Beef Wellington

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!

I think channell is a little more correct at 12-15 miles on the range OC I believe 20-25 miles is over the horizon kind of range and I don't think any of the ships involved had that ability.
 
I don't think i have ever read that the Bismarck had lost radar but it has been a while since I read up on her ant the battle so I could be wrong. It was my understanding that as admiral Lutjens knew about the cruisers and all the ships were in and out of visible range he took the opportunity to put the more powerful Bismarck in the rear hoping that they would make the mistake of closing to get a better look and he could dispatch them before they knew what had happened. That would have allowed him to continue his escape into the Atlantic. He had to assume there were bigger British ships coming but prior to the Hood and Prince of Wales coming over the horizon had no idea of where, who, or when. 
 
It was also my understanding that it was admiral Holland that ordered his ships to open fire on the Prinz Eugen because as you said the distance was great and it was very early in the morning and the light was not all that good. Plus that was where he EXPECTED the Bismarck to be. Captain Leach thought they were not firing on the right ship but followed orders for the first few salvos before switching to the Bismarck before his guns failed all together.
Again this all is mostly from memory and a VERY condensed version of events as well. It really has been a while since I have read up on the battle and of course new things are discovered every day.

Another weekend, another update! 
 
I'm moving along on the aft-half of the superstructure... got the deck installed and everything just about ready for PE:
 
After scraping off the kit details:
 

 
I skeletonized the AA gun platform extensions with a twist drill and a scalpel; in-progress:
 

 
... and how they look after with the PE grates installed:
 

 
The completed deck:
 

 
Before and after of vent stacks below turret "Caesar":
 

 

 
One of the kit errors is having the aft area skylights as standalone units when they should be attached to the superstructure bulkheads; I modified the skylight trunks, drilled them out and mounted them directly to the bulkheads for a more "true to life" look. I had to add styrene backing so the skylights would sit far enough out to cover the holes in the deck. 
 

 

 
Got some very nice PE to dress up this area too, after priming the plastic with Tamiya rattlecan primer. 
 
And just for giggles and kicks, here's Bissy next to her nemesis, the Mighty 'Ood in the same scale:
 

 

 
The myth of Bismarck being the gigantic juggernaut of death that outclassed every other warship in the world is a bit overblown... Hood was a big girl and I'm sure her crew put to sea to chase down Bismarck with all the confidence in the world. The reality of war however is that sometimes you win big and sometimes #$*! happens.

It's humbling and a bit disturbing to remember (again) that such impressive and indeed beautiful ships were ultimately built to do such bloody, ugly jobs and that so many men died on them doing just that.
 
One reason I love scale modeling... it brings the past alive for people like me who are so far removed from the original events like no photograph or paragraphs in a book can. I hope in my builds that I can do justice to the memory of those who were there and who gave their lives in service of their countries. War is such a terrible thing but I'm sure the dead of both ships would have been pleased to know the Nazis are long gone and virtually everyone alive today has never known a world where Germany and the UK weren't friends and allies. 
 
 

Thanks guys! 
 
Got the front half of the superstructure all decorated and painted, minus some touch-up, weathering and some other bits like railings and guns that are best done later on:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Starting get places now... only have to do the same on the other half of the superstructure and I can finally cross out step #3 in the instruction booklet. 

She's looking REALLY good Kevin, glad you are back working on her.

She's looking REALLY good Kevin, glad you are back working on her.

Good evening everyone, im still slowly progressing the spars


 

When I dry-fitted the bulkhead it became apparent that the grooves for the side screens were out by about 1mm at the bottom and 2mm at the top.  It was not good news.  The error stemmed primarily from incorrectly installing the bulwark pattern.  Here is my solution to the problem.
 
First a groove was cut in the appropriate position.  The drill bits from the dentist have proved invaluable.
 

A piece of timber was cut to shape and glued in place in front of, and behind the groove.  This gave a far deeper groove for the screen and will, I hope make it easier to fit.  The grooves in the supports a very shallow.
 

... and here is the result.  At the moment the repairs only have one coat of paint and both need some further touching up, but it hasn't turned out too badly.  The photos exaggerate the roughness of the job, but it will better once complete.

Alan: I will try to get hold of a copy of the Kighorn (sp?) article.  Thanks for taking the trouble.  As an experiment I have painted one of the screens Admiralty paints French blue and another Tamiya mid blue.  The Tamiya covered in one coat and looks quite good.  The Admiralty paint has not covered well and may need at least two more coats.  I will post some photos when finished, but the French blue is, to my eye rather garish.
 
 

Progress is slow.  The quarterdeck bulkhead is proving to be quite difficult and time-consuming.  Everything seems to fit now, but I have made a mess of two of the cutouts for the supports.  I have left the repairs as is for the time being, (see the first photo) but I think I can do a better job.  If all else fails I will fudge it - cover the whole lot as shown in the second photo, though I would prefer some lighter coloured timber.  Like Joe V I have used polystyrene for the panels rather than the ply supplied in the kit.  They will be painted light blue, but I will probably not use the transfers of the drum etc. but may have go at painting the pictures.  If that doesn't work (likely) I will probably leave them simply painted.  Every thing shown below is dry-fitted.
 

