Beef Wellington

Headworks (Part 2):
 
@DaveBaxt - the diamond cutting wheel is similar to this, easily cuts into the razor blades (545 Dremel | Tools | DigiKey ) with suitable eye protection!  Sure there are many other similar items and prices from other retailers.  The razor blades were bought in bulk...similar to these Multi Purpose Razor Blades (Pack of 100) (double-glazing-parts-spares.co.uk).  Also, have provided a little more detail in update below...The wood used is either pear or castello box depending on what I have on hand, these woods are great for this.  I would suggest you have nothing to lose, and much to gain by giving it a go....think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how simple it is with a little practice.
 
Much fiddling, fettling and fine tuning has been going on with the headworks, but this should bring me up to date.  Think the back of this challenging task has been broken as I will likely be needing to spend much of any available time on unrelated projects.
 
Once the shape of the head timbers had been finalized, the covering boards could be added.  These are identified as being 1" in TFFM, so these were cut from 0.5mm pear sheet to approximately the correct dimension.  TFFM suggests shaping these and attaching once the lower rail is in place, but am going to try and simplify because I'm not sure how successfully I'd be able to do this.  Photos below show work very much in progress.

Once finalized, the time head timbers can be finished.  A scraper was made specifically for the purpose to scribe the profile, with a long inner face than usual to act as a guide on both the fore and aft sides, and to account for the very different angle the face presents.  A light coat of blue paint was applied to the outer face of the covering board to aid the eye in seeing the results of introducing the profile.  Unfortunately, the only photo I had of this was of horrible quality, so apologies in advance but you get the idea.  The scraper detail and a more final version is also shown below with paint applied.

The lower rail was profiled by temporarily attaching to some spare sheet and again a custom scraper.  Finding one that followed approximately the desired profile and looked acceptable took quite a few attempts.

With all the key components really only requiring the some final finishing, it was time to cross fingers for another dry-fit - it gives confidence knowing that any additional tweaks can be easily addressed before glued to applied.  The covering boards introduce a 'ledge' for the main rail to sit on, something that the simplified approach to shaping the head timbers did not include but seems prototypical.  Some slight alignment issues apparent in the photos below should disappear when finally secured in place with glue.  Next up is clearly some touch up after seeing these pictures on the PC!

 

Hi Chris, think its definitely worth planking the lower deck, I think the only hatch that will only be slightly visible is the lower fore-hatch, the center one in your layout.  I did add this myself, even painting black it takes some craning to glimpse it once the companion ladder is in place.  The lower main hatch is totally obscured by the main hatch ladder.  Definitely agree with the lighter caulking.  Starting to come together now, looks good.

Mark - where does one buy mica for this purpose?  

Mark, this is a good question.  I know its a different period but Trincomalee clearly shows dummy lights, in her case painted green.  It would seem odd to me to put glass in front of the wood as I can't see any purpose to it, and it was very common during this period to paint windows on houses with black background and simulated white frames to represent windows to maintain the symmetry in Georgian architecture - often windows were filled in to respond to the 1696 'window' tax - I jest not!  Interestingly, the fore and rear light in the side gallery are similarly false.  I suspect it is model makers whimsy to panel these with simulated glass for aesthetic purposes.
 

Hi Mark, I'm not very adventurous with colors, so have stuck to the Admiralty paints red and yellow ochre.  I like the look of them, but of course colour preference is a very personal thing.  I used the technique Druxey outlined, sealing the outside planking, painting carefully and then simply scraping off any excess - worked pretty well.

That's a really nice result Mark, looks great from here!

Beautiful work Tiziano

Such beautiful work.

Wonderfully precise skilled work and a beautiful ship model in the making.  Look forward to following along and learning more from you Tiz!

Glad I've found your log sizzolo, you have made an outstanding start with some great details.  Quick comment on the coppering, believe that the method was somewhat nation specific.  US practice as you show was to have a parallel band at the waterline, RN practice was to copper from the keel upward.  None of that takes away from the wonderful work you've done and would not be noticeable at this scale.

Your planking looks spot on, very nicely done.  I'm pleased to see that you appear to have filled in the stern a little to allow the planking to sit nicely against the sternpost, think you will be much happier with that result.  The shaping of the plank ends in this area can be challenging further up the hull, definitely not something to rush.  Looking at what you have done so far, sure you will encounter no major problems.  You have a wonderful model coming together here.

Hi Mark - contemporary models seem to be a mix of blue and black on the stem so it seems 'correct' to go with either, but you are correct that the Bellona model is blue, the view below of the same model shows it a little more clearly.
 

