Beef Wellington

Next, some rear section planking: at last some pear wood !!!  
And the building of the bow. The waterline is marked with an x acto knife, so the ink won't dribble when applied. 
 
 

I've been slowly organising the bow structures.  The hawser inserts have been glued in, re-inforced along the back edge, and faired with a little putty.
 
That enabled me to layout and engrave the "hunting ports," simply copying the 1" spacing of the guns that preceed it.  Honestly, I feel I may have engraved a little too deeply, but there will be several layers of paint and a series of washes that will minimize that to a degree.
 
The hinge strops were cut from thin styrene sheet, and although it is not really visible in the following pictures, I was able to nicely simulate the hinge strap nail heads, by pressing the point of a common sewing pin into the back of each strap, three times.  I still need to make small ring pulls for the port lid lifts, but I'll have to experiment to find a method and material that looks good in scale - they are so tiny!  I'm learning a few things about tiny metal work on Popeye2Sea's SR build log, right now.  The work he's doing, there, is really astounding!
 
In the meantime, though, I am building up the anchor linings.  These pictures don't show it, but there will be a filling piece between the lower main wales.
 
After gluing in the first strake, parallel with the lower main wale, I realised that I would need to adjust and taper the second strake so that the following strakes aligned better with the planking and middle wales.  Maybe I should have redone and made this adjustment on the first strake, but I think if it really bothers me, I can putty the joint between 1 and 2 and re-scribe; there-in lies the beauty of plastic.
 
To finish, the anchor linings will he sanded flush and for texture with really coarse 50 or 60 grit paper.  I will simulate their treenailing, just as I eventually will for the rest of the hull with the tip of a hypodermic syringe.
 

Very interesting approach to building the hull and its already a beautiful result, can't wait to see how the rest of the planking goes together!

Very interesting approach to building the hull and its already a beautiful result, can't wait to see how the rest of the planking goes together!

well the hanger has a helo in it now, lol not that anyone in a maritime site would care, but i had to, my hands were tied, it has a fairly cheap basic OOB build, and I even left some bits off, the rotors blades were a pain as they were not design to fold like that
here is what i am trying to copy (not my photo)
the kit 
my attempt so far

 

The rudder looks outstanding - not only the metal work, very impressed with how you've attached those copper plates...looks completely to scale.

Next, more deck equipment, vents etc. 

Finally the vents. I have to do up the anchor stuff now, chains, stoppers, breaks, anchors, cut some strip to make the anchor run flush with the decks. I've got a few more places to add vents at the base of the Pagoda, but I want to get the railings finished first. 

The rudder looks outstanding - not only the metal work, very impressed with how you've attached those copper plates...looks completely to scale.

Good evening everyone
 
spent quite a bit of time today on the hanger internal details, even though artistic licence applies i am happy with it, especially as when the helo is parked in front of it very little will be seen
 
before being primed i put a cage under the landing

primed with Halfords rattle can grey

then in Citadel white which is quite a flat white
 

using part of the spruce from the Bismark build, i formed a few water pipes  

which then were primed in red and added 
then made a set of hand rails for the landing

and placed into its home for the night

 

Update
 
Today the ordering customer drops in at the shipyard to see the progress of his "baby", accompanied by his two sons
 
Nils
 

four frames still missing....

Peter,
 
I`m very pleased to welcome you to the Chebec. In the moment there is still a good drive at it, an looks like the fixture works well...
 
Build log part 2
 
setting up the frames /bulkheads with the keel. Unfortunately the outside contour straking can first be checked when the whole framework later on is removed from the fixture. But there will have to be fairing done anyhow. Perhaps I will add a minimum of stringers as well, in order to ease the planking later.
 
Nils
 

Keel is in place (not to be glued in)
 

glueing the paper bulkheads to the ply. The paper will be scraped off afterwards
 

 
 

8 layer ply was ordered but really came 10 layer, total 5,2 mm thick
 
 
 
 

up to now all is fitting well (in dry fit)

The rudder looks outstanding - not only the metal work, very impressed with how you've attached those copper plates...looks completely to scale.

Hi folks.
 
