Beef Wellington

It's all looking very good Jason, you really do neat work.
 
Re the  capsquares on the long guns:-  I used a small eyebolt with a small portion clipped off the eye to  represent the hinge that fitted on the rear of the capsquare. The shortened stem of the eyebolt fitted in a hole drilled immediately behind the capsquare and the now open eye  fitted into the hole in the capsquare. At the scale involved I think it does a fair representation of the hinge.
 
I searched for a while to find chain that was sufficiently small for the capsquare securing bolt. I eventually found some at Jotika at 42 links per inch which is what I used.
 
Here's the link to their online shop.
 
http://www.shipwrightshop.com/shop/contents/en-uk/d59_Thread-Chain-Wire_02.html
 
For the bolt I just used a squeezed together 0.3mm brass etched eyelet, also from Jotika.
 
http://www.shipwrightshop.com/shop/contents/en-uk/d58_Mast-Detail-and-Rigging-Fittings_01.html
 
Incidently those etched eyelets sold in packs of 250 are always worth having, they come in handy for lots of modelling jobs where tiny eyebolts are required.
 
Regards,
 
M.

Still watching quietly Andy, shes looking very nice indeed, love the way that your shrouds are looking, you've confirmed my desire to have a go at serving when I finally get to do my shrouds.

Thanks for the compliments, greatly appreciated always.
 
Build update:  
 
Presently have been working on the headrail and associated pieces, but while I was waiting for some bending pieces to cure I decided to build up the six carronades required for the poop deck.
 
When purchasing the material for this build I decided to purchase the carronades from Caldercraft.  These seem to be the closest size for this scale, plus the came with the elevation screw.
 
Carronade assembly as follows:
1. Added breeching ring 20 gauge wire.
2. Shaped out of boxwood piece, drilled hole for mounting pin and glued to bottom of carronade.
3. Cut 1/8"dowel 1/16", drill center hole, slipped down screw, drilled two hole and glued 24 gauge wire handles.
4. Screwed onto carronade and cut screw (looking at magnified picture will cut off more, plus pic shows I need some cleanup).
5. Painted after treating brass pieces in Blacken-it.  Paint used Admiralty matt (metal) black.
 
Carronade carriage assembly as follows:
1. Cut and shaped two platform pieces out of basswood and painted red.
2. Made nine eyelids for each carriage out of 28 gauge wire and attached.
3. Added two more eyelids and rings out of 24 gauge wire for breeching rope.
4. Made and shaped wheel assembly plates out of thin styrene, cut round toothpicks 1/8" for wheels, glued pieces and added to bottom of carriage.  Initially, had an additional wood pieces on bottom as my carronade drawing showed, but when I put this on the ship was too high off the deck therefore removed and cut wheel plates in half.
5. Made the pin for the carronade out of filed down toothpick through draw plate.
6. Made the two side pin holders out of 1/8" dowel, filed bottom flat, and a strip of wood for bottom piece, glued together then drilled the hole for pin.
7. Glued carronade to carriage.
8. Made front pin plate out of thin styrene, added pin, painted black and glued to carriage.
 
Next up: mounting and rigging to poop deck.
 
Take care and if your reading this thanks for looking in.

As mentioned, I wanted to arm her with the common armament at the time and deviate from the kit.  I ordered a pair of Caldercraft 9lbers which are pretty much the same size as the 6lb'ers which are commonly referenced.  These still need a bit of tidying up, and I'm going to try to simulate a bracket for the cap square as well as a chain for the cotter pin that I think should go into the front hole (the instructions simply call for two round headed pins) but I think something else would look better.  Not sure how to do the very small chain yet...The paint finish looks a lot smoother in person, I brushed rather than sprayed and they seemed to turn out OK.

 
Also wanted to see how these will likely sit on the deck.  I plan to mount these in the foremost gunports as seems to be commonly described.  You can see that its going to be pretty crowded up front as well.  Its also interesting to see the lack of real difference in size between the 32lb'er carronade and the 6/9lb'er cannon.  Its easy to see why the admiralty started to equip these ships with carronades given the increase in broadside weight and manpower reduction possible with the carronades.  The fore ladders need some final shaping but its clear there is not a lot of room to position these.

