Beef Wellington

Rear mast and crane complete. I imagine this would be pretty grubby given it sits right behind the stacks. 

Started on the funnels. The kit provides 3 pieces per funnel, so tossing one piece and stripping and sanding it down, started them again also using brass rod as the external steam vents.1/3 done. 

So here's where I landed with the lettering.  First the letters were painted in a darker brown and then overpainted with yellow ochre and few highlights.  The goal here was not perfection as I new that was not going to remotely close, hopefully "impressionistic" describes it.  Was very happy with the outcome, may touchup a little more but I'm forcing myself to stay away for now.  The placement may look a little odd, but I had to estimate where the decorative rails will be so it should be correctly aligned when those are in place...something to potentially still go awry.  I'm following the guidance that the letters should fill the upper counter leaving a little space between the rails.  The photos are a little unkind and to my eye looks better in person.
 
First picture is the obvious comparison to the kit supplied PE letters, and you can see the perspective narrowing of the font.  I placed the lights in the stern while fine tuning the angle as it seemed that these need be complimentary somehow, although the angle varies from every viewing angle.
 

BE, Pat, Joe, Michael, Nils, Wayne, JPAM  and the likes - thanks so much.
 
Ron - I'm hoping to make it, would love to see your fantastic Diana in person, my challenge is always football/soccer as I coach my sons team and that takes a big bite out of weekends at this time of year.  If I could just arrange a game in New London then I'd be set!
 
Small update, I've been missing making posts but I have a little to share and hope pictures make up for it.  Continuing to work on the more foundational aspects as I can.  Paint has been applied to the upper hull - I used Tamiya matt XF-18 medium blue.  I applied many layers of watered down paint and corrected larger imperfections, but left the slight imperfections from planking visible.  I'm no painter and have limited experience with modern acrylics!  Watering down the paint gives a nice smooth finish, but at the expense of surface uniformity - this should disappear completely once a clear sealer is applied so not concerned.  I found that using a brush the undiluted paint dries so quickly that brush mark are inevitable.  Lots of touchup to do which should be pretty easy, but I want to get a protective coat of poly onto the boxwood to reduce the risk of mishaps.
 
The waist rail has been applied on one side and the side steps added.  I left gaps for the fenders, after having already cut these roughly to shape - using boxwood of course adds the number of pieces that need to be fabricated to keep consistent.  I wont attach these until later.  Steps were made using 2x2mm boxwood strip and a different profile scraper to the side molding and then cut length and shaping the ends.  These hopefully give more of an impression of the fine molding as keeping that to scale was just too much for me.  The upper and lower 2 steps are not glued yet.  I think they pass the scale test with the assistance of Able Seaman Lewis.


I've also made up the anchor lining bolsters, not identified in the kit plans but approximated from AOTS and TFFM.


And the usual 'all over' shot of where things stand..

 
 
 

So here's where I landed with the lettering.  First the letters were painted in a darker brown and then overpainted with yellow ochre and few highlights.  The goal here was not perfection as I new that was not going to remotely close, hopefully "impressionistic" describes it.  Was very happy with the outcome, may touchup a little more but I'm forcing myself to stay away for now.  The placement may look a little odd, but I had to estimate where the decorative rails will be so it should be correctly aligned when those are in place...something to potentially still go awry.  I'm following the guidance that the letters should fill the upper counter leaving a little space between the rails.  The photos are a little unkind and to my eye looks better in person.
 
First picture is the obvious comparison to the kit supplied PE letters, and you can see the perspective narrowing of the font.  I placed the lights in the stern while fine tuning the angle as it seemed that these need be complimentary somehow, although the angle varies from every viewing angle.
 

So here's where I landed with the lettering.  First the letters were painted in a darker brown and then overpainted with yellow ochre and few highlights.  The goal here was not perfection as I new that was not going to remotely close, hopefully "impressionistic" describes it.  Was very happy with the outcome, may touchup a little more but I'm forcing myself to stay away for now.  The placement may look a little odd, but I had to estimate where the decorative rails will be so it should be correctly aligned when those are in place...something to potentially still go awry.  I'm following the guidance that the letters should fill the upper counter leaving a little space between the rails.  The photos are a little unkind and to my eye looks better in person.
 
