

So what do you get PopPop on his 65th birthday when he already has everything he needs for his hobby? A paper on bulkhead model made from the pages of his own book. They even bought their own copy for the artist to make the model from the plans. If you look closely it has all the details of my model. Definitely one of the coolest gifts I've ever received!

Sorry for hijacking here, but just to add Rob's excellent summary above.  The other factor to be aware of is what the ship plans show, they could be as designed, as built, as refitted etc.  Its possible to purchase the Diana plans at full scale and it amazing the amount of additional detail that can be seen, and notated on other plans (for example, the Diana plan indicates that the Jason's and Diamonds foremast was moved forward 6 1/4 inches), suggesting that specifically identified plans per the NMM may not be unique to a ship, but more to a class.  Regarding the open bulwark topic, the fashion was shifting at exactly the time these were designed and built.  Armament carried is a similar situation.
 
Bottom line, even for specific ships, there is latitude to build how you would like and still be 'historically accurate' - just look at the debate that goes on about the configuration of HMS Victory at Trafalgar, and she's still in existence!  I'd recommend buying the Diana AOTS book, in the historical preamble there is lots of context to the above points.

Looking very good indeed Nils!  I was wondering who the giant hand belonged to 🙂  You've really achieved a true scale look, the close ups could be the real thing.  I'm sure the clinker painting is a challenge but turned out very well indeed, I'm sure it causes similar challenges at full scale.  Oh, and love all the detailing, very much enjoy following along.

Having done most of the household things that need to be done after being away for a while, it's time to get serious again.  Here are a couple of little jobs that needed to be done.  First, the belaying pins did not fit in the holes provided.  Here is an easy and obvious way of solving that small problem.
 

Positioning the gammoning cleats is quite fiddly.  I used narrow masking tape as a guide.
 

 


The instructions suggest the bowsprit be stained walnut.  I tested it on a similar piece of timber and was not happy with the result.  The timber supplied for the cleats is walnut and as I didn't have any light-coloured timber of the right size I have gone with the walnut.  Having seen the result I'm not too happy about that either.  You can't win.  I hope that with all the other things that will eventually be going on the bowsprit, the mismatch in timber colours will be overlooked.
 
 
 

This is the outcome for for an utmost flexible and black rubber hose (received today), trust this will do much better than the PVC one..
 
Nils

good evening everyone, its me again
back to the 2 pdr qf mk viii gun with bandstand
 
i wasnt confident enough a few weeks ago to put this brass strip onto the platform, but as i feel my soldering has improved a little i attempted it this weekend, it is slightly off centre, but im happy with it
the rivit belt was also added as was the the top ring, the photos are very glarey, and make it look far worse than it is


two 2nd hand books and photo etch bits

 
 

Nice deck and details Peter, looking great.  The balcony looks nicely to scale.

Many thanks all for the comments and likes, definitely good to have people along for the journey..
 
Feels like a chapter is coming to a close, finally seem to be closing in on completing the upper deck.  Definitely a multitude of time consuming small tasks.  First off I needed to address the fixed part of the gangway.  This is shown quite clearly in plan view on page 46 of AOTS Diana, however it is not shown in profile.  Given that it appears to contain its own lodging knee, I decided to extend the profile of the deck beam.  This seems to make sense when recognizing that a ladder will eventually be located here.  This highlights one of the inconsistencies in the AOTS book, many diagrams show the non-flush gangboards which I understand were going out of fashion at this point to be replaced by flush gangboards.  Hoping I'm not too far off the mark here.  A strip with a slight profile was added also to the deck beam to sit flush with the false quarterdeck.
 
The base plate to the stove was ripped off and replaced despite my intentions to leave as, hopefully this sits a little more harmoniously.
 

 
Cables have been added and "secured" to the various ring bolts beside the midship gratings.  AOTS describes these as being used for stoppers, but decided to secure with simpler ring ropes as described in Lever.  Stoppers have been modelled as per Lever on the 2 foremost ring bolts, but not yet tied on or attached permanently to allow me to finally decide (or others to refute) the approach taken.
 

 
Even though this area will only ever be glimpsed, time was spent fully building out the area around the foremast with the For jeer and for topsail sheet bitts as they would appear.  The actual bitts on the fo'c'sl will be mounted to the deck, seemed unnecessarily complicated to build these fully.  Couldn't quite figure out what was represented on diagrams for the fore jeer bitts until I saw interior photos of contemporary models in the Roger's Dockyard Model collection - but still no clue what the "swan neck" arrangement is called.  What is very interesting is how crowded this forward area really is, fighting these guns must have been a real challenge.
 

 
Warning:  Here follows some highly indulgent closeups taken on Captain's rounds!  This is the closest I guess I'll get to seeing what this looked like in practice
 

 
And finally...some overall shots with where things stand..
 

