Beef Wellington

Thanks for the advice and comments everyone.    To carry one with Sphinx, I am working a bit outside the instructions at this point and sorting processes and methods out.  Hopefully, I'll have it completed by the end of the year as long as nothing else gets in the way.   I'll update once I have some real progress.

Thanks John.
Hi Keith, the whole is made from wood.  The hull was carved from a block then hollowed out to shape; then the lining simulating cork covered with canvas) added.  I have still to add duckboards, lifting gear etc.  We have omitted the tholes at the moment as they are so small art this scale - but I am tempted to do this when I add the pre-painted (vermillion) rubbing strakes and boat badges in the bow.
 
I have yet to come to grips whether hanging loops would have been included with the rubbing strakes, for men to hang onto or assist their scrambling into the boat.  The UK Life Saving boats were starting to show them, but not evident in the NMM model.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Just found you again BE, thankfully before you're finished.  The small boats are fascinating and this is definitely one that has tempted me.  I'm amazed that the flying transom only became detatched once, and have no doubt that the silk purse is not far away...definitely agree on the replacement of the transom panel.

Part 6  The Figurehead.
 
Pictures say more than words on this phase of "Victory". The material I used to carve this is called prototyping foam, also known as butterboard. It is a urethane fine cell structure that can be carved, milled, and sanded. It's available through McMaster-Carr. The huge advantage is there is no grain to contend with. That said, lets get down to the carving and painting of Victory's original figurehead.
 
For the tools I used a Dremel with a small ball cutter for removing large areas of material. Since I'm an Engraver I modified a few cutters into miniature chisels. Finally riffler files to smooth things out.
 
Side note: I repositioned what I call the "Rose Parade" waving of arms and hands. 
 
From NMM the 1/2 scale sculpture of the figurehead which I scaled to 1:64.
 
Next Part 7 The stern galleries and start of the upper deck long 12 pounders.

Shipyard is a line of paper/card models from Poland, where paper models seem to be so prevalent.  Shipyard includes kits of sailing ships, world lighthouses, dockyard structures, and more. But, this review is a look at one of their higher end products – one of their kits which, rather than featuring printed paper parts that must be cut out from their sheet, instead provides laser-cut parts that must be cut loose from their sheets and painted. 
 
The range includes the small schooner Berbice, the Santa Maria, the cutter HMS Alert, all the way up in size to the 28-gun frigate HMS Mercury. The HMS Wolf kit, released around 2015, is about as close as one can get in size and complexity to the HMS Mercury kit, though their kit of the Dutch pinnace Papegojan is probably just about as detailed and complex.
 

All of Shipyard's laser-cut card kits are made in 1/72 scale. They all come in large, flat boxes that contain all the laser-cut components, plus color printed instructions, some plan sheets that are mostly for the rigging, laser-cut and etched sails, color printed flag sheets, wooden dowels for masts and yards, laser-cut blocks and deadeyes kits, white linen rigging cord, turned brass cannon and swivel gun barrels, cast resin decorative pieces, several jars of acrylic paint, a couple nice paint brushes, and more.
 
Everything comes pretty neatly packed with various components stored in separate cardboard boxes, which helps protect all the parts during shipping.

 

 

 

 

The instruction book is 32-pages in full color, including the cover, and is mostly photos at each stage, with the significant parts labeled by their part numbers. There is some text, but not much. What there is is in Polish, with German and English translations also given.
 
The Instruction Booklet


The one thing that is not included that I think would be really helpful, is a parts list that shows the numbers, where in the instructions the part is called for, and on what sheet to find the part. I'll come back to this later.
 
 
The Plan Sheets
Masting and rigging is detailed in the separate plans sheets. There is no one overall profile plan sheet, these are all just detail sheets. But, if you look closely, you'll notice that some assemblies, like the gun carriage are more fully detailed in the plans sheets. Also, the metal parts that you need to make, like hooks and eyebolts and such, are identified on one of these sheets, not in the instruction booklet. So, it's a very good idea to study these sheets to see what's described on them.