First picture is the obvious comparison to the kit supplied PE letters, and you can see the perspective narrowing of the font.  I placed the lights in the stern while fine tuning the angle as it seemed that these need be complimentary somehow, although the angle varies from every viewing angle.
 

You could try to print a template. Cut out the letters, and paint over it. The only problematic letters are those like 'O', and 'A', but it will make life easier
 
Another option: Glypha Light standard. It has the J you want, and is is a serif font. Got the font file if you need it

Those lights look great, as does the whole planking, good to catch up on your progress Tom

Thank you Tallshiptragic for looking in and your much appreciated comments. I thought this ship had a lot of decorations but seeing your amazing build I realize you cannot have enough ....... I have struggled with the the brass decor on this build and having tried unsuccessfully to put the trim carefully on the cheeks without glue showing have given up.
 
Blue Ensign - again thanks for looking in. The book idea was brilliant - absolutely lovely.
 
Have now rigged the guns - just the coils to do. The pumps and handles are also done.
 

 

 
The side screens. A bit clumsy.
Got frustrated with the brass trim on the cheeks so took them off.
Also for some reason there was a gap on the side where there was no trim yet the plans showed the last section of brass trim went right up to the catheads. As I had some spare from not doing the bow section have placed some bits in. Probably will find later on down the line this will be a mistake.
 

 
 
Have now completed other bits of trim on the sides
 
 
 
Regards
 
Doug

Hi - just a small update. Some more work to the bow section. Not having any reference to what really goes on here have done something based on what others have done. Am doing some side panels

 

 

 
Regards
 
Doug

Hah, that's nearly exactly what I did , and I also used a Q-tip dipped in Acetone to go over each one when the paint was almost dry. This took a little of the paint off, allowing some of the original to show through, and taking all the shine off it as well.
 
I've finished the red touch-up, masked the grey (which I haven't touched up yet) and gave the hull two coats of Testor's Dullcote. The difference is extraordinary - you really have to look hard to see any of the touch-ups. The only ones that stand out a little bit are a couple that I'd done with a slightly darker shade of red near the stern. I'm more than happy with the result .
 
I've fitted the Bilge Keels. I had to think a bit on a way of holding them in position and came up with the following. There is a thin printed line to follow, so I used some Tamiya tape to make it easier to see as it would have been hidden once the keel went on :

Next I shaped a strip of balsa to follow the curvature and taped it to the hull :

I taped and clamped the keel to the balsa strip and ran a bead of glue on the edge closest to the centre of the ship so it won't be seen when the ship is the right way up :

The finished job. You can see the touch-ups on the gaps (or not ) :



 
  Danny

Now that the summer weather is here progress will slow for sure but I have been playing with some LED lights and started putting some in to illuminate some of the visible details of the lower decks. I drilled a lot of holes for the wires to snake through the frames.  The idea will be to have them joined between the frames just above where the rear  display pedestal will be located.  A single set of  wires will come out through the keel and through the center of the pedestal.  I will figure out how to hide these in the case when I start building that in a few years.    Right now just for testing the positioning and intensities the wires are just dangling all over.  Can pretty that up later.

The light on the left of the uppermost deck shown (lower gun deck) is not fixed in place yet so the camera picked up the glare because the bulb are still visible.  I will position it in the aft corner on the starboard side so it won't be visible when looking in.
 

Here is the portside without the cannons coming through the gun ports yet.  Looked kind of neat so I thought I would share the picture.
 