As mentioned, I wanted to arm her with the common armament at the time and deviate from the kit.  I ordered a pair of Caldercraft 9lbers which are pretty much the same size as the 6lb'ers which are commonly referenced.  These still need a bit of tidying up, and I'm going to try to simulate a bracket for the cap square as well as a chain for the cotter pin that I think should go into the front hole (the instructions simply call for two round headed pins) but I think something else would look better.  Not sure how to do the very small chain yet...The paint finish looks a lot smoother in person, I brushed rather than sprayed and they seemed to turn out OK.

 
Also wanted to see how these will likely sit on the deck.  I plan to mount these in the foremost gunports as seems to be commonly described.  You can see that its going to be pretty crowded up front as well.  Its also interesting to see the lack of real difference in size between the 32lb'er carronade and the 6/9lb'er cannon.  Its easy to see why the admiralty started to equip these ships with carronades given the increase in broadside weight and manpower reduction possible with the carronades.  The fore ladders need some final shaping but its clear there is not a lot of room to position these.

As mentioned, I wanted to arm her with the common armament at the time and deviate from the kit.  I ordered a pair of Caldercraft 9lbers which are pretty much the same size as the 6lb'ers which are commonly referenced.  These still need a bit of tidying up, and I'm going to try to simulate a bracket for the cap square as well as a chain for the cotter pin that I think should go into the front hole (the instructions simply call for two round headed pins) but I think something else would look better.  Not sure how to do the very small chain yet...The paint finish looks a lot smoother in person, I brushed rather than sprayed and they seemed to turn out OK.

 
Also wanted to see how these will likely sit on the deck.  I plan to mount these in the foremost gunports as seems to be commonly described.  You can see that its going to be pretty crowded up front as well.  Its also interesting to see the lack of real difference in size between the 32lb'er carronade and the 6/9lb'er cannon.  Its easy to see why the admiralty started to equip these ships with carronades given the increase in broadside weight and manpower reduction possible with the carronades.  The fore ladders need some final shaping but its clear there is not a lot of room to position these.

Channels fixed in place and painted awaiting chains which will be tackled soon

Channels fixed in place and painted awaiting chains which will be tackled soon

Ray, planking is looking great despite your challenges with the wood.  I've read from others similar concerns over the quality of the supplied wood in CC kits, I think I just got lucky with mine, but the tanganika did need each plank to get sanded to get a decent edge.  Its a shame because otherwise they seem to be high quality.  You also seem to be moving on at a cracking pace
 
Thanks for posting the side-by-side, amazing to see the size comparison between these two frigates.

Cruizers, part 6:  HMS Reindeer
 
The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Reindeer launched on 15 August 1804, commissioned in September and set sail for the Jamaica station on 21 November with Commander John Fyffe in command. She was one of six Cruizers built from fir to speed construction and cut cost, a compromise that would significantly reduce their service lives. All six were started and launched within a period of three months from 22 May through 22 August.  Raven, the first Cruizer discussed here, was one of that group, wrecked in 1805. Another foundered in 1809. In 1812, two were broken up and a third placed in ordinary and later sold. By 1814, Reindeer was the only one of this group still in service and four years past her projected service life.
 
Under Commander Fyffe’s command on the Jamaica station from May 1804 through February 1807, Reindeer captured at least six enemy privateers and one sunk and participated with Magicienne in the cutting out expedition of a French merchant schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico. Reindeer also engaged two French Navy brigs of 16 x 9 pounder guns, sailing together, in a running battle and chase of over four hours until they managed to escape after taking damage from Reindeer’s fire. They were captured two days later by HMS Pique and taken into Royal Navy service. Reindeer, in January, shared with three other Royal Navy men-of-war the proceeds from the capture of an unspecified number of merchant vessels.
 
Commander Peter John Douglas took command in February 1807. Reindeer captured six privateers, three merchant vessels and re-captured an English vessel held by a French prize crew. After a chance meeting of Reindeer and four other Royal Navy vessels on 10 November 1808, the captains decided to capture the town and port of Samana, a base for many French privateers, in support of Spanish patriots attempting to overthrow French rule over the western part of the island of Santo Domingo. After the capture of the town and port (and French vessels sheltered there), Captain Charles Dashwood of Franchise handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations. The combined operations of these five ships netted two French privateer schooners and five merchant vessels in the week following the capture of Samana.
 
