Beef Wellington

After several months of effort, I have finally completed the frieze on the starboard side, at least.  I’m still ornamenting the port quarter.
 
Here’s one last comparison shot:
 

Taken as a whole, I think this experiment in stretching Berain’s frieze downward and forward is a success, even though it is not what was strictly drawn.  I happen to think that the acanthus escutcheon carvings are just too large to exist between the quarter deck guns, and that their presence, at that location, cramps the frieze.  There are certainly many things wrong with the Heller kit, but their decision to move these ornaments down to the main deck level was a sound one, in my opinion, and one that was grounded in documented practice among SR’s contemporaries.
 
A closer look:
 

 
And, I think, a pretty fair run with the drift rails:
 

 
While this particular phase of the project represents one of the most dramatic alterations to the kit, and the process of creating it was very educational and satisfying - it was also extremely fatiguing.  I love it, but I’m kinda’ sick of it.
 
While I still have work to do on these upper bulwark pieces - the upper amortisement of the quarter galleries, and the bow and stern angels - I will soon put these parts away for a while, after I have cut and framed the two small octagonal windows at the poop-royal level.
 
Following that, I will focus on getting the lower hull halves painted so that I can mount them and begin actually building the model.  I bought a sheet of 3/32” styrene sheet that will serve as the base cap of my waterline diorama.  Dan Pariser once suggested using brass, instead, out of concern that a styrene base would warp.  Styrene to brass sheet would be a purely mechanical bond.  My thoughts are that styrene to styrene would provide a welded joint and I plan to gusset and epoxy the hull interior like crazy, for extra lateral stability.  Does anyone out there have additional thoughts/experience on this point?
 

Those breeching rings came out really nicely an look just perfect, I'm sure at 1:48 its worth going that extra step to close these.  I really need to dive in and learn soldering and metal working techniques, been a little wary to try up to now. Love overall photo with the cut out figure, he enhances the look of the model by being a little more well defined than the ubiquitous "Captain Amati"...

Post 50
Thinking about Gun tackle scales
Fairly early in the stage, but I will fit the tackle eyebolts along the bulwarks and ensure that the holes for the breeching ring bolts are sufficiently deep and of the correct size to smooth the fitting later around all the encumbrances that will be on the deck by then.
I am conscious the more stuff on the deck the more difficult it is to get the drill square into the bulwark.
 
Chuck indicates using 28 gauge wire for the eyebolts and 24 gauge for the breeching tackle rings.
I presume he is referring to AWG and not SWG which we are more familiar with in the UK. There is not a huge difference but AWG is finer than SWG by equivalent gauge.
AWG 28 = 0.3211mmØ SWG = 0.376mmø
AWG 24 = 0.5106mm Ø SWG = 0.599mmø
 
I recall from my Pegasus build;
Breeching rings: 1"ø 4" in the clear
at 1:48 scale:= 0.5mm ø 2mm internal ø
Port Tackle eyebolt: 1"ø 1¾" in the clear
at 1:48 scale:= 0.5mm ø 0.92mm internal ø
For the Breeching rings I used 0.5mm ø  brass wire wrapped around a 2mm drill bit and snipped. A spot of silver solder secured the join. I went this extra step to reduce the risk of a ring failing and simply because I fancied doing a spot of silver soldering (or brazing as us professionals properly call it) 😉
For the bolts that hold them an eyebolt will suffice, modified slightly.

4557
Once cleaned up, the assembly is chemically blackened.

4569

4566
Apart from the forward  port-side port where I don't intend to fit a gun, I will defer fitting the other ring bolts as it will be easier to pre-attach the breeching rope before they are inserted into the bulwark.
With a short stub stem I find these things tricky to fit at the best of times, and the risk of marring the bulwark paint is high if the fitting hole isn't a clean fit.
 
