Beef Wellington

Thanks to all for the likes.
Fitting of standing rigging continues and is complete to the level of the topmasts except for final trimming of the ends of stays.
The shifting backstays on fore and main masts are described in Lees as being set up from a pendant half as long again as the burton pendant. A long tackle block is hooked into the pendant and single blocked hooked into the channel. My interpretation of the AotS drawing is that they are set up in a similar fashion to the other back stays at the upper end but with a long tackle block seized in the lower end. The falls are a singe block hooked into the channel.
I can see the logic of the Lees version but I decided to go with the AotS which I thought looked better.
 

The fore topmast stays are made from 0.8 and 0.7mm rope and both are served as before. A minor disaster struck as I was partway through serving the first rope when the winding handle of my serving machine broke in half. I repaired it by super-glueing the two halves together and then it was reinforced with a bit of brass sprue which I fixed with epoxy.

The stays are threaded through the bees: the preventer stay to the aft port and stay through the forward starboard ‘sheave’. The stays end in a thimble  connected by a lanyard to a thimble secured to eyebolts at the bow either side of the bowsprit.



The topgallant stays are next which will require me to fit the jibboom
 
David

 

I have begun to add the topmast and top gallant stays. Beginning with the mizzen mast, I remembered why I was going to rig stays to each level of masting before adding the next. Luckily I had decided not to glue masts and mast caps in place so although more awkward than it ought to have been, looping the backstays over the mast head was not difficult.
 
I used 0.6mm rope from Ropes of Scale on the mizzen backstays and 0.7mm for the stay. The stay was served to 30mm below the level of the mouse (I don’t propose to serve any ropes finer than this) and finishes in a thimble which is attached by a lanyard to another thimble tied to an eyebolt on the main top. Both stay and backstays are set up but not finally tensioned until all the masts are completely rigged.
 


 
I started to rig the main topmast. The breast backstay and the first of the standing backstays are rigged using 0.7mm rope, again not finally tensioned, but I have run out of 5mm deadeyes so can’t continue until supplies arrive from CMB. Shifting backstays on the main mast are shown in both the AotS Diana and the Caldercraft rigging plans but Lees says that they would not generally be seen as they were only used when sailing. However, I am minded to fit them as I think that they do add something to the model.

The topmast stay and preventer stay are fitted: the stay from 0.8mm and the preventer stay from 0.7mmrope. Both are served to 30mm below the mouse. The stays lead down through 5mm blocks fitted to the foremast and end in a long-tackle block. The falls are set up with a single 5mm block hooked to eye bolts in the deck each side of the foremast, the stay to the port and preventer to starboard.


While waiting for more fittings, I have made a start on the fore topmast. The breast backstays are fitted first using 0.7mm rope with a 5mm block seized in the end. The tackles are rigged with 0.25mm thread tied to an eyebolt in the forward channel passed through the block of backstay and ending in a 3mm block. The fall is spliced to a second 3mm block hooked to another eyebolt abaft the first and is threaded through the upper 3mm block. The fall is tied off to a timberhead.

It was at this stage that I noticed that I had rigged a shroud where there should be a backstay.

I wondered about carrying on rigging with one backstay less but decided in the end to do the right thing as far as I could. It would have been impossible at this stage to remove the last two pairs of shrouds and replace them correctly so I did the next best thing and carefully cut out the 9th shroud all the way to the mast head where I don’t think (hope) that this fix will be noticed.

Cutting out all of the ratlines and retying them was a step too far so the new ratlines were tied in to the existing ones.

the offending shroud removed  and ratlines restored but looks like a good clean up is required now.
 
Thanks for the likes and for looking in
David
 

After a long time I think I've fisished all the masts clues and cluelines.
I'm about to upload some pics.
Thank you

Last weeks are spent trying to understand strategy and the correct way to fix the braces….
Starting from top to bottom, from front to back, some tips important that I should know in advance…??
A real headache again

I ve left a lot of spare fittings and rope-threads to improve later as a final touch up procedure.
Now I really feel that i'm close to the finish. I plan to create a custom made base and to support/stabilize the keel with those two 2mm metal rods.
I hope the model to be stable and safe

Dave, first off - wonderful work, continue to be amazed at the detail you're pursuing which are projects in of themselves.  Not sure if you have seen it, but the well known Bellona model made for George III shows the same launching system in a very nice display along the same lines.  There are some other contemporary examples illustrated in Brian Lavery's "The ship of the line" book to peruse for ideas.  Looking forward to see where you land.