Reindeer, with Commander Douglas still in command, was in the North Sea for most of 1809 where she captured the French fast dispatch vessel Mouche No.13 on 8 March. On 4 November 1809, Reindeer set sail for Jamaica with Commander Christopher Crackenthorp Askew in command.
 
Reindeer, Commander Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall in command since sometime in 1811 or early 1812, with Polyphemus (64), and Thalia (36) set sail from Jamaica on 20 May 1812 to escort a convoy of about 100 ships bound for The Downs. They also carried news of the declaration of war by the United States, ratified and signed on 18 June, learned on the journey from a passing merchant vessel. A hurricane likely scattered the British convoy but the escorts collected some of the ships and continued to the destination. [The records, as far as I am able to find, are not clear on this except for the departure of the convoy and the sighting near Portsmouth of two of the escorts with a smaller convoy. Polyphemus separated from the convoy soon after it rounded the western tip of Cuba.]
 
The American Commodore, John Rodgers, within an hour of learning on 21 June of the 18 June ratification of the declaration of war, had ordered his squadron to set sail from New York to find and intercept this same convoy. This squadron consisted of Rodger’s flagship President (44), United States (44), Congress (36), Hornet (18) and Argus (16). They did not find the convoy but the President did engage the HMS Belvidera (36) on 23 June for the first naval action of the war. Belvidera did enough damage with her stern chasers - combined with the catastrophic chase gun explosion on the President that caused damage to the foremast, yards, sails and rigging, killed 16 men and wounded Rogers and many crewmen - to slow the President and allow Belvidera’s escape.
 
Reindeer arrived at Plymouth on 1 August 1812 for a refit that lasted until 11 September. It is likely that her 16 x 32 pounder carronades where exchanged for 24 pounders due to her age and having been built from fir although the records I have consulted cannot confirm the exchange during this refit, only that she was armed with them on a later date. It is also possible that the 32s were needed elsewhere and the change had nothing to do with Reindeer‘s condition. [see also post #13, which I had forgotten about, regarding these guns being replaced after Manners threw several 32s overboard during a storm. I gladly defer to uss frolick's expertise on this point.] This would reduce the dead weight on deck by 7,500 pounds and improve her speed and other sailing characteristics.  Commander Daniel Ross took command and set sail on the June 12 to begin his duties based from Plymouth.
 
Ross’s successor on Reindeer, Commander William Manners, captured six privateers and merchant vessels in 1813 with the first one on 2 February. They included two American privateer schooners, a French privateer lugger of 14 guns, a French merchant brig and two recaptured British merchant vessels held by unspecified enemy prize crews. Four of these were captured while Reindeer was in company with another British warship. One recapture was made by the Cruiser-class Derwent with assistance from Reindeer on 13 December.
 
Reindeer continued operating out of Plymouth through June of 1814.
 
The new American sloop-of-war Wasp, sister to the previously mentioned Peacock, was commissioned in early 1814 with Master Commandant Johnstone Blakeley in command. She remained at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until receiving orders to attack British shipping in the western approaches of the English Channel and set sail on 1 May 1814 with a hand picked crew of 173 officers, sailors and marines, passing unobserved through the blockading frigates.
 
USS Wasp’s Specifications
Length:  117 ft
Beam:  31 ft 6 inches
Tonnage:  509 (burthen)
Rig:  ship-rigged sloop
Armament:  20 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 12 pounder chase guns
Complement:  173
 
In June, the Wasp, repeating the spectacular successes by Argus of the previous year, captured five British merchant vessels, scuttled four and turned one over to the accumulated prisoners. At 4:15 am of 28 June, about 225 miles west of Plymouth, Wasp began the pursuit of two merchant vessels to the northwest but soon noticed a third bearing down on her from a little north of east. This was the Reindeer with orders to find and destroy the Wasp.
 