The final plan is to have the stern galleries lit up as well and the 2 stern lights.  It is going to be a lot of work and time... uh, I mean fun... but worth it in the end.
Tom

Hello all,
I have not posted in a while but I have been picking away at odds and ends.  I finish sanded the outer planking above the wales, moved a gunport that was in the wrong location... but we won't talk about that much.  I mistook a centerline of the port for the edge and it ended up a 1/2 port too much aft.  It was the gun port just forward of where the stairs on the outside hull would be.  On the picture above (post #95) it was the 6th one from the bow on the port side.  It needed to be moved forward.  That is now behind me and only the people who read this post will know.   All the port linings are finished and now I am dry fitting the deck beams for the upper gun deck.  Things are going a bit slower now that the weather is pretty nice and other hobbies are kicking in.  Just wondering, is spring yard clean up considered a hobby???  I have been waiting for the "yard fairies" to show up but it doesn't look promising.
 
I also need to start figuring out how I am going to get my Constellation to the Northeast Ship Modelers Show in New London, CT at the end of the month.

Start building and dry fitting the upper deck beams.
 
Tom

Hi Mustafa, Thanks, welcome aboard my log.
 
I said that I only had minor tweaks to finish this part off, well they took me the rest of the day, no quick fixes I'm afraid. I've now glued the two pieces together but just slotted the casting in place so now I have a good idea of how it will look. I've shown a picture of how it sits at what will be its final position. A little filler will be needed but as it will be painted I'm ok with that.
 
 
ken

Hello Everyone.    As you'll see I've had another busy time at the shipyard.  It's come along so well that I'm actually grinning at the thought of showing it off. As I mentioned earlier, until the hull is sanded it looks a bit rough and you don't get that thrill of seeing what it's eventually going to look like, but now!

I gave it a good sanding, there were a few seams that I rubbed some filler in to try and get it as good as I could. I cut out the grooves for the stem, keel and sternpost, made them up and fitted them. I'd not done it like this before but had a good feeling that it was the way to go. I'm delighted at the result and don't think that I could have had as neat a result if I had tried to butt the planks against the prow and stern. I decided to stain the hull to give the wood a slightly warmer than walnut look. I rubbed in some light teak stain, this gave it a slight honey coloured tone a bit like pear, it also brought out the grain so again I was pleased. I think that I'll give it a coat of sanding sealer so that the nice surface doesn't get any stains on it that I won't be able to remove.
 
I am now in a dilemma, whilst I realise that it will never be used as an example of how a model ship should be planked I am so pleased with the way it looks that I am now undecided whether to leave it bare showing off the wood or to paint it as had originally intended. Hmm! thoughts on this please.
 
I am now nearing the part of the build that I am dreading most, The stern gallery support and the galleries themselves. Mark in his log gives an excellent account with good pictures of how he accomplished his galleries but until I start I have doubts on how I'm actually going to get this done, I've got a couple of pre shaped pieces of wood, the third and thinnest was missing so I made one up off the plan and I'm now wondering where to start?
 
 
Ken

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments.
 
@Carl - I looked at Baskerville, before you posted this I decided to follow Perpetua Titling as a guide as it is probably the closest to whats seen on Victory that I could find, Baskerville looks good as well.  There is one problem with all these fonts, and that is the "J", in nearly all of these older fonts the J drops below the level of the other letters (it is invariably the only one to do that) which I don't think is how it would be done.  I've decided to us the 'Castella' font as a guide for the J, as the other letters are similar stylistically but a little thicker.
 
However, there is a big caveat here, given that I'm choosing to paint the letters so despite lofty ideas I still need to execute that somehow, and I doubt my skills are up to this level of accuracy or refinement and I'm keeping my expectations at an appropriate level.  I think it would be a good game afterwards to play 'guess' the font because I know it will not be as pure as the printed examples.  

Thomas, Bob, Eamonn, Pat and Mark (nice to have you back!) - thanks for the comments guys and the likes, I very much appreciate your interest.
 
The upper counter and the proof of the pudding...
 
Finally plucked up the courage to attach the stern fascia, really have done about as much on this as I can before fitting, and any final adjustments should be done in place to get a proper feel for the various lines and angles and how this will fit with the side galleries (esp. out edge and gunports).  Epoxy was used for maximum strength, so it better be right.  It all went pretty painlessly as the placement had already been determined.
 