Quick update.  Increasingly realizing I'm reaching a point that I need to attach the upper false foc's'l and quarter deck template before more progress can be made, but  a couple of items I need to finalize and figure out first.
 
Main and mizzen backstay stools:
Unfortunately when I made the channels I neglected to make the stools at the same time, In a moment of focus decided to just get these done.  These smaller items were definitely trickier than the channels when scraping the edge profile, other than that, these can be put aside for when I'm ready to install the quarterdeck drift rail.
 

 
Upper deck coamings:
As mentioned previously, I'd like to keep the option to have a few of the gratings be removeable.  First off, appropriately sized gratings were made up, and the coamings then sized accordingly.  I cheated here and used a simple butt joint as I didn't think the more authentic lap joint would really be visible.  These were made of 3x3mm strip and 2x3mm strip with the inside ledge added after with some slightly thinned 1mm strip.  The grating thickness had to be thinned quite a bit to make it them sit flush.  These will also be simulating actual practice and so the edges were rounded off to 1mm above the bottom to butt up against planking.  TFFM was used as a guide here.
 

 
Once the coamings were finished, the fake beams and cross pieces could be made up to the appropriate size.  The ends were sloped to ensure that the end of the face beam would not be visible for viewing angles.
 

 
Adjustments were made to the false deck to accommodate the larger openings and positions tweaked a little.  For the foc's'l, the coaming size does not match the deck cut-out or AOTS exactly due to the limited incremental options for the grating size.  The stove flue needs to sit equidistant between the steam grate and the forward grating which moved forward slightly.  The steam grating needs to be positioned appropriately to allow the belfy to sit on the aft end of the steam grate coaming.
 
The top tackle scuttles have been filled in to ease future planking - the instructions indicate that there should be coamings and gratings here, however, these will be modeled as flush scuppers without a coaming as described in AOTS and shown on contemporary models. Although the surface of the center deck is very slightly curved, it is a close enough approximation to a flat surface that the flat top of the fake frame seem to sit without issue.  Lighting is clearly an issue here, and the interior is a little more visible than the photo's suggest, and probably more so in a well lit room.
 
Of note is the fact that the stove, and especially the condenser, sits a little higher than ideally would be the case, although looking at the AOTS diagrams its still a tight fit there as well.  In retrospect, I would probably not have put wooden battens underneath the bottom plate to lower this by 1mm or so, but not going to risk damage at this point to redo.
 

 
Putting some scrap planking in place give a better sense for the final proportion and the above deck rounded edge.  Think these will be a nice contrast to the much higher coamings of the exposed upper deck below needed to withstand water ingress.
 

Thanks everyone, need to record a few things before moving on too much further:
 
Tackles:
Boy, these blighters take time.  I will definitely not be fully rigging each gun, but will look to rig those fall into possibly the 'noticeable in the background' category.  Here's the method I found works best for me.  Apologies for the photos, an iPhone is really not the best at trying to photograph tiny objects suspended in the air.
 
A hook was threaded with 0.3mm Syren line and some overhand knots tied to seize this securely.  Drop of GS Hypo cement to keep secure before trimming excess.  The long ends are then placed around the block and loose overhand knot tied.
 

 
A length of line for the tackle fall is then inserted into the loop and then threaded back through itself as for a false splice.

 
Pulling the overhand know tight around the block, and simultaneously tightening the false splice secures the knot around the block.  Another small drop of GS Hypo cement on the false splice helps keep this secure, and placing the end of the stropping line into 'helping hands' helps keep the knot tight while the cement dries.

 
Slightly weighting the tackle fall line (in this case with tweezers) allows the alignment if the block to be tweaked before the cement sets fully.  Thin thread can then be seized around the splice to secure it, I find alternating overhand knots gives a pretty secure and easy result.  Once more, another drop of GS Hypo on the seizing helps ensure this doesn't unravel once trimmed.

 

 
Once completed, I use some dilute PVA glue on the stropping prior to trimming off any excess as some additional insurance as it is a frustrating experience for these to break when frapping.  The tackle falls were then fed through the previously stropped double blocks, and then frapped on the service machine as per a previous post.  The last turn was secured simply by feeding back through the prior turn and pulling taught.  The completed tackle can then be placed where needed and some dilute PVA applied again to the whole tackle - special attention was paid to ensuring the tackle fed through the frapping was secured with glue.  The entire tackle can then be removed once dry and the excess line trimmed.  Its a simple matter to hook these back into position.  Et voila!
 

 
Stove:
The stove has also been given a little more TLC and is now glued into position.  Handles for the boilers were added, as well as rails which were made from brass rod.  The rails were the treated with some JAX 'Brown' to darken it a little a keep it in keeping with the colour of the copper still.  As described in a previous post, I've followed TFFM simulating wooden battens under the custom base plate rather than simulating tiles, they would not been seen in any event once the main riding bitts are in place.  Temporarily putting the fo'c'sl deck in place shows that much of this will be obscured even if the various gratings are made removeable which I plan to do.
 

