Jond

Keith one thing that should be said move often is that your sense of photography makes reading your updates extra valuable. I really look forward to seeing your work as time goes by. I have learned a lot from it. Another of your fine lessons is the sense of sequence. Getting all of ths tie off points in place early makes so much sense. thank you for sharing so well! Jon

18. almost done; Setting crew, building a case and working off the punch list It has been a while since any real progress was made as spring finally came and outside work took over. I need to get the diorama ready to go for show and tell in July, so I’m back to work. 1 I took her to the local Guild meeting in May and posed a few questions. Happily, I receive some good answers: • the footropes on the yard arms would have been lines and removed, or as lines been inconsequential as to being stored in the racks on deck. I should remove them all and then store the two top gallant yards, along with some spare blanks. • How to build a case. Buy green Optix at Home Depot or Lowes. The Optix green means the edges are green and it looks like glass. The cost is about $50 for each 24”x36” piece. Then follow U-tube to see how to weld them into a box. • Support for my opting out to attempt to paint of wash or fool around with coloring within the ice, since the back lighting is early morning. I am no artist and the white with more added snow will be just fine…..I hope . I can always change my mind. • I had about 10 crew on board, and the group all agreed that more crew would add to the story. So after much yard work, and a detour to cut down two previous dioramas that are too big sit on shelves. we are back to work. 2-3. here a few days back I had many of the crew located. The full crew including officers and scientists etc. was 64. In these two images I have 50 placed. 4-5 here was an adventure. How to incorporate the poster into the case. A key issues is that glue between acrylic and other materials is just not recommended. My approach was after cutting the 16.5-inch top piece, I took the remainder from the 24” inch sheet and cut it in half. I then welded it to the top and bottom of the back. I then laid the poster on thin mdf on 3/16” strips of wood using normal wood glue. I used aluminum channel and weights to keep all as flat as I could. In the second photo of the completed back, one sees the two wood strips adjacent to the two back strips. They are extended past the sides to hold the poster in place. I hope it works… 6-7. here we see the welded up case…my first so there are a few oops…. In the first view we see the green edges. For simplistic affect I agree the green choice was a good one. However, every oops is there to see. In the second view I have taken aluminum strips and spray painted them flat black over auto primer. Before I proceed to add the aluminum, I need to learn how one glues painted aluminum to acrylic. I thought to try clear silicon sealer, but it failed. I guess I need to experiment. 8-9. after more thought, I decided to take the remaining figures and put them all out. There are 21 on the ice and 39 aboard. That is all but 4 of the crew who may well have been up and about on the early morning in the later fall of 1845. My real reason was to show in the story how huge the crew of the adventure was. That huge size is one of the key reasons the attempt to traverse the passage became such a tragedy. These two views are both not what will be normal . the first is from the top and the second from behind. Next up is the punchlist and completion of the case. Then to move it, does it stay inside the case? I hope so and that is one reason I did not repeat my earlier uses of glass. It is just too heavy for moving. Happy summer

post 34 This one-time post is to update the life of the diorama of the pinky schooner Superb. As a reminder, since this is 5-year-old build, this pinky schooner Superb was the first built by the Hodgdon family of Boothbay in 1816. They are a still running active shipyard where the 6th generation is just taking on the leadership from Tim Hodgdon. I used the kit for Glad tidings as a material source and drawings from the Adams shipyard [ contemporary with and adjacent to the Hodgdon yard]. I have discussed in other logs that the museum Store in downtown Boothbay Harbor was closed after several fun years. It was a very unfortunate occurrence as today, some two years later, there still is nowhere sufficient to collect and share the 200 plus years of maritime history we have. Both dioramas of Superb and schooner Bowdoin had been relegated to my garage…..not nice. I have been concerned but as they had cases and it is heated, I felt they would be ok. In my recent build of the HMS Terror, I came to the time that one must considerer a home for the completed project. That is without building a new home. Before I get back to another build, I want to fix this problem. A two foot plus square platform is not practical for home display. The first option is to remove the vessel and put it on a traditional stand. That takes too much away from the story. After much consternation, a light bulb went off in my head……cut the diorama to a 10-inch depth and place it on a shelf. Then she can come to the model gallery and sit with the others. If we ever do get a museum type opportunity to tell the story, I could make a poster for a backdrop to regain the imapact of the larger format. So here is the renovation 01 -02. here the platform has been stripped of the vessel, work crew and loose parts. I then turned it up so I could remove the bottom frame that I will replace with a smaller one later. 03-04. here I am cutting. The power saw blade was too short to go through all so I needed the old fashion one to complete the two cuts. After rearranging the landscape, a little bit and focusing the work crew on the front side, I used some thin ply to band the cut edge and paint it out. I also added a small bottom frame to lift the platform off the shelf. 05-09. these shots show the completed rebuild on the work bench and ultimately in its new home shelf in the gallery. Not that many will get to see it, Superb is waiting for a chance to escape. Cheers

