Beef Wellington

Hi Jim,
it is quit clear to me that you have mastered the skills required to create beautiful paintings.
I enjoy the individual atmospheres you create, dispite the fact that your subjects are restricted to a single topic.  On a more technical note, the last two paintings have enabled me to understand and/or appreciate the tips I once received about using the structure of your canvas to help you with your story (looking at the waves and the way you suggest foam).
Thank you for showing us / letting us enjoy your talent (even if it is silently for the most part).
Slainte
L.H.

Wonderful work Jim, I could look at these for hours.
Especially nice seeing settings I know.
You should be congratulated on not just the quality but also the quantity by the sounds of it.
Nick

Yeah! I'm first to the next Mobbsie build and get the best seat.

Yeah! I'm first to the next Mobbsie build and get the best seat.

Love what you've achieved with the masts, cleats and tops, should all look stunning all in place.  The deadeye plates do look convincing, nicely done.

Love what you've achieved with the masts, cleats and tops, should all look stunning all in place.  The deadeye plates do look convincing, nicely done.

Love what you've achieved with the masts, cleats and tops, should all look stunning all in place.  The deadeye plates do look convincing, nicely done.

Love what you've achieved with the masts, cleats and tops, should all look stunning all in place.  The deadeye plates do look convincing, nicely done.

Love what you've achieved with the masts, cleats and tops, should all look stunning all in place.  The deadeye plates do look convincing, nicely done.

Made the deadeye plates from .012 black rigging line like the instructions show. Wasn't sure about this at first but after trying a few it looks fine. Form an eye, seize above it and add glue. After painting (I used gun metal gray/black) and you cant tell the are made from rigging. Pull the 2 loose ends through the holes in the top to tie around the deadeyes on the other side. The instructions said to tie an overhand knot, glue and snip off but I tied an overhand knot, looped back around bottom of deadeye then tied another overhand knot around the bottom of the deadeye for extra security when rigging will be pulling on them.
 
Jesse

Ok, the main ship is now pretty much done. Davits and Cats added, rigging done. I’ll touch up the paintwork at the end. 

So, that’s it, all the armament added, 8 big cannon, 8 12.7cm high altitude gun mounts, 31 triple 25mm’s, 10 single 25mm’s, 6 rocket mounts. 

So, throw a few guns and ammo boxes on, set the TV aerial up...

The stack, or funnel. Horrible bit of kit as the PE really needs to be done up with the deck to get the alignment correct which if flat out impossible with the wooden stick on deck. Good enough for government work and weathered using black pastels for soot. 
 
This is the last main structure with only the mast to go and then lots of planes, boats and guns. 

The kit provided anchor is pretty much rubbish, the stock is a curved piece of plastic! There are also no stern anchors provided. 
 
I widened the hawser holes holes and used a North Star anchor set, joined to the Artwox chain, running strait through to the capstans. Hawser holes covers, chain stoppers and brake handles, as well as covers for the bit where the chain runs into the chain locker. 
 
The bit where the chain runs was recessed into the deck after the wooden deck was used, so I used the cut outs as stencils to cut plastic strip to fill the holes. 
 
Mall of the bollards from the kit were shaved off ages ago and are brass on plastic strip. 
 
Little bit of weathering, and railings to go.  

What is done for now....
 
Hawse covers, bow samson post, side samson post, cat david's bow doors and heads ( round houses)
And of course pictures of that.
I know that everything is taken in HD quality so you will see each part of dust, sawdust and other things what I have no name for.
 
Sjors

Catching up Jim, everything looks really good especially the rigging.  Which manufacturer made the anchor kit from? -  it looks well formed and very clean.
 
Just noticed you're in Edinburgh, I used to live in a tiny flat on St Stephen St in Stockbridge many years ago.

Hi Peter
Thanks for taking the trouble to help.
 
After having a look at the crowded deck and being unwilling to drill into the top of the decorative facia, I think my Vanguard will have to go without an ensign.  The plan shows a block on the main gaff (which I have installed), the line going down to a block somewhere on the deck.  The arrangement you describe sounds far more sensible, but if you can find an accessible belaying point on the inner bulkhead (see below), please let me know.  However I could run the line down and belay to the eyelet shown in the following photo, and may give that a test run to see how it looks, but I am rather lukewarm on the idea.
 
Aside from all of this, the rigging is finished!
 