Glad to have you follow along Jean-Paul, I very much enjoyed reading through your QAB log, a model to aspire to.
 
Frame Installation:
 
Additional work done on the keel was some final shaping of the stern post, finishing of the keel taper, installation of the transom, and a coat of wipe on poly for protection.  One thing I have noticed with cherry is the grain can cause optical illusions.  In a couple of places I know the surface is as smooth as I can make it, but the grain makes it appear quite course still.
 
I had been working on making up the frames for some time, for many this simply requires to a frame foot to be glued to its corresponding futtock after cleaning off some areas of laser char.  Pretty simple as each has its own guideline which is well explained in the instructions.  The grooves on the assembly board needed to be filed out a little to allow the frames to be inserted, primarily due to the thickness of the wood and the slight angle introduced by the laser cutter.
 
I think this is good opportunity to share an observation about the kit.  It is definitely a well thought out design with very clear instructions, however, that does not mean that some experience is not required as I was soon to find out....I'm sharing my experience below because every other build log of this kit seems to go together without a hitch, so a little humbling that I found this so problematic.
 
First Attempt:
First off, the assembled frames were inserted and the keel glued according to the instructions making sure that frames aligned well beforehand and that the bottom of the frame floor were at the right height to sit in the keel, and best effort to keep this in a straight line as well as by eyeball trying to keep what will be the top of the frames smoothly aligned.  Everything seemed to work fine, and once the glue had had sufficient time to set, I started to fair the frames.  This is when a first inkling of problems started, I noticed that some of the frames were moving in their slots, and upon further investigation some the frames were not really secured solidly to the keel.  Although the planking will definitely add to the strength, I wasn't convinced the frames would be rigid enough to allow planks to be installed.   Given the construction method, its not possible to remove and re-glue a single frame, so the isopropyl alcohol was brought out to remove all the frames....
 

 
Second Attempt:
Upon analysis two things became clear.  I hadn't used enough glue in the joints, and that my judgement of what 'play' was needed for the frames in the build board was wrong (the instructions say that these shouldn't be too tight or too loose), but it was really only trying to go through the process of fairing that indicated what this should be.  Some tape was added as suggested in the instructions to more rigidly seat these, and the process to align and glue repeated (using more glue this time around).  Unfortunately, in the final stages of seating everything,  I somehow placed too much pressure on frame G and the result was that the frame foot broke in two places, and the small tabs on one side of the futtock popped prematurely (these are weak by design to allow easier removal at a later stage).  The isopropyl alcohol was brought out once more to remove all the frames........I don't have any photos of this, honestly I was too despondent to record it...
 
Third (and so far final attempt):
After examining the break, the cherry had broken with the grain and looked like it could be repaired.  These are delicate pieces, but I don't think will be subject to much stress once the planks are on.  The breaks were located on each side of the foot where there is a small dark element of grain, and can just be seen in photos below.  The small tabs on the futtock were also given a tiny spot of glue, and to hopefully provide a little more strength a splint was glued to the central section to absorb some of the shearing forces that will be unavoidable while fairing the frames (this is NOT glued to the actual futtock itself). 
 
So far, things seem to be back on track, and work has resumed on fairing the frames which is where things sit currently.
 

I really have no excuse for buying, let alone starting this kit as I have plenty going on I my current builds.  However, everytime I wandered over to the Syren Ship Model website to buy sundery items, this kit stared back longingly at me, and sadly up to now was 'out of stock'.  Fortuitously on the last visit, there was one in stock and I just couldn't resist, after all, it couldn't hurt could it?  Well, the package has arrived and despite my best efforts to leave the box closed (about 5 minutes), the genie is out of the bottle.
 
This will most definitely be a side project, and it will finally be nice to be able to follow some very good instructions and build a very nice looking model out of the box.  Hopefully this will be a nice diversion to 'Jason' which seems to be anything but.
 
I hope that I'm up to this challenge, I can certainly appreciate the reasons why this is classified as a more advanced kit.  Progress will be slow.  I'm not planning on this being the most extensive build log, but will likely post progress pictures and ask questions as I go...

Welcome aboard Bob, and thanks for the interest from all:
 
The upside of social distancing and resting in place is that there seem to be a few more hours in the evening with no commitments.  The remaining keel sections have been installed which is a little bit of a relief as it should provide a little more strength, especially at the sternpost.  The instructions indicate the thin center keel section is a little oversized and can be trimmed at the aft end.  I'm a little concerned that for some reason I needed to shorten this to the extent that the slot for the frame is noticeably narrower than others, which will surely require some attention before frames can be attached (center of 3rd picture below).  Open to suggestions on how this slot should be widened (centered, widen forward or aft).
 