Dave, first off - wonderful work, continue to be amazed at the detail you're pursuing which are projects in of themselves.  Not sure if you have seen it, but the well known Bellona model made for George III shows the same launching system in a very nice display along the same lines.  There are some other contemporary examples illustrated in Brian Lavery's "The ship of the line" book to peruse for ideas.  Looking forward to see where you land.

Dave, first off - wonderful work, continue to be amazed at the detail you're pursuing which are projects in of themselves.  Not sure if you have seen it, but the well known Bellona model made for George III shows the same launching system in a very nice display along the same lines.  There are some other contemporary examples illustrated in Brian Lavery's "The ship of the line" book to peruse for ideas.  Looking forward to see where you land.

Hi Dave, glad to see another Diana build get started, I must confess that I have been less than active recently (both online and in the shipyard!), so I'm sure you'll finish well before me.  One general comment that I'm sure you're considering but worth repeating is that the dimensions of kit parts and plans, NMM plans and AOTS diagrams are not completely consistent, so compromise and estimation is needed.  Thinking well ahead will save a lot of pain.
 
Couple of specific comments on the topics raised above:
Keel - David (DAvidEN) is spot on with his comment on the profile of the keel.  This is easily addressed once the hull has been planked which is really only when you can see what is needed.  Without building up the depth of the keel, the profile is much too shallow and will not look correct. Stern post - will be easier early on to adapt the sternpost to more prototypical dimensions if thats a path you want to go down (wider at the top, tapering to the keel) rather than the consistent 5mm thickness dictated by the keel former. Gunport alignment - the ports follow the alignment of the frames, which means the mid-ships ports will be perpendicular to the keel, and those toward the stem and stern will be perpendicular to the hull so AOTS can help with this.  As for placement, adjusting the foremost frame as described above is pretty straightforward if you decide to go down that route.  From memory, I seem to recall looking to directionally follow the plans with equidistant ports (except for where the steps are). All the best.
 
Jason

Will be following this one closely, you are a lucky man!

Will be following this one closely, you are a lucky man!

Will be following this one closely, you are a lucky man!

good evening everyone
 
thank you for comments and likes
 
day 4, build nearly finished (well not quite)
 
the orlop deck was finished off with a couple of hatches and a ladder
 
the inner bulkheads were sanded down to make putting the inner bulkheads on, more work required on this
 
the main deck was test fitted and tonight half has been glued on
 

A sentiment I fully endorse Kevin, I have an aversion to covering up high grade timber with paint.
The ingenuity of Chris's design allows for a high level of satisfaction early in a build; it would have been inconceivable a few years ago to have reached that stage in only three days.
Great progress.👍
 
B.E.
 

Enjoy Kevin, 
 
It will be a long journey so i’m looking over your shoulder to see what you are doing! 😀
 
Sjors
 

Dave, first off - wonderful work, continue to be amazed at the detail you're pursuing which are projects in of themselves.  Not sure if you have seen it, but the well known Bellona model made for George III shows the same launching system in a very nice display along the same lines.  There are some other contemporary examples illustrated in Brian Lavery's "The ship of the line" book to peruse for ideas.  Looking forward to see where you land.

Constructing the masts is quite a tedious exercise. One has to constantly check and cross reference to make sure that all of the details are added to the mast structures at this stage as I imagine it will be very challenging to try and add anything once they are glued in place. I added several sheaves to the top masts and bolsters on the cross trees as well as the faux metal plates for the fids to rest on. I still have to add a few blocks but the mizzen seems more or less done. I changed my mind a few times about what should be painted black and what should be left natural. I painted the tapering octagon at the hounds black and then unpainted it back to a natural state and then painted it black again.