Time to start scratching my head over decking. 🙄
 
B.E.
15/11/2018
 

Received today my copy of the second volume of the Rogers Dockyard Models covering Third rates.
Another beautifully presented book, and a worthy addition to my library.
Excellent service, 11 days from  order to door,USA to UK.
 
 Thank you Bob and Cathy.
 
B.E.
 

And this is a few photos of the imperial yacht Standart, the construction of which is already being completed. According to my calculations, it will take me another four months of work to complete and install all the details.

Glad I have just found your log before you have got too far Valeriy, love this style of model.  Making all of the metal parts must be so time consuming and sadly I'm not familiar with the techniques so looking to be educate by you.  I can't even imagine the amount of work you have ahead of you...but it will be worth it.

Mike - yes, the scuppers are PE from the kit...and yes, I had the same experience as you!  The carpet monster also ate a few, and I don't even have carpet!  I found the technique of attaching to masking tape, smearing some CA glue on the back side and then positioning, seemed to be enough time to adjust before it fully set.  Holes were drilled at an angle to the hull to try and give the impression of the tube angling up to the deck,  but that proved a little hit or miss.  Closeup, think the PE definitely looks overscale, but from regular viewing distance they blend in OK, and they will probably blend further when the other hull fixtures are added.
 
Well, I asked the question and MSW answered!!  Thanks everyone for your input, you've swayed me to the larger size, not a single vote for the smaller dimension.  Of course the larger rope will require far more taming but I'll solve that in due course.  Now to figure out how to attach to the ringbolt with a scale appropriate solution...
 
Just before putting this to bed, here is a picture I found from Endeavour which shows a smaller size breech rope which initially played into my deliberation.
 

 

Beautiful model, I take my hat off to you Channell on your patience (and all others.) who also) enhance with PE.  The results are really amazing and I think always makes the incredibly hard and tedious look simple when just looking at the results.  The wood deck is a really nice addition with all the individually coloured planks.  I too would like to see more of the Hood!

Glad I have just found your log before you have got too far Valeriy, love this style of model.  Making all of the metal parts must be so time consuming and sadly I'm not familiar with the techniques so looking to be educate by you.  I can't even imagine the amount of work you have ahead of you...but it will be worth it.

Mike - yes, the scuppers are PE from the kit...and yes, I had the same experience as you!  The carpet monster also ate a few, and I don't even have carpet!  I found the technique of attaching to masking tape, smearing some CA glue on the back side and then positioning, seemed to be enough time to adjust before it fully set.  Holes were drilled at an angle to the hull to try and give the impression of the tube angling up to the deck,  but that proved a little hit or miss.  Closeup, think the PE definitely looks overscale, but from regular viewing distance they blend in OK, and they will probably blend further when the other hull fixtures are added.
 
Well, I asked the question and MSW answered!!  Thanks everyone for your input, you've swayed me to the larger size, not a single vote for the smaller dimension.  Of course the larger rope will require far more taming but I'll solve that in due course.  Now to figure out how to attach to the ringbolt with a scale appropriate solution...
 
Just before putting this to bed, here is a picture I found from Endeavour which shows a smaller size breech rope which initially played into my deliberation.
 

 

Glad I have just found your log before you have got too far Valeriy, love this style of model.  Making all of the metal parts must be so time consuming and sadly I'm not familiar with the techniques so looking to be educate by you.  I can't even imagine the amount of work you have ahead of you...but it will be worth it.

@Pat - I tried using a very fine sanding stick after coat of primer had been sprayed on.  This worked in some cases, but less so in others, and not at all in all those hard to reach corners.  I've never seen many samples of 3D printing to compare to so I may be being a little unfair, and of course it comes down to the materials supplied.  I ordered the "Smoothest Fine Detail' option which was the 'best' finish of those available.  Its odd as one side is almost perfect, the other much rougher...https://www.shapeways.com/product/9VPR7D8CW/1-64-lower-capstan-18th-and-19th-century?optionId=64749325.  I suspect other materials offered by other suppliers could give better results.
 