17. little people, little boats. Other little things It has been a month and slow. "little' progress gets made. Competition with spring outside requirements always interfere. I also I spent much time this month cleaning up and sorting the shop. This two-part update comes as I need to prepare and present the diorama to the local Shipmodelers guild. One is never totally ready for that…ha ha. First up is details and punch lists before the meeting and the second part will include the process to pick up and move the whole kit and bring it home again. The crew had arrived months ago and it is time to prep them and to start to put them to work. The 1:75 scale limits the choices. More importantly I am looking for a good sized crew. They sailed with some 64 people. It is possible that all were up and about at the same time, but I figure many were and 'many' is a loose number. Second what did they look like working in subfreezing weather. Here we go…. People……... I purchased a pack of 100 +/- figures, likely meant for a train station or the like. Taking the men, I wrapped them with some paper mache [ paper tower scraps and dilute white glue.] Then painted them light and after darker gray to simulate wool hats and sweater coats. The officers were selected as the 12 figures in coats, so I painted the coats dark blue and the hats black. The scientists perhaps were in civilian clothes, so I guess part of the officers in all black. About a dozen figures were sitting and that was fine. Everyone got black pants. I then coated the paper mache parts and officers with Mod Podge to improve the surface of the paper towel and hopefully add a little bulk to the jackets. 1-5 these views show first most of the crew in finishing steps of paint, trim, repaint, etc. Then I realized I need a few figures to be in action with arms reworked to hold lines or themselves to the rigging. I used the soldering station to maneuver them and went through 7 figures. the action figures have first application of paper mache. Finally to follow some protocol, I placed two officers near the helm to be first aboard. 6. here is a question of what to do. The two topgallant yards would have been lowered and stowed. I have gone ahead and started to add fittings to one of them. It would have been very awkward to handle and stow, but also a pain to disassemble. Perhaps I should remove the foot ropes. I am not sure and still thinking. Perhaps I think too much. 7-8. these views show an experiment. I bought some veggies in these neat little yellow net bags. I have always wanted to make a net carrying barrels on to or off of a model. Maybe this time is my chance. Using a little magic marker to blacken the martial and cutting it into a circle, I weaved tie lines and drew up the bag with 6 barrels inside. I think it is a nice idea but…. They would have done it after iced in to set up emergency supplies on the ice off the boat in case of crushing etc. The trysail gaffs just barely makes it over the side. Was there more rigging attached to the idle yard arm for this purpose? Finally, I note the trysail gaff is not long enough to reach the hatch. How would they have rigged for pulling barrels and other goods from the hold to the deck? Perhaps, like a whaler or other vessel managing such things at sea, there had to be more rigging spanning the two masts to get to the hatch and then the yard arms to get over the side. 9-10 the boats are now on board, and the main Pinnace is overboard. I made up anchors with brass wire, as any from fitting options that i saw seemed too big for a small boat. I still need more oars and coils. so off to the meeting this week. I capture what happens to transport this monster, as it most go two more times this summer. cheers

Thank you John and keith it is unfortunate the museum store in Boothbay had to close. I had three dioramas and a schooner there and enjoyed helping out with minor repairs to others from time to time. Now those models have all come home. The Pinky Superb built by Hodgdon in 1816, the Schooner Bowdoin built here 1921 and replanked in 2016 at Bristol Marine and Ernestina Morrissey Bob Bartlett's schooner completely rebuilt here in 2020 bracket 200 active years of Boothbay shipbuilding. the latter two also highlight my fascination with the arctic. Unfortunately continuing to tell the local story is a challenge. Your builds including your Red jacket are part of our Maine story too . Unfortunately both the pinky and Bowdoin are no relegated to my garage. cheers

