Beef Wellington

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.

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.

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

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.

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

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.

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

Cheers gents,
 
Small update reflecting this weekend's work.  Have been unsure what to do with the fore companion ladder and whether to include the safety lines and whether these would look right, but approaching point where decision is needed.  I seem to recall reading in TFFM that the hand ropes would have been secured to small ringbolts in the deck below (there really should be a word for the situation where you remember reading something but then are subsequently unable to find the reference when actually needed!).  Small PE ring bolts were used in the lower deck and 0.3mm line secured to them with a false splice.  RB Models stanchions were used as they seemed a little more to scale, rather than the kit supplied items which appeared too tall - these may not be completely period accurate, but are close enough to my eye. 
 
I feel there should also be something around the main hatch companion ladder, but cant quite see what this would look like, as the iron supports for the pumps are obstructions.
 
The only way I could figure out to install these was to estimate the length of line needed and then attach the ringbolts off the model to - I was anticipating many redoes here but luckily seemed to get it how I was hoping on the first attempt.  The location of the ringbolts was determined by dry fitting the companion ladder, the ladder only being finally installed once the hand ropes were all in position.
 

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.