Taking stock:
 
Not too much time in the shipyard this weekend, trying to get the garden ready for winter.  The shipyard did however get a bit of a spring cleaning as I was getting a little bit tired of working in a 2"x2" square on my cutting mat despite working on a pretty large table.  A few overall shots of where things stand as its been a while.  Now the channels are glued, the chainplate locations could be drilled as well as the emergency rigging eyebolt positions.  The scuppers have also been completed.  The positioning of all of these things requires quite a bit of planning and luckily I didn't encounter any problems with the airing ports.  (I seem to recall leaving off the foremost one because it is very tightly positioned between preventer links and would have been impossible to locate correctly and likely resulted in a necessary compromise with the chain alignments. 
 
Nearly all the parts for the upper gun deck have been completed an I'm still following the mantra of not gluing something into place until it absolutely needs to progress.
 

 
Syren rope will be used, and I would welcome peoples' opinions on which size to use for the breech rope.  Picked two sizes that seemed most appropriate, left is 0.025"/0.63mm, the right is 0.35"/0.88mm.  Even though I'm sure it exists, I can't find info on what regulation would be - and even if I did, the carriages and barrels are best efforts at matching scale and undoubtedly not spot on, so the right "look" is probably more important.  Upon consideration, I think I'm leaning toward the smaller size, but again would appreciate input...
 

 

Mike - yes, the scuppers are PE from the kit...and yes, I had the same experience as you!  The carpet monster also ate a few, and I don't even have carpet!  I found the technique of attaching to masking tape, smearing some CA glue on the back side and then positioning, seemed to be enough time to adjust before it fully set.  Holes were drilled at an angle to the hull to try and give the impression of the tube angling up to the deck,  but that proved a little hit or miss.  Closeup, think the PE definitely looks overscale, but from regular viewing distance they blend in OK, and they will probably blend further when the other hull fixtures are added.
 
Well, I asked the question and MSW answered!!  Thanks everyone for your input, you've swayed me to the larger size, not a single vote for the smaller dimension.  Of course the larger rope will require far more taming but I'll solve that in due course.  Now to figure out how to attach to the ringbolt with a scale appropriate solution...
 
Just before putting this to bed, here is a picture I found from Endeavour which shows a smaller size breech rope which initially played into my deliberation.
 

 

First off, thanks everyone for the likes and comments, my apologies for not responding sooner.  I haven't been able to keep up with everyone else's builds as much as I would have liked.
 
Been tinkering with a number of items that I want to get a head start on hopefully avoid pitfalls later.  I'm leaning toward getting as much work on the hull planned out or complete before the cannons get installed and the upper deck can go on - although that will still be a while because I needed a break from gun carriages.
 
Trimming the bow height:
Way back I'd mentioned that I took the approach to build the bows up higher than I would likely need to allow for the unforeseen.  I have now shaped these to be much closer to where I think they will end up, less a little finishing.  The bulwarks at the bow appear to be parallel to the whale, just like the rails, which was used as a guide.  This was an exercise in reconciliation as of course various small (or not so small) errors have crept in along the way.  This proved not too difficult, the only hiccup was found when dry fitting the deck, to ensure that the height of the bulwark is symmetrical on both sides, some shims were added to the top of some of the forward bulkheads.  The error is unlikely to be in the kit cut bulkheads, but more likely a combination of small discrepancies in my positioning of the position of the whales, waterline etc.  You can see in shots below the discrepancy in the height of the foremost gunport, this was a result of positioning the ports to be of equal height off the deck, which was clearly not fitted as well as it should have been.  These add about .5-0.75 of height on the starboard side, but the very small 'twist that this will introduce will not be noticeable.  The sheer rail at the bow has also been added.
 