 





I then started on the lower main mast. This is causing me no end of problems. I did not think ahead and had assumed the Caldercraft drawings were fine and sized the holes for a 10mm diameter mast. Checking Steel, Lees and AOTSD, it seems that it should be more like 11.1mm in diameter. Widening the hole in the upper deck could be challenging. This size of this mast is also problematic as it will not fit in my lathe in terms of diameter and length. I had to resort to the much more agricultural method of using a drill, sandpaper and an oven mitt. After a couple of attempts, I thought that I had it sorted, but when I dry fitted it to the ship, I saw that it had an unacceptable bend to it. I could potentially try and straighten it out using the lower shrouds but I fear that this solution may come back to bite me in the long term.


I decided to walk away from the masts while I think of a way to get a decent result. I might have to try using square stock but I needed to do something different for a change. I had moved the model to another room with a plain background so that I could photograph the masts and it got me to thinking of what sort of stand I wanted should I ever get round to finishing the model. At the moment I have it resting on the stand that came with the kit which is quite simple. I thought that I should start considering this early on as my last model is still balancing on some spacer blocks as I have yet to get around to the task of building that one. A contemporary model of the Diana in the NMM sits in a launch slipway which I quite like the look of. I realise that a fully rigged ship would not be sitting in a launch slipway but I thought that there could be an opportunity to abstract this somewhat and use the elements to form a cradle while omitting the walls and slope of the slipway. I had a look at some examples and then knocked out a CAD model. I then cobbled together a quarter length of the base part using bits and pieces that were lying about the workshop.




 

I think that this is probably not far off in terms of actual scale but I thought that it looked a bit tentative so I went back to the CAD and beefed up some of the elements and then had a second go at the mockup.
 


 
I made this one out of the timber that I am thinking of using. This is all stuff that I had to hand so it is mainly walnut with maple planking and some yellow heart that I used for the sleepers. These are a bit yellow but I think that I will persevere with them and hope that they will grow on me. The second version is a lot better than the first but the section that I built is only 1/10th of the length of the final so I am having second thoughts. I roughed out a notional launch cradles in CAD which would stop the model toppling over. These will hopefully have a higher degree of sophistication in the real model.







It still seemed quite insubstantial so I started adding a drydock/slipway in the CAD drawing to give it some gravity. This made the while structure quite solid and I would only have to add some legs and it would be a piece of furniture bigger than the model itself. I should get back to masting while I ponder if this will be worth pursuing.
 



 

A bit of a dull post but most of my work for the last few days has ended up in the bin. I had assumed the masts got simpler the higher they went but this turned out not to be the case. The mizzen top is octagonal at the heel and even worse has a tapered octagonal section at the hounds. It took three attempts but I have just about got the straight octagonal figured out but the splayed octagonal still eludes me. There must be some trick I am missing but I am resorting to freehand filing and positive thoughts. For the mizzen top I started with an 8mm diameter dowel to give me enough wiggle room to gradually remove material and hopefully retain enough to form the details and still have 6mm diameter left for the mast. I added the sheaves as well as a fid hole for the final fixing.





For the mizzen top gallant I used the AOTSD dimensions but the AOTSD drawing was lacking detail so I brought the Steel drawing into the CAD file and superimposed my AOTSD dimensions on top of this to get the correct proportions of the heel and hounds as well as the locations for the sheaves. The top gallant masts are so thin that I did not dare to try make them all in one go as they would be bound to snap as I was doing the last cut so I made them in two separate pieces that I then dowelled together using some 0.8mm diameter brass rod. This was a sturdy solution but I had to trim the brass rod down drastically as it clashed with the position of one of the sheaves so it is now a much wobblier proposition.
 