Some further progress on the rudder which is now ready to hang.  Below is the process for making the pintles which was made by first soldering two telescoping tubes of copper together to get to the right size for the leading edge of the rudder.  This thicker walled tube was then soldered to the the copper plate which was then cut on my hobby saw to the right strap thickness. The was pintle was then shaped on a former to the same thickness as the rudder blade.  
 
The photo with the raw materials shows the telescoping tubes with the smaller being the same size as the mating hole in the gudgeon.  The photo showing a near complete pintle (still to be drilled) and gudgeon shows a nice tight fit - the pintle still has cleaning of the solder to be completed.  
 
Everything is made of copper except the nails I used to simulate the rivet heads which are brass.  i tried making some small nails but have yet to refine/improve my technique (based on Ed Tosti's method) and really need to make a jig for this.  With my nerve issues I find I cannot hold the wire in a plier with grovve as Ed does.
 
These turned out okay as shown in the completed rudder, which I will hang after painting the rudder head and fitting the strap and eyes to accept the emergency chains and shackles.
 




cheers
 
Pat
 

Carl, great to hear from you and hope all is well, its been a while!  Hope you can see some progress, looking forward to you getting back in the shipyard.  All the best.

Time for an update.
 
As always, thank you for the likes and encouragement. I'm not quite sure where I'll go with the decorations, but thankfully I still have a while to ponder that. Perhaps some fishes... I will take that advice and check out the alignment of the lower cheek. I'm somewhat dreading trying to get everything to line up, but as you say, fore-planning will hopefully take some of the pain out of the process.
 
In the meantime, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Portsmouth historic dockyard. It was wonderful to be able to go round Victory again, and I was quite taken with the white bulwarks on the gundeck. Not sure if they're a little anachronistic on Ethalion, but I thought I'd have them white instead of red or ochre. We'll just assume that the captain fancied having them that way. I'm hoping it will allow a little more light to see everything once the quarter deck, foredeck and gangways are on. It also created a nice contrast with the walnut waterway(?) I added between the deck and the bulwark. The walnut wasn't in place when I took the photo below.

The gunports are all lined now and remain the red ochre.
 
The second task attempted was to build up the templates for the quarter deck bulwarks. Having decided that I wanted to have the railings on the quarterdeck (as per the NMM plans, rather than the AOTS plans), I thought I needed to modify the ply templates by cutting them down. However, when I checked the templates they were way off. In the photo below, the template sat on top of the ply is the kit provided template. The outline of this template can be seen faintly drawn on the ply below, along with the ports that are defined on the NMM and AOTS plans, which are all approx 5mm further towards the stern of the boat. The heights of the carronade and cannon ports are also different. 
 
When built, Ethalion (as per AOTS) had a quarterdeck armament six 32lb Carronade and six 9lb cannon in the following arrangement.
STERN – Carronade – Cannon – Carronade – Carronade – Cannon – Cannon – WAIST
 
This is reflected in the size of the ports.


I decided not to cut out the ports until the bulwarks were planked, in order to keep them strong, and allow any minor adjustments to be made.
 
Main Wale
 
I wanted to plank in line with the wale, so the wale needed to go on first. That gave me another challenge. To get the wale in the right place, I needed the waterline, and that wasn't marked yet. So. It was a job of propping up the hull (with 6mm clearance off the floor at the bow, and none at the stern), with masking tape to stick it in place, then using a jury rigged contraption to mark out the waterline. Once the waterline was marked, the wale could be carefully measured and marked out. These measurements were taken from the AOTS plans.
 
Once I was satisfied with the sweep of the wale, I put the first of the 3mm strips in place. I built up a layer of 3mm strips, then the black strake was created with 4mm black-stained boxwood strip. Then the wale below was built up with more 3mm walnut and covered with black-stained boxwood. Once sanded and scraped to smooth it, the whole was stained with admiralty ebony stain to bring the walnut into line with the boxwood.
 


 

 
 

We returned to Florida after a week away, just after our power was restored. Fortunately, there was no damage done and life is returning to normal. "Normal" means back to work on Halifax, so here's an update.
 