 
Headworks:
Have been doing a lot of thinking about how to approach the headworks, clearly a rather challenging area.  Frankly, the kit supplied parts are a little disappointing being rather grainy and splintery, with some questionable dimensions.  The main rail seemed to be the place to start, and after a lot of experimentation decided to build this and the false rail together rather than in separate pieces - mainly because it seems sturdier, and less challenging as the false rail is rather lengthy and thin at this scale.  The main rails were cut from 2mm castello, and a profile introduced using a scraper to simulate the various features of the genuine article.  Curved, tapering shapes have to be the hardest to get right, especially with fine details and there were many time consuming rejects which painfully got me up the learning curve until I was happy.  The AOTS side elevations were scanned and manipulated digitally to correct for the angle to get the appropriate shape.  Caution!  I think the placement of the slot for the boomkin is not shown correctly on the AOTS side profile, I adjusted this looking at contemporary models - the revised position matches closely with the kit part which does provide some comfort.
 
The false rail was cut from 0.6mm pear sheet and 2 were laminated together.  The panel section of the false rail was cut out carefully to be shaped later by beveling the edges before replacing back in place.  First photo below shows a little how these were built up, with the first successful but discarded prototype, and a main rail that failed scraping.  Second photo below shows the kit supplied part next to the one of the scratched final articles.  Ignoring the quality of the wood (and to be fair, I made no effort to clean up the supplied parts), the AOTS plans suggest a subtly different profile curve, and a thicker main rail which looks too thin on the kit part.  The head of the main rail was deliberately cut a little longer to allow final shaping once these are finally installed.
 

 
These were then positioned with the head of the main rail vertical in both head on and side elevations.  It was found that these were quite easy to keep in place using mini modeling clothes pins  (scale replicas of the actual clothes pins used in actual ship construction  ).  Posting a lot of photos because I would really appreciate comments and suggestions from those more experienced with this to help me avoid fatal errors!
 

 
Finally, to confirm the layout of the boomkin slot, a copy was copied and scaled from the AOTS diagram.  This shows the tight proximity of the boomkin and seat of ease.  The triangular gap at the rear of the grating behind the false rail screen is where I believe there should be another seat of ease.
 
Again - I'm fumbling my way through this following the excellent TFFM book, so please do not be shy to point out errors and mistakes!
 

 

Fabricated Square bolts for the channel supporters from some brass nails, filed to square and flat in the mini vice

Terminator drill stand got its first outing as well, I made a small jig to drill the ends of the supporters in the same spot

Carl  - sadly Victory doesn't have any 18lb'ers...
 
Found the exact info I needed after a lot of digging in the 'armament' section:  This translates as follows:
24lb 6 1/2" circumference - 0.82mm diameter at 1:64 18lb 5 1/2" circumference - 0.69mm diameter at 1:64 9lb 4 1/2 circumference - 0.57mm at 1:64  
So not surprisingly, the smaller size is slightly too small (91% of actual), and the larger too large (127% of actual).  Mathematics would point the smaller size being least inaccurate, so as always it seems it comes down to the 'eye of the beholder'.  Interestingly, I had initially leaned toward the larger size as well, but changed my view.
 
Cannons on Trincomalee are 18lb'ers, but the breech rope do look bulkier, however no info to suggest that these are indeed the 'period correct' size either.  And so the modelers dilemma, follow sources, try to replicate (possibly inaccurate) real life examples, and/or follow your eye!  (The cheesed hauling tackles jump out at me as a little incongruous being probably not contemporary practice (rather than more practical frapping) but this is a look modelers follow because it does look good!)
 
The jury is still out...of course, this isn't a matter of life and death, its way more important than that 🙂 
 

 
 
 

@Pat - I tried using a very fine sanding stick after coat of primer had been sprayed on.  This worked in some cases, but less so in others, and not at all in all those hard to reach corners.  I've never seen many samples of 3D printing to compare to so I may be being a little unfair, and of course it comes down to the materials supplied.  I ordered the "Smoothest Fine Detail' option which was the 'best' finish of those available.  Its odd as one side is almost perfect, the other much rougher...https://www.shapeways.com/product/9VPR7D8CW/1-64-lower-capstan-18th-and-19th-century?optionId=64749325.  I suspect other materials offered by other suppliers could give better results.
 