 
In closing, a quick summary of the 3D printed stove.  With a little work I'm happy with the way this turned out.  Comparison to the kit supplied version shows the dimensions to be a little more authentic, and the detailing is much more pleasing than the approximations on the supplied white metal parts.  To be fair, no work was done to pretty this up, but I'd certainly recommend this as a simple 'upgrade'.
 

 
 
 

Thanks Pat, Carl, Kevin, Jean-Paul and 'the likes' for not forgetting me! 
 
Update on a modification made right back at the start of the build.  I had initially planned to add a bowsprit step to achieve 2 things: a little more 'interest' on for the upper deck for those peeking through gun ports and a more robust engineering solution to the attachment of the bowsprit.  Both of these are still valid, but a third reason has also just become apparent to make me very glad I decided to mod this.  Bottom line, I can't quite see myself moving forward and rigging 'Jason' at this point, which would still be a long way off if past progress is any indication.  However, I would like to leave that option open for the future, and this allows me keep moving forward without making any sort of final decision.
 
Some angled 'wedges' were added to the first deck frame to match the angle of the bowsprit step which was then glued into place.  A pin was then inserted at the center position of the bowsprit position.  Maybe went overboard on securing this, but don' think you can be too careful, it was pinned at the bottom, PVA glue secured to the beam, and then pinned into the beam.  While positioning all this it was important to keep checking the clearance over the figurehead, I'd worked through this already when making the original modification and luckily no further complications arose.
 

 
A hole can then simply be drilled into the end of the bowsprit, and once the aft end is appropriately angled, this sits very snuggly and securely even without glue.  The benefit is that this is removable and replaceable even with the fo'c'sl deck in place.  I've made up a 'stub' that will probably be used for now, and also a dowel that can be made into a bowsprit should I also go in that direction.  The fore bits are also now glued in position with a few other details which will likely be lost when the fo'c'sl goes on, but its fun to experiment.
 
In other news, there was some months ago an addition to the Wellington family, her name is Mazie, and shes a loveable 14 week old 'Whoodle' (Wheaton terrier/poodle mix).  While she has many particular skills, dockyard assistance is not currently one of them...

Hi all,
 
Well finally been able to get some things done that tangibly move things forward.  The area around the mainmast is one of the more interesting and complex areas to get situated.  All of these items were scratchbuilt, which of course resulted in the usual re-does as the geometry is critical to get right as the pump axel and cranks need to align with minimal tolerances.
 
Capstan and aft coamings now glued into position, the deck beam needs to be modified to allow the capstan to be positioned appropriately.

 
Little bit of rework on the pumps, the simulated leather washer I had previously painted kept jumping out at me and was a little too 'in your face'.  Stripped this off and went with what seems to be a more traditional modeling approach to use layer of wood to simulate the gasket and plug. Here they are in final position.

 
The main jeer bitts were then positioned first once the pumps were in place to finalise the dimensions of the middle pump brakes.  The kit supplies some PE for these, but knew that these would never be satisfactory and have been planning to make my own.  The supplied wire is around 0.8mm, so 1mm square styrene sections were drilled and cut to give a little more of an authentic look to the winches.  To say this process is delicate and frustrating is an understatement - once drilled, the there is barely any structural strength to the styrene around the hole.  The aft winches were made in one piece which allowed them to be aligned relatively easily and secured using thin CA which worked quite well.  Once glued, the styrene was then gently filed to give a hint of the actual shape.

 
Rhodings were made out of boxwood and painted, to my eye this gave a little better scale look.  The stanchions had been made previously, and notches cut into the deck beam to allow these to be secured.

 
The stanchions were finalized and installed...making the second curved bracing element to be the same as the first took a lot longer than expected.

 
The layout of the main topsail sheet bitts dictates that the winches need to made separately reflecting actual practice.  These longer winches proved much more challenging than the shorter ones, and many were attempted before 2 acceptable ones were completed.

 
Elm tree pumps were shaped from boxwood stock, and the PE fittings came from an extra set I found left over from my Snake build.  These were fun items to make up, but will not be finally fixed just yet as they are very delicate.

 
Overall shots with everything in place shows just how crowed this area really is.  Overall, very happy with how this ultimately turned out.  The main topsheet bitts align underneath the deck beam at the forward end of the quarterdeck.

 
Overlaying scaled copy from AOTS, one can get a good sense for the reason for the scuttles in the quarterdeck which would have been necessary to be able to remove the various pump shafts.  I'm considering modding the quarterdeck to allow these scuttles to be left open to allow the pump mechanisms to be better seen.

 

Nice deck and details Peter, looking great.  The balcony looks nicely to scale.