The kit contains no eyebolts, split rings, hooks or things of that nature. Instead, a couple sizes of copper wire are provided, and the plan sheet below identifies the small metal parts you must make in various sizes. These are all identified in the plans with the letter 'Z' as a prefix. The instruction manual will call for these parts, and you will find no part with this number. Again, that's because you have to make all the Z parts yourself from wire.
If you prefer to make your own sails out of, say, paper, some nicely detailed patterns are provided, showing locations of reinforcements, cringles, reef bands, etc.
 
The Parts
As you can see here, there are a lot of parts sheets, and on each of those there are a lot of parts. There's a LOT of detail here, and just seeing how much detail there is in the kit makes the kit really exciting to work on.
 
By the way, my apologies – these photos are on the blue background of my cutting mat and the photos were taken with an iPhone, which does it's own automatic color balance, so all the sheets look kind of yellowish here, which they are not.
 
The only color printed parts in this kit include the flags sheet, which is printed double-sided, and the decorative friezes. I don't know if this was intentional, but my kit included two copies of this sheet.

Apologies too for the bad focus on this photo – I don't know what happened here. In a sharper world, you'd see all the bulkhead parts and hull stiffeners. Those who've built Shipyard's paper models probably know already about how well these laser-cut parts fit together, and form a very stable hull structure. 
 
This odd, brownish looking sheet is actually dead black. But, at least here you can see that the part numbers are there. When I looked at this sheet, I had to hold it at an angle, under a bright light in order to see the number or to even identify the part.
There is one small sheet of clear acetate for the windows and the stern lantern. 

Note that the deck planking is engraved onto the card pieces, with nicely located butt joints, nibbed plank ends, proper scarf joints, and treenails.
Lots of parts make for lots of details and lots of work. But there's no shaping, drilling, milling, filing, sanding, carving, required. it's all mostly cutting, gluing, and painting.
 
Sorry, I didn't take pics of the cannon barrels, resin "carvings", brushes, rigging line, or the paint jars. But, I will mention that earlier kits of this line had jars of paint that could easily dry up. I'd mentioned this problem to Shipyard years ago. They have since gotten jars with rubber grommets in the lids to create a better seal, and this seems to have alleviated the problem.
 
Speaking of paints, those included in the kit are apparently some decent quality artist's acrylics. They go on dead flat and have some transparency to them, so you should be able to see some of the laser-etched details through the paint. The paint is a Polish brand called Renesans. I like them, but they hard to find, except on some European online art supply stores.
 
Summing it Up
This is a pretty well detailed looking kit. It, and the entire line of Shipyard laser-cut kits, are very different from most paper model kits, given that nearly every paper model kit is mostly paper that has to be cut, rolled, folded, or curved, and may have a laser-cut skeleton for strength. This kit is entirely laser-cut, but includes parts using other materials for best appearance or easiest construction.
 
The heavy use of laser cutting comes at a cost, and these laser cut kits are a lot more expensive than traditional paper models, and this kit is no exception. This kit has a cost that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $200, give or take, depending on where you purchase it. That's a lot more than a traditional paper kit, but not really much different from a comparable wooden kit, and there's a lot more to it than a box of wood with some laser-cut pieces.
 
The kit is available from a number of online shops, including Ages of Sail, where I got mine, Cornwall, Shipyard's online shop, and maybe someone will chime in about a Canadian shop.
 
Did I miss anything?
 
 
 

You have a very fine model coming together here Brian.  Especially like your photos of the stern, the colour combination is very pleasing to my eye!  Will be following along from here...

Some great advice but there is no short cut to getting a super smooth finish. I built Billings Fairmount Alpine using epoxy as a sealer and I too used Halfords Matt primer to see the imperfections. Any imperfections were filled using a fine two pack polyester car filler. It just takes hours of patience which you obviously have.
 
The finish you have achieved is fantastic and a real credit to you.
 
Here’s my effort after probably the same hours that you put in.  Looks about the same I would say 

Just found you again BE, thankfully before you're finished.  The small boats are fascinating and this is definitely one that has tempted me.  I'm amazed that the flying transom only became detatched once, and have no doubt that the silk purse is not far away...definitely agree on the replacement of the transom panel.

Just found you again BE, thankfully before you're finished.  The small boats are fascinating and this is definitely one that has tempted me.  I'm amazed that the flying transom only became detatched once, and have no doubt that the silk purse is not far away...definitely agree on the replacement of the transom panel.