Guy I am not an expert but I agree. I started to make them for Terror with a bend and thought to myself....this makes no sense. I then checked out the Mathew Betts drawings and went with straight. Yes they point in a little bit, but a smaller boat suspended worked out OK. Your doing a great job. I applaud you for persevering with the aluminum bow plates. I opted for the copper tape. cheers jon

16. I wanted to record the process to build up the diorama, so it can be relocated for showing and it needs to hold the backdrop. As I have said before I am finding my way. 1-2 these images show the diorama upside down for fixing the base. I use scrap pine from storage…nothing is fancy here. The board on the back side is slotted to receive the 1/8 inch back drop poster. 3-4 with exposed surfaces all painted black we are turned right side up. 5-6. the poster is currently clipped to a thin MDF sheet. Once all is good, I will glue it down. 7-11 these shots show 5 views of Terror set at the time. Note the many lines and clips getting ready to add the small boats. Next up is to complete the boats and crew and figure out what they are doing. I have about half of the coils in place, so that continues as well. Finally, I need to enter a new world and decide….do I leave the ice as it is or do I try to paint it to fit in more closely with the backdrop. I will experiment first and then decide…. sometimes doing less is better than making a mess. all for now

Keith "Jolly and Bob. thanks for the likes and encouragement Keith thanks for your consistent wise advice. I believe your solution is most accurate as well as your model is based on sailing when I would think these temporary davits would have been stored. For me however I believe no more than days before my diorama scene , these davits, on at least one side, would have been used to clear the deck.....so ...most images show a 26 foot +/_ 8 to [9 metre] Pinnace riding in the center. I plan to use the large kit small boat hull for this one. the question is....in my scene anyway.... how did they get that boat off the deck and launched. It is too heavy to heave. The trysail gaff probably was re-rigged with perhaps a 5 part line to allow men to raise one end and then swing it to the rail. then what? Perhaps at least for us amateurs, anything would be conjecture. My thought is they would transfer the first end, likely the stern, to the swingable davit. Thus the iron davit makes sense. Once they had it secure on the aft davit, the second end....likely the bow ...would be lifted using the trysail gaff, and the boat moved...., no easy task...to where the second end is over the rail in position for the forward davit lines to take the load. now. this vessel is bigger than the others that all have 5 part lines, yet manpower would have been he same. I suspect a triple block from the head of the davit would have been used. It would have made hoisting a bit more reasonable and the there is no way for a sheave in the metal pipe [ I believe]. There was nothing around except manpower to manage this heavy load. That being said, how big would the iron [ steel. } pipe need to be. I suggest to avoid bending easily at least 100 mm......moving to scale one divided by 75 to get say 1.3 ish mm. what I have was a 1mm from the kit supply...it just does not look strong enough. ter-15 -11. here is a photo showing....1mm as before that I feel is too small, 1.5 mm bent with copper wire soldered to make loop for block and a piece of 2.5 mm to compare. I set the kit boat and one scale figure to help visualize. the 2.5mm [ 3/32 tube for us]. would be just under 8 inches….I think too big. The center 1.5mm pipe would be just over 4 inches [100mm] and I think that makes sense. I will go with that one. I agree with you Keith about not being set while sailing and will only have them set on one side and maybe put a second set resting in the deck storage for the other side. now to decide which side..😄 cheers

15 continued rigging and work on diorama This is a brief update of combined effort on both the rigging and the diorama. 1 this view shows the final underwater ice being added. 2. shows me playing with how best to use the small boats. Should they be in the water, perhaps on the ice as they began to transfer supplies to the ice in case the ship sank. I also started rigging the davits. 3-4 shows they addition of spackle [ joint compound] to smooth the outside of the Styrofoam that will be repainted as water below and ice above. The top surface is very rough at this stage. 5 here we can see the ice barrel has been added, the platform for navigating or the “ice plank” and rack for aft boats. I will likely show the two kit whale boats resting on this rack. 6 shows the beginning of work on the crew. I am using white glue and paper towel scraps to build up outer coats. I need both sitting and standing figured as some in the boats would be sitting. There were over 60 crew members and most of them would have been active on this day of mast lowering and preparing for the winter camp. We’ll see where that leads. I clearly have enough to do the whole crew. I will not try to show those Navy hats for the officers that were shown in the recent TV series, I cannot believe they would have worn them when the temperature went down. Perhaps common sense and warm hats is an error common to us yanks. 7-9. these views show he anchors in place along with just about every line. The lower coarser sheets were tricky. The middle view shows my first attempt at the iron [ steel?] davits for the middle boats. I am a bit concerned as this location would have included the largest pinnace. I intend to have it off the vessel as the whole deck will be needed for the mast lowering exercise. However, what I have made does not look strong enough. I assume the trysail gaff would have taken half the load at a time to move the boat from center to over the side, transferring to the davits. More thought is needed here 10 shows the ice plank and celebrated that the davit blocks for all the boats are in place. I have yet to make them off as I need to decide how each will be displayed…. Up or down Next up is to complete the diorama and prepare it to receive the backdrop. The poster came the other day and is currently flattening before trying to install. Cheers