The next order of business was to complete the decking for the aft most section. In order to do that, I needed to at least rough out and position the deckhouse/companionway/binnacle structure first. Once I got started on it, however, it was too much fun to stop, so I finished it completely. The structure was made as follows: the walls were made from individual planks cut from 1/8" x 1/16" boxwood strip; the walls were shaped to match the camber of the decks; the walls were assembled using square strip at the inside corners; interior dividers were cut from 1/16" boxwood sheet and fitted to form the companionway walls and the binnacle cabinet; moldings were added to all of the walls using 1/32" boxwood strip; the doors were made in the same manner as the walls; the roof was cut from 1/32" boxwood sheet and bent to fit the camber; final detailing was done using PE door hinges and roundhead brass pins for door handles. I couldn't resist doing a compass for the binnacle, although it really can barely be seen. The compass was made from a slice of brass tubing, with a styrene disk for the face. I used Micro Krystal Klear for the "glass". One of the photos shows the structure in place temporarily, but it won't be mounted permanently until later.
 
The deck planking was done in the same fashion as before and provides an open look into the stern cabin.
 
Bob
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Good morning, and tank you, druxey
Another pictures, temporary installation:
 

I'd suggest checking out the Soleil Royal build logs, there is extensive discussion on this in many of them.

Thank you Bob, Grant, Michael, Martin, Steve, and Christian.
 
So this build is completed after a leisurely five month exercise.
The final item to make the base board and hull supports.

1034
For the base I have used a plain piece of Boxwood sheet of 3mm thickness with slightly chamfered edges.

1036
 You may recognise what I enlisted into service for the supports.
 

1037
For a change I made a greater effort for the final photo shoot.
 
and here are the results.

0444

0448

0465

0475

0496

0497

1029

1038

1040

1044

1045

1046

1048

1049

1050

1053

1054

1056.
Thoughts on the Pinnace kit.
My thanks go to Chuck for designing this fine kit and giving us modellers the opportunity to build a nicely scaled model of an iconic 18th c boat.
This is a fine little model but a sod to plank, although I did use rather thin Boxwood strip which allowed a very small margin for sanding corrections .
The supplied basswood is not really suitable for a model of this single planked type being too soft and feathery to get clean edges. I did replace much of the wood with my stock Boxwood and were I to do it again I would use Boxwood overall albeit of a somewhat thicker strip for the exterior planking, allowing me a little more leeway for my planking deficiencies.
I wasn't too happy with my work at the outset but as the build progressed and I got into the detail I eased up on myself somewhat, a model is more than the sum of its parts, and although I don't rate it as one of my best efforts, I do rather like the look of it outside of the prying eye of the macro lens.
This has been a nice little five month summer project, not entirely relaxing, but with a satisfying result, and it has wetted my appetite for Chuck's forthcoming Barge kit.
 
Regards,
 
B.E.

Hi Popeye
 
I finally did it. Found some interesting hints on the poop deck. First I read about a pilot who insubordinately left the poop deck while proceeding through Gedney Channel in 1840: 
 

In his book "White Jacket", Herman Melville didn't clearly mention United States's appearance, but when we have a look at these quotes, he mentioned quarterdeck and poop deck separately:
 
 
Last not least there is an interesting article on constitutionmuseum.org: Have a look at this link.
 
So I decided to remove most of my stern additions:
 

 

Next step was to create a new stern, poop deck, galleries ... the whole stuff:
 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I think, I'm coming close to the real thing ...
 
Regards,
Alex
 
 

Making this simple Mike, I think there are plenty of patination solutions available specifically aimed at a verdigris finish (rather than blackening) if that's the direction you want to go.  Have never tried any, but the jewelry market seems big on this.  Google search should give you plenty of options.

Making this simple Mike, I think there are plenty of patination solutions available specifically aimed at a verdigris finish (rather than blackening) if that's the direction you want to go.  Have never tried any, but the jewelry market seems big on this.  Google search should give you plenty of options.

Making this simple Mike, I think there are plenty of patination solutions available specifically aimed at a verdigris finish (rather than blackening) if that's the direction you want to go.  Have never tried any, but the jewelry market seems big on this.  Google search should give you plenty of options.

Will follow along with the usual fascination Nils, interesting subject and can't wait to see how she comes together.