Looks great.  Was the primer that you used matte?  That would make seeing any imperfections that mush harder, as it looks like the finish has a satin finish which would show these much more.

You have a very fine model coming together here Brian.  Especially like your photos of the stern, the colour combination is very pleasing to my eye!  Will be following along from here...

Hancing pieces and volutes....
 
I'm a little embarrassed that it has been so long that I've been away, somewhat from the shipyard but also this wonderful site.  With the weather starting to turn and a bit more available time it seemed a good time to get back into things and try to pick up from a point that I left a little disheartened so many months ago.  To be able to move forward, I had to come up with a solution for the hancing pieces which should then really allow much of the final hull form to be finalised.  The problem I faced stemmed from the fact that I had to come up with a hancing piece volute 6mm high (per NMM plans) to transition the upper rails into the waist, and following a profile already established for the other rails.  Although these are not large details, they are features that to my eye need to be sufficiently elegant and accurate to avoid detracting from the lines of the hull.  I tried many different approaches, but here is the one that worked best for me and provided a method of construction that allowed consistent results.  I'll apologize in advance for quality of the photographs, I was so focused on the work and forgot to check the photo quality as I progressed.
 
2.2 mm holes were drilled using a pin vise into some 2mm pear wood (actually 1.5mm + 0.5mm pear laminated together cross grain because I didn't have any 2mm sheet stock), this matches the starting thickness used for the upper rails which started as 2x2mm square strip.  (A 2.2mm hole was found through visual trial and error to introduce the gradual narrowing of the rail into the end of the volute).  A 1.5mm diameter recess was then carefully made at the edge using a round needle file at 45deg to the bottom of the hole.  Each 'blank' was then cut from the sheet, given a slight reduced profile using an exacto blade, and a thin cut made above the filed lobe (explanation below). 

Small sections of 1.5mm diameter pear dowel were then glued into the 1.5mm recess, so they very slightly protruded above the top of the block.  Sufficient PVA glue was used to ensure that these were well bonded.  Once dry, a the top of the blanks were gently cut back and carefully finished against a circular sander so that the top edge of the blank was tangential to the top of the 2.2mm drilled hole (the cut previously made above the recess allows this section to release easily as it will no longer be needed.

A length of 2x2mm pear wood strip was scraped with the same molding profile as used previously in the build, but care taken to leave an untouched section toward the end.  The volute blanks were then attached to the unfinished end of the scraped molding.  PVA glue was used generously, and left to dry overnight to ensure a full strength bond.  Once dry, the excess was then carefully cut away to give proportions pleasing to the eye (mine at least) and ensure that the final volute form would be 6mm high.  The rough cut was then very carefully reduced to its final shape using various grades of sanding sticks.

 
Once the final shape was achieved, a profile needed to be introduced to match, and transition as smoothly as possible from the molding strip into the curve of the volute.  To do this I needed to create a second scraper profile at the very edge of a razor blade to work on the volute curve effectively (the scraper profile used previously for strip had been centered to give best control on straight strip).  This was performed very slowly as catastrophic failure would be very easy!  While it is true that it took multiple experiments to get this method down, it did work well and the four needed volutes were all first time efforts with no rework, and despite the many imperfections highlighted by the macro lens, the results to the naked eye exceeded my expectations.

In position, the volutes will now allow final shaping of the hull profile.  Onto the next challenges!

You have a very fine model coming together here Brian.  Especially like your photos of the stern, the colour combination is very pleasing to my eye!  Will be following along from here...

You have a very fine model coming together here Brian.  Especially like your photos of the stern, the colour combination is very pleasing to my eye!  Will be following along from here...

So, I have attached the transom decoration over the stern lights with the light frames painted black.  The decorative rail is running across the bottom, having painted it walnut with a dark highlight in the middle.  Getting it attached securely was a victory, but upon close inspection, I see a lot of areas where I could have done a better job.  I realize it isn't great work (or even good work), but I am learning a lot on the Granado as my second model ship build, and will try to apply my "lessons learned" in the future.  I still need to put the 1x4 mm walnut taffrail capping in place over the transom decoration, after it is shaped and painted dull black, then I will do some touchup and cleanup of the whole area.  It is amazing how dust gets everywhere.  I am also working on the quarterbadges, and have usurped @Timmo's approach, where I am going to make frames for the lights out of scrap brass wire from the kit.  I will take some more pictures as I proceed.  Finally, thanks for visiting the build and offering sage advice.  It is encouraging to know people are watching and willing to help the novices!  