I was dithering about the colour of the top masts and eventually went for a dark stain in the hope that it would disguise some of the defects. I had switched to the kit supplied dowels for these top masts as the beech dowels were telegraphing their grain too much when stained. I do not know what timber the kit dowels are but they are a bit soft and also do not take the stain that well although better than the beech. I used chestnut stain and then decided it looked a bit spotty so I went over it with Hickory. This looked better but I feel that it is now too dark and there is not enough contrast with the black painted areas. I went to visit the hardware store to see what they had available in the lighter range. The nearest I could get to the shade I was after was Puritan Pine. I tried it on the top gallant and I guess it will do. It does mean that I will have to remake the Mizzen top mast for the fifth time.

Perhaps I can claim that the old one is a Harry Potter wand and sell it to some gullible child to recoup my losses.

I had to remake the caps as the kit supplied versions have two circular holes rather than the required square and circular. I used the Steel formula to work out the size and they turned out larger than those included in the kit. These were finished off with ringbolts on the underside using the Steel location.

I also had to remake the upper cross trees as the kit pieces were the unfortunate walnut ply and the resulting gaps when assembled were too small to accommodate the mast sizes I ended up with. I was hoping to avoid having to scratch build these as they are very delicate pieces and not suited to my clumsy hands. I just about managed them but they are not great lookers.
 

 


I started work on the lower fore mast. I followed the AOTSD dimensions and the Steel details to put this together. It is nominally 10mm diameter at the deck tapering towards the head. I used the supplied black cartridge paper to form the iron mast hoops. I had never used this technique before and was quite surprised by how easy it is. Unfortunately, my subsequent freehand dremeling put paid to the nice neat appearance I initially achieved. I then added a front fish. There was much contradictory information regarding a front fish or a rubbing paunch but both Steel and AOTSD seem to indicate that a front fish was the way to go. I took the Steel drawing into CAD and worked out the size of timber that I would require to form this. This turned out to be 6.5 x 2.65mm. I then hollowed out the back using a sanding drum in the dremel. This ended up a bit rough. I really need some sort of a jig to keep everything aligned to achieve a consistent groove. It was a longshot that my freehand dremel work and the mast taper were going to match. Nonetheless I glued my rough and ready version onto the mast with notches for the iron hoops. I tried to disguise the shoddy workmanship with lashings of filler which just caused more mess.
 

 

In the Steel drawing he indicated filling pieces that sit between the front and side fish. These maintain the circular profile of the mast and give support to the wooldings. Steel notes that these can be continuous or can be provided just at the location of wooldings. I went with the latter as the geometry of the continuous one was beyond my imagination. To get the shorter filling pieces I cut out sections of 15mm diameter dowel at the height of the woolding including the timber hoops. I then cut out a hole in the centre of these corresponding to the diameter of the mast at each respective woolding. I then cut out the filling pieces and glued them onto the mast. They got a final shaping using the dremel. Things became a lot more complicated when I introduced the side fish and I had to get the two sloping sides at the correct angle.
 





 

Wooldings were completed using the 0.5mm dark brown rope from RoS and the timber hoops were the same cherry used on the mizzen. Once done I feel that it is lacking in finesse. I suspect that I should have dremeled some more material off the various fish and used a slightly smaller timber hoop It is a pretty sturdy construction though. Unlike the mizzen top gallant, I will have a hard time snapping this one. I added the battens at the head and gave it a coat of black paint.
 



To take a break from all of the circular trauma I knocked up the tops for the fore mast. I used the same method as per the mizzen except this had additional items such as the mounting brackets for the swivel guns which were constructed out of walnut notched at the batten locations. The metal plates to accept the gun mounts were 0.25mm thick styrene strips. I just have to paint the handrail stanchions which are in the painting queue behind the carronade barrels.
 






 
 
 

Hi Jason , I am considering adding a couple of these. Caldercraft produce a brass turned barrel so I would have to make the mounting structure but that shouldn't be too difficult. I am going to see how the rigging goes before I decide as there is a good chance that I will end up with a great nest of untidy ropes with no room to poke a swivel gun through.
 
Regards,
David

Congratulations, and best wishes for future continued success!

Congratulations, and best wishes for future continued success!

Congratulations, and best wishes for future continued success!

Congratulations, and best wishes for future continued success!

Congratulations, and best wishes for future continued success!

Congratulations, and best wishes for future continued success!