Beef Wellington

My new chain arrived.  After trying the 15 link per inch and not being convinced it wasn't too large, I ordered some more at 21 links per inch which in my opinion looks better.  Took the plunge and blackened it chemically which hopefully will work out OK in the morning...I used thin card for the spectacle plate and attached using diluted PVA glue, its hard to see but I suppose I know its there...
 
Attached the chain using the supplied ring bolts by prising them open and reclosing after cutting the chain to length, very fiddly indeed.
 
I'm sure no-one else will notice its there, but its another evenings work and can now move forward to the steering apparatus.  Sorry the photos aren't that great.
 

Have managed to get a few more drill bits in the mail (hopefull).  Found the metric bits much harder to get hold of, but came across a useful calculator in the site download section that showed the respective #xx number, should work just fine.
 
Spent quite a bit of time working on the companionway, I just couldn't get happy with the one supplied so after seeing Robert's (j21896) wonderful Mars build it definitely inspired me to give it a go to customize it a bit.  I had to shorten the length from the plans to fit the modified deck grating plan I'm following, but otherwise kept the slope the same, but reduced the max height to be more in line with proportions shown on the HMS Gannet plans .  I really struggled with making it look functional, especially the sliding top as I struggled to find any decent references.  I'm going to give it a bit of a break before adding some 'doorknobs' and to see if I want any additional changes, but think I'm good with the way it is.  Its far from perfect, but I like it a lot better than the kit stock walnut ply version, even though it did take an embarrassingly long time to pull together.
 
Unfortunately I stuck with walnut (both because it was all I had and wanting to keep the wood consistent), which as most know (and I'm learning fast) is a bear to work with, the grain and the splitting make getting a good edge very challenging.  If I ever get to another model, I will definitely replace the stock wood with something else right from the start.
 

Coppering update - boy, this seems to go on and on! Wanted to post a couple of progress pictures which show how I handled what proved to be the more challenging areas. The good news is that I feel much more proficient after much fumbling a rework. Overall, I'm pretty happy, but still have not completed one side yet.
 
Key lessons I've learned:
- The plates are definitely most easily cut with good scissors
- If you make a mistake, plates are pretty easy to pop-off even when well glued pretty well
- Some very slight overlap is necessary along the edges to avoid gaps, even witht the small scale, rectangles just don't fit perfectly on a curved surface!
- I'm using the thick Pro CA glue for Caldercraft, and it seems to work well with 3 SMALL drops of glue evenly spread
- Where 'steelers' are needed in the tricky bow and stern areas, I decided to overlap the plate above as I think it gives a a better look. I found that using a sharp metal edge to flatten the nail heads makes this much easier and makes the overlap hard to see.
The coppering will continue....

Here is the method I used to get what I feel to be a consistent top camber on the gratings, despite extensive searching I just couldn't find anything on this site to help. In the end, I took the following approach:
 
1) Built a small frame and place a thin sheet of bass wood into the frame at what I thought would be an appropriate curvature, I simply glued a thin line along the center to secure it (I know this is really forms a parabola, but it is certainly close enough to circular in the center to pass muster)
 
2) After putting a fine grain sandpaper on the curve, I then used a couple of spare strips of lime wood to act as 'guides'. Its then just a simple matter of moving the grating back and forth carefully until the curve has taken. The guides ensure that the camber remains centered for consistent result.

Robert, appreciate the support.
 
Installed the rear platform and added the deck material.  The extra tanganika wood I'd ordered caused a lot of headache as it didn't quite match that supplied originally.  I had hoped to use what I had remaining and add the new stuff in randomly.  What I found was that the dimensions were ever so slightly different even though they were both 4x1mm and mixing would be too problematic.  I resorted to using all new wood on the aft platform so that was consistent, however, it does have a slightly different look to it.  Nothing I can really do at this point..
 
Dry fitted the aft ladders, the rear platforms needed to be reduced in height by one step to fit correctly with rear platform height.  Its a tight fit with the tiller ropes, but this is consistent with the NMM model and the plans - glad I had built ladders up prior to help determine tiller rope positioning otherwise could have had an unpleasant surprise.
 
Again, I deviated from the instructions which called for a 14mm wide step which just looked too wide, and estimated dimensions from the NMM model ending up going with a step 10mm wide (the plans are really no help in this area, scale is way off).  Shaped the bottom to account for the camber of the deck so ladders are vertical, and shaped the top to give it a more realistic look.  Overall pretty happy, so onto the fore platform...

BE, Carl, appreciate you checking in.
 