So, I listened to all suggestions in response to my question about how to align and glue the steps to the outside of the Granado, which I had already treated with Danish Oil.  I decided that instead of waiting to order and receive Super Phatic Glue (it is not sold at Lowes, etc. as far as I can tell), I would follow the advice of Glen @glbarlow and build a jig and use medium CA, a glue that I have had a lot of experience and modest success using.  However, instead of building a wooden jig, I made a photocopy of the plan sheet showing the steps position, alignment, and spacing.  I printed it out, then used a scalpel to cut a square of the area containing the steps, and then I cut the steps out of the square, again using a sharp scalpel blade.  Crazy, I know.  I put just a little blue tack on the piece of paper, and then tacked it onto the side of the ship in the correct location.  Now I had a template for the steps alignment and position right on the side of the ship.  I then took each of my stair steps (5 per side), that I had stained and finished with Danish Oil, and holding them with fine point tweezers, I put a thin line of Loctite Medium CA along the step, and then carefully glued it in the correct position as indicated by the paper template.  In most instances I surprised myself, and I didn't shake or spaz around....I just glued it right onto the side of the ship in the correct position as shown by the template.  I had one step that I spazzed around with a little, and when I pulled the step back away from the ship, the unthinkable occurred.  Basically, I heard the tips of the tweezers snap closed and a millisecond later the sound of the step bouncing off of something and disappearing into thin air.   Some wise man once said "PUT A TOWEL IN YOUR LAP", which is almost precisely the words of wisdom frequently used by the Admiral (she also suggests a sheet under the work area).  Do I listen to these suggestions.  NO.  I searched and searched, and now face the ugly future when one of our schnauzers goes up to the Admiral with a step stuck in her beard, and the Admiral gets to say "what is this, and why does a dog have it, don't you know it could make the dogs sick if they ate this!!!!!", and "other ugly words".  So, then I had to get the part number, and then refer to the parts sheet, to see if the kit manufacturer had predicted the "oh cr*p" flight of the stair step and included an extra one.  Good luck for me, they had.  Before I went to retrieve the part from the sheet in the other room, I searched one more time for the missing piece, trying to avoid having to stain and finish another step.  Miracles of miracles, I found THE SPARE STAIR, all unfinished and sitting there on the work table trying its best to GET LOST.  At my age, you forget you had removed all 11 of them, and for some reason, you only work with the 10, and let the 11th spare start to wander around to be lost and forgotten.  If I hadn't looked one last time, I would have gone to the other room, removed the parts sheet, and seen that I had removed them all....and then tried to find it.  Hah, I win, I didn't have an unnecessary heart attack in this instance.  So last night, I stained the spare, and will be glueing the steps to the other side.  I took one of the steps that was ready for use, and glued it into the template to finish the one side, and then attempted to remove the template from around the steps without removing the steps along with the template.  Guess what, it mostly worked.  There were just one or two places where the paper didn't remove as cleanly as I would have hoped, but I could get it cleaned up with some tweezer work (see photo).  I also got the anchor (Franken)lining and fenders in place on both sides, as you can see in the second picture.  None of it is perfect work at all, but it is "not bad" by my newbie standards.  Finally, it has been my strategy to build as much of the deck equipment, etc. as possible before installing it, so that the fragile pieces aren't all broken due to mishandling or finger spasms.  For example, the elm tree pumps with their teeny tiny metal handles seem like parts that if installed too early in my shop would take a beating over the remainder of the build.  So, I have made them, but not assembled/installed them yet.  Recently, I decided I would make the tiller housing.  As I am prone to do, I looked at what @Timmo and others had done in the past, and saw that he had etched some decorative figuring in the sides of his tiller housing.  It occurred to me that I could do the opposite, and decided to glue decorative panels to the sides to give it a little bling (little being the operative word here).  I have included a picture of the tiller housing, with my teeny tiny kit bash in evidence if you squint and look closely enough.
 
