Beef Wellington

Love it Chris.  Don't know how you do it at that tiny scale.

Love it Chris.  Don't know how you do it at that tiny scale.

Love it Chris.  Don't know how you do it at that tiny scale.

Love it Chris.  Don't know how you do it at that tiny scale.

Hull
 
I serendipitously discovered that rubbing the sprayed parts with a bare finger will sort of "buff out" the splotchy look and restore (mostly) the proper black color.
 
So here's the deck (two parts) glued down to the 3D-printed hull.
 
For the most part, the fit is spot-on, and of course there are no waves or buckles -- nice. There is, however, some overhang at the stern of as much as 1.5 mm.
 

 
Nothing to panic about yet. I will further assess the situation when I get the hull sides ready to apply. The fix may be as simple as adding a layer or two of card to build the hull up a bit.
 
Cheers!

Okay, back to ships! I'm really biting off a lot on this project, but it's such a nice model that I just had to take a crack at it. Hopefully I will be up to the challenge. I wrote a review of this kit, which you can read HERE, so I won't go into great detail about it here. I will, though, repeat that if you like this model and would like to get your hands on a copy, or perhaps try a different card kit, be sure to check out all the HMV kits available from Fentens Papermodels. Unlike my recent aircraft builds, I expect this project to take longer than a month. How long, I can't say. We'll see how it goes and maybe take a break or two if necessary.
 
One nice thing about this project is that I will need only a very small number of edge colors -- the ship is depicted entirely in Measure 21 dark blue-gray.

 
But . . . it has a considerable number of parts -- close to 2000 in total. Ten pages -- wowzers!

 
Happily, I have the laser-cut detail set to replace many of those parts. It consists of six frets.

 
And now I can share what Santa brought me this past Christmas.

This lovely 3D-printed hull, available from Shapeways, will replace ALL of the usual egg-crate construction. Only the external skins need to be applied. This will be the most stable card ship hull I have ever worked on.
 
So, that will serve for an introduction. The first thing I will need to do is the usual spraying of the parts sheets. Hopefully tomorrow it will be warm enough in the garage to move forward with that task.
 
Cheers!
 
 

3: Hull
 
It dawned on me that a good way to track these updates would be by linking them to the numbered construction diagrams, of which there are 27, plus an optional 28th. The printed hull allowed me to skip diagrams 1 and 2. With this update, I am now done through diagram 3.
 

 
Forward we have the hawse pipes, hawse pipe lips, capstan, and platform for the forward 3"/50.

 
Amidships are the solid bulwarks and their stanchions, which I assume are frame extensions. These are the laser-cut replacement parts.

 
And aft we have various hatches. For parts that are only one card sheet thick, I'm using an ordinary gray felt-tip marker for edge coloring; at pretty much any viewing distance, it's indistinguishable from the mixed paint color. For our foreign friends, an American penny is 19 mm wide. This photo shows assemblies 32-35 in place on deck. Note the spot marked "143."  😮

 
Cheers!
 
 
 

The coppering is proceeding slowly.  Here are a couple of photos of early progress.  Unfortunately a couple of more comprehensive photos refused to upload for some reason.  Since the photos shown have been taken, the job now is  about half finished and so far, doesn't look too bad.
 

 

 
 
 

Here is some progress on 'pre-coppering'.  As with my HMS Vanguard, I have put a boundary (there is probably a nautical term for it) for the copper and the waterline.  First, a waterline marker was used to pencil the line.  Flexible tape was then applied  along the penciled line.  Soaked 1mm x 1mm timber was butted up against the tape with the following result.  The copper sheeting will (I hope) butt up smoothly to the boundary timber.
 
Here is the tape applied, and a close look will show the penciled water line.
 

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
Tape removed -

 
 

 
 
 
 
 

I've been rolling along with a few things - and had to make a couple of repairs.  I didn't take any pictures in my frustration and eagerness to fix it - but I had something fall from a shelf onto the ship's wheel and it was destroyed.  *Sigh*  So I spent much of the weekend using Chuck's jig/templates to make a new one from scratch.  What a chore. 
 
   Along with that, I've finished up the swivel mounts and affixed them. 
 
 
 
   I've also been obsessing over the swivel guns themselves and I think I've landed where I've wanted.  After blackening and polishing them, I fixed them all to their brackets.
 
 
 
      So I hit them with a VERY light splash of this Vallejo "Nato Black" with an airbrush and low pressure, then polished them again. Here's a comparison of just the paint and then a really soft polishing with the dremel tool.
 
