Beef Wellington

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.
 

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.
 

Significant moment.  Aggie has been transferred to the rigging out table and onto a 'lazy susan'.  In reality a little work bench I have that is slightly higher than my normal worktop and a revolving board I stole from our kitchen.
 
Lower masts are installed and I've started on the standing rigging.
 

Hi Peter,
thanks for looking in. No, its by far not the completed model, engine, cabin, deck, the whole rigging and sails and may others are still to be done. I gues its about 50 % done to date.
The pics are showing the raw motor in build, painting, wiring, tube connections etc. transmission per V-belts and flywheel still to be done.....
 
Also thanks to all that clicked on "Likes"
 
Nils
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

thank you very much Peter for your appreciative words,
I`m pleased you like the engine...
Yesterday I received some brass etched fish for the catch together in scale 1:25, with two fish box kits (sides get folded and soldered together). For the fish there needs to be some uppadding, which will favorably will be done "Fimo clay" that can be baken for curing, before the fishes get painted. I decided also to produce some eels in appropriate scale made completely from Fimo clay. Trust that all together this will enhance the working boat character, when done...
 
Nils

 
 

I'm beginning to be a believer. Futtuck shrouds were MUCH easier to do off the model.

And yes, even the topmast shrouds are easier off the model. But I'm holding off any final comment until I see how it is to do the ratlines.

Continueing with the deck details. I added some hatches with Iron work. I have also placed many eyelets but it is still not all. I have also added the supporting knees to the belfry and glue it in the pkacd

First quarterdeck carronade in the way

I've added all the parts as per the AOTS Diana for the carronade but there is no rigging details in the book, breeching rope was presumably smaller than a 12lber

I appreciate it has been a while since I updated you all on the progress of my DIANA build; as I mentioned before, the summer has too many attractions and sitting in my study whittling with a bit of wood seems to drop down the priority list when the sun is out!  That said it has been wet in the UK for a few weeks so in between work and responding to 'management' direction to do stuff in the garden (in a coat), I have been able to grab a few hours here and there to maintain progress. As you can see below, I have finished all the hull double planking, it has been sanded and I've shaped the transom area around the rudder entry port (shaped by a 1p piece); the rudder fits well.   I have completed the gunport lining and have painted all the areas in the appropriate red. To my irritation and despite Jason's prompt in early June, I failed to leave the 1mm lip for those gunports which have lids - arrgghh!  I looked at cutting back but concluded that it would look a mess so have left them as is - I will examine the overall aspect when I come to affix the lids...they may end up without them, however whilst I am aggrieved, I am not sure that when she is on display on my upstairs landing, many people will pick up on the error.   
 
I have bought some 1x1mm walnut and will affix this on the waterline as a template for the copper plates which I will fix in the near future. 
 
Before then I have to sort out the transom/stern gallery.  I have begun to prepare the stern counter area by applying a second layer of planks, this time 0.7x4mm boxwood stained black.  this allows me to make the junctions between hull planking and stern galleries neat and to finish properly the joints between the gunwale and stern.  Once all is complete, I will apply a coat of admiralty black to eradicate the boxwood sheen.
 
I offered up the stern galley fascia and was reasonably surprised when it appears to fit.  Not perfect but close enough for me to work around it; the portside does protrudes into the last window so I may need to judiciously place a curtain to shield the slight misalignment. The various pieces that make up the side galleries are somewhat daunting, I am mulling over whether to do the coppering first before I assault the back....not decided: pehaps I could do both to break the tedium of sticking plates on the hull.    
 
So in the next few weeks: finish the counter stern, check rudder alignment, finish the upper areas of the f'csle, affix waterline beading, start plating and commence assembling the stern area (dry run first) and finally repaint the black.  Enough to keep me busy...unless it stops raining! 
 
Peter 

The channels etc. are finally done. 
 