Little bit of progress to get the tiller arm mounted and rigged.  Unfortunately I had a bit of an accident with the kit part arm and had to make another, no big problem.  I used a bull dog clip and some spare limewood as protection to keep the rudder straight while installing the tiller arm.
 
The wheel is the after market Caldercraft offering which I had built up a while ago.  I toyed with the idea of making a new wheel support, but decided just to go with the kit offering but mounted the wheel inside as this seems a little more authentic.
 
As mentioned earlier, the placement of the spirketting blocks took a bit of figuring out to make sure the tiller rope doesn't interfere with the ladders yet to be installed.  Rigging the rope proved a little challenging, I took it in stages and first wound the rope around the wheel and secured with dilute PVA, and when dry then took each block in turn ensuring that the tension was appropriate and used dilute PVA to keep the shape.  I found this approach gave a more natural flow of the rope around the blocks without having to have a ridiculous amount of tension.
 

I think I'm rapidly approaching an 'ask lots of questions' phase, so please bear with me,  first of many I suspect to come.
 
I'm had thought about adding a false keel instead of coppering the keel bottom.  Based on what I've read and seen in AOTS series, the false keel was installed to protect the keel from inevitable damage, was easily replaceable, and would have been attached on top of the coppered keel bottom.  Pictures below show what I think this would have been like based on my research (I faked the scarf joints as they will not be very visible).  Is this a reasonable representation?
 

Robert, appreciate the support.
 
Installed the rear platform and added the deck material.  The extra tanganika wood I'd ordered caused a lot of headache as it didn't quite match that supplied originally.  I had hoped to use what I had remaining and add the new stuff in randomly.  What I found was that the dimensions were ever so slightly different even though they were both 4x1mm and mixing would be too problematic.  I resorted to using all new wood on the aft platform so that was consistent, however, it does have a slightly different look to it.  Nothing I can really do at this point..
 
Dry fitted the aft ladders, the rear platforms needed to be reduced in height by one step to fit correctly with rear platform height.  Its a tight fit with the tiller ropes, but this is consistent with the NMM model and the plans - glad I had built ladders up prior to help determine tiller rope positioning otherwise could have had an unpleasant surprise.
 
Again, I deviated from the instructions which called for a 14mm wide step which just looked too wide, and estimated dimensions from the NMM model ending up going with a step 10mm wide (the plans are really no help in this area, scale is way off).  Shaped the bottom to account for the camber of the deck so ladders are vertical, and shaped the top to give it a more realistic look.  Overall pretty happy, so onto the fore platform...

well i have had my two minutes of fame, so i will spend the next 6 months waiting to see if i can get another one right, and then give it away

Ray, after your fantastic Pegasus build very keen to see more of this build, she really is a beauty...something I'm aspiring to.  I've just finished coppering my Snake build, I felt a little wary with the Caldercraft copper plates as well as I've seen them criticized in this forum, however I was pleasantly surprised with the overall effect once complete as it was not as 'in your face' as I had feared, but just my humble opinion.  Best of luck and eagerly waiting to see more!

Hi Stergios, welcome to the coppering club!  Looks like a nice startm you've made.  If I may make a suggestion, I bought some CA glue debonder in case of emergencies, it does a really nice job of removing CA glue if you get the odd smear on the plates and is very easy to use.  It also does a nice job cleaning up finger tips!
 
I just added to my log answering your question on the cleaner.  After I finished the coppering I did use a metal cleaner for copper to clean off the fingerprints as these had already started to tarnish.  It was a simple procedure, dulled the copper a bit and returned it to the more pinkish colour.  I did this before posting my final picture so you can see the effect is not dramatic, but I took comfort knowing that it should oxidize more evenly which is the look that I want.

I also think that your companionway looks very good Jason, and very neat work on the gratings.
 
Cheers,
 
 
B.E.

Have managed to get a few more drill bits in the mail (hopefull).  Found the metric bits much harder to get hold of, but came across a useful calculator in the site download section that showed the respective #xx number, should work just fine.
 
Spent quite a bit of time working on the companionway, I just couldn't get happy with the one supplied so after seeing Robert's (j21896) wonderful Mars build it definitely inspired me to give it a go to customize it a bit.  I had to shorten the length from the plans to fit the modified deck grating plan I'm following, but otherwise kept the slope the same, but reduced the max height to be more in line with proportions shown on the HMS Gannet plans .  I really struggled with making it look functional, especially the sliding top as I struggled to find any decent references.  I'm going to give it a bit of a break before adding some 'doorknobs' and to see if I want any additional changes, but think I'm good with the way it is.  Its far from perfect, but I like it a lot better than the kit stock walnut ply version, even though it did take an embarrassingly long time to pull together.
 