 
Its very difficult to get a sense of size from isolated photos, and it must be said that this barge at 1:24 is far from small.  In fact, from stem to stern its nearly exactly the same length as His Majesties sloop of war Snake, but significantlymore susceptible to damage..
 

Chris - good to see another Diana build here, you look to have got off to a solid start...will be following closely as I'm not much ahead of you 
 
Nice approach to the bevelling, I found that on some of the frames they needed to be packed out a little with some strip to avoid low points (especially at the waist and stern), I wonder if this is just variability in the manufacturing or an issue for all of these kits.

Congratulations Stergios, she's looking fantastic.

Sorry - It’s been a while since my last update! I’ve been busy with work but recently continued planking above the wales on starboard side so that one side is complete before I move to Port. This way I can make all my mistakes and skill improvements on just one side. This is supposed to be my progression/learning project after all. 
 
lessons on the upper planking: boxwood comes in many colours - ideally select wood of consistent colour as you move along the hull or it can end up looking patchy as if some planks were replaced over the years. As you might spot in the picture - I’m trying to stay true to the thickness of the planks which are stated in the original outboard planking plan. 
 
Plank finish - oil and/or wax. I should have realised this earlier but oil makes the trenails quite dark against the plank, whereas wax is less ‘darkening’ and has a more natural look when comparing to hms victory etc. 
 
Ebony vs painted boxwood: I think the benefits of working with boxwood outweighs the colour aspects of ebony. Ideally I’d stick to ebony for the upper bulwarks but it’s horrible to work with (chips, is oily, doesn’t bend consistently, requires superglue but can still break off easily). You can see my upper blank planks above the gun ports look quite good - they’re  painted boxwood with walnut trenails inserted after the paint process. (You’ll also spot a few errors in trenail placement on other planks and dark trenails/ planks - all of which I hope to learn from on Port side). For those that didn’t read earlier in this blog; each plank has holes drilled for every trenail and the wood trenails are then individually inserted and are to-scale (roughly 0.6mm). I’m expecting once all these bloody planks are out the way progress will accelerate rapidly!
 

Since my last update, and, thinking I had the correct shape of the stern, I pinned the 4 strips that will form the planking that the wale will finally sit on. I then ran a another strip below the wale and found there's a triangular shaped gap petween them and the stern counter wher the lower strake curves beneath the wale. I can't provide a picture of this but hope I've explained it well enough. While I ponder over a sollution to this, I tested fitted the run of planking beneath the stern counter and found that along the width of the stern counter ehe planking will be ok, the planking butting up to the stern post was not going to fit at all. I completely missed the dotted line representing the termination points of the primary planking. I possibly missed this as I thought the deadwood section should be quite large and thought the curve on the side profile should be the best fit. Unfortunately I was completely wrong. I have spent the last weekend reworking this. I started by tracing the curve I had and the curve as I now realise it should be. I made a cardboard template and cut out 2 sections of 2mm balsa wood, tested them for fit and then tapered the stern facing edge before supergluing them in place. I made a mix of balsa dust, water and PVA glue and applied it generously between frames 14 and the top of the stern post. I used an old knife and some kitchen roll paper to soak up the excess water as I squeezed this mixture to the hull. This was repeated several times until, with the aid of a 1mm strip of wood being pressed to follow the approximate run of planking from the stern post, until I had, I think, now achieved the real shape I need. Having squeezed as much liquid as I could, the hull was left in full sun yesterday and today to dry out.  After all the reading, saving photos and taking notes, There was one photo that really shows the shape of the deadwood area which was DaveBaxt's. It's taken at the precise angle to see that the deadwood actually tapers to the stern post rather than being flat. Which I refound while looking for what I'd done wrong. I must have over a thousand photos, both taken and saved and hardly any help show the 3D shape. Anyway, I believe I finally have the shape sorted with only a little smoothing off to complete. on wards and, hopefully upwards from here. 
Cheers for now until next time.
David.  

Thank you Jim...
 
I have completed all of the hatches, gratings and partners to be placed on deck.  You have seen how the gratings were made.  The two hatches are pretty similar.  The only difference is they have cover boards rather than gratings within in the coamings.
 
 The photo below shows the laser cut coamings assembled.  There is no need to remove the laser char from the lap joints at the corners.  In fact it probably isnt a good idea at all.  They are precision cut so you end up with a perfectly squared up coaming the correct size.  You can and should sand both sides of the sheet before removing these laser cut parts to clean the char from those sides.  Just glue them up using the same right angle jig provided earlier.   Then sand the char off the top of the completed coaming being careful to keep the round-up consistent. 
 
