Beef Wellington

Well, it is also time to conclude on the building of this virtual kit. Overall, it has been a fantastic journey and it has given me an opportunity to learn a lot of new technologies and become familiar with 3D printing.
 
The kit in itself may seem crude but it provides a wonderful platform for an infinite amount of details and variants of these legendary vessels. It is not exactly inexpensive, but compares very favorably with the vast majority of 1/350 or 1/200 plastic scale models with their PE pimping kits.
 
Let's do a quick recap of the cost: 
License with hundreds of parts: $ 50 3 spools and a half of PLA filament: $ 67 2 cans of automotive primer for the hull: $ 20 Tamiya: Five large bottles of Flat White, one  bottle of Matte black, two bottles of dark grey and a couple of various colors. Lots of glue for plastic and CA glue. About $30 of wood strips and dowels 100 Caldercraft stanchions - 10 bags at $9 each - By far the most expensive item.... Amati propeller in bronze $12 Hundreds of printing hours and assembly....but that is part of the fun. The kit can be made with basically three spools of PLA if you are very careful and do not waste any. PLA is very affordable and is actually the cheapest material in this kit. It also offers the characteristics to bio-degrade if you ever bury your model in the dirt: after 50 years, not much will be left. This can be important when compared with Polystyrene kits and models that will not disappear unless they are recycled and turned into bumpers, plastic bottles or other consumer parts.
 
The BENSWORX virtual kit comes with an excellent assembly guide and offers a plethora of parts, with a few minor exceptions. Most of the parts can be printed on a PLA printer. I would recommend fine and detailed parts to be printed in a resin printer, for better surfacing. Although it was not my objective, I really enjoyed pimping up this kit and trying to improve it in some simple ways. It offers a great foundation for modelers willing to recreate mini action scenes and large dioramas at 1/48th scale. More than anything else, it provides a terrific platform for Radio Control and navigation on a lake or pond. For rivets counters, procuring some parts (at great expense) from Shapeways or other printing shop may be a great way to sink your bank account and turn this virtual kit into a museum piece.
 
From Spools to model: 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I am going to stop at this stage, even though more hours could be dedicated to this model. I may add the smoke floats that were kindly provided by the two Kevin's from England, at a later time.
 
Will there be another Virtual kit presented on this forum? You bet there will and parts are already printing.... It will be another crazy and very unusual project. But in the meantime, I'd like to go back to HMS Bellona and make some progress on it.
 
Yves

The second photo with the kit part looks much more with how I'm reading the various profiles and how I will be approaching things.  Of course, I'm just as liable to be mistaken as he next man 🙂

Hi Jason, Thanks for your comments on the scroll and following your suggestion, I have been taking a closer look at its size and position. I was imagining that the top of the scroll runs level with the top of the gunwale. I have taped a piece of 2mm thick pearwood to check this alignment and it seems about right as in the photo below.

 
But I think that you are saying that it should sit higher than it does. The kit version of the scroll is 8.2mm whereas mine is 6.0 If I use the dimension of the kit piece it would sit like this...

 
If this is more like the correct position, it also seems that I will have to increase the height of the quarterdeck walls..
It would be good to hear your further views on this because I am struggling to interpret the various plans and photographs of versions with and without the built up quarterdeck rails.
 
David

Just stunning Chuck....

Hi David, the trials and tribulations of the channel placement is shared by everyone so you're in good company!  I would suggest taking another look at your hancing scroll, to my eye it looks a little on the small side, and possibly a little low, but its always hard to judge from photos.  Been looking at this a lot recently, and it seem common practice for the radius of the scroll to extend above the sheer of the deck to transition to the quarterdeck bulwark, so that the rail sits above the level of the deck in the waist.  The original plans suggest that this should be around 6mm in diameter at 1:64, which is pretty consistent with the kit supplied part.  Unfortunately I lost the plans from the kit in my flood so can't refer to that.  Of course, please feel free to ignore me!

Netflix?   Don't have cable TV by design (mine) but do have Master and Conmander on CD.

Hi David, the trials and tribulations of the channel placement is shared by everyone so you're in good company!  I would suggest taking another look at your hancing scroll, to my eye it looks a little on the small side, and possibly a little low, but its always hard to judge from photos.  Been looking at this a lot recently, and it seem common practice for the radius of the scroll to extend above the sheer of the deck to transition to the quarterdeck bulwark, so that the rail sits above the level of the deck in the waist.  The original plans suggest that this should be around 6mm in diameter at 1:64, which is pretty consistent with the kit supplied part.  Unfortunately I lost the plans from the kit in my flood so can't refer to that.  Of course, please feel free to ignore me!