Then comes the upper counter...this should simply fit between the edge of the upper counter and the stern fascia.  I have been planning to use a single piece of 1mm pear for this (I think the kit instructions indicate for this to be planked) and I didn't relax for the whole weekend while I worked on this part.  Philosophically, it is what   it is at this point as I had done everything I could think of to ensure this fitted well. 
 
After making a template for the upper counter and leaving material to allow for fine tuning, the lower edge of the stern fascia (where the upper counter rail will go), was chamfered back to receive the upper counter and ensure the correct angle to the vertical along its length.
 

The edge of the upper counter was then gradually chamfered to meet this angle.  I found using a razor blade scraper a very effective way to do this as it kept a nice flat profile and allow the angle with the stern fascia to be followed easily.  I had painted the upper counter prior to this process to give a better feel for the shape during this process.  (The lower edge was simply masked so the lower counter rail can be glued more easily as I prefer to use PVA glue).  The profile at the end shows how this fitted together.
 

Only one potential problem remained.  The face with the join needs to be the same width as the upper counter rail (3mm) which required many, small adjustments.  See photo below for how the various rails will be positioned.

This is not glued yet, but the overall I was very happy with the way this turned out, and 2 small pegs are all that's needed to keep it in position.  Before this is attached I need to figure out how to apply the name, at this point I'm leaning toward painting this.  I've been playing with some templates made in Powerpoint to just get a sense for size and alignment.  This is Time New Roman, 50pt font with y-rotation of 340% and 100% perspective adjustment.  I now feel I have proper ship under construction.
 
As always, suggestions welcome!
 

 

Jason,
 
Considering the shape of the font of e.g. HMS Victory, I would sooner go for Baskerville, if you need the font, let me know

Beautifully done.
 
Mike

Beautiful work Jason, the headworks shots so clearly show the purity of your work.
A wonderful build.
 
B.E.

That name looks great Jason and the cheeks and other stem work is fantastic. Well done.

Thomas, Bob, Eamonn, Pat and Mark (nice to have you back!) - thanks for the comments guys and the likes, I very much appreciate your interest.
 
The upper counter and the proof of the pudding...
 
Finally plucked up the courage to attach the stern fascia, really have done about as much on this as I can before fitting, and any final adjustments should be done in place to get a proper feel for the various lines and angles and how this will fit with the side galleries (esp. out edge and gunports).  Epoxy was used for maximum strength, so it better be right.  It all went pretty painlessly as the placement had already been determined.
 
Then comes the upper counter...this should simply fit between the edge of the upper counter and the stern fascia.  I have been planning to use a single piece of 1mm pear for this (I think the kit instructions indicate for this to be planked) and I didn't relax for the whole weekend while I worked on this part.  Philosophically, it is what   it is at this point as I had done everything I could think of to ensure this fitted well. 
 
After making a template for the upper counter and leaving material to allow for fine tuning, the lower edge of the stern fascia (where the upper counter rail will go), was chamfered back to receive the upper counter and ensure the correct angle to the vertical along its length.
 

The edge of the upper counter was then gradually chamfered to meet this angle.  I found using a razor blade scraper a very effective way to do this as it kept a nice flat profile and allow the angle with the stern fascia to be followed easily.  I had painted the upper counter prior to this process to give a better feel for the shape during this process.  (The lower edge was simply masked so the lower counter rail can be glued more easily as I prefer to use PVA glue).  The profile at the end shows how this fitted together.
 

Only one potential problem remained.  The face with the join needs to be the same width as the upper counter rail (3mm) which required many, small adjustments.  See photo below for how the various rails will be positioned.

This is not glued yet, but the overall I was very happy with the way this turned out, and 2 small pegs are all that's needed to keep it in position.  Before this is attached I need to figure out how to apply the name, at this point I'm leaning toward painting this.  I've been playing with some templates made in Powerpoint to just get a sense for size and alignment.  This is Time New Roman, 50pt font with y-rotation of 340% and 100% perspective adjustment.  I now feel I have proper ship under construction.
 
