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SESSION #1 Well, after breathing plastic and PLA dust for a few months, I needed to go back to the original material, the wood created by our mother Earth. A while back (10 years ago), Chris Watton realized and displayed on our forum an exquisite piece of naval beauty: the HMS Bellona in the scale of 1/72nd. When I saw his model, I felt in love with it and knew that I had to at least give it a try. Fast forward in time.....and CAF Models announced an HMS Bellona in five sessions in my favorite scale: 1/48th. Of course, I am not a fool and know that I will not get even close to the perfection of Chris's model of the Bellona. The Name of that vessel, its prestige and specific missions (Gibraltar, the Tropical and Caribbean Islands) appealed to me immensely. Although I am busy with multiple projects, it felt like it would be nice to try the Session #1 of that model. If I manage to complete it with success, I may order Session #2. I have to say that I like this approach, that allows you to build a large and detailed vessel without investing your 401K in the process. You can attack a model of your choice progressively, without disbursing upfront $2,000 or more. The kit was purchased on E-Bay (milia_3) for $370 including shipping. At first I realized I had made a mistake with the shipping (Free shipping - included in the price of the kit in fact usually means SLOW shipping....), but E-Bay SPEEDPAK did a wonderful job and I got my model in less than three weeks: Ordered August 07, received 08/31. Packaging was excellent with double boxing on top of the CAF box and plastic corners for protection. The parcel flew (thanks God) and did not spent its time in a container stuck in a harbor somewhere. I would recommend that Milia_3 vendor and my experience has been really good with them. So, without more delays, let's discover this great and heavy kit. Inside the box, we find some instructions, a complete list and drawings of all the parts and a full size plan: A lot of wood is provided, with bulkheads of 5 mm thickness and some sherry wood parts: About 44 wooden "sprues" are provided with the kit. It will take a large board to build this monster (1.25 meter long, 30 cm wide) and it should be interesting. Session #1 is basically the skeleton of the hull and nothing more..... I am trying to moderate the enthusiasm of certain readers, here.... For those who wants more details about this kit and the various Sessions offered by CAF Models, here is a very good video: Below is what I am shooting for: I still have to make progress on the Flower Class Corvette, and thus the Bellona will not be started immediately. Yves- 27 replies
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thought memberS might like to see this looks like the first 4 parts are available to order, a very different kit to the Enterprise @cafmodel HMS Bellona,HMS Bellona (cafmodel.com) -
Hi everyone, To get started again, I will post again the photos I took of the original Bellona model at Chatham last year, with permission from the National Maritime Museum. This model is contemporary with the original design of 1760. The Bellona was rebuilt in the 1780s with some significant changes in port locations, refitted rail on the poop, etc. I prefer the look of the original, and so these photos of the original model are my roadmap through the project. It will take me a while to summarize my own build starting with my re-drafted drawings at 3/16" scale, but I am committed to the task! Best wishes, Mark -
After completing HMS Surprise I have been contemplating what to build next. I am definitely hooked on Napoleonic War era ships and am a great fan of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin book series so another ship from this source seemed like a good idea, so HMS Bellona it is. A bit more research revealed that, as Bellona was built in 1760, it is quite decorated and has a complex hull shape with defined forecastle, quarterdeck and poop, so a bit of a challenge there. The complexity of the stern decorations mean that I will definitely have to improve my wood carving skills. Here we go! I have acquired "The Anatomy of the Ship The 74 gun ship Bellona" by Brian Lavery in both hard copy and pdf so this will be the basic resource. The internet has also provided lots of images. -
Head figure of HMS Bellona (1760).3D work -
I have been working on this build for two-and-a-half years. I have followed harlequin's build all along. His work is excellent and solved several problems I've had. This is my second build; HMS Surprise-Mamoli was the first. After decades of plastic models, I switched to wood because I wanted a change of material and history topics. The pictures show the current state of things. The spars are also done. I'm waiting for a set of pre-built sails to arrive from Europe. I want to attach them in furled position to the spars and then mount the spars. -
Hi all. After having finally finished the San Francisco (first version) I tackle my next project: H.M.S. Bellona. I believe I have made every mistake in the book with my previous builds (a generic clipper, a botter, the Gretel, SF1) and I now feel emboldened enough to start something big. Why the Bellona? Well, I wanted to build a ship that comes with a real history, I like the size -not too big-, I want to use paint and I believe there's quite some stuff that can be added and/or changed. E.g. the kit comes without boats and without spare yards or masts. I also want to try some sculpting but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. About the kit. Everything comes neatly packed, instructions seem clear, there are accompanied by 14 70x50cm detailed drawings. Apart from these I will probably be using Lavery's book on Bellona a lot. This kit looks like a different version of Bellona that Harlequin is building because it doesn't have the metal gun ports, I'm curious what more has been changed. Nope, it's the same version. Harlequin added the metal gun ports. All the pieces come detached, that makes life a little easier. Nothing seems to be warped. Even the gun carriages are precut but I haven't looked at them in detail. Wood quality seems very good, there's some rigging material in brownish colors, no black included. Blocks are of the same quality that I know from other builds, they look ok, correction: the smallest blocks are crap, I'll have to order replacements. Not sure what I am going to do with the bling ... the photo edged sheet looks nice though. I plan to paint the upper part of the hull, I already bought the required admiralty colors. I won't copper the lower part because I am not going to cover up what will probably be achieved with blood, toil, tears and sweat over the many months to come. Well, like the Dutch say: my fingers are itching, this is going to be an exciting journey ;o) -
Hi, I am new to Model Ship World and to model boat building. I received this kit as a gift a few years ago. I started the kit but my work got in the way of the build, anyway to cut a very long story short, I have now picked her up again and restarted the build. whilst doing a little research on boat building I came across this site and in particular Harlequins log of the build of the very same boat. so - here I am, I will post photos of my attempt to build this beautiful ship as I go along also, sorry for not understanding the log convention, I have deleted the photo from Harlequins log - sorry Harlequin bill24
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