 
 
  Finally, I added a smidge of my favorite Tamiya weathering rust and brushed off the excess with a soft toothbrush.  Here's the end result. Overall, I'm pretty happy with them. Of course they'll be mounted on the swivels much later lest I snap a few off with a sleeve or other clumsiness. 
 
 
 
 
    

The counter applique looks fantastic, great idea, assume you will seal this somehow.  The curvature on the counter rail looks spot on, did you prebend this?

A little more progress on mast work, finishing-off the topgallants, some tools I use to prep them.
 

 
There is a .7mm hole at the support for the top gallant yard tie. This "bulge" also gets blackened. I like to break the edges of small holes with a chamfer tool since my most used, small drill bits don't have the sharpest cutting tips and leave some "fuzz." I know, I need to purchase some more small drill bits.
 

 
Speaking of... a .7mm drill bit in a pin vise and my two chamfer(ing) tools. Just a couple twists with either of these eliminates most wood fuzz. I believe I purchased these from MicroMark years ago but not certain, though. Inexpensive I recall. I've had them for years. Diamond cutting surfaces too. AH...the joy of having the right tools for the right jobs.
 

 
Here is Camilla's foremast trestle and crosstrees with rigging blocks lashed. The thimble is a nice wooden one, 2.5mm, and is for the main topgallant mast stay. The little chock that holds the mast stay thimble in place is tiny. If you can't read the last word in that sentence you probably should be thinking about not doing rigging.
 
Seriously, these itsy-bitsy chocks - all 182 of them provided in the kit, lasered in pear - are so small that when I sneezed (I'm nursing a cold), several that I'd cut out to prep literally disappeared - Poof! - forever gone to that place to hang out with sock monster, a close cousin.
 
I've glued the topgallant mast into position and I'll blacken up through the mast cap next. I can't emphasize how important it is to mount all these mast rigging blocks in- advance of the stay and shroud line rigging. One wants to be mainly "running rope" at that stage and not fiddling with tying these rigging elements into place after-the-fact!
 

 
Nothing too surprising here, however, I've learned to insert a smaller alligator clip into the larger one in my "third hand" - which is indispensable for rigging. I have a "Quadhands" also, but this particular work only needs two grippers to accomplish the task successfully.
 
The single sheave, Falkonet pearwood block is 3mm. I refuse to rig any block smaller than this and I have 20/40 close vision!... I use .15mm upholstery thread typically (the brown line around the block mounting rope) to tie-off my blocks. The block's mounting rope is Syren's new "Ultra" dark brown. This rope's diameter is .20mm or .30mm, depending on the size of block or thimble.
 
Like I demonstrated earlier I also pre-drill my block holes with a small thumbdrill. This saves so much hassle later. Anyone who's done rigging knows the trick to apply CA to the end of the rope line so it pokes through the holes more easily. In most cases, just opening up the tiny holes allows the end of most thin rigging rope to slide right through (but I still will use CA on some rope ends).
 
 

 
Another not too surprising photo of repetitive rigging work. However, I've unveiled my secret rigging tool: my Gingher stork embroidery scissors. Yes, they are designed to resemble the bird's long beak. They are beautifully crafted, stay razor sharp ( I do hone them, but infrequently, as they're only used for rigging). They have comfortable finger holes in the blade shanks. The tiny cutting tips speak for themselves. I have two pair, both within easy reach on my bench. A good close-up cameo for the mini alligator block holder.
 
A Breaking News update! Be careful if you're thinking about getting these Gingher scissors. There are several cheesy knockoff's on Amazon. The real-deal are about $18- $20. And worth every penny.
 
More sneezing. More tissues. More rigging to do....Ciao,
 
Ron
 

Here is a close-up interior photo of Chris' 3D resin yawl I've chosen for my model. Very nice detail indeed, like the outside clinker hull that I'll display upside-down. For ya'll * who want to show it open like this, you'll need to scratch thwarts, knees, rudder, etc. and of course, appropriately paint it to resemble wood. The Vanguard site has details on the full range of these tasty little boats.
 
*yes, a really bad pun.
 

 
I may yet change my mind on Camilla's boat mounting. The detail is quite nice and would look even better with scratched pieces and then nicely painted and finished; another decision that doesn't need to be made quite yet.
 