As always, suggestions welcome!
 

 

Thomas, Bob, Eamonn, Pat and Mark (nice to have you back!) - thanks for the comments guys and the likes, I very much appreciate your interest.
 
The upper counter and the proof of the pudding...
 
Finally plucked up the courage to attach the stern fascia, really have done about as much on this as I can before fitting, and any final adjustments should be done in place to get a proper feel for the various lines and angles and how this will fit with the side galleries (esp. out edge and gunports).  Epoxy was used for maximum strength, so it better be right.  It all went pretty painlessly as the placement had already been determined.
 
Then comes the upper counter...this should simply fit between the edge of the upper counter and the stern fascia.  I have been planning to use a single piece of 1mm pear for this (I think the kit instructions indicate for this to be planked) and I didn't relax for the whole weekend while I worked on this part.  Philosophically, it is what   it is at this point as I had done everything I could think of to ensure this fitted well. 
 
After making a template for the upper counter and leaving material to allow for fine tuning, the lower edge of the stern fascia (where the upper counter rail will go), was chamfered back to receive the upper counter and ensure the correct angle to the vertical along its length.
 

The edge of the upper counter was then gradually chamfered to meet this angle.  I found using a razor blade scraper a very effective way to do this as it kept a nice flat profile and allow the angle with the stern fascia to be followed easily.  I had painted the upper counter prior to this process to give a better feel for the shape during this process.  (The lower edge was simply masked so the lower counter rail can be glued more easily as I prefer to use PVA glue).  The profile at the end shows how this fitted together.
 

Only one potential problem remained.  The face with the join needs to be the same width as the upper counter rail (3mm) which required many, small adjustments.  See photo below for how the various rails will be positioned.

This is not glued yet, but the overall I was very happy with the way this turned out, and 2 small pegs are all that's needed to keep it in position.  Before this is attached I need to figure out how to apply the name, at this point I'm leaning toward painting this.  I've been playing with some templates made in Powerpoint to just get a sense for size and alignment.  This is Time New Roman, 50pt font with y-rotation of 340% and 100% perspective adjustment.  I now feel I have proper ship under construction.
 
As always, suggestions welcome!
 

 

Carl, Rob, Christian, Niles and the likes - thanks for your kind words, encouragement and patience on this slow voyage...
 
Jesse, Dave - Of course you are right, but no matter how many times I tell myself that it doesn't help...I probably have one of those personality disorders along the lines of "well he did it, so why can't I?"   And yes, its gets me into trouble with those fixes around the house that I maybe shouldn't be tackling.. 
 
Anyway a little update as I really can do no more to the bow at this point, which means I need to get back to the stern...then I remembered that that was basically the reason for me taking a break and starting work on the bow...There are a couple of questions at the end.
 
Once the cheeks and the rails were done, I needed to tackle hawse holes and the bolsters.  These had me really thinking, but first step was once again to shape from some thick stock, only this time I had to take it even slower as pretty much the entire interior face needed to fit tightly against the hull because any errors would be really obvious once the holes were cut.  The balsa filler blocks were also removed (Interestingly, you can see the outline of the recess that I had put in a long while ago to try to introduce a void behind the expected hole placement to look a little more authentic...seemed a good idea at the time but they would have been in slightly the wrong place)
 
The holes themselves are ~6mm in diameter, and taking a drill bit of that size was clearly out of the question.  The hole centers were estimated and I drilled with a 2mm bit in a hand drill.  This was large enough to get a round microfile in to gradually enlarge and then use a larger round file.  Once the holes were approx. 4-5mm and still quite rough, some tapered dowel was used with sandpaper around to again gradually enlarge until they were approximately the right size.  All the time doing this, the bolsters were held in place with fingers so everything would align - I didn't want to commit to gluing in place just yet.

Once again, I knew I'd be making my own out of castello, but continuing the trend I think the kit supplied parts are way undersized.