 


 

 
I have come to the conclusion that the only way to make small things like the tiller housing look "good" is to include a picture of a dime or something to show the small size of these items.  In the absence of an indication of scale, everything looks "bad".  Live and learn.
 
Thanks for stopping by, and a BIG THANK YOU to @glbarlow, @allanyed, @Peanut6 and everyone else for the advice, encouragement, and tips and tricks.  Without everyone's help and push in the back, I would still be frozen in thought/inaction/fear.  Stay safe and be happy!
 
Brian

Post Five
I continued to use the provided strip for the planking and there is more than sufficient for the need.
A representation of the Garboard is fitted first, followed by a final spiled plank.

9331
I terminated this one on the third bulkhead leaving just the forward part that meets the stem and abuts the Garboard.
A drop plank of sorts was then formed to complete the planking.
 

9332
I didn’t get away without a little filler in the bow area, but once the frieze is added, along with rails, and the waterline is painted in, it should look ok.

9335(2)

9341(2)
With the bulkheads twisted away there is not too much cleaning up to do.

9345(2)
During construction the Flying Transom detached so this needed to be re-fixed.

9339
There is a lot of fettlin’ to do to shape the extended planking to conform to the Flying Transom arms.
The aim is to achieve that elegant sweep typical of Barges (and Pinnaces)
 
I think a few extra photo close-ups would have been helpful in the blurb to show the set-up more clearly.

9350
An additional planking section is required to be fitted over the arms, and shaped. (still w-i-p)

9358(2)
A brass etch transom panel is provided, but there are no photos of this in place, and it is not mentioned in the blurb.

9361(2)
I have decided not to use it except as a template to make a wooden version on which an appropriate design can be applied.
 
The macros are brutal at this stage, but with a fair wind and following sea hopefully a silk purse will emerge from this sow’s ear.
 
Onwards,
 
B.E.
15/11/2022




 
 

Post Four
Planking and more planking.
It is a slow business planking at this scale.
Each strake has to be tapered, bevelled, wetted, edge bent, wet fitted, clamped in place, and blasted with the hairdryer, and left until formed.

9259
These sectioning clips are ideal for the purpose, applying the right degree of pressure on this fairly delicate hull.
After what feels like half a lifetime the planking nears completion.

9307(2)

9309(2)

9310

9308

9319
A week’s planking leaves two strakes left to finish.
These will be the garboard plank and a spiled plank that will sit on the bottom of the hull out of sight.

9314

9318
I have not found planking an easy job on this project and it looks pretty rough at this stage, a lot of fettlin’ to do to get an acceptable finish.
 
Hopefully it will look a lot better in the next post.
 
B.E.
12/11//2020
 
 

Post Three
Bevelled bow patterns have been attached.

9202
These are tricky to hold for bevelling, I use my toolmakers clamp which works very well.

9211
Before the fairing is started, I add support blocks to protect the Flying Transom; at this stage it is very vulnerable.
 
For the fairing I am using 320 grade paper attached to various width sanding sticks. Being mdf the fairing is quickly done, the four bulkheads from the bow and stern are the ones involved.
 
As with all this range of boats the first plank rests on the shoulder of the bulkheads to give the correct line and sheer.
 
More easily said than done at the bow in relation to the Barge.
The bows of Barges were fairly bluff so there is a tight turn from the stem around the first two bulkheads.

9213
Coupled with this there is a sharp drop in shoulder levels from Bulkhead 1 to bulkhead 3 requiring lateral bending also of a greater curve than is easily achieved.
The instructions don’t mention any need for lateral bending on the first strake, only referring to tapering from the second strake plank.
To secure the planks spots of ca are used from the stem to the third bulkhead, and pva thereafter.

9217
After a fair bit of fiddling around including breaking the end off the first plank, I am relieved they are finally fitted.
 
I derived a small amusement that the box contained the statement Not suitable for children under 36 months
Double that, call it years, and then some, and I still wonder if it’s suitable.😉
 
I don’t think this is going to be an easy planking job.
 
Close examination of the prototype pics indicate that stealers have been employed at the bow and what look like broader planks for some of the strakes towards the keel.