 

The windlass has another coat of poly on it and the ends are now painted.  I will forget about painting/staining it.
 

 

Interesting that Michael and druxey at almost the same time wondered afresh about casting as the better way to go. In the spirit of full disclosure, and at the risk of high embarrassment showing my modeling failures, here are higher resolution photos of my casting failures, so you can see all its glorious detail.
 
I tried two moulds, the first has a funnel shaped pouring spout, as in David Antscherl's Fully Framed Model casting section. The second time, I tried a waisted-in pouring funnel like shown in an 18th century drawing on casting a barrel. I think this latter idea was a mistake, because you can see the metal was cooling before it fully filled the mould, as seen in the blackened cast barrel.
 
Notice also the discolored mould (with the funnel top). I used pewter purchased at a jewelry supply in Denver, and it seemed to have a lot of dross in it. It was not kind to the mould.
 
I put these away well over 2 years ago, and I see that the rubber moulds have already begun to break down in a few places (like at the button at the rear of the barrel).
 
If I chose to cast again, I think I would return to the Antscherl shaped funnel, increase the sizes of the vents, and try even more carefully to get a clean cut of the clay up to the master before pouring the first half of the rubber mould. I think I would also try the pewter from Micro-Mark, which seems to be tailored to model casting. Any thoughts?
 
Mark
 
 
 
 
 

@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...
 

 

I've now done first rigging on the lower main mast. This included the burton pendants and shrouds and the main stay.  Before doing these, I added cleats and eyebolts to the masthead and trestletree-crosstree assembly, as shown on the Smithsonian drawings.
 
After finishing the shrouds, I added sheer poles.The stay is double and set up to tackles that are hooked to deck eyebolts forward of the fore mast. Lastly, I lashed blocks for the boom topping lifts and the gaff peak halyard to the mast head.
 
Next, I will repeat this process for the lower fore mast.
 
Bob

Finally, something new to report. After getting the rigging plans and data, I decided to start with the bowsprit assembly and rigging. This really wouldn't have been my usual order of doing things, but I just felt like doing it.
 
I began by making the bowsprit, jibboom and flying jibboom, the spritsail yard, the cap and the dolphin striker. I assembled these after shaping and filing shoulders, where needed, and painting the appropriate areas black. Before mounting, I added cleats and eyebolts as shown, and then added the deadeyes for the bobstay, shrouds and forestay and blocks for the spritsail yard braces and lifts. I then mounted the assembly.
 
I began the rigging with the gammoning and then did the bobstay and shrouds. After those, I did the martingales and guys.The martingales reeve through hoes in the the dolphin striker, then through eyebolts on the bowsprit, then through fairleads at the bow and to the bow pinrail. The guys lead through eyebolts on the spritsail yard  and then to tackles hooked to eyebolts on the forward side of the catheads. I also added the spritsail yard lifts, which also run back to the forward pinrail. There is still considerable rigging left to do in this area when the various stays are run from the foremast.
 
Bob
 
 

I'm not saying much but I'm still following along with great interest, Jason. Truly an inspirational job so far; I just love how clean, sharp and exact everything is. 

Very nice work Jason!

Lovely work as usual jason  - very high standard,    such an inspirational place  to visit is Vic,   you can almost feel the spirits of Nelsons crew.
 
OC.

Thanks Jason, the capstan turned out great.  A mate drew up the one I needed in a #D programme and we have also just had it printed at shapeways.  I think we used ultra high definition plastic.  I am just assembling my Vampire printed with the same  stuff and it gave nice detail - just a cow to clean.  What did you use?
 
cheers
 
Pat

Good luck with your build. I'm building the kit now and it's been quite enjoyable. I've made some modifications along the way as well to try to get a more historic rendering. 
 
I'll be following along!

Sid good afternoon, the Dianna will be my next build, after The Vic is completed, LOL i will still be a long way behind you, but will learn from your progress
 

Greetings all
                   Thanks for  all your comments and likes. I have sorted the run of the wale out, hopefully,   and then moved on to the port side to start cutting out the gunports, but I got a bit cheesed off with them. So I have returned to the starboard side and started fitting the planking above the wale. Things have gone pretty well and I am happy with my progress, apart from the run of the planks above the ports which are not as horizontal  as they should be, so I will see how the planking will look later in the build, as I did not intend to paint it. I think I have gone as far as I should go with the planking, and will return to the gunports on the port side and then plank up the same as the starboard. I have posted a few photos and as I said I am pretty happy with it. The gun ports still need tidying up especially the five with lids.
Anyway that’s me for now, wish I was planking down the hull. Thanks a lot DAVID
 
 

Sjors - maybe these photos will help you make up your mind    The planking is not as beautiful as I think you think because of the different woods used, copper was always the plan.
 