When, some time ago,  I made one of the rowing ports with its little door open,  I made the mistake of choosing one that turned out to be under the middle channel.  This was not a good idea.  Not only does it obscure a rather nice feature, the little door makes life difficult when fitting the channel. You may just see it in the following photo.
 

 

 

Most of the deck fittings have now been finished and it's now just a process of putting them in place. They will have to wait as I will be going away for 3 or 4 weeks on Thursday and household chores need to be done.
 

To my rather pleasant surprise, the bowsprit and the jibboom go together quite nicely.  Here they are joined by the cap.  They are dry-fitted and held by gravity.  Well they would have been here, but again the uploads were knocked back.
 

 
Tried again later.  Joy.

Thanks for the encouragement!! The first planking is now finally complete! It was a very large time investment but I'm mostly happy with the way it turned out!

I did make a few mistakes that made my life rather interesting. I aimed for the deck on the bow instead of the top of the slot above the deck. I therefore got very worried about the way my planks were creeping higher and higher on the keel. I dropped a few planks but then ended up with a dip in the planking across the first bulkhead and had to resort to some rather interesting stealers to correct the deficit.
 
Some regress photos to illustrate my point. First of the dip on the left:

Then of the stealer I used for the same dip on the right, seen four planks down. It worked in the end, but I'm sure I'll manage to do a better job on the second planking!
I also then ended up with a lip between the planks at deck level and the two just below. If I'd planked deck down I might have been able to correct this but planking keel up I saw the problem too late. The drop is a full planks' thickness so I'm considering gluing a short stretch of spare plank on top of the fourth and fifth planks from the first bulkhead to the keel and sanding it down at the edges to complete the curvature of the bow.
 
Any thoughts or recommendations??
 
The stern was a bit more successful, with Dan's advice about the CA glue solving my problem of getting planks to stick.

I've now begun the sanding process and will then getting cracking on the second planking! Any advice on ways to improve on my first attempt?

I probably have to wait until I start working on her for real and do more on my other kits. Here you can see her in comparison with my Granado and Snake.  

Whales added and sanded. For once, i didnt use pins... the Chuck method with CA. It took some time to get used to … with my fingers constantly stuck on the model like a kid licking a metalpole a cold winterday.

I am seriously thinking of using Tanganyika Wood for the planking since i dont know where to get boxwood in Europé.  

ASAT,
 
Bristol will be first half of next year.
 
I had to take a step back and be realistic. I know that Bristol will have the same new design principals as the large Amati Victory I did. The Victory took me two years to design, build the model and picture taking, and plans and instructions. This almost killed me! Although part of the time was trying to perfect the designs, so now that I know what's required, the next will not be so bad. Although Bristol is not as large as Victory, it will have fundamentally the same designs in the way it is built, a cross between Victory and Prince. I want Bristol as the forth kit and a frigate (or Swan class Atalanta) for the fifth. There is some overlap between each kit development, though. For example, I already have the correct shapes and number of bulkheads, decks and deck levels for Bristol, and same for the third kit, as I need to ensure the decoration at the stern and figureheads are going to fit perfectly. the best way to do this is to have the parts to which they will be attached to already complete, so no nasty surprises if I left it all to the last minute, and realised that what's shown on the original plans doesn't quite tally with how things should be - this happens often..
 
If I can develop three smaller kits first (Alert, Speedy and the one shown above, which I do not want to name yet), and they end up being successful, I can perhaps think about leaving my day job (which is also killing and restricting me right now), and concentrate fully on the larger, more complex and expensive developments. If working on such projects full time, they should take no longer than the smaller kits are taking me now, as I have an extra 40 hours per week to spend on them. Although I did design/develop the kits at Amati, Amati did format the instruction booklets and sort out the box art. It is only me now that does everything, from sourcing parts, getting the master carvings sorted, putting the plans and instructions together for publishable format, and sorting every other of the seemingly hundreds of things required to get even these smaller kits together. I am still getting used to this heavier workload, and am sure than when I get more used to it, it will become easier. But with working full time as well as doing this, there are only a set amount of hours per day, and the kits are not simple 'block models' anymore, there is a lot more to them.
 