 
Three quick progress photos to show all the masts completed - up through their topmasts. The topmasts alone (four including a spare main) took a full week to accurately make. A 7-10-7 square-to-octagon template for shaping the masts can be seen on the bench. The final topgallant masts are next and compared with the topmasts are much easier and straightforward to scratch. All three final topgallants will begin with 3mm square stock and be shaped down to about a 1mm to 1.5mm taper to accept the top trucks.
 

 
"She's got a hole in her bottom, Sir!"... Well, don't just stand there sailor, ..."Man the pumps!"
She's starting to look like a sailing man o' war from the eighteenth century. I'll go to all the mast stays first,  and then on to the shrouds and pendants soon after the final mast pieces are complete. The Build Manual has anchors next, but I think I can wait a month (or more) on making these...
 
Some may note that I have some additional blackening (dye) to do on the mizzen top as well as some touch-up on the main mast bibbs n' hounds.
 

 
Fore and bowsprit masts are properly aligned. With the Vanguard design, the tolerances to achieve this necessary alignment are notable. Follow the build directions on the basic hull and deck assembly and you'll end-up not having to struggle with this aspect later...it can be a tricky part of fully rigging a ship of this complexity.
 
BTW: my solution for ready reference to large plans is right behind my main assembly workbench: the luxury of a big cork board. Next up for the pushpins? Standing rigging. As indicated earlier, there are several sheets supplied in the kit for all the normal model rigging. 
 
Ron
 

Jud, Suspicious perhaps, but look at the contemporary drawing of a 64 below and the fact that the bitts are a few inches from the stove.  If you research other contemporary drawings and you will see this practice was not uncommon.  Squirrel 1785 inboard profile below also shows how close the bulkhead is to the stove.   Hold a piece of wood or paper a few inches to the side of a hot  grill set at  500 or 600 degrees or a fire place and it does not catch fire.  (At least it didn't when I tried it) 😀
 
Allan

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Hello, everyone. Took two days off to continue. The spacer pads between the ribs were removed. The next important step is to open the window.
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Recently temporarily slowed down the progress, rest a few days do not want to make themselves very tired. With the Beijing Winter Olympics and winter vacation approaching, I will have more than a month of vacation to focus on the next step. Thank you for your attention.
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

good evening everyone
thank you for comments and likes
more progress made on the build
the forecastle is now fixed into position, i need a bit of filler to match it to the ships side 
more work done on the bridge, yes the wood is to dark, i like it, i will get the rest to look a bit more like teak
all the rivet markings have now been done, thats about 300 i did today
i am now awaiting a callout for the Western approaches colours

good evening everyone
thank you for comments messages and likes
well the dust has settled from the builds fiasco, hopefully how i can get on and complete something
i have been talking to Sovereign Hobbies about the paint scheme, it seams the book i am, going by is wrong in the colour call out, i was after a western approaches 1945 scheme with a dark blue, the  colours listed
507a
B5
MS4a
were never used together, as an official scheme
 

A bit of an update to share on an otherwise grey Sunday morning (at least where I am). I have managed to finish the planking on the port side yesterday. 
 

 
I think I've managed fairly well with it. By no means is it perfect, but I'm happy with the overall result.
 

 

 
I've given it a cursory sanding, there are a few spots that still require a little more work (nothing major), but I will get them after I've finished the starboard side. 
 
Andy

A little bit of a chaotic weekend, but I did get some work done in between yelling at the television during the American Football playoffs.  Full disclosure: I've been a MASSIVE 49ers fan my entire life.  Here's me getting ready for the game in my bar:
 

 
  Anyway - on to the build.  Like many folks, my success with blackening has been hit or miss, and I always ended up having to do touchups or over-weathering to make up for the inconsistencies.  But with the success I had soldering the swivel guns, and how inevitably visible they are - I wanted to get the just right. So I went back to the basics on blackening by doing some MSW research and following Greg's (@dvm27) great tutorial post "Blackening Revisited" with all the steps.  Ordered some Sparex, stole my wife's crockpot warmer, and set up my station.
 

 
Needless to say, my results were MUCH improved. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
  The improvement was so good in fact (and I've had a good learning curve with silver soldering) that I decided to complete Re-do my Stove vent.  Here's a comparison with the old vs new:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The quarter deck hatches are now finished, rounding off the profiles of coamings and gratings and giving several of coats of dilute matt varnish.
 


 
Looking at the scuttles and gratings on the forecastle, the photos of the admiralty models show only one grating forward of the stove chimney. Beef Wellington, in his blog, talks about flush scuttles rather than the raised coamings shown in the kit plan but I’m not sure what this means. There are clearly openings shown in the AotS plans on page 46 but not in the models. Are they just planked coverings?
 