Action Between USS Wasp and HMS Reindeer, 28 June 1814
By Edwin Hayes, 1819-1904, NMM Collection
 
Under an overcast sky with a wind from the northeast so light that it scarcely disturbed the unusually smooth surface of the sea, Manners on Reindeer and Blakeley on Wasp began a contest in seamanship over the weather-gage that continued for more than ten hours. By ten am, both ships were identified as enemy sloops with Reindeer maintaining the weather-gage. At about 1:15, with no weather advantage gained or lost, Wasp beat to quarters without shortening sail then at 2:00 fired a gun to windward. Peacock immediately responded in kind to accept the challenge.
 
The maneuvering continued until 3:17 with both vessels close-hauled on the larboard tack running parallel courses at less than 60 yards distance and Reindeer still holding a slight weather advantage off Wasp’s larboard quarter. Reindeer fired the only gun on either sloop that would bear – her 12 pounder carronade boat gun mounted on the topgallant forecastle loaded with round shot and grape. Two minutes later Manners fired again, and again, five times.
 
Seeing that Reindeer was very slowly pulling even with Wasp, Blakely turned to the wind at 3:26 and hauled up his mainsail while firing a rolling broadside from aft forward as each gun bore during the turn. Peacock then turned to as well to bring her starboard battery to bear and fired at a distance of less than twenty yards from Wasp. Both crews, working the guns with desperate energy, exchanged broadside for broadside for ten minutes until Manners realized his only chance for victory lay in boarding and let Reindeer’s head fall off towards her opponent.
 
The sloops ground together at 3:40, men hacked and thrust at each other through the open gun ports while dense smoke from the fire of the guns that still bore billowed up from between the hulls. Cheered on by the mortally wounded Manners, grimly determined British sailors appeared through the smoke onto the deck of Wasp met by the deadly musket fire from her marines in the tops and the cutlasses and pikes of her sailors on deck. Bleeding profusely from a grape shot wound through both thighs and with several other less serious wounds, Reindeer’s captain sprang sword in hand to the foremast shrouds to lead personally his willing crew back onto Wasp saying, “Follow me, my boys, we must board them.” At that moment, a musket ball smashed through his skull and he fell back dead onto Reindeer’s deck, his sword still clenched in his right hand. As Manners fell and his men recoiled at the sight, Blakeley seized the moment to order his men forward onto Reindeer. After a moment’s furious struggle, Wasp’s boarders slew or drove below the remaining defenders. The captain’s clerk, the senior officer alive on deck, surrendered the brig at 3:44, 27 minutes after Reindeer had fired the first gun and 18 after Wasp had responded.
 

Marines Aboard USS Wasp Engage HMS Reindeer
By Sergeant John Clymer, USMC, 1945, Collection of the National Museum of the Marine Corp
Depicting the moment of Commander Manners’ fall, at far left
 
Reindeer was cut to pieces in line with her ports, and her upper works, boats and spare spars were reduced to splinters. Both masts were badly wounded just above the deck with the foremast tottering. Including her courageous commander and both midshipmen, she had 33 dead or dying and 34 wounded out of her crew of 98 men and 20 boys. The sails and rigging of Wasp were well cut up. Six round shot and many grape were embedded in her hull and many more had penetrated her sides or entered through her gun ports. One 24 pound shot had passed through the center of her foremast. Out of her complement of 173 men, she had 11 dead or dying and 15 wounded.
 
In a comparison between Reindeer and Wasp of the weight of broadsides and the size of the crews, the disparity for each is very close to 2 to 3, the greatest of any of the actions between Cruizer-class brig-sloops and the nominally “equal” American sloops. The outcome was proportional to the difference in force. Roosevelt quoted Cooper, “It is difficult to say which vessel behaved the best in this short but gallant combat.” Roosevelt went on to say, “I doubt if the war produced two better single-ship commanders than Captain Blakeley and Captain Manners; and an equal meed [measure] of praise attaches to both crews.” Even James refrained from his usual defamatory, anti-American remarks, “The action of the Reindeer and Wasp may be pronounced one of the best-fought sloop actions of the war,” although he did resort to his characteristic distortion of the numbers.
 
After Reindeer’s surrender, Master Commandant Johnstone Blakeley and both crews set to work caring for the wounded, burying the dead and making repairs through the night and into the next day, 29 June. When the wind increased during the day, Reindeer’s foremast fell and the decision made to burn her rather than risk her re-capture. After the wounded were transferred to Wasp and a passing neutral vessel, and Reindeer’s 12 pound boat gun brought on board, Reindeer was fired. Wasp stood off to watch her burn and then set a course for L’Orient after her magazine exploded.
 
