Beef Wellington

Martin, those steps look fantastic, those twisting steps look very pretty but must be a real challenge.  Its almost as if the ship builders were deliberately making it hard by placing the curve in the gangboards where they did.

Martin, those steps look fantastic, those twisting steps look very pretty but must be a real challenge.  Its almost as if the ship builders were deliberately making it hard by placing the curve in the gangboards where they did.

Well, a mere two months have passed, and the wildlife in my yard have become oddly quiet (a pair of red-shouldered hawks were lurking about for a few weeks).  In my usual desultory fashion, I've filled the lull by doing some work on the entry steps, and thought I would take a shot at the winding stairs depicted in both FFM 2 & 3.
 
The first step (so to speak) was to determine the length & angles of the stiles.  In order to accomplish the curved appearance, the top of the fore stile sits further inboard against the curve of the gangway, while the bottom of each will need to line up along the same line (easily determined by the deck planking).  I simply cut some templates from card, and after lots of trimming, found the basic angles:
 

 
Then I traced the templates onto some 1/8 inch castello stock, and rough cut them with the jeweller's saw, and then fine-tuned them with files.
 

Greg Herbert, in FFM 3 shows his technique for cutting the dadoes with a wood mill, and that's the strategy I followed.  The stiles simply get glued to a piece of scrap with outer frames along the X-Y axes:
 

 
The braces and the outer frames need to be the same thickness as that of the stiles.  And the lines along the Y axis represent the spacing of the dadoes.  On the mill these lines enabled me to set the cutter as well as test the depth of the cut.  And the result looks like this:
 

It doesn't matter that the stiles will stand at different angles, the treads will all be parallel.  Here's a view from afar:
 

 
And here is the port-side version (my second effort, and therefore the better of the two):
 

 
I decided to use holly for the treads, both to contrast the stiles and to match the deck.  In this close-up the stiles look overly thick, but they do look right in real life.
 
Next, I plan to start on the breastwork for the Quarterdeck, which will then enable me to finish the fancy curved rail along the gangway.
 
Cheers,
 
Martin

Hi Hennie, really nice progress.  Question on the kit, it looks like the planking is stopping at the level of the decks, especially at the stern.  Are there no bulwarks there or do they go on later?  I'm not that familiar with this style of ship so sorry of its a  silly question.

Looking great Carl, I still don't know how you deal with all those tiny pieces.

Looking great Carl, I still don't know how you deal with all those tiny pieces.

Thank you Nils.
I added some small items on the qurter deck, now remains the last item which will be placed on the quarter deck - stering wheels.

I forgot to answer the Tigersteve´s question - brass blackening is made with blackening agent for Tiffany technology (http://www.vensy.cz/vensy/eshop/12-1-Tiffany-technika-cinovani/31-2-Chemie-pro-cinovani/5/345-Patina-cerna-tiffany-technika), warm solution 2:50 (water).
The next one is binnacle.

Looking great Carl, I still don't know how you deal with all those tiny pieces.

Before ...
 

 
after ...
 

 
Yesterday evenings efforts ... the bending, and getting it stuck on the right spot takes a little time ... Now I have to bend the rungs from the lowest port side lader back into original shape again

Ingenious solution BE and top quality results on the profiling of those trim pieces.  Looks wonderful with everything in place, such very clean work as always.

After what seems like forever I finished the Bowsprit. Making the Jibboom: Sanded the eight sides to the heel. Mine turned out to be not as big around as the pictures in the instructions show but close enough to be fine with me. Grooved and shaped the tip. Cut out the sheaves in both ends then realized I cut the sheaves wrong. The tip sheave goes through top/bottom. The heel sheave is supposed to go through sideways and I cut mine both top//bottom. Instead of remaking a whole new Jibboom I sawed off the heel right between where out is rounded and where the eight flat sides are. Drilled both ends out and glued in a 2mm wire pin. Glued it on with the sheave turned the right way. (I had previously left extra length to this end in case of any problems). The seam is almost invisible and this will also be right at a paint line so it wont be noticed. The wire pin made it very strong. Cut this end to length and grooved it out on the end.
 
Jesse
 

Thanks Pete & everyone else looking in. One more picture of the topmast & futtock shrouds -
 

 
Mark
 
 

I am finally finished with the gun rigging . The deck is pretty complete by now. I also started with the bowsprit as far as it was necessary to be able to finish the bowsprit bitts without having a bad surprise later on. Below is a selection of views of the current state of my Syren model. Btw, in image 8 it looks like the bowsprit is resting on the head of the figurehead. In reality this is not the case. But as the bowsprit bitts are not yet glued in they came lose during the time I made the photos and the bowsprit hit the head of the poor figurehead .
 
Thomas
 

Image 1
 

Image 2
 

Image 3
 

Image 4
 

Image 5
 

Image 6
 

Image 7
 

Image 8
 

Image 9

Thank you Jason, and for the 'likes'
A rather satisfying day today  making the 'iron' work  for the Pinnace.
Ringbolts.
The kit provides  some small brass rings, three eyebolts, and a length of black painted steel wire.
I thought the rings too small, the eyebolts  too thin, and I didn't like the black steel wire.