Believe I reached a point to deliver a verdict on the Amati plates and share some progress now that copper has met boxwood.  I know that there seem to be many diverse opinions on coppering, and it does present its own uniquw challenges.  Its also amazing how many varied diagrams there are of copper plate layouts.  In the end, I probably ended up somewhere between what is shown in the AOTS Pandora book and TFFM book 2.
 
So, some thoughts on the Caldercraft:Amati copper plate matchup.  First off, I cannot believe how much more fun it is to work with the Amati plates vs my experience with the Caldercraft plates (which do still give a nice result).
Because the plates come in sheets, its possible to apply in some cases in multiple plates at a time.  This is a real bonus when its necessary to shape some which otherwise would leave a tiny sliver to be attached.  This results in less wastage..at least so far. The thin profile of the PE plated I think attaches much more easily (in my experience) using the Admiralty Pro thick CA glue.  This also allows any needed overlaps to be achieved easily without having to hammer out the distinct nail head profiles on the CC plates On to the photos and little bit of the method I've found works well for me.  I started working on the stern as this will likely be the most challenging due to the hull shape.
 
I'm not sure what these are called, but determining the flow of the plates where they need to fan out is the first challenge. Because the plates don't bend and can't be spiled, the problem is a little more intractable.  I found that by using a small sheet 2 tiles wide to find the natural lines of how the plates lie well on the hull was the simplest method, it just takes time and fiddling....
 

 
Once the lined had been figured out, household painters tape helped me keep the lines straight at these transition points (I go through a lot of tape)
 

 
From above (the view as I work), the lines of the plates does appear a little erratic...
 

 
...however, the appearance from normal angles is much more acceptable
 

 
 

Thanks everyone as always for continued interest....
 
Jim - not going to be able to put canon rigging off much longer....ugghh
 
The area around and immediately aft of the pumps is really quite congested and requires some planning.  The main jeer and topsail sheet bitts were scratched, parts from the kit look a little oversize to my eye.  Pillars were made square in section after studying as many pictures as I could find, these seem to be a mix between square and round, but I don't think my turning skills are up to making round ones.  Side blocks and fake sheaves were also added. 
 
For the aftermost stanchions, I followed the AOTS diagrams which shows these to be of smaller dimension.  All of these items will require some final finishing.  The capstan step was cut out of a single piece of 2mm boxwood and 'joints' faked by scoring with a knife and filling with pencil lead.  This took a while with just hand tools and I couldn't help but think of a toilet seat from the end result!  These details will be visible but obscured so forcing myself not to be too fussy.  The base of the capstan itself as sanded back to the pawl rim which sits in the hole in the capstan step.  (This requires a lot more finishing to get the surface to be acceptable)
 
Pictures are hopefully self explanatory.  I've shaped some box for the elm tree pump shafts and I've placed an offcut just to get a sense for positioning....
 
And to mystery that's been puzzling me for a while (and Rob alludes to in his Ethalion log), how does the placement of the pump brakes reconcile in the this workspace in such close proximity to the capstan and companion? 
I seem to recall reading 'somewhere' that some stanchions were removeable which would explain the location around the capstan  - once both sets were removed this would make this workable.  In later ships, these seem to have been replaced by hinged iron columns which makes a lot of sense.  if anyone could corroborate that would be much appreciated! Lastly, given the pump brakes also extend to this area, these would really be a permanent accident waiting to happen at the foot of the ladder to the quarterdeck which must have received quite a bit of use.  I can't find any reference to this, bit I have to suspect that pump brakes were removeable, and unshipped when not in use.  On the Artios class, there is a set forward, and 2 sets aft - in normal seagoing routine I would speculate that not all banks would have been needed, but could easily have been placed in the event or expectation of an emergency.  The last photo below from Victory seems to show exactly this, and it also makes the square section joining each brake much more functional.  Again, if anyone can point me to sources would be much appreciated!  
 
 

There is nothing below the waterline when it comes to details. There is also no strakes along the bow which are on the real thing. 
 
So some marskung and some very thin tape soles that quickly. I need to get some more rattle can spray to finish coverage on the Lower hull, then I can scribe in some panels. 
 
I also added some riveted panels to the rudders and above the cannons that run along the edge of the hull. 

I believe the "Cruizer" kits are similar (if not identical in many regards) to the Snake kit offering of which there are quite a few comprehensive build logs on this site. The only real major differences being the addition of platforms on Snake, use of carronades vs canons and the additional mast.  I believe both of the kits are earlier Caldercraft releases, so I think you may find them a little less refined than later offerings (certainly fewer detailed PE parts).  Good luck getting started.

Hi, as requested photographs of the parts. I have realised that I have probably had this kit for probably 15 years. My wife brought it me after visiting the companies premises and having a tour. At the time Mars had just come out and they were developing Pickle. 
 




 

A few of the parts are not shown as the build has already started.