One other item to take care of is the Gamming knee, the kit supplied part was generally oversized, but it was necessary to cut a new piece because the back of the knee was undersized.  Not sure how much of this will be visible, but it fun to make.  The hole is for the mainstay collar, some alteration will likely be needed on the head timbers but that is for another day.  This is not attached yet.
And the final results...these pieces seem to really bring out the face of the ship and to my eye really add some character.

 
Some questions:
The bulwark are considerably thinner than they would be in scale, and although the photo makes it more obvious, this is apparent if you look for it.  Also, I know that the hawse holes were lined in lead, but I'm not seeing this as a feature standing out to me looking at models, in many it seems these were just painted ochre...would welcome other's thoughts and suggestions here.  I'm leaning toward a 'lead like' grey just on the inside of the bulwark but not extending over the bolster. For fellow Diana kit builders.  I placed the waste rail on the starboard bow side only as it seems to me that this could cause problems with the fitment of the bow grating against the hull - anyone have any experiences on this?  
 
 

Hi Chaps, we'll I am back after a little hiatus.   Ron, Mark, Pat, Bob and the likes - thanks for the kind words as always. 
 
Sjors - Its nice to have the option to use the kit part rather than nothing, its insurance 
 
I've landed a new job, which is some relief - even though I had time on my hands I couldn't enjoy building but did what I could when the mood took me.  I'm not sure how the scratch builders feel, but these cheeks and rails had me thinking I'd never get them done and asking myself if I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
 
First off, I had to decide how I wanted to terminate the rails.  This period seems to be a bit of a mix in styles, mixing more elaborate decoration with a hint of future frugality.  I decided to err on the side of ornamentation after studying some NMM models, which basically just meant a larger scroll on the hair bracket and lower cheek I tried to follow guidance in TFFM as much as I could, and I've shown the progress pics below.  This wasn't as hard as I thought and for a first effort I was pretty happy, but I'll leave final judgement to others.  I knew I'd be painting these, so I found myself occasionally putting a think coat of paint on to get a better sense for the contours which is difficult with the pale castello.  
 

Once the scrolls were done, I made a scraper for the contour and tried to add the profile.  I found this very tricky and found myself battling the curve, the changes in width and the slight grain, especially in the thinner sections.  First approach was to shape the cheek piece and the rail and then glue together (I did these off the model painting would be next to impossible once mounted).  This didn't work as well as hoped, the profiles didn't match and the edges had rounded, but some filler and rework did the job.  For the others, I glued the cheek piece and the bracket before profiling which seemed to work fine.  I used a touch of sepia wash to highlight the profile.  Near the scroll, there is barely a profile so paint is needed to give the effect.
 
Overall, I give myself a "C" on the profiling:  hopefully could do better next time but needed to move on or forever be stuck in hairbracket purgatory.  Next time () I think I'd try using pear rather than castello but didn't have any of the right dimension to hand to try.

Lastly, couldn't resist adding a little more detail than the kit offers and wanted to add both a Filling piece and Trailboard.  Looking at contemporary Artois models, the filling piece is quite substantial and adds a distinctive look.  First off, I tried making a 1mm thick version bent to the hull shape - too thin.  I next tried a 2mm think version, but again felt it was too thin.  Tried 3mm, but it was impossible to bend, so went with a 5mm castello sheet and shaped as needed.  This was quite a bit of work as none of the sides are at 90deg, and the hull curvature needs to be accounted for, luckily this doesn't need to be perfect as the interior faces will be hidden by the  cheeks.  The trailboard was relatively simple but again took a while to get the appropriate shape.  Once complete these should go together like a jigsaw puzzle.....

And the finished result.  These will not be glued until I have the port side pieces finalized, but they fit together just fine.  Overall, I found this tricky and time consuming, but educational.  Without detailed plans there was a lot to consider to get the alignment looking right to my eye, for example, the lower cheek scroll terminating at the foot of the figurehead, the hair bracket scroll aligning with the rounded top of the lacing piece.

Finally, recognition for all those failures forever consigned to the wastebasket of progress....