0081
I fashioned the ringbolts from brass wire which was then chemically blackened.

0106
Forward rings in place.

0113
Aft lifting ring and Cockpit steps also in place in this shot.
 
Cockpit step
Although the profiles are provided in the kit for this little feature I found it took a fair bit of fettlin' to fit. I painted mine red as a contrast to the varnished decking.
 

0109
 
Stem Protector ( Iron Strip)
There are various options to making this; black card strip, styrene strip, or brass strip.

0073
I opted for Brass strip for which some spare brass fret from etched fittings was used. The shape was formed over the stem and the bolt holes for the strip were marked on the anvil and then drilled thro' using a micro drill in a pin vise.

0096
This was then also chemically blackened.

0133
I started the fitting by using ca to fix the strip to the shaped inner side of the stem.
Bolts were represented by blackened Amati fine brass 10mm nails cut down to suit.

0122
With the aft side fixed a smear of ca plus the bolts were used to fix the fore side of the strip.
B.E.
 
 

Ingenious solution BE and top quality results on the profiling of those trim pieces.  Looks wonderful with everything in place, such very clean work as always.

Progressing with carved details....
 

 

 

 

Hi Hennie, really nice progress.  Question on the kit, it looks like the planking is stopping at the level of the decks, especially at the stern.  Are there no bulwarks there or do they go on later?  I'm not that familiar with this style of ship so sorry of its a  silly question.

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

All, thanks for the support, kind words and likes from such an accomplished group.  I noticed that I'm just past my 3yr anniversary for this model...I'm hoping things can start accelerating a little from here now all the foundations are in place.
 
@ Michal - its a simple solution I learned from others, the batten is simply a 1x1mm strip glued to the waterline.  Given that the hull shape requires this to bend through a number of convex and concave surfaces, especially at the stern, my experience was that it is easiest to thin by sanding to around 0.5mm or less and then glue in position with PVA glue.  The moisture in the glue adds to flexibility of the woods and sets quickly so fingers can be used to hold in place.  This was done in manageable strip lengths rather than trying to do the whole waterline with one piece.  Once this had dried fully, I then reduced the thickness a little more by careful sanding until it looked to be at the appropriate scale.
 
 

Ingenious solution BE and top quality results on the profiling of those trim pieces.  Looks wonderful with everything in place, such very clean work as always.

So will be off on the family holiday for a few weeks this weekend so needing to step away.  Here's where things stand, not wanting to jump into anything else as I know I'll be rushing, so "down tools" it is.  The quarter gallery berthings are both now glued and the edge with the upper counter tidied up, everything else is dry fitted.  The lower finishing proved to be quite the interesting pieces to make.  The profile is very clear from the stern and side elevation, so combining that with the curve of the quarter gallery berthing and the straddle over the wale edge meant plenty of shaping, and checking to see things looked OK from all angles which was more of a challenge than I would have expected.  Decided to dispense with the kit supplied metal molding for the drop as this didn't seem to match, and anyway seemed easier to take my own approach than fight with that.  Drops still to be made.
 
The provides a PE "X" for each side, which I think is an approximation for some decoration looking at some of the Diana models.   I'm leaning toward painting my own decorations here but will think a bit.
 
Hopefully pictures speak for themselves from the various angles...the macro gods are surely against me as the finish looks more acceptable in person 
 

All, thanks for the support, kind words and likes from such an accomplished group.  I noticed that I'm just past my 3yr anniversary for this model...I'm hoping things can start accelerating a little from here now all the foundations are in place.
 
@ Michal - its a simple solution I learned from others, the batten is simply a 1x1mm strip glued to the waterline.  Given that the hull shape requires this to bend through a number of convex and concave surfaces, especially at the stern, my experience was that it is easiest to thin by sanding to around 0.5mm or less and then glue in position with PVA glue.  The moisture in the glue adds to flexibility of the woods and sets quickly so fingers can be used to hold in place.  This was done in manageable strip lengths rather than trying to do the whole waterline with one piece.  Once this had dried fully, I then reduced the thickness a little more by careful sanding until it looked to be at the appropriate scale.
 
 

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

Hi all, trying to get the shipyard going again.  Decided to put some additional paint friezes on the lower finishing pieces which are all now glued in place and touched up.  Tried to make these a bit subdued, and mirrored a design appearing in one of the moldings at the stem.
 
Also made up what I think is technically the 'drop' proper, or alternatively the "round thing" which I'd been pondering for a while after committing to not to use the kit white metal parts.  The technique devised proved to be pretty easy to execute by simply gluing some 2mm think spare stock onto the end of some 4mm dowel. Using that as a guide to shape to be round and domed - these were then soaked in rubbing alcohol to separate again.  I'm waiting to glue these on as I suspect they will be too easy to knock off with the other work remaining to do at the stern.
 
Next up, I think I'm in a position to start getting some trim on and find out if there are any issues with the placement of the painted letters...