Beef Wellington

Drew this yesterday, 'coloured it in' today.
I am presently reading 'With Utmost Dispach' a Richard Bolitho novel, in which he is in command of three Royal Navy Cutters in the English Channel. It provided the inspiration for this painting.
This famous Quotation also came to mind!. 
"We are off to look for trouble. I expect we shall find it." Capt. Tennant. HMS Repulse. Dec. 8 1941
23" X 14" watercolour.
 

A two month project Completed.
Grapnel.
The kit provides a soft white metal boat grapnel which at first  look seemed somewhat over-scale, particularly in the spread of the claws.
Checking against Steel ;
A 112lb boat grapnel had a shank length of 3'with length of claws ½ the length of the shank. This equates to scale lengths of 19mm and 9.5mm, pretty much spot on for the provided grapnel, altho' this relates to largest size of grapnel.
Even so the curve  of the claws seems less pronounced than the version shown in the Medway Long-boat, and therefore takes up more room.
As with the Pinnace version I added a ring thro' which a 300mm length of 0.63mm Ø line was attached with a Fisherman's Bend.
Boat Hook
Not provided in the kit, but at least one would have been provided as basic boat equipment.

2777
As with the Pinnace version I knocked one up from a soft metal hairgrip and a length of Boxwood square stock.
Completion photo's.

2784

2786

2787

2788

2789

2790

2791
 

2792
I have now made both of the Model Shipways 18th c boats, and there is a lot of modelling to be had from these two little modestly priced kits and fine little models to be had as a result.

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2797

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They are also excellent for skill honing particularly in terms of single plank hull planking, and simple ironwork fabrication.
It helps if you can replace some of the rather poor Limewood strips and use Syren replacement rigging line and blocks etc. which the kits really deserve.
 
My thanks once again to Chuck for making this possible and I look forward to the issue of his latest small boat offering.
 
B.E.
 
 
 
 

The ship is looking really nice on the stand Nils.  Looking at the lines, did you find the planking more straightforward on this hull shape?  The planks look to lie very nicely along the hull lines.

Such beautiful work.

Really nice Jim, once again I love the atmosphere.  Your Borei made me shiver 
 
I also didn't get a chance to comment on your minseweepers in the Forth, the skyline looks very familiar - used to spend quite a bit of time running up and down the firth in the more recent (but defunct) River class minesweepers (Spey and Helmsdale) but still have the views of Berwick Law and Bass Rock etched into my brain.
 
Also had the opportunity to live for a time in Seattle in the Pac Northwest - you really captured the spirit of the place which has such beautiful scenery,and yes, you are right to put orca's in as they show themselves not infrequently.  (@ Nils if you're reading this, the mountain range in the background are the Cascades, not the Rockies which are further inland)
 

And today's effort 
HMS Belfast lowering a boat to investigate the German Steamer 'Cap Norte' disguised as Swedish ship 'Ancona'
Watercolour 12" X 9"
Jim 

Just amazing - I think it would have been amusing to not reveal that this was actually a CGI build and see the comments of incredulity on the 'build'.  

Another of my all time favourites 
Armed Merchant Cruiser Carinthia on the Northern Patrol 1940 she was Torpedoed west of Galway Bay by U 46 at 13:13 on the sixth of June 1940. Four crew members were killed.
W/C 12 X 9 inches.
Jim

The ship is looking really nice on the stand Nils.  Looking at the lines, did you find the planking more straightforward on this hull shape?  The planks look to lie very nicely along the hull lines.

Hi Martin.
I have appropriated Baranov's cathead as best I can. I think it will come out quite well, though nothing is finally tied off at the moment.  A couple of stray threads are to be cut off and a minor adjustment or two are still to be made.  Thanks again for the reference.
 

 
 

 

The rigging thread through the cathead in the following photo is now more taught.

And I've finally done something about an ensign. I have attached cleats on the side and just above the side galleries. They seem to work.
 

The ensign doesn't look too bad but I think it's a bit heavy and tends to foul some of the other lines.  It is a double thickness (printed on one side and doubled over) so I will see what alternatives may be available (eg: becc).
 

 

 
 

Thanks Jason. The sweepers you mention were a bit after my time. It was mostly 'Tons' in my day, and they. Would be based at HMS LOCHINVAR (Port Edgar) opposite Rosyth.
Her is another with the Edinburgh sky line.
These are the ship served on by Edward George Bourne, (stoker).
L to R HM Ships Iron Duke, Galatea, Icarus, Centurion, and in the distance Indefatigable in which he was unfortunately killed at Jutland.
This was a commission for a lady who wanted it for her children, his descendants. The skyline of Edinburgh in the background 
Acrylic on canvas 30"  X 14"
Jim

Really nice Jim, once again I love the atmosphere.  Your Borei made me shiver 
 
I also didn't get a chance to comment on your minseweepers in the Forth, the skyline looks very familiar - used to spend quite a bit of time running up and down the firth in the more recent (but defunct) River class minesweepers (Spey and Helmsdale) but still have the views of Berwick Law and Bass Rock etched into my brain.
 