As it stands at this moment however, I need my day job to pay the household bills and preserve my investment money. I am even putting some money into my business account from my wages each month, so every available Penny is being invested.
 
I should finish the Speedy hull assembly today, if I manage that, I will take some pics and post them, I now have the missing 0.4mm PE sheet!

As a kid I always remembered staring up at this kit with longing eyes, it was always sitting out of reach - physically on the top shelf, and financially in its huge box!  Never seen the PE before, so definitely want to follow your progress Kevin, this is the first PE I've seen that needs to be soldered.  You're doing a great job.

As a kid I always remembered staring up at this kit with longing eyes, it was always sitting out of reach - physically on the top shelf, and financially in its huge box!  Never seen the PE before, so definitely want to follow your progress Kevin, this is the first PE I've seen that needs to be soldered.  You're doing a great job.

Mass production of family portraits of metal parts

Taken from Andrew Lambert's "The last sailing Battlefleet", the Queen class were provisionally designed for 110 guns, all 32lb  with the exception of two 68lb cannons on each of the lower and middle gun deck.  The total also include two 68lb focsl carronades.  While still on the stocks, and based on experience with the launched Queen, three ships were lengthened by 3 feet at the bow to accommodate 118 or 120 guns (including a full lower gun deck of 68lb cannons), but not as a result of steam modification.    Marlborough which was the least advanced, was further redesigned to carry 68lb cannon on all decks (!) at launch.
 
Unfortunately I have no information on any subsequent changes in armament, before or after lengthening to accommodate steam, but clearly that was at some point after initial launching, and born out by the photos above.
 
Sadly after reviewing every photograph of both pre and post steam ships, I can't see any similar structure to the question that started this thread.  My view, they appear more along the line of outboard lights than any sort of armament - why would any further armament addition not use one of the already cut gun ports, makes no sense from an engineering standpoint to cut another port right between 2 perfectly good ones.  Just my 2c...

good evening everyone
 
please ignore the mess the pieces are in, they will be cleaned by the next post
 
the bridge work continues, apart from looking and playing with some deck parts earlier
 
but for now this is my priority, 
 
it may look a mess but it does look better in real life, LOL had i known they would look this bad i perhaps would not have posted them
 
photo 6 took me 3 hours to redo time and time again, at last i then got the finish i wanted, to realise it was meant to be stepped up,

Work on stunsail boom irons...
A copper strip is used. Rounded and glued... The small gap between edges is filled with CA and sanded. Will be painted matte black... Yard irons and stunsail irons will be glued to each other with a brass stick also painted matte black...
 

First layer of the whales in place... one more to go!

As a kid I always remembered staring up at this kit with longing eyes, it was always sitting out of reach - physically on the top shelf, and financially in its huge box!  Never seen the PE before, so definitely want to follow your progress Kevin, this is the first PE I've seen that needs to be soldered.  You're doing a great job.

Especially since I started the rigging, when big 'sticks' started sprouting upwards and in all other directions, I've tried to be as "unclumsy" as possible and although there have been a few times spars and rigging threads and other things have been caught by my hand or whatever, they have all survived the experience - - - until now.
 
I managed to clunk the starboard bumpkin - - - and >>>

I attempted to save it by applying a little PVA glue and holding it in position by using a thread looped through the block which was clamped on to the mast top. I wasn't very confident it would work, and my lack of faith was justified when, the next morning it looked like this >>>

I wasn't keen to rip it off to start again as it's glued and dowelled into the knighthead and also glued and nailed via a metal bracket on to the head timbers so I drilled a 1mm hole as close as I could in the centres of both parts of the casualty and inserted a 1mm brass wire, then glued the two pieces together again >>

. . . and (hopefully) back to normal (it feels at least as firm as the original) >>>