Incidentally, if anyone  has suggestions for another ship to build, please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 
 

Thank you all for your comments.
Last year I was fortunate to be invited, along with my wife, to take part in 'Dervish75’ the celebrations commemorating the arrival of the first Convoy to Russia. We were part of a group of WW2 convoy veterans and their carers ( the Vets were all in their 90s) flown up to Arkhangelsk where we took part in various events in memory of those who were lost during the what Winston Churchill called 'The Worst Journey On Earth.'  We then moved on to St Petersburg and Kronstadt for more of the same. We shared all of these events and receptions at various consulates and embassies with our Russian hosts. We made many friends and shared lots of memories as sailors do, helped along of course with copious supplies of Vodka. A year before the trip I had been asked if I had any paintings of convoys that could be used as a small exhibition during the event. However this snowballed into 50 of my paintings being made up into a book ( printed in Moscow) 250 copies were printed and were given free to the veterans, VIPs, museums, schools and anyone who provided assistance to the venture. Each year reciprocal visits take place between Vets from Russia and UK and other allies.  Efforts are being made to continue these international visits after the original veterans are gone. 
Our governments may have 'frosty' relationships, but at the grass roots I know our Russian friends had exactly the same hopes and fears we have. We both want to get on with living life in peace and happiness.
jim
Here are some pages from the book 
 

Great pictures, especially like the close up view of the stern.  I was going to use exactly the same approach for the chain so nice to see it work so well.  Now I've "been there and nearly done that" I can appreciate your craftsmanship even more   BTW, I think you are referring to the binnacle (?)

Jim, you have some real talent, I'm not an art critic either to explain why, but your colour balance, cloud and water effects which are notoriously difficult to do well are to my taste, and work especially well in watercolour medium - oh, and the ships look good too!.  Would love to see more.

Jim, you have some real talent, I'm not an art critic either to explain why, but your colour balance, cloud and water effects which are notoriously difficult to do well are to my taste, and work especially well in watercolour medium - oh, and the ships look good too!.  Would love to see more.

I have always been interested in Ships and maritime history, and did spells in the British Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. I have built models most of my life ( not the really serious ones like on here ) but I always had great pleasure building them.  As well as model making, I have always  had an interest in art, well, marine art really, and do a lot of painting, especially now I've retired. I don't consider my self an Artist, more a ship painter. I do it for my own pleasure, and get as much pleasure researching the subject as I do painting them.
Her are a few of my paintings, please feel free to comment. Jim
 
1 Convoy Rescue ship passing. Liberty ship   2. Envoy class rescue Tug  3. Death of. windjammer Flamburgh Head with Rocket Rescue Team
 

Thanks for the comment, Derek, and to the others for the likes.
 
I was right in my remark at the end of my previous post ~ I DID hear the foremast shrouds calling . . . and they kept me busy for a couple of weeks. I have to say I'm glad that I've now got all the lower mast shrouds in place as I was finding it a bit tedious. On a really good night I would get 4 shrouds (2 each side) done but on 'normal' nights it was more like 2 shrouds. (there are 22 on the fore lower mast)
 


Deadeye lanyards waiting for the fore stay and preventer before being finally tensioned and trimmed.
 
In order to relieve the tedium of  the shrouds I diverted to a few other projects. I made the basic platform of the fore top, had a go at rigging the port side cat tackle and assembled an anchor. OK ~ as with the deadeyes and most of the blocks, I cheated with the anchors -- I bought over-the-counter items instead of trying to make my own. The ones I got are quite acceptable and probably better that I would have made myself.

The cat tackle  >>>

Here's what comes in the anchor kit >>>

The only thing I found a bit tricky was getting that brass rod to bend into an acceptable round ring.

. . . and then having some fun trying to serve the ring >>>
Still have the bandings to be fitted to the stock.

Thanks for your comments, Nigel and Tom, and to the others for the likes.
 
The main and mizzen shroud lanyards are eventually made off and the excess trimmed.

Since the bowsprit is now in position I rigged the bowsprit shrouds and bobstays.


In the pic above the boomkins are dry-rigged just to check the fit.  They won't be staying there until the time comes when I'll have to fit them. They look so fragile and vulnerable sticking out the front and they're now back in the 'safe box'.
(The 'safe box' is so safe that a few things that have been hiding in there for a while are no longer 'findable'  and I have had to make replacements -- I have no idea where the originals went!)
O.K. ~ I'll be off now, I think I hear the foremast shrouds calling . . . . .