5, 6: Superstructure (cont'd)
 
They may be hard to see in some cases, but all of the starboard elements have been added except for the depth charge cradles. The parts tally for this task came to 67. Adding the 22 cradles will finish off this side, but I think I will do the port-side elements first and then do all of the port and starboard cradles in one go. That will leave me one end of the superstructure that I can safely grasp without knocking stuff loose.
 

I’ve been making some corrections to the position of the sheer rail and mizzen channels.
 
The scrolls for the drift rails supplied in the kit made from walnut didn’t look right so I scratched them from 1.5mm boxwood sheet but when placing them, they didn’t seem to sit right in relation to the sheer rail and plansheer. This prompted me to look more closely at the original plans for Diana on the NMM website and the photographs in the Sailing Frigate. As I plan to build Diana without the built-up quarter deck bulwarks, I realised that the mizzen channel should be on the same level as the main and forward channels rather than in-line with quarter deck drift rail. I also realised that I had placed the sheer rail slightly too high. All this resulted in a few days’ work removing the rails, filling the holes for the pins of the mizzen channel and some repainting.
I have made new mizzen channels because the Diana plans and photographs of ship models showed that originally, in my understanding, the mizzen channel carried only the shrouds and standing backstays and that the mizzen and royal backstays ran to a separate stool. The two additional stools will be made from 1.5mm boxwood sheet as before.
 

 
The sheer rail and mizzen channel are now in what I believe are their correct positions. I have used 15 brackets each side, three on the mizzen and six each on the main and fore channels. I have assumed that on the fore channel, there are brackets not seen on the plans which are hidden both behind the anchor stock and the anchor lining. Only 22 parts are supplied in the kit so a further 8 have been made from the brass strip that remains when the PE parts are removed.
 


 
These shots also show the boxwood drift rail scrolls in place. I'm waiting until I have a better idea of the placement of the quarter deck guns before finishing the rail
 
All the channels are now placed with their brackets but I have yet to drill and fix the pins which is the next thing to do. 
 
 

Post Seventy-four
 
Fettlin’ the rails
I will start with the forward section, and get that fixed into place first so I can proceed to the Headworks.

2609(2)
I removed the Ekeing rail sections from below and above the lower rail.
I left the middle and  upper rails attached as I thought I could handle those without breakage, and I didn’t want to remove the tiny verticals between the two that form the connection for the channels support brackets.

2607(2)
With the rails secured in the vice (with its rubber inserts in place) the char is very gently removed using sanding sticks with used paper on them.
A slight round is also given to the top and lower edges of the rails.
 

2622
Very soft hands are required for this  and I make  bespoke sanding sticks for the purpose.

2613
The rails were soaked as per the blurb, and clamped  in place to dry overnight.

2617(2)
These are the bits left over, mostly unintended breakages, but they should fit into place once the main parts are secured on the hull.

2624(2)
So far, so good, the necessary curve is retained.

05493(2)
The rails were glued into place using PVA,  I take the precaution of keeping a jar of clean water, and a small brush to hand, to remove any glue spread onto the ground.

05486
The bits that broke away went back without issue.

05498

05490(2)
It is a slow and precise business fitting the rails, I’ve spent two days on the forward sections, but I think cleaning them up is worth the effort, for me at least.
 
I will now move onto the Headworks.
 
B.E.
04/02/22
 
 

Hello,
at least I finished the gratings, ladderways and capstan partners. Also the new stanchions in front of the capstans are installed and the last days I turned the axles and drumheads for the capstans. 

 

 

Hello,
and many thanks for your efforts Mark. Alexander found in Goodwin's book English Man of War, 1719 establishment list, under gun deck and plank, page 249 binding strakes. The same for the middle deck, under Flat, page 252 and for the upper gun deck also under flat the next page. What is the difference between plank and flat?
 
That means, I have to build them, but as you already said, I do not inlet them. 
 
I have also a little upgrade at the shipyard

 

Thank you Rob.
 
Again, a little progress this evening. I have drilled and filed out the porthole openings in the forward superstructure and fitted the portholes. The deck is as yet unbent, but I'll bend it with water to give it a water run-off.
 

 
I've also found some columns for the railings that are close to those on the plans. These are Amati walnut 12mm columns (I bought 70 of them, which should be enough, with a few left over!).
 

 
And a few lined up for effect... They're a tiny bit over height so that I can file the angles into the bases and tops to make them vertical on the model (even though the deck is sloped a few degrees.)
 