Taking stock:
 
Not too much time in the shipyard this weekend, trying to get the garden ready for winter.  The shipyard did however get a bit of a spring cleaning as I was getting a little bit tired of working in a 2"x2" square on my cutting mat despite working on a pretty large table.  A few overall shots of where things stand as its been a while.  Now the channels are glued, the chainplate locations could be drilled as well as the emergency rigging eyebolt positions.  The scuppers have also been completed.  The positioning of all of these things requires quite a bit of planning and luckily I didn't encounter any problems with the airing ports.  (I seem to recall leaving off the foremost one because it is very tightly positioned between preventer links and would have been impossible to locate correctly and likely resulted in a necessary compromise with the chain alignments. 
 
Nearly all the parts for the upper gun deck have been completed an I'm still following the mantra of not gluing something into place until it absolutely needs to progress.
 

 
Syren rope will be used, and I would welcome peoples' opinions on which size to use for the breech rope.  Picked two sizes that seemed most appropriate, left is 0.025"/0.63mm, the right is 0.35"/0.88mm.  Even though I'm sure it exists, I can't find info on what regulation would be - and even if I did, the carriages and barrels are best efforts at matching scale and undoubtedly not spot on, so the right "look" is probably more important.  Upon consideration, I think I'm leaning toward the smaller size, but again would appreciate input...
 

 

Mike - yes, the scuppers are PE from the kit...and yes, I had the same experience as you!  The carpet monster also ate a few, and I don't even have carpet!  I found the technique of attaching to masking tape, smearing some CA glue on the back side and then positioning, seemed to be enough time to adjust before it fully set.  Holes were drilled at an angle to the hull to try and give the impression of the tube angling up to the deck,  but that proved a little hit or miss.  Closeup, think the PE definitely looks overscale, but from regular viewing distance they blend in OK, and they will probably blend further when the other hull fixtures are added.
 
Well, I asked the question and MSW answered!!  Thanks everyone for your input, you've swayed me to the larger size, not a single vote for the smaller dimension.  Of course the larger rope will require far more taming but I'll solve that in due course.  Now to figure out how to attach to the ringbolt with a scale appropriate solution...
 
Just before putting this to bed, here is a picture I found from Endeavour which shows a smaller size breech rope which initially played into my deliberation.
 

 

Mike - yes, the scuppers are PE from the kit...and yes, I had the same experience as you!  The carpet monster also ate a few, and I don't even have carpet!  I found the technique of attaching to masking tape, smearing some CA glue on the back side and then positioning, seemed to be enough time to adjust before it fully set.  Holes were drilled at an angle to the hull to try and give the impression of the tube angling up to the deck,  but that proved a little hit or miss.  Closeup, think the PE definitely looks overscale, but from regular viewing distance they blend in OK, and they will probably blend further when the other hull fixtures are added.
 
Well, I asked the question and MSW answered!!  Thanks everyone for your input, you've swayed me to the larger size, not a single vote for the smaller dimension.  Of course the larger rope will require far more taming but I'll solve that in due course.  Now to figure out how to attach to the ringbolt with a scale appropriate solution...
 
Just before putting this to bed, here is a picture I found from Endeavour which shows a smaller size breech rope which initially played into my deliberation.
 

 

Deck installation.

Yves, this will not happen. The metal will be clean.
 
Fore  torpedo tube.

Marking and installation of propeller shafts.

While the epoxy resin on the case dries out, I make parts of the screw-steering complex:
- screw-propellers
- propeller shafts
- propeller shaft couplings
- propeller shaft brackets
I use soldering silver.

Grinding, spackling and hull preparation for bonding fiberglass.