You can see the smaller hatch completed.  The larger one shows the three cover boards also laser cut waiting to be glued into position.  But this you will also note the ledge created on the inside of the coaming that the cover boards will sit into.  These are laser cut for you and can be glued on the port and starboard insides of the coaming.
 

This photo shows the three coverboards in the coaming.  They are pretty thick, but only so they are flush with the center of the coaming to allow for the round-up.   The round-up along the sides of the coverboards should be sanded flush to the top edge of the coamings along the P & S sides.  I know some folks like to show one or two coverboards off the coaming.  You can do this if you want to.  But then you should sand that roundup into the bottom of the coverboards as well.   But I will show them all in place like the contemporary model.
 

To finish off the hatches...round off the corners using the right angle jig like you did for the gratings.   Trim them down to the top of the deck planking.   The bolts were added using black fishing line in the same way.   The iron ring for handles were made just like those on the lower platforms.  Exactly the same.
 

Also shown in the photo above are the mast and capstan partners.   These are completely laser cut for you.  They have etched lines to show the separate sections.   All you have to do is sand them clean and round off the corners as described earlier for the capstan partners only.  Soften the top edges as well.  Add the fishing line bolts and the eye bolts on the main mast partners.  Now some of these can be glued onto the model.  They are all ready to go so you can start planking the decks.
 
BUT there are a some like the main mast partners and capstan partners that need some extra work.   I will describe that next.   For example the elm pump tubes below the main mast partners and the capstan drum as well.
 
More to follow...but here is a photo with the all of the hatches, coamings and partners simply test positioned on the model.  They are not glued into position yet.   I did however glue the smaller grating and coaming on the forecastle deck in permanently....those are all finished up.  Its getting there!!!
 

Ah...talking about doubts and mistakes.
Initially, I was looking to replace the Norman Knights ornaments in favour of something more appropriate.
During 17th and 18th century apparently ships ornaments were often related to Greek/Roman myths or symbols.
So I went for a mermaid, trying the same approach according the "layer-system" provided in this kit.
 
Well...for obvious reasons, I thought I'd do better to stick with the Norman Knights...ahem...ahem.😉
 

Dipping back in.  What great work Jason. A beautiful bow. 

Thanks all for the nice words, likes and continued interest.  Know its been a while, seems as if I hit some sort of 'modelers wall'.  Before I can really continue with the topsides, I needed to turn my attention to mounting the rudder.  This is something I've been putting off for quite a while, and proved to be a very frustrating experience.  I had initially delayed doing this to allow the copper to oxidize as much as possible just in case of any errant CA glue and prevent shiny spots.
 
The kit provides PE rudder and pintle straps, but for some reason I couldn't get comfortable with them.  On Snake, the staps come with holes and pins were inserted, but this was something that in retrospect look a little too clunky and out of scale.  Looking at pictures of period ships, the bolts/nails are quite a subtle feature similar to treenails in visibility.  I experimented with card and styrene strip  to make these from scratch, but in the end decided to go with the supplied PE parts.  I forgot to take a picture, but instead of premade holes, these have rather large circular indentations in them, I'm guessing to simulate the bolts.  To my eye they looked to far apart, and the holes too big.  I made a slight alteration to increase the number of bolts/nail heads by drilling additional indentations to simulate what was already there.  The rudder straps also needed to be shortened quite considerably to eliminate overhang at the rear of the rudder.  These were painted with "Admiralty copper" paint after experimenting with other similar Tamiya colours.
 
The main challenge I found was to attach these without marring the copper plates, and this proved to be quite the challenge as at first the CA glue wouldn't provide a good bond and needed to be reapplied.  Scratching the hull plates and inside surface of the PE seemed to get things strong enough. The rudder proved quite the challenge to mount as this had been made with a low (for me) level of tolerance following the AOTS plans which is documented earlier in the log.
 
Interestingly, the box artwork shows a spectacle plate, but there is nothing in the kit nor instructions.  This was simulated using painted card and eyebolts, but interestingly there is very little room for this, however this seems consistent with AOTS diagrams.  The ironwork on the lower counter ports used some PE parts from the "Badger" set which I had bought a number of years ago.  These looked a little more in keeping scale wise than what is provide in this kit.  I may add ring bolts and rings to these, but will likely not rig with line as I'm concerned this may be a visual distraction - personal preference of course.  Next up will be to attach the rudder chains which, nicely, are provided in the kit.
 

 

Thanks all for the "likes" and looking in.  Think a point has been reached where all of the known big challenges have been addressed, or at least an approach developed, so I can start to have a bit of fun tackling some of the other odd pieces on the deck.
 