14 the masts are to be coming down….we hope. This post is just to explain what I am showing. I started off by completing all the rigging here for the topgallant mast and then taking it away as the mast comes down. The mast must fit through the topmast cap, so a little more sanding on the small built-up transition between top gallant and royal mast was needed. Then, the mast top has a ring to receive shackle equivalents for the top head stay and top shrouds. It had to be “flattened” a bit to fit through the mast cap hole. I had some fun making the following three sketches to show my logic as to how either the main or the fore topgallant masts come down. The following steps are my approach to how this mast was dropped whole at sea. View 1 • Rig a new line off the topmast cap through the fid to a block on the starboard side. [ a bigger mast like the topmast would need a block on both sides] This line drops the mast as long as part of it is guided by the upper mast cap. • The topgallant head stay and shrouds have loops that come off just as the top of the mast passes through the mast cap. These are tied off then lowered one at a time using the jib halyard or after the mast is down, the line that is currently dropping the mast • [ My idea to avoid rigging a second very long line] The one side of the royal shroud is pulled up and lashed to the ring at the top of the mast just after it go through the mast cap, but before it drops below the topmast top. Assume a similar snatch block on the side of the upper cap. This line will take the load and the “ new line “through the fid below will be released. View 2. • Two tag lines will be attached to the bottom of the mast as it passes the lower mast top. The fid hole line goes forward to a snatch block on either rail chosen by crew, just aft of the foremast shrouds to pull the bottom of the mast forward. The second tag line replaces the halyard currently going through the mast sheave, once the top of the mast is secured by the shroud. This line falls to the deck for the crew to manage the mast bottom. • Once the new line is free from the mast bottom sheave, it is available for lowering the head stays and shrouds. View 3 • The trysail gaff will be engaged to rerig and move the spar into its storage position. It is assumed these two masts will be suspended on either side to the fore and main masts to allow a tent structure over the main deck to last through the winter. • The main topgallant mast is almost perfectly located when it reached the deck. The fore topgallant mast must be rigged and hauled aft more than its full length for storage. On the model, • the main topgallant mast has just fallen below the mast cap. A tag line will be used to position the mast bottom for the exchange of lines as described above. • The fore top gallant mast is nearly down and the first of the shrouds is being lowered. On this mast there are two Jib halyard that could be used for part of the effort I assumed though one line at a time I have engaged one that is lowering the topgallant forestay. • I show two of the shrouds already coiled and ready to go into storage. Considering their large size, I image they might have stayed on deck. • I am not sure they will start both masts at the same time. I chose to show that process considering the huge size of the crew…64 men. The more critical fore mast is nearly down, po perhaps the topmast crew would shift to the main and the deck crew would complete the first mast. 4,5,6. The three Photos show the various connections for the fore topgallant mast as it is displayed. just a note; in view 2 the lower tag line was passed thru the fid hole. the upper hole is now empty that had the "new line from the ast cap to lower the mast for the first level. that tag line will be taken up by crew members when I add them later. the lighter weight royals shroud d coiled on deck and wrapped on the windless is feeing up and lowering the topgallant mast. If I am totally wrong this would be spare line. just a very long one.😄 so I am not an expert but I really enjoy trying to figure things like this process out. I am back working on the rigging adding line after line after line....... cheers