Three Royal Navy vessels and three US Navy vessels have borne the name “Reindeer” in her honor.
 
As an alternative subject for Caldercraft’s Cruizer, Reindeer would need a change in the armament to 24 pounder carronades (which are available), the addition of the 12 pounder carronade mounted on a gun carriage and the addition of the fore and aft platforms like those on Snake. Because of my research into these Cruizer class brigs, I am becoming convinced that the platforms may have been typical, but more research is needed to confirm this. In the six that I have researched for these articles the platforms were mentioned specifically or their existence implied in the sources.
 
 
Next:  HMS Avon
 
Sources: 
The Naval History of Great Britain by William James, 1824
History of the Navy of the United States by J. Fenimore Cooper, 1836
The Naval War of 1812 by Theodore Roosevelt, 1900
The Age of Fighting Sail by C. S. Forester, 1957
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Dept US Navy, (online)
 “NMM, vessel ID 374389”, Warship Histories, vol.iii, National Maritime Museum (online)
“HMS Reindeer (1804)”, “USS Wasp (1814)”, “Sinking of HMS Reindeer”, articles on Wikipedia (online)
The London Gazette, 16 citations listed in “HMS Reindeer (1804)”, Wikipedia
 
[Edited to include information from post #13 I had forgotten to include, also typo corrections]

We now get to one of the more interesting parts of the build - the prow. I found this quite fiddly in the way the kit is designed to go together: the V-shaped frames which form the cross-sectional shapes of the headrails are quite clunky, not particularly accurately shaped I suspect, and have quite small details which are cut from a relatively crumbly ply. As a consequence corners tend to fall off. Nevertheless I managed to put everything in place, although I fitted the main head rails too far forward which, once this was pointed out, meant that they had to be redone. In my defence I did follow the plan, but the plan is wrong in this respect. Jotika again came to my rescue by sending me replacement parts.
 
Here are some progress photos of this area:
 



 
It's not entirely obvious, but the head rails are too far forward in the previous shot. In the next shot you can see more clearly that I have now bevelled off the corner of the beakhead bulkhead and temporarily clamped a replacement rail in place.
 

 
Finally here is a view of the prow with the replacement rails fitted and painted (and looking a lot better). I must say that I have found the constructive criticism offered by the members at MSW very helpful, and I think I am producing a better model as a consequence of their comments. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my previous blog.
 
I am now off to finish fitting the mizzen topsail yard. More later.
 
Rob
 

Its been a while since I updated my log so here we go. I have been working on the ship although progress has been slow lately due to other obligations like gardening and yard projects. I had to prep and put down 500 square feet of sod and I built a garden area.
 
Anyway, I've been skipping around a bit on the various things I need to do on the model, most likely to avoid rigging guns and making chainplates. I started working on making the belaying pin racks and installing the chocks. Frustratingly enough there are no chocks included with the kit, no cast ones, no wooden ones, nothing. I am irritated by that. Fortunately I have some cast ones laying around that I can use.
 
I also finally built a stand.
 
Here is the belaying pin rack at the bow.
 

 
I have assembled two of the four racks required for the fore mast. Below the rack in the picture you can see what I think is a mooring chock. I managed to get it to fit although the maker of the practicum wasn't able to do so. You can also see the eyebolts installed for gun rigging. I decided not to use the rigging parts made from styrene as recommended by the practicum and just go with eyebolts.
 

 
Here is the stand. A chunk o' teakwood with cradles made from mahogany.
 

Started to work on the channels.  The instructions indicate these should only require 'minor shaping', this proved to be the case for the main channels, however, the fore and aft ones needed a little more to ensure that the inner surface was flush with the hull.
 
To get the right curvature I used the following simple technique:
Used a profile gauge on the hull Transferred the curve to some card to double check the fit Transferred the curve to the channel and cut/filed/sanded Final result after pinning, these fit very solidly even without glue Overall, pretty pleased that this proved to be easier than I had expected.
 