 
Happy building all
 
Rob

good evening everyone, 
 
thank you for comments and likes
 
i have had a couple of days off, to do some DIY, lots planned for this year
this evening i completed the railings and did a bit of weathering on the funnel assy, tomorrow i will hopefully do the the funnel guy ropes and more patching up of the hull

 
 

More update photos as promised. These show the gaff rigging and some of the topmast rigging. As mentioned earlier, these are Bluejacket blocks and Syren line. 
 

Well, bit of a long overdue update.
 
I've been super busy at work, spending time outside over the summer, then I had Covid. So even though I've worked on the model a fair amount I haven't posted anything in quite awhile. Here we go.
 
I've completed nearly all of the rigging on the Latham. One thing I wanted to touch on first was the baggywrinkle. I puzzled long and hard over how to make this neatly and in scale. I am a fly fisherman/fly tier and it eventually hit me to use peacock herl, which is used for certain fly bodies. I used my serving machine to wrap it around the rigging line, and then subsequently painted with tan paint. Really happy with the way it came out. I'll have more updates over the coming days. 
 
 

Hello modelers,
 
as already mentioned in the Confederacy build log of Walrusguy (here page 7), this is not a build log but a series of pictures of my model showing the progress of the build.....
 
As I have now been building for a few years, I begin with the latest pictures and upload the rest time by time.....
 
I look forward to your questions and comments.
 
Greetings
 
Werner
 
 

Somehow missed the end of this...looks fantastic Mike.

Somehow missed the end of this...looks fantastic Mike.

Somehow missed the end of this...looks fantastic Mike.

Somehow missed the end of this...looks fantastic Mike.

Somehow missed the end of this...looks fantastic Mike.

I'm calling this one officially done.  I originally bought this model as a stepping stone to learning how to build plastic ship models with PE sets so that I could do the Hasegawa Shimakaze kit some Justice.  It was a good model to learn the ropes on.  
 
Now, I'm just about done with the Shimakaze, but wanted to put it in a water diorama setting.  So, I pulled out the Hatsuzakura and did my first waterline diorama setting.  For the base, I used insulation foam board from Home Depot that I cut using a Proxxon thermocutter.  The frame is basswood that I purchased from National Balsa in the widths and thickness I thought would look ok, which I then cut, sanded, and stained (on my next one, I might reduce the height of the base by a 1/4").  The sea was made using the crinkled aluminum foil technique, coupled with using Liquitex heavy gel gloss acrylic medium, and cotton for the white sea spray/wake.  I'm pretty happy with how it all came out, though would probably do the wake a little differently next time.  
 
Figures were a combination of resin figures from FiveStar and NorthStar.  The nice thing about them is that they are already fairly three-dimensional, unlike the PE ones you see from places like Eduard.  I saw one model where the builder used Eduard but built up the figures using glued-on cornstarch, but that seemed like a bit too much work for this go around.
 
Thanks for all the interest and help on this log.  Really appreciate it!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Morning all, Thank you as always for your encouragement, comments and likes.
 
I've continued working on the superstructures. The aft superstructure was made in the same way as the fore s/s.
 

 
When fixing the layers to one another, I've found a floor tile (purchased for photo-etch work) very useful as a flat reference to make sure I don't laminate a curve into the parts.
 

 
Because this superstructure is not rectangular, but trapezoid, the floor had to be carefully measured to account for the thickness of the walls, and the 3.5mm quarter round section which would be used at the corners. Even with careful calculation a little fettling was required to allow it to fit together nicely in real life. The final challenge was to make sure that the hole for the mizzen mast was in the correct position.
 

 
Once assembled, I was happy with the results.
 

 
Happy with that, it was time to think about portholes. I wanted portholes with a very minor flange, and very thin wall. I couldn't find anything commercially available, so I decided to make them myself from 5.8mm styrene tube on my proxxon lathe.
 

 

 
My design calls for 18 of these, and they were all made in the space of a morning. Care has to be taken not to overwork the styrene and melt it.
 

 
Then it was time to paint them with some bronze paint (gold mixed with a little brown)
 

 
A partition wall was made for the aft superstructure from 1mm "planked" with 0.13mm styrene.
 

 

 
Finally, I sprayed the superstructures with white primer, and then hand painted with a few coats of Caldercraft matt white (with a few drops of water to make it flow better and avoid brush marks).
 

 
I haven't drilled out the holes or fixed the portholes in place yet, but this photo gives you some idea of what it might look like.
 

 
Looking at this photo, I think I need to sand them a bit thinner, still. But that's it for today
 
Happy building.
 
Rob