13,3 to finish up with the " starting of the diorama" here are some images taken before we run south for a week on a beach. Hopefully all our remaining snow will be gone when we return. 15-17 three views from above. Still pecking away at the rigging and deck work 18-21 four views showing below and above the ice. There is a lot of work to do to make this work 22 here is the preferred back drop. A sunrise photo I took at Beechey island with and internet cropped image of arctic ice. I hope I can make this one work as the day time image is not as nice. When I get back I will order this poster and mount it behind. My fear is the coloring, as nice as it is, will not blend nicely into the acrylic and ice.....we'll have to wait and see.. cheers

13.2 starting the diorama Since the preview earlier this month I have been experimenting and buying a few things that I may or may not need. I am about to disappear for a mid-winter break, so I need to pull together the progress with an update. The next series of photos show my trial and error and adjusting as I work into this area of trying to make ice look real.. I have taken a photo after each step. Here we go 05 -06 set the base elements and glued them to the base. Then I painted them all blue and set up the front elements in massing only. In the second view I use the wire cutter to shape them. This is first pass. There are competing elements. On the one hand we must support the water [ acrylic sheet] and the other we want lots of visibility below the water. 07 here I added intermediate supports and painted the back which is hopefully intended to be infinite water. I am not happy as the supports on the back are too visible, and one sees shadows. 08-09 I set the water on to help plan the other ice. I cut out sheets and primed with Gesso ……. Note I am using the model cut out to extend a lead forward. I then set the cut-out ice on top. currently, I need to plan the underwater ice as well. the protective film is still on it. Painting 10-11-12. the sharp corners of the blocks on the back wall of water were not convincing, so I took card stock paper and using mod podge glued it in place then painted it blue to hopefully look more like infinite water. The thin long loose piece on top is painted out to be under water ice. In the third image it and another piece to the left side are pinned in place. Once I am happy with underwater painting I will glue and pin them in place. 13-14. Here I laid out the acrylic. I am using scrap from the mock up piece so there is an even layer across the whole build. The last view I have the ice in its current preliminary set up. The is much more to do with that stuff but here is a chance for a breather. 15. here are the three products I am using so far • Styrogoo to glue the Styrofoam to itself and the base and the acrylic • Gesso to prime everything except the paper and pvc baseboard • Mod podge is the glue going forward as I add stuff to improve the ice. Fill slots in the water blocking etc.. All for now I will add the vessel and look around tomorrow.

Bob I am always happy to find another build that relates and adds background to my attempts. I had read about Astrolabe in passing while reading the book…The Explorations to the Antarctic Peninsula by Hugh Allan. I was reading it in general interest but more to find who was there around the same time as HMS Terror and Erebus. In reading other books it was understood that the British Ross expedition was expedited because of the your new fried Capt Dumont, the French, Americans and others all headed to and claiming land in the Orkney and other islands in the 1830 era. The corvette Astrolabe nee Coquille, along with her consort Zelee was apparently stuck in the ice for a week and there are images I am sure you have seen. Anyway, as the story goes their purpose was more focused on the overall French interest in the South Pacific and they were apparently quite successful. Also, just to sail into pack ice and escape is no little thing. Any wooden vessel going around the world, she went twice, says alot about her. I look forward to dropping in from time to time. I am also sorry there is no short cut around all those ratline hitches. I decided to think about it as knitting a sweater. Something I could not do very well, I am sure. My solution is I never did too many in a sitting. Cheers

Kieth and Bob, thank you both for your encouragement. I will soon be off in a new world of making ice. Waiting on glue for styrofoam at the moment. Bob. welcome and thanks for showing me another wonderful and relevant build to follow. Astrolabe seems amazing and I will flip over there with more comments about the book. the Exploration of the Antarctic peninsula by Hugh Allan. It is an fast read through some 30 expeditions between 1819 and 1937. Your captain was number 15 and James Ross leading Erebus and Terror was number 18. if you are like me and read too much, it is a great addition. Leave it to say that Astrolabe's cruise to the Antarctic was a key element to expedite getting both Erebus and Terror set up and ready to sail in the late 1930"s. cheers

13.1 sneak preview step 1 diorama these four views show Terror sitting in the diorama just to show off major massing..... step i I sliced and cut styrofoam to make up the general massing before using the cutter wand and wire to cut ice. the next step will be to glue it together without water [ acrylic ]and then carve the edges of the ices. after that step will be all new for me. I also have pieces a little thicker that the above water ice to glued and carved to the underside. anyway it is friday and a good reason to celebrate on the model itself rigging continues as well. cheers