Also had the opportunity to live for a time in Seattle in the Pac Northwest - you really captured the spirit of the place which has such beautiful scenery,and yes, you are right to put orca's in as they show themselves not infrequently.  (@ Nils if you're reading this, the mountain range in the background are the Cascades, not the Rockies which are further inland)
 

Really nice Jim, once again I love the atmosphere.  Your Borei made me shiver 
 
I also didn't get a chance to comment on your minseweepers in the Forth, the skyline looks very familiar - used to spend quite a bit of time running up and down the firth in the more recent (but defunct) River class minesweepers (Spey and Helmsdale) but still have the views of Berwick Law and Bass Rock etched into my brain.
 
Also had the opportunity to live for a time in Seattle in the Pac Northwest - you really captured the spirit of the place which has such beautiful scenery,and yes, you are right to put orca's in as they show themselves not infrequently.  (@ Nils if you're reading this, the mountain range in the background are the Cascades, not the Rockies which are further inland)
 

It's a Small World Chris!
Heres a couple inspired by our trip to Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk.
Yasin class
Borei class
Jim

Aircraft Carrier HMS Argus and friends 'below the Bridge', late WW1 
W/C 12 X 7 inches.
Anyone asking "What Bridge?". Please return to your own planet, Mums looking for you.
Jim

Just amazing - I think it would have been amusing to not reveal that this was actually a CGI build and see the comments of incredulity on the 'build'.  

Thx OC
And an update...
The first planking is done, toke me several weeks to finish it.
So now we will start with the second planking....
 
 

Hi, the  work inside continues:
 

Tiziano,
I just came across your project for the first time. Beautiful, crisp work.
 
Mark

For those of you curious about how an actual rudder was constructed, our resident 3D guru, Denis, has prepared these renderings for our Swan class model. These tabled joints would be very difficult to emulate on model (please give it a go Mark!) and virtually impossible to see unless you could actually visualize both sides of the rudder at the same time. When completed our 3D Swan class ship will offer a more complete (and historically accurate) treatise on contemporary ship building than the AOS series.

 

A small update. There isn't much to report. Just to say that I'm still planking up and down from the wale, and up from the keel on the port side. There's no way to hurry it... it just takes as long as it takes.

I also trimmed back the bow planking to allow the beakhead replacement part to be inserted again.

Ah yes, and a few days ago, I put the second planking on the lower counter, and included the ports.
 
I’ve noticed that in Anatomy of the Ship, Diana, those ports on the lower counter don't seem to be gun ports at all… at least, they aren’t marked as such. They’re ports, yes, but as far as I can tell, the stern-chasers would have been fired from the captain’s quarter’s on the upper deck. The gunports there are extensions of the transom windows. Instead, the ports on the lower deck are far smaller. Perhaps a gun could have been fired through them, but would it have been smaller calibre…? presumably, in anything but a light sea, it would have been far too close to the water to want to fire a gun from there. AOTS shows the lower deck ports as being approx. 8mm square… (including extending the height because the counter is angled on the diagrams)… the Caldercraft plans show these ports as being approx 12.5mm square. I've followed AOTS on this one.
 
You can just about make them out in the picture below...

That's it for now.
 
Happy building.
 
Rob

Here's a slightly better picture of the second planking of the lower counter underway with the lower deck ports.

Rob - personal opinions only.  The contemporary models at the Annapolis Museum consistently have a satin(ish) sheen to them, far from matte.  Its a fine line between too much and too little sheen it seems.  For example, I'd used the Admiralty recommended 'dull black' paint on my Snake build but its just a touch too shiny for the scale (in hindsight) in my view.  For that reason I'm using the 'matt (metal) black' for the wales and black paintwork.  It seems to look good next to the satin finish of the wipe on poly I'm using (oil based).  One option I used on the deck was to use a waterbased 'satin' finish to give a little richness to the colour, and then use a water based matt to finish (think again these are minwax products).  
 
Answering the question of varnish on paint, I've found that to be on a case by case basis.  The admiralty paints in my view don't need it, but the Tamiya flat blue paint I used is much to matt, but looks so much richer with poly on top.  All personal opinion and results from experimentation :-)

Looking really nice Rob, the colour of the boxwood looks really nice even without a finish!

Very innovative solution Rob, looks great.  Not sure if you've done it already but it could be worth checking the bowsprit alignment if you can.  I seem to recall that the plans show this presenting a smaller angle than the AOTS, but even with a steeper rake there is precious little room between the bowsprit and the top of the figurehead, even the supplied Diana figurehead.
 
Now get back to those gunports!