Meanwhile, I have been able to continue with the fittings of the upper deck. The anchor cables are now in place. I made up 3 bitt stoppers aside and then used the deck rings in place for training tackles as deck stoppers.

 

 
And with all the upper deck fittings now in place, this brings to an end a major stage in the build but before putting the skid beams in place and finally closing the lid on the upper deck, I hope that you won't mind if I indulge in a few photos.
 



And finally with skid beams in place

 
I've had no response from Caldercraft regarding extra channel supports so I will just go ahead and make the extra number required from brass strip
 
David
 
 

Thanks everyone for the continued interest and kind words.
 
Planking of the foc's'l has started and wanted to catch up before I get too far behind, wanted to record how I approached this for my own benefit as much as anything.  Breaking down into the main tasks:
 
Ensuring appropriate sheer of the foc's'l:
There was always going to be something to fettle here.  There were a number of items that needed to be fine tuned before planking could get underway on the deck.  There are a number of items that need to look right:
Sheer of the foc's'l planking- this should be parallel to the wale Sheer of the deck - need to avoid any unnatural dips and bumps, probably caused by the false deck supports not being perfectly positioned These two elements need to also come together in a way that gives a gradual steady decrease in the bulwark height, and avoid situation where this does not transition smoothly This did require some filling of the false deck and additional sanding to get this to where I was happy.  Marking the edge of the deck with a pencil line really helped with the visuals here as there are many curves competing with each other.
 
Determining the appropriate taper of the planks:
Really not much to go on here and went with a planned reduction of around 10-15% between the waist and the bow which seems consistent with many pictures and plans I could find.  The only consideration here was to not taper these too much so that a 'half moon' shape develops towards the edge of the deck.  Considering this, and estimating the number of planks needed, I used the same jig used for the quarterdeck to introduce the curve.
 
Bowsprit partner:
In David Antscherl's TFFM series, he notes that sometimes partners were used on the bowsprit.  I latched onto this as a way to tidy up the way that planks terminate against the bowsprit....especially because I think at this point I will not be adding one (more on that later).  Adding the partner here neatens up the planking in this area and also helps hide the PoF constuction a little more with the bowsprit not hiding this.  This wasn't too challenging to make, first a key was cut into the false deck and a plug made to match.  This was then glued to a larger boxwood sheet that would be visible, and which ensured that the partner would sit snuggly when in place.  The top was deliberately left oversize at this point as the final dimensions would be dictated by the width of the planking.  The concave curve of the underside was made with a suitably sized file approximating the bowsprit dimensions.

 
Planking:
With all the prelim work done, planking could commence!  First step was to install some scrap wood strip on one side of the center line using a ruler as a guide.  This proves to be very helpful in ensuring that the initial runs stay true as once the coamings are installed there is no simple way to do this other than relying on one's eyeball, and once the first central plank is in place can be easily removed.  The fore-grating could now be installed, and experience from the quarterdeck suggested that using the bare minimum of PVA glue is a good idea in case that it proves necessary to fine tune the position.  Luckily however this did not prove necessary.
 
The remaining wildcard is how the planks will butt up against the installed coamings.  As for the quarterdeck, fine adjustments were made to the strips to ensure that they would not result in inappropriately thin widths around the coaming.  This also allowed the bowsprit partner dimensions to be finalised so that they all align appropriately.  It's interesting to note that the partner is a slight wedge shape, reflecting the inward curve of the planking.

Once the first 4 planks were on, the margin planks needed to be installed as all planking from here will butt up against it.  For now, only the forward section has been installed, and the joint between then will (hopefully!) be hidden by the cathead.  Planking could then continue aft, with a similar approach being taken for the steam grating coaming as before and the top of the beam being installed.  The area directly to the rear of this was a bit of a pain as the planking strips are only about 5mm long and difficult to get nice clean tight joints.
 
It proved necessary to once again make custom planks from maple sheet athwart the steam grating coaming, and these proved surprisingly challenging, mainly because there are many edges that need close alignment.  The maple being used also does have a tendency to splinter at the edges.  The gap on the outmost plank is where the top tackle scuttle will be.  Hopefully things will speed up a little now the foundations are in place, at least until hooked planks are needed....


 

The counter applique looks fantastic, great idea, assume you will seal this somehow.  The curvature on the counter rail looks spot on, did you prebend this?