Unfortunately I stuck with walnut (both because it was all I had and wanting to keep the wood consistent), which as most know (and I'm learning fast) is a bear to work with, the grain and the splitting make getting a good edge very challenging.  If I ever get to another model, I will definitely replace the stock wood with something else right from the start.
 

Nothing else, just the Noxon to clean.  Worked well for me but I'm sure there are lots of similar products.

Capping Rail
 
A very brief update:  after a few weeks of indecisiveness coupled with a small case of “builder’s block”, I finally began to fabricate the capping rail.
 
I taped in a short piece of dowel as a placeholder for the bowsprit, and after scrolling out the approximate shapes of the rail sections from cherry sheet , I've started test fitting and sanding them to about 90% of their final shape and dimensions.  With them temporarily taped in place, I can work on fit between the sections.
 
 

 
 
Using hooked scarphs for the joinery.
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
In addition to holding things in place with tape, I’ve drilled a few holes where some of the treenails will eventually go, and temporarily inserted short pieces of copper wire to ensure proper alignment, and consistent positioning after removal for shaping and replacement.
 
 

 
 
The deck furniture waits patiently in the foreground (atop some sections of old test planking) to be returned to their homes.
 
 

 
 
Now back to cutting scarph joints!
 
Cheers,
Robert

One half of the gun deck has now been planked top & butt, then 13 rows of 3mm planks and lastly two rows of 5mm up to the edge, where the gratings come to, the part left in the centre of the deck reverts to 3mm planks, I will fill that in after the other main half has been done, so far I a pleased with the effect and the maple. The other photos show my planking station just some pined down glass paper and spare 1.5 x 5 mm planking pined to allow the ends to be sanded square.

 
This might be the last update for a while as tomorrow the 6th I am going into hospital to have replacement knee surgery not looking forward to it very much, hopefully after the first few weeks I might have a lot of time to put into the build.
 
3mm planks ready to lay

 
Sanding station

 
Sanding edge

 
3mm planking being layed

 
3mm planking done

 
One side finished

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Deck planking
As I am going to top & but the gun deck planking I thought my normal method of laying black thread between the planks would not be very practical. I had seen on the old site some black brush pen, which it was, reckoned do not bleed so I ordered two pens to give this method a try on the lower deck of which a bit will be seen through the gratings, I also used the supplied planking to do this.
 
 
The method just run the pen over the edge of the plank lay it and run a pencil along the deck and repeat, the result surprised me how good it looked and how fast.
 
The pen

 
Blackening the edge

 
lower deck planking

Once work on the mounting hardware was done, moved onto the coppering (of course) and other finishings aspects.  I did not bother to copper the sternpost or the front side of the rudder as these cannot really be seen, and simply painted these copper.  Coppering the rudder was definitely a challenge due to the rudder mounting recesses. 
 
Overall pretty happy, and just the mounting straps to go before being able to move back to the deck with conviction.

Capstan – completed
 
I had drilled a hole all the way through the center of the spindle, so that I could match-up and center the drumhead on the body, and the cap on the drumhead.  I also drilled a hole in the capstan deck platform, so that placement on the platform could be centered using a short piece of dowel as a locator pin.  I used 100% tung oil for the finish.
 

 
A tale of two capstans:  Scratch-built vs. Kit
 

 

 
And finally, a few views of it in place on deck.
 

 

 

 

Capstan – continued
 
Okay, time for that “artistic license”!                           
 
Having read that decorations were often added to the “caps” of capstans, I thought I’d take a crack at it.  I figured a nautical star design might be appropriate.
 

 
For the required contrast, I used some left-over walnut and lime wood strips (about 0.02” thick), and glued them edge-to-edge.
 

 
Once dry, I sliced down each colored side to a width of 1/32”, for a total strip width of 1/16” for the larger points of the star -- and then a little thinner for the smaller points.  Because they were so small, I cut them to shape, and then glued them to a paper backing to aid in alignment, as well as strengthening.  Once the glue was dry, I trimmed around the edges.
 

 

 
I used another cherry disc for the cap, and marked it up to align the star.
 

 

 
Then I used a micro chisel blade to carve out the area, and I inlaid the star.
 

 

 
Next up will be final assembly, and some tung oil -- to hopefully make the color contrasts in that star "pop".