Prototype close-up – the pdf photos are a little small for detail, but it can be seen how James achieved the result.
 
This will get the job done and as the hull is intended to be painted such simplifications are perhaps less relevant.
However, I will try to attempt a more conventional arrangement.
 
From the second plank tapering is indicated.

9222
I opted to leave the plank full, but edge bend it to follow the first.
 
On the question of tapering, the planks used are 2mm x 0.8mm which makes it difficult to adopt the usual tapering method of cutting the line using rule and scalpel.
Tapering is done by means of scraping and careful sanding on a flat board to finish. Any tapering should not exceed half the plank width ie 1mm.
Fortunately, I do have some 0.8mm Pearwood Strips in varying widths, which will give more options.

9228
It is more difficult edge bending the kit lengths as it has to be done at the end of the strip which is obviously less flexible.
Having soaked the planks, the bend was induced by hand, fitted to the hull, held in place as above, and blasted with the hairdryer.

9236(2)
Spots of ca are used to secure at the bow, with pva along the edge joints, and sparingly on the bulkheads, which will eventually be removed.

9234

9237(2)
The sheer of the hull can be seen in these shots.

9241(2)
Note the blocks glued to the base board to protect the delicate stem.
 
 Hours of unremitting fun now to be had completing the hull planking.🙄
 
B.E.
06/11/2022
 
 
 

Post Two
Not the most exciting part of a build, but I don’t think James has covered the Barge in his build logs, so I’ll run thro’ the initial stage.
 
The bulkheads fit snugly into the building board to the underside of which a grip is glued to secure in a vice.

9165
In short order the next stage is to fit the delicate Pearwood keel.
This is a soft hands procedure and care must be taken not to force the keel slots into the bulkhead slots which are very fine particularly those at the bow and stern.
I tested each keel slot against its bulkhead partner before attempting the keel fit.
9170

9167
The keel is eased into position, and I ensure it sits fully down on the bulkheads.

9173
The keel is also checked for true. Once satisfied diluted pva was run into the joints.

9186
Unlike other boats in the range the barge has a sub-deck. To fit this four of the bulkhead bridges have to be removed to allow access.

9177

9189

9192
One of the advantages of the sub-deck is that it should help to counter twist in the bulkheads once the fairing begins.

9193
The arms of the Flying Transom are glued into place.

9199
Fitting the Flying Transom is a tricky business, I opted to glue the arms to the fixed transom first, and then slotted the Flying transom between before the pva hardened off.
 
The hull is now set aside for the glue to set.
 
B.E.
04/11/2022
 
 
 

Looks great.  Was the primer that you used matte?  That would make seeing any imperfections that mush harder, as it looks like the finish has a satin finish which would show these much more.

Looks great.  Was the primer that you used matte?  That would make seeing any imperfections that mush harder, as it looks like the finish has a satin finish which would show these much more.

I've been building a smit Rotterdam kit and have painted my hull now onto the super structure. 
 
I used epoxy to seal the wood and get an even surface. Then used primer. The hull looked great until actual paint went on and I could see flaws everwhere. So sanded it back till it looked smooth paint again and still flaws. Sand paint sand paint....fast forward 5 cans later and I'm finally happy with the result. Here are my results 
 
Surely I've been missing some key tricks here? Is there a way to get a good finish without using a million cans and hours of sanding? 

Looks great, definitely intriguing to see how this beauty develops!

Moving along to finish the boxing joint.  The first segment of the keel is also laser cut in two layers.   There are laser etched numbers on them.   Glue these two layers together with the numbers facing each other on the INSIDE of the joint.   
 

This does a respectable job of simulating the box joint.

Then tweak as needed to get a tight fit with the stem assembly.  The seams will darken of course when I apply a finish.   But it has all been sanded.   After tweaking the ends of the box joint just a bit to get really tight seams I went over them in pencil again to make sure they would be visible once I apply some wipe on Poly.
 
You will also note how the remaining two segments of the keel are also done in two layers.   It will be impossible to tell that these are done in layers once the rabbet strip and the false keel are added.   It was a good solution to making what could have been a very complex and challenging box joint.   Bolts will be added later.