Thanks BE - I hope they look OK as I'm not sure what the alternative is, 2mm single blocks could work and I have some just in case, will cross that bridge when I come to it!

Quick picture of the fenders and the chesstree, found these to be a real pain to paint and makes me even more impressed with the larger scale kits going with the Nelson Chequer that has a lot more ornamentation than the Snake. The relative simplicity of the Snake's lines seems to highlight even very minor mistakes. These pieces did take quite a bit to fit properly as the hull does have slight curvature and it was important to avoid any gaps as they really show with the yellow ochre.

I've also drilled the hole for the mainsheet tack as this will be made much harder by the foremast channels getting in the way.

Started to work on the channels.  The instructions indicate these should only require 'minor shaping', this proved to be the case for the main channels, however, the fore and aft ones needed a little more to ensure that the inner surface was flush with the hull.
 
To get the right curvature I used the following simple technique:
Used a profile gauge on the hull Transferred the curve to some card to double check the fit Transferred the curve to the channel and cut/filed/sanded Final result after pinning, these fit very solidly even without glue Overall, pretty pleased that this proved to be easier than I had expected.
 

Started to work on the channels.  The instructions indicate these should only require 'minor shaping', this proved to be the case for the main channels, however, the fore and aft ones needed a little more to ensure that the inner surface was flush with the hull.
 
To get the right curvature I used the following simple technique:
Used a profile gauge on the hull Transferred the curve to some card to double check the fit Transferred the curve to the channel and cut/filed/sanded Final result after pinning, these fit very solidly even without glue Overall, pretty pleased that this proved to be easier than I had expected.
 

Started to work on the channels.  The instructions indicate these should only require 'minor shaping', this proved to be the case for the main channels, however, the fore and aft ones needed a little more to ensure that the inner surface was flush with the hull.
 
To get the right curvature I used the following simple technique:
Used a profile gauge on the hull Transferred the curve to some card to double check the fit Transferred the curve to the channel and cut/filed/sanded Final result after pinning, these fit very solidly even without glue Overall, pretty pleased that this proved to be easier than I had expected.
 

Played around with the hook and strops on the block. The wire is 26 gauge and the line is 0.1mm Caldercraft hemp. I think in real life hook would protrude more, but I think it needs to be reduced a bit to allow for the short tackle length and should look OK at this scale.

...and for an encore, my 6 (and 3/4s daddy!) year old son wanted to show some pictures, we're building 1:700 HMS Hood and he is very proud of his progress.  Perhaps not enough for its own build log but I'll maybe post more if there is interest (he also chose the emoticon!) 

Here is another of my crewmembers. This is a marine. The musket is still missing.
He looks a little bit more martial than the previous one...

Pierre

hello everyone
 
I have been quiet on MSW this week, RL and work getting in the way, took day off work just to get on with the build, 
 
the stern is taking quite a lot of time to get right, no visit from Murphy to mess it up either, he paid me a visit at the week-end on the last chain plate channel
 
did not realise the problem until 1/2 way through fitting the chain plates themselves  found out it was far to low, approx 5mm
 
the Spanish inquisition i carried out revealed i had been measuring from the wale on the plans, but transferred the distance from the painted black band on the build,  

Had a naming ceremony! Credit for this goes to Blue Ensign whose excellent approach on his Pickle build I poached for applying the lettering, which are letraset 5mm gold Times New Roman dry rub transfers. Easy to apply, but alignment is a bit tricky - looks better in person for some reason. I tried to get the letters to follow the curve of the underside of the stern.
 

Had a naming ceremony! Credit for this goes to Blue Ensign whose excellent approach on his Pickle build I poached for applying the lettering, which are letraset 5mm gold Times New Roman dry rub transfers. Easy to apply, but alignment is a bit tricky - looks better in person for some reason. I tried to get the letters to follow the curve of the underside of the stern.
 

Very nice. What kind of a butt shift did you use? And how about the treenails? :-)

Had a naming ceremony! Credit for this goes to Blue Ensign whose excellent approach on his Pickle build I poached for applying the lettering, which are letraset 5mm gold Times New Roman dry rub transfers. Easy to apply, but alignment is a bit tricky - looks better in person for some reason. I tried to get the letters to follow the curve of the underside of the stern.