I am starting to seriously consider not rigging this model... the reason being that I certainly still have plenty ahead of me (and I still haven't even finished rigging 'Snake' yet) even without rigging, also the size of the hull is already quite large and adding the masts and spars will increase the needed space significantly.  Curious on other's thoughts on this, hopefully it is not anathema.  The other consideration is that I would like to move onto another build sooner than I realistically would if I were to fully rig.  What this means is that I may spend a little extra time adding some details that I otherwise wouldn't, as I'm also wanting to leave my options open to possibly leave open some of the upper deck planking/scuttles.
 
4 additional standards have been added, 2 fore and 2 aft (still in process on larboard side) as these will be visible when the upper deck is in place.  You can see the kit supplied riding bitts in place.

 
The scale of these bitts is actually pretty accurate, but I didn't like the shape so decided to make up my own...and while I was at it also made up some fore riding bitts following guidance from TFFM as the AOTS book is a little sparse on detail.  These were fun little projects.  I believe the forward elm battens were nailed on for easy replacement but I haven't tried to simulate that, not sure how this would be done however, or whether this is a "less is more" situation.

 
Previous mods allowed the bowsprit to be secured within the hull on a bowsprit step so this was also constructed.  Going a little crazy some manger boards were also made up, these will not be readily (understatement) viewable but I think could add to the sense of depth when undergoing close inspection through a gun port , and help mask the obvious edge of the bulkhead against the deck.  The dimensions of the bowsprit step are a little ambiguous, in retrospect I would have made it 2-3mm narrower, but given the likely visibility, this will not be redone. 
 

 
The placement of the bowsprit step is a little dependent on some of the foremost beam, to be obsessive this should be a little further forward, but think it will be just fine where it is.  The foremost deck beams required modification to work around some of the other alterations made up to this point but this was simple enough.

And with everything in place a couple of deck shots to get a feel for things...

Cheers gents.
 
Christian - I'm being consistent in using the Admiralty paints yellow ochre which I quite like.  Constant handling of these parts seems to be no match for any paint and paint rubs off the high spots despite an undercoat.  Should not be a problem to get looking OK when the time comes.
 
Cannon Conundrums (or "Armament Angst")
 
I felt I needed a bit of a change of pace while continuing to work slowly on the stern, and decided to get a head start on the cannons as I foresee these being a rather repetitive activity.  Psychologically, it feels like I'm getting a head start on things a little by commencing work on these now rather than waiting until I have to do them.
The first decision was to finally decide on which barrels to go with.  Photos below show 3 options, specifically left to right, Chuck's Syren offering, RB Models and the kit supplied barrels.  I know I posted these pics in Andy's Diana log, but can't remember if I did here so pls forgive any repetition!
Kit provide barrels - Painful as it is, the kit provided ones just don't cut the mustard with the bore being too large, the muzzle not being the right shape and the pommel just way too big. Chuck's barrels are very nice indeed, while the length certainly works, the bore seems a little small and for a 1:64 18lb'er and overall the barrel is a little dainty to my eye RBs Models (44mm) are also very nicely shaped and to my eye seem to fit the needed proportions best.  Each barrel is also supplied with a scale precut trunnion of high quality, so some labour would be saved there.
Next up, carriages.  I had ordered a set of Chucks Syren carriages a while ago and finally got round to building one up in addition to a kit carriage for comparison.  Pictures are self explanatory and show the kit carriage with kit barrel (left) with Syren carriage and RB models barrel (right).  Making these up allowed all the possible permutations to be tried, but these are best comparison.  Note - these were built over a number of very brief 10 minute sessions when I could escape to the boat yard, i.e. very quick and dirty, with quick paint job and no fittings. 
 
Couple of things are apparent:
The kit walnut is not great, being very splintery with pronounced grain, and would require a lot of work to get an acceptable finish.  The carriage is noticeably a little more squat, and the 2mm thickness of the ply looks less substantial, and the trucks a little on the small side. Similar level of finish work on the Syren laser cut parts gives a much better result.  Dimensions all around look a little more pleasing to my eye.  
The width of the Syren carriage were made slightly wider than the plans indicate to try and better scale to the RB barrel.
 

 
Final comparison was to place in situ.  The RB/Syren combination seemed to sit nicely mid port.  Placement of a quoin will need to be thought about as the barrel is probably already at approximately the right elevation.  Feel the RB/Syren combo is  clear winner, despite the additional investment that will be needed my view is that this will ultimately provide a more enjoyable building experience, especially as 28 of these puppies will need to be made up...